Transition from below: Forging trade unionism and workplace change in SA

The role of organised labour in the struggle against apartheid is widely acknowledged. Peter Alexander reviews Karl von Holdt’s Transition from Below: Forging Trade Unionism and Workplace Change in South Africa which provides an account of how Numsa operated at Highveld Steel in Witbank. This account goes beyond the dynamics in the workplace and explores some of the political tensions which emerged pre- and post- 1994.