CENTRE OF INDIAN TRADE UNIONS (CITU)

The CITU is one of the major central trade unions in India. It was established in 1970, at a time of growing attacks on the working class, with closures, job losses, increasing contractualisation, denial of collective bargaining rights, social security benefits, etc., and outbursts of struggles and strikes across the country by workers in various industries. The CITU was born in recognition of the need to reinforce the principle of ‘unity and struggle’ against these attacks and the government policies that backed them. B. T. Ranadive and P. Ramamurti, both pioneers of the Indian Communist movement and stalwarts of the trade union movement, were the CITU’s first President and General Secretary.

The CITU Archives are intended to bring together all documents that record the history of the CITU, its struggles and its campaigns. This will be an ongoing process of collecting material produced by the CITU Centre in New Delhi, by the various state, district and local committees, by the Federations in different sectors and by the affiliated unions. The project is being undertaken in partnership with the Association of Indian Labour Historians (AILH).

The CITU Archives are a work in progress. Material collected so far will be uploaded here. But much more needs to be collected to provide an adequate idea of the vast work of the CITU since its inception in 1970. The Archives are designated here as a community, which is further classified as subcommunities and collections. Click the links below to browse, explore or search for specific items. These will be expanded as work progresses.

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