The TUC distributed this leaflet calling on trade unionists to boycott South African goods in response to a call from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). It asked them to support the Boycott Committee’s March Month of Boycott in 1959. It held back from taking the more radical step proposed by the ICFTU of asking its affiliated unions to instruct their members not to handle products from South Africa.

The AAM produced this leaflet for British trade unionists in the early 1960s, when the former President of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), Leon Levy, worked as its trade union officer. It asked workers to campaign for the isolation of apartheid South Africa and support the struggles of South African trade unionists.

This leaflet stressed that the call for a boycott of South African goods in Britain was part of an international campaign by workers all over the world.

After Labour won the general election in October 1964 it compromised on its commitment to end all arms sales to South Africa. This leaflet asked trade unionists to ensure that Labour carried out its pledge and to press it to impose economic sanctions against South Africa.

The AAM produced this leaflet for British trade unionists in the mid-1960s.

The AAM set up a Trade Union Action Group to work in the trade union movement in 1968. This leaflet highlighted the part played by British companies in exploiting black workers and asked British trade unionists to support workers in all the white-ruled Southern African countries.

Trade unionists at Ruskin College, Oxford organised a march from Oxford to London in 1969 as part of their campaign for the release of former Ruskin student David Kitson. Kitson was sentenced to 20 years gaol in 1964 for organising sabotage in South Africa.

John Sheldon was the General Secretary of the Public and Civil Service Union. As a student at Ruskin College, Oxford, he helped set up the Ruskin College Kitson Committee to campaign for the release of gaoled trade unionist David Kitson and took part in the demonstrations against the 1969–70 South African rugby tour.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Christabel Gurney in 2000.

In the early 1970s the Ruskin College Kitson Committee organised an annual march from Oxford to London over the Whitsun holiday. The group campaigned for the release of political prisoner David Kitson, a member of the trade union DATA, who was serving a 20-year sentence in South Africa. This leaflet publicising the march was printed just before the cancellation of the 1970 Springbok cricket tour.

In the early 1970s the Ruskin College Kitson Committee organised an annual march from Oxford to London over the Whitsun holiday. The group campaigned for the release of political prisoner and former trade unionist David Kitson, serving a 20-year sentence in South Africa. The 1970 march ended in a rally in Trafalgar Square at which trade union leaders asked workers to refuse to work on arms for South Africa. The photo shows the marchers setting off from High Street, Oxford. 

Every year the AAM held a fringe meeting at TUC congress. The 1970 congress took place soon after the newly elected Conservative government announced it would resume arms sales to South Africa. The AAM worked with sympathetic unions to ensure that congress passed a resolution deploring the decision.

This declaration was circulated at the 1970 TUC congress. It was signed by union leaders and rank and file delegates. Partly as a result of AAM pressure, congress passed a resolution deploring the government’s decision to resume arms sales to South Africa.

One of the first decisions of the Conservative government elected in June 1970 was to resume arms sales to South Africa. This leaflet advertised a regional conference in Leeds for British trade unionists, to discuss how to campaign against arms sales to South Africa. Similar conferences took place in Swansea, Manchester, Edinburgh and Croydon, London. A Gallup poll showed that 71 per cent of the British public were opposed to arms sales. The only weapons sold to South Africa under the 1970–74 government were seven Wasp helicopters.

AAM supporters distributed this leaflet on a TUC demonstration against the UK Industrial Relations Bill introduced by Conservative Employment Minister Robert Carr in 1971. The leaflet highlighted black South African workers lack of any trade union rights, and asked British trade unionists to campaign against British investment and arms sales to South Africa.

One of the AAM’s priorities was to win support from the British trade union movement. At its Congress in Blackpool in September 1971, the TUC adopted a resolution that reflected a shift towards a comprehensive anti-apartheid policy. It provided the basis for campaigning among trade unionists on arms sales, investment and emigration to South Africa. This poster reproduces the resolution.

Poster showing a picture of Prime Minister Vorster superimposed on a picture of the South African police attacking African women. It asked British workers not to emigrate to South Africa and highlighted the role of leading British companies in supporting apartheid.

Britain was the biggest source of white immigrants to South Africa and Rhodesia throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969 TUC annual congress passed a resolution urging affiliated unions to discourage their members from emigrating there. The AAM asked unions to follow up the resolution by circulating this leaflet or producing similar material themselves.

British trade unionists picketed South Africa House calling for the recognition of African trade unions on 15 February 1973. In 1973 a work stoppage at British company Metal Box’s South African subsidiary in Durban sparked a wave of strikes by thousands of African workers. The AAM asked British trade unions to show their solidarity.

John Gaetsewe of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) outside South Africa House on 15 February 1973. With him are T P Callinan from the shopworkers union USDAW and Eddie Marsden from the construction workers union. Embassy officials rejected a letter signed by the general secretaries of 12 British unions condemning apartheid.

Starting in 1969, the AAM held an annual conference to build support among British trade unionists. The conference held in March 1973 stressed the importance of building a rank and file solidarity movement. In the photograph (left to right): James Phillips and Archie Sibeko (Zola Zembe) of SACTU, Robert Skillicorn from the public sector workers union NUPE, Christine Page from the shopworkers union USDAW and Colin Clark from NUPE.

In 1973 the TUC sent a delegation to South Africa. The report produced by the delegation called on the subsidiaries of British companies to recognise African trade unions. The AAM opposed the recommendation on the grounds that it condoned British investment in apartheid. This leaflet stressed that the TUC and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) already had policy calling for the withdrawal of all British capital from South Africa.

In 1973 thousands of African workers went on strike in Durban, heralding a new worker militancy and the growth of independent trade unions in South Africa in the 1970s. This AAM leaflet expressed solidarity with the striking workers and accused British companies of profiting from starvation wages.

This leaflet was a direct appeal to British workers from the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). It asked them not to emigrate to South Africa and to press for disinvestment from British firms that operated there. From the early 1970s SACTU had an office and representative, John Gaetsewe, in Britain. In 1976 it set up a Liaison Committee to foster links with British trade unions. It worked closely with the AAM’s Trade Union Committee.

The AAM produced the first edition of this handbook describing the working conditions of black workers under apartheid in the early 1970s. It set out the case for pressuring British companies to withdraw from South Africa and was widely distributed among British trade unionists.

This poster reprinted a call to trade unions from the Programme of Action against Apartheid adopted by the UN General Assembly. It was widely distributed by the AAM Trade Union Committee.

Poster showing a woman worker badly beaten by South African police in March 1976. She was protesting at the sacking of workers at the Transvaal company Heinemann Electrical after they campaigned for recognition of their union MAWU (Metal and Allied Workers Union).

The 1976 annual general meeting of the actors union Equity called for an extension of the union’s boycott of South Africa. It asked Equity’s Council to ban the sale of all filmed or taped material and to instruct all Equity members not to work there. This leaflet asked members to support the new policy in a referendum held to ratify the resolution. Members voted to support the union’s existing policy of banning sales of television programmes to South Africa and asking members to refuse to perform if they were prevented from appearing before multi-racial audiences. But the new proposals were narrowly defeated. Members also voted against a ban on performing in Zimbabwe. Performers Against Racism was set up to persuade actors to support the new policies; it worked closely with the AAM.

From 1969, the AAM held regular conferences for British trade unionists on Southern Africa. This conference took place in November 1976, soon after South African workers had gone on strike in support of school students as part of the protests that swept South Africa after the Soweto uprising. 

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.

The AAM worked closely with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). This leaflet advertised a meeting organised jointly by the AAM and SACTU, with speakers from two major British trade unions.

This memorandum asked the British labour movement to pressure British Leyland to recognise the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU) in South Africa. Leyland South Africa was a wholly owned subsidiary of British Leyland. The AAM argued that Leyland’s refusal to recognise the union demonstrated the failure of the British government’s code of conduct for British firms operating in South Africa.

TUC staff and members of the film technicians union ACTT picketed South Africa House on 20 January 1977. They were supporting the worldwide Week of Trade Union Action against Apartheid called by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) from 17 to 24 January. Among the protesters were Alan Sapper, General Secretary of ACTT, and Charles Grieve, General Secretary of the Tobacco Workers Union.

Trade union banners on a march to Trafalgar Square calling for an end to British arms sales to South Africa and a freeze on investment, 6 March 1977. 

Trade union banners on a march to Trafalgar Square calling for an end to British arms sales to South Africa and a freeze on investment, 6 March 1977.

The AAM asked British trade unionists to support African employees of British-owned companies in their demands for union recognition. It the mid-1970s it focused on two firms: Smith and Nephew, which reneged on its recognition agreement with the National Union of Textile Workers (NUTW), and British Leyland, which refused to recognise the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU). This leaflet was distributed at the 1977 TUC. After international pressure Smith and Nephew recognised NUTW in April 1978.

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.

The International Conference of Trade Unions Against Apartheid held in Geneva in 1977 called for an international week of trade union action in March 1978. The AAM provided information and support for British trade unions taking part in the week. This leaflet asked them to disinvest from companies with South African subsidiaries and lobby the government to support UN economic sanctions against South Africa.

The International Conference of Trade Unions Against Apartheid held in Geneva in 1977 called for an international week of trade union action to be held in March 1978. The AAM provided information and support for British trade unions taking part in the week. This leaflet asked them to disinvest from companies with South African subsidiaries and lobby the government to support UN economic sanctions against South Africa.

Trade unionists picketed South Africa House on 15 March 1978 as part of a week of trade union solidarity with South African trade unionists. The solidarity week was initiated by an international trade union conference held in Geneva the previous year.

Solomon Mahlangu was sentenced to death on 2 March 1978 after being present at an incident in Johannesburg during which two white bystanders were killed. The AAM organised weekly demonstrations outside South Africa House calling for his release. Thousands signed a petition asking the British government to intervene. This picket was held on 2 August 1978. In the photograph are Bob Wright, Assistant General Secretary of AUEW (Engineering), Jim Slater, General Secretary of the National Union of Seamen (NUS) and members of the NUS Executive.

In the late 1970s after the Soweto uprising and the growth of independent trade unions in South Africa, there was a big increase in the number of British trade unions affiliated to the AAM. The main theme of this 1979 conference for British trade unionists was the campaign for sanctions against South Africa.

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.

Under apartheid black workers were exploited to provide high living standards for the white minority. This pamphlet describes the web of legislation which controlled where Africans could work and imposed a rigid ‘colour bar’ confining them to unskilled jobs and poverty wages. It shows how in the 1970s African workers fought back against restrictions on their right to organise and, against all the odds, began to build an independent trade union movement.  

Every year the AAM held a fringe meeting and distributed information on Southern Africa at the TUC annual congress. This message to delegates at the 1980 congress asked them to support African municipal workers on strike in South Africa. It also highlighted AAM campaigns for the release of Nelson Mandela, against nuclear collaboration with South Africa and the boycott of South African goods.

In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported uranium from Rio Tinto Zinc’s Rossing mine in Namibia in contravention of UN resolutions. As part of a long-running campaign, on 8 November 1980 over 300 demonstrators marched to British Nuclear Fuels Springfields plant near Preston where the uranium was processed. They were led by trade union banners from Preston, Leeds and Merseyside and joined by trade unionists from all over the north of England. The demonstration was organised by the North-West Trade Union/AAM Liaison Committee and the Namibia Support Committee.

In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported uranium from Rio Tinto Zinc’s Rossing mine in Namibia in contravention of UN resolutions. As part of a long-running campaign, on 8 November 1980 over 300 demonstrators marched to British Nuclear Fuels Springfields plant near Preston where the uranium was processed. They were led by trade union banners from Preston, Leeds and Merseyside and joined by unionists from all over the north of England. The demonstration was organized by the North-West Trade Union/AAM Liaison Committee and the Namibia Support Committee.

British trade unionists protested outside South Africa House on the first day of the trial of veteran South African trade unionist Oscar Mpetha on 3 March 1981. After a long trial Mpetha was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was released in 1989 soon after his 80th birthday. In the picture is Bill Rampton from the train drivers union ASLEF, with the banner of the committee set up by the draughtsmen’s trade union AUEW (TASS) to support its former member, political prisoner David Kitson.

British trade unionists protested outside South Africa House in London on the first day of the trial of veteran South African trade unionist Oscar Mpetha on 3 March 1981. After a long trial Mpetha was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was released in 1989 soon after his 80th birthday. Left to right: General Secretaries Jack Boddy from the Agricultural Workers Union, Alan Sapper from the film technicians union ACTT and Stan Pemberton, President of the Transport and General Workers Union.

Every year the AAM lobbied delegates and held a fringe meeting at the TUC annual congress. This leaflet advertised a meeting at the 1981 TUC.

In February 1981, workers at Wilson-Rowntree’s East London factory were sacked for striking in protest at the dismissal of three colleagues. Wilson-Rowntree was a subsidiary of the British company Rowntree-Mackintosh. The AAM campaigned with the British unions GMWU, USDAW and TGWU  to make the company reinstate the sacked workers and recognise the South African Allied Workers Union.

In February 1981, workers at Wilson-Rowntree’s East London factory were sacked for striking in protest at the dismissal of three colleagues. Wilson-Rowntree was a subsidiary of the British company Rowntree-Mackintosh. The AAM campaigned with the British unions GMWU, USDAW and TGWU  to make the company reinstate the sacked workers and recognise SAAWU (South African Allied Workers Union). In June 1982 it held a Week of Action in support of the sacked workers and a march in York, where Rowntree-Mackintosh had its headquarters.

Like other local AAM branches, Bristol AA Group held local meetings and demonstrations highlighting national anti-apartheid campaigns. This 1982 newsletter publicised a meeting on South African political prisoners, an international week of action on companies trading with Namibia and support for workers sacked by the British confectionery company Rowntree-Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary.

Activists in the National Graphical Association (NGA) began a campaign in the 1970s to have the South African Typographical Association (SATU) expelled from the International Graphical Federation (IGF) until work in the South African printing industry and membership of the appropriate trade union was not defined by race. These extracts from the verbatim reports of the NGA’s Biennial Delegate Meetings of 1982, 1984 and 1986 tell how the initiative of activists within the NGA led to SATU’s expulsion from the IGF in 1986.

British trade unionists picketed South Africa House on May 11 1982 calling for the release of three leaders of the South African Agricultural Workers Union detained without trial. Left to right: Roger Ward from the draughtsmen’s union TASS, Muriel Turner from the clerical union ASTMS and ASTMS General Secretary, Clive Jenkins.

In 1982, the AAM and British trade unionists campaigned for support for striking South African workers at Wilson-Rowntrees, a subsidiary of the British confectionery maker Rowntree- Mackintosh. Southampton AA Group distributed this leaflet asking supporters to protest to the company’s managing director about the treatment of its black workers.

In February 1981, 500 workers at Wilson-Rowntree’s East London factory were sacked for striking in protest at the dismissal of three colleagues. Wilson-Rowntree was a subsidiary of the British company Rowntree-Mackintosh. The AAM campaigned with the British unions GMWU, USDAW and TGWU  to make the company reinstate the sacked workers and recognise the South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU). This leaflet publicised a march in York, where the company had its headquarters.

Anti-apartheid supporters marched through York on 3 July 1982 in solidarity with workers sacked for going on strike at York-based Rowntree-Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary. The demonstration was part of a long-running campaign by British trade unions and the AAM to make the company reinstate the sacked workers and recognise the South African Allied Workers Union.

Programme for a conference on women organised by AAM women members and the North West Regional Council of the TUC in Liverpool.

The AAM’s trade union conference held on 27 November 1982 was a milestone in winning support from British trade unions. TUC General Secretary Len Murray spoke on an AAM platform. The TUC declared its unequivocal support for economic sanctions against South Africa for the first time. The conference was attended by 264 delegates from 160 trade union organisations. Left to right: AAM Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty, TUC General Secretary Len Murray, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union Jack Jones, and the AAM’s Trade Union Officer Chris Child.

The conference for trade unionists organised by the AAM on 27 November 1982 was a milestone in its attempts to win support from the British trade union movement. This report reproduces speeches made by TUC General Secretary Len Murray and Abdul Minty, Hon. Secretary of the AAM. This was the first time the TUC declared its unequivocal support for economic sanctions against South Africa. It was also the first time the TUC General Secretary spoke on an AAM platform. The conference was attended by 264 delegates from 160 trade union organisations.

Leeds City Council, local trade unions, and Leeds City and University AA Groups came together to organise a week of anti-apartheid events in October 1984. Activities included a vigil for political prisoners, collection of material aid, film shows and fundraising concerts, and an activists conference.

Westminster Council staff protested outside Westminster City Hall against a visit by apartheid Mayor of Johannesburg Eddy Magid in 1984. Mayor Magid had a private meeting with the Mayor of Westminster, John Bull.

Leaflet advertising a public meeting to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). From the early 1970s SACTU had an office in London and in 1976 it set up a Liaison Committee to foster links with British trade unions. It worked closely with the AAM’s Trade Union Committee.

Maritime trade unions from around the world agreed to take direct action against ships supplying oil to South Africa at a conference in London on 30–31 October 1985. They were urged to take action by ANC President Oliver Tambo. The conference was sponsored by the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid and organised by the British National Union of Seamen.

Members of the actors’ union Equity called for the resignation of Equity President Derek Bond after he performed for whites-only audiences in South Africa. Bond campaigned to reverse Equity’s support for the cultural boycott. Equity members picketed the first night of a play at Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in which Bond played a starring role.

At the height of the AAM campaign for sanctions in the mid-1980s, many local organisations produced their own campaign material. This pamphlet published in east London by Tower Hamlets Solidarity and Tower Hamlets Trades Council was a comprehensive campaign guide for trade unions, local authorities, community organisations and individuals.

These healthworkers asked Portsmouth Area Health Authority to phase out the purchase of South African and Namibian produce in January 1986. When the management refused, they refused to handle tinned food from South Africa supplied for patients’ meals. Area Health Authority van drivers and 130 other workers joined the boycott action. They were supported by the public service workers union NUPE, health workers union COHSE and transport workers union TGWU.

Lenny Henry and David Yip were among the 200 entertainers at the launch of Performers Against Racism on 26 January 1986. They pledged to boycott all links with apartheid South Africa. The launch was triggered by a referendum in the actors union Equity seeking to relax the cultural boycott. Performers against Racism called for the boycott to be extended to films and video as well as radio and television.

Programme for the AAM conference for trade unionists held on 1 March 1986. The conference focused on disinvestment and trade sanctions. It was attended by around 450 delegates representing 37 trade unions and 29 trades councils.

As local anti-apartheid groups mushroomed in the mid-1980s, they formed regional committees and alliances with local trade union organisations. This briefing for trade unionists was produced by the Yorkshire and Humberside AAM Committee with the support of the Yorkshire Region of the TUC.

Leaflet advertising a May Day fundraising social for the AAM organised by Haringey AA Group and Haringey Trades Union Council on 3 May 1986. The evening included live music sponsored by the Musicians Union and a speaker from the African National Congress.

In 1986 the British National Union of Mineworkers and the AAM launched a new campaign to stop South African coal imports into the UK. Coal imports to Western Europe rose sharply in the mid-1980s. Coal became South Africa’s second biggest export earner after gold. 30,000 copies of this leaflet were distributed to trade unionists at May Day rallies in 1987, asking them to take action to stop the trade.

Poster publicising a parliamentary lobby on 17 June 1986 calling on the British government to impose sanctions against South Africa. More than 3,500 people lobbied their MPs askin them to press for a change of policy. The lobby was initiated by the AAM, with support from the TUC, British Council of Churches and the United Nations Association. The summer of 1986 was the high point of the international campaign for sanctions against South Africa. 

Many local AA groups formed links with trade union branches. In 1986 Brent AA group circulated this leaflet to local unions asking them to affiliate and asking trade unionists to join as individual members.

British trade union leaders at a vigil outside the mini-summit of Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, 3–5 August 1986. At the mini-summit Commonwealth leaders imposed a package of sanctions against South Africa. Left to right: TUC General Secretary Norman Willis, Ron Todd (TGWU), David Williams (COHSE)  and Brenda Dean (SOGAT).

The AAM made this appeal to trade unionists in September 1986, soon after a countrywide state of emergency was introduced in South Africa. Its emphasis was on the general campaign for sanctions rather than, as in the 1970s, campaigns against individual companies or support for South African workers.

Altogether 30,000 South Africans were held in detention under the national State of Emergency imposed in June 1986. This leaflet promoted a petition launched with the backing of the British Council of Churches and the TUC and was signed by a third of a million people in Britain. It was presented to the South African authorities, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1987.

Altogether 30,000 South Africans were held in detention under the national State of Emergency imposed in June 1986. This petition was launched with the backing of the British Council of Churches and the TUC and was signed by a third of a million people in Britain. It was presented to the South African authorities, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1987.

In 1986 a British-owned company BTR (British Tyre and Rubber) dismissed its entire workforce. The workers had gone on strike in response to the company’s refusal to recognise their union NUMSA (National Union of Metalworkers). The strike was the longest-running dispute in South African history and the workers won support from trade unionists all over the world, including Britain. In the picture supporters are picketing the company’s London headquarters after taking part in a sit-down protest inside the building.

This conference for trade unionists was one of many regional initiatives in the mid and late 1980s. It brought together local trade unionists and anti-apartheid activists. The conference focused on campaigning for sanctions and the role of the ANC in South Africa and SWAPO in Namibia.

In March 1986 members of the British NUR set up Rail Against Apartheid to mobilise support among British railwaymen for the South African Rail and Harbour Workers Union (SARHWU). This report by two Rail Against Apartheid members who visited South Africa on a fact-finding mission was written in the aftermath of SARHWU’s three-month strike in 1987 during which six South African railworkers were shot dead by police. The report details the practical support given by the NUR to SARHWU and Rail Against Apartheid’s involvement in wider AAM campaigns for the isolation of apartheid South Africa.

British railworkers union General Secretary Jimmy Knapp with Zola Zembe from SACTU. They joined a protest outside the South African Embassy on 6 April 1987.

In 1987 six transport workers were shot dead by police during a strike called by the South African Railway and Harbour Workers Union (SARHWU). This leaflet asked trade unionists and others to contribute to the SARHWU solidarity fund and called for the closure of South African Airways offices in Britain.

There was widespread support among British trade unionists for striking miners in South Africa and Namibia in September 1987. AAM supporters and the British NUM held daily protests outside the London headquarters of Anglo-American, Consolidated Goldfields and other South African mining conglomerates. Over £75,000 was raised for the miners.

South African coal exports to Western Europe rose steeply in the mid-1980s. In 1986 West Germany opposed the inclusion of coal in a sanctions package imposed by the European Economic Community. The British National Union of Mineworkers was at the forefront of the campaign to stop UK imports of South African coal. In 1987 it held a joint conference with the AAM and produced a special Coal Campaign Bulletin.

Leaflet publicising a conference for trade unionists and Labour Party members organised by Birmingham AA Group in 1987.

Letter from Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign to local trade union branches advertising a meeting calling for the release of South African political prisoners.

Newsletter of Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign. Issue 7, dated September 1987, focused on the South African National Mineworkers strike and called for an international boycott of South African coal. It also highlighted a strike by Namibian copper miners.

Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign leaflet asking local people to take action in support of the campaigns for the reprieve of the Sharpeville Six, sentenced to death in South Africa, and the release of trade unionist Moses Mayekiso, one of five people charged with sedition. The leaflet also advertised the Shell boycott and the AAM’s national ‘Sanctions Now!’ demonstration on 24 October 1987.

There was widespread support among British trade unionists for striking miners in South Africa and Namibia in September 1987. AAM supporters and the British NUM held daily protests outside the London headquarters of Anglo-American, Consolidated Goldfields and other South African mining conglomerates. Over £75,000 was raised for the miners. In the picture Labour MPs Tony Banks and Jeremy Corbyn hold leaflets that the police stopped them distributing outside the offices of the Anglo-American Corporation.

British miners and other local trade unionists marched through Nottingham to protest against the import of South African coal by local company Burnett & Hallamshire.

Jason Angula, Labour Secretary of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), was detained without trial in October 1987. British civil service unions campaigned for his release, together with the Joint Campaign Against the Repression of Trade Unionists. Angula was released at the end of 1988.

The apartheid government escalated its repression of trade unionists in 1988 – four trade union leaders were sentenced to death and hundreds were detained. In response the AAM and SATIS (Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society) launched a campaign to defend trade unionists in South Africa and Namibia. It was launched at a demonstration outside the South African Embassy on 1 February 1988 on the day the trial of Moses Mayekiso, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) reopened in Johannesburg.

In February 1988 the AAM Trade Union Committee and Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) launched a Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists in South Africa and Namibia. The campaign was a response to the increased repression of trade unionists by the apartheid regime. Four trade union leaders were sentenced to death and hundreds were detained. This leaflet publicised a demonstration at the South African Embassy, attended by over 200 trade unionists.

Oscar Mpetha was a South African trade union leader and founder member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). In 1980 he was arrested after taking part in protests in Nyanga, Cape Town, in which two people were killed. After a long trial he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and eventually released in 1989 soon after his 80th birthday. This leaflet was produced by the AAM and the British Transport and General Workers Union.

Hammersmith and Fulham AA Group members held a year-long weekly picket of this Shell garage on Fulham Road in west London. The photograph shows health workers from Charing Cross Hospital at the protest. On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign organised jointly with groups in the USA and the Netherlands. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries and a lead company in its coalmining and petrochemicals industries.

In 1988 the apartheid regime stepped up its repression of the South African trade union movement. This leaflet highlighted four cases where trade unionists were detained or put on trial. It also publicised the situation of trade unionists in Namibia.

AAM activists, miners from Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and Women against Pit Closures protested against a visit by a delegation from the South African coal industry on 21 April 1988. The delegation had come to London to lobby against coal sanctions against South Africa.

Trade union support for anti-apartheid activities was especially strong in Scotland. This conference took place in May 1988, as the apartheid government stepped up its attempts to intimidate South African and Namibian trade unionists. It discussed how to involve Scottish trade union members in AAM campaigns and how individual unions could support their sister unions in Southern Africa.

‘Sisters of the Long March’ toured Britain, September–December 1988, to win support for South African workers in their long-running dispute with the British-owned company BTR Sarmcol. The Sisters were a seven-woman song and dance group from Natal. They took their show to over 20 venues all over the country. The year before, a theatre group set up by the BTR workers brought their play about the strike ‘The Long March’ to Britain. Both tours were sponsored by the British TUC and supported by the AAM. 

Front cover of a booklet about the ‘Sisters of the Long March’, a South African theatre group that toured Britain, September–December 1988, to win support for South African workers in their long-running dispute with the British-owned company BTR Sarmcol. The Sisters were a seven-woman song and dance group from Natal. They took their show to over 20 venues all over the country. The year before, a theatre group set up by the BTR workers brought their play about the strike ‘The Long March’ to Britain. Both tours were sponsored by the British TUC and supported by the AAM. 

The Alex Five were civic leaders in Alexandra Township charged with sedition after they set up the Alexandra Action Committee. One of the five was trade union leader Moses Mayekiso. 5,000 of these postcards were distributed in Britain with support from the British Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions. After a long trial the five were acquitted in April 1989. The TUC sent an observer to the trial.

AAM supporters held a prayer vigil on the steps of Kingston Guildhall to show their opposition to a proposal by Kingston Council to invest pension funds in South Africa. Kingston Trades Council presented a petition to the Council asking it to reconsider.

Still from a film advertisement promoting the boycott of South African goods, made by the TUC. The ad was shown in cinemas throughout Britain. It won the Gold Lion Award at the 34th Cannes International Advertising film Festival.

Trade unionists from Teesside and Hartlepool protested against the unloading of South African coal at Teesport in north-east England on 11 May 1989. British miners and other trade unionists were at the forefront of the campaign against imports of South African coal. By the late 1980s the international campaign meant that it was often sold at a discounted price.

Tjeluvuyo Mgedezi was one of three mineworkers sentenced to death in May 1987. The British National Union of Mineworkers circulated a petition calling for his release to its members. It distributed 20,000 copies of this leaflet and publicised the case in its journal. In May 1989 the sentence was commuted to a long term of imprisonment. 

William Ntombela was one of several South African trade unionists sentenced to death in 1989. The British shopworkers union USDAW launched a petition for his release, signed by 5,000 members.  In the photograph USDAW General Secretary Garfield Davies (left) displays the petition. Partly as a result of the campaign the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Programme for a conference on trade unions in South Africa held on 24 February 1990. After the banning of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1988, the trade union movement led the opposition to apartheid. The conference mobilised support for trade unionists who had been arrested and detained.

Poster featuring a photograph of Nelson Mandela with Ron Todd, General Secretary of the British Transport and General Workers Union, during Mandela’s visit to Britain in April 1990.

This leaflet tells the story of four railway workers who were sentenced to hang after a strike by employees of the South African Transport Service in 1987. They were alleged to have taken part in the killing of four non-strikers. The leaflet was produced by the Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists with support from leading British trade unions.

Four railway workers were sentenced to death after a strike by employees of the South African Transport Service in 1987. They were alleged to have taken part in the killing of four non-strikers. This badge was produced by the Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists, set  up by the AAM and leading British trade unions to campaign for the release of South African trade unionists.

After the unbanning of the South African liberation movements in 1990, the AAM launched a ‘Call to Freedom Declaration’ on 26 June. The declaration called for an elected constituent assembly to agree on a new constitution for South Africa. Left to right: TUC president and NALGO officer Ada Maddocks, TUC General Secretary Norman Willis, Ron Todd, General Secretary of the transport workers union and Barbara Switzer, Deputy General Secretary of the supervisory workers union MSF sign the declaration at the 1990 TUC congress.

Leaflet publicising an AAM appeal to the trade union movement for an Emergency Fund for its campaign for peace and democracy in the early 1990s. The fund was sponsored by the TUC.

Leaflet publicising a fundraising concert organised by Birmingham AA Group and Birmingham Trades Council in 1992.

TUC General Secretary Norman Willis with shopworkers leader Garfield Davies and Rodney Bickerstaffe, General Secretary of the public sector workers union NUPE, at the AAM’s stall at the 1992 TUC annual congress.

ANC representative Mendi Msimang with Labour MP John Prescott at the trade union congress in September 1993. The TUC gave its full backing to the ANC’s Votes for Freedom campaign and asked British unions to donate to the ANC’s election fund. It also asked affiliated unions to support their sister unions in South Africa.

Bill Morris, General Secretary of the British transport workers union TGWU, presented a cheque for £20,000 to the ANC’s UK representative Mendi Msimang at the trade union congress in September 1993. The donation was for the ANC’s election fund, which had a £1 million target in Britain. The shopworkers union USDAW, the Fire Brigades Union, civil servants union CPSA, Manufacturing Science and Finance (MSF) and the general workers union GMB all made big donations.

Report of a seminar on the role of British trade unions in post-apartheid solidarity. The report reprinted the address of keynote speaker Jay Naidoo, former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and a Programme of Action for the British trade union movement.

After agreement was reached on 27 April 1994 as the date for one person one vote elections in South Africa, the AAM campaigned to ensure the elections were free and fair. Its Countdown to Democracy programme focused on voter education. This leaflet asked for donations for a special Education for Democracy in South Africa Fund, supported by the main British teacher unions and the National Union of Students.

In June 1994 the AAM held an Extraordinary General Meeting which decided to set up a new movement of solidarity with the peoples of Southern Africa. This appeal for support was signed by leading British trade unionists.

Glasgow District Council local government workers joined this scheme to make regular donations to the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School (SOMAFCO) in Tanzania. The school was set up for the children of ANC supporters forced to flee South Africa.

The AAM campaigned in Britain for support for black workers in South Africa, and especially for the recognition of independent trade unions by British-owned South African companies. This badge was distributed among British trade unionists.

Jack Jones was the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1968–78, and Chair of the TUC International Committee. He fought in the British Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil war in 1936 and campaigned in the trade union movement against the dictatorships in Spain, Greece and Chile. Jack Jones was a Vice President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Christabel Gurney in 2000.

Jack Jones was the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1968–78, and Chair of the TUC International Committee. He fought in the British Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil war in 1936 and campaigned in the trade union movement against the dictatorships in Spain, Greece and Chile. Jack Jones was a Vice President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

In this clip Jack Jones describes how tried to visit David Kitson in prison in Pretoria, and managed to secretly pass him a message of support.

Jack Jones was the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1968–78, and Chair of the TUC International Committee. He fought in the British Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil war in 1936 and campaigned in the trade union movement against the dictatorships in Spain, Greece and Chile. Jack Jones was a Vice President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

In this clip Jack Jones describes how he tried to explain the injustice of apartheid to British trade unionists.

Chris Child became involved in the campaign to make Barclays Bank withdraw from South Africa when he was a student at Durham University. He was an Anti-Apartheid Movement staff member from 1976 to 1982, initially as Trade Union Secretary and later as Deputy Executive Secretary. He was responsible for the AAM’s work with trade unions, the disinvestment campaign, Namibia and liaising with local AA groups.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom AAM history project in 2013.

Chris Child became involved in the campaign to make Barclays Bank withdraw from South Africa when he was a student at Durham University. He was an Anti-Apartheid Movement staff member from 1976 to 1982, initially as Trade Union Secretary and later as Deputy Executive Secretary. He was responsible for the AAM’s work with trade unions, the disinvestment campaign, Namibia and liaising with local AA groups.

In this clip Chris Child describes how the AAM tried to change the unions' policy of engagement with South Africa to one of isolating apartheid.

Ron Todd was the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1985–92, and Chair of the TUC International Committee. He visited South Africa on a trade union mission in 1986, and was a strong supporter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the independent trade union movement in South Africa.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Christabel Gurney in 2004.

Ron Todd was the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1985–92, and Chair of the TUC International Committee. He visited South Africa on a trade union mission in 1986, and was a strong supporter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the independent trade union movement in South Africa.

In this clip he talks about his visit with Norman Willis to Alexandra township, Johannesburg, in 1986.

Mike Sparham represented the civil service union NUCPS on the Anti-Apartheid Movement trade union committee from the mid-1980s and served as its Chair from 1990 to 1994. He was later the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2013.

Mike Sparham represented the civil service union NUCPS on the Anti-Apartheid Movement trade union committee from the mid-1980s and served as its Chair from 1990 to 1994. He was later the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip Mike Sparham describes the composition and role of the AAM trade union committee.

Mike Sparham represented the civil service union NUCPS on the Anti-Apartheid Movement trade union committee from the mid-1980s and served as its Chair from 1990 to 1994. He was later the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip Mike Sparham reflects how the role of the AAM trade union committee changed after 1990 and describes how British trade unions gave direct support to independent unions in South Africa.

Mike Gerrard joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the early 1960s and was a member of its Executive Committee.

In this clip Mike Gerrard describes the attitude of the British labour movement to the decision by the Southern African liberation movements to take up armed struggle.

Colin Adkins was a student activist at the University of Essex, where he joined the university Anti-Apartheid Society and was later elected as President of the Student Union. He was the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s trade union and labour movement organiser from 1987 to 1990. He later worked as an organiser for trade unions including Unite and the education union NASUWT.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State). See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154

Simon Sapper grew up in London in a household that boycotted South African goods, and from an early age he was aware of the anti-apartheid struggle. On leaving university in 1984 he joined the staff of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a campaigns organiser, with special responsibility for trade unions and political parties. He played a central role in organising the AAM demonstration calling for sanctions against South Africa in November 1985 and the Festival for Freedom in June 1986. In November 1986 he left to work for the Institution of Professional Civil Servants.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154