There was a large mineworkers strike in South Africa in 1985 as the first badge shows. Then there was an even larger one in 1987. I was involved in strike support work for the 1985 strike. We were collecting blankets and food and organising entertainment for the miners, a large group of whom were staying in a hall near Johannesburg. As part of the entertainment we showed them Charlie Chaplins Hard Times, which across the time and cultural gap, they really enjoyed and found it very funny. There was not much support activity in the 1987 strike as the leadership of the NUM adopted a really counterproductive strategy of putting these migrant workers onto busses and sending them home to the rural areas to await the outcome of the strike. The NUM leadership had already become absorbed into the pro-ANC popular front by then (called the United Democratic Front) and secret talks between the ANC and leading capitalists had already begun. There is suspicion among many on the left is that the strike was deliberately sabotaged by limiting the militancy of the workers through dispersing them when solidarity was needed.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 13:21:39 +0000
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