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Oil, Strikes and the Nuclear Industry: Vietnam to Soweto, 1971–6

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Electricity, Industry and Class in South Africa

Part of the book series: St Antony’s Series ((STANTS))

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Abstract

Escom and South Africa’s rulers could only partly isolate themselves from the world turmoil of the 1970s. The Vietnam war, the Middle East war, the resignation of Nixon, and the energy crisis were followed by a slump in Western production and employment. The price of Arabian light crude oil rose from $2 a barrel in 1971 to $12 a barrel in 1975. In turn, world coal prices soared, and the price of uranium quintupled in two years. Workers were less easy to control by mechanisation, because energy for machines was more expensive.1 Investment was cut back as owners of capital, in South Africa and around the world, reverted to another way of controlling workers: unemployment.

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Authors
  1. Renfrew Christie
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© 1984 Renfrew Christie

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Christie, R. (1984). Oil, Strikes and the Nuclear Industry: Vietnam to Soweto, 1971–6. In: Electricity, Industry and Class in South Africa. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07030-5_9

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