Labour-Afrikaner Nationalist Unity
From the late 1920s, whites elected governments that united white labour and Afrikaner Nationalism that used sanctions such as denying government contracts, against businesses that did not employ people who spoke Afrikaans. Nationalised industries were established, like steel and the railways, which reserved even low skilled jobs for whites.
The 1930s and 1940s saw the rapid industrialisation of the country as it supplied the mining industry and the government invested in major projects to protect white employment. South Africa not only had gold and diamonds but vast quantities of iron, coal and many other minerals. Agriculture diminished in importance as mining and then industry grew.
While English-speaking South Africans dominated industrial and commercial life Afrikaners banded together in mutual financial organisations that in due course were to be become major players in that sector of the economy.
Read more about this topic: Economic History Of South Africa
Famous quotes containing the words nationalist and/or unity:
“The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.”
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