THE 1935 COPPERBELT MINE WORKERS’ STRIKE

African mine workers went on strike in 1935 for the first time since the development of
capitalist mining in the late 1920s. All mining houses were taken by surprise because
prior to this, mine operations ran smoothly. Mine managers were very relaxed and
never thought Africans could strike. Rhodesian Selection Trust and Anglo American
Corporation believed employees were happy. They gave an example of the large
numbers of people available on the Copperbelt in search of jobs after the great
depression. They also said there were low absentee and desertion rates; mine
compound managers were contented with peace in African compounds; while the
lowering of wages in 1932 due to the world economic depression did not bother mine
owners and managers.

Course

1. Although the call to strike was first made by an African miner who used the
pseudonym “G. Lovewey” at Nkana six weeks before, it was in fact at Mufulira where the
first strike occurred. This was triggered off by the introduction of a higher Poll Tax of 15
shillings on 20 May 1935. The announcement of the 15 shillings tax on the evening of 20
May 1935 in Mufulira’s African mine compounds led to a strike of African miners the
following day (Tuesday 21st).

The “Bemba” are said to have been in the forefront. Leaders of this strike were mine
clerks. They sent letters to their colleagues at Nkana and Roan. The strikers gathered
together in the compound and began to make a disturbance. As a result, John Smith
Moffat the District Officer-in-Charge was forced to go to the compound to try and
contain the situation. He failed to convince them. The following morning, Wednesday 22
May, a large crowd of strikers gathered at the Boma. Meanwhile another crowd of
excited strikers had gathered on a nearby football field and turned down an invitation
from Mr Schaefer, the Mufulira Mine Compound Manager to meet him at his office.
Moffat, Schaefer and Constable Abbot addressed the workers at the football ground.
Arrests of 8 colleagues by police earlier in the day, and a promise by Schaefer to look
into grievances, made work to resume work the following day (May 23).

2. Only a day after the strike at Mufulira had ended, notices were found at Nkana on
Friday 24 May threatening a strike. The notices also threatened violence to people who
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would go to work. The men behind the threats were again thought to be “Bemba”.
However, according to A.T. Williams, the District Officer-in-Charge at Nkana, the notices
were prepared and put up by clerks of Nyasaland origin. He reported that they had had
a secret meeting somewhere on the Kitwe farms after one of them read a letter received
from a friend in Mufulira urging Nkana to go on strike too.

After notices calling for a strike were put up on Friday, 24 May, on Sunday evening 26
May, a large crowd of Nkana miners met on a soccer pitch. Two hundred of them ran to
the concentrator and, like their Mufulira counterparts, drove out all the Africans who
had reported for work. When night fell, there was a great deal of noise and some stone-
throwing in the compounds. Some Africans were reported to possess explosives (stolen
from the mine). About half the miners who were on their way for the night shift were
prevented from going to work. Police on patrol during the night were heavily stoned.
Peace was only restored after two lorries of additional police arrived.

Although on the following day, Monday 27 May, some of the workers went back to work,
a large number continued with the strike. Stone throwing became so serious that police
reinforcements were brought in from Ndola in the morning, and later in the day,
soldiers from the Northern Rhodesia Regiment arrived from Lusaka. The night
remained peaceful and work resumed the following day (28 May).

3. As the strike was fizzling out at Nkana, Luanshya became the stage for the third and
last scene of the 1935 Copperbelt strike. To the mine authorities at Roan Antelope, this
came as a surprise. This was because enquiries which had been made by Francis
Spearpoint (the Compound Manager), through Tribal Elders ruled out any possibility of
a strike at Luanshya. But with Nkana only a few kilometres away, the strike fever soon
spread to Roan through social contacts.

An African from Nkana is said to have distributed pamphlets in Luanshya on 26 May

urging African mine workers to strike. On Tuesday night, 28 May, a notice written in
Bemba was found on the road between the mine compound and the African canteen
urging all Africans not to report for work the following day. An angry crowd of more
than 2,000 later gathered at a football field. Waving sticks and singing Bemba songs
they foiled all attempts by Bonfield, the District Officer-in-Charge of Luanshya, to

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address them. Bonfield, accompanied by Spearpoint and his assistant retreated to their
offices.

Bonfield later asked Superintendent Fold, (who was in charge of the police contingent at
Luanshya), to send for rifles and ammunition from the Luanshya Police Camp. Thus
event later had a tragic effect on the whole drama in Luanshya. The strikers stoned
police vanettes and in the process injured 17 policemen. The police decided to open fire.
Six Africans were killed, while 22 others were injured. The strike did not end until the
arrival of troops of the Northern Rhodesia Regiment and Keith the District
Commissioner for Luanshya addressed the workers and promised to look into their
grievances.

Causes

The causes of the 1935 Copperbelt strike have generated a debate in the historiography
of the Copperbelt. Following the strike, the govt appointed the Russell Commission to
investigate the causes of the disturbances. In its report submitted in October 1935, the
Commission noted the following as reasons for the unrest:

i. Increase in taxation in the mine areas. Poll Tax was raised to 15 shillings while in rural
areas it was pegged at 7 shillings and 6 pence. The timing for the tax rise was bad
because wages for miners had been reduced in 1932 due to the recession.

ii. There were also grievances over wages, food portions, deductions on mine clothing,
maltreatment, bad working conditions, etc. These had been smouldering long before
1935.

iii. A lot of unemployment in the wake of the depression.

iv. Detribalisation of Africans.

v. Inadequate govt contact between govt, workers and mine owners over tax policy.

Historiographical Debate

 According to Henry S. Meebelo, the Bemba were the root cause of the
disturbances. Lewis H. Gann suggested two possible explanations for this: first,
that the Bemba were the most numerous individual ethnic group on the mines,

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 and second, that as a group they had a small number of men in leadership or
good positions. This state of affairs made them discontented and envious of
others. Out of 13,103 Africans employed by the mines, there were in all 3,478
Bemba proper at Mufulira, Nkana and Luanshya. And if one takes into
consideration related groups like the Bisa, Shila, Mambwe, Chishinga, they
totalled 5,659.

Also note that Bemba was becoming a lingua-franca on the CB. But also that there were
other languages that were very similar to Bemba e.g. Lamba, Kaonde, Swaka, etc.

 Richard Hall attributed the strike to the role played by educated Nyasalanders
who were in clerical positions.

 Lewis Gann observed that it was the lack of communication among govt, mine
owners and workers which was the root cause of the strike.

Conclusion

The significance of this strike is that it revealed the growing worker organisation and
the ability in the work place. It showed the emergence of worker consciousness,
characterised by the development of a common sense of identity despite the different
ethnic origins. According to Friday Eliya Mulenga, worker consciousness is the
awareness of the workers of their situation, whether of exploitation or gain, at their
places of work. The mine workers in this case became aware of their exploitative
situation by taking into consideration the totality of their social consciousness. The
events also showed that mine workers were no longer mere workers but proletariats
i.e. people who depended on wages for a living.