The Trades Union Congress and Apartheid, 1948–1970

Abstract

This article draws largely on hitherto unexplored primary source material in the TUC Archive at Warwick University. It examines the reaction of the British Trades Union Congress to the politics of South Africa during the first two decades of apartheid. Three aspects of policy are considered. The first is the relationship of the TUC to the divided South African trade union movement, split fundamentally over the treatment of African unionists. Here the TUC attempted to steer a middle course between the extremes of white racism and African radicalism, after an unsuccessful bid to foster labour unity. The second is the attitude of the TUC to the funds established to aid the defence in the Treason Trial of 1958–61 and the Rivonia Trial of 1963–64. This brought it into a sometimes difficult partnership with the London-based fund headed by Canon John Collins and the Johannesburg fund first run by Bishop Ambrose Reeves. The third is the TUC response to the call for a British boycott of South African trade and then for economic sanctions against South Africa, culminating in this period with the cancellation of the South African cricket tour of 1970. A short conclusion seeks to explain why the TUC was so cautious in its approach to South Africa on all three fronts.