Workers/labour movements
Workers/labour movements · AITUC · trade unions · strikes
6 min read · Updated 2026-05-25
What is the Indian labour movement?
The Indian labour movement is the organised struggle of industrial workers that began with sporadic strikes in the late nineteenth century and the Factory Act of 1881. The Madras Labour Union of 1918 was the first true trade union, and the All India Trade Union Congress was founded on 31 October 1920 in Bombay by Lala Lajpat Rai and N M Joshi.
The story
It is 31 October 1920, Empire Theatre, Bombay. Lala Lajpat Rai opens the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) — India's first national trade union federation, with N M Joshi as General Secretary and a delegate list including B P Wadia (Madras), Joseph Baptista (Bombay), and Diwan Chaman Lal. The session represents 64 unions + ~1,40,000 workers. Within 8 years, AITUC will become the labour wing of the freedom struggle — linking trade unionism + nationalism + early communism.
For UPSC, trade unions + workers' movements are a niche but recurring Prelims chunk — and gain Mains weight whenever labour reforms (4 Labour Codes 2019-20) are in the news.
Why this matters for UPSC
For UPSC:
- Prelims: AITUC founding 31 Oct 1920 + key strikes + ILO 1919 + Bombay Mill Strike + Workers' Welfare Acts 1881-1936 + INTUC + Communist Party formation 1925 Kanpur.
- Mains GS-I + GS-III: Industrial labour movement + role in nationalism + post-1947 labour legislation.
- Interview: 4 Labour Codes 2019-20 in light of historical arc.