Working class of India: history of emergence and movement (1830 - 1970) C.1

The revolutionary significance of the Indian Working class as a new social force and the great dynamism of its development have hardly ever been evaluated in any hitherto published social and political history of India. The present work is a distinguished and erudite contribution in that direction and caters to a long-felt need. Modern Indian working class was born in a period when India witnessed the transition of her economy from agricultural appendage of imperialist Britain to nascent industrialism. Further, in India, because of her colonial and feudal exploitation and the non-homogeneous and retarded development of capitalism, the condition of the proletariat was additionally problematic and its establishment as a new class was a tortuous and protracted process. And since the birth, the working class of India had to confront two basic antagonistic forces -an imperialist political rule and economic exploitation both by the native and foreign capitalist classes. Consequently, the Indian trade union movement far from remaining as an economic movement alone, became inter twined with the political struggle for national liberation. The dynamics of the intertwining continued till achievement of political indepen dence in August 1947 and since then a new phase with a higher perspective began in the course of the working-class movement of India. The chapters of the book present an objec tive and fascinating study of the intricacies and interconnections of these social, economic and political processes and through a galaxy of facts and figures graphically unfold the poignant but magnificient story of the Indian working class beginning from its birth in the 1830's, its onward march right upto the present times. The study, in addition, contains an exclusive chapter on the genesis and development of the struggle of the White Collar employees of India.