The 1913 Élisabethville Strike: Congo's First Labor Uprising

The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History · Jul 9, 2026 · 8m · transcript

In 1913, just three years after the founding of Élisabethville (now Lubumbashi) in Katanga, African workers at the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga copper mines staged the territory's first major labor strike. This episode follows the strike's roots in the forced labor and tax policies of the Congo Free State and early Belgian colonial rule, the brutal working conditions under the ‘chicotte,’ and the demands of the miners for fair wages and an end to corporal punishment. We examine the role of the évolués and African foremen, the response of the colonial administration under…