Popular History in the Eighties¶
Luli Callinicos (1990). Popular History in the Eighties. Radical History Review, no. 46/7.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | synthesis review |
| Period studied | 1973–1989 |
| Regions | South Africa, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town |
| Themes | resistance social movements, unions strikes, politics ideology elections, education human capital, methods data sources |
| Citation key | callinicos1990 |
Argument¶
Callinicos surveys the boom in popular history writing in 1980s South Africa, seeing history as a mobilising resource for activists across the political spectrum. She distinguishes two strands: a class-based, political-economy history from worker education and the independent unions, and a nationalist history from the popular movement (UDF/ANC) that stresses leaders and state oppression. She traces both to the post-1973 labour movement, the UDF and the education crisis. She describes the role of academics, especially the Wits History Workshop, and of media such as poetry, photographs, comics and autobiography. She ends by flagging gaps (gender, failed strikes, Black Consciousness, socialism in Africa), unclear readership, and the need for black historians.
Evidence and method¶
Survey of published popular history works, pamphlets, union publications and projects (Gold and Workers, Working Life, Freedom from Below, NUM 1946 strike booklet, COSATU material, UWC People's History Series, NECC History Commission), plus the author's own observations as a History Workshop member and sales/feedback impressions. No systematic data.
Place in the debates¶
- Class-based versus nationalist framing of popular history (worker education vs popular movement) (see Historiographical approaches). Describes both strands and notes each plays down the other's emphasis. Her own sympathy is with radical social history combining structure and experience, but she accepts both have gaps.
- Academic rigour versus activist accountability in producing popular history (see Historiographical approaches). Presents both sides; argues professional historians should be in touch with and organisationally linked to their audience.
Findings¶
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Popular history of the 1980s split into a class-based worker-education strand and a nationalist popular-movement strand. (p. 2)
The history that has emanated from worker education is class-based, resting centrally on political economy.
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The independent labour movement after the 1973 Durban strikes was the dominant influence on early-1980s popular history. (p. 2)
the dominant influence on popular history arose unquestionably from the independent labor movement that emerged after general strikes in Durban in 1973.
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The NUM retained great potential economic disruption power despite the 1987 strike's dismissals. (p. 3)
the NUM remains the biggest union in the country, with the potential to cause most disruption in the economy.
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The 1984-86 emergencies severely damaged the unions and set back worker education. (p. 3)
During the period of the first and second emergencies (from 1985 onward) the unions suffered a series of heavy blows.
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The November 1984 Transvaal stay-away marked a shift in organised labour toward community issues. (p. 5)
For the first time since the 1950s, workers protested en masse over community issues.
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History Workshop's Gold and Workers addresses migrant labour as a product of mining industry accumulation. (p. 7)
The first volume, Gold and Workers, focuses chiefly on the making of a migrant labor system by the mining industry during a formative period of primitive capital accumulation.
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Popular history overlooks uncomfortable topics including strike failures and Black Consciousness. (p. 10)
The failure of strikes, the unevenness of the response of mass organizations to grassroots movements, the side-lining of the profound and pervasive ideas of Black Consciousness
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Popular history is mostly written by whites; black historians are expected to redress this. (p. 11)
popular history at present is written predominantly by whites.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reader's Digest, Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story (1988) | other | 1988 publication covering the beginning of time to present | Treated as an example of commercial popular history, whose omissions on labor struggles and apartheid capitalism are assessed. |
| Gold and Workers (Ravan Press, 1981) and the Labour History Group booklets, Cape Town | secondary literature compilation | 1981-1980s | Cited as examples of worker-oriented popular history aimed at working-class audiences. |
| Trade union publications (COSATU Political Economy: South Africa in Crisis 1987; NUM Five Brave Days 1986; NUMSA Women Organize!) | union or movement records | 1986-1989 | Used as evidence that unions publish their own labor histories and education material. |
| Worker poetry (Black Mamba Rising, ed. Sitas, 1988) | secondary literature compilation | 1980s | Illustrates praise poetry as a vehicle of popular labor history. |
| Suttner and Cronin, Thirty Years of the Freedom Charter (1986), based on interviews and documents | interviews oral history | 1950s Freedom Charter campaign, published 1986 | Described as an example of popular national-resistance history built on interviews and documents. |
| UWC People's History Series (Let Us Speak of Freedom) and People's History Project oral history | interviews oral history | 1980s | Cited as an example of popular history booklets and of oral-history training by students. |
| NECC History Commission, What is History? history pack (1987); Resolutions of the National Consultative Conference on the Crisis in Education (1985) | union or movement records | 1985-1987 | Documents the NECC's attempt to build an alternative people's history and the state ban on it. |
| Glenda Kruss, People's Education: An Examination of the Concept (1988) | secondary literature compilation | 1984-1988 | Source for NECC aims and quoted statements of its demands. |
| History Workshop publications (Topics Series; Working Life 1987; New Nation, New History 1989; Fight Where We Stand slide-tape) | secondary literature compilation | 1987-1989 | Presented as the main examples of academic-popular history production, with sales as an indicator of reception. |
| New Nation weekly history series | newspapers periodicals | late 1980s | Cited to show popular reception through sales of the series in book form. |
| Weekend World, Abasebenzi, South African Labour Bulletin, Learn and Teach and Upbeat popular periodicals | newspapers periodicals | 1970s-1980s | Cited as outlets for popular history writing. |
| Historical photographs and Afrapix photographic work; History Workshop photographic archive | state archives | 1885-1935 and 1980s | Discussed as a developing visual source for popular history. |
| Historical autobiographies (Qabula, Tom, Mattera, Moloi, Mandlenkosi) and Write Your Own History Project | interviews oral history | 1983-1989 | Used to show autobiographical testimony as a form of popular history. |
| Joint Distribution Group informal feedback and sales reports | other | 1980s | Informal evidence that popular history books are in demand among workers. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
Qualitative historiographical survey: the author, a participant in the History Workshop, describes and categorizes popular history publications and projects of the 1980s, relying on publication examples, personal observation and informal evidence of sales and feedback.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Popular history of the 1980s split into two approaches, a class-based tradition from worker education and a nationalist tradition from the popular movement. (p. 286) | Characterization of selected publications (ILRIG, COSATU, NUM, Freedom Charter and UWC booklets); no systematic survey. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The independent labor movement emerging after the 1973 Durban strikes was the dominant influence on early-1980s popular history. (p. 286) | Examples of worker publications (Abasebenzi, SALB, Weekend World series, Gold and Workers). | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The UDF and NECC shifted popular history toward national resistance and People's Education, but the state banned the NECC history material. (p. 290) | NECC resolutions, Kruss, and the author's account of the History Commission's work. | Partial data |
| Popular history is indeed popular, with high demand across audiences. (p. 295) | Publisher sales, Joint Distribution Group feedback and teacher workshops; no systematic readership study. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Popular history has neglected uncomfortable issues such as gender relations, the failure of strikes and Black Consciousness, and is written mainly by whites. (p. 294) | The author's own assessment and discussion at the 1987 Popular History Day; no content analysis. | Asserted |
| The Reader's Digest Illustrated History omits uncomfortable interpretations of labor struggles and apartheid capitalism while debunking racist myths. (p. 285) | Author's reading of the Reader's Digest volume; no detailed comparison given. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
The author notes that the audience is unclear and that no systematic evaluation of who reads which books has been done. She also notes that the response to black-and-white comics remains unevaluated.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The survey rests on the author's selection of publications and informal impressions of reception, without readership surveys, print-run or sales figures, or a content analysis of the texts. Publisher sales records, union education office records, school-use surveys and the History Workshop archive could test the claims; some existed at the time and could have been collected. The evaluation by Wits' Educational Policy Unit is mentioned but not reported.
Replicability: Not applicable.