Capital and the Shifting Grounds of Emancipatory Politics: The Limits of Radical Unionism in Durban Harbor, 1974–85

Abstract

This article considers the transformation of work for stevedores (longshoremen) in Durban between 1974 and 1985 and its consequences for radical trade union politics. I detail the demise of “racial capitalism” in the port, with containerization requiring fewer, and differently skilled, dockworkers. I then show how radical unionist aspirations of emancipation from both capitalism and apartheid encountered limits that have become increasingly apparent in contemporary South African workplaces. Unlike approaches explaining union difficulties as matters of strategies (industrial or general unionism), tactics, or ideology (“workerism” versus “charterism”), I argue that this period in the harbor offers a lens onto the changing relationship between capitalism and apartheid, revealing the instability of the working class and implying a rethinking of the terms of an emancipatory project. While challenging Marxist sociologies and workplace historiographies in South Africa, I suggest that a different reading of Marx’s analysis of capital could inform such a project.