South Africa on the Eve of Apartheid (review of Saul Dubow and Alan Jeeves (eds), South Africa's 1940s: Worlds of Possibilities)¶
Alan Cobley (2007). South Africa on the Eve of Apartheid (review of Saul Dubow and Alan Jeeves (eds), South Africa's 1940s: Worlds of Possibilities). Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1. Taylor & Francis.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | synthesis review |
| Period studied | 1938–1948 |
| Regions | South Africa, Johannesburg, Benoni |
| Themes | origins segregation, politics ideology elections, business and state, manufacturing industrial policy, labour markets wages, macro fiscal finance debt, resistance social movements |
| Citation key | cobley2007 |
Argument¶
Cobley reviews an edited volume that treats the 1940s as South Africa's last pre-apartheid decade, a time of fluidity in which Afrikaner nationalism, African nationalism and liberal or social-democratic South Africanism all offered competing futures. Most chapters examine state-led social reformism and the idea of social citizenship. Nattrass roots that reformism in wartime economic conditions: budget surpluses, state planning and the needs of industry. Seekings and Posel treat welfare reform and urban African policy as having ambiguous links to later apartheid. Cobley notes that the volume gives less space to the Afrikaner and African nationalist alternatives. He ends with the book's implicit counterfactual question of why a more progressive path was not taken, and he cites Marks's answer that liberal whites failed to lead.
Evidence and method¶
This is a review. It summarises chapters by Nattrass, Seekings, Posel, Jeeves, Phillips, Brooks, Edgar, Raman, Bonner, Hyslop, Skinner and Grundlingh, and Dubow's introduction and Marks's afterword. It reports their use of state commissions, legislation (the Pension Law Amendment Act of 1944), the Smit Committee and biographical material, but gives no detail of the underlying archives or data.
Place in the debates¶
- Continuity or rupture between 1940s reformism and apartheid (see Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism). Reports Posel's view that the welfarist vision was 'an integral part of the genealogy of apartheid' and the editors' view that the 1940s offered several open futures. Cobley relays both without adjudicating.
- Why the progressive 1940s possibilities were not realised (counterfactuals) (see Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism). Cites Marks's suggestion that a failure of leadership among liberal-minded whites opened the road to the apartheid state. Cobley notes a wistful 'if only' undertone in the volume.
- Economic drivers of wartime and postwar reform (see Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism). Reports Nattrass's argument that the motives were straightforward: the need for expanded production, efficiency and minimal disruption in industry.
Findings¶
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The volume frames the 1940s as a period of open possibilities in which Malanite apartheid was only one of several competing futures. (p. 2)
marked the ascendancy of only one of several competing visions of the future
-
Nattrass explains the fiscal basis of wartime social reformism: budget surpluses built on gold, industrial growth and higher white taxes. (p. 2)
South Africa enjoyed a budget surplus throughout the war, buoyed by profits from gold and industrial development, as well as sharply increased taxes on whites.
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The wartime state took an active role in industry and wages, narrowing racial wage gaps. (p. 2)
It used its position of strength to good effect to support infant industries, raise wages, narrow the wage gap between black and
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Nattrass sees the state's motives as economic and industrial, not primarily humanitarian. (p. 3)
the need for expanded production, improved efficiency and minimal disruption in the industrial economy
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Seekings attributes welfare reform to a conjuncture of ideals and specific circumstances. (p. 3)
a coincidence of welfarist idealism with specific economic and political circumstances
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Africans' inclusion in non-contributory pensions in 1944 was an exceptional innovation that outlasted apartheid. (p. 3)
the inclusion of Africans in the right to a non-contributory pension (albeit on a racially differentiated scale) in the Pension Law Amendment Act of 1944 was 'an extraordinary innovation'
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Posel finds continuity between 1940s social reformism towards urban Africans and apartheid. (p. 3)
was simultaneously an integral part of the genealogy of apartheid
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Marks's afterword locates part of the cause of apartheid's triumph in white liberal failure. (p. 3)
the road to the apartheid state was opened up as much by a failure of leadership among liberal-minded whites, as by any other factor
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social and Economic Planning Council and Industrial and Agricultural Requirements Council (wartime planning bodies, with the Wage Boards) | commission or official report | 1940s | The reviewer reports that Nattrass's chapter cites these bodies as agents of wartime economic planning and reform. The review does not say what records the chapter uses. |
| Smit Committee deliberations (1942) and the 1938 Conference on Urban Native Delinquency | commission or official report | 1938-1942 | The reviewer reports that Posel traces an incipient social reformism towards urban Africans through these proceedings. |
| Department of Public Health Community Health Centres experiment | official statistical series | 1940s | Jeeves and Phillips are said to discuss the experimental development of these centres. The review names no records. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
This is a book review. It summarises the editors' framing and each contributor's argument in turn, and it makes few independent empirical claims. The reviewed chapters are described as rooted in policy-institution history, biography and thematic case studies. No primary sources or quantitative evidence are presented in the review itself.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Wartime budget surpluses and a leading state role in the economy produced social-democratic reformism: support for infant industries, higher wages and a narrower racial wage gap. This is Nattrass's argument as reported by the reviewer. (p. 218) | Nattrass's chapter in the reviewed volume; the review cites no data or sources. | Asserted |
| The state's reform motives were straightforward: expanded production, efficiency and minimal industrial disruption. The Planning Councils and Wage Boards were the key institutions. (p. 219) | Summary of Nattrass's chapter; the institutions are named but no records are described. | Asserted |
| Posel finds an incipient social reformism towards urban Africans from the late 1930s, and some continuity between this welfarism and apartheid. (p. 219) | Posel's chapter, drawing on the 1938 conference and the Smit Committee deliberations; the review gives no detail. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The 1940s were full of tipping points that might have led to a more progressive future, so the pre-apartheid decade was open rather than predetermined. (p. 219) | Dubow's introduction poses counterfactuals; this is interpretive argument with no data. | Asserted |
Gaps in the evidence¶
As a review, the text gives no information on the archival or statistical bases of the chapters, so their evidentiary strength cannot be judged. Testing the economic-motive claims would need wartime budget and wage data, Wage Board determinations and Planning Council papers. These exist in published official statistics and state archives. The claims of continuity with apartheid would need comparison of 1940s commission evidence with later apartheid-era policy documents.
Replicability: Not applicable.