Industrial Relations in a Multi-Racial Society

Abstract

THE SUBJECT on which I am to speak is largely political, and perhaps on that account it is rash of me to tackle it. I am a politician as well as a business man, and have taken some part in the bitter controversy about race relations which has dominated South African politics for the last ten years. Obviously it would be inappropriate for me to use this occasion to pursue the South African political struggle but, on the other hand, you will no doubt expect me to speak my mind plainly. I must confess to being rather nervous of the delicate balancing act which is involved, but I shall do my best. I shall confine myself to the Union of South Africa and the Rhodesian Federation, the countries of which I have first-hand experience. Even so my field is immensely wide. It will, therefore, I think, be best if I start off by stating what I believe the proper objective of policy to be in Southern Africa. It is to secure the economic, cultural and social development of all the races concerned to the full extent of their capabilities in a manner which will not adversely affect the high standards already established for the Europeans. This objective can only be attained by co-operation between the races in all spheres of the national life. You may well think that by these generalities I have done little to narrow down my huge field to manageable proportions. I would therefore at once point out that, widely as I have cast my net, I have already assumed away the whole political issue in the Union of South Africa and, at the same time, have tacitly rejected the claims of African nationalism. The political issue in South Africa does not turn on the problems of a multi-racial society but on the anterior question of whether any sort of multi-racial society is desirable or indeed, in the long run, possible. The Nationalist Party Government in South Africa says emphatically that it is not, and similarly the Black nationalists reject the whole concept of a multi-racial society, and, going even further in their point of view than the extreme White nationalists in theirs, claim all Southern Africa for a Black nation alone. No political party in South Africa seeks-in theory anyhow-to deny the Africans the fullest development of which they are capable, but it is the contention of the Government Nationalist Party, the protagonists of the doctrine of apartheid, that the full potentialities of the Africans will only be realised if the two races live in separate areas of their own and work out their individual destinies in their own way. As a theory this is certainly attractive. The problems of a multi-racial society are intractable and involve