'Sunny Places for Shady Characters'

South Africa’s industrial revolution occurred in a Calvinist-dominated and labour-repressive state linked via a strategic corridor to a Catholic regime in Mozambique that was markedly less morally repressive. Third parties used these disparities in state power to exploit the legitimate or illegitimate demand for certain products or services for private or public financial gain. The resulting patterns of social control and collective work class behaviour are best understood as liminal phenomena operating from within this Calvinist-Catholic nexus. By exploring the historical links between Johannesburg and Lourenço Marques, the rise and decline of the trade in alcohol and opium or the provision of outlets for gambling and prostitution can be traced in ways that help illuminate the dark underside of Southern Africa’s industrial revolution in new ways.

'Sunny Places for Shady Characters'. The Making of Work Class Cultures in Southern Africa's Mining Revolution, c.1886-1914

Charles van Onselen

May 10, 2016

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