Industrial and Commercial Workers Union

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The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU, also Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union; German for example: "Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers ") was an influential union in South Africa in the 1920s . At times it was the leading opposition organization .

history

The ICU was founded in Cape Town in 1919 to represent the local black and colored shipyard workers. The Secretary General has been Clements Kadalie (1896–1951), who originally came from Nyassaland (now Malawi ). By 1921 the ICU had merged with the Cape Town branch of the Industrial Workers of Africa and organized several strikes. The aim was to create a comprehensive union in the spirit of the ideas of pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey and the syndicalism of the global labor movement Industrial Workers of the World . Kadalie's deputy was the communist James la Guma from 1923 to 1926 . In 1925 the headquarters were moved to Johannesburg . In 1926 there was a separation of communist members, including la Guma. While the executives initially came from the working class, more and more black medium-sized companies took over the leadership. By 1927 the ICU had over 150,000 members, making it the largest union in Africa. Most of the members were black, but the ICU also had several thousand Coloreds and some whites. The movement spread to other areas in southern Africa . In the 1920s, the ICU also gained numerous followers in rural areas. So in the area around were Nelspruit in the wake of some Swazi - Chiefs thousands of farm workers members of the ICU. The ICU organized numerous strikes in the industrial centers. She ran numerous processes for her members that often led to success.

Towards the end of the 1920s, the ICU faced increasing government repression. Many union farm workers have been made redundant on white farms. In 1929 Kadalie resigned and had to leave the country. The ICU did not have a consistent strategy and in the 1930s split into a militant and a moderate camp. In 1935, the ICU helped found the All African Convention opposition alliance . Part of the ICU continued its activities in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ) into the 1950s .

In contrast to the African National Congress (ANC) and Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) opposition movements at the time, the ICU was a mass movement , while the ANC and CPSA were rather elitist organizations at the time, which did little to improve the living conditions of blacks.

literature

  • Helen Bradford: Class Contradictions and Class Alliances: The Social Nature of ICU Leadership 1924–1929. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1993 Digitized version (PDF file)
  • Lucien van der Walt: The First Globalization and Transnational Labor Activism in Southern Africa: White Laborism, the IWW, and the ICU, 1904-1934. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2007 digitized version (PDF file; 165 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e ICU at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on July 4, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c Lucien van der Walt: The First Globalization and Transnational Labor Activism in Southern Africa: White Laborism, the IWW, and the ICU, 1904–1934 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2007 Digitized (PDF file; 165 kB)
  3. ^ A b Helen Bradford: Class Contradictions and Class Alliances: The Social Nature of ICU Leadership 1924–1929. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1993 Digitized version (PDF file)