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Example research essay topic: Labour Movement Forced Labour - 1,598 words

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... Chafer (2002), the first large-scale strike movement that took place soon after the war was ended, was the general strike that occurred in Dakar and Saint-Louis. This was the strike of 14 - 16 January 1946, which "mobilized between 15, 000 and 20, 000 workers in both the public and private sectors, from educated Africans working for the government to manual labourers working in the docks (Chafer, 2002, p. 68). The two major group that took place in this strike were school teachers and railway workers.

The railway workers participated in the strike because their leaders were close to the Socialist Party, and school teachers participated in strike because they wanted to get benefits on the back of the strike by French teachers that occurred one month ago. In fact, this was the first major strike that occurred in the parts of French West Africa that were most assimilated to France because these parts of African continent had the longest history of contact with France. In addition, the most important demand by the union, namely, equal pay for equal work, expressed the traditional demand for racial equality between Europeans and Africans. Labour unions also asked for an increase in the minimum wage, equal pay for the families of French and African civil servants, and the possibility for the union to take part in the grading of job.

The strike of 14 - 16 January 1946 in fact efficiently shut down European business and colonial administration in Dakar and Saint-Louis (Berg, 1960, pp. 391 405). The authorities of the colony didnt know how to act in this case, because the situation was completely new and unknown to them. Their first desire was to try to restore their authority and to take the workers on strike into the military. However, the striking workers didnt listen to them and ignored all orders.

In addition, the colonial authorities were unable to use power and violence, because they knew that French colonial practices were in the international spotlight, and that French had to prove that their colonial rule was progressive and humanitarian. In such a way, the administration could only try to negotiate with the striking workers and convince them to stop strike. This negotiation resulted in a number of changes. The workers made great gains and achieved family allowances, wage levels, minimum wage and some other options they wanted to get.

In such a way, the labour strike of 14 - 16 January 1946 became an important lesson both for the colonial authorities and for African political and social movements. Social and political movements in Africa learned that they have an instrument they can use to achieve significant improvements in conditions, wages, and a share of power, and that they can obtain all this in a completely new way by means of negotiation and coordinated actions. Also, they learned that they could turn the French language of assimilation to their own advantage, by using it to justify the demand for equality between Africans and Europeans in the socio-economic field (Chafer, 2002, p. 69). What concerns colonial authorities, top French officials in AOF were deeply worried by the strike, which they saw as representing a serious potential threat to French authority: acknowledging the strikers' organizational success, Inspector Masselot of the Work Inspectorate described it as a profound movement of emancipation (Chafer, 2002, p. 70). In addition, colonial authorities, probably, for the first time felt their weakness and powerlessness, for example, compared to the situation before and during World War.

The authorities finally understood that their authoritarian style to colonial political and social problems weren't an effective way out after the war, and the only way out for them was to acknowledge the emerging African leaders and to identify the leaders prepared to talk to the French authorities, "what the French were subsequently to call, in the 1950 s, interlocutors variables (valid representatives) and then to negotiate the settlement of economic, social, and indeed political, issues with them as they arose (Chafer, 2002, p. 70). It should be also mentioned that up to the mid- 1930 -ies, the colonial authorities were unable to imagine the existence of African working class, because, by default, Africans were not workers and the colonial authorities had no other change except of force Africans to work. This was the way how authorities treated African population. At the same time, all strikes by African workers (such as the strike that took place on the Northern Rhodesian copper belt and others), were considered to be the destructive effect that civilization, colonization and detribalization had on them. However, the increasing number of working Africans began to put these ideas into doubt. For example, in France, the officials of the Popular Front government were criticising the obligatory forms of labour (the pseudo-conscription "deuxi eme portion" and "travail obligatory" -- "prestations") (Chafer & Sackur, 1999, pp. 21 - 25).

Yet, the reforms that were done in result of this criticism, caused almost no of very little changes to the system. The new metropolitan vision of the corporatist colonial state was introduced by the Vichy regime, however, in reality, the forced labour continued in the African colonies. After the World War II the colonial mentality changes due to numerous colonial strikes. When the Labour Government came to power (in 1945), the colonialism had to change from what they called the attempt to preserve traditional Africa to an aggressive form of develomentalism that was performed by famous persons such as Sydney Caine, Arthur Creech Jones, and Andrew Cohen.

What concerns France, as Charles de Game came to power and became very influential, there were also changes in their perceptions of African people, from the colonies that were simply producers of raw materials, to the acknowledging of the existence of African working class. Conclusion No doubt, the labour movement has played very important role in de colonisation of French West Africa. Going hand in hand with the changes in mentality in colonial authorities, as well as with inevitable changes that took place in metropolitan policies and visions, the African labour class continued its struggle for better conditions by means of numerous strikes occurred during the 1945 and 1950. Four major movements, namely the strike that took place in Dakar in 1945 - 1946, the strike in Mombasa of 1947, the West African Railway Strike that took place in 1947 - 1948, and the fourth important strike, the Gold Coast (1947 - 1951) introduced completely new French West Africa with its working class, and showed the completely new post-war framework of labour relations.

Probably, the only strike that turned out to be insufficient to contain the African workers' protest, was the Gold Coast strike of 1947 - 1951, as it was the strike that became an emancipatory movement and put into doubt the very legitimacy of African colonial rule. However, it should be mentions that although colonial authorities in most of cases were able to negotiate with the strikers successfully, and were able to influence the end of the majority of strikes, the African labour class succeeded to assert its identity, thus leading to drastic changes in conscience of African people. Obviously, the colonial regimes didnt want to accept the fact of emergence of this new class, and wanted to continue the development of the colonies along the metropole's industrial lines. As it was already mentioned, the discussion in the French National Assembly concerning the Code du Travel resulted to the abandonment of the legal use of forced labour and introduced new metropolitan standards that were accepted as universal as the primary governing norms over the African labour class. African workers reacted immediately, thus leading to new demands for equal pay for equal work and equal conditions, irrespectively of the race and nationality. In its turn, it led to more powerful labour movement and anti-colonial strikes.

As far as post-war developmental plans mostly failed, the colonial authorities and regimes began to rethought and re-examine their attitude to empire. Relatively soon enough independence put an end to the struggles for entitlements rested upon a universal notion of economic rights. Labour movement, in the form of the all-too-neat assimilation of political and social struggles, led to a logical continuation, proving that once independence was achieved, all forms of contestation against French rulers and bosses appear to be part of a seamless pattern of ever-broadening, ever-growing struggle. " (Suer, 2003, p. 157). Labour movement drew from anti-colonial struggle that went far beyond the workplace, and to the degree that the strikes gave African workers a sense of their power and their ability to confront with the French government and colonial policies. In such a way, labour movement has played crucial role in the campaign for de colonisation in French West Africa. References Abdul-Redeem, T. (1996).

Pan Africans. London: Pluto Press. Away, A. , & Crowder, M. (Eds. ). (1987). History of West Africa (2 nd ed. , Vol. 2). Harlow: Longman. Andrew, C. (1981).

France Overseas. London: Thames & Hudson. Ansprenger, F. (1989). The Dissolution of the Colonial Empires.

London: Routledge. Berg, E. (1960). The Economic Basis of Political Choice in French West Africa. American Political Science Review, 54 (2), 391 405.

Chafer, T. (2002). The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization? . New York: Berg. Foot, W. (1965).

From French West Africa to the Mali Federation. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hargreaves, J. (1996). De colonisation in Africa. Harlow: Longman. Sueur, J.

D. (2003). The decolonization reader. Routledge. T. , C. , & Sackur, A. (1999). French Colonial Empire and the Popular Front.

Basingstoke: Macmillan.


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Research essay sample on Labour Movement Forced Labour

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