THESEGREGATIONERA
As more and more Africans became committed to urban life, they cre-
ated a vigorous proletarian culture. The towns and squatter camps were
violent places, seething with discontent. To survive in adverse circum-
stances, many people made a precarious living in the informal economy.
Women ran shebeens, centers of liquor, fun, and sex; boys sold news-
papers; gangs stole and fought. In Peter Abraham's novel Mine Boy (1946),
a woman givesadvice to a newcomer from the country: "In the city it is like
this: all the time you are fighting. Fighting. Fighting! When you are asleep
and when you are awake. And you look only afteryourself, If you do not
you are finished. If you are soft everyone will spit in your face.They will rob
you and cheat you and betray you. So to livehere you must be hard, hard as
a stone. And money is your best friend. With money you can bribe a
policeman. With money you can buy somebody to go to jail for you. That is
how it is, Xuma."?"
Rises in the cost of living exceeded any increases in the wages of those
who had jobs. By 1945, food was particularly expensive as a result of a
prolonged drought. The state itself continued to apply its Civilised Labour
policy, providing sheltered employment for Whites and paying its unskilled