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- " i Whenever shortage of workers to provide cheap labour 1:If,ated itself Capitalists have attempted one form orto inducc vast majority of people to go out to work for \

the orthodox form has always been dispossession of thei.e. to render them landless so th*t they should depend on

;o maintain their fnrallles.But it 1 o net enougn merely to render people landless and

thus iepender.t on wages, but Capital requires that the vast n™? of ■ndlefis people should be directed In such a way that competition vn4 would have the effect of rnlaing the price of labour, i.e. wf. t ntf.nd.prds is reduced to a minimum. For instance the various ,’vz -ps of Capitalists don't want any competition in an open labour

between Mlnc6, farms, Geconlary Industries and other avenuesof employment.

In order to f*top. ooror*etition in an open market; somebody (here the 3tf*te) t:rabs the v% ole of the commodity so that he has the sole monopoly for Its sale. xlo c m therefore ration it out in the same way tha-j a shop-'eepeI'ationa sugar or rice or oondensea milk when it Is scarce. x'n? carrying of a pass plaoes the bearer in the position of goin^ only Vj buch places, at such times, where and when he who wants to nonopol.'.e'* hie labour power wants win to where and when he vai ts M " there.

When slavery waa abollbhed the farmers in the Western Capeimmediately passed the Vagrancy Lows which required every Hottentot r.r.d fre<. alf.ve to carry a pase shoving by whom he was employed.This served to compel every Hotter tit to work for some farmer.

For some time wnlle ’"he effect of landlessness were gradually tightening or. the Africans the men bore the brunt of the pass because the economic development still required only the careful distribution of male labour. Also the poorer development of the rreas to the 'lorth of the Union enabled the Mines, farmers and domestic ser-’lce to draw on labour from those areas In order to majte for the irtemaj cliOrtape. But as the industrial develop­ment here Increased more rt .\o iln-’ly during the second World War, and development also took pi^cc in the Northern are**s, eg,Southern Rho .eeia, and now the wholo of the C.A.F., South Afrloa s Labour shortage bccame more acute, as she has to depend more and more on the internal labour force.

What then n.re the economic reasons behind the Government'sdetermination to extend the system of pAeses to women? Let us study the part they plr.y lr. economic life: Therein lies the answer.

w le__cf v.'oct t:- • gouktrys economy

According to f '.cir-s of a Survey conduoted by Dr. Heilman in Johannesburg (1940) no; a ni.-.gie African woman was employed in the Secondary Industry. Thr-ro were, however, more than 40.000 employed in domestic servioe Sixteen years ago, therefore, the labour shortage had not become sc acite as to rope In women in Industry.

During the wf r year*, however, industrial development took place at such a rapid pace tIV*t in 1948 female labour constituted 11^ of the entire labour fore** in Secondary Industries. This

#percentage..

~ 2~

percent*'re consisted of women from all the four min Sf°apa'but Afrloan women constituted 6* of the entire female labour InSeoondf ry Industry.

African women were employed In lnoreaalng numbers in theTextile, Food and Canning, Garment ToymPklng tT,lhutiveCleaning Industries. Also they made their debut In the distributive trade- 'Wholesale, shops and offices. Domestic Servioe was no loni-cr the only field of employment open to African women, outside teaohlng and nursing which, Pt best, could absorb a few thouaan ,

WHY WOMEN LEFT THE KITCHENS.Wfi{.es In Secondary Industry were higher than In domestic

service and paid weekly. In Secondary Industry there were fixed hours of work and consequently more leisure hours than in domestic service. The drift from domestic servioe to industry was inevitable. The phenomenal industrial revolution of the war years rocelerfted this drift at a rate that aaused an "alarming scarcity of "^lrls" for domestic service. Those that were still there found themselves In a favourable bargaining position and re?dlly left the servioe of any employer whose conditions of work were bad."Our Native girls have become cheeky these days", developed into a ohronio oompialnt by the white woman who had beoome accustomed to servile labour that tolerated any type of treatment because it had nowhere to go.

AFRICANS SUBSIDISE FARMERS.The industrial dsvelopment In the towns had two effeots on

the farms. First the Afrloan families managed to keep on the farms in spite of the fact that they were not getting any wages except the little that the head of the family as the only paid member got. One male member of the family went to the towns to seek work and sent hie wages back so that his family members would remain rendering free service to the f-rmer. In this way the farm labourer s family was In fact being maintained by one of the family members so that It should continue to give free services to the farmer. Secondly, the rapid increase in the urban population oreated a bigger demand for farm products, but labour was becoming ooarcer.

The farmers were calling on the Government to force labour to remain on the f» rms; the Secondary Industries were demanding more and more workers; new mines in the Free State and the old ones on the Reef were also appealing to the Government to find them the labour.

BOOK OF PASSES FOR MEN.The old system of Passes was not sufficiently rigid to

ensure that not only were workers dlreoted along certain ohannels, but that they also beoome chained to one employer In the same way that a slave oould net run away from his owner. So the Book of Passes (Reference Book) was Introduced. The farm worker became tied to the farmer with whom he is registered; the mine worker to the mine magnates; while tho workers in Secondary Industry were always threatened with dismissal from work and ejeotment from tho towns to the f ' rms.

PASSES FOR WOMEN.With tho "Influx Control Measures" being tightened the

African women remained the only a^ent who w«s still comparatively

free

free to novo n bo eft and to seek work or not seek It. 3inoe the men on the farms were now, as a result of the Reference Book, no longer able to let-ve the farms, the women had to go and seek work In town to keep their families on farina alive.

- Once more farmers appealed to the Government to compel female labour to remain on the fftrra; the "Missua" in town complained bitterly of a shorts.;*. of girle; the Secondary industries wanted more women tc'ur.n their machines. Rationing of African women labour was called. * " loaue the pass to Women find they will bo tied to tholr owners too like men" demanded the employers.

WHY WE MUSI FIGHT THE PA33.3eoause of the evil economic and social effects we must

bitterly fight the extension of the pfiea 3ystem to ojr vroraen.ECCKOrflg KiTJ^ia;

(a) Aa soon au women carry the pass they will lose theirFre e do m of Mi v c.~o r. t. and be cause they are not free to novc from one plr ce to 'mother, an 1 from one employer to another it will be easy to lower their wa§ ea. Further in spite of bad working conditions a woman would have to stick them, e.g. ■'* orncl mistress in domestic service.(b) They, like their men folK, *•.re 'goinr to be Treated in large numbers in order to provide:

(i) Revenue for the State(11) To provide unp>'id lebour for the farmers by hiring

them out rs prison lrbour.

JO C 111 L EFFECTS:(a) if the Natlonaliat Government succeeds to enforce the carrying of Passes by Africrn Women, it means the end of furailv life fa we know it.

It raeana thrt no hue i and o^n ever be aure any day that hla wife is nia wife; nor can he be sure that his ohild, girl or boy, nir,y not b«. tfiken avay from him and sold to the farmers unier the pretext of fr.ilure to comply with pass regulations.

If f woman should lese her Job rn1 be endorsed out 't the Labour Burs' j she will le .. her hu»!v n1 *nd children behind and go anu work on the farms; if 1 < lrl ovi r 16' la endorsed out 3he will". leave her parents f nd be forced to go and work on the f rms. in such conditions where tht mother, father, daughter and son live in d< ily fe'r of J‘l 1, or of being sold to the farmsre hew c- n any cecent home be built for the proper upbringing of the children?

(b) Where the children nre :oing to witness their mothers owing taken rw‘y in pcttlco ts »ny time of the ni,:ht by men in pciloe uniform, under th*. pretext of aome irregularity with their paaoes fnd the t( ther looks on for fear of being arrested for00atrueting the police, hov crn children have anv respect for their parents?

(o) A man has only to come Into any homo or stop a womanon the street and say he Is a policeman or detective and the law of the country empowers him to take sway that woman, to touch any part of her body as they do with men under the pretext they are searching for a pass.

Even In the dfys of slavery there was nothing like this. This is tne basest metnod of humiliating a people and destroying the honour of its womanhood. The Pass must be resisted.

‘. Tv.r Africa'1' v3tlo"*il on re**. ( )t

Collection Number: AD1812

RECORDS RELATING TO THE 'TREASON TRIAL' (REGINA vs F. ADAMS AND OTHERS ON CHARGE OF HIGH TREASON, ETC.), 1956 1961 TREASON TRIAL, 1956 1961

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