�Republic of Botsoana� :: Mmegi Online

“I found amongst the more intelligent men as unexpected interest in the course of English political history, in the passage of power from crown to aristocracy, from aristocracy to the bourgeoisie, from the bourgeoisie to the proletariat; and they were frankly speculating about the possibility of tribal development following comparable lines.” - British journalist Leonard Barns, reporting on his 1931 tour of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

We previously noted that in March 1919, at the inaugural congress of Comintern in Moscow, a report on “Communism in South Africa” had described Bechuanaland as a breeding ground for cheap black labour, which primarily worked in the mines and farms of South Africa.

The report further noted that local government in the Protectorate and other “native territory” in the region was “exercised by chiefs, petty chiefs, and headmen, always of course under the supervision of the police patrol.” On the basis of the above, from the 1920s South African communists attempted to actively recruit Batswana migrant labourers, as well as those from the other rural reserves, into their party’s ranks.

Already have an active account? Log in here.

Or Sign up and get unlimited access to premium articles.