Description
HSY3704 ASSIGNMENT 1 2026
DUE MAY 2026
Founding and Rise of the ICU: Key Sources and Their Contributions
Introduction
The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), founded in Cape Town in 1919,emerged as one of the most significant mass movements in early twentieth-century SAfrica. Under the leadership of Clements Kadalie, the union rapidly expanded beyond itsorigins as a dockworkers’ organisation to become a broad-based movement represenurban workers, rural labourers and disenfranchised African communities. The foundinrapid rise of the ICU in the 1920s can be understood through the political, economic, ansocial conditions that shaped the period. Its growth was driven by widespread dissatiswith racial discrimination, low wages, land dispossession, and state repression, combiwith a powerful message of unity and liberation that resonated deeply with oppressed
communities. At the same time, the movement’s organisational strategies and ideologinfluences strengthened its appeal and expanded its reach. Together, these factors ex
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