Hammer and Sickle
A Distant Clap of Thunder Book issued to mark the Fortieth Anniversary of the 1946 Mine Strike <http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=4727> A Salute by the South African Communist Party to South Africa's Black Mine Workers Published by the South African Communist Party, 1986 Part 11 Toy Telephones That evening, the Witwatersrand's white trade unionists were meeting under the auspices of the Witwatersrand local committee of the South African Trades and Labour Council. The secretary reported of contacts he had had with the AMWU before the strike, and of assistance he had given them in their attempt to place the miners' case before the Chamber of Mines. Late in the evening a resolution was adopted, expressing the Council's concern at '... the violent intervention of the government to force the workers back to work at the point of a bayonet... The Committee proposes that immediate, direct negotiations be opened between the AMWU and the Chamber of Mines'. It stated its support for the AMWU in their struggle. The secretary took the resolution to the offices of the Rand Daily Mail personally. It was never published. On Wednesday too, the state sponsored Native Representative Council - the so-called 'advisory parliament' of the black majority - met in Johannesburg under the Chairmanship of the Under Secretary for Native Affairs. Councillor Paul Mosaka moved a formal motion that 'The Chairman makes an official statement on the events leading up to the present disturbance on the gold mines; the number of mines and labourers affected; extent and nature of the disturbances, including the numbers of persons killed, injured or arrested; the steps which the government is taking to deal with the situation; and whether any negotiations have been entered into with the African Mine Workers' Union, and if not, why not'. The Chairman said the position was uncertain, and he would like the matter deferred until a later meeting. Councillor RH Godlo then moved that the Council does not proceed with the agenda until it received a full reply to the questions. Africans, he said, had tolerated the government's actions for a very long time. 'We would regret to reach the stage where we lose our tolerance'. He was supported by Professor ZK Matthews and others. The Chairman refused to accept the motion. It savoured, he said, of a threat to the government. By way of reply Councillor Moroka moved that the Council adjourn. 'Since its inception', his motion stated, 'the Council has brought to the notice of the government the reactionary nature of the Union's native policy of segregation... It deprecates the government's postwar continuation of a policy of fascism, which is the antithesis and negation of the letter and spirit of the Atlantic Charter and the United Nations Charter... It calls on the government forthwith to abolish all discriminatory legislation'. The motion was seconded by Councillor Paul Mosaka. 'How long must gold be rated above human values?' he asked. The motion to adjourn was put, and carried. The Natives Representative Council (NRC) - what a critic had once called the government's 'toy telephone' through which the black representatives spoke but received no reply from the other end - ended its session. It never reassembled. >From its small beginnings the miners' strike had brought a chapter of South African history to a close. In 1937 General Hertzog had removed the last few surviving African voters from the common voters roll, and in its place substituted the NRC - a puppet show of representation without power. But puppet play was no longer possible in the new world of struggle and confrontation which the miners' strike ushered in. From here on, black representation in the real seats of state power became the central issue of black South African politics. A new historical era opened in the country as the mine strike drew to its close. That close - as is to be expected in times of defeat - was messy, undefined. By Thursday night, police harassment ensured that the Miners' Strike Bulletin could no longer be carried on; and on Friday, the miners' return to work became general and final. On Friday morning, the favoured start time for the General Strike, it became obvious that this strike call, too, had failed in the confusion, and industrial workers from the townships began to bus into town 'to see what's going on at my factory'. Yet bus companies reported that passenger numbers were steeply down on normal days. The strike committee issued a new leaflet, calling the people once again to the Market Square on Sunday for a discussion of a general stoppage on Monday. But the conviction was running out, even amongst the strike organisers. On Saturday, the strike committee met in Orlando without its chairman and several others who were already under arrest; some of the committee members who had been vocal supporters of a general strike some days before had lost their courage, and called for the dissolution of the committee and the calling off of the fight. The committee dispersed in disorder without any decision. It never reassembled. From: http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=2626 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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