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Bringing Asia to the world: Indian trade unionism and the long road towards the Asiatic Labour Congress, 1919–37*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2012

Carolien Stolte
Carolien Stolte*
Affiliation:
Institute for History, University of Leiden, P.O. Box 9500, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article considers Asianism in the Indian trade union movement, against the backdrop of increasing international cooperation between Asian trade union movements in the interwar period, which culminated in the short-lived Asiatic Labour Congress (1934–37). It demonstrates how Asianist enthusiasm both propelled and hampered Indian workers’ representation at the International Labour Organization and other international bodies. Finally, it considers Asianism as a crucial characteristic of Indian trade unionism in the interwar period, by showing how the All-India Trade Union Congress, once the hope of Indian labour as an organized force, split into rival federations over the issue of its Asian affiliations.

Keywords

AsianismInternational Labour OrganizationinterwarSouth Asiatrade unionism
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2012 , pp. 257 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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