LASHERS AND LEVIATHAN - THE 1954 COAL-MINERS STRIKE IN COLONIAL ZIMBABWE

In 1953 Southern Rhodesia's (Zimbabwe's) only coal mine, Wankie Collie ry, was taken over by the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. The colliery's new owners soon discovered that the elimination of ''ha nd lashing'' (shovelling of coal) was the key to better productivity a nd expanded output. Coal cutting machinery was installed wherever poss ible, but in the colliery's two oldest shafts existing mining methods were too deeply entrenched and consequently too expensive simply to be swept away. Instead Anglo American attempted to reinforce colonial pr oduction relations. Supervision underground was tightened up, and the degree of ''self-regulation'' enjoyed by lashers in determining the am ount of work they did was limited. The introduction of a new mine tub designed to increase productivity precipitated strike action in Februa ry 1954 by the colliery's entire black labour force.