Slaves, Workers, and Wine: The ‘Dop System’ in the History of the Cape Wine Industry, 1658–1894

Abstract

The ‘dop [tot] system’ refers to the practice of giving wine to male farm workers at regular intervals during the working day, which was general throughout the Cape winelands by 1890. How do we explain its emergence and ubiquity? To understand the system, we must interpret it historically. This article traces the history of the dop system from the establishment of a slave society at the Cape of Good Hope by 1658 to the Liquor Laws Commission of 1890, and the Labour Commission of 1893/1894. It introduces the system, and its official misrepresentations. The article is chronological and thematic. It identifies continuities and variations, and the nature and significance of moments of change. The interpretation of the system requires attention to forms of rule; free and unfree labour; markets for and consumption of liquor; vagrancy, slavery and emancipation; relations of masters and servants; subordination of free labour and its limitations; advances and debts; diamonds and railways; giving wine to workers. The dop system is not at the centre of the story. None of these phenomena can derive explanations from one another. They are always at pluralities of moving intersections.