The end of rioting in Bloemfontein was by no means the end of South Africa's civil strife. In the first days of 1914, when nationalisation of the South African railways brought about job cuts, the Amalgamated Society of Railwaymen and Harbour Workers objected, and went on strike. Led by a firebrand Afrikaner, Hessel Poutsma, the railwaymen went on strike. As Finance Minister, Smuts took over responsibility from the Minister for Railways, and, characteristically, refused to budge. In response, Poutsma requested that the Transvaal Federation of Trades Unions intervene. On 13 January, they did, by calling a general strike.