"... No significant workers' strike occurred in Anatolia during these years. Anatolia was the main field of struggle for National Independence War at this time. Various celebrations were held at Labor Days. The British occupied Istanbul on March 16, 1920. Unions in Istanbul did not celebrate Labor Day. England and Greece Occupation Forces and the government of the two countries were protested in Labor Day celebrations in the Trabzon and the surrounding provinces (GÜZEL, 1996:120)..."Mavi Boncuk |
DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORKER CLASS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
A. Baran Dural, PhD, Associate Professor at the TC Trakya University, Turkey
Uner Ertem, Lecturer at the TC Trakya University, Turkey
Abstract:
When the Ottoman economy and social structure is examined in the historical process, it is seen that managements working according to the capitalist market requirements or intensively producing goods didn‟t exist or, if any, their effects on the market were at a minimum level. The emergence of the worker class in the Ottoman Empire was first seen in the construction sector, mining and military. However; in real terms, the worker class emerged in the agricultural managements founded in the second half of the 19th century by the foreign investors in the Aegean Region. In the same periods, the railroad constructions underway used to provide additional income for many people. The government officials became stipendiary after the Tanzimat (the political reforms made in the Ottoman Empire in 1839). The formation of the worker class, the re-structuring of labor life during the Late- Ottoman Era will be discussed in this article.
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"... Unsurprisingly, the source of the bourgeoisie in the Ottoman Empire and of the expansion of capitalism into Ottoman lands was in its relations with the capitalist West. Again unsurprisingly, it was the extremely large and significant non-Muslim minority, with its closer relations to the West, which first introduced capitalist relations to Ottoman society. The development of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie in the Ottoman Empire was directly tied to Western capital, trade and patronage. The non-Muslim traders and shopkeepers of the pre-capitalist period, while not a particularly significant part of non-Muslim communities, became increasingly important by enlarging their businesses and accumulating capital in an environment where most of the riches came from the land and agriculture."
Osmanlı Devletinde Toplumsal Mücadeleler.” Sosyalizm ve Toplumsal Mücadeleler Ansiklopedisi, Vol 6. Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 1988. p. 1783
SOURCE : Socialism and the workers’ movement in the Ottoman Empire
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