M.A. / During the 1930's industrial expansion which marked the rise of industrial trade unions also precipitated the process of urbanization and proletarianization of large numbers of rural Afrikaans-speaking migrants, resulting into acute poverty and unemployment. The Labour Party, dominating the established trade union movement during this period, drew its support from the craft unions in the Trades and Labour Council-structure which strongly opposed the new rural migrants clustering around the least skilled and lowest paid occupations in the rising industrial unions. At the same time foreign and communistic influences also prevailed in the existing trade unions. National-minded leaders who became increasingly concerned with the serious effects of proletarianization set out to smash the ideology of class which threatened national unity. Thus their endeavour to capture working class support for Afrikaner na- tionalism by means of organizing the Afrikaans-speaking workers in right wing inclined trade unions which they labelled 'Christian National'. As control over trade union funds also proved to be a valuable source of income, the mobilization of the Afrikaner worker provided both the means of developing Afrikaner capital and gaining political power. In October 1936 the Nasionale Raad van Trustees (NRT) was formed to provide the financial backing for Afrikaner trade unions and to act as liaison body with the Afrikaner nation. It's aim to break the power which the Labour Party had gained in South African politics led to the organization of Afrikaans speaking mine workers in the Trades and Labour Councils' largest non-craft affiliate, the Mine Workers Union (MWU). This resulted in the formation of the Afrikanerbond van Myn- werkers (ABM) as a alternative union to the MWU during November 1936.

M.A. (Historical Studies) / Since its inception in 1902 the aimof the Mine Workers' Union (MWU) was to protect the interests of the White worker. All the strikes organised by the MWU since 1907 had this mission in mind. The position of the skilled worker has always been at stake in the relationship between the government and the mine authorities due to the importance of the goldmine industry. This relationship has been complicated by the industry's dependence on more expensive skilled labour on the one hand and the availability of much cheaper unskilled Black labour on the other hand. White workers who exclusively represented the skilled labour force obtained guarantees for their position in 1911 when work reservation of certain positions wasgranted legal recognition. At the slightest threat to their security the White workers exhibited political power to the extent that this position was considered not negotiable. The MWU's unique relationship with the National Party since 1948 thus gave unequaled protection to a labour union. Socio-political changes in the RSA, especially in the late 1960's and early 1970's, required essential changes in labour relations. The mine industry has also been drawn into the new labour dispensation during the early eighties when jobs for coloured groups and Black people were brought in parity with jobs previously held by White mineworkers. The new labour dispensation proved to be unavoidable already in 1977. This caused resistance by the White mineworkers who considered the changes as treason by the National Party. They used political opportunities in an effort to maintain the status quo in the party's reforms in labour policy. The process which has been seen as politicising and even as militant petered out towards the end of 1981 when it was realised that the new labour dispensation was irreversible and the MWU in collaboration with the Herstige Nasionale Party were unable to obtain a mandate for amending the new labour policies. The MWU finally turned its back on the National Party when the Conservative Party was established in 1982. This party came into being in protest against the National Party's move away from apartheid. The Conservative Party made provision for white workers' right to self-determination as embodied in the old dispensation; it therefore obviously provided a home for the MWU. This merger between the Conservative party and the MWU which came into being after 1982 heralded a new dispensation for the MWU. It also provided the MWU with a new platform for political activities.