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Paper II · 2021 · Q 1(d) · 10 Marks

The rise of the Communist Movement in India in the 1920s lent a militant and revolutionary content to the Trade Union Movement. Critically examine.

11. Other strands in the National Movement › Left and the trade union movement in the 1920s

Answer:

The 1920s saw the growth of communist and socialist ideas in India, which injected a new militancy into the emerging trade union movement.

Rise of the Communist Movement

  • Impact of the Russian Revolution (1917); formation of communist groups and the CPI (1925).
  • Leaders like S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmad and the Workers' and Peasants' Parties spread class-based ideas.

Impact on the Trade Union Movement

Militancy and organisation:

  • The AITUC (founded 1920) gained a more radical wing; a wave of strikes swept textile, railway and other industries in the late 1920s.
  • Emphasis on class struggle, workers' rights and links between labour and anti-imperialism.

Colonial Response and Limits

  • The government reacted with the Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) and repressive laws.
  • Ideological splits (moderates vs communists) fragmented the AITUC.
  • The movement remained limited to organised industrial pockets.

Therefore, the communist movement did lend militant, revolutionary content to trade unionism in the 1920s, though internal divisions and state repression restricted its reach.

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