ABSTRACT
Economic pressures on laboring groups in Shanghai are rapidly creating a situation of serious tension in this confused, hectic city. If these pressures are not relieved, labor unrest will grow, and the situation may become explosive. Shanghai’s industrial labor force is the largest in China. Chinese labor leaders themselves divide the history of the movement into several definite stages. The labor movement gained momentum in a spectacular way in 1922–1923. The Communists, who spearheaded the organizing efforts at that time, established a China Labor Organization, the secretariat of which directed the widespread strike movement of 1922. The subsequent Kuomintang-Communist split, which took place in April, 1927, again changed the labor picture radically. The rights and duties of labor unions in Nationalist China are defined by legislation such as the Labor Union Act of June 16, 1947. One of the largest and most important question marks about the labor situation in Shanghai is the strength of the Communist underground.
