Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class

by Immanuel Ness

Even as labor in the developed world seems to be in retreat, industrial struggle continues elsewhere—and with particular force in the Global South. In Southern Insurgency, Immanuel Ness provides a thorough and expert perspective of three key countries where workers are fighting the spread of unchecked industrial capitalism: China, India, and South Africa. In each case, he considers the broader historical forces in play, such as the effects of imperialism, the decline of the international union movement, class struggle, and the growing reserve of available labor. He then narrows his focus in each case on the specifics of the current grassroots insurgency: the militancy of miners in South Africa, new labor organizations in India, and the rise of worker insurgencies in China.
 
The product of extensive firsthand field research, Southern Insurgency paints a picture of the new industrial proletariat in the Global South—a group that lives a precarious, frightening existence yet at the same time offers hope for new approaches to solidarity and the anti-capitalist struggle.

Genres: History, Labor, Politics, Nonfiction, Africa

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

Reviews

[Pete Dolack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Workers in the South are developing new forms of resistance, and are now an integral part of a global working class, under-appreciated developments brought to vivid life in Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class. The industrial working class has not disappeared, but rather has been reconstituted in the South and in larger in numbers than ever before, in contrast to scholars on the right and left who “declared the working class dead.”

Using case studies of worker militancy in India, South Africa and China, Manny Ness demonstrates the extreme exploitation of workers in the Global South but also their self-organization, often in opposition to traditional trade unions in addition to the violence of the state, as they struggle for basic dignity and livable wages. These stories are of importance to we in the North, who are largely unaware of these struggles.

This book is a needed corrective to the false idea that resignation to neoliberalism is universal, and the examples of militancy that he presents are not simply a necessary corrective but demonstrate that improvements are only possible with organized, self-directed actions. In a world more globalized then ever, workers of the world truly do need to unite — a global working class can only liberate itself through a global struggle.

[Ezgi Aydın · Rating 2 out of 5]

herhangi bir Marksist kurama oturtulmadan ve eleştirel bir dili olmadan yeni liberalizmin ilgili ülkelerdeki tahribatına yönelik sendika ve devlet duruşlarını anlatıyor. İktisat tarihi için güzel bir kaynak olabilir ancak ismine aldanıp örgütlü bir mücadele veya isyan tarihi okuyacağınızı düşünmeyin.

[Annie Danko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this hadn't been the last book assigned in my labour studies class, the others were dry and I struggled to finish them. This one actually interested me but I had a week left in the class so I had to power through it quicker than my comfortable reading pace. This book focused on how unions as they are today in the west are inadequate to drop in the global south as a solution to their labour troubles. Considering how unions in the global north are losing favour and appearing far too bureaucratic (I am pro union myself, just noting what I've seen). Through three case studies, the book explores how labour movements in India, China, and South Africa are fighting for their rights under their unique conditions, all of which are unfit for an established union to copy paste their prescriptions as a solution.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by my professor