From Worker to Worker

This book, which deals with various aspects of the labor history developments of the Early Republic period, contributes to studies on the political and social analysis of the period in question in general, as well as illuminating a stage in the history of proletarianization processes in Turkey. Ahmet Makal, who makes a methodological criticism of the studies and discussions on labor historiography in the early Republican period, discusses the corporatist aspect of the Single Party period as another 'general' topic. He argues that corporatism was not implemented with a systemic integrity in 1930s Turkey, and that it had a specific validity as a 'intermediary institution' between the state and some segments of society. As a matter of fact, when we look at the labor policies and social policies of the 1930s and 1940s, we see similarities - as well as differences - with the beginnings of the industrialization process in Europe. Specific headings in Makal's study that enrich the analysis of labor history and the process of 'laborization of workers' are as follows:

Industrialization and labor force problem in the context of economic state enterprises in the 1930s and 1940s;
National Protection Law (1940) and "work obligation" practice;
CHP and unions in the 1946-50 period, when multi-party democracy was transitioned;
In the same period, strikes and discussions on the strike "issue".
A very important original contribution of the book is that it provides a comprehensive evaluation of the history of child labor in Turkey. Makal draws a clear picture of the legal and quantitative dimensions of child labor in the period 1920-1960. This section, devoted to "children who play ball but cannot get hungry", sheds light on the most striking aspect of the laborers' squeeze between the slave-laborer-worker 'status'.



Number of Pages: 404

Year of Printing: 2007


Language: Turkish
Publisher: İletişim Publishing

First Print Year: 2007

Language Turkish