Before the Stormy Years

Abstract

The stormy years which Salisbury underwent immediately after World War II present a singular contrast to the politically tranquil pre-1945 era. Yet, looked upon as a people's history, the postwar urban protest had long historical roots: it was very much the consummation of the urban traditions and organizations which the people had created in the prewar years.Before the early 1930s Salisbury's African community was a segmented and decentralized one. Urban institutions and associations did exist, but the town's ‘preindustrial’ topography and other circumstances hardly encouraged the interlocking of workers' institutions and the growth of a ‘self-conscious’ community. But after the Depression the community was considerably structured and centralized. Instrumental in this development was the Mashonaland Native Welfare Society, which promoted sports and recreation among urban Africans for the social control purposes. Many sport and social clubs, old and new, came under the Society's umbrella, with their daily activities coordinated by the Sports and Games Committee.After 1942 the people were outgrowing the Welfare Society's basic tenets. Location residents took a greater interest in improving living conditions, seeking a more autonomous power. Clubs and societies in the meantime distanced themselves from the Welfare Society. A few community activists even espoused political radicalism, when they joined the Labour Party's African Branch, and had C. Mzingeli, the Branch chairman and a former ICU activist, as their leader.The postwar years witnessed a groundswell of labour and community protest, and the ascendency of the re-constructed ICU to the apex of urban politics. The situation, though it might appear totally novel, was in many ways the product of prewar urban traditions: the Reformed ICU was launched by African Labourites, who were also long-established community leaders. Behind the grassroots mobilization by the Union, moreover, lay the growing structuring and centralization of the urban community.