3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Counter power and colonial rule in the eighteenth-century Cape of Good Hope: belongings and protest of the labouring poor(2012-01-18) Ulrich, NicoleFramed by an anarchist-syndicalist reading of Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker’s The Many Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (2000), this study examines the dynamic nature of colonial and class rule in the eighteenth-century Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, and the forms of belonging and traditions of political protest developed by the labouring poor. This study draws on archival material from national and international repositories, focusing on government records, criminal court trials, and travellers’ accounts. Colonial rule, the under-class, and resistance in the Cape are located in a global context, with special attention being paid to changes associated with the ‘Age of Revolution and War’ and rise of the modern world. Breaking with the tendency to treat different sections of the motley (many-hued) labouring poor in the Cape as discreet, often racially defined, and nationally bounded population groups, segmented also by legal status, this study provides a comprehensive study of labour in the Cape that includes an examination of slaves, servants, sailI contest the established approaches to under-class resistance. In place of a socially fragmented labouring poor, solely engaged in ‘informal’, individualized, and uncoordinated resistance, this study reveals the spatially stretched and inclusive connections created by the labouring poor across gender, nation, race and status, which underpinned modes of protest that were confrontational, and often collective, in nature, including desertion, insurrection, mutiny, strikes, and arson. In spite of the harsh regime of class and colonial control developed under VOC rule, the labouring poor forged notable class solidarities. The Cape Colony was influenced by two interrelated political processes unleashed by the Age of Revolution and War, including the global spread of radical political ideas, and the modernisation and strengthening of the European imperial states. The labouring poor in the Cape was also infected by and contributed to a radical consciousness of freedom and rights, leading to the 1797 naval mutinies, the (1799-1803) Servant Rebellion, and the 1808 Revolt. New political strategies and identities emerged, and under-class struggles contributed both to the decline of the VOC, and to the adoption of reforms and a new ethos of governance that altered relations between masters, the labouring poor, and the state. This study is critical of ‘new cultural history’, which entrenches an economistic understanding of class, and detaches the study of identities from larger social structures and processes. To deepen our understanding of class, this study draws on left critiques of Marxism, especially anarchist ideas, which highlight the links between class and statemaking, citizenship, and the law. This helps contest the often false distinctions drawn between the ‘economic’ and ‘cultural’ elements of class and inequalityors, and soldiers recruited, or imported from, Asia, Europe, and other parts of Africa. I contest the established approaches to under-class resistance. In place of a socially fragmented labouring poor, solely engaged in ‘informal’, individualized, and uncoordinated resistance, this study reveals the spatially stretched and inclusive connections created by the labouring poor across gender, nation, race and status, which underpinned modes of protest that were confrontational, and often collective, in nature, including desertion, insurrection, mutiny, strikes, and arson. In spite of the harsh regime of class and colonial control developed under VOC rule, the labouring poor forged notable class solidarities. The Cape Colony was influenced by two interrelated political processes unleashed by the Age of Revolution and War, including the global spread of radical political ideas, and the modernisation and strengthening of the European imperial states. The labouring poor in the Cape was also infected by and contributed to a radical consciousness of freedom and rights, leading to the 1797 naval mutinies, the (1799-1803) Servant Rebellion, and the 1808 Revolt. New political strategies and identities emerged, and under-class struggles contributed both to the decline of the VOC, and to the adoption of reforms and a new ethos of governance that altered relations between masters, the labouring poor, and the state. This study is critical of ‘new cultural history’, which entrenches an economistic understanding of class, and detaches the study of identities from larger social structures and processes. To deepen our understanding of class, this study draws on left critiques of Marxism, especially anarchist ideas, which highlight the links between class and statemaking, citizenship, and the law. This helps contest the often false distinctions drawn between the ‘economic’ and ‘cultural’ elements of class and inequality.Item Only the workers can free the workers: the origin of the worker's control tradition and the Trade Union Advisory Coordinating Committee (TUACC), 1870-1979(2008-04-15T07:28:48Z) Ulrich, NicoleWith the rise of the new social movements and increasing number of protests over service delivery in South Africa’s poorest townships, many activists have started to question whether unions are able to relate to the demands of the unorganised and poor. It is argued that under the new democracy COSATU has become bureaucratic and is too closely aligned to the ANC to challenge government policies and play a transformative role in society. Such concerns are not entirely new. Labour historians and industrial sociologists have long debated the political potential and democratic character of trade unions and there is a vast literature documenting the organisational styles of unions in South Africa today and in the past. Based on examination of union archival records and interviews with key informants, this study traces the emergence of the ‘workers control’ tradition in South African trade unions. ‘Workers control’ is a unique approach based on non-racial, industrial trade unions, which are democratically organised on the factory floor. Such unions, which are ideally controlled by elected worker representatives at all levels and united nationally on the basis of sharing common policies and resources, create the basis for an autonomous movement that promotes the interest of workers. Although most closely associated with FOSATU (1979-1985), this study found that workers control had deeper historical roots. Workers control was a product of the ideological and organisational renewal that characterised the 1970s and was initially created by the Trade Union Advisory Coordinating Committee (TUACC) in Natal and, later, the Witwatersrand. TUACC, which included significant numbers of women employed as semi-skilled production workers and unskilled migrant men, reflected complex shifts in the labour market and the economy. It was in this context that ordinary union members together with a diverse layer of activists developed TUACC’s unique approach to organisation. The power of white university trained activists in determining union policies has been overestimated and worker leaders, particularly more educated women workers, played an important role in building TUACC unions. Based on a Gramscian analysis, TUACC maintained that democratic unions based on strong shop floor organisation could exploit loop holes in the law and participate in industrial structures without undermining union autonomy and democracy. TUACC, however, was less clear of how to relate to political movements and parties. TUACC distanced itself officially from the banned ANC to avoid repression, but some workers and unionists looked to homeland and traditional leaders for alliances. This tension between the creation of a democratic trade union culture and the workers’ support of more autocratic political and traditional leaders and populist movements was never resolved. All of TUACC’s affiliates were founder members of COSATU and this study gives us some insight into the traditions that inform COSATU’s responses to social movements, political parties and the state today. Drawing on the insights of the Anracho-syndicalism, this study also highlights some of the dangers of separating the economic and political activities of workers into unions and political parties respectively.