ABSTRACT

The 1920s marked a critical turning point in the relationship between the state, capital and workers in South Africa. As the decade opened, white labour continued its militant protests against both state and capital, its confrontation with authority finally culminating in the Rand Revolt of 1922. The 1922 Rand Revolt by white workers was the culmination of a period of challenge to capital that had begun in 1907. The trauma of the Rand Revolt was still vividly felt by Johannesburg Communists, and articles about the revolt and tributes to those who had died — 'Class War Heroes' — figured prominently in March 1923, the first anniversary of the strikes defeat. After the demoralization that followed the Rand Revolt, the 1920s were generally years of cautious optimism for South African Communists. Communist scepticism about the role of the British Independent Labour Party in the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, for instance, reflected the broader political tensions within the international socialist movement.