The Reformed Industrial Commercial Union (RICU) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

during the 1940s and 1950s.

History

The RICU was founded in 1946 by

Charles Mzingeli Charles Mzingeli (1905–1980) grew up on a Catholic mission station near Plumtree in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. At the age of 14 he ran away to work on the railways, before moving to Bulawayo, where he became involved in the Industrial and ...

, who had previously been active in the Southern Rhodesian branch of the

Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union The Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World (adopting the IWW Preamble in 1925) ...

. Formed at a time when trade unions were banned from organising black African workers, the RICU was generally more militant than other black African nationalist organisations at the time, such as the National African Congress. The RICU was active in agitating for improved housing, wages and living standards for the black urban populations in major centres, such as

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

and

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

, and was instrumental in opposing the Native (Urban Areas) Accommodation and Registration Act of 1946. The RICU helped organise the African General Strike of 1948 in Bulawayo. The RICU was also opposed to the establishment of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southe ...

, fearing it would further cement white minority rule. The RICU, through Mzingeli, was involved in the campaign led by the Inter-racial Association of Southern Rhodesia (IASR) to amend the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1934 to allow the formation of multi-racial and African trade unions. The Secretary of the RICU was Patrick Pazarangu. The treasurer in 1951 was

George Nyandoro George Bodzo Nyandoro (8 July 1926 – 24 June 1994) was a Zimbabwean politician and activist in the struggle to end white minority rule in Rhodesia. Nyandoro was one of the founders of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) and ser ...

, who later led the

All-African Convention The All-African Convention conference took place from 15–18 December 1935. Notable figures who attended the delegation included Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, JL Dube, Zacharias Richard Mahabane, Alfred Bitini Xuma, James Moro ...

in 1952. The position of the RICU as the leading black African nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia was supplanted in the 1950s by more militant groups such as the

City Youth League The City Youth League, later known as the African Youth League, is a defunct organization that participated in nonviolent resistance against the government in Rhodesia from its founding in August 1955 until it merged with the old SRANC on Septembe ...

and

Southern Rhodesia African National Congress The Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) was a political party active between 1957–1959 in Southern Rhodesia (now modern-day Zimbabwe). Committed to the promotion of indigenous African welfare, it was the first fully fledged ...

(SRANC).

References

Trade unions in Zimbabwe History of Zimbabwe Trade unions established in 1946 Syndicalist trade unions {{Africa-trade-union-stub