Essays on Indias Working Class (EPW)

8/9/2019 Essays on Indias Working Class (EPW)

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BOOK REVIEW

january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 EPW Economic & PoliticalWeekly30

Essays on Indias Working Class

Kanchana Mahadevan

Working Class Movement in

India in the Wake of Globaliza-

tionis an anthology edited and

written by academics and activists Jose

George, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra

Ojha mapping the evolution of the work-

ing-class movement in India. An outcomeof a seminar that was conducted in Sep-

tember 2009 by the Department of Civics

and Politics, University of Mumbai, the

book is dedicated to the eminent commu-

nist leader M K Pandhe (who passed

away in August 2011). Pandhe has con-

tributed 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 organ-

ised resistance from the period of its

emergence in colonial India to its devel-

opment in post-Independence India. It

also engages with the challenges con-

fronting such resistance in the era of

globalisation, characterised by privati-

sation 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 themethodological challenges for quantita-

tive research posed by taking class as an

analytical category in the social sciences.

It roots its empirical findings in the theo-retical 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 post-

Soviet 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 work-

ing hours and formed a collective soli-

darity by overcoming differences of reli-

gion, 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 posi-

tions. The essay delineates the increasingmomentum of this movement from the

1920sto the 1980s, as well as its waning

in the 1990swith the structural adjust-

ment 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 WorkingClass during Liberalization, Globaliza-

tion and Privatization.

Working Class Movement in India in the Wakeof Globalization edited by Jose George, Manoj Kumarand Dharmendra Ojha (New Delhi: Manohar), 2012;pp 470, Rs 1,295.


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Economic & PoliticalWeekly EPW january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 31

This review discusses only a few of the

essays, though all the essays are note-

worthy. The essay by M K Pandhe analyses

the emergence of the trade union move-

ment 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 Strugglesand Challenges Ahead elaborates the

relationship between the workers move-

ment and nationalist struggles. It also

examines its presence during the crises in

economic growth in 1960sand the 1970s.

In her paper in Part II, Working Class

and Insecurity Hypothesis, Anuradha

Kalhan examines the impact of flexi-

bility 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, UKand India (where such flexi-

bility is the highest).

Vivek Monteiro looks at the experiences

of the unorganised sector to show how

they question the basic premises of neo-

liberalism. 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 theunorganised 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 neo-

liberalism. P N Samant looks at the pos-

sibility 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 scav-

enging 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 theneo-liberal period. He points out that in

recent times they have abdicated their

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 comprehen-sive approach for trade unions in colla-

boration 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 resist-

ance. 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 over-

lap between class and caste, which has

not been given prominence in theoreti-

cal discussions of the working class. Forinstance, 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 sug-

gests 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 intel-

lectuals. 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 ad-

dress other aspects of social life that

have not received adequate attention

from the left such as culture and ecology.Rural left mobilisation is effectively arti-

culated in terms of its difference with its

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 rela-

tionship between the left and other so-

cial movements, this book also touches

upon the extent to which trade unionpolitics 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 pro-

establishment tone adopted by estab-

lished trade unions, which then have the

tendency to become anti-democratic.

This book illustrates how even seem-

ing 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 qualita-

tive research can be scientific or objec-

tive despite adopting a theoretical frame-

work and it shows the way for a huma-

nities curriculum that could integratetheory and practice.

However, despite these strengths this

book contains some oversights in its ana-

lyses of the relationship between working-

class movements and those striving for

social democracy such as womens strug-

gles, eradication of caste and those for

ecological balance. These oversights

range from glaring omissions to inade-

quate 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 participa-

tion in the struggle for economic, socialand political rights from the colonial

times to the present. For instance, rural


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BOOK REVIEW

january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 EPW Economic & PoliticalWeekly32

and urban women have contributed to

the labour movement through leader-

ship and mass participation in the textile

industry, railways and agrarian work from

the colonial period to the present.

Labour movements have also contri-

buted to the struggle for womens rights.

Thus, womens participation in produc-tive 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 move-

ment also emerged as a struggle inde-

pendent 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 acknowledge-

ment 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 labourmovement, neo-liberalism continues to

target women and exploit the sexual di-

vision 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 working-

class people, despite the equality of class,

has not been adequately problematised.

Caste hierarchy is rooted in oppressive

Hindu religious and social practices, butit 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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Economic & PoliticalWeekly EPW january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 33

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 glo-

balisation reinforces the caste system?

How does the contribution of dalits to

labour offer a critical perspective on views

that celebrate globalisation as emanci-

patory 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 eradi-

cation 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 labourmovements and social movements for

the removal of caste.

Other Issues

The ecological destruction caused by

capitalism is also brought out in a full-

length discussion in this anthology

(Thampatty: 301-08). It points to the

contribution of the environmental move-

ment against the pollution by Grasim

Industries in Mavoor, Kozhikode, Kerala.

However, there could be a further dis-

cussion of whether this movement also

struggled on behalf of the exploited

workers of Grasim industries. Further,

the extent to which the workers strug-

gle in this context created the awareness

of the ecological crisis could also be dis-

cussed by bringing in Marxist theoreti-

cal tools (building on insights from

Foster (2000) in the Indian context).

Such a discussion is especially impor-

tant in India, where the mainstreamapproach perceives ecological concerns as

either autonomous or as inevitably tied

to Gandhian ideology. The association

between workers struggles and ecologi-

cal 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 ab-

sence (Singh: 309-14) and the anti-workertendency in some trade unions (Venu-

gopal: 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 frag-

mentation of the working class cannot

vaguely be attributed to regionalism or

ruling class conspiracy without discuss-

ing these in historical detail.

Further, the specific differences be-

tween rightist unions and their left-led

counterparts need to be brought out

through a comparative lens. The weak-

ening of left-wing trade unions is exacer-

bated 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 bureau-

cratisation have contributed to trade

unions perceiving themselves as inde-

pendent of or neutral to social and politi-

cal relations (Luxemburg 1971: 265).

Indeed, she saw such autonomy as only

apparent and as the outcome of reaction-

ary and autocratic state politics (ibid).

This autonomy has made them vulne-

able to being taken over by extremist

forces serving neo-liberal goals. Only

such analyses will allow for perceiving

the openings for a prospective revitali-

sation 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 radi-

cal change through social democracy.

Treating trade unions as independent

entities has the danger of degenerating

to reactionary politics. The alternativeto this quandary is rightly suggested by

Luxemburg as the cohesion and unity

between trade unions and social demo-

cratic movements (p 261).

Valuable Contribution

Despite these limitations, this book is a

valuable and unique contribution to un-

derstanding the role of trade unions in

the creation of peoples movements. AijazAhmed (2001: 20) has remarked that Marx

and Engels have the resources for think-

ing about the relationship between

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 Globalizationwill be a valuable

resource for courses in social sciences

that engage with the Marxism in politi-

cal science, philosophy and history. It

can also serve as an impetus for evolving

a course with special focus on the work-

ing-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 QuestionsSelected Writings by Karl Marx and Frederick

Engels(New Delhi: Lef tWord Books).

Ambedkar, B R (2002a): Class, Caste and Democ-racy in Valerian Rodrigues(ed.), The EssentialWritings of B R Ambedkar(New Delhi: OxfordUniversity Press).

(2002b): Buddha or Karl Marx in ValerianRodrigues (ed.), The Essential Writings of

B R Ambedkar(New Delh i: Oxford UniversityPress).

Foster, John Bellamy (2000):Marxs Ecology: Mate-rialism and Nature (New York: Monthly

Review Press).Hartmann, Heidi (1997): The Unhappy Marriageof Marxism and Feminism: Towards a MoreProgressive 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(Oxfordand New York: Oxford University Press).

Luxemburg, Rosa (1971): Selected Political Writings(London: Monthly Review Press).

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels (1959): Manifestoof the Communist Party in Lewis S Feuer(ed.),Basic Writings on Politic s and Philosophy(New York: Anchor Books), 1-46.

Omvedt, Gail (2001): Globalization and IndianTradition, The Hindu,http://www.hindu.com/2001/02/06/stories/05062523.htm

Teltumbde, Anand (2011): Dalit Capitalism andPseudo Dalitism, CounterCurrents, 7 March,viewed on 7 October 2013, ht tp://www.coun-tercurrents.org/teltumbde070311.htm

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