The Formation of a Working Class in Kenya

In the former colonial societies of the Third World a distinctive peripheral capitalism was created between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries by the extension of market relationships from the industrialised centres. The extension of capitalism to Third World political economies necessitated the creation of a Third World working class. Early class formation in Kenya may be divided into three stages, which result from structural changes in the largely African labour force arising from changes in the colonial political economy. In Stage I,1895–1919, state-initiated labour creating policies provoked among Africans widespread negative reaction of a tribal, religious, or individual sort. In Stage II, 1920–39, a class of semi-proletarianised African workers evolved individual and collective modes of protest within the capitalist economy. In Stage III, 1939–47, a more fully proletarianised urban African working class escalated strike action and formed a general workers’ union, while various groups of skilled workers formed occupational associations

African history and culture studies · Computer Science · Artificial Intelligence

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