What Is The Role Of Capitalist Conditions Under Apartheid In South Africa?

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Marxism has been used to attempt to explain the capitalist conditions under apartheid in South Africa. Capitalism took the form of exploitation for profit under the oppressive apartheid system, as black labour was institutionalised as cheap, or rather, cheaper than white labor. Furthermore, the system ensured that black workers were only taught to serve their white masters, such as woodwork or gardening, while whites could receive education in any trade and thus receive higher wages. Racism is said to have been one of the driving forces of capitalist development, as racial division meant for the capitalist system a surplus. Surplus would be generated through migrant labour, and cheap labor. If a society is divided, collective resistance is …show more content…
Racial capitalism is said to refer to the relationship between racial oppression and exploitation by capitalists, a relationship that strengthens one another’s impact or force. Institutions of racial domination existed in the South African apartheid state, which is said to have only been reshaped post-apartheid, and operating in such a way so as to meet the needs of capital (Bond, 1991). A Marxist perspective would thus state that institutions that dominated and oppressed served the interests of capital. Furthermore, Bond (1991) states that the division and structuring of labour developed post-apartheid have been functional to capitalism. It is stated that in the early years of apartheid, the mining and agriculture capitalists supported apartheid policies. Racial exploitation lead to economic gain for capitalists, as black labour was cheap. Bond (1991) states that Wolpe’s 1970s studies state that South Africa’s ruling class extracted surplus labour from African migrant workers, a Marxist conception of …show more content…
(1991). South African Socialists on Crisis, The State and The Economy. Phambili Books: Johannesburg, 1-35
Klein, N. (2007). The Shock Doctrine. England and USA: Penguin Books
Marx, K. (1848). Selections from “The Communist Manifesto”. http://www.marxists.org./index.htm
Moor, C. (2011). ‘South Africa: In defence of Marxism- A reply to Prince Mashele’. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.marxist.com/south-africa-in-defence-of-marxism-reply-prince-mashele.htm
Poulantzas, N. (2008). Selection from Chapter 11: The Capitalist State: A reply to Miliband and Laclau, in The Poulantzas Reader: Marxism, Law and the State, ed. James Martin, Verso, London and New York, 279-285
South African History Online. ‘Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa’. Accessed: 4 May 2015. http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/cyril-matamela-ramaphosa#content-top
Wolpe, H. (1972). “Capitalism and Cheap Labour Power in SA: From Segregation to Apartheid” in Economy and Society, 1(4),

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