Labour Struggles in Southern Africa, 1919-1949: New Perspectives on the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union by David Johnson, Noor Nieftagodien, Lucien van der Walt

ISBN: 9780796926418

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. , 31 May, 2023

Paperback, 286

“Skillfully captures the dynamics of structural change in Southern Africa, demonstrating how revisiting the past can illuminate contemporary challenges... The book provides a vital empirical foundation for rethinking political critique and imagining alternative futures.” ―Elizabete R. Albernaz, African Studies Review

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU)―the largest black political organization in southern Africa before the 1940s―was active in six African colonies, as well as in global trade union networks. Labour Struggles in Southern Africa provides fresh perspectives on the ICU, exploring its record in the 1920s and 1930s and assessing its achievements and failures in relation to the present.

In its One Big Union approach to protecting workers' rights, its emphasis on economic freedoms, its internationalism, and its robust protection of women and migrant workers, the ICU fundamentally challenged the axioms, tactics, and programs of rival organizations like the African National Congress. Reflecting that, this book demonstrates that the legacies of the ICU continue to be of crucial contemporary relevance.