Role of labor Movement in International Politics (An analysis in special context to Indian Labor movement

02 May Role of labor Movement in International Politics (An analysis in special context to Indian Labor movement

Role of labor Movement in International Politics  – Today Current Affairs

Context : 

1st may is celebrated in the world as the International labor /Workers day .In India it is celebrated as Kamgar Divas, Kamgar Din and Antarrashtriya Shramik Divas. In some countries of the world , it is a very auspicious day. On this occasion the laborers and the workers of the world remember the glorious day of the first International where the demand of the fixing working hours for the laborers was raised and most of the countries had accepted the fixation of the working hours . this was the victory of the labor class on the capitalist class 

Today Current Affairs

Introduction 

1st May is the sacred day for all the workers and labor of the world . On this occasion , people across the world conduct protests and march for the rights of workers and save them from economical  exploitation of the capitalist class . The Labor Movement not only influenced the politics of India but also politics of the world . However , the organized labor movement in the world had started during the 2nd quarter of the 19th century  with the Industrial revolution in Europe while in India the  organized labor movement came to existence after the 1st decade of the 20th century with the establishment of the Indian Industries . 

History of Labor Movement in Europe : The Hindu Analysis

• • As the Industrial revolution started in Europe , a new social class came to existence because the bourgeoisie class exercised their control over the economy of Industrial countries . Therefore the exploitation of the labor class / working class starts in such circumstances . therefore some socialist thinkers came to existence who started to criticize capitalism and rejected the trend of labor exploitation for maximum profit 
  • Socialists’ and the labor movements were concomitant consequences of Industrial revolution . An effective response against various restrictions imposed by the capitalist on the working class was socialism ; whereas the fusion of mutual cooperation and organizing spirit in workers for improvement in their conditions was known as labor movement. The Hindu Analysis 
    
  • Labor movements in Europe derive from the reaction of the newly urbanized workers to industrialization in the nineteenth century. In Britain , the nature of the labor movement was reformist rather than revolutionary in Germany and other European countries . The Chartist Movement was the precursor of the labor movement . Therefore during the last decade of the 19th century we see the emergence of labor in England .
  • In 1900, in a meeting of certain trade unions in England several political parties like Fabian Society , independent labor Party and democratic federation and an organization under the name of labor Representation committee were constituted in that meeting . In the election of 1906, the committee secured 30 seats in the parliaments , Very soon the committee changes its name to labor party. Today Current Affairs
    
  • We see the revolutionary changes in the after the evolution of the labor organization everywhere in the world . During the last decade in the 19th century , the socialist movement started spreading its roots in japan as well . On 14th July , 1889 , a conference was convened in Paris with the view to threading socialist movement into an international organization and 400 representatives from 20 countries attended the conference . This was known as the second international . It was decided to celebrate 1st  May every year as the unity day of labor . On 1st may , 1890 lacs of the workers went on strikes in entire Europe and in America and staged huge demonstrations . 
  • The most important achievement of the second international was the struggle against militarism and the war . And in 1917 , just because of the socialism the Russian revolution occurred and a socialists government was formed. It is true to consider that capitalism is always the cause of international war. In any war the interests of the upper class, mainly rulers and capitals would be protected. The Second international condemned colonialism and encouraged the socialist party to oppose the loot and slavery of colonies . When the first world war broke out the second international collapsed 

History of Labor movement in India : The Hindu Analysis

• In Indian context, the swadeshi upsurge was a landmark in the history of the national movement. The number of strikes rose sharply . But these strikes of labor were against the European Mill owners . Up to this time Indian industries could not be established . The most significant feature of the labor movement during this time was the shifting of agitation against economic questions towards the involvement of Indian laborers in politics . 
• In India, the most important development was the formation of All India trade Union Congress in 1920 . Lala Lajpat rai was the first president and Diwan Chaman Lal was its general secretary . Lala Lajpat Rai emphasized – “Indian labor should lose no time to organize itself on a national scale .. the greatest need of this country is to organize , agitate and educate. The Hindu Analysis
  
• The manifesto issued to the workers by the AITUC urged them not to organize themselves only but also to intervene in national politics . Lala Lajpat Rai was among the first in India to link capitalism with imperialism and he stated – “militarism and imperialism are the twin children of capitalism, they are one in three and three in one . their shadow, their fruit, their bark, all are poisonous and the antidote of this poison had been discovered and that is organized labor ”
• During the second half of the 20th century the labor movement in India has now turned towards Marxism . Various communist group in different part of India had organized themselves into Workers and Peasant party (WPP) under the leadership of S.A. dange, Mujjaffar Ahemad , P.C Joshi, Sohen Singh Josh etc
• After the 1930s the labor movement suffered a major setback due to government offensives and due to a shift in Communist led wing of the movement . In this way we see the organized labor movement played an important role in national politics before independence of India . 

Today Current Affairs

Conclusion 

After the independence of India , however, the working class, mainly  workers of the unorganized sector are still being exploited. Workers employed in these sectors are not getting minimum wage because of the corruption and awareness. The workers of these sectors are deprived of several other social rights. Without socioeconomic freedom, political freedom is completely worthless . The first May is the symbol of economic freedom . On this date , all the workers and labor class of the world feel a common interest irrespective of the international boundaries . 

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plutus ias daily current affairs 02 May 2022 Hindi

Dr. Anshul Bajpai

Plutus IAS Current Affairs Team Member