Rand Rebellion

The Rand Rebellion (Afrikaans: Rand-rebellie; also known as the 1922 strike) was an armed uprising of white Communists and Nationalists in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa, in March 1922.

Following a drop in the world price of gold from 130 shillings (£6 10s) per fine troy ounce in 1919 to 95s/oz (£4 15s) in December 1921, the mining companies owned by the Rand Lords tried to cut their operating costs by decreasing wages, and by promoting black mine workers – who were paid lower wages – to skilled and supervisory positions.^[2] The promotion of non-white workers to these positions was seen by the striking white workers as a greater issue than the issue of decreased wages.^[1]: 18

When these actions were proposed by the Chamber of Mines to the representative of the trade unions (the South African Industrial Federation) the latter rejected the proposals, calling on all workers in the Witwatersrand region to go on strike as a response.^[1]: 3

The President of the South African Industrial Federation, Joe Thompson, called upon the trade unions to appoint representatives who would form the ruling body of the strike, known as the 'Augmented Executive'.^[1]: 3 The Augmented Executive would be the chief leadership of the strike from the beginning of the strike on 10 January 1922, to the removal of the Augmented Executive from leadership positions by Percy Fisher and the 'Council of Action' on 4 March 1922.^[1]: 7

Hours after the beginning of the general strike in January 1922, striking white workers were recruited into local town-based militias known as 'Commandos'.^[3]: 24. Initially, many of these commandos had few if any firearms, and some, such as the Brakpan Commando, resorted to using sticks and pickaxe handles in order to partake in drilling exercises.^[1]: 10 As the strike grew however, the commandos became more organized and better equipped, each commando eventually having its own group of uniformed officers, a signal corps, an ambulance corps, an intelligence section, and small mounted (horse and bicycle) sections ^[1]: 5. Women Commandos also partook in the strike and later revolt.^[1]: 5

Despite reassurances from Joe Thompson to South African Police officials that the commandos existed to assist the police in the potential event of a 'native' uprising, and that the commandos would remain lawful and peaceful unless provoked, incidents of violence caused by the commandos almost immediately began to occur. ^[4]: 52

On the night of 18 January, a group of approximately 40 strikers, all members of the strikers' Putfontein Commando, overpowered and disarmed 2 police officers guarding a mine's pump station. The strikers attempted to gain the loyalty of the 2 policemen, but when this failed, the strikers profusely apologized and unconditionally released the police officers.^[4]: 52 While many of the Augmented Executive claimed that these 40 strikers were not representative of their whole movement, Percy Fisher stated in a speech on 23 January 1922 that the strikers should have attacked more police positions instead of immediately letting the two captured officers go.^[1]: 5

On 2 February 1922, instructions were issued by the Augmented Executive to local Strike Committees, ordering the latter to utilize the commandos in order to deal with "scabs" (non-striking white workers and all non-white workers), in whatever way was seen fit, no matter if it was by persuasion or force.^[1]: 19 The intimidation and assault of "scabs" then began all across the Witwatersrand region, with outnumbered police officers trying to protect the "scabs".^[1]: 19 Up until 3 February 1922, the Police had only been armed with batons. After that date a quarter of all police on duty in the region were armed with rifles. Only 3 days later on 6 February 1922, the proportion of police armed with rifles was raised to half of all police in the region.^[1]: 19

Percy Fisher continued to give speeches that called for violent action and for strikers to join their local commandos. Those strikers who refused to join a commando were publicly booed and jeered by their fellow strikers ^[3]: 27. At strike rallies, the theme of "Fighting for a White South Africa" became increasingly prominent^[4]: 52, and banners with the phrase "Workers of the World, Unite and Fight for a White South Africa!" were carried by the strikers.^[1]: 18 On 6 February 1922, Fisher stated in a speech that "We are out to win this fight and by God we will, [even] if we have to raze Johannesburg to the ground."^[1]: 5

The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), realizing that the Rand Lords would not give in to the strikers' demands, began recruiting strikers into the CPSA.^[4]: 53 Recruiters for the CPSA repeatedly and openly called on the strikers to achieve their demands through violent means, and after gaining sizable support from the strikers ^[4]: 53, the CPSA formed a 5 man 'Council of Action' led by Percy Fisher, with Harry Spendiff as Fisher's second-in-command.^[4]: 53

In the early stages of the strike, the leadership of the Augmented Executive and the Council of Action both publicly denounced violence against "scabs" and non-white South Africans to appease government officials, and had varying (but oftentimes little) belief in the racist ideas responsible for the initial strike, but both groups of leaders were willing to and did choose to use racist rhetoric in order to galvanize the white strikers (who were most certainly in complete belief of the racist notion that non-white South Africans, who they considered to be inferior, were replacing them) into fighting for a "White South Africa".^[1]: 18 Various unprovoked attacks by the commandos against "native" non-white South Africans were justified with the unfounded idea that the "natives" instigated such attacks as a part of a greater "native uprising" backed by the Rand Lords.^{[1]: 66, 67, 68, 69  [3]: 47}

On 8 February 1922, all 5 members of the Council of Action were arrested under the charge of inciting public violence against non-striking workers. ^[4]: 53

On 6 March 1922, the Augmented Executive and it's Joint Executive gathered at the Rissik Street trade hall in order to consider a potential ballot regarding the status of the strike.^[1]: 20 Early into the meeting, commandos armed with revolvers and other weaponry stormed the building and trapped the representatives inside of the meeting room. The commandos insisted that no ballot should take place, and that the general strike should continue.^[1]: 20 At the same time, Percy Fisher and Bill Andrews addressed a crowd which had formed outside of the trade hall on the building's balcony.^[1]: 20 What little control the Augmented Executive still had over the commandos (and by extension the strike) no longer existed, and full control of the commandos and strike was now in the possession of Percy Fisher, the Council of Action, and the CPSA.^[1]: 20

The rebellion started as a strike by mine workers on 28 December 1921 and shortly thereafter, it became an open rebellion against the state.^[5]: 292 Subsequently the workers, who had armed themselves, took over the cities of Benoni and Brakpan, and the Johannesburg suburbs of Fordsburg and Jeppe.

By the time that general strike was declared on 6 March, Johannesburg's elites had given up on negotiations. Reports stated that "Sabotage advocates" were "now apparently in control and had "redoubled efforts towards violence." The next day, J.L. van Eyssen, a mining engineer involved in the negotiations was informed of a "very great increase in attempted intimidation." Gangs of white workers were halting the delivery of bread, shutting down businesses, and stopping buses that were transporting strikebreakers to the mines. Armed white men began shooting at blacks on the street. That night, the rebels bombed a mine in Primrose with dynamite.^[6]

By 8 March, there were reports that "greatly increased terrorism threatens most serious effect on position of mines." Early that morning, one commando attacked a group of black workers, attacking them with their tools. Another commando attacked a mining compound in Primrose, killing four workers and wounding another sixteen.^[6]

When martial law was declared on the Witwatersrand on 10 March, amid further reports of the "cold blooded murder of natives", Johannesburg was under the threat of being overrun. Prime Minister Jan Smuts sent 20,000 troops, artillery, tanks, machine-guns, snipers, and bomber aircraft to crush the rebellion. By this time, the rebels had dug trenches across Fordsburg Square and the air force tried to bomb but missed and hit a local church. Near the end of the rebellion, a pogrom broke out against blacks by enraged rebels.^[6] Lieutenant Colonel Llewellyn Andersson's role in creating the Union Defence Force was instrumental in crushing the rebellion using "considerable military firepower and at the cost of over 200 lives.^[7][8] Several Communists and syndicalists, the latter including the strike leaders Percy Fisher and Harry Spendiff, were killed as the rebellion was quelled by the Union Defence Force.^[9]

From 15 to 19 March 1922, South African troops cleared the areas of snipers and did house-to-house searches of premises belonging to the rebels. The rebellion was officially declared over on 18 March 1922. Before killing themselves, the two leaders of the strike, Percy Fisher and Harry Spendiff, left a note: "We died for what we believed in - the Cause."^[10]

Smuts' actions caused a political backlash, and in the 1924 elections his South African Party lost to a coalition of the National Party and Labour Party.^[5]: 292 They introduced the Industrial Conciliation Act 1924, Wage Act 1925 and Mines and Works Amendment Act 1926, which recognised white trade unions and reinforced the colour bar.^[11] Under instruction from the Comintern, the CPSA reversed its attitude toward the white working class and adopted a new 'Native Republic' policy.^[12][13]

After the strike, 18 strikers were sentenced to death for murder, of which 14 were reprieved. The four men to not be reprieved, were Carel Christian Stassen, Taffy Long, Herbert Hull, and David Lewis, were all executed by hanging at Pretoria Central Prison. Stassen was hanged on 5 October 1922, while the other three men were hanged together on 17 November 1922. He was convicted of killing two men, John Setsuta and John McKenzie, in what witnesses said were racially motivated killings. Long was convicted of killing a police informant, while Hull and Lewis were convicted of killing a soldier. As they marched to the gallows, Long began singing the "Red Flag", the anthem of early socialists and communists in South Africa. He was joined in the song by the other two men. As they walked, all the prisoners sang with them.^[14][15]

• Jeremy Krikler, Rand Revolt: The 1922 Insurrection and Racial Killings in South Africa, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, 2006, ISBN 978-186842-189-3
• Wessel Pretorius Visser, A History of the South African Mine Workers' Union, 1902-2014, Edwin Mellen Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4955-0460-0

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