Southern Rhodesia Communist Party

[3] Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing author of various works including “The Grass is Singing,”[4] is the most well known member of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party.

However, the working class and peasantry was not organized or coordinated, so the government quickly crushed any attempts by the workers to strike during this period.

Most of these workers came from South Africa and Britain and were familiar with proletarian organizations and struggles, so they were resistant to labor strikes or uprisings.

The Rhodesia Mine and General Workers' Association was formed in 1919,[7] both of which led to some spectacularly successful strikes in the early 1920s and allowed for the creation of the Rhodesian Labour Party.

In its short-lived existence, the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party and its leaders provided a platform for the black and white working class, which played a part in forming a mass meeting attended by approximately 40,000 people in Bulawayo on April 13, 1948.

[11] However, the meeting triggered a strike, which was not the intention of the black and white middle-class workers and party leaders that had organized the event.

Nevertheless, the government was forced to grant significant concessions to the strikers, including a national minimum wage and recognition of trade unions, which was a win for many supporters and members of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party.

[14] At twenty-three years old, Doris Lessing joined the Southern Rhodesian Communist party, where she found other like-minded people who felt a similar sentiment to her about Rhodesia and its white ruling class.

Furthermore, the CPGB viewed Rhodesia as the “weakest link” in the chain of the imperialist system and an essential battle against racial oppression in the fight against apartheid.

It fully supports the efforts of the colonial and newly independent peoples.”[16] “We have stood consistently by the peoples of Africa and Asia and never hesitated in that cause to oppose our government and condemn the actions of our military forces.”[16] During the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party's existence, the group also had links to the South African Communist Party.

A significant reason for the party's short-lived existence was that it was underground and was not officially recognized by the colonial government, making it hard to draw in support and awareness.

By the turn of the decade, the party had dissolved, with many of its key members leaving Southern Rhodesia to return home to Europe or South Africa.