Review of South Africa's Labor Empire: A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines by Jonathan Crush, Alan Jeeves and David Yudelman¶
Mirjana Roth (1995). Review of South Africa's Labor Empire: A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines by Jonathan Crush, Alan Jeeves and David Yudelman. The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3. Cambridge University Press.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | synthesis review |
| Period studied | 1900–1987 |
| Regions | South Africa, Witwatersrand gold mines, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, High Commission territories |
| Themes | mining migrant labour, labour markets wages, unions strikes, business and state, origins segregation |
| Citation key | roth1995 |
Argument¶
Roth reviews Crush, Jeeves and Yudelman's history of black migrancy to the gold mines, presenting it as a book that overturns several received views. It challenges the 'labour-reserve' theory by arguing the mining industry feared permanent loss of labour if the reserves declined further. It also stresses that migrancy sustained rural households through remittances and deferred pay. It locates the main defence of the colour bar in the white mining unions rather than the Chamber of Mines. Roth concludes that the book, perhaps unintentionally, extols the Chamber of Mines and presents migrancy as benefiting the whole sub-continent.
Evidence and method¶
This is a secondary review of a book. It reports the authors' use of Chamber of Mines and WNLA material, including the Chamber's report to the Tomlinson Commission, and a statistical appendix of tables. It also mentions 16 pages of notes across nine chapters.
Place in the debates¶
- Labour-reserve (cheap labour) thesis on migrancy and rural impoverishment (see Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves). The reviewed book challenges the thesis that mining companies welcomed reserve impoverishment, arguing they feared losing labour permanently to urban areas. Roth endorses this as a demolition of a misconception.
- Who defended the colour bar: mine managers or white unions (radical vs revisionist) (see The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion). The book argues against recent radical scholarship that mine managers supported the Color Bar, and attributes defence of white privilege from 1945 to 1987 mainly to the Mine Workers Union and the Council of Mining Unions.
- Costs and viability of ending migrancy and the hostel system (see The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation). The book, via the Tomlinson Commission report, holds that a family-housing system would be far more expensive, so replacing migrancy would not have been economically viable.
Findings¶
-
The book is said to challenge the labour-reserve theory, since mining firms feared losing labour permanently if the reserves declined and Africans moved to urban areas. (p. 2)
But the gold mining industry was also aware of the danger of losing its labour permanently if the reserves continued to decline so that more and more Africans moved into the urban areas.
-
Migrancy preserved rural households through income transfers, according to the book. (p. 2)
it performed a vital role in preserving many rural households through transfers of income to the countryside.
-
The Chamber of Mines is said to have paid more than northern competitors and offered better living conditions. (p. 3)
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The Chamber is criticised for not adhering to the ILO migrant labour convention and for refusing to recognise African unions, which the government legislated against recognising. (p. 3)
failed to adhere to the ILO Convention on migrant labour (of which South Africa was not a signatory) and refused to recognise African trade unions
-
Replacing the compound system with family housing was judged too costly, per the Chamber's Tomlinson Commission report. (p. 3)
the cost of a family unit on the gold mines would be far more expensive than to house a single migrant in a compound
-
The book analyses the emergence of the NUM and the 1987 strike, which halted the industry for three weeks. (p. 3)
careful analysis of the emergence of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) -and the significance of the 1987 strike that brought the industry to a standstill for three weeks.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber of Mines report submitted to the Tomlinson Commission | commission or official report | 1950s (implied by the Tomlinson Commission; not dated in the review) | Shows that housing a family unit on the mines would cost far more than a single migrant in a compound, so ending migrancy was not economically viable. |
| Statistical appendix of tables compiled by the authors | secondary literature compilation | not specified | Tables are said to back up several of the book's statements; the reviewer does not say which series they contain. |
| WNLA (Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) activities and self-presentation in the Northern Territories | company records or reports | to c.1955 | Supports the claim that recruiters built roads, camps, air services and medical facilities in the labour-supplying territories. |
| Evidence on the Mine Workers Union and the Council of Mining Unions defending white privilege, 1945-1987 | union or movement records | 1945-1987 | Used to show that the MWU and its allies, rather than the Chamber of Mines, led the defence of the colour bar. |
| ILO Convention on migrant labour | other | not specified | Benchmark against which the authors say the gold mining industry failed to comply. |
| South African legislation barring recognition of African trade unions | legislation gazette | not specified | Used to explain why the Chamber of Mines did not recognise African unions. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
The review describes a historical synthesis built on narrative and institutional analysis, supported by a statistical appendix. It revises the labour-reserve theory and the view of Chamber of Mines colour-bar policy by interpreting the historical record. The review is not itself empirical and gives only second-hand indications of the book's sources.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Mining companies did not simply want the reserves impoverished, because they feared losing labour permanently as people moved to urban areas. This challenges the labour-reserve theory. (p. 2) | The reviewer summarises the authors' historical argument; no source is named. | Asserted |
| Migrancy preserved many rural households through remittances and deferred pay, and returning workers were often in better health. (p. 3) | Presented as the authors' analysis; the sources are unspecified, though the statistical tables may support it. | Asserted |
| WNLA and the Chamber of Mines built roads, camps, air services and medical facilities in the labour-supplying territories. (p. 3) | Specific figures (1,200 km of roads, 30 flights a week from Francistown by 1955) are cited, probably from industry records, but they are not identified. | Partial data |
| Replacing the migrant and hostel system with family housing would not have been economically viable. (p. 3) | Chamber of Mines report to the Tomlinson Commission on comparative costs. | Partial data |
| The Chamber of Mines tried from 1906-7 to modify the colour bar, and from 1945 to 1987 the Mine Workers Union and its allies were the main defenders of white privilege. (p. 3) | Unspecified historical evidence presented by the authors, against which the reviewer notes the contrary view of recent radical scholarship. | Partial data |
| The book gives a favourable impression of the Chamber of Mines, as a system that benefited the whole sub-continent. (p. 3) | This is the reviewer's interpretive judgement about the book's overall argument. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
The review reports no data caveats from the authors.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The review does not identify the archives, Chamber of Mines or WNLA records, recruitment statistics or wage series behind the book's claims, so their evidential weight cannot be assessed from it. Claims about net welfare effects of migrancy, such as remittances, deferred pay, health and the benefits to labour-supplying territories, would need household or village surveys and wage and remittance series compared across sending regions. Much of this material existed in Chamber of Mines archives and colonial records, and archival collections and oral histories are available now.
Replicability: Not applicable.