The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (ICU) was formed in Cape Town in
1919. In 1920 it merged with the revolutionary syndicalist union, the Industrial Workers
of Africa, and other unions. It grew rapidly in South Africa among Coloured and black
African workers and tenant farmers. It also spread, in the 1920s and 1930s, into
neighbouring countries. The ICU was not a revolutionary syndicalist union, but it was in
luenced by syndicalism. ---- What were the aims of the ICU? ---- The aims of the ICU were
sometimes a little confused. It was in luenced by many ideas. But according to the 1925
Constitution of the ICU, and many speeches and statements, the ultimate aim of the ICU
was: to abolish the class system through worker and direct action, and to equally
redistribute economic and political power, in conjunction with organised workers
throughout the world.
The unions would run the factories and farms. In the
South African context, this also meant land occupations
by and for black and Coloured workers, ending the power
of big white farmers. The ICU aimed to end national
oppression in South Africa, championing workers of
colour.
The ICU constitution stated that it wanted to reorganise
society along socialist lines in accordance with the
principle: "From each according to ability, to each
according to need."
The ICU's short-term aim was to organise workers
across industries, and in both urban and rural areas. ICU
activists believed their strength was in their numbers,
and could be grown by uniting all workers into "One Big
Union." Many members were not workers. They were
tenant farmers: peasant families who rented land from
white farmers, paying with labour or crops or money.
What were the strengths and achievements of the ICU?
A big achievement of the ICU was in its numbers - over
100 000 members at its height in South Africa alone- and
the union also managed to mobilise across much of the
larger southern African region. The ICU was the largest
trade union to have taken root on the African continent
until the 1940s.
Another major achievement was that the membership,
by the late 1920s, was mostly rural workers and tenant
farmers, who are generally much harder to organise
than urban workers.
It also made international connections, with support
from American and British unions.
What were the ICU's weaknesses?
The ICU had a basic class analysis and an idea of what
it wanted (a free society, where blacks and Coloureds
were treated with dignity, and where workers were not
exploited) and what to use (trade unions) to get there. It
lacked, however, a strategic analysis of how the ICU trade
union was going to bring this about. This, combined
with poor organisation and problems with inance and
in- ighting, made the ICU quite ineffective despite its
strength in terms of numbers.
Also, the ICU's politics were often confused. Sometimes
the ICU used a class analysis, sometimes it was
nationalist, sometimes it was radical, sometimes it was
very moderate. It spoke of strikes, but did not organise
many. It spoke of bottom-up structures, but many ICU
leaders were corrupt and accountability was weak. By
the early 1930s, the ICU had collapsed in South Africa.
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ICU contributors: Abram, Anathi , Bongani, Eric,
Jane, Leila, Lucky, Mzee, Nobuhle, Nonzukiso,
Pitso, Siya, Warren
(en) African Anarchist Collective Tokologo #3 - OUR HISTORY OF STRUGGLE - The Heroic Story of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (ICU)
African Anarchist Collective Tokologo #3 - OUR HISTORY OF STRUGGLE - The Heroic Story of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (ICU) : learning the lessons Compiled by WARREN MCGREGOR TAAC, ZACF
