Worker Cooperatives in India

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 1-10

3. India’s ‘Informal Sector’: Demystifying a Problematic Concept

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 11-36

4. The Rise and Fall of the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh and Its Cooperative Movement

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 37-67

5. The Alcond Employees Industrial Co-Operative Society Limited

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 69-92

6. Trade Union Imperialism and a Non-transformative Approach: SEWA Rachaita

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 93-113

7. Neoliberalism vs. Village Collectivism: A Success Story from an Indian Village

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 115-140

8. Conclusion: Learning the Lessons

   • Timothy Kerswell, Surendra Pratap

   Pages 141-146

9. Back Matter

   Pages 147-148

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This book discusses the experiences of cooperative enterprises in India that have been operated by or influenced to a significant extent by trade unions. It describes the origins of these movements in India presenting a political-strategic view of their development and, in some cases, their decline. The book also presents case studies of groundbreaking social experiments conducted in India in which trade unions have formed cooperatives for production and service provision for the working class movement. It also offers lessons learned from previous social experiments and explains how to use them for future strategies in the working class movement by using primary research undertaken on trade union cooperatives in India. With globalization often given as a reason for the decline of trade unions and transformative social movements, this book demonstrates that where movements declined it was due to their own internal weaknesses, while presenting successful case studies of movements which have shown resilience in the face of globalization. The book also gives an extensive criticism of India’s Self Employed Women’s Association as a model of a depoliticized trade union cooperative. The main lesson of this book is that cooperatives represent a viable strategy to build working class power in the 21st century in India, and elsewhere.

• Labour
• Trade Unions
• Cooperatives
• Transformative
• Social Movements

“Kerswell and Pratap have fashioned a significant and refreshingly original book substantially contributing to research on India’s labour movement and reshaping social sciences scholarship of worker-self management. A crucial contribution to historical-comparative research on worker cooperatives in India formed and run by left parties, foreign funded NGOs, and Indigenous peoples. This book has significant implications for similar initiatives underway across the Global South.  Essential reading for students of the sociology and politics of the labour movement.” (Immanuel Ness, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Author of Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class)

“An important contribution to the literature on cooperatives, Worker Cooperatives in India analyzes the achievements and limitations of three cooperatives formed from below, and it critiques a cooperative formed from above that is adapted to neoliberalism. The book demonstrates the importance of state support for cooperatives as well as the necessity for a politically intelligent ideology of the Left, which posits constructing socialist forms during the popular struggle for political power in capitalist nations.” (Charles McKelvey, Professor Emeritus, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina, Author of The Evolution and Significance of the Cuban Revolution)

“Timothy Kerswell and Surendra Pratap have done an in-depth study of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and other movements in India analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. They are not only researchers, they provide an inner eye to India’s working class movements.” (Dr Saibal Jana,Chief Physician, Shaheed Hospital (Martyr’s Hospital), Dalli-Rajhara, Chhattisgarh, India)

• Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao

  Timothy Kerswell

• Center for Workers Education, New Delhi, India

  Surendra Pratap

Timothy Kerswell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the University of Macau SAR, China. Along with this book, he is the author of numerous articles and book chapters. His research interests include the political economy of India and China, imperialism, Indian politics and political history, informal labour in Asia, labour and migration policy, and Marxist political thought. He previously worked for the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship on labour market policy, and for the trade union United Voice as a researcher.

Surendra Pratap is a lifelong labour activist with a wealth of experience in India's labour movement. He is the director of the Centre for Workers Education, New Delhi, and the author of numerous books, policy papers, research articles and book chapters dealing primarily with workers and working class movements.

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