Bakunin's heirs in South Africa: race and revolutionary syndicalism from the IWW to the International Socialist League, 1910–21

Abstract

The historiography of the socialist movement in South Africa remains dominated by the interpretations developed by Communist Party writers, and this is particularly true of the left before Communism. This article defines the key arguments of Communist writers regarding the left in the 1910s, and develops a critique and reassessment, stressing the centrality of revolutionary syndicalism and anti‐racism in the early socialist movement on the basis of a detailed examination of primary materials. It shows how the early left was less the scions of Marx than the heirs of Bakunin, and argues for the reinsertion of the history of the early South African socialist movement into the broader history of anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism.

Notes

∗ Lucien van der Walt is a member of the Sociology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Cope (n.d.), pp. 82, 93 gives the name as ‘Jack Campbell’. Roux, whose father was a close associate of Campbell, gives his name as ‘Jock’ (Roux, 1978, p. 129, footnote; Roux and Roux, 1970, p. 7).

Roux disputes this, asserting only white workers attended Campbell's meetings, but provides no substantiation and admits in his autobiography that he never ‘heard him address a public meeting’ (Roux, 1978, p. 129, footnote; Roux and Roux, 1970, p. 7). Johns cites Roux but phrases Roux's point misleadingly: ‘Campbell’s meetings were restricted to whites only', and incorrectly gives Campbell's first name as ‘James’. See Johns (1995, p. 28, footnote 8).

Johannesburg ISL public meetings from 1915 at the Square attracted a ‘little knot of native and coloured men’ (Int. 1/10/1915, ‘Branch Notes’).

Cope (n.d.), the first Communist school piece, is a partial exception.

Roux (1993) greatly exaggerates Bunting's role, attributing to him all major ISL policy decisions and activism regarding race, downplaying the contribution of radicals such as Campbell, Dunbar and Tinker.

Precise figures are hard to come by: the ISL's January 1919 congress had 39 delegates indicating a membership of no ‘more than a few hundreds’ (Roux, 1993, p. 82), whilst Jones ([1921] 1981) estimated that membership never exceeded 400.

These meetings attracted police interest, and detailed reports were compiled by African detectives: Department of Justice ‘The ISL and Coloured Workers’, JD 3/527/17, National Archives, Pretoria.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucien Van der Walt ∗

∗ Lucien van der Walt is a member of the Sociology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.