1922
Rand Revolt
A strike over mine owners' plans to reduce costs and weaken the racial job bar escalated into an armed white-worker revolt that the Smuts government defeated with military force.
The gold-mining industry faced rising costs and a falling gold price. Mine owners sought to reorganise work and employ lower-paid Black workers in jobs reserved for white employees. White unions opposed the resulting retrenchments and wage pressure, defending both established labour rights and the racial colour bar that protected their privileged access to skilled work.
A strike beginning in January 1922 became increasingly militant. Negotiations and government mediation failed, armed commandos formed, and some participants called for revolution. Strikers seized areas of the Witwatersrand and violence included attacks on police, troops, strikebreakers and Black civilians.
Prime Minister Jan Smuts declared martial law in March and deployed troops, artillery and aircraft. Government forces defeated the revolt after several days of heavy fighting, with substantial deaths, injuries and arrests on all sides.
Significance
The revolt exposed conflict among mine capital, white labour and the state, while demonstrating that the workers' defence of pay and bargaining power was also a defence of racially protected jobs unavailable to Black workers.
Why it matters
The revolt exposed conflict among mine capital, white labour and the state, while demonstrating that the workers' defence of pay and bargaining power was also a defence of racially protected jobs unavailable to Black workers.
Perspective notes
Mine owners argued that falling gold prices required cheaper and more flexible labour. White unions defended wages and job security but also the colour bar; the government first mediated and then acted to restore order after sections of the strike became an armed insurrection.