BOOK REVIEW

Essays on Indias Working Class

Kanchana Mahadevan

orking Class Movement in

India in the Wake of Globalization is an anthology edited and
written by academics and activists Jose
George, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra
Ojha mapping the evolution of the working-class movement in India. An outcome
of a seminar that was conducted in September 2009 by the Department of Civics
and Politics, University of Mumbai, the
book is dedicated to the eminent communist leader M K Pandhe (who passed
away in August 2011). Pandhe has contributed a foreword and an article.
The books unique position of being
between the worlds of academia and
activism enables it to track the concept of
class as a point of departure for organised resistance from the period of its
emergence in colonial India to its development in post-Independence India. It
also engages with the challenges confronting such resistance in the era of
globalisation, characterised by privatisation and weak labour unions.
Some of the essays in the book also take
a critical look at some of the paradoxes
generated by organised labour in an era
that is dominated by informal, flexible
and contractual work. It engages with the
methodological challenges for quantitative research posed by taking class as an

30

Working Class Movement in India in the Wake

of Globalization edited by Jose George, Manoj Kumar
and Dharmendra Ojha (New Delhi: Manohar), 2012;
pp 470, Rs 1,295.

analytical category in the social sciences.

It roots its empirical findings in the theoretical insights of the Marxist legacy and
presents the reader with an alternative
reading of Indian history from the point
of view of peoples struggles.
The books introduction situates the
various articles against the backdrop of
the neo-liberal challenges facing the
working-class movement in India such
as contract work, voluntary retirement
schemes, declining organised labour and
welfare. It examines these specific issues
against the larger canvas of neo-liberal
states and globalisation in the postSoviet world.
In keeping with the link between the
global and the local, the introduction
shows how workers agitations in the
erstwhile Bombay Presidency arose
alongside the agitations against the
Tsars in Russia. Industrialisation in India
occurred during the colonial period
when factories of jute, cement and sugar
were set up in cities such as Bombay.
Further, labour from the de-peasantised
rural areas entered the cities through

exploitative colonial policies to serve in

these factories. The working class also
bore the brunt of caste oppression.
Workers resisted low wages, long working hours and formed a collective solidarity by overcoming differences of religion, caste, region and language. These
organisations in turn forged the All India
Trade Union Congress (AITUC). Most of
the trade unions were dominated by
communists, though with resistance,
others also tried to acquire union positions. The essay delineates the increasing
momentum of this movement from the
1920s to the 1980s, as well as its waning
in the 1990s with the structural adjustment programmes through the World
Trade Organisation, the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The introduction thus covers some of
the key issues over 100 years of Indian
history through the lens of the working
class, which are followed through in the
rest of the five sections of the book.
A Wide Range of Issues
Part I deals with the emergence and
growth of the working-class movement in
India. In Part II, it takes a more theoretical
look at the ideological underpinnings of
the peoples movement in India. Part III
narrates the experiences of the working
class in the urban industrial sector. Part IV
is titled The Growth and Struggles
of the Working Class in Rural Areas,
while Part V is The Status of Working
Class during Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization.

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BOOK REVIEW

This review discusses only a few of the

essays, though all the essays are noteworthy. The essay by M K Pandhe analyses
the emergence of the trade union movement in India from its origins in the unity
of the working class, to its fragmentation
in the contemporary globalised world.
V B Athreyas paper Workers Struggles
and Challenges Ahead elaborates the
relationship bet ween the workers movement and nationalist struggles. It also
examines its presence during the crises in
economic growth in 1960s and the 1970s.
In her paper in Part II, Working Class
and Insecurity Hypothesis, Anuradha
Kalhan examines the impact of flexibility of work in the labour market with
special reference to countries under the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), which include
the US, UK and India (where such flexibility is the highest).
Vivek Monteiro looks at the experiences
of the unorganised sector to show how
they question the basic premises of neoliberalism. He opens up an important topic
in methodology through his critique of
the second National Labour Commission
study of the workforce, and suggests a
way of documenting labour in a scientific
manner so that the organisation of the
unorganised sector becomes possible.
In Part III, one of the essays by Jose
George and Manoj Kumar takes stock
of the Kamani experiment of workers
participating in industrial management.
K Srinivasalu examines the challenges
faced by the handloom industry (and
the textile industry) in Andhra Pradesh
to keep itself going in the light of neoliberalism. P N Samant looks at the possibility of autonomy in trade unions, which
emerged as the face of political parties.
It refers to Datta Samants Kamgar
Aghadi as an instance of such autonomy
to a partial extent. M A Hussain and
C Nagaraja Rao delineate the resistance
of municipal workers engaged in scavenging jobs in Andhra Pradesh, against
their deplorable conditions of existence.
In Part V, the paper Trade Unions at
the Crossroads by B Venugopal takes
a critical look at trade unions (with
special reference to Kerala) during the
neo-liberal period. He points out that in
recent times they have abdicated their
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earlier constructive role and grass-roots

mobilisation to even oppose the struggles
waged by social movements such as
those of displaced communities for land.
He observes that in this the trade unions
play a pro-state role by viewing such
eviction as necessary for development.
Venugopal suggests a more comprehensive approach for trade unions in collaboration with social movements and the
unorganised sector.
Resistance of Labour
This book contributes in several ways
to the understanding of the complex
mechanism(s) of capitalism at local and
global levels, as well as labours resistance. It situates its various studies of
working-class movements in India within
the global canvas from colonisation to
the neo-liberal post-Soviet world. It
meticulously shows the emergence of
left-wing trade unions in different parts of
India, such as Pondicherry, Bihar, Kerala
and Maharashtra through which one
can draw out the notion of a national
left culture.
Some of the essays elucidate the overlap between class and caste, which has
not been given prominence in theoretical discussions of the working class. For
instance, Athreya points out how divisive
forces of caste and religion splinter the
working class and obstruct its political
consciousness (p 104); neo-liberalism
has thrived on such divisiveness. He suggests that such obscurantism be rooted
out through education, which is one of the
tasks of a democratic movement (p 104).
K K Theckedaths essay, which revisits the
vibrant teachers movement in Bombay,
highlights how this movement has been
an ally (and can continue to be so) of
the labour movement through solidarity
with their struggles and through the
consciousness-raising activities by intellectuals. He points to how education can
open up the possibility of an interface
between the Marxist approach and that
of Ambedkar (p 203).
Several contributions in the book address other aspects of social life that
have not received adequate attention
from the left such as culture and ecology.
Rural left mobilisation is effectively articulated in terms of its difference with its
vol xlix no 1

Gandhian counterpart. This is especially

important in the Indian context, where
the left has been perceived as indifferent
to and even antithetical to these aspects
of human life. By discussing the relationship between the left and other social movements, this book also touches
upon the extent to which trade union
politics in India can be insulated from
other political formations. Indeed, the
book indicates that it is precisely because
of the absence of such insulation that
the trade union movement itself has
been partially hijacked by the extreme
right. Moreover, it also takes a critical
look at the complacency and the proestablishment tone adopted by established trade unions, which then have the
tendency to become anti-democratic.
This book illustrates how even seeming intangibles such as knowledge(s),
psychologies and cultures are mediated
through the social relations generated
by capital. It shows that to comprehend
these intangibles one has to adopt the
Marxist framework. Consequently, this
anthology is an instance of how qualitative research can be scientific or objective despite adopting a theoretical framework and it shows the way for a humanities curriculum that could integrate
theory and practice.
However, despite these strengths this
book contains some oversights in its analyses of the relationship between workingclass movements and those striving for
social democracy such as womens struggles, eradication of caste and those for
ecological balance. These oversights
range from glaring omissions to inadequate analyses. This anthology tends
to either assimilate all social relations
under class or compartmentalise them.
The challenges that have been posed by
movements of gender, caste and ecology
to class in the Indian context need to be
adequately engaged with.
What of the Womens Movements?
Womens contribution to the labour
movement is conspicuous by its absence
in this anthology. India is rife with
examples of womens active participation in the struggle for economic, social
and political rights from the colonial
times to the present. For instance, rural
31

BOOK REVIEW

and urban women have contributed to

the labour movement through leadership and mass participation in the textile
industry, railways and agrarian work from
the colonial period to the present.
Labour movements have also contributed to the struggle for womens rights.
Thus, womens participation in productive labour in the public sphere and
reproductive labour in the domestic
domain has been pivotal to the labouring
classes and their struggle for freedom
and equality. Yet, the womens movement also emerged as a struggle independent of labour only because the latter
tended to emphasise the contribution of
men at the expense of women. Hence,
considering that the womens movement
is a social movement, its similarities,
differences and the affinities with the
labour movement need to be analysed in
an anthology such as this.
One of the most contentious issues that
the left movement needs to engage with is
the feminist critique of the class-oriented
approach as patriarchal (Hartmann 1997).
This critique is borne out by the decline
of women in leadership positions in left

unions and the lack of acknowledgement of their contribution to labour.

Feminists have observed that this is
because labour is typically understood
as productive labour in the public sphere,
at the cost of domestic reproductive labour
(ibid). Alongside such a problematic
status given to women in the labour
movement, neo-liberalism continues to
target women and exploit the sexual division of labour to reinforce itself. Marxist
theory itself has not been indifferent to
gender issues, as the critique of the
bourgeois family by Marx and Engels
(1959: 24) or that of bourgeois feminism
by Luxemburg (1971: 216-22) reveals. A
discussion of the relationship between
the womens movement and the left
movement in this anthology could have
opened up these complexities.
What of Caste and Class?
The relationship between caste and
labour has been touched upon in some
of the essays (Athreya and Theckedath).
The contribution of dalits to the labour
movement in Kerala (Ramakumar) and
in Bihar (Kumar) have been brought out

at length. However, these essays assume

that caste relations conceal those of class
(Ramakumar: 340). The problem of caste
hierarchies persisting among workingclass people, despite the equality of class,
has not been adequately problematised.
Caste hierarchy is rooted in oppressive
Hindu religious and social practices, but
it is not merely ideological as it has a
material dimension as well. Labouring
activities in India have been and continue
to be performed by those belonging to
underprivileged castes. An exclusive focus
on class tends to obscure this central
dimension of Indian social reality.
Moreover, despite their contribution
to labour and labour movements, dalit
voices are not heard adequately in these
contexts. Further, as the experiences of
many from underprivileged castes reveal,
the acquisition of economic rights has not
necessarily freed society from the scourge
of caste. Hence, one cannot assume that
class consciousness will automatically rid
society of caste discrimination, or that
the struggle against exploitative class
relations is identical to a similar struggle
for removal of caste inequality. Indeed,

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there is a need to reflect on the converse

aspect of whether caste consciousness
can lead to class consciousness.
To what extent are the social relations
of caste and class distinct? In what ways
do they intersect? What is the impact of
globalisation on the disenfranchised
underprivileged caste groups of India?
What are the specific ways in which globalisation reinforces the caste system?
How does the contribution of dalits to
labour offer a critical perspective on views
that celebrate globalisation as emancipatory for dalits (Omvedt 2001)? These
questions are critical for the future of
emancipatory politics in India, which can
combine the legacies of Ambedkar and
Marx. Ambedkar was critical of both
casteism and liberal economism in his
endorsement of class equality (Ambedkar
2002a, 2002b; Teltumbde 2011). Thus,
according to him, the Brahmin enslaves
the mind and the Bania enslaves the body
(Ambedkar 2002a:148). But Ambedkar
was clear that material equality alone will
not guarantee freedom or fraternity
(2002b:189); the latter requires an eradication of caste as well. There is a need to
engage with his critique and also examine
the complex relationship (as well as an
absence of the same) between the labour
movements and social movements for
the removal of caste.
Other Issues
The ecological destruction caused by
capitalism is also brought out in a fulllength discussion in this anthology
(Thampatty: 301-08). It points to the
contribution of the environmental movement against the pollution by Grasim
Industries in Mavoor, Kozhikode, Kerala.
However, there could be a further discussion of whether this movement also
struggled on behalf of the exploited
workers of Grasim industries. Further,
the extent to which the workers struggle in this context created the awareness
of the ecological crisis could also be discussed by bringing in Marxist theoretical tools (building on insights from
Foster (2000) in the Indian context).
Such a discussion is especially important in India, where the mainstream
approach perceives ecological concerns as
either autonomous or as inevitably tied
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january 4, 2014

to Gandhian ideology. The association

between workers struggles and ecological movements needs to be spelled out
with greater clarity and emphasis.
The book importantly also discusses the
extreme rights usurpation of the trade
union movement (Ojha: 171-81), its absence (Singh: 309-14) and the anti-worker
tendency in some trade unions (Venugopal: 425-38) to put aside uncritical
trade-union optimism (Luxemburg
1971: 263). However, this very crucial
point in the contemporary globalised
world needs to be expanded properly
from a theoretical perspective. The fragmentation of the working class cannot
vaguely be attributed to regionalism or
ruling class conspiracy without discussing these in historical detail.
Further, the specific differences between rightist unions and their left-led
counterparts need to be brought out
through a comparative lens. The weakening of left-wing trade unions is exacerbated with the influx of those with
a right-wing and extremist ideology.
There is a need to analyse this influx and
examine the factors that are leading a
significant mass of labouring classes
towards them. Luxemburgs analysis of
trade unions is relevant at this juncture.
The increasing emphasis on bargaining
leadership, short-term gains and bureaucratisation have contributed to trade
unions perceiving themselves as independent of or neutral to social and political relations (Luxemburg 1971: 265).
Indeed, she saw such autonomy as only
apparent and as the outcome of reactionary and autocratic state politics (ibid).
This autonomy has made them vulneable to being taken over by extremist
forces serving neo-liberal goals. Only
such analyses will allow for perceiving
the openings for a prospective revitalisation of left-wing trade unions. Such
analysis needs to turn to Luxemburgs
critique of the autonomy of trade unions,
which have a reformist agenda and are
severed from mass movements for radical change through social democracy.
Treating trade unions as independent
entities has the danger of degenerating
to reactionary politics. The alternative
to this quandary is rightly suggested by
Luxemburg as the cohesion and unity
vol xlix no 1

between trade unions and social democratic movements (p 261).

Valuable Contribution
Despite these limitations, this book is a
valuable and unique contribution to understanding the role of trade unions in
the creation of peoples movements. Aijaz
Ahmed (2001: 20) has remarked that Marx
and Engels have the resources for thinking about the relationship bet ween
socialism, caste eradication and resistance
to imperialism. One can add gender and
ecology to this list. This books merit is
that it provokes one to think about these
aspects of the Marxist legacy, both
in empirical and philosophical terms,
in the context of the challenges posed
by globalisation to organised labour.
Working Class Movement in India in the
Wake of Globalization will be a valuable
resource for courses in social sciences
that engage with the Marxism in political science, philosophy and history. It
can also serve as an impetus for evolving
a course with special focus on the working-class movement itself.
Kanchana Mahadevan (kanchamaha@
hotmail.com) teaches at the Department of
Philosophy, University of Mumbai.

References
Ahmad, Aijaz (2001): Introduction in Aijaz Ahmed
(ed.), On the National and Colonial Questions
Selected Writings by Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels (New Delhi: LeftWord Books).
Ambedkar, B R (2002a): Class, Caste and Democracy in Valerian Rodrigues (ed.), The Essential
Writings of B R Ambedkar (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press).
(2002b): Buddha or Karl Marx in Valerian
Rodrigues (ed.), The Essential Writings of
B R Ambedkar (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press).
Foster, John Bellamy (2000): Marxs Ecology: Materialism and Nature (New York: Monthly
Review Press).
Hartmann, Heidi (1997): The Unhappy Marriage
of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More
Progressive Union in Linda Nicholson (ed.),
The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory
(New York and London: Routledge), 97-102.
Harvey, David (2010): The Enigma of Capital (Oxford
and New York: Oxford University Press).
Luxemburg, Rosa (1971): Selected Political Writings
(London: Monthly Review Press).
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels (1959): Manifesto
of the Communist Party in Lewis S Feuer
(ed.), Basic Writings on Politics and Philosophy
(New York: Anchor Books), 1-46.
Omvedt, Gail (2001): Globalization and Indian
Tradition, The Hindu, http://www.hindu.com/
2001/02/06/stories/05062523.htm
Teltumbde, Anand (2011): Dalit Capitalism and
Pseudo Dalitism, CounterCurrents, 7 March,
viewed on 7 October 2013, http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde070311.htm

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