The 1946 Mine Strike: Black Labour and the Cracks Before Apartheid
The Story of South Africa: Empire, Apartheid, and Transformation — Fexingo HistoryPlay episode
Show notes
In 1946, 70,000 Black mineworkers on the Witwatersrand walked off the job, demanding higher wages and the right to organise. It was the largest strike in South African history up to that point, and it shook the foundations of the gold-mining economy. This episode looks at the strike's causes, its brutal suppression, and its lasting impact on the African National Congress, the Communist Party, and the coming apartheid state. We trace the role of the Chamber of Mines, the Native Mine Clerks' Association, and figures like J.B. Marks and Moses Kotane. We examine how the strike was covered by the press, how it was used by the Smuts government to justify tighter controls, and how it became a model for the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s. We also look at the strike's place in the longer story of Black labour and resistance, from the compounds of the 1913 Land Act to the rise of the Congress Alliance. This is a story of courage, exploitation, and the bitter lessons that shaped the struggle against apartheid. We also talk about the broader context of the Cold War and the Suppression of Communism Act, and the ways the strike was remembered and mythologised in later decades. #1946MineStrike #Witwatersrand #JBMarks #MosesKotane #SouthAfricanCommunistParty #ChamberOfMines #GoldMining #BlackLabour #ApartheidHistory #SouthAfrica #DefianceCampaign #MineWorkers #StrikeHistory #AfricanNationalCongress #Communism #History #FexingoHistory #SouthAfricanHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
