Between 1939 and 1948, police or departmental inspectors reported over a
hundred gold and coal mine disturbances to the Native Affairs Depart-
ment. The largest was a four-day strike called by the African Mineworkers
Union on the Witwatersrand
in August 1946, when 74,000
workers
brought eight gold mines to a standstill, after the Chamber of Mines had
refused to accept the reformist recommendations of a government commis-
sion. The union demanded a minimum wage of ten shillings a day, family
housing, paid leave, and better food. The government reacted brutally. It