In the period until 1940 (and even more so afterwards), black workers were central to the South African economy. The formation and growth of these working strata and the conditions and protest actions of workers exhibited deep contradictions. Given harsh restrictions and discouragement of free African labour organisation, the emergence of strong, stable black unions was blocked. In their absence, worker protests remained uncoordinated and ultimately unsuccessful. Yet the same socio-economic and political forces that militated against free African labour association favoured worker alliance with African political bodies, such as the ANC—if conditions were right. Coercive labour structures engendered intolerable conditions that stimulated worker resistance—and condemnation by black political leaders. This encouraged some labour activists to gravitate to political movements; similarly, some ANC figures attempted to articulate the viewpoints or publicise the difficult conditions of workers. Before discussing these cases, it is crucial to appreciate socio-economic changes influencing potential mutual support by the ANC and workers and how conditions changed, or remained the same in the period so that analysts might better understand the forces or lack of forces underlying such ties.

Formation and Growth of the Black Working Class

Three main, interrelated, forces gave rise to a black working class: colonial conquest, expansion of mining and later manufacturing, and the active agency of workers themselves. Colonial conquest by Holland and Britain stimulated a limited degree of capitalist growth. More concentrated development of capitalist classes—bourgeoisie and proletariat—was uneven and lengthy. Destruction of Khoekhoe societies from the late seventeenth century gradually spawned an underclass of black farm, domestic, and building workers, yet employer use of slave labour and violence curtailed the ability of these labourers to compete in the labour market. By the 1830s, formal slavery disappeared and migrant workers increasingly assumed the central role of a cheap labour supply. By the turn of the century, colonial conquest was complete. Large territorial losses and subsequent loss of control over their land and economies pushed many Africans into migrant labour, with subsequent disruption to social structures, including patriarchal and elder hegemony.

The class of wage earners increased with penetration of British capital and industrial development.