S2 E1: The Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974: The South Asian Diaspora in the UK, Trade Unionism, and the Struggle for Social Justice
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Shardaben Chandarana, the leader of the 1974 Imperial Typewriters Strike. The Imperial Typewriters Strike was a major and iconic event in the history of South Asian Trade Unionism in the United Kingdom. It comes within a broader history of struggle for recognition and social justice, racial discrimination, and attempts towards integration and dialogue. In this episode Dr Fatima Rajina is joined by Amrit Wilson and Professor Sundari Anitha as they discuss the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974. More information on the strike, as well as visual documentation, is available from the National Archives: The Imperial Typewriters dispute – The National Archives To place the strike within the history of South Asia political activism and for some first-hand accounts of the events, you can check out the extensive work of Amrit Wilson and Professor Sundari Anitha on the topic: Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (Wakefield (Quebec, Canada): Daraja Press, 2019 (first edition 1978)); Amrit Wilson, Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 2006); Sundari Anitha and her collaborators is a key reference: Linda McDowell, Sundari Anitha and Ruth Pearson, (2014) ‘Striking Narratives: class, gender and ethnicity in the ‘Great Grunwick Strike’, London, UK, 1976–1978,’ Women’s History Review, 23-4 (2014), 595–619; Sundari Anitha and Ruth Pearson, Striking Women: Struggles & Strategies of South Asian Women Workers from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2018). This shorter piece by Amrit Wilson can be a good place to start: "We are the lions, Mr. Manager": Revisiting the Great Grunwick Strike | Ceasefire Magazine. For additional resources on South Asian women’s activism in trade unions, the resources made available on https://www.striking-women.org can provide guidance and insight. This comic book represents an excellent introduction to their resources: striking_women_for_download_opt.pdf (striking-women.org). For a history of Western trade unionism within a global and transnational perspective: Ad Knotter, Transformations of Trade Unionism: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives on Workers Organizing in Europe and the United States, Eighteenth to Twenty-First Centuries (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018). For a broader picture of the history and current state of South Asian trade union activism in the UK, we signal the activities of the Indian Workers Association of Great Britain: Indian Workers Association (G.B.) - (iwagb.org). Produced by Weyland McKenzie-Witter at Nello and the People’s Production Ltd Twitter/X: @weylandmck Web: weylandmck.com Web: nelloandthem.co.uk Music: AyChibs @Aychibs Image: And Still She Rises by Marcus Dove Stay connected with the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre: www.dmu.ac.uk/slrc Twitter/X: @SLRC_DMU Join the mailing list by emailing slrc@dmu.ac.uk Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH. United Kingdom © 2024, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre
