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Low Grade Mines Commission 1919-20

Literature › Primary sources

Kind commission or official report
Producer Union of South Africa
Coverage 1919-1920
Works using it 13

Debates

Debate Works
Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves 8
The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation 7
The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital 6
The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion 5
Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War 2
Industrialisation, protection and industrial structure 2
Agricultural policy, productivity, farm size and land reform 1
Historiographical approaches 1
Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals 1
Liberal vs revisionist: was apartheid functional or dysfunctional for capitalist growth? 1
Racial wage gaps, wage convergence and wage determination 1
Worker consciousness, strikes and conflict on the mines and shop floor 1

Works using this source

Work As cited Period How used
Bonner and Shapiro (1987) Low Grade Mines Commission, UG 34-'20 1920 Source for the average Rand African wage (2/2d per shift) against TGME's 1/3d.
De Kiewiet (1941) Low Grade Mines Commission reports (1920 and 1932) 1919-1920; 1932 Establishes the mines' marginal profitability and recommendations to increase native employment and remove the colour bar.
Duncan (1990a) Final Report of the Low Grade Mines Commission (Kotze Commission), U.G. 34-20 1919-20 Shows the commission rejecting African wage rises, recommending lifting the colour bar and opening up labour catchment areas.
Duncan (1990b) Low Grade Mines Commission Final Report (Kotze Commission), U.G. 34-20 1919-20 Shows Kotze's commission rejecting higher African wages, recommending lifting the colour bar and wider labour recruiting.
Houghton and Dagut (1973) Report of the Low Grade Mines Commission, 1920, U.G. 34/1920 1919-1920 Estimates the effects of marginal-mine closure, the legal and customary colour bar, and native wages in gold mining.
Jeeves (1987) Low Grade Mines Commission 1919-20, Final Report 1919-1920 Shows the mines' demand for renewed access to tropical labour dated back to 1919-20.
Jeeves and Crush (1992) Interim and Final Reports of the Low Grade Mines Commission (UG 45-19; UG 34-20) 1919-1920 Documents recommendations to lift the ban on tropical labour, which the state resisted.
Johnstone (1971) Report of the Low Grade Mines Commission, 1919-20, U.G. 24/20 1919-20 Source for the maximum average wage system, African and white wage trends 1912-1919, production cost rises, and African grievances about low wages.
Lumby (1974) Report of the Low Grade Ore Commission, U.G.16/1932; Low Grade Mines Commission reports (U.G.45/1919, U.G.34/1920) 1919-1932 Evidence on working costs, the burden of tariff duties on gold mining and the need to reduce costs.
Moodie (2005) Low-grade Mines Commission (LGMC) 1919 evidence, e.g. Pohl, union representative 1919 Union representative testimony that white supervisors used assault under production pressure.
Pogue (2006) Report of the Low Grade Mines Commission (1920), U.G. 34/1920 1920 Quoted to show the perceived situation on the colour bar and labour before the 1922 Rand Revolt.
Yudelman and Jeeves (1986a) Low Grade Mines Commission 1919-20, Final Report (UG 34-'20) and Chamber evidence 1919-1920 Cited as an example of commission reports that followed the industry's low-grade argument and endorsed renewed access to tropical labour.
Yudelman and Jeeves (1986b) Low Grade Mines Commission 1919-20, Final Report (UG 34-'20), incl. Chamber of Mines evidence 1919-1920 Exemplifies industry-crafted data on low-grade mines and endorsement of renewed tropical recruiting.
Yudelman and Jeeves (1986b) Low Grade Ore Commission, 1930/1932, Summary of Evidence in CMAR 1932 1930-1932 Used to show the Chamber presenting low-grade-ore data to justify policy.