Three themes are exposed in the literature on the African labour movement: the creation of an African class structure, relationships between Rhodesian labour movements (physical and psychological) and international movements in historical perspective, and the gradual superficial integration of African labour into the European economy rather than society as a whole before the Second World War three phases of integration are identifiable: 1) traditional pre-colonial period, 2) European policies of the subsistence wage, the British South Africa Company and the migratory labour system, 3) between the world wars; Responsible Government European capitalism creating, through legislation, a dual economy; forming of elite African groups. During the second and third phases African workers experimented with different forms of urban organization ranging from purely ethnic associations to mutual aid associations. The fourth phase of African Labour history emerged during the Second World War. The war created a crisis of African identity, served as the watershed for the African labour movement, and contributed to a modification of the Huggins Ministry’s African policy. Notes.
