23 - 25 NOVEMBER 2000
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
IISH 65th Anniversary
The International Institute of Social History (IISH) was established in 1935 with the primary aim of preserving archives of labour movements in various parts of the world threatened by repression and fascism. Since then it has grown to become the largest institution for social history in the world. It attained this position through its ongoing efforts to protect the cultural heritage of the labour movement and other emancipatory groups, often in very threatening situations. The institute's research division has also developed rapidly and initiated a number of research projects on various aspects of labour history, thereby increasingly emphasizing internationalization and global links. From 23 to 25 November 2000, the IISH organized a conference on 'Global Labour History in the Twenty-first Century' to commemorate its sixty-fifth anniversary.
By Ratna Saptari
Scholars from various parts of the world with their specializations covering all continents presented fifteen papers altogether. These papers could be broadly classified into two main foci: regional and occupational. The regional studies were meant to provide a reflection of labour history scholarship within a particular region as well as a brief overview of the history of labour in that region. In both these dimensions, two contrasting theoretical positions could be seen. On the one hand, some papers dealt with and argued for 'traditional' concerns in labour history, namely those of materialist-based class action among the 'formal' sectors and artisans within the working population and the role of trade unions. These papers showed how unions and workers' organizations have been both strengthened and weakened by specific government policies and political and economic conjunctures within the national contexts, and how academic concern has been shaped by intellectual fashions in the academic world. On the other hand was the positivist and structuralist approach critical of old traditions of labour scholarship that emphasized the need to look at the different forms of labour production regimes and the variety of labour movements, and of workers' (shifting) perspectives. It needs say that the latter are also shaped by other identities, namely gender, race, and ethnicity.Although none of the papers were defending a universal stance of looking at labour history, the way in which the understanding of context was taken into account differed greatly. It was quite interesting to observe that those arguing for an examination of the 'traditional' working class were also the ones examining the earlier industrializing countries of Western Europe and North America. And those arguing for a broader definition of workers' categories and workers' consciousness were the very ones whose papers focused on the later industrializing countries of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and also Australia.
Differences were also seen in the discussion of the occupational studies, which focused on railway workers, mineworkers, dock workers, masons, and paid domestic workers. Some of the papers came to the conclusion that universal patterns could be seen in the nature of labour relations, and in the course of development of each particular sector. Others emphasized the way in which local and national contexts provided a different breeding ground for the specific sectors, thus resulting in different forms of labour relations, recruitment patterns, and workers' activism and perspectives.
Although these differences were not resolved and could not be discussed in depth, the rich collection and variety of papers brought a better understanding to the concepts of 'global labour history' and to the notion of 'comparisons'. Certain uneasiness with the use of the two key concepts of this conference definitely was a healthy sign of a more critical stance in the study of labour, undermining any tendency towards complacency. This can surely be seen as a movement away from the use of mechanistic and static approaches within social science and history. In this light, the conference can certainly be seen as a major step forward in the history of the IISH, paying great tribute to its sixty-fifth anniversary.
Dr Ratna Saptari is affiliated to the International Institute of Social History (IISG), and programme co-ordinator of CLARA.
E-mail: rsa@iisg.nl