The Story of an African Working Class by Jeff Crisp

The Story of an African Working Class by Jeff Crisp

Author:Jeff Crisp [Crisp, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Social Science, History
ISBN: 9781783609734
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-02-15T05:00:00+00:00


Tensions within the MEU

The 1947 strike and Gorman Award immediately boosted the popularity of the MEU. Prior to the strike only 2,050 workers, 5.6 per cent of the labour force, were paid-up union members. By 1947-48 this figure had jumped to 15,000 (39.9 per cent) and by 1948-49 to 15,500 (42.2 per cent). Although half the mine workers remained outside the union, the Government admitted that the MEU had ‘an influence which extends beyond that of its membership’.13 Encouraged by the union’s new popularity, Sam and Bissah made no radical changes to MEU policy after 1947. The strike weapon was still regarded as a last resort, and the leadership acknowledged that ‘since our cry is for better pay we must also put out our best and spend our energy to increase production’.14 Sam and Bissah continued to avoid political affiliations, and were congratulated by the Labour Department for their ‘exemplary behaviour’ and ‘consistent and responsible policy’ during the civil disturbances of February 1948.15 This moderate, productionist and apolitical policy was to come under attack from three sources between 1947 and 1950: from rank-and-file workers who wanted to use the strike weapon more freely than the union leadership; from workers and branch union officials who wanted the MEU to play a more active role in the nationalist movement; and from politicians who also sought to enlist the union’s support in the quest for self-government.

The problem of rank-and-file autonomy within the MEU became clear almost immediately after the implementation of the Gorman Award. In January 1948 underground workers went on strike at the Central Wassau Mine over a mistake in the calculation of back pay, and walked around the mine armed with sticks ignoring the branch union’s advice to work normally. The following month 400 workers at Amalgamated Banket Areas (ABA) went on strike to demand the dismissal of the Mine Doctor. The Mine Manager reported that there existed ‘a certain group of people against the union, and in ABA is losing ground’. Similarly, at AGC the Mine Manager observed that the branch union was ‘not nearly so strong as it was’.16

The most dramatic manifestation of rank-and-file independence occurred not at a gold mine but at the Nsuta manganese mine, where two unofficial strikes took place in January and February 1948. The first strike, which was about the dismissal of a shovel driver for inefficiency, was organized by a group of workers calling themselves ‘The New Order of Youngbloods’. Sam and Bissah condemned the strike but failed to convince the workers to ignore the breakaway organization. The second strike followed the branch union’s decision to support managerial warnings issued to two masons accused of unsatisfactory work. The New Order persuaded 1,000 men to withdraw their labour, and the Branch President and Secretary of the MEU were beaten by strikers who accused them of failing their duty. The Tarkwa Labour Officer reported that the New Order was establishing its own organization, appointing officers, and asking members to swear an oath of allegiance. This



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