32 page booklet, complete and staple-bound in the original published printed card covers. Very good condition.
Externally, a small tear to the top left corner and age related wear around the stapled binding and to the extremities. Age related toning to the covers and internal pages. Minor corrections in pencil reflected in the margin of some pages.
Following a plunge in the global gold price from 130 shillings/oz (£6 10s) to 95 shillings/oz (£4 15s) in 1921, South African gold companies tried to reduce operating costs by cutting wages and enabling the promotion of cheaper black miners to skilled supervisory positions. The Rand Rebellion (the 1922 strike) was an armed uprising of white miners in the Witwatersrand against the proposed changes.
"This thoughtful and well written pamphlet sets out clearly the underlying causes of the Rand troubles and the events which led up to the rising. The author lays stress on " the tendency of the white man to degenerate in South Africa," the racial bitterness prevailing among the Dutch, and the selfishness of the labour unions among the permanent conditions. He attributes the mining dispute partly to the change in the character of the white miners, now mostly half-skilled Dutch- men, and to " the spread of Socialistic and Bolshevist propaganda by extremists, mostly of Scottish or Jewish extraction." It is surprising to find Scotland blamed in this connection ; probably the so-called Scots, like most of the agitators on Clydeside, come from Ireland or are aliens who have taken Scottish names The author reprehends the Johannesburg people for their indifference to municipal affairs and the Government for their reluctance to deal firmly with the Bolshevik agitation until the Rand was actually in revolt. He admits, however, that when General Smuts at last took action he showed the greatest courage and firmness. The object-lesson ought to suffice for a long time to come." - The Spectator, 24 June 1922.
Size: 210mm x 140mm
Johannesburg, Central News Agency, 1922
Photos provided reflect the condition in addition to the above description.
NB: This book will be shipped from Northern Ireland (UK) and will incur additional shipping & insurance costs.
- Binding Condition: Very Good
- Overall Condition: Very Good
- Size: 210mm x 140mm
