Browsing by Author "Shivji, Issa Gulamhussein"

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    Development of wage - labour and labour laws in Tanzania: circa 1920-1964 (a study in law, state and society)
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1982) Shivji, Issa Gulamhussein
    This study analyses the development of labour law in mainland Tanzania by locating it within the general development of wage-labour. It is argued that law cannot be understood apart from the general social history as shaped by continuous struggles of contending forces. The study covers the road period from approximately 1920 to 1964. The approach is thematic rather than chronological. Nevertheless two broad stages may be distinguished. The first phase until about the end of 1930s was dominated by the semi-prolentarian labour. Chapter One discusses the development of this type of labour and Chapter Two gives its conditions. Both these aspects are analysed in the context of the relation between capital and labour, the dominant fraction of capital being finance capital. Chapter Three gives the organisation of capital and its relation with the colonial state. It is argued that whereas capital was well organised and to a large extent managed to minimise inter capital contradi9ctions, the semi-proletarian character of labour militated against collective organisation and resistance of labour. During the period when semi-proletarian character of labour dominated, the central piece of legislation was the M & NS. Its main purpose was to procure labour for capital and regulate such procurement. This legislation and the regulations made there under are discussed and analysed in the context of the contradictions of the system of semi-proletarian labour. The second broad phase of the development of wage-labour begins in the early forties with the struggles of the dockworkers. Chapter Four deals in detail with the development of the permanent wage-labour. in particular the industrial, agrarian and mining proletariat. The conditions of the proletariat especially those pertaining to industrial accidents and safety, are discussed at length in this chapter and such legislation as the Factories Ordinance; the Workmen’s compensation Ordinance and the employment Ordinance are analysed closely. Chapter five concentrates on the struggles of the dockworkers and goes into detailed discussion of four major strikes during the decade of 190s. Dockworkers have painted a brilliant picture of militant working-class struggles. It was in the wake of their struggles that for the first time the labour law scene began to change with the introduction of Minimum Wage legislation, Factories ordinance, etc. Once the workers had embarked on a collective struggle and collective organisation (trade unions), the state came to the rescue of capital by introducing legislation to control and supervises working-class organisations. Hence trade union legislation. Chapter Six discusses the complex class struggles of the fifties in the fire of which the most important trade unions of the Tanzanian working class were born and matured. It was again during this period that the most important outlines of legislation on trade disputes were worked out. In spite of its phenomenal successes during the fifties, the trade union movement was not to last. With the coming of independence, it fell victim to the inter-petty bourgeois struggles. The emerging bureaucratic bourgeoisie threw the weight of its state behind its own interests and those of foreign capital. The trade union movement was rapidly smashed and hurriedly laws were posed making stick illegal and establishing a single trade union which in substance became part of the state machinery. This is analysed in Chapter Seven. The underlying theme of this study is the relation between law, state and society and we touch on this issue both in the introduction as well as in the conclusion.