People's Democracy

Book Released on Working Class & Globalisation

P R Krishnan

ON July 5, Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and a member of Rajya Sabha, released the book titled Working Class Movement in India in the Wake of Globalisation.

Dr Jose George (professor and former head of department, Civics and Politics, in the University of Mumbai); Manoj Kumar (assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Wollega University, Ethiopia); and Dharmendra Ojha, a scientist with the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) have jointly edited the said book. The Department of Civics and Politics in the University of Mumbai organised the book release function.

Yechury released the book in the presence of a large number of students and professors of the Mumbai University, trade union leaders and others.

The book is said to be the outcome of a seminar held in 2009 by the University of Mumbai on the working class movements. The publication covers working class movements during the period of the last 20 years since the collapse of the USSR and East European communist bloc.

The book tries to understand and analyse the conditions of the working class people in India. Various dimensions of the working class people's life and politics have been deliberated in it. Also, an attempt has been made to present a working class perspective on various economic and social issues of contemporary Indian society.    

At the function that was held in the Pherozeshah Mehtra Auditorium of the Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai, the audience comprised leaders from trade unions, political activists, social activists, legal luminaries, teachers  and students from the university. The programme started with a welcome speech by Dr Surendra Jondhale, professor and head of the Department of Civics and Politics, followed by an introductory speech by Dr Jose George, professor and former head of the same department. Manohar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, are the publishers of the book.

The book deals with the problems faced by the working class on account of the advent of globalisation, resulting in ‘liberalisation’ of the economic and industrial policies, which has brought large scale contractisation and casualisation in the industrial world, apart from abandonment of the protective labour legislations. The book is dedicated to the memory of late Dr M K Pandhe, an outstanding leader of the Indian working class and former president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

The 470-page book has an introductory section and five parts. The first part deals with the emergence and growth of working class movement in India, and the second part covers the aspects of ideology, programme, and strategy of working class movement. The third part covers the experience of the working class movement in the urban industrial sector. The forth part pinpoints the emergence and struggle of a rural working class, while the fifth part is on working class in the era of liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation. 

The book is said to be the outcome of a seminar held in 2009 by the University of Mumbai on the working class movements. The publication covers working class movement during the period of the last 20 years since the collapse of the USSR and East European communist bloc.

The articles included in the book are authored by eminent personalities from trade unions, academic, legal and political fields from different parts of India, apart from a lead article and a forward by Dr M K Pandhe. Dr Kanchana Mahadevan, while introducing the book, made introductory remarks about all the articles in the book. Their studies cover the issues of working class belonging to various segments.

The book tries to understand and analyse the conditions of the working class people in India, dealing with various dimensions of their life and politics. Also, an attempt has been made to present a working class perspective on various economic and social issues of contemporary Indian society.    

Sitaram Yechury released the book by presenting a copy to P R  Krishnan, secretary of the Maharashtra state committee of the CITU and one of the oldest associates of Dr M K Pandhe.

In his address on the occasion, Sitaram Yechury stressed the need for strengthening the trade unions and building up their unity. He brought to the notice of the gathering the fact that in India only seven per cent of the working people stand organised, under the banner of ten central trade union organisations and other regional and local unions. He appreciated the unity in struggle shown by the trade unions through their last all-India strike on February 28, 2012. He also reiterated the demand that for negotiations etc in a factory, the representative union must be elected by the workers themselves through secret ballot. According to Yechury, mobilisation of all sections of workers for waging united struggles is the only weapon in the hands of working class to withstand the onslaught of the neo-liberal policies and capitalist globalisation.

He also appreciated the fact that the premier university in the commercial capital of the country was the one that undertook the gigantic task of making researches in and compiling a book dealing with the working class problems. This is a positive gesture shown by the oldest university of the country which, moreover, is situated in Mumbai where the working class movement took its birth. He congratulated the organisers for this venture.

Along with the book release ceremony, a panel discussion too was conducted on the same topic. The panelists comprised eminent personalities from the academic, trade union and political fields, with Sitaram Yechury leading the team. Dr Kanachana Mahadevan (associate professor and former head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai), Devidas Tuljapurkar (general secretary, All India Maharashtra Bank Employees Federation), Sukumar Damle (general secretary, AITUC, Maharashtra state council), among others, attended the discussion that was chaired by Dr Jayaraman, professor and chairperson of the Centre for Science Technology and Society and the dean of School of Habitat Studies in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.      

Dr Sudha Mohan, associate professor in the Department of Civics and Politics, proposed the vote of thanks.

It may be pointed out here that the Department of Civics and Politics, of the University of Mumbai, has hosted similar conferences and published books earlier on the working class movement, national liberation struggles, agrarian movements, democratic decentralisation, tribal development etc. For all this, credit goes to the Department of Civics and Politics, Dr Jose George and his colleagues.