ABSTRACT
There was little significant unrest among African mine workers before the strike of white workers on the Rand in 1913. The fundamental cause of the strike was the deep discontent among the African mine workers over these various aspects of their wages. The aspects also include a discontent which had been steadily intensifying during the war as the cost of living rose, as the white workers secured wage increases and as the agitation of African workers on the Rand gathered pace. It also includes a discontent which was quickly translated into strike action by the refusal of the employers to concede any wage increase to African mine workers. Grievances were also expressed about the high prices charged by stores and about the job colour bar. For African workers, the job colour bar came to be seen as the bulwark of what they felt to be the unearned high level of white wages.
