ABSTRACT
In South Africa until the beginning of the forties, labor political action was confined chiefly to the English-speaking industrial areas in South Africa. A small and active Labor party has, however, been in existence in South Africa since 1906. In 1913 and 1914 labor strikes and riots in the Rand, where labor was strong, resulted in the arrest of the chief labor leaders and their deportation without trial. The excuse for this action given by General Smuts, then Minister of the Interior in General Botha's Boer government, was that “the government could not run the ordinary risks of the law courts.” The dissatisfaction resulting from the government's handling of this disturbance resulted in the increase of labor strength and in the succeeding elections for the Transvaal Provincial Council labor gained a majority.
