T.W. Thibedi, radical school-teacher, was a leading igure in the anarchist / syndicalist
International Socialist League (ISL) and the revolutionary syndicalist Industrial Workers
of Africa (IWA) union. He was involved in late 1910s struggles, like the March-April 1919
anti-pass law campaign on the Witwatersrand. The campaign had been driven by more radical
members of the Transvaal ANC -- including members of the revolutionary ISL and IWA, like
Fred Cetiwe and Hamilton Kraai. But the campaign was called off by conservative leaders of
the South African Native National Congress (now the African National Congress, ANC). ----
Thibedi always believed that workers needed their own structures, outside the ANC - like
the IWA and ISL. In April 1919, he issued an IWA lea let arguing that workers needed their
own "council" (this is included below). When the anti-pass campaign was called off,
Thibedi challenged the ANC leadership at a mass meeting in Vrededorp on 9 July 1919. Then
he called a meeting for "all labourers" at St. Mary's Hall, Johannesburg, 26 July.
Here he called for building the IWA into a mass movement against passes and for higher
wages. He stated: "Congress don't utilise money properly, they use it for themselves, and
we, the working men, get nothing" so "We must separate and call ourselves the Labourers
and have our own leaders. The workers must separate from Congress."
But this did not happen - and by the end of 1919, the conservatives were irmly in control
of the ANC again.
Below is part of Thibedi's April 1919 IWA leaflet.
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INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF AFRICA
... the time has come for you all who call yourselves Country Workers that you should jo
in and become members of your own Council. It is not to say that we workers stop you from
joining any other Councils, but you must know what you are in the Country for (rich or
poor) All workers are poor therefore they should have their own Council.
... Friend are you not a worker?
... Why should all workers be pressed down by the rich
when they do all the work of the Country?
... Why should you be kicked and spat at whilst working. ---- ... How is it that you black
workers asking for bread from the Governm ent as their children, are arrested and sent to
gaol?
... Workers come together and be united and join your own Native Council. Why are you
afraid to become members of the Industrial Workers of Africa whilst you call yourself Workers?
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» African Anarchist Collective Tokologo #3 - T.W. Thibedi and the Industrial Workers of Africa, April-July 1919 By LUCIEN VAN DER WALT