AFRICAN STRATEGIES AND IDEOLOGIES IN A WHITE FARMING DISTRICT - LYDENBURG, 1930-1970

This paper examines the character and impact of African resistance in the white farming district of Lydenburg from 1930 to 1970. The paper s hows that, in the 1930s, African labour tenants faced pressure from wh ite farmers who demanded more labour and offered less land. Tenants su ccessfully defended their land and their free time, which prompted far mers to call in the stare. The state was also unable to overcome the f airly widespread African opposition. Much of this resistance was infor med by a determination to maintain some African autonomy and avoid who lesale incorporation into 'the world of the whites'. In the 1940s dete riorating conditions on the white farms caused many young Africans to look for jobs in the urban areas, which led African families to become more flexible about the need for rural autonomy. Access to rural reso urces nevertheless remained an important objective. Such strategies we re continually shaped by struggles within the family. In the 1950s inf lux control prevented African urbanisation from expanding, and tenants once again focused their efforts on maintaining control over the term s of their employment on white farms. The persistence of this small sc ale resistance prevented Apartheid labour policies from achieving thei r objectives. Because of this failure the state then decided to abando n the distribution of labour tenants and to abolish the whole labour t enant system instead. The paper therefore concludes that the transform ation of labour practices in white farming districts was crucially aff ected by African resistance and that this resistance can only be under stood adequately through a theoretical perspective that moves away fro m a narrow class bias.