South Africa: South African Police
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- Creator
- South African Police
TitleSouth Africa: South African Police
Reference codeICS76
Date1917-1922
Scope and ContentPhotocopies of papers of the South African Police on native meetings and affairs: comprising file of reports of meetings of International Socialist League, the Bantu Womens' National League, the Transvaal Native National Congress and Industrial Workers of Africa, 1917-1918; file of correspondence on meetings of Africans organised by the International Socialist League, and on Native unrest and opposition to the Native Land Act Bill, 1917-1922; file of miscellaneous papers, including report of Inquiry into ill-treatment of natives by Police officers in Johannesburg, 1919, inquest report on 11 Africans killed during a roit at Vrededorp, February 1920; file of papers on strike at the Meyer and Charlton mine, 1917; and file of press cuttings relating to the International Socialist League, 1917-1920.
NotesThe International Socialist League was founded in 1915, in opposition to World War One and the racist and conservative policies of the all-white South African Labour Party and the craft unions supporting it. It was initially rooted amongst white labour militants, but from the start it attracted black workers. The League argued in its weekly paper, the International, for a 'new movement' to found One Big Union that would overcome the 'bounds of Craft and race and sex', 'recognise no bounds of craft, no exclusions of colour', and destroy capitalism through a 'lockout of the capitalist class'. From 1917 onwards, the International Socialist League began to organize amongst black and coloured workers. In March 1917, it founded an Indian Workers Industrial Union in Durban; in 1918, it founded a Clothing Workers Industrial Union (later spreading to Johannesburg) and horse drivers' union in the diamond mining town of Kimberly; in Cape Town, a sister organisation, the Industrial Socialist League, founded the Sweet and Jam Workers Industrial Union that same year. The International Workers of Africa was founded in 1917, the new general union's demands were simple, summed up in its slogan- 'Sifuna Zonke!' ('We want everything!'). It was the first trade union for African workers ever formed in South Africa.
Conditions governing accessOpen for research. At least 24 hours notice before a research visit. However, access to individual items may be restricted under the Data Protection Act or the Freedom of Information Act.
Extent1/3 box
System of ArrangementPapers divided into 5 series, as described above.
Finding aidsNone
Level of descriptionfonds