“To Fight the Battles of the Workers”: The Emergence of Pro-strike Publications in Early Twentieth-Century South Africa

Abstract

The role of pro-strike newspapers during the first two decades of labour history in twentieth-century South Africa, an era of intense industrial strife, has not been researched in depth by labour historians. This article examines the emergence of a pro-strike press and examines its position on various strike issues. It served as a conduit for workers' grievances during industrial disputes, such as the strikes of 1911, 1913, 1914, and 1922. Such papers were often also the only means of communication between the strike committee and the strikers themselves. The article also discusses the extent to which such publications might have impacted upon their readership and actual strike action. It concludes that pro-strike literature in essence reflects a “white-labour” discourse and a fusion of the class and racial consciousness that prevailed among the white working class of South Africa.