Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T22:50:55.040Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Capital and Capitalists in the Transvaal in the 1890s and 1900s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Donald Denoon
Donald Denoon
Affiliation:
University of Papua New Guinea
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Historians have become increasingly concerned to describe and to explain the role of capital and capitalists in three related episodes of Transvaal history: the Jameson Raid at the end of 1895, tne outbreak of the South African War in 1899, and the Reconstruction period after that war. This article reviews recent analyses, and seeks a new synthesis of the published evidence.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , March 1980 , pp. 111 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 My understanding of these debates owes much to a sabbatical year from the University of Papua New Guinea, spent largely in and around the seminar rooms of S.O.A.S., and the South African History seminars organized by Dr Shula Marks and Dr Peter Richardson. To these institutions and individuals I am profoundly indebted.

2 The classic works on the subject are Poel, J. van der, The Jameson Raid (Oxford, 1951)Google Scholar; Wilde, R. H., Joseph Chamberlain and the South African Republic (Archives Yearbook (South Africa), 1956)Google Scholar; and Marais, J. S., The fall of Kruger's republic (Oxford, 1961).Google Scholar

3 Blainey, G., ‘Lost causes of the Jameson Raid’, Economic History Review, xviii, 2 (1965), quotation from p. 356.Google Scholar

4 Denoon, D., ’“Capitalist influence” and the Transvaal Government during the Crown Colony period, 1900–1906’, Historical Journal, xi, 2 (1968).Google Scholar

5 Phimister, I. R., ‘Rhodes, Rhodesia and the Rand’, Journal of South African Studies, 1 (1974).Google Scholar

6 Wilson, M. and Thompson, L. M. (eds.), The Oxford history of South Africa, 11 (Oxford, 1971).Google Scholar

7 Kubicek, R. V., ‘The Randlords in 1895: a reassessment’, Journal of British Studies, xi (1972); ‘Finance capital and South African goldmining 1886–1914’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, iii, 3 (1975); and Economic imperialism in theory and practice: the case of South African gold mining finance 1886–1914 (Durham N.C., 1979).Google Scholar

8 Mawby, A., ’Capital, government and politics in the Transvaal, 1900–1907’, Historical Journal, xviii, 2 (1974).Google Scholar

9 Davenport, T. R. H., South Africa: a modern history (London, 1977), p. 74.Google Scholar

10 Ibid. p. 158.

11 Richard, Mendelsohn, ‘Blainey and the jameson Raid: the debate renewed’, The societies of Southern Africa in the igth and 20th centuries, viii (1978).Google Scholar

12 E.g. Harold, Wolpe, ‘Capitalism and cheap labour-power in South Africa: from segregation to apartheid’, Economy and Society, i, 4 (1972)Google Scholar; and Legassick, M., ‘South Africa: capital accumulation and violence’, Economy and Society, i, 3 (1974).Google Scholar

13 Kubicek, Economic imperialism.

14 Kubicek, ‘Finance capital’.

15 Kubicek, ‘Randlords’.

16 Mendelsohn, ‘Blainey and the Jameson Raid’.

17 Kubicek, Economic imperialism, p. 70.

18 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’.

19 Mendelsohn, ‘Blainey and the Jameson Raid’.

20 Johnstone, F. A., Class, race and gold (London, 1976).Google Scholar

21 Stanley Trapido, ‘Landlord and tenant in a colonial economy: the Transvaal 1880–1910’, Journal ofSouthern African Studies (1979).

22 Cf. Ernesto, Laclau, ‘Feudalism and capitalism in Latin America’, New Left Review, lxvii (1971); and Legassick, ‘South Africa: capital accumulation and violence’.Google Scholar

23 This term is used by Trapido in ‘Landlord and tenant’.

24 The political implications of enclave capitalism are discussed by Nicos Mouzelis, ‘On the Greek elections’, New Left Review, cviii (1978); and I acknowledge a great debt to Jean-Jacques van Helten for discussions on this subject.

25 Mendelsohn, ‘Blainey and the Jameson Raid’; and instances of such influence cited in Charles van Onselen, ‘Randlords and Rotgut’, History Workshop, 11; Alan Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour on the South African gold mines in the era of Kruger and Milner’, Journal of Svtlh African Studies, 11, 1, describes the lobbyists resident in Pretoria during republican times.

26 Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’.

27 E.g. Wcrnher and Beit, described in Kubicek, Economic imperialism.

28 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 391.

29 Johnstone, Class, race and gold.

30 Alan Jeeves’s article, cited above, is only part of his doctoral dissertation so far unpublished. Arthur Mawby’s article, also cited above, is also only a small part of his unpublished doctoral thesis. Peter Richardson’s work, cited below, is a small part of his unpublished thesis. Jean-Jacques van Helten’s doctoral thesis has not yet been completed.

31 Kubicek, Economic imperialism, shows that the Barnato group of companies eventually emerged from mainly speculative enterprises into mainly deep-level mining.

32 Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’, pp. 8–11.

33 Ibid.

34 Samuel Evans compiled this estimate, cited in Kubicek, ‘Finance capital’, p. 386.

35 Peter, Richardson, ‘The recruiting of Chinese indentured labour for the South African goldmines, 1903–1908’, Journal of African History, xviii, 1 (1977), 87.Google Scholar

36 The technical constraints are discussed by Charles Perrings in a review article in Journal of African History, xviii, 1 (1977). The post-war consequences of earlier decisions are considered by Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’.

37 Ibid.; and Trapido, ‘Landlord and tenant’.

38 The different life expectancies of gold miners are the subject of current research by Peter Richardson at S.O.A.S. and Gillian Burke at Birkbeck College.

39 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 415.

40 Ibid. p. 398.

41 The episode is described in Denoon, D. J. N., A grand illusion (London, 1973), p. 46.Google Scholar

42 It was considered by the Transvaal Government customs and industries commission, 1908.

43 Denoon, D. J. N., ‘The Transvaal crisis, 1901–1906’, Journal of African History, vii (1967), 481–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

44 Denoon, A grand illusion, pp. 139–40.

45 Ibid.

46 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 402.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Kubicek, ‘Finance capital’, pp. 391–2.

50 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 400.

51 Ibid. p. 401, referring to the objections of Harris and FitzPatrick.

52 Denoon, ‘Capitalist influence’, pp. 313–14.

53 Ibid.; see also Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’, and Richardson, ‘Recruiting Chinese labour’.

54 Quoted in Denoon, A grand illusion, p. 196.

55 Ibid. pp. 203–4.

56 Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’, especially p. 15. Lagden’s diaries, lodged in Rhodes House Library, Oxford, reveal his painful self-doubts.

57 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 402.

58 Denoon, A grand illusion, pp. 174 and 204.

59 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 408.

60 Denoon, A grand illusion, ch. iv.

61 Trapido, ‘Landlord and tenant’.

62 Denoon, A grand illusion, ch. in.

63 The divisions are clearly described in Johnstone, Class, race and gold.

64 Denoon, ‘Transvaal labour crisis’.

65 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 414.

66 Denoon, A grand illusion, pp. 225–6.

67 Loveday, P., Martin, A. W. and Parker, R. S. (eds.), The emergence of the Australian party system (Sydney, 1977).Google Scholar

68 Research in progress by Peter Richardson and Gillian Burke.

69 Mouzelis, ‘On the Greek elections’.

70 Richardson, ‘Recruiting Chinese labour’, and more fully in his London University doctoral diesis (1977), ‘The provision of Chinese indentured labour for the Transvaal gold mines, 1903–1908’.

71 Denoon, A grand illusion, p. 41.

72 The following opinions are chiefly from the evidence presented to the Transvaal Labour commission of 1903.

73 Jeeves, ‘The control of migratory labour’.

74 Richardson, ‘The provision of Chinese indentured labour’, p. 28.

75 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 404.

76 Denoon, A grand illusion, pp. 182–197.

77 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 406.

78 Quoted in Denoon, A grand illusion, pp. 145–6.

79 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, p. 407.

80 Quoted in Denoon, A grand illusion, p. 147.

81 Richardson, ‘The provision of Chinese indentured labour’.

88 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, adds a great deal of information on the leadership, to what had already been published in Denoon. A grand illusion, ch. vii.

83 Johannesburg, Star (July 1903).

84 Gregory, T., Ernest Oppenheimer (Cape Town, 1962)Google Scholar. FitzPatrick, J. P., South African memories (London, 1932)Google Scholar. Duncan, Innes, ‘The exercise of control in the diamond industry of South Africa: some preliminary remarks’, in Adler, T. (ed.), Perspectives on South Africa (Johannesburg, 1977).Google Scholar

85 Mawby, ‘Capital, government and polities’, pp. 411 and 409.

86 Richardson, ‘The provision of Chinese indentured labour’.

87 Quoted in Denoon, ‘Capitalist influence’, p. 310.

88 Phillips to Wernher, 3 June 1907, letter 86 in Maryna Fraser and Alan Jeeves, All that glittered: selected correspondence of Lionel Phillips, 1890–1924 (Cape Town, 1977).