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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Studies of Indian organized labour have followed the beaten track for three decades. In their obsessive concern with the political links of trade unions and their control by middle-class intellectuals and professionals, the students of Indian labour have barely paused to consider the social consequences of unionization. The origin of the labour movement in India goes back to the turn of the century, and over five million workers are now unionzed. A movement of this proportion cannot be without consequence for the attitudes and behaviour of workers. In the specifically Indian context the crucial question is how a trade union movement whose very cornerstone, at least ideally, is a sense of camaraderie among a socially diverse workforce interacts with a traditional society whose foundation is the caste system.
This paper is based on fieldwork done for a doctoral thesis. My thanks are due to Professor M. N. Srinivas who supervised this research. I am grateful to B. S. Baviskar and P. N. Mukerji for their comments on this paper.
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