The 1946 Mine Strike: South Africa's Forgotten Labor Uprising
The Story of South Africa: Empire, Apartheid, and Transformation — Fexingo HistoryPlay episode
Show notes
In August 1946, 100,000 Black gold miners on the Witwatersrand walked off the job in one of the largest labor actions in South African history. The African Mine Workers' Strike was a direct challenge to the mine owners' color bar and the state's coercive labor system, which had been tightening since the 1911 Mines and Works Act. This episode traces the strike's roots in the overcrowded, unsanitary compounds of the Rand, the role of the African Mine Workers' Union under J.B. Marks, and the violent crackdown by Jan Smuts' government that left at least a dozen dead. We explore how the strike exposed the fault lines of racial capitalism, presaged the hardening of apartheid after 1948, and became a touchstone for the ANC and the Communist Party. Featuring the voices of miners who testified to the Lansdowne Commission, we examine why this pivotal event is often overshadowed by better-known protests like Sharpeville and Soweto—and why it matters for understanding the brutality of South Africa's labor history. #SouthAfrica #MineStrike1946 #AfricanMineWorkersUnion #JBMarks #JanSmuts #Witwatersrand #GoldMines #LaborHistory #Apartheid #RacialCapitalism #LansdowneCommission #ANC #CommunistPartySA #1940s #BlackWorkers #FexingoHistory #History #LabourStruggle Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
