E-Book Content
1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5111 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 Labour, Politics and the State in Industrializing Thailand Capitalist industrialization in Thailand has had a revolutionary impact on the organization and structure of the society. New classes, groups and interests have emerged, including an urban-based industrial working class who are essential to the new capitalist procedures. This book examines how industrial workers have come to occupy a strategic place in the contemporary political economy and charts their long-term activism in seeking redress for a range of industrial, social and political problems. Labour, Politics and the State in Industrializing Thailand, unlike previous studies, does not argue that the political exclusion of organized labour is the result of an immature working class, but focuses on how the state has become entangled in the processes through which workers have been organized, reorganized and disorganized as social and political actors in different historical periods. By critically examining the themes of labour weakness, political exclusion and insignificance of ‘class factors’, this book aims to bring back workers from the margins by demonstrating that both in the present and past the state has been involved in processes that determine the forms of their struggles. Utilizing new empirical data and largely neglected historical material, Brown highlights how the working class has emerged as an enduring facet of Thai society. Providing an innovative approach to workers and politics, this book will appeal to scholars of South-east Asia as well as those with research interests in politics and employment in rapidly developing countries. Andrew Brown is a Research Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 RoutledgeCurzon/City University of Hong Kong Southeast Asian Studies Edited by Kevin Hewison and Vivienne Wee 1 Labour, Politics and the State in Industrializing Thailand Andrew Brown 2 Asian Regional Governance Crisis and change Edited by Kanishk Jayasunya 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5111 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 Labour, Politics and the State in Industrializing Thailand Andrew Brown 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 First published 2004 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2004 Andrew Brown All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Brown, Andrew, 1953– Labour, politics and the state in industrializing Thailand/ Andrew Brown. p. cm. – (RoutledgeCurzon/City University of Hong Kong South East Asian studies; 1) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Working class – Thailand – History – 20th century. 2. Labor unions – Thailand – History – 20th century. 3. Labor unions – Thailand – Political activity – History – 20