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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:African Workers' Militancy as a Basis for Post-War Nationalism in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1945-1953
Author:Mothibe, T.H.
Year:1994
Periodical:Transafrican Journal of History (ISSN 0251-0391)
Volume:23
Pages:158-183
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
Southern Africa
Subjects:labour history
strikes
Labor and Employment
History and Exploration
Economics and Trade
colonialism
nationalism
History, Archaeology
Labor disputes
history
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24520275
Abstract:A complex of socioeconomic changes that converged during and after World War II gave rise to the beginnings of African trade unions in Zimbabwe. The expansion of secondary industrialization brought about increasing African employment, which in turn led to a concentration of African workers in urban areas. Appalling urban living and working conditions led to discontent and the growth of workers' militancy. This article describes the nature of African workers' discontent, focusing on the 1945 railway strike and the 1948 general strike. It argues that the 1945 strike marked the beginning of organized African labour militancy and the proliferation of African trade unions, while the 1948 strike marked the politicization of the economy as a result of the settler State's military and legislative intervention. This politicization led to the increasing radicalization of African labour organizations and in the end, the latter came to play a crucial role in the emergence of postwar nationalism. Notes, ref., sum.
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