HUNDREDS OF ed last year by the Pretoria regime.
Police dogs, whips, tear ine, South Alrican deven South itself has been unable to halt a wave of strikes and protest actions. Furthermore many Fleet Street Colital y to editors what would have 3. believe, Wednesday's election was irrelevant to resolving the crisis of apartheid rule in South Africa. Even the recent brutal vote-getting raid into Zambia, where the ruling National Party heralded the death of four people, who were made out, in a deliberate lie, to be ANC members, cannot affect the political reality today.
The railway workers, potentially one of the most powerful sections of South African labour, are leading this wave of struggle. They have already paid dearly for their resistance to apartheid rule.
But the spark which started the transport strike didn't come out of the blue. An important feature of the present tense situation is the way rail workers in struggle are providing the focus for a more general upsurge in volving other unions, campus well as community organisations.
Thousands of post office and telecommunication workers have been on strike for over a month in solidarity with the railworkers, but using their action to put forward their own demands against discrimination.
Last year's imposition of the state of emergency seriously affected township thousands of South African workers joined the stay-away from work on Tuesday and Wednesday. The call for the stay-away, which coincided with the 6 May whites-only elections, was made by the United Democratic Front, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the National EducaSouth Africa since the state of emergency was imposorganisation. Thousands of community organisers main in apartheid jails today. Students went back to school as the army mover into the classrooms.
NUR member People's committees were forced underground as the occupation forces arrived. But today's UNSULEC gives the lie to suggestions that the resistance has been crushed. The mobilisation of the Soweto township has demonstrated that despite the repression it will not allow its two year rent strik crushed by forced eviction.
The background to the current strike wave is the victory scored after three months over 10,000 shopworkers employed by Bazaar stores across the country.
The rail strike developed just as the miners started to move families and girlfriends into a number of Angio American-owned mining compounds in open defiance the migrant It also occurred thousands of miners took part in separate strikes to protest their conditions and continuing deaths mining accidents in apartheid Dits And COSAȚU, the largest non-racial union federation in South Africa has just launched its living watc All this takes place in campaign.
the wake of recent strike action by chemical worker and paper workers. South African increasingly turning to their unions which have not only survived the emergency, but have grown in size and in their capacity to organise in conditions of severe repression.
This powerful wave has given confidence to even broader layers OI South African people. Running battles have occurred between students at Cape Town and Witwatersrand. Union solidarity call SPEAKING at the STUC conference in Perth, NUR general secretary Jimmy Knapp issued a stirring plea for labour movement solidarity.
He told the delegates: hope everybody who goes into Woolworths, Marks and Spencers, Frasers, and all shops, wil carry the image of those dying railway at the machine-gunning police, and never again purchase a pennyworth of South African goods' STUC sent ar emergency telegram to the prime minister calling on her to act.
The NUR is presenting a petition South African embassy The union issued a state- wednesday MOCHI calling 'for release of the leaders of the black South African railway WOrKCH.
who have been imprisoned as a consequence of At Cape Town, live am munition was used tor the first time against predominantly Wile se dent body On both occa students were cessful in protecting thei invited speakers - a railway Winnie Mandela watersrand. Hundreds of have bees detained.
Conth African rail workers 'organise through struggle, page y their fight for basic human rights for their members.
•We protest strongly at the generai brutal oppres sion of our black South African comrades.
The outlawed South African Trade Unions (SACTU issued a special call for solidarity.
The struggle of transport workers is struggle written in blood. Because the railways and harbours are directly owned and controlled by the apartheid state any attempt at organising these workers brings the union into direct confrontation with the brutal apartheid regime.
'While the strike led by SARHWU has demonstrated the mighty weapor of labour power, SACTU urges all trade unions and the workers to support the railway workers strike, further challenge the legitimacy right to apartheid rule bosses and state.
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tion Crisis Committee. The massive response has add- ed to the most severe political crisis experienced in