Our Struggle- A Short History of Trade Union Movement in Tisco Industry at Jamshedpur (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

In India we lack literature on the functioning of trade unions. Possibly it is due to the fact that trade union movement was organised very late in this country and to some extent it was overshadowed by the larger and more important movement for the freedom of the country. Even then after the close of the First World War, the new spirit which brought about the foundation of the L L. O. gave impetus to trade union movement in India too. In large industrial areas workers began to organise themselves in unions. In a few cases beginnings were made as early as 1917-18.

The Iron and Steel Industry, at Jamshedpur in Bihar, was an industrial enterprise of the first magnitude. It had to face grave difficulties in the initial stages but Government protection enabled it to survive and grow. The workers employed in this industry have a history of trade union work ranging over three decades. This small brochure narrates in a simple straightforward manner the history of that Union and the difficulties it had to pass through, its short-comings and moments of exhilaration, the uncompromising attitude of the employers and its relations with the Unions and the high- lights of the movement in securing demands by strikes, negotiations and agreement across the table. The working of the Union was helped mostly by public men of first rank in politics-most of them Congressites but it had to suffer off and on from the influence of opportunists and extremists who tried to affect the minds of the workers and lead them astray. Notable services were rendered to the Union by Shri C. F. Andrews, Shri Subhas Chandra Bose, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Prof. Abdul Bari, Shri Michael John and others. The writer himself has played no mean part in the Union for several years. He was a Secretary of the Union and was also transferred from Jamshedpur so that he might not be able to guide his co-workers.

It happens rarely that active trade unionists undertake to write the history of their own movement. Countries, where there is a long tradition of scholarly historiography of trade unions such as the United States of America or Great Britain, are in a fortunate position. They have produced a large amount of literature following the development of unions from the very beginning up to present days. For the countries of the Third World it is different. They have in general no qualified authors from outside to deal with their problems, and their own leaders are as overcharged with trade union work as their colleagues in the industrialized world. In addition to that they have played an active role in the liberation movement of their respective countries from colonialism and this has left them with even less time, opportunity and leisure for keeping files and diaries up to date and for writing books on the history of their organizations. It may well be that large parts of this history could be lost and forgotten, wiped out in a way instead of being trans- mitted to the following generations as a valuable heritage from which to learn, to derive wisdom and to inspire, the youth.

If this is the general picture, a book like that of Mr. Moni Ghosh can only be called an encouraging and happy exception. Although he himself has been a very active, important and influential trade unionist in the Indian steel belt in and around Jamshedpur, he has found the necessary time, at least after his retirement, to write the history of the Tata Workers' Union which is and was one of the most powerful parts of the Indian trade union movement. Mr. Ghosh has, however, not restricted himself to the more or less interesting details of the past and present of his organiza tion, but he has always successfully tried to study it within the framework of the history of steel production in India, of the Tata Company and, what is more important, of the general political life of India during the last decades.

Therefore, his book has become a fascinating reflection of the whole development of this country.