Labour, war and world politics: contemporary dynamics in world-historical perspective

Abstract

During the last decade of the twentieth century, there was an almost complete consensus in the social science literature that labour movements worldwide were in a general and severe (some argued terminal) crisis. By the turn of the century, however, a growing number of observers were suggesting that labour movements were on the upsurge, most visible as a mounting popular backlash – from Seattle to Genoa – against the dislocations provoked by contemporary globalization. Yet, in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, with demonstrations and strikes being cancelled around the world, questions were raised about the future of movements that had appeared to be on a strong upward trajectory. Then, on 15 February 2003, with war looming in Iraq, some of the largest demonstrations in world history – with strong labour movement participation – were held in hundreds of cities throughout the world. Students of labour movements have focused much attention on worldeconomic processes in explaining both the global crisis of labour movements in the 1980s and 1990s, and their recent and partial resurgence. This continues to be an important line of inquiry. Yet, the ups and downs around the turn of the century also remind us of the central role played by war and world politics in the dynamics of global labour and social protest. This theme is the focus of this chapter, not only in terms of the impact that war and world politics have on labour movements, but also in terms of the ways in which workers and workers’ movements have shaped the dynamics of war and world politics. The central purpose of this chapter is to derive lessons for thinking about the contemporary link between labour and war from an analysis of past dynamics. The chapter proceeds in three steps. In the first section I draw on some of my empirical research on the worldhistorical dynamics of labour unrest (including a database on world labour unrest, cf. Silver 2003) to describe (what I call) the ‘vicious circle’ of war and labour