Forced Labor System Research Articles

Japan’s Forgotten Korean Forced Laborers: The Search for Hidden Wartime Graves in Hokkaido

Abstract The return of remains of Korean forced laborers who died in Japan between 1940 and 1945 has been a major controversy for over half a century for Koreans. These deaths reveal the tragic consequences of Japan’s World War II forced labor system. Japan forcefully mobilized nearly 800,000 Koreans who were taken to at least 1,589 worksites in Japan and 381 worksites in Hokkaido. Over 10 percent of all Koreans forcefully mobilized throughout the empire are estimated to have died or disappeared, but the precise number of Korean forced laborers’ deaths inside Japan remains unknown. Until 1989, remains recovered from graves throughout Japan by local people were immediately cremated by Japanese Buddhist priests, making cause of death and precise identities forensically impossible. This account relates the first and only comprehensive effort to exhume Korean forced labor graves without immediate cremation, coordinated by Korean and Japanese activists and academics based in Hokkaido. This effort helped revive a neglected aspect of Korean forced labor history while focusing on the concerns of bereaved Koreans seeking the remains of their lost family members. Nevertheless, the project had serious limitations due to working in a difficult political environment and neglect of forensic science protocols in mass grave excavations and identification. This complex situation prevented identification of victims’ names and cause of death that could have held the Japanese government and companies involved accountable.

Colonial Economic Policies in East Africa. A Case Study in Uganda During Colonial Period

This research investigates East African colonial economic policy, using Uganda as a case study. Following the introduction of Europeans in East Africa, policies aimed at assisting their administration in the region were developed. The colonial economy in Uganda was largely centered on cash crop cultivation and other extractive sectors, while local economies and peoples were neglected. Local communities were displaced from their land, which was subsequently exploited for cash crop cultivation as a result of the policies. In this study, documentary analysis was utilized as a research approach, which entailed evaluating written or recorded records to analyze social phenomena in East Africa's colonial economy .This resulted in the extinction of traditional livelihoods and the devastation of local economies.The colonial rulers also instituted a forced labor system, which was employed to construct infrastructure like as roads and railways.Uganda is still affected by colonialism, and correcting the inequalities and injustices brought about by these economic practices would need a concerted effort.The article finds that colonial economic policies in East Africa had a considerable influence on the region's economy and society, and that colonialism's legacy may still be felt today.

The uneven and combined development of racial capitalism and South Africa’s changing race-class articulations

Surprisingly little uneven and combined development (UCD) work focuses on Africa. This article both widens the geographical scope of UCD literature and attempts to address a major blind spot in this literature: the importance of race and gender in understanding the UCD of world capitalism and global political economy. Helpful in this process, we argue, is an engagement with the work of Black Marxism and Marxist Feminism and the literature on Racial Capitalism. We draw on the work of Stuart Hall on race and class, and the importance of understanding their changing articulations, indeed of the need to look at multiple articulations – of the state and state power with forms of production; racialised ideologies; and systems of reproduction. We use a case study of South Africa to illustrate our argument. South Africa, previously on the periphery of the global system, was changed profoundly by the discovery of vast gold deposits and the construction of a forced labour system to secure its profitable extraction. South Africa’s specific form of racial capitalism challenges not only linear conceptions of development, but also binaries between free and forced labour, and Eurocentric conceptions of social reproduction.

Overseen and Overlooked: Spanish and British Silencing of Labor Resistance in Post-Emancipation Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the reception and effects of the post-emancipation forced labour system in Puerto Rico (1873–1876) and contributes to the global understanding of the transition from slavery to coerced labour in the nineteenth century. Through an analysis of local reports, metropolitan responses, and archival documentation, I examine the ways both Spanish and British colonial administrators obscured and shaped the historical record through their promotion of the narrative of absolute success of the contracting system and minimization of widespread reports of newly-emancipated libertos’ (freedpeople’s) challenges to it. In addition to interrogating the colonial reporting strategies utilized, motivations for narrative silencing, and the consequent effects on the historiography of Puerto Rican emancipation, the article provides glimpses of liberto resistance that constitute direct contradictions to the dominant narrative.

The Role of the London Missionary Society and Church Missionary Society in the Abolition of Oozhiyam (Bonded Labor Service) in Kerala

Bonded labor is the most widespread form of slavery in the world. It is at once the most ancient and most contemporary face of human servitude. In India, 'labor' is more a social category than economics, where the division of labor and laborer is defined according to the caste. The caste system is not a scientific division of labor, which is, after all, necessary for the efficient functioning of any economy. It is an arbitrary, birth-determined hierarchy in which different types of laborers are graded one above the other and subject to a descending scale of civil disabilities that have nothing to do with efficiency or productivity. It is not a division based on choice, as individual sentiment, preference, or even actual skill, have no place in it. Caste slavery was an oppressive, discriminative, and exploitive system which existed in Kerala from an early medieval period onwards. In the social structure of Kerala, the bonded or forced labor system was an unavoidable factor of slavery. As the system of bonded labor was associated with feudalism, land-based social relations were formed in the state. The oozhiyam or bonded labor system, therefore strictly connected with the caste oriented slavery in Kerala. Under the system of oozhiyam, the economically under-privileged servants were obliged to render bonded services on all days of the week as required by the government officials and the higher castes. The main force behind this system was the coercive authority of the government and the privileged class. Nobody dared to evade the services demanded by the government. Only on the days of the oozhiyam services, the laborers received a minimum quantity of food to keep their body and soul together. This essay mainly focuses on the ameliorating activities of the Christian missionaries, such as the London Missionary Society (LMS) and Church Missionary Society (CMS), among the oppressed sections of the society of Kerala. In addition to the social legislations of the government, the intervention of Christian missionaries also helped in the permanent abolition of the system of oozhiyam in Kerala.

Stunted firms: The long-term impacts of colonial taxation

I study how the colonial mita forced labor system (1573–1812) impacted Peruvian firms’ formalization, investment, and performance measured by the 2008 business census. Regression discontinuity models with granular geospatial controls reveal lower sales and fixed assets, less likely use of a commercial name, and less likely tax ID registration for firms within mita boundaries. Firms with banking relationships in mita regions struggle more financially. Evidence on centuries-long disadvantageous taxation in mita regions suggests a persistent channel of distrust. Individuals in mita regions surveyed today show lower levels of trust in the tax authority and more informality at their workplace.

THE PROBLEMS OF TECHNICAL REGULATION OF LABOR IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR OF THE NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs) – MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) OF THE USSR

Introduction. The article analyzes the problems of technical regulation of labour in the production sector of the NKVD – MVD of the USSR, the possibility of technical, psycho-physiological and economic justification of the production rate fixed for prisoners is determined. Research efforts in this direction contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms and features of the functioning of the system of forced labour, to allow for greater clarity in the interpretation of its effectiveness. Materials and Methods. The nature of the problems raised in the article determined the choice of historical-genetic, historical-systemic methods of research, allowing to consider the issue of technical regulation in the context of internal mechanisms of the functioning of the GULAG system, as well as its internal and external relations, dynamic changes. Results. The article analyzes the objective and subjective factors that determined in advance the presence of serious defects in the process of technical regulation. At the same time, attention is drawn to the substantial similarity of the camp sector and the civil sector of the Soviet economy. The author focuses attention on the fact that the state of technical regulation contributed to the spread of falsified production indicators and the opacity of the GULAG system. Discussion and Conclusion. The article concludes that the problems in this area eventually led to the deformation of a number of indicators of financial and economic activity of labour camps and colonies, brought unpredictability to the situation of prisoners, directly dependent on the implementation of production standards. This fact extremely limits the possibility of a qualitative analysis of the issue of the effectiveness of forced labor. The author notes that the spontaneous nature of the formation of the main parameters of production activity caused the uncontrollability and economic burden of the GULAG system, which eventually became one of the factors of its crisis and collapse.

Stunted Firms: The Long-Term Impacts of Colonial Taxation

I study how the colonial mita forced labor system (1573–1812) impacted Peruvian firms’ formalization, investment and performance measured by the 2008 business census. Regression discontinuity models with granular geospatial controls reveal lower sales and fixed assets, less likely use of a commercial name, and less likely tax ID registration for firms within mita boundaries. Firms with banking relationships in mita regions struggle more financially. Evidence on centuries-long disadvantageous taxation in mita regions suggests a persistent channel of distrust. Individuals in mita regions surveyed today show lower levels of trust in the tax authority and more informality at their workplace.

Mineração de carvão, migração e etnicidade: uma história global

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1984-9222.2015v7n14p13Em todo o mundo, empresas de mineração defrontaram-se com a escassez de mão de obra e tiveram de encontrar maneiras de recrutar um número suficiente de trabalhadores para as suas minas. As soluções adotadas variaram desde o envolvimento de camponeses em tempo parcial, cooptação de trabalhadores mediada por empreiteiros de mão de obra, sistemas de trabalho forçado, e até migração nacional e internacional sob regulação estatal. A importância desses tipos de “intervenção institucional” na mobilização de mão de obra para as minas de carvão é ilustrada com exemplos de diferentes partes do mundo. Os esforços para encontrar novos trabalhadores para as minas muitas vezes resultaram no recrutamento de grupos étnicos considerados de status social inferior, não só porque de origem rural e não qualificados, mas também porque vistos como inferiores do ponto de vista cultural ou étnico. Nesse aspecto, houve uma enorme diferença com relação à imigração e à fixação de mineiros qualificados, como os da Grã-Bretanha e de outros países. Diferenças étnicas eram associadas frequentemente à diversidade de status e de conhecimento técnico do ofício. Embora existam muitos exemplos de solidariedade e de cooperação interétnica, dependendo do período e das circunstâncias, as diferenças podem ter um efeito profundo sobre as relações sociais em comunidades mineiras.

Coerced African Labour for Food Production in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) during the Second World War, 1942–1945

Like their colonial counterparts in other parts of Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, some Africans in Northern Rhodesia experienced labour conscription during the Second World War. Civilian labour conscription in colonial Africa was revived during the war due to challenges faced by the Allied powers in recruiting labour for military, agricultural and industrial use. Although forced labour has a long and infamous history in Northern Rhodesia, it had waned by the 1930s. With the outbreak of the war, however, the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act was applied to empower the colonial government to expand the supply of food and raw materials to Britain and its Allies. The demand for Northern Rhodesian copper led both to a steep increase in the Copperbelt's labour force and to unusual pressures on the territory's capacity to produce adequate maize, the primary staple for African mine workers. This article argues that in order to solve the pending food crisis, the colonial Government used its Emergency powers to revert to an older system of forced African labour for settler farms. Previous studies were less concerned with the theory behind violence in the colonial situation or the historicisation of conscripted labour in today's Zambia. It is these barely glimpsed aspects that the present essay deals with by using hitherto unexplored materials from the National Archives of Zambia.

El cultivo del trigo en Nueva Galicia durante el siglo XVII

<span>Este artículo estudia los factores que determinaron el desarrollo y consolidación del cultivo del trigo en varias comarcas del reino de Nueva Galicia durante el siglo xvii tomando como referencia la última fundación de Guadalajara. Destaca lo vital que fue para esta industria la mano de obra indígena a través del sistema de repartimiento forzado y la vigencia de este hasta el siglo xviii en contraste con Nueva España donde fue suprimido desde 1633. La hipótesis aquí planteada es que la escasez de trigo y harina que constantemente sufrieron los habitantes de la ciudad de Guadalajara se debió a la confabulación de las autoridades del Cabildo con los comerciantes y productores para acapararlos, esconderlos y luego venderlos a precios elevados. La política que los regidores implementaron de no instalar una alhóndiga que concentrara y regulara la venta de esos productos confirma el anterior aserto.</span>

Migration and Ethnicity in Coalfield History: Global Perspectives

AbstractThis article provides a general background to the case studies in this Special Issue by highlighting some general themes in the history of migration to coalfields worldwide. All over the world, mining companies have struggled with labour shortages and had to find ways to recruit sufficient numbers of mineworkers. The solutions adopted ranged from the involvement of part-time peasant miners, organized mediation by labour contractors, and systems of forced labour, to state regulation of national and international migration. The importance of these kinds of “intervening institution” in mobilizing labour for the coalmines is illustrated by examples from different parts of the world. Efforts to find new workers for the mines often resulted in the recruitment of ethnic groups of a lower social status, not only because they were rural and unskilled, but also because they were considered inferior from a cultural or ethnic viewpoint. In this respect there was a huge difference from the migration and settlement of skilled miners, like those from Britain and other countries. Ethnic differences were often closely related to differences in skill and social status. Although there are many instances of inter-ethnic solidarity and cooperation, depending on the time-frame and circumstances, these differences could have a profound effect on social relations in mining communities.

Reeducation through work? Mountain roads in the Spanish concentration universe (Western Pyrenees, 1939–1942)

This article deals with the forced labor system within the Spanish Concentration Universe, mainly that related to work battalions that were under the control of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, involved in work consisting of opening roads along the Western Pyrenees after Spanish Civil War. After underlining the importance of road construction works in the contemporary history of forced labor, we analyze the different kinds of propaganda tools that the regulations of these battalions mentioned in order to enforce the reeducation of these prisoners of war. After that, we have contrasted these regulations with some other historical sources related to the everyday life in the battalions, mainly Inspection reports and oral testimonies, both of captives and of guardians, so that we can better understand to what extent these propaganda tools worked, and the attitudes of captives toward them.

‘A kind of Siberia’: German labour and occupation policies in Poland and Lithuania during the First World War

Forced labour was not a phenomenon limited to the Second World War. Already in the First World War, German labour policy in occupied Poland and Lithuania was increasingly marked by coercion. It is little known in scholarship that the militarily administered territory of the Baltic (Ober Ost), especially, had developed into a laboratory for forced labour and total war. This article examines the conditions, forms and consequences of forced labour and recruitment in occupied Poland and Lithuania between 1914 and 1918. It will contribute towards explaining the extent to which the German labour policy of 1914–1918 served as a blueprint for the Nazi forced labour system during the Second World War.

Los efectos persistentes de la mita minera en el Perú

This study utilizes regression discontinuity to examine the long-run impacts of the mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. Results indicate that a mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and increases the prevalence of stunted growth in children by around 6 percentage points in subjected districts today. Using data from the Spanish Empire and Peruvian Republic to trace channels of institutional persistence, I show that the mita’s influence has persisted through its impacts on land tenure and public goods provision. Mita districts historically had fewer large landowners and lower educational attainment. Today, they are less integrated into road networks and their residents are substantially more likely to be subsistence farmers.

The Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita

This study utilizes regression discontinuity to examine the long-run impacts of the mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. Results indicate that a mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and increases the prevalence of stunted growth in children by around six percentage points in subjected districts today. Using data from the Spanish Empire and Peruvian Republic to trace channels of institutional persistence, I show that the mita's influence has persisted through its impacts on land tenure and public goods provision. Mita districts historically had fewer large landowners and lower educational attainment. Today, they are less integrated into road networks, and their residents are substantially more likely to be subsistence farmers.

The Persistent Effects of Peru's MiningMita

This study utilizes regression discontinuity to examine the long-run impacts of the mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. Results indicate that a mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and increases the prevalence of stunted growth in children by around 6 percentage points in subjected districts today. Using data from the Spanish Empire and Peruvian Republic to trace channels of institutional persistence, I show that the mita's influence has persisted through its impacts on land tenure and public goods provision. Mita districts historically had fewer large landowners and lower educational attainment. Today, they are less integrated into road networks and their residents are substantially more likely to be subsistence farmers.

Men of War: British Sailors and the Impressment Paradox

AbstractIn the long eighteenth century, the British Royal Navy established dominance of the seas with the widely despised forced labor system of impressment. Previous attempts at explaining this paradox have erred either in deemphasizing the devastating personal and communal costs of impressment or by stressing that the navy’s oppressive system of discipline left sailors with no choice but to serve admirably. In fact, sailors exercised their agency both by resisting British press-gangs and by serving to the best of their ability on naval vessels. The British navy created incentives that appealed to mariners’ professional self-interests and male gender aspirations. Through naval service, sailors regained some of their dignity and sense of manhood that capture by press-gangs had taken away.

Trabajadores indios del valle de tlaltenango (Zacatecas) en las salinas viejas de Santa María en el siglo XVI

El artículo aborda el proceso de merma poblacional en las comunidades indígenas del valle de Tlaltenango, Zacatecas, durante la segunda mitad del siglo xvi. Hace referencia a una de sus causas más destacables, como lo fue la instauración del sistema de explotación del trabajo denominado repartimiento. Especialmente, se explica el trabajo obligatorio que las comunidades del valle realizaban en la cosecha anual de sal y saltierra en las lagunas conocidas como las Salinas de Santa María, y de sus efectos desintegradores en la economía maicera y la vida comunitaria de los pueblos.

Small Farm Production and the Standardization of Tropical Products

This paper explores the historical relations between labour organization and product qualification in the production of tropical agricultural exports. In supplying international markets for tropical products, peasant farming emerged as the norm for labour organization after the First World War, competing with the large plantations and different systems of forced labour. During the same period, national standards became the dominant tool for product qualification of commodities traded on the global agricultural markets. These standards allow the creation of futures markets and the emergence of traders, instead of auction markets and commission merchants: two changes that were the basis of the subsequent international marketing of peasant‐produced commodities. The last part of the paper considers the potential consequences of the current erosion of standards for the position of peasants in tropical export crop cultivation.