Nationalism and labour in Salisbury 1953–1965

Abstract

The demise of Charles Mzingeli and the Reformed Industrial and Commercial Union (R.I.C.U.) in Salisbury by the mid‐1950s, and the growth of mass nationalism, reflected important demographic and social changes in the city. These changes were the consequence of the changes on the land in the 1950s, resulting in the increasing movement of labour into Salisbury by the mid‐1950s. For the first time, from this period, the numbers of indigenous workers in the city exceeded those from outside Southern Rhodesia. The emergence of the Harare Youth League and later nationalist parties between 1955 and 1965, thus signalled new developments in urban politics. Whereas the R.I.C.U. had confined their varied activities to issues largely relating to the ‘location’ area and the more permanent city dwellers, the broader mobilisation strategy of the nationalist movements included as a central feature, the rural grievances of the urban migrants. This strategy created a broader basis for national mobilisation. However as the agenda of the nationalist movement was increasingly formed and articulated by competing sectors of the growing African intelligentsia, other struggles in the city were prioritised according to the needs of this nationalist agenda.