Abstract
This essay presents an argument about the processes which, marked as much by contingency as by conflict, shaped the formation of class identity. It argues that the formation of class consciousness is contingent upon the specific historical context in which it develops. Its presence at one moment has not ensured its persistence at the next. Class consciousness is neither latent nor immanent within the working classes, but is most fruitfully analysed as a construct of political struggle and debate. Accordingly, the essay examines the construction of class in the course of the general strikes of 1928-29 in Bombay. These strikes involved at their core over 150,000 workers in more than eighty mills over a period of about eighteen months, but they also pulled into their orbit workers in other trades and occupations in the city and beyond; and, in addition, they developed and manifested widespread support among workers for the communists. In particular, the essay delineates a range of influences which shaped the political context of 1928-29 and informed these struggles. Finally, it sketches the conditions for the break-up of the solidarities of 1928-29 and the ebbing tide of class consciousness in the 1930s.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.