Regulation and resistance: defactorisation in the beedi industry of colonial Malabar, 1937–1941
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of defactorisation of production in a traditional industry (beedi rolling) in colonial South India is presented, where the implementation of the Indian Factories Act is examined.
Abstract: This article presents a case study of defactorisation of production in a traditional industry – beedi rolling – in colonial South India. It examines the implementation of the Indian Factories Act a...
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TL;DR: In post-independence India, as in many developing post-colonial nations, the capitalist class was dependent on the state to discipline the laborforce, and the rapid uptake of capitalist production methods prompted the new government to intervene aggressively in industrial labor relations as mentioned in this paper .
Abstract: In post-independence India, as in many developing post-colonial nations, the capitalist class was dependent on the state to discipline the laborforce, and the rapid uptake of capitalist production methods prompted the new government to intervene aggressively in industrial labor relations. The main goal of postcolonial labor policy was to maintain peaceful labor relations at any cost in order to foster economic development. The newly elected government failed to help capitalists increase their profits through productivity growth, so the way forward was to impose restrictions on labor. Pro-capital labor legislation initially enabled capitalists to curb the mobility and resistance of workers. In due course, however, irrespective of how consistently or effectively labor regulations and repressive measures were enforced, the reaction of the working class heightened its political consciousness, and thus aggravated frictions between capital and labor. When the state resorted to labor welfare laws as a new strategy to reduce these conflicts, employers often fragmented production among smaller units (such as workshops and households) in order to dodge labor regulations. As a reaction to this production decentralization, the working-class movement created impediments to the process of continual capital accumulation.
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TL;DR: The influence of el lector (the reader) on the lives of cigar workers was discussed by Vega Diaz as discussed by the authors, who had been asked to explain the influence of the reader on workers' lives.
Abstract: “You know what Victor Hugo say?” asked Jose Vega Diaz. Thus began a lengthy recitation, the product of decades of labor agitation, listening to Les Miserables, and rolling cigars. He had been asked to explain the influence of el lector (the reader) on the lives of cigar workers. The answer filtered through ninety-five years of experience in Cuba and Florida.“You know what Victor Hugo say? In all the towns, in every place, they have a schoolteacher. And in every town, the schoolteacher is the light. He lights the candle. But in every town they try to blow away the light. The preachers, the priests. That's why they [the church, the owner] don't want the reader. The reader lights the candle. It was a good thing.”
4 citations
4 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores how workers' diets and meal services at factory canteens became the nucleus of labour politics in Republican Shanghai, China's industrial heartland, and sheds new light on the agency of workers in their labour disputes from the perspective of food history.
Abstract: This article explores how workers’ diets and meal services at factory canteens became the nucleus of labour politics in Republican Shanghai, China's industrial heartland. At the heart of Chinese labour politics was a demand for the improvement of workers’ diets, particularly for adequate meal service, which was to be provided by management at a reasonable price—if not for free—at the workplace. The purpose of this article is not only to draw attention to a lacuna in Chinese labour history, but also to shed new light on the agency of workers in their labour disputes from the perspective of food history. No other issue provided a better opportunity to unite workers, labour activists, and so-called scabs than the issue of food. In the wake of labour disputes, industrialists changed their perception of the relation between industrial health and work efficiency. With the promotion of factory canteens, the Guomidang Nationalists also began to exert unsparing efforts to garner the growing political potential of the labour force. Therefore, factory canteens evolved into a contested space in which workers, management, and the state offered different visions of workers’ diets and industrial productivity.
2 citations
01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the effect of currency inflation on revenue in a country involved in a war and propose a solution to the problem of inflationary issue of currency in currency printing.
Abstract: Wars are generally characterized by inflationary issue of currency. War is a costly affair which makes excessive demands on the resources of a country so that a large part of the productive apparatus has to be geared to the war needs. The government of a country involved in war has to find new sources of finance to cover the high costs of labour and materials for the war effort which does not satisfy the civilian needs. Initially, the government would resort to heavier taxation coupled with the floating of loans to raise more revenue. But the total cost of war is very heavy and the revenue accruing to the state through sources docs not suffice. Taxation, one of the sources of increased revenue, cannot be increased to any level because too heavy a tax can affect the ability and desire to work and save, and thus have adverse affect on production. So in order to obtain additional resources from the society the government would have to resort to printing more currency or borrow from the central bank against its own securities. Both these sources of increased revenue have an inflationary effect.
2 citations