labour

Emergence of Left Forces in Madras

For anyone seeking to understand the early years of the labour movement in India, D. Veeraraghavan’s The Making of the Madras Working Class (2013) is an indispensable book. In the chapter ‘Emergence of Left Forces, 1933–1937’ he discusses at length the role of the socialists and communists. In the extract below, one can get an idea of their militant interventions for the protection of workers’ rights in that period in Madras. While acknowledging the active participation of the Congress[...]

श्रम पर हिंदुत्व का हमला

हो सकता है हिंदुत्व का झंडा लहराने वाले ज़्यादातर लोग देश की उन्नति ही चाहते हों। शायद उन्हें लगता है कि हिंदुत्व से जन्मे समाज में गौरव और स्वाभिमान के भाव हमें उस उन्नति की ओर ले जाएंगे जो दश[...]

Communist Histories

We are – with 2017 – a hundred years away from the Russian Revolution, whose audacity brought the workers and peasants of that vast region of Eurasia to power. The USSR lasted only seven decades, and – without doubt – there will be much made this year about its achievements and its failures. One can guarantee that more will be said of the latter than the former. What will be overshadowed is the achievement of the revolution itself – the fact that ordinary people could overthrow the anc[...]