The Story of One Tells the Story of All: Metalworkers under Apartheid

The Story of One Tells the Struggle of All: Metalworkers under Apartheid is the third volume in the Hidden Voices Series. It is comprised of two booklets first published under Raven Press’s Worker Series which aims to tell the lived experiences of workers during apartheid.

In The Sun Shall Rise for the Workers, Mandlenkosi Makhoba tells the story of a man from the rurals who comes to Gauteng hoping for work and a better life. He tells of alienation from one’s family, of the unfair treatment from factory bosses and his hopes for a more humane life for the worker.

In his autobiography, My Life Struggle, Petrus Tom tells the story of his life and work in the Vaal Triangle, first as a metalworker in a cable factory and later as a full-time union organiser.

Despite the passing of over thirty years since they were first published, the stories of Mandlenkosi Makhoba and Petrus Tom continue to be relevant as they point to the ongoing struggle against exploitation and oppression which continues across the globe today. Both draw attention to the experiences of the working class that continue to be disregarded until they make life inconvenient for the middle and upper class.