Max Gordon (1 April 1910 – 10 May 1977) was a South African trade union leader and

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

activist. Born in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

as Max Livetsky, his father died when he was young. He was adopted, and his surname was changed to "Gordon". He studied at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, and while there joined the Workers Party of South Africa, a Trotskyist organisation. In 1935, Gordon relocated to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

to work as an industrial chemist. He also became the leader of the African Laundry Workers' Union. The union was nearly defunct, and although he was initially able to revive it, an unofficial strike the following year proved a major setback. Gordon decided to work with the registered trade unions to improve the position of black workers, and was able increase

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

s in several industries, and win back-pay for many workers. The South African Institute for Race Relations began to support his work, and from 1938 the Bantu Welfare Trust paid him a wage, enabling him to work full time as a trade union organiser. Gordon established numerous unions, in bakeries, dairies, print works and also in distribution, in addition to an African General Workers' Union. In 1940, he established the Joint Committee of African Trade Unions, whose affiliates had a total of around 20,000 members. However, Gordon opposed both sides in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and so in 1941 was interned. He was released a year later, by which time the Joint Committee had split, many unions becoming part of the

Council of Non-European Trade Unions The Council of Non-European Trade Unions (CNETU) was a national trade union federation bringing together unions representing black African workers in South Africa. The federation was established in November 1941, with the merger of the Non-Europe ...

. Instead, he moved to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, where he founded six new trade unions, but the white labour movement refused to support him, and the South African government threatened him with further internment if he persisted. Gordon decided he could make no further progress, and emigrated to London. Later in life, Gordon returned to

, where he worked for Gerber Goldschmidt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Max 1910 births 1977 deaths South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African trade unionists South African Trotskyists