Pamphlets

In the mid-1970s the AAM set up an investment unit that commissioned papers on the economic links between Britain and South Africa. This paper argued that investment in South Africa damaged the living standards of British workers as well as exploiting black workers in South Africa.

Paper prepared for a conference for British trade unionists organised by the AAM in November 1976. In the mid-1970s the AAM focused on persuading institutions to disinvest from companies with a big financial stake in South Africa. This paper provided case studies of leading British companies and their South African interests.

British Leyland was one of the main targets of the AAM’s disinvestment campaign in the 1970s. It was one of the biggest vehicle manufacturers in South Africa and was involved in a long-running recognition dispute with the Metal and Allied Workers Union. Coventry Anti-Apartheid Movement worked with local trade unionists to persuade British workers to refuse to work on spare parts for South Africa. This report, sponsored by Coventry AAM and Coventry Trades Council, set out the case for worker to worker solidarity.

In 1977 the British government put forward new proposals for a settlement in Rhodesia. This AAM Briefing presented a comprehensive description of the white minority government’s armed forces. It argued that the control and composition of the security forces in a transition to majority rule was of crucial importance.

Shell and BP were two of South Africa’s main oil suppliers and together owned its biggest oil refinery. After the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet the Bingham Inquiry exposed their complicity in breaking oil sanctions against the illegal Smith regime in Rhodesia. The pamphlet provided a detailed exposé of how the oil companies supported white minority rule throughout Southern Africa. 

This report provided a comprehensive analysis of the involvement of British banks in South Africa in the 1970s. It concluded that the banks’ operations did more to sustain apartheid than to erode it. It recommended that British banks should terminate export credits and halt loans to South Africa, and called for a debate on the issue within the British churches. Christian Concern for Southern Africa (CCSA) was set up in 1972 to research and publicise the role played by British companies in South Africa. Its reports were widely distributed by the AAM.

This report was published at the start of the Lancaster House conference that led to the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. It made a detailed analysis of the illegal Smith regime’s military capacity and argued that it was impossible to achieve peace in Zimbabwe without disbanding the security forces.

In 1964 David Kitson was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for sabotage. In the late 1950s he worked as a draughtsman in Britain and was a member of the trade union DATA, later TASS. As soon as it heard of his arrest, the union formed the Free Dave Kitson Committee. For the next 20 years TASS campaigned for his release and helped support his family. David Kitson served his full sentence and was freed in 1984.