|| International Labourer’s Day || By Madhurima Dasgupta
International Labourer’s Day
On International Labourers’ Day, it is essential to debunk some of the issues behind its significance-
1. Labouring class being the lowest strata or rungs of society are the most deprived and marginalized section of society in terms of their access to basic amenities required for survival including proper health facilities, education and food..
2. They are the ‘proletariat’ (as named by Karl Marx) whose labour is being utilized by the capitalist class or ‘bourgeoisie’ (in Marxian terms) to serve the upper rungs of society.
3. Since the labour of proletariat is used and misused by bourgeoisie for their vested interest, they are dominated, exploited due to which they are alienated from their own product, production process, their fellow being and finally from entire human species.
4. They toil throughout the day in return of a meagre wage to sustain their family but do not always receive remuneration for the work they engage in. The profit of their work is used by the capitalist class for the benefit of the class..
5. They provide their labour in factories, organizations for a better standard of living where most of the time they are coerced to face unequal wage, hazardous working conditions followed by prolonged working hours which culminates into social stress..
6. The struggle of the labouring class is equal irrespective of gender since women from this strata face the same amount of deprivation and ostracism not only due to their class they belong to but due to their gender identity. As a woman, her discrimination manifolds and gets manifested through unequal wage gap, domestic abuse by intoxicated spouse, marital rape.
7. Though the day is not far when the labouring class will rise and resist against the unnecessary domination of the bourgeoisie in order to establish socialism, yet its difficult to attain this given the different ways by which our society cuts across- in terms of class,caste, gender, race.
Further, it is also necessary to debunk the myth associated with labouring class comprising only of labourers, peasants, farmers. Research shows any individual who puts in physical and mental labour for the betterment of any aspect of society can come under labouring class. Simultaneously, teachers also contribute their hard work, perseverance to instill knowledge among students so that they be better human beings and work for the welfare of society.
