The African National Congress (ANC) is the oldest and most durable of African nationalist movements, not only in South Africa but also across the continent. Since 1994, it has governed the country as leader of the Tripartite Alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African Communist Party (SACP). The early decades of the twentieth century saw the establishment, survival, and growth of ANC and black labour organisations.

This book focuses on the formative period of engagement of these political and socioeconomic forces before permanent alliances emerged. It analyses the ANC’s attitudes and relationships with the nascent formations of the black working class, with particular attention to the most conscious and active workers. The subject matter in this book also discusses migrant, rural, domestic, and women workers – not always then clearly defined as part of a formal ‘working class’.

Print editions not for sale in Sub-Saharan Africa. This book is part of Routledge’s co-published series 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa, in collaboration with UNISA Press, which reflects on the past years of a democratic South Africa and assesses the future opportunities and challenges.