Smuts negotiated from a starting position of full self-government for the Transvaal within British South Africa. Whilst this was dismissed by the Conservatives as unrealistic and counter-productive, most Liberal politicians saw things Smuts' way. Campbell-Bannerman failed to understand the Afrikaners' refusal to work with Milner. Regardless, he was compelled to agree. The Liberal government had been elected partly on the back of opposition to the Chinese indentured labour that had saved the gold mines. Campbell-Bannerman realised that the Chinese workers could not be removed, for that would cripple the economy, and knew that the Afrikaners could never be outnumbered by the British in South Africa. Thus, he decided to pass the buck to the Afrikaners, under whose remit of self-government the miners would fall. He persuaded the cabinet to accept Smuts' demands.