Cape Town Strike, 1914

This picture shows strikers marching through Cape Town during South Africa's labour troubles early in I9I4. Fomented by Marxists, strikes spread from the rail centres to white miners on the Rand, where violent rioting occurred. Smuts, then Minister of Interior, of Defence and of Mines, crushed it with troops. Soldiers mounted guard on factories and Smuts deported nine of the leading militants without trial, evoking much criticism.