NATAL, UNIVERSITY OF, THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, The African Factory Worker. A Sample Study of the Life and Labour of the Urban African Worker. Report No. 2 of the Durban Economic Research Council. Pp. 221. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1950. $6.00

• Author: Charles W. Coulter
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400199
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

262

that

the

Saskatchewan

C.C.F.

had

done

right

well.

JOHN

D.

HICKS

Trinity

Hall

Cambridge,

England

ROSINGER,

LAWRENCE

K.

India

and

the

United

States:

Political

and

Economic

Relations.

Pp.

149.

New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company,

1950.

Price

$2.75.

As

a

journalistic

narrative

this

little

book

of

149

pages

is

to

be

highly

commended,

for

it

does

full

justice

to

its

title

and

deftly

deals

with

the

fast

moving

scenes

in

In-

dia’s

most

recent

history.

The

author

has

gleaned

pervasively

from

the

public

pro-

nouncements

of

Indian

and

American

lead-

ers

to

show

the

extent

and

potential

scope

of

the

political

and

economic

relations

be-

tween

the

two

nations.

Having

adopted

an

objective

approach,

he

has

indicated

the

thin

texture

of

understanding

which

the

people

of

each

country

possess

about

the

other.

India,

conscious

of

her

ancient

glories,

and

the

United

States,

conscious

of

her

modern

achievements,

are

naturally

not

readily

able

to

grasp

the

values

which

lie

in

their

realistic

co-operation

today.

Mr.

Rosinger

correctly

says,

&dquo;Both

coun-

tries

have

sharply

different

historical

back-

grounds ;

and

their

prevailing

outlooks

on

innumerable

questions

of

family

life,

re-

ligion

and

social

organization

are

strikingly

dissimilar.

But

each

in

varying

measures

holds

the

future

o f

the other

in

its

hands.&dquo;

President

Roosevelt

and

his

personal

rep-

resentative,

Ambassador

William

Phillips,

did

what

they

could

to

convince

the

British

about

the

folly

of

re-enforcing

their

im-

perialist

hold

upon

India.

Indians

became

favorably

America-conscious,

as a

result,

but

of

late

the

American

foreign

policy

to,ward

Asia

and

especially

the

studied

in-

difference

toward

India’s

needs

seem

to

be

driving

the

governments

of

the

two

coun-

tries

apart.

For

instance

Nehru’s

efforts

to

negotiate

peace

between

the

United

States

and

Communist

China

have

been

dubbed

&dquo;appeasement,&dquo;

and

his

tossing

about

to

obtain

wheat

met

with

no

attention

from

the

United

States

government

when

the

latter

had

a

surplus supply.

Recently

in

the

United

Nations

discus-

sion,

when

India’s

delegate

suggested

that

what

the

People’s

Republic

of

China

is

seeking

to

accomplish

for

Asia

is

what

the

Americans

accomplished

by

their

Monroe

Doctrine

for

the

American

Continent,

a

sense

of fear

gripped

the

American

states-

men.

It

would

seem

that

whenever

India

sees

fit

to

abide

by

pro-British

leanings,

she

becomes

suspicious

of

American

collabora-

tion.

Whenever

she

is

confronted

with

pro-Asian

demands,

she

tries

to

appear

&dquo;independent&dquo;

even

if

her

bold

words

make

her

&dquo;suspect&dquo;

in

the

minds

of

Americans

and

Asians.

Whenever

she

feels

caught

between

the

Russian-led

Eastern

power

block

and

the

American-led

Western

power

block,

she

follows

the

cautious

and

even

clever

British

diplomacy

to

undercut

both

sides

and

postpone

decisions

by

force.

The

above

diplomatic

tactics

can

be

well

appreciated

by

reading

the

background

ac-

count

which

this

book

forthrightly

offers.

Geographically

located

at

the

antipodes,

India

and

the

United

States

could

play

a

sustaining

role

if

each

would

co-operate

with

the

other.

Governmental

understand-

ing

supported

by

active

co-operation

at

the

people’s

level

would

give

the

United

States

better

recognition

in

India

than

the

Com-

munists

by

their

rival

schemes

could

ever

expect

to

attain.

By

acting

true

to

their

respective

revolutionary

heritage,

they

could

join

hands

around

the

globe

and

hold

it

in

peace

and

prosperity.

,.

RAJARAM

V.

GOGATE

Washington,

D.

C.

NATAL,

UNIVERSITY

OF,

THE

DEPARTMENT

OF

ECONOMICS,

The

African

Factory

Worker.

A

Sample

Study

of

the

Life

and

Labour

of

the

Urban

African

Worker.

Report

No. 2

of

the

Durban

Economic

Research

Council.

Pp.

221.

Cape

Town:

Oxford

University

Press,

1950.

$6.00.

This

200-page

book

is

the

result

of

an

attempt

by

the

Durban

Research

Com-

mittee

to

find

out

how

the

Bantu

(who

outnumber

the

white

residents

4

to

1)

are

fitting

into

South

Africa’s

expanding

industrial

system.

It

assumes

that

unless

they

can

be

effectively

employed

the

vast

potential

labor

resource

they

represent

in-

stead

of

being

a

valuable

asset

will

become

a

national

liability.

The

native

population,