Northern Rhodesian Labour Party

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The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party was a political party in Northern Rhodesia. It was founded by Roy Welensky of the Rhodesian Railway Workers' Union originally to support white Rhodesian working class interests but also to support the creation of a federal state with Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.[1] It was dissolved in 1944 after losing the elections that year.[2]

History

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The party was established by Roy Welensky in 1941.[3][4] It was supported by European working class miners and artisans,[5] and campaigned for closer union with Southern Rhodesia.[6] The party was mainly created to protect the white working class from being undermined by cheaper black competition.[7] The first congress of the party was held in Nkana on 11 July 1941,[8][9] and called for immediate amalgamation with Southern Rhodesia.[8][9] While this proposal had broad support amongst the white populace in Northern Rhodesia, the black population largely opposed the idea of an amalgamation with Southern Rhodesia due to the latter's harsher restrictions on the native population.[10]

In the 1941 general elections the party contested five of the eight seats, winning them all;[11] Welensky in Broken Hill, F. T. Sinclair in Livingstone and Western, Michael McGann in Luanshya, F S Roberts in Ndola and Martin Visagie in Nkana.[11][12] However, during World War II there were disputes within the party, mostly due to dissatisfaction with Welensky as a result of allegations that he had schemed to get the Railway Union's secretary deported.[13] The party was dissolved after it was defeated in the 1944 elections, in which only two members retained their seats and one was unseated by an independent Labour candidate in the Copperbelt.[2][13] Despite its dissolution, the party's policy for a Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland became a reality in 1953, with Welensky later becoming the Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Mwakikagile, Godfrey (2010). Zambia: The Land and Its People. Dar es Salaam: Continental Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-9987-9322-5-2.
  2. ^ a b Don Taylor (1955), The Rhodesian: The Life of Sir Roy Welensky, Museum Press, p75
  3. ^ Sir Roy Welensky, Bodleian Library.
  4. ^ Deborah Andrews (1992). Annual Obituary, 1991. St. James Press. p. 771. ISBN 978-1-55862-175-6.
  5. ^ Lewis Henry Gann, Michael Gelfand (1964), Huggins of Rhodesia: The Man and His Country, George Allen & Unwin, p170
  6. ^ Bill Schwarz (2011), The White Man's World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p363
  7. ^ Moritz, Charles (1960). Current Biography Yearbook. Vol. 20. H.W. Wilson Co. p. 479.
  8. ^ a b J. R. T. Wood (1983). The Welensky Papers: A History of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Graham Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-620-06410-1.
  9. ^ a b The Crown Colonist. Crown Colonist. 1942. p. 372.
  10. ^ Rotberg, Robert (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa. Harvard University Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780674771918.
  11. ^ a b "N. Rhodesian elections: New Labour Party Wins Five Seats", East Africa and Rhodesia, 4 September 1941, p7
  12. ^ "Matters of Moment", East Africa and Rhodesia, 4 September 1941, p3
  13. ^ a b Money, Duncan (2018). "The Southern African Labour Congress". International Labor and Working-Class History (94): 133–155. doi:10.1017/S014754791800011X. JSTOR 26857717. Retrieved 20 June 2025 – via JSTOR.
  14. ^ "Sir Roy Welensky | Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland, Prime Minister". Britannica. Retrieved 20 June 2025.