FREEDOM FROM BELOW, the struggle for trade unions in South Africa

273pp., illus., paperback, Skotaville Publishers, Johannesburg, (1986) 1989

Freedom from Below: The Struggle for Trade Unions in South Africa offers a compelling account of the historical efforts by South African workers—especially Black workers—to organise and assert their rights under the brutal constraints of apartheid. It traces how, from the ground up, workers built trade unions in defiance of a system designed to silence and exploit them. The book highlights the vital role these unions played, not only in improving working conditions, but also in fuelling the broader resistance against apartheid itself.

Published by Skotaville Publishers, the first black-owned publishing house in South Africa, founded in 1982.