“Workers of the world unite, keep South Africa
white.”
–Slogan of early twentieth-century South African
Labor Unions
“South Africa’s apartheid is not the corollary of
free-market or capitalist forces.
Apartheid is the result of anti-capitalistic or socialistic efforts to
subvert the operation of market (capitalistic) forces.”
–Walter E. Williams, South Africa’s War Against
Capitalism
During the twentieth century the worldwide socialist
movement attempted to criticize capitalism by associating it with Nazi
Germany since the Nazis did not nationalize many industries as the Russian
socialists had done (they allowed ostensibly private enterprises that were
nevertheless regulated, regimented and controlled by the state). The truth is that the roots of Nazism or
“national socialism” were thoroughly socialistic. The Nazis were “national” socialists,
whereas the Soviets claimed to be international socialists. The Nazis and the communists were
ideological clones who considered the ideas of classical liberalism
(free-market capitalism, limited government, low taxes, private property, the
rule of law, peace), and those who espoused them, to be their mortal enemy.
Similarly, the international socialist movement has
long attempted to associate another kind of socialist movement – the former
South African Apartheid laws – as some kind of abuse of capitalism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Government-imposed discrimination against
black South Africans was instigated by white labor unions associated with
various Marxist and communist movements.
It was a pervasive system of government regulation, regimentation and
control. This of course is the exact
opposite of free-market capitalism.
It was this form of massive government
interventionism that the late Nelson Mandella
battled against in his youth, and for which he was imprisoned for
twenty-seven years by the South Africa government. (Unfortunately, Mandella
himself was a socialist and a covert member of the executive committee of the
South African Communist party
party who idolized such totalitarian monsters as
Fidel Castro. He apparently never
understood that it was a version of Castroite socialism
that had victimized him and the black population of South Africa, and that
what South African blacks needed the most was the economic freedom and
opportunity provided by free-market capitalism).
What Was South
African “Apartheid”?
Two books are indispensable to understanding the
system of government-imposed, institutionalized discrimination against South
African blacks known as “Apartheid.” They
are The Colour
Bar by William H. Hutt, and South Africa’s War Against
Capitalism. Both were
published before the final collapse of Apartheid.
The origins of institutionalized discrimination
against South African blacks were in the violent, Marxist-inspired white
labor union movement (which had American ties) of the early twentieth
century. One of the first leaders of
this movement, as Hutt describes, was one W. H. Andrews, who formed a chapter
of the International Socialist League and who became the first secretary of
the Communist Party of South Africa.
He championed the use of violence and terrorism to “protect” white
workers from competition from blacks.
This union movement eventually became joined at the hip with the South
African government so as to use the coercive powers of government (which can
be far more violent and terroristic than mere unions alone) to deprive South
African blacks of economic opportunity.
The first “Colour Bar
Act,” as they were known, was the 1911 Mines and Works Act, which listed
numerous jobs that could not legally be performed by blacks. South African capitalists opposed this law
because they wanted to be able to hire employees in a free market. In such a market, the generally
lower-skilled and less-educated black workers (less skilled because of
inferior educational opportunities as well as racism) could indeed find
employment, albeit at a lower, entry-level wage than more experienced and
skilled white workers. The unions’
main goal was to deprive “the capitalist class,” which they harshly condemned,
of this opportunity to hire black workers.
As Hutt explained, what the general secretary of the white workers’
labor union opposed was “the desire of the capitalist class to achieve
economies by bringing better-remunerated and more responsible work within the
reach of the Africans.”
The Mines and Works Act of 1926 was the result of
“the combination of socialism and racism” brought about by the ruling
Nationalist party, a socialist political party that had formed a coalition
government with the South African Labour
Party. The lynchpin of this law was
known as “the rate for the job,” a law that mandated minimum wages that
precluded thousands of black workers from offering to become employed at
entry-level wages, thereby depriving them of employment opportunity
altogether. This of course is the
effect of minimum-wage laws anywhere and everywhere. As Hutt wrote, the law “had the effect of
preventing the entry of subordinate races or classes into the protected
field.”
A 1922 Apprenticeship Act saw to it that only whites
could attain apprenticeships in numerous trades, with apprenticeship being a
prerequisite for employment. When
South African blacks attempted to bypass all these socialistic, protectionist
labor laws by becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own business
enterprises, the union-dominated South African government issued Obama-style
“directives” or executive orders forbidding the opening of any black-owned
businesses, “even
in African urban areas.” There was
also a system of “job reservations” where hundreds of jobs were “reserved”
for white workers only.
There were also pervasive separate-and-unequal laws
and regulations affecting just about every institution in South African
society. Inter-racial marriage was
outlawed, as was sexual intercourse between whites and non-whites. These all of course had nothing whatsoever
to do with capitalism or markets or a free society and were entirely the work
of the dark hand of statism. As Walter Williams concluded in South Africa’s War Against
Capitalism, “The whole ugly history of apartheid has been an
attack on free markets and the rights of individuals, and a glorification of
centralized government power.”
