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The Origins of the South African Labour Party 1888-1910, Vol.2

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The Origins of the South African Labour Party 1888-1910, Vol.2 THE OciIGINS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR PARTY 1888 1910 VOL. II Town Cape of A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Cape Town September 1973 University by D. Ticktin The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University 397 CHAPTER IX FORMATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR PARTY •.. it lies with the members to decide whether the South African Typographical Union shall degenerate into a spineless, moribund body, or enter into the arena of active Labour politics. To be, or not to be, that is the question - whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows cast at us by the present political parties in power or take arms against a sea of troubles and endeavour to fight our way out to salvation. 1 South African Typographical Journal 1. Background to 1907 The labour movements in the South African colonies could not develop in total isolation from one another since several craft Unions ignored the colonial boundaries. For instance, the S. A. T. U.,Town to which printers' societies throughout the sub-continent affiliated, was founded in 1898. 2 Similarly, the various branches of the A.Cape S. E. in South Africa were controlled from the Rand after the Anglo-Boerof War, although in certain matters authority 3 had to be obtained from its headquarters in London. Othe r trade un ions, such as the United Operative Bricklayers' Society and the A.S. of C. & J., 4 also had branches spread throughout southern Africa. It followed,University therefore, that trade union officials, in the course of their duties, were required to move about the colonies. Naturally, those who were politically orientated used the opportunity to promote political labour organisation. 1. August 1909, p.9, editorial. 2. A. J. Downes, Printers' Saga, p.43 ff. See also p.24 above. 3. R.K. Cope, Comrade Bill, pp.68, 77-78. See also p.23 above. 4. On the Bricklayers' society see Rand Daily Mail, 27.6.1905, p.5, "Labour Notes"; on the Carpenters' society Rand Daily Mail, 26. 9. 1905,p. 5, "Labour Notes". The copyrie-l:t ('f thi'\ tlles,'s ,'s h I 1 v ,. e d by t;1::~ Univer~it·.. ~·i· : I Reprcdt'('j . , (':" any part, be rn~:;';c ; may r;;.;,;.;;.; oilly. ;:nd J not for PUl.;;:c ~ti:: ! --.. - '---..... - .... ~ ..... - ...... J ..... _ ..... _____ • ; 398 Whiteside, for example, was in Durban in mid-1903, and in Cape Town and 5 Durban in the following year. In his capacity as Johannesburg district organiser of the A. S. E. , Tom Kneebone toured South Africa in mid-1904 and, about a year later, led the campaign in Kimberley which protested at 6 the victimisation of members of the T. & L. C. by De Beers. Andrews, too, after his election towards the end of 1906 as the A.S.E. 's organiser for South Africa, was forced to travel and, in 1907, made well-publicised political 7 speeches in the O.R.C. and in Natal. Lastly, it is worth noting that Sampson, as president of the S. A. T. U., embarked in February 1908 on an 8 inspection tour of his Union's branches. Communication between the colonial labour movements was also achieved when political labour leaders, who were not craft unionists,Town moved about. The Natal M. L. A. s, Haggar and Palmer, for instance, assisted the Transvaal L.R. C. in its 1907 general election campaign; and the Cape Town labour leader, Cape G. J. Bruce, was in 1907-1908 on the Rand, in Kimberley, Durban and Port 9 of Elizabeth. The trades councils, too, had some contact with one another. Thus, by about the beginning of 1904, the Cape Town and the Witwatersrand T. & L. C. s had opened regular Universitycommunication lines; and, a year later, the trades councils in the Cape Colony co-operated in an attempt to secure a fair wage clause in 10 government contracts. 5. S.A.T.J., June 1903, p.20; S.A. News, 16.4.1904, p.4. 6. S. A. News, 6.4.1904, p.4, "Labour Notes"; Worker, 30.1.1909, article by Trembath in Trembath I, p. 70. 7. The Friend, 14.2.1907,p.5; Natal Mercury, 21.5.1905,p.7; S. A. Tribune, 14.12.1907. 8. S.A.T.J., March 1908, p.15. 9. On the Natal M.L.A.s see Times of Natal, 3.4.1907,p.6; on Bruce S. A. News, 20.2.1907, p.10; Worker, 30.1.1909, article by Trembath in Trembath I, p. 70; Cape Daily Telegraph, 23.2.1908; Natal Mercury, 3.11.1908,p.8. 10. On the Witwatersrand T. & L. C. see S. A. News, 14.11. 1903, p.10; 16.4.1904,p.4. On the Cape T. & L.C.s see S.A. News Weekly Edition, 20.9.1905,p.11, "The Worker" page ; and 8.11. 1905,p. 25, "Labour Notes"; S.A.T.J., October 1905, p.2. 399 From the time labour spokesmen and labour organisations advocated federation of the southern African colonies, they thought, logically, in terms of a united labour body extending over the same territory. A federated South Africa was proposed, for example, by Haggar in December 1899; in the programme of the proposed Rand Labour League in August 1902; in the annual report for 1902 of the Durban T. & L. C. 's secretary; by the National Democratic Federation on the Rand in 1903; and by the Natal Democratic League in the same year, In the Cape the Labour Advance Party supported federation in October 1905 and its successor, the Cape Town L.R. C., favoured unification in 11 February 1907. As early as 1898 the editor of the South African Typographical Journal stressed the need for a South African T. & L. C. to Towndeal with vital issues such as organised labour'S attitude to non-white labour. 12 A few months later the same publication urged that Cape Town, as the "largest and most populous centre" Cape 13 in South Africa, should take the lead in the formation of this body; and during of the Anglo-Boer War it returned again to the same theme: Now is the time to lay the foundation of a powerful Labour Confederation in South Africa - a thorough system of amalgamation of Unions. We would remind our various Trades Societies that they will need such an amalgamation ere long; andUniversity now they have a magnificent opportunity to get plans ready for ajplication at the conclusion of the present disastrous War. 1 Support for this move came also from A. S. Crossett, the secretary of the 15 Durban Trades Council, in his annual reports for 1900 and 1901. 11. See Appendices B, II, 2; B, IV, 4; B, IV, 5; B, II, 5; B, I, 5; below. On the Durban T. & L.C. see S.A.T.J., December 1902,p.15. 12. May 1898, editorial. 13. July 1898,pp.7-8. For this information the writer is indebted to Mrs. Elaine Katz. 14. January 1900, as quoted in A.J. Downes, Printers' Saga,p.55. 15. Natal Mercury Weekly Edition, 9.11.1900,p.27, and 25.10.1901,p.6. 400 After the war political labour organisations looked forward optimistically to the formation of a South African labour party or similar wide-embracing body. Thus in October 1903 the Cape Town P. L. L. sought the co-operation of other labour organisations in its struggle for parliamentary representation and seems to have envisaged a combined movement, the object of which was to co-ordinate demands for industrial legislation. 16 This aim was not lost sight of after the collapse of the P. L. L., for in November 1904 the Cape Town S. D. F. wrote to the local T. & L. C. urging a joint effort to convene a South African Labour Congress while the Cape Town exhibition was attracting people to the city. The project failed, however, owing to the T. & L. C. 's procrastination. Still, in the following year the secretaries of these two bodies issued a joint circular in which it was proposed that a South African congress Townof representatives of trade unions, socialist organisations and co-operative societies should be held to form a South African L.R.C. But, according to Jack Erasmus, one of the promoters Cape of this scheme, the congress never eventuated because of the "depression and of . 17 lack of enthusiasm then existing throughout the sub-contment. " When the South African Political Labour Association was formed by Trembath and other craft unionists towards the middle of 1905, it also thought, as its name indicates,University in terms of a South African labour party. Indeed, Trembath stressed this object: This idea of branches being formed in other towns was with us from the very conception of the movement; and it would be a great pity if the workers could not come to a decision that one association and one only, should be formed in South Africa. ... If all the other labour parties which now are being evolved could become amalgamated with us, we might easily make our rules and regulations fit in with the wishes of other towns, and a conference of delegates could settle all broad principles.
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