'We are being punished because we are poor'. The Bus Boycotts of Evaton and Alexandra, 1955-1957
Date
1979-03
Authors
Lodge, Tom
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Abstract
This article concerns itself with two bus boycotts, one well known, the other less
so. They are interesting in themselves, but here it is suggested that they are
relevant towards an understanding of South African black resistance in general, and
in particular in the context of the 1950s when African political organisations were
attempting to mobilise large numbers of people in campaigns which had the ultimate
aim of hastening the collapse of the existing political structure. A problem of
that period , noted by many commentators both hostile and friendly to the
liberation movement, is that despite the Congress Alliance's efforts to articulate
its long-term aims through immediate issues: pass laws, wages, and so forth; despite
the government's lack of concern to effectively legitimise its authority in the eyes
of the masses; despite this being a period of economic stagnation relative to the
preceding decade, so wages rose only very slowly and probably declined in real terms,
nevertheless, mass response to African political organisation was uneven and often
disappointing. Ben Turok, a former activist within the Congress movement, tells us
that by the second half of the 1950s, after an initial promise at the beginning of the
decade, support for the national movement was falling off in urban areas; that
frustration and repression were beginning to promote political apathy (Turok 1973: 333).
The boycotts will therefore be discussed within the general context of the problems
of political mobilisation.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented March 1979
Keywords
Boycotts. South Africa, Poor. South Africa, South Africa. Social conditions