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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Corporate and black labour strategies on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt 1926-1933 |
Author: | Parpart, Jane L. |
Year: | 1980 |
Periodical: | Labour, Capital and Society |
Volume: | 13 |
Pages: | 55-75 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zambia |
Subjects: | miners labour relations |
Abstract: | From the beginning of the copper mines in 1926 until the depression, mining capital on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt did not achieve the same degree of control over its black labour force as existed in the South African gold mining industry. The crucial aspect of this lack of control was not the absence of servile labour measures, but rather the inability of mining capital to eliminate competition for labour and the competitive market determination of wages and other returns to labour. Thus black workers on the Copperbelt had some degree of effective market power in relation to mining capital, and this was indeed reflected in the consciousness and behaviour of the black workers, and in corporate labour strategy. The evidence for this comes from four specific mines: Rhokana (Nkana) and Nchanga Copper Mines owned by Anglo-American corporation of South Africa, and Roan Antelope and Mufulira Copper Mines owned by Rhodesian Selection Trust of London. Only when the depression turned labour shortage into over-supply, did the pendulum of market power swing over to mining capital, which they took full advantage of while it lasted. Notes. French sum. |