Available for the first time in one volume, this book explores the Past
struggles of everyday people on the Witwatersrand, 1886-1914. This was a
period of extraordinary social, political and economic change. Charles
van Onselen explores a host of practices, processes and problems which,
in many ways, make for startling comparisons with modern-day South
Africa. "New Babylon" and "New Nineveh" were originally published in
London in 1982. They contain a brief exploration of mining enterprise on
the Rand at that time, which sets the scene for eight essays that cover
diverse aspects of the unpredictable and fascinating social
developments that accompanied industrialisation and urbanisation in the
years leading up to the First World War.
Van Onselen investigates the
pervasive, but highly problematic use of alcohol and prostitution, which
were used to control both Black and White mine workers, by the state
and the mine owners. He also explains that the direct consequence of
this was the emergence of powerful east European criminal syndicates,
who brought in women to work in the taverns and brothels that were
numerous at the time. This exploitation of the lifestyle of the single
miners later gave way to the official encouragement of working-class
family life. This gave rise to the advent of domestic servants and the
introduction of a systematic programme of sub-urbanisation and cheap
public transport. We see how not even these developments were able to
protect the poorest and weakest South Africans of the time - the
Afrikaners and the Blacks. Van Onselen explains how Afrikaner
unemployment and an affinity for trade unionism were paralleled by
further marginalisation, black unemployment and the resultant formation
of prison gangs, which flourish even to the present day.