Peter Cole - Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area

THE WORKING CLASS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Editorial Advisors

James R. Barrett, Julie Greene, William P. Jones,
Alice Kessler-Harris, and Nelson Lichtenstein

A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.

RACE AND ACTIVISM

IN DURBAN AND THE
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

PETER COLE

2018 by the Board of Trustees

of the University of Illinois

All rights reserved

1 2 3 4 5 C P 5 4 3 2 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Publication supported by a grant from the Howard D.

and Marjorie I. Brooks Fund for Progressive Thought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cole, Peter, 1969 author.

Title: Dockworker power : race and activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay area / Peter Cole.

Other titles: Working class in American history.

Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2018. | Series: The working class in American history | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018033487 | ISBN 9780252042072 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780252083761 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH : Stevedores Labor unions California San Francisco History. | Stevedores South Africa Durban History. | Stevedores Political activity California San Francisco History. | Stevedores Political activity South Africa Durban History. | Labor unions California San Francisco History. | Civil rights movements California San Francisco History. | Anti-apartheid movements South Africa Durban History.

Classification: LCC HD 8039. L 82 U 65123 2018 | DDC 331.761387164dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018033487

ISBN 9780252050824 (e-book)

Cover illustration: Durban dockworkers, ca. 1950. Photograph by David Goldblatt. University of Witwatersrand Historical Papers, Johannesburg. Image used with permission of David Goldblatt.

I dedicate this book to all workers on the waterfront,
particularly those who shared their stories,
over the past decade, with me .

Maps

Figures

Despite the name on the cover, my booklike most othershas been a collective endeavor. At the risk of forgetting someone, I want to thank some who helped make this book possible.

I confess I felt a little uneasy, at first, diving into writing South African history, as I am not formally trained in the field and, therefore, was mindful of being an interloper or worse. Nevertheless, a vast array of South Africans and South Africanists welcomed and assisted me. After spending many months in the rainbow country over the past decade, I have come to love South Africa, and I remain inspired by its history of struggle for freedom, equality, and justice. Having already spent a great deal of time in the San Francisco Bay Area, I felt no such hesitation researching there; in fact, my fascination with the Bay Area has only grown over time though the ravages of gentrification have pushed nearly all my friends out of San Francisco over to the East Bay, which aint cheap either!

Historians love archivists and librarians, and I am no different. In South Africa, thanks to Nellie Somers, Mwelela Cele, and others at the Killie Campbell Africana Library in Durban; Gabriele Mohale, Michele Pickover, and others at the Historical Papers of the University of the Witwatersrand; Clive Kirkwood and others at the University of Cape Town Libraries Special Collections; Yolanda Meyer at the Transnet Heritage Library in Johannesburg; the librarians at the Don Africana Central Reference Library in Durban; and staff members at the National Archives in both Pretoria and Durban. The community of scholars who study or work in South Africa deeply impresses me. Shout-outs to Peter Alexander, Gabeba Baderoon, Rita Barnard, Terry Barnes, Omar Basha, Patrick Bond, Keith Breckenridge and Cath Burns, Ralph Callebert, Marcelle Dawson, Ashwin Desai, Bernard Dubbeld, Sarah Duff, Kate Evans, Tyler Fleming, Bill Freund, Jon Hyslop, Bridget Kenny, Vukile Khumalo, Peter Limb, Arianna Lissoni, Ian Macqueen, Brij Maharaj, Laura Mitchell, Sean and Barbara Morrow, Kathy Oberdeck, Neil Roos, Srila Roy, Shaun Ruggunan, Luke Sinwell, Jabulani Sithole, Goolam Vahed, Natasha Vally, Lucien van der Walt and Nicole Ulrich, and Leslie Witz. Karl von Holdt, Eddie Webster, and others in the Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP) at Witsnow an institutional home for mewere most supportive. Patrick Bond, Brij Maharaj, and others also welcomed me at the University of KwaZulu-Natals Centre for Civil Society. Jane Barrett formerly of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), who introduced me to SATAWU members and others, both in Joburg and Durban, was of tremendous assistance. Dear friends Ive made along the way include Claire Ceruti, Kenichi Serino, and Botsang Mmope in Johannesburg and Soweto; Tony Botto and his family in Athlone (thanks to Henry Trotters connection); Glen Thompson, who took me surfing in Muizenberg; and in Durbanwhere I love me some veg curry bunniesLauren and Walter Shapiro, along with Nellie and her family.

I also am deeply fortunate to have a large community in the United States who supported me. Again, my heartfelt thanks to folks in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond: Robin Walker, Gene Vrana, Craig Merilees, Roy San Filippo, Peter Olney, and others at the ILWU Library and Archives at its international headquarters; Catherine Powell, Tanya Hollis, and others at San Francisco State Universitys Labor Archives and Research Center; Gina Bardi at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Research Center; Claude Marks at the Freedom Archives; Chris Root and Richard Knight of African Activist Archive; Esmeralda Kale at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University; and Chris Carlsson and LisaRuth Elliott, who operate Shaping San Francisco/FoundSF and even provide local labor history tours by bike! Activists, friends, and scholars in the Bay Area include Alex and Harriet Bagwell, Sean Burns, Mat Callahan, Bob Cherny, Stacy Cole (no relation!), Lincoln Cushing, Jason Ferreira, Segie Govender, Archie Green, Gifford Hartman, Jack Heyman, Toby Higbie, Marcus Holder, Robert Irminger, Howard and Isis Keylor, Richard Mead, Brian McWilliams, Mike Miller, Herb Mills, Bill Proctor, Stacey Rodgers, the other Clarence Thomas, Jack Thorpe and Sharon Virtue, Walter Turner, and Steve Zeltzer. Matt Freedman and Kyra Millich hosted me numerous times, as did Jimmy and Mary Jo Rice. Thanks also to other Bay Area friends who tolerated my rambling on about ILWU Local 10, including those in Salon Soleil off and on the playa in Black Rock City. I must single out the generosity and knowledge of Harvey Schwartz, who, more than anyone, assisted me. Beyond the Bay, scholars across North America have offered me assistance, including John Beck, Martha Biondi, Connor Casey, Leon Fink, Erik Gellman, Jim Gregory, Rick Halpern, Alex Lichtenstein, Peter Limb, Prexy Nesbitt, Marcus Rediker, Jim Barrett, Katherine Turk, and the anonymous reviewers of my book manuscript.

I wish to thank my colleagues at Western Illinois University and friends too numerous to mention who make life in Macomb so pleasurable. WIU librarians John Stierman and Bill Thompson, and those in Interlibrary Loan, provided endless assistance.