Working-class fragmentation, party politics, and the complexities of solidarity in South Africa’s United Front

Abstract

Recent scholarship laments the growing fragmentation of the working class due to flexible labor regimes and unemployment. This paper examines an emerging effort in South Africa to counter this fragmentation: the United Front project, initiated and led by the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (NUMSA). Drawing on 74 interviews conducted at two different NUMSA-led protests in Johannesburg, the analysis unpacks two sets of tensions. One set of tensions revolves around class politics, which pertain to the divide between unionized workers in relatively stable employment, and impoverished communities ravaged by unemployment. The other set of tensions revolves around party politics, including divisions with respect to the United Front's opposition to the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). Each dimension reveals both crucial sources of solidarity and potential obstacles, showing that forging a broad working class unity in the current period is complex, but not impossible.

Oju and Inu: Solidarity in the Informal Market Space in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…Solidarity is environment bound. Its forms and practices contextually promote development and survival among individuals and groups; specifically, it is a strategic tool among the working class for sustenance, survival, and progress (Paret, 2017).…”

“…Solidarity in work and through work is the hallmark of relations and productivity especially in informal work environments and among blue-collar workers (Paret, 2015, 2016, 2017). Informal workers are unencumbered by strict bureaucratic values; thus, through subsisting social relations, they develop solidarity because of their similar experiences within their work environments (A.…”

“…The working-class bond provides the guiding principles of worker solidarity to be achieved, while still subject to the elite class, or engage in worker protests and revolution. The direction of literature on worker solidarity is mostly based on workers’ anti-bourgeoisie bonding (see Kelliher, 2017; Olesen, 2004; Paret, 2013, 2017; Turner & Brownhill, 2016, for example). A lot of research has been conducted on African (in this case, Nigerian) markets.…”

A Decent House, a Decent Job, a Decent Life: Social Reproduction Theory and Working Class Organizing in Cape Town.

“…At first glance, it may appear that these divisions within the working class reflect the social distance between the objective class positions of unionized workers and the under/unemployed amidst growing flexibilization and casualization. Upon closer examination of workers' living conditions, particularly their access to housing and services, it appears that the experience of these seemingly divergent sections of the working class is far more similar than their employment status suggests (Paret 2017). What appear to be greater obstacles to unity are broadly held understandings of class and class struggle and the forms of organizing and tactics they inform.…”

“…Following the Marikana Massacre a series of events unfolded which saw the departure of NUMSA, the largest union in South Africa, from the ANC alliance and the eventual launch of the UF, to "coordinate struggles in the workplace and in communities" (NUMSA 2013) along similar lines to the UDF that fought apartheid in the 1980s. Several years later, however, the record and trajectory of the UF remains questionable (Paret 2017;Ashman et al 2017). While its organizing work has been geographically uneven, early on the UF ultimately devolved into a bureaucratic initiative to facilitate political discussion and in some regions degenerated into a mobilizing device for what was a very poor showing in the 2016 local government elections.…”