Trade union movement in a princely state

Abstract

This article focuses on the emergence of the trade union movement upon the introduction of a capitalist industrial economy in the social and political milieu of a princely state, viz. Baroda. The article argues that the new class of industrial workers which emerged in the princely state did not passively accept their terms of work but actively mobilised to change their work conditions, form trade unions and select leaders while also negotiating with their traditional values of status, hierarchy, personal loyalty and community camaraderie. In this, the Baroda cloth mill labourers were influenced by the struggle and consequent gains of the industrial workers of the nearby cities of British India, like Bombay and Ahmedabad, which created a sense of relative deprivation among them. The article examines the organisational role played by trade union leaders from British India in fomenting similar struggles in princely Baroda. It describes the similarities between the trade union culture of British India and the Baroda movement and argues that the latter reflected the future image of industrial relations in a princely state, as was manifested in the gradual evolution of a legal framework governing the conditions of work and bargaining with the state.