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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Undercurrents to independence: plantation struggles in Kenya's Central Province 1959-60
Author:Hyde, DavidISNI
Year:2010
Periodical:Journal of Eastern African Studies (ISSN 1753-1063)
Volume:4
Issue:3
Pages:467-489
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:strikes
1960
agricultural workers
trade unions
coffee
plantations
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2010.517416
Abstract:The avalanche of plantation strikes that took place during the early months of 1960 initiated the successive strike waves which plagued Kenya's decolonization process. The lifting of the Emergency and the announcement of a transition period to African majority government in January 1960 was marked by a new confidence. After years of draconian discipline, estate workers embraced trade unionism and moved into their first organized struggles over wages and conditions. They were joined by unrestricted former Mau Mau detainees and the victims of land consolidation who entered the plantation work force. The arousal of high expectations fuelled the strikes that engulfed the plantation districts of Kenya's Central Province during the approach to independence. These events took place against a background of severe crisis within world coffee markets. Faced by this, European coffee growers attempted to compensate themselves by rationalizing the plantation economy at the expense of their workers. This was met by fierce resistance from plantation labourers, which was only eventually tamed as union leaders struggled to arrest the movement and surrender organizational autonomy to the State. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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