Analysing Afrikaner Nationalism: The 'Christian-National' Assault on White Trade Unionism in South Africa, 1934-1948¶
Dan O'Meara (1978). Analysing Afrikaner Nationalism: The 'Christian-National' Assault on White Trade Unionism in South Africa, 1934-1948. African Affairs, Vol. 77, No. 306. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1934–1948 |
| Regions | South Africa, Witwatersrand/Rand, Transvaal, Cape |
| Themes | unions strikes, politics ideology elections, labour markets wages, origins segregation, business and state, mining migrant labour, manufacturing industrial policy |
| Citation key | omeara1978 |
Argument¶
O'Meara argues that Afrikaner nationalist ('Christian-National') organising among white workers is poorly explained by conspiracy theories or by an inherent appeal of nationalism to Afrikaner workers. Success and failure are instead explained by (1) changes in the labour process (the rise of semi-skilled operatives and African occupational mobility) that produced tensions within the registered union movement and the Labour Party, (2) the disadvantaged position of Afrikaans-speakers in industry, and (3) the petty-bourgeois class position and interests of the organisers (Broederbond, NRT, RDB, BWBB, OB Arbeidsfront). Christian-Nationalists succeeded only where they manipulated real material grievances and union failings (Spoorbond, the Mine Workers' Union) and failed where the union delivered material gains (Garment Workers' Union). The 1948 electoral shift incorporated specific strata of white wage earners into a class alliance, paid for by a higher rate of exploitation of black workers.
Evidence and method¶
Official statistics (Union Statistics for Fifty Years), Board of Trade and Industries and Van Eck commission reports, commissions of enquiry into the Mine Workers' Union (1946, 1953), Chamber of Mines annual reports, Mining Unions Joint Committee minutes, Garment Workers' Union commission proceedings, Afrikaans journals (Inspan, Volkshandel, Koers), the NRT's official history (Naude), Pauw's occupational study, Hepple, Moodie, and interviews with a former Broederbond member and P. J. Meyer.
Place in the debates¶
- Explanations of Afrikaner nationalist success among white workers (conspiracy vs. ideological appeal vs. class analysis) (see Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism). Rejects conspiracy accounts (Hepple) and the presumed inherent appeal of Afrikaner nationalism; offers a class-based explanation focused on the labour process, the position of Afrikaners in industry, and petty-bourgeois organisers.
- Class character of white labour in South Africa (Wolpe-style debate on the white working class) (see The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion). Sidesteps the conceptual status of white workers but implicitly distinguishes productive workers from supervisory 'new petty bourgeoisie' (e.g. white miners), which shapes the contrasting outcomes in the MWU and GWU.
- Racial division of labour and the incorporation of white labour (revisionist political economy) (see The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion). Argues that white wage gains after 1948 were bought by raising the exploitation of black workers, with capital and the NP state cooperating in incorporating white labour.
Findings¶
-
Newly proletarianised Afrikaans-speakers were concentrated in the least skilled white occupations, while skilled artisans were English-speaking, giving nationalists a grievance to exploit. (p. 8)
Thus, compared with English-speaking industrial workers, Afrikaners found themselves either in the large army of unemployed poor whites and/or as part of an army of operatives in the least skilled, lowest paid roles assigned to white labour.
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The Christian-National organisations were led by petty-bourgeois groups, not by Afrikaner workers themselves. (p. 9)
Both were initiated, inspired, lead, financed and maintained by petty bourgeois groups.
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Material grievances and manipulation of class interest, not appeals to volk unity, drove whatever success Christian-National unionism had. (p. 21)
Grand ideological appeals to the mystic unity of the volk played little role in winning worker support for Christian-National unionism.
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The Mine Workers' Union was an autocratic, corrupt body tied to the Chamber of Mines under the 1937 closed shop agreement, making it fertile ground for the Hervormers. (p. 25)
After 1937, the MWU became in effect the Chamber's policeman.
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White miners' differentials over other white industrial workers narrowed by 1946, with the less skilled bearing the brunt. (p. 24)
By 1946 the differentials between white miners and other white industrial workers had closed, the respective minimum wage index reading 144-4 and 146-8.
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The Garment Workers' Union resisted a fifteen-year Christian-National assault because it delivered tangible gains to its members. (p. 27)
In the period of Sachs' secretaryship (1928-51) the average weekly wage of women workers in the industry rose from ?1 to ?7, the working week was reduced from 50 to 40 hours
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Christian-Nationalism redirected class grievances into racial and anti-imperialist terms, offering whites gains at black workers' expense with minimal cost to capital. (p. 21)
Through an acceptance of race rather than class as the basic social division, white workers could make further 'gains', with minimal costs for capital.
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After 1948 white real wages rose sharply while African real wages fell, consistent with buying white labour's support through greater exploitation of blacks. (p. 28)
in the first five years of NP rule the index of real white wages rose by over 100%, whilst those of Africans fell by 5%0.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Statistics for Fifty Years (Pretoria, 1960) | official statistical series | c.1910-1960 | Supplies the statistics on manufacturing output shares, white and African industrial employment, trade union membership, railway employment, mining earnings and women's employment. |
| Board of Trade and Industries Report no. 282, Investigation into Manufacturing Industries in the Union of South Africa (1945) | commission or official report | 1945 | Documents the shift from an artisan/unskilled division of labour to semi-skilled operatives and the advocacy of cheap African operatives. |
| Third (Interim) Report of the Agricultural and Industrial Requirements Commission (UG 40/1941) (Van Eck Report) | commission or official report | 1941 | Shows state advocacy of further mechanisation and 'low-paid' African operatives. |
| Department of Labour Reports 1947 and 1948 (UG 38/49 and 50/51) | official statistical series | 1947-1948 | Supports the claim that state policy sought to protect the racial division of labour through incentive schemes, female labour and supervisory transfers. |
| Industrial Legislation Commission (UG 37/1935) | commission or official report | 1935 | Cited for the rise of industrial unions as industrial techniques changed. |
| Forward (Labour newspaper), 2 November 1934 | newspapers periodicals | 1934 | Reports the T&LC delegates' account of relaxation of apprenticeship rules and fears of undercutting by rural migrants. |
| Mining Unions' Joint Committee (MUJC) minutes, 1940-1947 | union or movement records | 1940-1947 | Used for T&LC requests regarding the African Mine Workers' Union, MWU member protests over wages, the 1947 strike and white miners' replacement by Africans. |
| Transvaal Chamber of Mines Annual Reports (48th, year 1937; 55th, year 1944; also 1947) | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1937-1947 | Documents the 1937 closed shop agreement with the MWU, its clause 17 and the 1944 GPC payment to the union. |
| Commissions of Enquiry into the Mine Workers' Union (UG 36/1946 and 1953 report) | commission or official report | 1946, 1953 | Evidence for MWU authoritarianism, rigged elections, corruption and members' complaints; the 1941 Van Zyl Ham Commission was not seen. |
| Carnegie Corporation Commission, The Poor White Problem in South Africa (1932) and Dept. of Labour Report 1933 (UG 3/1934) | commission or official report | 1931-1933 | Establishes the scale of poor whiteism (300,000 very poor) and registered unemployment (188,000 in 1933). |
| Department of Labour report, UG 45/1941 | official statistical series | 1940-1941 | Shows the Department's claim that the poor white problem had largely been solved by wartime industrial expansion. |
| S. Pauw, Die Beroepsarbeid van die Afrikaner in die Stad (Stellenbosch 1946) | secondary literature compilation | 1939 | Source of occupational distributions of Afrikaans-speakers, e.g. clustering in unskilled, mine, railway and bricklaying work, and railway employment. |
| Kenneth A. Heard, General Elections in South Africa 1943-1970 (London, 1974) | election returns | 1943-1948 | Provides the 1943 Labour Party vote shares in Mayfair and Benoni that frame the later electoral collapse. |
| L. Naude, Dr. A. Hertzog, Die Nasionale Party en die Mynwerker (Pretoria, 1969) - official history of the Nasionale Raad van Trustees, incl. reproduced speeches | company records or reports | 1936-1948 | Main source on the NRT's founding, aims, finances, Hertzog's Volkskongres speeches and the Hervormers' campaign in the MWU and GWU. |
| Agenda of the Uitvoerende Raad, 12 May 1945, University of the Witwatersrand Archives A1, Hofmeyer Papers | state archives | 1945 | Evidence that the Broederbond tried to unite the OB Arbeidsfront and the HNP/V's BWBB. |
| Interviews with a former senior Broederbond member and with Dr P. J. Meyer (10 June 1975) | interviews oral history | 1975 | Supports the claim that workers were scarce in the Broederbond and that the BWBB was a response to the OB's Arbeidsfront. |
| Garment Workers' Union Commission of Enquiry, Proceedings (1949) | commission or official report | 1949 | Evidence on the BWBB's and Bree Kerklike Komitee's composition, secretaries, board and finances. |
| Christian-National periodicals and press (Inspan, Volkshandel, Koers, Die Transvaler, Die Blanke Werker, Transvaler, Star) | newspapers periodicals | 1941-1952 | Source for the Christian-National ideology on workers, the BWBB's aims and membership claims, and RDB membership. |
| Reddingsdaadbond and related publications (Ons Reddingsdaadbond; RDB Handleiding; E. P. du Plessis, Volk Staan Op; P. J. Meyer, Die Stryd van die Afrikaner Werker) | company records or reports | 1939-1946 | Supplies RDB aims, its placement bureau figures and Volkskongres statements on Afrikaner capital and workers. |
| House of Assembly Debates (HAD) 1938, 1942, 1956, 1958 | parliamentary debates | 1938-1958 | Cited for Spoorbond's history, Schoeman's views on abolishing collective bargaining and the later fate of the BWBB. |
| AMKM Spandau, Income Distribution and Economic Growth in South Africa, Vol. II, unpublished PhD, University of South Africa, 1971 | secondary literature compilation | 1947/8-1959/60 | Basis for the index of real white and African industrial earnings after 1948. |
| W. F. J. Steenkamp, 'Bantu Wages in South Africa', S.A. Journal of Economics 1962, Table 1 | secondary literature compilation | 1940s | Supports the claim that the white/African earnings gap closed slightly in wartime. |
| Johannesburg Sunday Times library 'Splinter and Minor Parties' file | newspapers periodicals | 1948-1969 | Counts the 31 fringe parties formed after 1948, 17 of them to foster white labour interests. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
Historical interpretive case study in a Marxist class-analytic framework (labour process, petty bourgeois class interest). It combines time-series statistics on employment, wages and union membership with comparison across three unions (Spoorbond, MWU, GWU) and reading of Afrikaner nationalist ideological texts, rather than regression or testing against alternatives.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Industrialisation and mechanisation shifted white labour from craft/artisan to operative positions, increasing the white labour force and creating tensions within the craft-dominated union movement that Christian-Nationalists exploited. (p. 47) | Union Statistics for Fifty Years series on manufacturing shares, employment and union membership, plus BTI 282, Van Eck and Industrial Legislation Commission. | Partial data |
| Newly proletarianised Afrikaans-speakers were concentrated in low-skill occupations, which gave Christian-National activists grievances to exploit against English-speaking craft unions. (p. 51) | Pauw's 1939 occupational figures, Carnegie Commission and Department of Labour reports. | Partial data |
| Christian-National unionism was initiated, financed and led by petty bourgeois groups linked to the Broederbond, not by Afrikaner workers, with the BWBB, NRT and RDB run by clergy, academics, bankers and politicians. (p. 52) | Naude's NRT official history, GWU Commission proceedings, Broederbond archive agenda, interview, and RDB/BWBB publications. | Partial data |
| The Hervormers captured the MWU in 1948 mainly through exploiting a corrupt, Chamber-aligned union leadership and falling relative wages of lower-skilled white miners, rather than innate Afrikaner nationalism. (p. 67) | UG 36/1946 and 1953 commission reports, MUJC minutes, Chamber of Mines reports, Union Statistics wage data, Naude. | Partial data |
| The Garment Workers' Union resisted Christian-National attacks because it delivered material gains to its largely Afrikaans-speaking women members and was well led. (p. 70) | Hepple for wage and hours gains under Sachs; Union Statistics on female employment; Naude and Sachs's own accounts of the campaigns. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Spoorbond succeeded among railway workers by appealing to newly proletarianised Afrikaners' interests against an inactive craft-dominated union, but never broke the craft unions. (p. 65) | Pauw, Union Statistics, HAD, Adam, Inspan; membership figures from Spoorbond claims and records. | Partial data |
| After 1948 the NP government's repression of unions coincided with rising real white wages and falling African real wages, as higher wages were bought through greater exploitation of black workers. (p. 71) | Spandau's real earnings index (Table 47(b)) for private manufacturing and construction; Hepple for the attacks on unions. | Partial data |
The author's caveats¶
The author notes that he could see only two of the three government commissions into the MWU (not the 1941 Van Zyl Ham Commission), that the Hertzog claim of 80% Afrikaner union membership is 'probably an overestimate', and that OB membership figures are unreliable so the Arbeidsfront's influence cannot be assessed. He also flags that the Coloured women employment figures are misleading because many were in the Cape, and that space limits force a sketch of the MWU struggle.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument that workers were drawn by material class interests rather than nationalism would be better tested with union membership rolls, language and occupational breakdowns, and constituency-level voting data for mining seats in 1943 and 1948, much of which exists in archives and electoral returns. Wage and occupation data disaggregated by language group and union, and records of union ballots, would show who actually switched. The class-position claims (petty bourgeois leadership, 'new petty bourgeoisie') rest largely on official histories and ideological texts rather than systematic biographical or membership data, which Broederbond, NRT and union archives could now supply.
Replicability: Data described but not public.