The making of the Indian working class

This is an insightful study of the forces that were responsible for the formation of the working class in India's large-scale steel industry during the colonial period and how those forces responded to the workers' struggles.

Exploring the historical development of the workers' movement, including the active role played by women workers, in the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), Vinay Bahl challenges subaltern historiography which, she contends, focuses on a static model of working class culture in isolation. Dr. Bahl argues that culture is a social product and, therefore, cannot be the exclusive basis for understanding the struggles of the Indian working class.

In order to fully comprehend the class consciousness of working women and men, it is necessary to examine all the forces - social, economic, political, historical, and cultural - that shaped them and their struggles against the capitalist class.

This study is based on new research in archival materials available in India and the UK, including correspondence, minutes, and reports from steel company records, and interviews with steel workers and their leaders at Jamshedpur. Dr. Bahl challenges existing approaches to and provides a fresh perspective on questions related to India's industrialisation, the struggles of the Indian working class, and the shaping of their class consciousness under colonial rule.

This book will be essential reading for those interested in industrial sociology, comparative labour history, colonial history, the history of trade unions, economics and business management, and development studies.