Workers of the World, Unite! Finding Solidarity in Trade Union Affiliation

Abstract

The Global Rights Index 2023 – a comprehensive review of workers’ rights brought out by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) – released on 30 June 2023, states that the abuse of workers’ rights has reached a record high. Workplace democracy is at stake in a majority of countries, where the right to establish and join a trade union, the right to free speech and assembly, and the right to collective bargaining has been curbed. Forty-two per cent of countries have restricted free speech and assembly; 87 per cent have violated the right to strike and have resorted to excessive brutality to suppress workers’ collective actions and protests; cases of arrests and detention of workers have been reported in about 69 countries. The call for unity of the working class began in 1848, when the Communist Manifesto proclaimed “Proletarier Aller Länder, Vereinigt Euch” (English: “Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!” which metamorphosed into the universal slogan, “Workers of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!”). This era witnessed the working class coming together as an independent force, protesting through strikes. In 1861, the first London Trades Council was formed. The upsurge of the working classes and the actions of the collective union resonated across the world. India too saw a strong movement of the working class. From 1882 to 1890, more than 25 major strikes were reported in India. And, in 1885, the first political party, the Indian National Congress, emerged; which was also an amalgamation of modern nationalist movement. The intention of the imperialist rulers to develop India as an agricultural country, providing raw material to the British, not only ended in the destruction of Indian manufacturing and handicraft industries but also alienated artisans and craftsman from their means of production. When agriculture failed, the country grappled with poverty and the famines, which in that period took the lives of around 20 million people. The unsuccessful First War of Independence in 1857 paved the way for opening up India’s market to foreign goods and slowly India started with its industrialisation. The railways and telegraph networks were set up, coal mines were developed, cotton and jute textile mills were established, which set in motion the evolution of the wage labourers and the capitalists.