The Economics of the Colour Bar

Professor W. H. Hutt has written this book as an economist. His central discussion is of economic causes and consequences and he touches only marginally on other aspects, political, sociological, philosophical.

Readers may differ from some of the judgments on non-economic aspects of the subject, but the Institute considers that Professor Hutt’s effort to explain apartheid makes a new contribution to the debate that has been overlooked both by supporters and opponents. It does not necessarily accept his argument or conclusions, but believes he has written an informed, stimulating and controversial history and analysis of apartheid that can do nothing but good if it provokes discussion and re-appraisal of uncritical attitudes on all sides.

The central theme is that if the English in South Africa had continued the development of a liberal economy, it would have prevented or ameliorated the racial tensions that have been exacerbated by the restrictionist policies arising from the Nationalist Government’s racialist doctrines and the efforts of the higher-paid white workers to protect privileged positions in the labour market.

Although Professor Hutt writes dispassionately as an academic, there is ample evidence in his record of public protest of his moral revulsion against the injustices to the non-white peoples of South Africa.