Volume 59 part 3 (December 2014)

Abstracts

Alexander Keese. The Slow Abolition within the Colonial Mind: British and French debates about 'vagrancy', 'African laziness', and forced labour in West Central and South Central Africa, 1945-1965.
After the Second World War, French and British administrations in the African continent were in theory obliged to end forced labour. In the rhetoric, compulsory labour practices disappeared altogether. However, the scrutiny of processes on the ground, comparing French Equatorial Africa and Northern Rhodesia under British rule, shows that the practicalities of the abolition of such labour practices were far more complex. In the French case, colonial officials actively planned for the reorganization of compulsory labour through the back door, mainly through the battle against 'vagrancy' and 'African laziness'. British administrators continued with practices organized by 'native chiefs', and attempted to maintain involuntary labour through a generous definition of 'emergency situations'. In both cases, more profound analysis of the late colonial mind shows interesting continuities in the commitment of European officials to forced labour, which are likely to have been transferred, in part, into the views of the agents of postcolonial states.

Ad Knotter. Transnational Cigar-Makers: Cross-Border Labour Markets, Strikes and Solidarity at the Time of the First International (1864-1873).
Several authors have argued that one of the main goals of the International Working Men's Association was to control transnational labour markets. In the eyes of trade unionists, especially in Britain, uncontrolled cross-border migratory movements threatened to undermine wage standards and working conditions. Their solution was to organize internationally, both to prevent strike-breaking and wage-cutting by workers from abroad, and to support unions elsewhere to raise wage standards in their home countries. Cigar-makers operated on a cross-border labour market and were very prominent in the First International. In this article I describe the connections between the German, British, Dutch, Belgian, and American cigar-makers as migratory workers, and their actions to stimulate, support, and coordinate trade unions internationally. I argue that the international cooperation of cigar-makers was primarily motivated by a wish to regulate their cross-border labour market, not so much by an abstract ideal of international solidarity.

Stefano Petrungaro. Hostels for Jobless Workers in Interwar Yugoslavia (1921-1941).
This article analyses the establishment of a network of hostels destined to unemployed workers in Yugoslavia between the two world wars. The analysis investigates the legal, political and institutional background of these hostels, and how they were conceived and financed. By looking at the development of a new public social policy through the viewpoint of the jobless, the article aims to examine the nature, the goals, and especially the boundaries of a modern Yugoslav workers' provision, ie. its strategies and practices of social inclusion and exclusion. The article shows that a modern idea of unemployment gradually emerged. These hostels were not part of a traditional poverty policy, but were the expression of a new and more modern form of social policy. The article furthermore shows how new social differences and distances between "non-working" people were created, and what concrete impact they had on the functioning of these institutions.

Toby Matthiesen. Migration, Minorities and Radical Networks. Labour Movements and Opposition Groups in Saudi Arabia, 1950-1975..
This article shows how ideas of Arab nationalism, socialism and communism spread to the Arab Gulf states. It outlines how migrant workers, teachers, students returning from abroad, and the emergence of a print culture filled with Arab nationalist and leftist ideas in the 1940s created the basis for widespread political mobilization in the oil-rich Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. After major strikes in 1953 and 1956 and a harsh crackdown, leftist activists moved underground and into exile. They continued to be active clandestinely and gathered in various capitals in the region. Members of the Shia Muslim minority in the Eastern Province played a special role in the labour movement and secular opposition groups. They promised them inclusion in a larger political project and seemed an antidote to sectarian discrimination against them. The article emphasizes the importance of transnational networks, organizational resources such as libraries and social clubs, and a radicalized public sphere for political mobilization.