Trade-Union Democracy: Indian Textiles

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100308
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Date: 01 September 1958
• Author: Ralph C. James
• Subject Matter: Articles

563

TRADE-UNION

DEMOCRACY:

INDIAN

TEXTILES*

RALPH

C.

JAMES

Massachusetts

Institute

of

Technology

*

The

field

work

for

this

study

was

financed

by

the

New

York

State

School

of

Industrial

and

Labor

Relations,

Cornell

University.

HE

PROBLEM

OF

TRADE-UNION

DEMOCRACY

faces

the

)

young

but

growing

labor

movements

in

many

underdeveloped

JL

countries.

The

standard

taken

in

this

article

for

measuring

democ-

racy

in

such

unions

is

the

degree

of

responsiveness

to

the

short-run

eco-

nomic

demands

of

the

rank

and

file.

We

examine

the

three

predominant

types

of

trade-unions

in

the

Indian

cotton

textile

industry,

all

of

which

belong

to

the

country’s

major

federation

of

labor,

the

Indian

National

Trade

Union

Congress

(INTUC) .~

Most

INTUC

cotton

textile

unions

fall

within

two

sharply

contrasting

categories:

they

are

either

very

strong

or

very

weak.

The

former

are

independent

or-

ganizations

which

possess

a

large

and

loyal

membership

in

addition

to

con-

siderable

political

influence

within

the

Congress

party

and

the

government:

the

latter

are

small

in

size

and

dependent

upon

the

Congress

party’s

state

governments

for

their

existence.

The

Rashtriya

Mill

Mazdoor

Sangh

(RMMS)

of

Bombay

City

serves

as

the

major

exception

to

this

dual

classi-

fication

and

thus

constitutes

a

third

type

of

textile

union.

In

comparison

with

the

&dquo;weak

areas&dquo;

the

RMMS

is

thoroughly

entrenched

in

its

legal

&dquo;representative&dquo;

status

and

enjoys

a

significant

degree

of

independence

from

political

ties.

However,

in

contrast

to

the

&dquo;strong

areas&dquo;

the

RMMS

holds

onto

its

membership

through

a

very

limited

and

calculated

sense

of

com-

mitment.

The

article

focuses

on

the

finding

that

these three

trade-union

types

may

be

distinguished

by

responsiveness

to

membership

&dquo;bread

and

butter&dquo;

de-

mands.

Is

it

the

very

strong,

the

very

weak,

or

the

unian-in-between

which

produces

the

greatest

degree

of

trade-union

democracy

in

this

sense?

The

writer

describes

the

evolution

of

these three

trade-union

forms,

and

analyzes

the

responsiveness

of

leadership

to

rank

and

file

in

each

case.

THE

STRONG

AREAS

The

&dquo;strong

areas&dquo;

for

INTUC

cotton

textile

unions

are

Ahmedabad

(115,000

workers),

Indore

(25,000),

Bangalore

(20,000),

and

Khandesh

1

There

are

four

main

federations

of

labor

in

India:

The

Indian

National

Trade

Union

Congress

(INTUC -

identified

with

the

ruling

Congress

party),

the

Hind

Mazdoor

Sabha

(HMS — socialist),

the

All

India

Trade

Union

Congress

(AITUC — com—

munist),

and

the

United

Trade

Union

Congress

(UTUC-left

wing,

independent).

The

INTUC

is

much

the

largest

of

the

four

federations,

and

holds

the

predominant

sway

in

cotton

textiles.

This

article

compares

the

INTUC

unions

in

every

major

cotton

textile

center

except

those

in

southern

centers

such

as

Coimbatore

and

Madras.