Trade Unions in Kenya's War of Independence

Shiraz Durrani

Description

It is due to the success of the trade union movement in the national liberation movement that the colonial government suppressed prominent trade unions and attacked TU leaders like Makhan Singh, Fred Kubai, Pio Gama Pinto and Bildad Kaggia. It also passed on colonial laws to the independent Kenya government so as to ensure that future trade unions were forced to take the non-radical approach to meet worker needs. They thus created imperialist-oriented and led trade unions that bedevil working class politics to this day.
There are valuable lessons to be learnt from the history of the militant trade unions in Kenya and also from understanding how colonialism and imperialism enforced changes that made the trade unions ineffective after independence. The selections in this book recall relevant events in the history of the militant trade union movement in Kenya and record the contribution that the trade union movement made to Mau Mau and to Kenya’s war of independence.
The Kenya Resists Series covers different aspects of resistance by people of Kenya to colonialism and imperialism. It reproduces material from books, unpublished reports, research and oral or visual testimonies. The three aspects chosen for the first three publications in the Series – Mau Mau, Trade Unions and People’s Resistance – make up the three pillars of resistance of the people of Kenya.

Sujets

• Colonisation

Informations

• Publié par: Vita Books
• Date de parution: 03 août 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789966114532
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Trade Unions in Kenya’s War of Independence Kenya Resist No. 2

Selection from the book by Shiraz DurraniKenya’s War of Independence’ Mau Mau and its Legacy of Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism’ 1948-1990(2018, Nairobi: Vita Books). Material on Makhan Singh from Durani, Shiraz (Ed.):Makhan Singh; A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist. 1915. Nairobi: Vita Books.

Kenya Resists No. 2

Kenya Resists No.2 (2018)

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VITA BOOKS

P.O Box 62501-00200 Nairobi. Kenya http://vitabooks.co.uk [e-mail]; [e-mail]

Series: Kenya Resists No.2

Distributed Worldwide by: African Books Collective PO BOX 721 Oxford, OX1 9EN [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com Copyright © Shiraz Durrani & Vita Books, 2018

ISBN 978-9966-1890-9-7 (Paper) ISBN 978-9966-114-53-2 (eBook)

Kenya Resists No. 2

Dedicated to Makhan Singh, Fred Kubai, Bildad Kaggia, Pio Gama Pinto and all militant workers and trade unionists for establishing the revolutionary trade union tradition in Kenya

Kenya Resists No. 2

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Contents

Preface to the Series: Looking Back to Fight Forward 7

Preface to Kenya Resist No. 2 11

Selection from: Durrani, Shiraz (2018): Kenya’s War of Independence: Mau Mau and its Legacy of Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism, 1948-1990 14

Shiraz Durrani: Reections on the Revolutionary Legacy of Makhan Singh Every Inch a Fighter 59

Appendix: Makhan Singh, Every Inch a Fighter 94

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Kenya Resists No. 2