ABSTRACT
Economic pressures were the predominant motivation that prompted the 1990 decision by South Africa's former apartheid government to commence serious negotiations with the principal opposition movements. In turn, the crisis of racial Fordism—a production paradigm centering on traditional mass production methods coupled with the racial division of labor and the wider subordination of South Africa's black majority—was worsened by waves of mass resistance, encompassing the mass strikes of 1973 and 1974, the 1976 Soweto uprising, and, finally and most importantly, the mass insurrection of the 1980s. This study focuses on the experiences of political activists in Grahamstown, a secondary urban center in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, drawing primarily on the life histories of nine individuals. The narratives presented in the chapter originate from a life history research project on the memories of former political activists. The activists reflect on and articulate their involvement in the struggle leading to South Africa's political transformation.
