THE RHODESIA RAILWAYS AFRICAN STRIKE OF 1945, PART I - A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT

In 1945, immediately following the conclusion of the Second World War, a major strike by African employees took place on the Rhodesia Railwa ys. The Railways served both Southern and Northern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) and the system was the region's transportation backbone an d largest single employer. Often seen as a watershed event, the strike has been treated, sometimes quite ably, by a number of scholars. The objective of the present article may be stated simply: to provide a fa r more comprehensive account of the strike than has heretofore appeare d. It covers both territories and draws upon material fr om, inter ali a, the National Archives of Zimbabwe and Zambia, the Public Record Off ice, Rhodes House and oral interviews. Particular use has been made of the verbatim evidence of the strike commissions of inquiry, especiall y that of the African witnesses. Part I is a detailed, straightforward account of the strike's unfolding. Part II seeks to illuminate the st rike's cause, rooted in the railway workers' experience, and to place the event in its historical context. Though contemporary observers may have overstated the strike's transformative power, if deserves its pl ace as one of the region's most dramatic Episodes of resistance.