In December 1941, African miners in the Belgian Congo went on strike to demand higher wages. The cost of living had risen sharply during the Second World War, while African workers were earning far less than their European counterparts. What began as a labour dispute over pay and working conditions would end with Belgian colonial troops opening fire on African workers in what became known as the Élisabethville Massacre.
The workers were employed by the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), the powerful Belgian mining company that dominated copper production in Katanga. The Congo’s copper was extremely important to the Allied war effort, which meant that keeping the mines operating was a major priority for the colonial administration. At the same time, African workers were expected to keep production going while dealing with rising prices and an unequal wage system.
The inequality was becoming particularly difficult to accept. During the war, a shortage of European skilled labour forced the colonial authorities to train Congolese workers for skilled positions.
African workers consequently began performing jobs that had previously been reserved for Europeans, but they continued to receive lower wages. European workers were also permitted to form trade unions and demand better conditions, encouraging African workers to organize and make similar demands.
The anger was captured in a statement attributed to African labour leader Léonard Mpoyi in December 1941:
“Why should a white man be paid more than a black, when all the white man does is stand there, giving orders, his arms behind his back and with his pipe in his mouth? We should take our rights, or we won’t work tomorrow.”
The immediate demand was straightforward. African miners wanted their wages increased from 1.50 francs to 2 francs to compensate for the rising cost of living. The strike began around 3 December and quickly spread through the Katanga mining region. By the following day, approximately 1,400 workers had stopped working, and by 9 December the strike had affected UMHK operations across the region.
The colonial government responded with increasing pressure. Officials attempted to persuade the workers to return to their jobs, while soldiers were deployed to mining areas. At Jadotville, 15 striking workers were reportedly shot dead by colonial troops. In Élisabethville, the authorities decided to bring the dispute to a confrontation at the city’s stadium.
On 9 December 1941, striking workers gathered at the stadium for negotiations. Mpoyi was among those representing the workers. The authorities offered concessions, including a proposed wage increase reportedly amounting to about 30 percent. The workers were not satisfied with a verbal promise and wanted written confirmation that the agreement would actually be implemented.
According to historical accounts, the confrontation escalated when Governor Amour Maron, the senior colonial official in Katanga, shot Mpoyi. The labour leader was killed, and colonial troops subsequently opened fire on the workers gathered inside the stadium. The crowd attempted to flee as soldiers fired into the assembly, turning the wage dispute into a massacre.
The exact death toll remains disputed. One account based on official figures records 45 men, two women and one child killed, with 74 wounded. Other historical accounts put the number killed at 60 to 70, while some researchers have suggested the total may have approached 100 when deaths from injuries are considered. Because the surviving records are incomplete and contradictory, there is no universally accepted figure, although it is clear that over 50 Congolese workers were killed.
The massacre effectively ended the strike. The miners returned to work on 10 December, just one day after the shooting. The colonial authorities had succeeded in restoring production, but the violence exposed the brutality of the labour system that upheld Belgian rule in the Congo.
The Élisabethville Massacre remains one of the lesser-known episodes of colonial violence in the Belgian Congo, but it reveals how quickly a demand for economic justice could be treated as a threat to colonial authority.
Sources:
Le massacre de l’union minière à Lubumbashi (9 décembre 1941)
https://africabib.org/rec.php?DB=p&RID=054095360
