The General Strike in Zanzibar, 1948

Contenu

Titre

The General Strike in Zanzibar, 1948

Créateur

Clayton, Anthony Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Sujet

Vie politique -- Zanzibar -- 1911-1960 Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Résumé

This article examines a three-week long strike in Zanzibar City in August and September 1948. The strike began among labourers from the mainland at work in Zanzibar port, but spread to all African work-people in the City after an unsuccessful attempt to break the strike by the government. This attempt had led to a major demonstration and confrontation at the entrance to the port, violence being only narrowly averted.While at one level the strike was a Zanzibar sequel to the strikes of the previous year in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, in Zanzibar there was additional significance in the fact that the City and Island's work-force were in very large proportion men from the East African mainland. Zanzibar's dependence on mainland labour had begun in the early decades of the twentieth century. In those years mainland labour had been particularly well-paid, by the standards of the time. By the late 1940s however, mainland labour in Zanzibar was as poor as, perhaps poorer than, its mainland counterparts. Besides, the political structure of the Protectorate aggravated sentiments of alienation since mainlanders were not regarded as permanent residents for whom the government should have any particular concern: nor were mainlanders represented in the legislature.Even after the strike was over the colonial authorities saw only a need for labour reforms rather than political re-structuring to accommodate mainlanders. The strike however had briefly united all Africans, indigenous and mainlander. When, a decade later, this unity of Africans, mainlander and indigenous, town and plantation labourer and peasant, was re-formed, revolution followed. As a portent, therefore, Zanzibar's strike is of particular significance.

Est une partie de

The Journal of African History Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

volume

17

numéro

3

pages

417-434

Date

1976

Langue

eng

doi

10.1017/S0021853700000517

issn

1469-5138, 0021-8537

uri

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/general-strike-in-zanzibar-1948/D178DE1A958DA206867BAE7D22F2B96D

Clayton, Anthony, “The General Strike in Zanzibar, 1948”, 1976, bibliographie, consulté le 16 janvier 2025, https://ibadica.org/s/bibliographie/item/26239