The administration and control of migratory labour on the S.A. gold mines: Capitalism and the state in the era of Kruger and Milner

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented April, 1975Almost from its infancy the Witwatersrand mining industry grew up under the shelter of substantial government encouragement and support. Although spokesmen for the mines have always attempted to portray their impressive achievements as a triumph of free enterprise capitalism, the leaders of the industry themselves assiduously courted state assistance from the time of Kruger's republic onward

Het Volk and the gold mines: The debate on labour policy, 1905-1910

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 2 June, 1980During the political upheavals which accompanied the shift from "Milnerism" to responsible Government in the Transvaal, the still troubled Johannesburg mining industry confronted serious new problems. In Britain, the Election of 1906 confirmed in power a hostile Liberal Party, avowedly suspicious of Randlords and determined to deny them further supplies of Chinese labour. This government planned major political initiatives in South Africa which seemed equally to jeopardize mining interests. Leaders of the Chamber of Mines were already involved in open political warfare aimed to prevent an anti-Randlord local coalition, perhaps in alliance with the Liberals, from taking power in the Colony. During the difficult years of post-war recovery after 1902, the industry had received powerful support from the Milner regime in the Transvaal and from the British Unionists