South Africa's Labor Empire: A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines.

Abstract

This book explores the complex interplay of factors fueling the transformation of the gold mining industry in South Africa. Basing their work on archival sources, contemporary evidence and interviews with mining personnel, the authors chart the expansion and break-up of the mine regional labour empire from 1920 through the mid-1970s and explore conflicts between the industry and the state over labour sourcing, the mobilization of South African labour for the mines, the effects of workforce stabilization for black miners and their home communities, and the emergence of a new racial division of labour in the mining industry. The book concludes with an analysis of the National Union of Mineworkers, speculating on whether its gains over the last decade are so firmly entrenched that they are unlikely to be overturned by either the state or private industry.