Union under Stress: Botha and Smuts, 1910–24
T. R. H. Davenport Christopher Saunders T. R. H
General Louis Botha’s Government took office on 31 May 1910 in the sunshine of Imperial approval, and dedicated to conciliation between Briton and Boer. The ministry contained almost as many British as Dutch names. In choosing it, Botha had drawn carefully from...
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General Louis Botha’s Government took office on 31 May 1910 in the sunshine of Imperial approval, and dedicated to conciliation between Briton and Boer. The ministry contained almost as many British as Dutch names. In choosing it, Botha had drawn carefully from all provinces. Because of the manoeuvrings which had preceded his own appointment and the pressure inside his own party for the spoils of office, Botha could neither abandon party lines and choose a ministry of all the talents, nor divide the nation along lines which he would probably have preferred — with Jameson and the Unionists on the government benches, and Hertzog in opposition. This was ironic, for when the electorate went to the polls in September 1910 the policies of the South African and Unionist parties were difficult to distinguish. As Thompson has noted, both stressed the idea of a single South African nation (white by implication), both professed a non-doctrinaire native policy, both wanted white but not Asian immigration, material development, and Imperial preference, and neither sought special protection for the Afrikaner. Both hoped, in effect, that the spirit of tolerance would continue to grow in an atmosphere of ethnic peace. Problems arising from the relationship between blacks and whites did not appear to cloud the scene, for all save a few discerning thinkers like Abdullah Abdurahman, Olive Schreiner and M. K. Gandhi were inclined to leave these for the broader shoulders of the future.

Bibliographical Notes

10.1 Louis Botha’s accession to power and quarrel with Hertzog

Davenport (n. 6.2); Engelenburg (n. 9.7); Garson N. G., Louis Botha or John X. Merriman: The Choice of South Africa’s First Prime Minister (1969); Hancock (n. 8.9), and Smuts: The Fields of Force (1968); Hancock and Van der Poel eds, (1966) (n. 9.1);

Kruger D. W., South African Parties and Policies, 1910–60 (1960); Lewsen P., (1982) (n. 6.8); and Merriman Correspondence (1969);

Malan M. P. A., Die Nasionale Party van Suid-Afrika, 1914–64 (1964);

Spies F. du T., Kruger D. W. and Oberholster J. J., Hertzog-Toesprake (6 vols, 1977); Thompson (n. 9.10); Van den Heever (n. 9.7), Yudelman (n. 20.2)

10.2 The segregation strategy of the Botha-Smuts regime

Davenport (n. 9.4); Feinberg H., ‘The 1913 Natives Land Act in South Africa: politics, race and segregation in the early 20th century’, IJAHS 26 (1993) 654–110;

Kallaway P., ‘F. S. Malan, the Cape liberal tradition and South African politics, 1908–24’, JAH 15 (1974) 113–29;

Lacey M. J., Working for Boroko: The Origins of a Coercive Labour System in South Africa (1981); Legassick M., ‘The making of South African “native policy”, 1903–23; the origins of “segregation”’ (unp., ICS, 1972); Phillips H. ‘“Black October”: the impact of the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 on South Africa’ (AYB 1990/I);

Plaatje S. T., Native Life in South Africa (2 ed., 1995); Rich (n. 6.8); Smuts (1929) (n. 11.2);

Swanson M. W., ‘The sanitation syndrome: bubonic plague and urban native policy in the Cape Colony, 1900–9’, JAH 18 (1977) 387–410;

Tatz C. M., Shadow and Substance in South Africa (1962);

Wickins P. L., ‘The Natives Land Act of 1913: a cautionary essay on simple explanations of complex change’, SAJE 49 (1981) 105–29;

Willan B., ‘The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Societies and the South African Native Land Act of 1913’, JAH 20 (1979) 83–102.

10.3 The growth of African political opposition: the SANNC and the ICU

Baines G. (M.A. thesis, Rhodes, 1988) [Port Elizabeth Strike, 1920]; Beinart and Bundy (n. 15.1); Benson M., The Struggle for a Birthright (1966); Bonner P. L. in *Bozzoli, Labour, Township and Protest 273–97; Bradford (n. 11.5);

Bundy C., ‘A voice in the big house: the career of headman Enoch Mamba’, JAH 22 (1981) 531–50;

Duncan D., ‘The state and African trade unions, 1904–28’, SD 18 (1992) 55–74;

Kadalie C., My Life and the ICU (ed. S. Trapido) (1970); *Karis and Carter I; Lacey (n. 10.2);

La Hausse P., ‘The message of the warriors: the ICU, the labouring poor and the making of a popular political culture in Durban’, ICS 15 (1990) 104–27; Maylam (n. 4.1);

Meli F., South Africa Belongs to Us: A History of the A.N.C. (1988); Odendaal (n. 6.3); Perry (n. 4.3); Plaatje (n. 10.2);

Roux E., Time Longer than Rope (1964 edn);

Simons H. J. and R. E., Class and Colour in South Africa (1969); Van Onselen (n. 19.1);

Walshe P., The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: The ANC, 1912–52 (1970); Wells (n. 11.5);

Wickins P. L., The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (1978);

Willan B., Sol Plaatje: Selected Writings (1997).

10.4 Indian affairs: the climax of the Gandhi-Smuts encounter and the defiance of Sapru

See entries under (nn. 6.7, 9.6 and 11.3).

10.5 White worker resistance, 1913–14

Christie R., ‘Slim Jannie and the forces of production: South African industrialisation, 1915–25’, ICS 8 (1977) 94–114; Davies (n. 20.4b); Doxey (n. 20.4c); Hancock (n. 8.9); Hutt (n. 20.4c); Johnstone F. A. (n. 19.3); Katz (n. 20.4b);

Marais A. H. (ed.), Politieke Briewe, 1909–12 (1971–3); Simons (n. 10.3);

Moroney S., ‘Mine worker protest on the Rand, 1901–12’, in *Webster E. (ed.), Essays in Southern African Labour History (1978); Yudelman (n. 20.3c).

10.6 The invasion of German South West Africa and the Afrikaner rebellion of 1914

Bottomley J., ‘The OFS and the rebellion of 1914: the influence of industrialisation, poverty and poor whiteism’, in *Morrell (n. 11.6); Davenport T. R. H., ‘The South African rebellion of 1914’, EHR 77 (1963) 73–94; Ehlers A., ‘Die Helpmekaar beweging in Suid-Afrika: die storm en drang jare 1915–20’ (AYB 1991/I);

Garson N. G., ‘The Boer rebellion of 1914’, HT 12 (1962) 132–9; Hancock (n. 8.9);

Kemp J. C. G., Die Pad van die Veroweraar (1946);

Maritz S. G., My Lewe en Strewe (1939);

Naude J. D., General Hertzog en die Ontstaan van die Nasional Party, 1913–14 (1970);

Scholtz G. D., General C. F. Beyers (1941), and Die Rebellie (1942); Snyman A., ‘Stem van ’n profeet’, SD 21 (1995);

Stadler A. W., ‘The Afrikaner in opposition, 1910–48’, JCPS 7 (1969) 204–15;

Steinmeyer J., Spykers met Koppe (1946).

10.7 South Africa in the Great War

Buchan J., The South African Forces in France (1920);

Garson N. G., ‘South Africa and World War I’, JICH 8 (1979) 68–85;

Grundlingh A. M., Black Men in a White Man’s War: South African Blacks and the First World War (1986); Hancock (n. 8.9); Lacey M. J., ‘Platskiet politiek: the role of the U.D.F., 1910–24’ in *Cock and Nathan 28–39; Phillips H. ‘Black October: the impact of the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 on South Africa’ AYB, 1990/I; Seegers (n. 17.1);

Spies S. B., ‘The outbreak of the first world war and the Botha government’, SAHJ 1 (1969) 47–57;

Ticktin D., ‘The war and the collapse of the South African Labour Party’, SAHJ 1 (1969) 59–80; The Union of South Africa and the Great War, 1914–18 (1924);

Willan B. P., ‘The South African Native Labour contingent, 1916–18’, JAH 19 (1978) 61–86.

10.8 Party realignments, 1915–21

Bouch R. J., ‘Farming and politics in the Karoo and eastern Cape, 1910–24’, SAHJ 12 (1980) 48–64; Hancock (n. 8.9) and (1968) (n. 10.1); Lewsen, Merriman Correspondence (VRS 50, 1969); Marais A. H., ed. (n. 10.1); and ‘Aspekte van die 1915 verkiesing’, SAHJ 5 (1973) 61–93;

Reid B., ‘The general elections of 1920 and 1921 in Natal: Labour in triumph and defeat’, JNZH 2 (1979) 37–48; Spies et al. (n. 10.1).

10.9 Smuts at Versailles, the South West African mandate, and the bid to incorporate Southern Rhodesia and the Protectorates

Chanock M., Britain, Rhodesia and South Africa, 1900–45: The Unconsummated Union (1977);

Curry G., ‘Woodrow Wilson, Jan Smuts and the Versailles settlement’, AHR 66 (1961) 963–86;

Hailey, Lord, The Republic of South Africa and the High Commission Territories (1963); Hancock (nn. 8.9, 9.1 and 10.1), and Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs I (1937);

Hyam R., The Failure of South African Expansion, 1908–48 (1972);

Lee M. E., ‘The origins of the Rhodesian responsible government movement’, RH 6 (1975) 33–52; and ‘An analysis of the Rhodesian referendum, 1922’, RH 8 (1977) 71–98;

Long B. K., Drummond Chaplin (1941);

Smuts J. C., The League of Nations: A Practical Suggestion (1917); and Africa and some World Problems (1929);

Van der Poel J., Selections from the Smuts Papers V (1973);

Warhurst P. R., ‘Rhodesian-South African relations, 1900–23’, SAHJ 3 (1971) 92–107; and ‘Smuts and Africa: a study in sub-imperialism’, SAHJ 16 (1984) 82–100.

10.10 Shadows over the Smuts regime, 1921–2: Bondelswarts, Bulhoek and the Rand rebellion

Bonner (n. 10.3); Davey A. M., The Bondelswarts Affair (UNISA, 1961); Davies (n. 19.3);

Edgar R. R. Because They Chose the Plan of God: The Story of the Bulhoek Massacre (1988);

Freislich R., The Last Tribal War (1964); Hancock (1968) (n. 10.1);

Herd N., 1922: The Revolt on the Rand (1966); Hunter (n. 4.4); Johnstone (n. 20.3); Kelly R. D. G., ‘The religious Odyssey of African radicals: notes on the Communist Party of South Africa, 1921–34’, RHR (1991) 5–24; Meli (n. 10.3); Roux (n. 19.3); Simons (n. 10.3); Sundkler (1961) (n. 9.5);

Walker I. L. and Weinbren B., 2000 Casualties (1961); Yudelman (n. 20.3c).

10.11 The Nationalist-Labour pact and the 1924 General election

Creswell M., An Epoch in the History of South Africa: The Life of F. H. P. Creswell (1956); Hancock (1968) (n. 10.1); Kruger (n. 10.1); Lewis (n. 9.5);

O’Dowd C. E. M., ‘The general election of 1924’, SAHJ 2 (1970) 54–76; Spies et al. (n. 10.1); Van den Heever (n. 9.7).

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