‘Bread with freedom and peace …’ rail workers in Malawi, 1954–1975

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the struggle for independence and the emergence of labour militancy in Malawi by examining the history of trade unionism among the country's rail workers. It concludes that the emergence of mass nationalism under the leadership of the Malawi Congress Party stimulated a greater proletarian consciousness which heightened the railway workers' expectations and ultimately led them to reject government ideology and strictures. Although the workers were unable to achieve their own ambitions in Banda's repressive Malawi, they nevertheless engaged in activities which were virtually unprecedented in independent Malawi. These incidents presaged the recent labour unrest which has gripped this country and indicate that labourers remain a potent force in any reorganization of Malawi's political environment in the post Banda era.