Rand Rebellion
Part of theRevolutions of 1917–1923
Rebels being taken prisoner inFordsburg
Date 28 December 1921 – 18 March 1922 (2 months, 2 weeks and 4 days) Location Witwatersrand,Union of South Africa Result South African government victory
Belligerents
Union of South Africa	South African Communist Party
Commanders and leaders
Jan Smuts	Percy Fisher † Harry Spendiff † Bill Andrews Jimmy Green
Strength
20,000
Casualties and losses
~200 killed[1] 400+ injured 4 executed

TheRand Rebellion (Afrikaans:Rand-rebellie; also known as the1922 strike) was an armed uprising of miners in theWitwatersrand region ofSouth Africa, in March 1922.

Following a drop in the world price of gold from 130 shillings (£6 10s) per fine troy ounce in 1919 to 95s/oz (£4 15s) in December 1921, the companies tried to cut their operating costs by decreasing wages, and by promoting black mine workers – who were paid lower wages – to skilled and supervisory positions.^[2]

The rebellion started as a strike by mine workers on 28 December 1921 and shortly thereafter, it became an open rebellion against the state.^[3]: 292 Subsequently the workers, who had armed themselves, took over the cities ofBenoni andBrakpan, and theJohannesburg suburbs ofFordsburg andJeppe.

The youngCommunist Party of South Africa (CPSA) took an active part in the uprising on grounds of class struggle whilst reportedly using racist language in its opposition to racial conflict during the strike,^[4] as did thesyndicalists. The racist aspect was typified by banners with the slogan: "Workers of the world, unite and fight for a white South Africa!"^[5] By the time that general strike was declared on 6 March, Johannesburg's elites had given up on negotiations. Reports stated that "Sabotage advocates" were "now apparently in control and had "redoubled efforts towards violence." The next day, J.L. van Eyssen, a mining engineer involved in the negotiations was informed of a "very great increase in attempted intimidation." Gangs of white workers were halting the delivery of bread, shutting down businesses, and stopping buses that were transporting strikebreakers to the mines. Armed white men began shooting at blacks on the street. That night, the rebels bombed a mine in Primrose with dynamite.^[6]

By 8 March, there were reports that "greatly increased terrorism threatens most serious effect on position of mines." At this point, control over the rebellion had passed from workers to ruralBoer commandos that had arrived in Johannesburg to bolster their cause, hoping to overthrow the government. Early that morning, one commando attacked a group of black workers, attacking them with their tools. Another commando attacked a mining compound in Primrose, killing four workers and wounding another sixteen.^[6]

When martial law was declared on the Witwatersrand on 10 March, amid further reports of the "cold blooded murder of natives", Johannesburg was under the threat of being overrun. Prime MinisterJan Smuts sent 20,000 troops, artillery, tanks, machine-guns, snipers, and bomber aircraft to crush the rebellion. By this time, the rebels had dug trenches acrossFordsburg Square and the air force tried to bomb but missed and hit a local church. Near the end of the rebellion, a pogrom broke out against blacks by enraged rebels.^[6] Lieutenant Colonel Llewellyn Andersson's role in creating theUnion Defence Force was instrumental in crushing the rebellion using "considerable military firepower and at the cost of over 200 lives.^[7][8] Several Communists and syndicalists, the latter including the strike leadersPercy Fisher and Harry Spendiff, were killed as the rebellion was quelled by the Union Defence Force.^[9]

From 15 to 19 March 1922, South African troops cleared the areas of snipers and did house-to-house searches of premises belonging to the rebels. The rebellion was officially declared over on 18 March 1922. Before killing themselves, the two leaders of the strike, Percy Fisher and Harry Spendiff, left a note: "We died for what we believed in - the Cause."^[10]

Smuts' actions caused a political backlash, and inthe 1924 elections hisSouth African Party lost to a coalition of theNational Party and Labour Party.^[3]: 292 They introduced theIndustrial Conciliation Act 1924, Wage Act 1925 andMines and Works Amendment Act 1926, which recognised white trade unions and reinforced the colour bar.^[11] Under instruction from theComintern, the CPSA reversed its attitude toward the white working class and adopted a new 'Native Republic' policy.^[12][13]

After the strike, 18 strikers were sentenced to death for murder, of which 14 were reprieved. The four men to not be reprieved, were Carel Christian Stassen, Taffy Long, Herbert Hull, and David Lewis, were all executed by hanging atPretoria Central Prison. Stassen was hanged on 5 October 1922, while the other three men were hanged together on 17 November 1922. He was convicted of killing two men, John Setsuta and John McKenzie, in what witnesses said were racially motivated killings. Long was convicted of killing a police informant, while Hull and Lewis were convicted of killing a soldier. As they marched to the gallows, Long began singing the "Red Flag", the anthem of early socialists and communists in South Africa. He was joined in the song by the other two men. As they walked, all the prisoners sang with them.^[14][15]

ATV series in 8 episodes produced by theSABC in 1984 and entitled1922, tells this part of South African history.^[16]

In Agatha Christie'sThe Man in the Brown Suit, published in 1924, the Rand Rebellion is mentioned both by name and as a backdrop for the mystery. Christie washes over the specifics and uses the Rebellion as nothing more than a minor inconvenience for her characters.

In Wilbur Smith'sA Sparrow Falls one of the principal characters becomes embroiled with some of the organisers of the Rand Rebellion in Fordsburg and fictionalised descriptions of some of the first skirmishes with the authorities are described.

• Jeremy Krikler,Rand Revolt: The 1922 Insurrection and Racial Killings in South Africa, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, 2006,ISBN 978-186842-189-3
• Wessel Pretorius Visser,A History of the South African Mine Workers' Union, 1902-2014,Edwin Mellen Press, 2016,ISBN 978-1-4955-0460-0

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