Professional Documents
Culture Documents
bFh~l~flr9
John P h i l i p s
Kecp your eyes on SouLli Africa, cornrades
und fellow-workers of t l z ~I J O I Z ~ .
There
capitalism i:; scen in i t s mosL nakcd und
unac hmed, i t u rnost crue l und inexorable,
1 24
c i d i s t , he remgnised t h a t t h e I.W.W.
l e f t such questions FIS
p l i t i c s up t o each individual worker. The union i t s e l f sinply
refused " a l l a l l i a n c e s , dir& and i n d i r e c t , with e x i s t i n g
p l i t i c a l . p a r t i e s o r a n t i - p o l i t i c a l s e c t s " (i.e. anarchist
groups) .25 Crawford was h i m e l f inportant i n forming a i/,zi tc.4
S u c i a l i s t Party .in %uth ~ r i c a .Iie~ c ~
a r e f u l l y avoided n~lkinrl
pzditics an issw i r i the union. Wlien FVICIL-cw
Txinbar, ;ui a r ~ ~ r &ist, a t t q t e d t o inpose h i s MI
k l i e f s h c was c q x l l c d fol:
"intolerante, unpredictable behavior and intenpcratc a t t a c k s
on comrades" i n Felsruary of 1912.27 l'he I . W . W . had r e a f f i n ~ d
its m n - p o l i t i c a l l i n e i n a country wherc t h e m j o r i t y of t h e
workers could not v o k , and thus had l i t t l e i n t e r e s t i n foirnul
elections.
A t t h e s a t~
i m a s the I . W . W . ' s i n t e r n a l d i f f i c u l t i e s ,
a conference of Africans i n Johannesburg heard Zini bring
f o r t h a resolution i n favor of an African miner's union. The
Voice of Labour edi.ted by Archie Crawford asked the White mincrs
to cooperate w i t h such an organisation. I t c l a i m d t h a t t h c
proposed union m u l d organise t h e rca Z 1,ro 2e Lnricr L- i n t h c mincs .
The I.W.W.
i n the U.S. seemd t o agree, and p r i n t c d Crawford's
article in i t s rn p r e ~ s . ~ Before
9
t h i s new union could bc
organised o t h e r c i r a m t a n c e s intervencd.
The I.W.W.
refused to surrender. M i l i t a n t w o r k e r s and
supporters armd with pickhandles were l e d by Glynn, Dmbar,
and 'Pickhandle Mary' Fitzgerald. They broke up t h e canpaiqn
meetings o f those c i t y Councillors who had been r e s p n s i b l e
f o r breaking t h e tranworkers' s t r i k e . L i t t l e physical v i o l m c e
occurred, b u t t h e I.W.W. kept its reputation as a f i g h t i n g org m i s a t i o n . Many candidates o f the Property Cwners' ~ s s o c i a PJrty
t i o n w e r e successfully denied the r i g h t b speak. L&ur
representation jorp>ed fmm 5 t o 11 on the 30 man council. 23
pJmugh Crmford
C-
back a ~ 0 n v i n c dp l i t i c a l so-
Early i n 1913 Torn Glynn had already arrived in Austral j a . Fis influence helped drive out the DeLeonist elenrnt
from the I. W. W. 34 DeLeonist p o l i t i c a l sectarianism ms ccnsidcred the partisan equivalent of Andrew Dunbar's anarchism.
The Dr?Leonists l e f t the I.W.W. i n the nited States over the
Resolution on P o l i t i c a l Parties and Discipline. mey resisted
the South African I.W.W. but were only a winor i r r i t a n t to
Crawford i n 1312.35 Glynn and another South African WobbZy
narred Peter Larkin went on to becorw irivolved i n the f m u s
Sy dney 12 tri& duri c g W r l d War I. 36
A much mre inportant s o c i a l i s t figure was tc take
ideas t o India. Whandas Gandhi, a s e l f declared "out
2nd o u t Cocialist," w a s i n touch with the Couth N r i c a n rsdical
m m t of this timi.37 In 1913 he led a general s t r i k e G
Indians i n Natal which won a b l i t i o n of the h 3 hut t;ur.38 Upon
h i s return to India, the famus Mahatma l e d the Ahrredabad text i l e workers i n an industry-wide genercll ~ t r i k e . 3 ~
I.W.W.
I.W.W.
ideas w e r e not t o t a l l y dead i n Couth Africa, althouqh the World W a r I had k i l l e d the union i t s e l f i n the
country 40 Archie Crawford had b e a m ~S e c r e t a r y of the S o ~ ~ t h
African I n d u t r i a l Federation (an ' i n d u s t r i a l ' union f o r whites
cr,ly) a f t e r returning frcm exile.41 Andrew Dunbar t r i e d to
swt an Industricrl S o c i a l i o t i k a p c on 1.W.W. liries. Ile h i m
s e l f w a s dropped a s a s p a k e r f o r his a n t i - p o l i t i c a l a t t i t u d e
and i n a b i l i t y to m p e r a t e with others. Tkis organisation
confined i t s e l f t o agitating f o r thc new r e v o l u t i o n q governmt i n the Coviet Union.42
on r a c i s t Australian ~ n i o n s . 3 ~
Tlw? I.W.W. saw timt r a c i m m d
c a p i t a l i s t exploitation were driving the Africans to revolt.
!
I
129
This
a Black-ican,
t y ~ e
of
1 31
f
E'ootnotes :
1.
J u s t i c e Minister Jarres Kruger t o l d t h e South h f r i c a I'=l i m t that Black P m e r ideology was t h e mst dmgerous
thing t o have coim to South Africa from t h e nited S t a t c s .
T i i u Lukk, "What Biko Rcprescnts, " Afr+iciz i?,!pnrt X\(, no.6
(MV.-Ikc. 1977), p.6.
2.
3.
Thonpson, Fred and Pat Muri n , l'lze I. W. W . : T tv J'i:r1 :;Cventy Ycaru, (Chicago: I n d u s t r i a l Workers of t h e World,
1376).
Archibald Crawford, "The C l a s s W a r in South Africa, " Y'he i ) i I c r national SociuZist H G V ~ C ~ Vo1.
,
12, p.83, A u w t 1911.
4.
5.
6.
Mann, Torn, "Diarrond h i n g in Couth Africa," The Intcrnut i o n a l S o c i u l i c t Review XI (July 1310), p.2.
7.
rbid. p.3.
8.
S m s , 1I.J.
9.
Mann,Tom.op.cit.,p.6.
10.
Ihid. p.4.
11.
17.
Crawford, op. c i t .
P.
1 Glynn,
19.
20.
22.
I
12.
C o p , Corrradc n i l l , p.110.
13.
S i m n s and S m n s , op. ci L.
14.
, p. 147.
C o p , op. c i t . ,
W,
15.
18.
K.
16.
23.
Crawford, Archibald, "The Pick Handle Brigade, " Thc InLernational S o c i a l i s t lfeuiew XI, Feb1912, pp.494-499;
Walker and W e i n b r e n , op. c i t . , p.30; Cope, op. c i t . , p.122;
S h n s and Sixx-s, op. c i t . , p.150.
24.
25.
t h e I.W.W.
i t s e l f t o be a n a r c k i s t o r s y n d i c a l i s t , a psit i o n taken by mst I h s t and DeLeonist Marxists. For
a c o n t r a s t i n g view, See the works of Joseph Conlin, o r
mst 1.W.W. propaganda, e s p e c i a l l y Mlph Chaplin, The
General S t r i k e (Chicago: I.W.W.,
1972) p.30 and IndustriaZ
S o l i d a r i t y #183, May 6, 1922, p.2.
26.
27.
29.
30.
31,
32.
33.
36.
37.
38-
39.
40.
41.
G i t s h a m and Tr&ath,
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
mux, Edward. Time Longrsr Than ilope (Madison: The Univers i t y of Wisconsin Press, 1964), pp.130 et seq.; P h i l i p s ,
John. "Digginq i n t o I.W.W. I L i s t o r y : Couth Africa, " Indu:t r i a l Worker. (Chicago) v01. 73, no.10, October 1976.
49.
50.
51.
, p. 44-
n
deported unionists. Although s o l d t o ~ e t r o ~ o l i t aMagazine it was n o t published u n t i l the I n d u s t r i a l ~ o r k e r
p r i n t e d it an March 3 , 1917 (vol.1, no.47, p.4).
34.
an
35.
28.
~tui
, p. 36.
op. c i t .
, pp. 38-9;
Walker and k m -
, p.160.
53.
~ d u s t r i a lWorker ~01.1,
110.82, Noverrber 1 3 1 19201 p.2.
54.
55.
~ ~ d ~ s t p worker
ial
~01.1,
110.85,
56.
57.
R O ~ W
, a d , Time Longer ITlzan Rope, p.400;
68.
69.
70.
71.
Woi-kcr V. 3 ,
Tndu::l~r*i.aZ
Worker v.3,
Industrinl ~ o r k c rV. 3,
TndustriaZ Wor,kcr v.3,
7ndu:;t r i n l :;oliclnrl:ty,
1922.
I ndus Lr.ia1 So lidaz-i L?),
1~~dl,l~tP?:(LL
!;oLidarity,
201 1920, p e 2 -
D e c e d e r 4 1 19201 p e 2 72.
~ Worlkcy
~ ~ Lv o l~ . 3,, no.
~ 22,
~ ZS e p t a h r 1 7 , 19211 P - 2 -
58.
S h e r i d a n J o h n s , op. c i t . , P-717.
59.
I b i d , pp.704-5.
60.
Iizlid, p.707.
61.
i b i d , p.729.
62.
63.
JO-,
64.
Kadalie, C l m s , op. c i L . , P - 6 8 -
65.
66.
ROUX, Ekhard,
67.
Ibid.
no.43 ( # 1 4 7 ) , p . 4
11, 1922.
no.45 ( # 1 4 9 ) , p.2 ~ e b 25,
v 1922.
no.48 ( # 1 5 2 ) , p . 1 ~
c 1 8 h, 192%.
no.49 ( # 1 5 3 ) , p . 3 m c h 25, 1922.
nrw series #173, p. 1 rd,ru;uy
25,
ncw series #176, p. 1 weh 1.8, 1922.
new series #177, p.6 March 25, 1922.
wril
73.
74.
C h a p l i n , Ralph, ii1!1i?CcnerctL : ; t ~ , i k i , .
75.
Ylzc I;'o~ndin!~
ConvcntZon oJ' L / L L ? i.L+/. 1. : I'ryiccccb:nci:; ( ~ m
York L&or Ncws, 1905; r p t d . M e r i t , 1 9 6 9 ) , pp.169-170.
M d i t i o n a l r e f e r e n c e : Achbaugh , C'lrolyn , i,ic,:!j ;i i r : ; i ~ ~ : :
(Chicago: C h x l e s 11. Kerr Co., 1976) , p.218.
76.
IOid., p.575-6.
77.
, p .8 3.
78.
op. c i t . , pp.132-5-
lfltilr:;trni:
, p. 374.
,'
79.
P h i l i p S. Foner in I'hu t / i : : t u r y of thci Arneraican Lubor Movement ~ 1 . 1 1 ;Green, Arckie, " C o a l Creek Troubles" i n OnZy
a Miner (University of I l l i n o i s ) r p t d . ~ p p a l a c h i a nmvemt P r e s s , 1973 as CoczL reck KebeLLion.
80.
When asked h Blacks and Whites f e e l about working together underqround in the U.S.A., the standard miners'
r e p l y is: "When we cmm o u t of t h e mines, a l l of us are
Black." See Hiirlun County, U.S. A . , a f i l m by Barbara
Kapple