The emergence of state-led unionism in Turkey following World War II

This study traces the roots of state-led trade unionism in post-World War IITurkey. There are suggestions that the emergence of state-led and ‘non-partisanship politics’ in Turkish trade unionism was influenced by externalfactors, particularly the United States (US). This article argues that theemergence of a state-led trade union tradition in Turkey was driven byTurkey’s internal dynamics rather than external ones. The distinctivehistorical dynamics of Turkish trade unionism is the emergence of a state-led trade union tradition. The most important factor of the emergence ofa state-led trade union tradition was that industrialisation started in state-owned enterprises. These state-owned enterprises were the largest fac-tories of the period and therefore the most common place for industrialworkers. The fundamental characteristics of this tradition were the state’sauthoritarian attitude towards opposition and labour movements, parti-cularly during the late Ottoman and early Republican periods, and itspaternalistic approach of viewing unions as occupational organizationsrather than class-based organizations.