On this day, 15 October 1913, Indian workers at the Farleigh colliery near Newcastle, South Africa, went on strike in protest against a tax on former indentured servants. The move was part of an ongoing campaign against racist pass laws in the white-ruled British colony.
The laws restricted the movement of Indian people, did not recognise Asian marriages or allow the immigration of spouses, and imposed a £3 per year tax on former indentured servants. This extremely high tax effectively forced many Indian migrants back into indentured servitude.
A campaign the previous decade had faltered, but returned in September 1913 when Indian women defied the laws and crossed from Natal into Transvaal and vice versa. The women from Natal were arrested, but those from Transvaal were not, so they persuaded miners in the region to begin going on strike.
On October 15, a committee of resisters addressed 78 workers at the Farleigh colliery, who then promptly went on strike. They were arrested and ordered to return to work, but they refused. Mohandas Gandhi and other organisers then helped to spread the strike until eventually over 20,000 workers were on strike. Many strikers and organisers were arrested and imprisoned, and some workers were shot and killed by police. But the strike persisted until late November, after which the government set up a commission of inquiry.
In 1914, Gandhi and the government came to an agreement which resulted in the implementation of the Indian Relief Bill, which recognised Indian marriages and abolished the tax and any arrears. However, restrictions on movement remained, and more laws were later implemented which further discriminated against Asians with respect to whites.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10655/strike-against-pass-laws

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