This book’s micro institutional analysis of a Witbank steel mill depicts a profoundly contested transition which was propelled from the shop floor below and supported by linkages to the community and ANC movement.

Von Holdt analyses the chaos and ungovernability in the workplace and town community as activists contested the apartheid order. The turbulence leading up to the emergence of the new order also included divisions within the union – between political activists and shop stewards, between migrant outsiders and urban locals – which sometimes erupted in open conflict and violence between workers over the distribution of power. The struggle against the apartheid was simultaneously a struggle to build a trade union organisation in a continuous process of forging the values and culture of a collective identity from an amalgam of populist, class, ethnic and racial identities in the workplace crucible.

‘Karl von Hold has delivered a tour-de-force on the dilemmas of challenging the old South Africa and building the new. I have not read such a powerful analysis of post-apartheid reconstruction, seen from below through the eyes of trade unionists, nor such an exemplary use of the extended case method to turn the transition literature on its head.’ Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley, author of The Politics of Production and Global Ethnography

‘This is the best account I have seen of South African trade unionism in the process of transition from apartheid – a truly monumental piece of work which skilfully incorporates the voices of the actors themselves. This is interpretive sociology of a very high calibre which makes a fundamental contribution not only with regard to South Africa, but also to other post-colonial societies.’ T. Dunbar Moodie, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, author of Going for Gold: Men, Mines and Migration

‘This book shows how we as ordinary shop stewards contributed so much to shaping the culture of democracy in South Africa. It is something amazing, to read and recall our history – which many today seek to forget.’ Mosi Nhlapo, former Highveld Steel shop steward

‘Trade unions are battling to find a connection between the past and the present, and this book provides a powerful reflection which will prove invaluable for a new generation of worker leaders. It is a must read for trade unionists and those who wish to understand our struggles.’ Silumko Nondwangu, General Secretary, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

Karl von Holdt has been involved with the trade union movement for over two decades, most notably as editor of the South African Labour Bulletin and as co-ordinator of COSATU’s September Commission on the Future of the Unions. He is currently a senior researcher at the National Labour and Economic Development Institute. The research for this book was conducted at the Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand.

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