Contents: WHO IS MOSES MAYEKISO? • BUILDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT • BUILDING THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • BUILDING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY • ARREST AND DETENTION • IMPLICATION OF THE ALEXANDRA TRIALS • THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT • THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • IMPERIALISM AND SOLIDARITY • The pamphlet says Moses Mayekiso is a Black South African worker, a leader in the trade union movement, and a community activist, whose treason trial has become a focal point in the struggle against apartheid; prior to his arrest in June 1986, Moses, 39, lived with his wife, brother, and seven children in a one-room shack in the South African township of Alexandra; like...
Contents: WHO IS MOSES MAYEKISO? • BUILDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT • BUILDING THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • BUILDING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY • ARREST AND DETENTION • IMPLICATION OF THE ALEXANDRA TRIALS • THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT • THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • IMPERIALISM AND SOLIDARITY • The pamphlet says Moses Mayekiso is a Black South African worker, a leader in the trade union movement, and a community activist, whose treason trial has become a focal point in the struggle against apartheid; prior to his arrest in June 1986, Moses, 39, lived with his wife, brother, and seven children in a one-room shack in the South African township of Alexandra; like most of the people in their community, the family has no electricity or indoor plumbing; Moses brought home around $350 a month. The pamphlet says a one-time miner and former metalworker, Moses was elected General Secretary of the Allied Metal Workers Union (MAWU) in 1984; as a worker and trade-union leader, he brings the experiences and perspective of the working class to the forefront of the trade union movement; there, as here, trade union leaders tend to be liberal lawyers, not rank-and-file workers. The pamphlet says Moses became an organizer for MAWU at Toyota, where he was hired in 1976; in 1979 he was elected a shop steward and a MAWU executive member; he played a leading role in a series of strikes which forced Toyota to recognize the union; fired for his role in the strikes, Moses became a full-time organizer in Katlehong on the East Rand where relentless organizing efforts by MAWU activists led to two successive strikes involving over 40,000 workers and the longest enrollment drive in the union's history; during the same period, MAWU and FOSATU activists worked together to build the budding trade union federation. The pamphlet says in 1963 Moses became MAWU's secretary for the Transvaal, the union's largest branch, where he began to play a major role in the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU); COSATU, which absorbed FOSATU, is the largest non-racial federation of trade unions in South Africa, with about 800,000 members. The pamphlet says during this same period, Moses played a leading role in organzing a massive two-day strike which shook the Transvaal in November 1984--an action which signaled the impressive gains of the trade-union movement; the significance of the mass strike was not lost on the apartheid regime: Moses was arrested and charged with "economic sabotage". The pamphlet says the charges were eventually dropped, after thousands of workers went on strike demanding his release. The pamphlet says in the aftermath of the Transvaal strike, Moses became increasingly oriented to building greater unity between the labor movement and resurgent activism in the townships; in December 1985, he was elected chairman of the Alexandra Action Committee (AAC), one of many mass organizations which appeared in the townships that winter; the township rebellions reflected, for the most part, the increasing insurgency and ingenuity of the youth militants known as "comrades". The pamphlet says in Alexandra township, as elsewhere, the movement originated with mass rent strikes, and spread rapidly to the formation of mass democratic institutions opposed, not only to the apartheid regime, but to the collaborationism of the township councils and "tribal" chiefs. The pamphlet says the regime, faced with open rebellion in the townships, responded with security forces, armed vigilantes, and indiscriminate violence; hundreds of Africans were killed in street fights against the state, or just murdered outright, in the months that followed. The pamphlet says upon his release, Moses toured Britain to build international solidarity for a still-on-oing strike against BTR Corp. The pamphlet says on April 22, 1987, a 160-page indictment charged Moses and four other AAC organizers--Mzwanele Mayekiso (Moses· brother), Paul Tshabala, Richard Mdakane, and Oben Bapela--with high treason, subversion, and sedition. The indictment cites the formation of peoples' courts and street committees as proof of seditious intent, and the rent boycott as proof of treason. The pamphlet says the last two years have also seen an unprecedented increase in political strikes, with COSATU playing a pivotal role; in 1986, COSATU threatened a general strike, pushing the government into announcing its plans to abolish the hated pass laws. The pamphlet discusses the ANC (African National Congress), the Freedom Charter, British Tire and Rubber, the Alexandra 8, the United Democratic Front (UDF), retribution, repression, the mass character of the liberation movement, the mass movement, Black unions, CUSA, the ruling-class, shop stewards, the State of Emergency, solidarity with white war resisters, the SACP (South African Community Party), Oliver Tambo, and FOSATU (Federation of South African Trade Unions). [Note: This PDF was made from a copy, not an original, of the pamphlet.]
