Apartheid and Secondary Industry: The Productivity Debate, 1955-1965 (with particular reference to the Witwatersrand)

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Stuart Coupe (1990). Apartheid and Secondary Industry: The Productivity Debate, 1955-1965 (with particular reference to the Witwatersrand). History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand: Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid, 6-10 February 1990. University of the Witwatersrand, History Workshop.

Type	conference paper
Scope	Economics and economic history of apartheid
Method	archival narrative
Period studied	1954–1971
Regions	Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, Germiston, Springs), Port Elizabeth, East London, Natal, Standerton
Themes	manufacturing industrial policy, labour markets wages, unions strikes, business and state, bantustans removals influx, politics ideology elections, sanctions divestment
Citation key	coupe1990

Argument

Coupe examines how employers in secondary industry tried to raise productivity by altering the racial division of labour during 'high apartheid'. Influx control and job reservation, the instruments the state used to subordinate black labour, collided with industrialists' wish for a differentiated and disciplined workforce. He argues that white working-class support for apartheid cannot be reduced to a ruling-class 'divide and rule' strategy; it must be traced through the political and ideological traditions of the white unions. The registered unions (TUCSA/SATUC) mostly defended white living standards, while Nationalist-aligned unions such as Yster en Staal pushed job reservation. The clothing industry is the key test case, where white garment workers became redundant as production moved to low-wage, African-staffed areas. Organised industry's open criticism of the government faded in the 1960s, as faster growth, Afrikaner pressure and fear of sanctions pushed it toward quieter lobbying.

Evidence and method

Archival records from the Church of the Province (William Cullen Library, Wits): TUCSA, Garment Workers Union and Iron Moulders Society papers. Also West Rand Administration Board and Germiston municipal records in the Transvaal archives, ASSOCOM records, Transvaal and Natal Chamber of Industries circulars, Samuels papers, and Hansard. Trade and union periodicals (Industry and Trade, The Manufacturer, Saamtrek, AEU Monthly Journal, The Indicator) and newspapers (Star, Rand Daily Mail, Daily Dispatch). An interview with Gert Beetge, an Industrial Tribunal report, and unpublished theses (Posel, Lazar, Lambert, Crankshaw).

Place in the debates

• Divide and rule by capital vs. ideological/political traditions in the fragmentation of the working class (see The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion). Rejects a simple 'divide and rule' reading of racial segregation in unions and workplaces. Argues that political and ideological traditions shaped the form of worker alliances, and that state-capital-labour relations need empirical investigation.
• Labour process (Marxian) approaches vs. wider political and ideological determinants of industrial relations (see Black trade unions: growth, wage effects, Wiehahn and strategy). Builds on Lewis, Webster and Crankshaw but says their approach leaves the wider political and ideological dimension relatively unexplored. Aims to fill that gap.
• Cheap-labour/state-capital alignment vs. state-industry conflict under apartheid (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). Stresses an uneasy relationship between organised industry and the Nationalist government under Strydom and Verwoerd. Industry objected to influx control, job reservation and decentralisation as impediments to productivity. This friction faded after Sharpeville, as industry retreated into discreet lobbying.
• Liberal view of apartheid as irrational for industry (see Liberal vs revisionist: was apartheid functional or dysfunctional for capitalist growth?). Treats English-speaking business liberal rhetoric as partly self-serving. It highlighted white racist labour practices while downplaying mining capital's stake in African oppression.

Findings

• Employers did not accept state labour controls wholesale. They favoured some aspects and rejected others according to their own accumulation needs. (p. 2)

  Employers tried to stamp their own interests on these policies, favouring some aspects and rejecting others in accordance with their company philosophy, the type of labour required

• Industrialists complained that state intervention in the labour market was damaging an otherwise harmonious workplace and productivity. (p. 4)

  Representatives of industry continually laid the charge that the Nationalist government was interfering unnecessarily in an otherwise harmonious working environment.

• Following Posel, 1950s manufacturers wanted a two-tier supply, with a bias towards cheap rural migrants over urbanised workers. (p. 5)

  secondary industry in the 1950's demanded a differentiated labour supply with a definite bias towards raw' migrant labour prepared to work for the low wages offered

• The transition to mass-production manufacturing required a disciplined, trained urban labour pool alongside unskilled migrants, which meant renegotiating the division of labour with the registered unions. (p. 6)

  alongside the usual complement of unskilled migrants was considered crucial if South African industry was to make the transition to mass production manufacturing

• Registered non-racial or multiracial unions were preoccupied with protecting white living standards, and their black members were Coloured or Indian, never African. (p. 8)

  Although the industrial unions had an expanding black membership, debates in SATUC invariably revolved around how best to protect white living standards.

• Nationalist-aligned white unions on the mines, railways and municipalities met any change in the racial division of labour with militant racism. (p. 10)

  These unions responded with militant, sometimes hysterical racism to alterations in the racial division of labour.

• Firms like General Motors in Port Elizabeth hired across colour lines out of a labour shortage and cost logic. Politicians nonetheless exploited white worker complaints. (p. 11)

  GM says it doesn't care about skin colour, it just wants good labour.

• Low-wage African workers at the Veka clothing factory endured very low pay, which shows the labour regime in the uncontrolled areas. (p. 17)

  we live in a very poor community and as you have heard we are only paid 15 shillings a week which is not enough to buy food for ourselves

• The job-reservation campaign in clothing was overtaken by industry restructuring: white production workers were disappearing as the industry moved to black labour. (p. 18)

  peaked at a time when white production workers were a dying breed in the industry

• Industry's open confrontation with the government waned in the 1960s because it was counterproductive and fed white sectionalism, not only because of faster growth. (p. 20)

  The confrontational approach to government had proven counterproductive and inflamed white sectionalism

• The Physical Planning Act, an early decentralisation measure, aimed to cut Witwatersrand firms' use of African labour, but it failed. (p. 21)

  The Act was doomed to failure however because whites were no longer interested in the jobs on offer and companies were able to battle with the influx control authorities for exemptions.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source	Kind	Period	How used
Industry and Trade (journal of Federated Chamber of Industries/Transvaal industrialists), 1954-1959 issues incl. Marx address April 1958 (May 1958 p. 40) and Wakeley-Smith address	newspapers periodicals	1954-1959	Establishes industrialists' complaints that influx control and job reservation hampered productivity, and the liberal-business editorial line.
The Manufacturer (FCI official journal), March 1957 and November 1957 reports by C.D.C. Bain	newspapers periodicals	1957	Shows employer demands for disciplined juvenile labour and corrective training camps, and complaints about white worker slackness.
Transvaal Intermediate Archive, West Rand Administration Board records, 219/1/3 vol. 1, IANEA Transvaal Divisional Committee Meeting 21/10/58	state archives	1958	Source of FCI officer Barclay's statement that industry wanted raw migrant labour and complained of insolent urbanised Africans.
Department of Bantu Administration and Development Report 1958-9, UG51/1960	commission or official report	1958-1960	Documents the establishment of 'Youth Camps' and provision for unemployed Africans.
Newspapers: Star, Rand Daily Mail, Daily Dispatch, Germiston Advocate, Confederation News, The Indicator	newspapers periodicals	1952-1965	Used for ministerial speeches, employer and union statements, meetings of garment workers, and the East London wage rate example.
Saamtrek (SATUC/TUCSA newspaper) and AEU Monthly Journal, 1955-1960	union or movement records	1955-1960	Documents white trade union attitudes to job reservation, craft union practices and Rutherford's statements.
Records of the Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA 2), Church of the Province of South Africa Archive, William Cullen Library, Wits	union or movement records	1955-1959	Correspondence and NEC minutes on Yster y Staal, the Labour Department rebuke and the Confederation of Labour episode.
Records of the Iron Moulders Society, Minutes of 11th Biennial Meeting 2/12/55 (CPSA, WCL)	union or movement records	1955	Source for Rutherford's remarks on conservative rural-origin members.
Records of the Garment Workers Union of South Africa (Bch3.1, Bch4, Bch8), CPSA, WCL	union or movement records	1954-1958	Evidence on uncontrolled areas, Veka factory conditions, worker letters and the Germiston meeting with Du Pisanie.
Report by the Industrial Tribunal to the Minister of Labour on Reservation of Work in the Clothing Industry, 2/10/57	commission or official report	1957	Shows that only the Germiston GWU branches supported racial demarcation of tasks in evidence.
House of Assembly Debates, 6-10 June 1955, pp. 7147-7259	parliamentary debates	1955	Cited for publicity about the Nationalist directors of Vekawerksklerefabriek.
Address by A.J.J. Wessels, National Management and Development Foundation conference, 3/10/61	company records or reports	1961	Management view on training black workers and white foremen's colour prejudice at Veka.
Interview with Gert Beetge by Suzanne Gordon, 13/6/86	interviews oral history	1986	Supports characterisation of Beetge's Nationalist activism.
University of the Witwatersrand Archive, Prof. L.H. Samuels Papers, 6.6, E.S. Munger paper on SABRA, March 1956	state archives	1956	Eyewitness account of racial integration at General Motors Port Elizabeth and the Minister's response.
Cape Province Archive Depot, Records of Assocom, Executive Council minutes 17/10/60	employer association records	1960	Liebenberg's letter showing Afrikaner pressure within employer organisations after Sharpeville.
Natal Chamber of Industries documents collection, Transvaal Chamber of Industries Circular 20/7/71	employer association records	1971	Shows the Chambers' shift to quieter lobbying on physical planning and decentralisation.
TIA, Town Clerk Germiston 492/45/22, Germiston Industries Association minutes, January 1968 and September 1964	employer association records	1964-1968	Anecdotes on influx control harassment of workers at Stewarts and Lloyds and accommodation difficulties at Hume Pipe.
NIPR/CSIR C/Pers 184, R.H. Blake (ed), Labour Turnover: An Investigation, September 1970	commission or official report	1970	Case of Domani Stainless Steel advised to improve remuneration given coloured/Indian labour dissatisfaction.
Lewis, Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa (1983) membership figures	secondary literature compilation	1955-1958	Supplies combined membership of the white federations (133,000 in 1955, 145,000 in 1958).
Rob Lambert, Political Unionism in South Africa: SACTU 1955-65, PhD Wits 1988/9	secondary literature compilation	1955-1965	Source for the Textile Workers Industrial Union quote and the Frame wage-cutting campaign in the Industrial Council.

Inference

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Qualitative historical case study built from archival documents and contemporary periodicals; quotations from employers, union leaders and politicians illustrate shifting positions of capital, the state and white labour, with the clothing industry as a detailed case.

Key claims

Claim	Basis	Strength
Industrialists in the 1950s blamed influx control and job reservation for labour-discipline and productivity problems and wanted a differentiated labour supply biased towards migrants. (p. 5)	Industry and Trade May 1958 (Marx), IANEA minutes 1958 (Barclay), The Manufacturer; supported by Posel's findings.	Illustrative or anecdotal
Most of the registered white trade union movement, including TUCSA unions, accepted or defended racial protection of white workers and did not contest job reservation's rationale. (p. 8)	Saamtrek, AEU Monthly Journal, TUCSA archive correspondence, Rutherford speeches.	Partial data
Nationalist-aligned unions like Yster y Staal and the white federations responded with militant racism and expanded organising, supported by government patronage. (p. 10)	Press (Confederation News, The Indicator, Star), TUCSA archive letters, Lewis membership figures.	Partial data
In the Rand clothing industry, exemptions and uncontrolled low-wage zones using African labour caused an exodus of factories and collapse of white production employment, undermining Nationalist garment workers' job-reservation agitation. (p. 17)	GWU archive, Industrial Tribunal report 1957, Hansard 1955, Germiston Advocate, press on 1959 meetings.	Partial data
Employers used a shortage of white labour to substitute non-white workers, as in the General Motors Port Elizabeth plant, despite Nationalist political agitation. (p. 11)	Munger unpublished paper (Samuels Papers) and SATUC regional correspondence.	Illustrative or anecdotal
Business criticism of government peaked after Sharpeville and then became more discreet in the 1960s, owing to Afrikaner pressure, faster growth, and Nationalist consolidation. (p. 20)	ASSOCOM minutes 1960, Industry and Trade editorials and readership survey, TCI circular 1971.	Illustrative or anecdotal
The Physical Planning Act failed to reduce African labour use on the Witwatersrand because whites were uninterested in the jobs and firms won influx control exemptions, hiring coloureds and Indians instead. (p. 21)	Council of Reef Municipalities statement (Star 1955), NIPR Labour Turnover report, Germiston Industries Association minutes.	Illustrative or anecdotal

The author's caveats

The author describes the paper as a preliminary outing in a proposed general history of industrial relations, and notes that the state-capital-labour relationship is a matter for empirical investigation. No systematic data caveats are stated.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument rests on selected quotations from employer and union bodies and offers no systematic data on productivity, wages, employment by race, or job reservation determinations. Factory-level employment and wage series (Census of Industries, Industrial Council agreements, Department of Labour records) and Wage Board files existed then and could test claims about substitution and wage pressure. Claims about white working-class support for apartheid need membership, voting or survey evidence rather than leaders' rhetoric.

Replicability: Data described but not public.