WHITE PROSPERITY AND WHITE SUPREMACY IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

Abstract

IN THE PAST decade, extensive economic development has taken place in South Africa, and the visitor to that country quickly becomes aware of the affluence of the whites, who enjoy one of the highest material standards of living in the world.' But the political significance of this economic expansion is less obvious and the subject of growing debate. It is the view of many observers that this economic development is undermining the government's racial policies of apartheid and the system of white supremacy, or that it is likely to do so in the not too distant future. For while the official goal of apartheid is increasing racial segregation and 'separate development ', economic expansion is seen to mean continued racial integration and inter-dependence at the economic level, which is seen to be subversive to apartheid policies. The desire of the whites for both prosperity and apartheid is thus seen to be basically contradictory, and their determined quest for the former and apparent failures of the latter are thought to be undermining white supremacy.2 It would appear, however, that this prevailing thesis has serious limitations. The purpose of this study is to assess the relations between economic development, apartheid labour policies and white supremacy in South Africa today, and to develop a critique of this thesis. It is not a detailed examination of any particular aspect of the subject, but rather an attempt at a broad and integrated over-view, which might suggest directions for further research. At the outset, two important distinctions which underlie the whole analysis need to be made. First of all, ' apartheid' must be distinguished from ' white supremacy'. 'Apartheid' refers to the South African government's racial policies and ideology, while 'white supremacy' refers to the overall power structure in South Africa, which is partly maintained by apartheid policies. The blurred use of the terms together, however, often seems to imply that the power structure of white supremacy is the product of apartheid policies alone, Frederick Johnstone is a graduate student at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and recently spent six months engaged in research in South Africa. He is working on a thesis on class and race relations in the South African gold mining industry in the earlier part of this century. This is a revised version of a paper presented to a seminar at St. Antony's College. 1. For more information on the South African economy and its development, see D. H. Houghton, The South African Economy (Cape Town, 1967, second edition). Between 1962 and 1966 South Africa had the second highest real growth rate in the world (nearly seven per cent per annum surpassed only by Japan's nine per cent). (Financial Mail, Johannesburg, 6 September, 1968, p. 833). 2. The tenets of this thesis will be set out more fully in the third section.