GENESIS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR MOVEMENT: AN OVERVIEW OF EARLY EFFORTS

A number of developments in the industrial and technological realms happened during the mid and the culmination of the nineteenth century. At the same time, international relations started developing. The growing interdependence of the nations for the satisfaction of their wants was a result of the industrial development as well as of the opening up of new countries. The greatly increased facilities of communication and the presence of the same social problems throughout the world were leading men’s thoughts into the international field. The interchange of experiences, the comparison of methods, the formation of international associations, the holding of international conferences in this period marked the new movement. The strength of international feeling amongst the working-class was the realisation that the economic and social problems of the workers in the various countries were similar. The teachings of great leaders, thinkers and Statesmen gave the organised working class its vision. Gradually, there grew a realisation among the competing industrial nations of the necessity for some form of international law to govern the effects of repeated deliberations by individual nations for the gradual betterment of labour conditions. The history of labour rights has its roots in efforts made during the nineteenth century.