Solidarity Road

by Jan Theron

The story of a trade union in the ending of apartheid

441 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2016

Reviews

[Tafadzwa Kwaramba · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book talks about the history of the Food Canning Workers Union from 1976 until it was absorbed as an affiliate of COSATU, the book is also an autobiographical work of the authors role in events that led to the restructuring and reformation of the FCWU into a vibrant workers organisation between 1976 until about 1986 when the author left the organisation. The book is split into roughly two parts, the first section deals with interesting details of how formation of the organisational culture took place as well as the role and relationship of the white left and other members of the intelligentsia in organising workers who in most cases did not have the technical capacity to run such organisations though it belonged to them. This section of the book made me raise the question about the politics of identity and class intersection. In a sector where the most oppressive bosses were typically white men, it took a white Afrikaans male to counter the bosses and stand up for workers which made sense as the author was technically capable of engaging int he complex discussions of wages as he had studied law. This in my view is tantamount to a technically competent man being Secretary-General of a feminist movement which in modern liberal circles would be generally unacceptable. Numerous times, the author does recognise this dilemma of his identity. Given the relatively low wages he was earning in comparison to the middle class life he would have attained, this dilemma of identity made it difficult or him to raise his own wages.

In the second partition of the book the author talks about how politics and the neo-liberal agenda eventually triumphed over the organisation which from 1986 onwards was under the umbrella of COSATU and the author himself had stepped down to become a practising labour lawyer. The political goals of COSATU as a member of the tripartite alliance made the needs of workers subservient to those of the broader organisation even prior to 1994 according to the author and the centralised organisational structure of COSATU created more distance between the workers and those who represented them unlike the decentralised model the author had instituted during his time at FCWU.

Overall, it is a book worth reading because of the detail it goes into. While most books marvel at the work people like Cyril Ramaphosa in the formation of COSATU, reading about less prominent names humanises this particular epoch of history a bit more and that is something the book manages to achieve, in my view.

[Shaheed · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the gifts of the Communist tradition in South Africa was the impeccable minutes of the Food and Canning Workers Union (FCWU). The union was founded in 1941 under the leadership of CPSA member Ray Alexander (Rachel Simons). It was one of the main founding unions of SACTU (SA Congress of Trade Unions). Jan Theron uses the FCWU minutes as the foundation of a historical critique of the union movement in South Africa from 1976 up to about 1990. He declares his bias upfront as an active participant in this period. Thus, in part, his work is also autobiographical. There are so many activists that have been absorbed into the capitalist apparatus. Jan consciously turned away from these trappings and presents a class struggle critique of the period. Such honesty is a rarity and we hope that others will also put pen to paper to enrich the debates and struggles ahead.

As activists today we are grappling with the questions around what went wrong in 1994; how did we land up in this mess, where 3 people have the equivalent wealth that 50% of the masses have, where imperialism still dominates everything and the vast majority of the masses live in poverty in this land of plenty. Solidarity Road provides us with a record of the crucial period that preceded the political negotiated settlement. It raises a number of questions and challenges to the workers’ movement, especially at the time that some are exploring a new trade union federation around Numsa as well as the setting up of a new workers party. We explore some of the questions raised, as a contribution to the necessary debate. Our hope is to inspire you to study the book and to take its reflections into the workers’ movement. The book carries the label “Fanele”, which sums up the essence: ‘This is a necessary book’.