Thomas J Mathew FOR a little over a decade the working class in India stood in grave risk of forfeiting both its future and its past, as the fortunes of labour and the retrieval of its history took a dismal turn, at roughly the same time. With the thickening of the state-capital articulation under a liberalising regime, the assault on labour and the deterioration of the conditions of its existence were only to be expected. On the other hand, why, barring a few mono- graphic exceptions, labour history so abruptly went out of currency still awaits explanation. Perhaps that explanation may well accompany the revival of labour history that the formation of the Association of Indian Labour Historians and the hosting of its First Annual Conference promise.
