Review: Africa: Migrant Labour in South Africa's Mining Economy
| Author | Martin A. Klein |
| Date | 01 December 1986 |
| Published date | 01 December 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208604100414 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
/
AFRICA
895
weaknesses
lie
in
international
insensitivities
and inattention
to
na-
tional (African)
contradictions.
Unwillingness
to
treat
political
econ-
omy
as
either
mode
of
analysis
or
of
production
means
that
the
crucial
intra-state
causes
of
regional
conflict
-
internalization
rather
than
internationalization
(see Selassie
on
Ethiopia
and
Nzongola-Ntalaja
on
Zaire)
-
are
overlooked
to
the
detriment
of
American
diplomacy
and
African
development:
the
roots
of
insecurity
and
instability
are
contained
in
African
societies
rather
than
in
American
bureaucracies.
Timothy
M.
Shaw/Dalhousie University
MIGRANT
LABOUR
IN
SOUTH
AFRICA'S
MINING
ECONOMY
The
struggle
for
the
gold
mines'
labour
supply
189o-1920
Alan
H.
Jeeves
Toronto:
McGill-Queen's
University
Press,
1985,
xiv,
323pp,
$30.00
More
than
any
single
factor,
gold
has
shaped
the
South
African
social
and
economic
system.
This
is
not
simply
because
of
the
great
wealth
involved,
but
because
the
industry
has
given rise
to
a
repressive
labour
system.
South
Africa
is
rare
in
the
extent
of
its
gold
ores,
but
these
ores
tend
to
be
of
low
quality.
This meant
that
vast
wealth
could
be
realized
only
if production
costs
could
be
kept
down.
The
most
im-
portant
production
cost
for
most
of
this
century
has
been
labour.
The
history
of
labour
on
the
gold mines
has
produced
two
different
schools
of thought.
For
liberal
writers,
the
system
was
created
by
the
efforts
of
skilled
white
labour
to
protect
its
privileged
position.
For
Marxists,
who have
dominated
recent
writings,
the
system
is
the result
of
the
quest
for
profit
by
mining
capital.
Jeeves
weaves
his
way
deftly
through
these conflicting
schools.
He
argues
that there
was
no
question
about
collusion to
keep
labour
costs
down.
The
industry and
the
state
agreed
on
that
through
diverse
periods.
The
question
was
how.
He
describes
indecision,
disagree-
ment,
and
struggle,
both
within
the
industry
and
within
various
gov-
ernments.
Mining companies
fought
each
other,
using
a
variety
of
tactics,
but
not higher
wages. Many
within
the
industry sought
dif-
ferent
policies
from
those
actually
followed.
On the
question
of
white
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