The All-India Trade Union Congress which was inaugurated at Bombay on Sunday last marks a distinct stage of growth in the labour movement in India. With Lala Lajpat Rai as President and Mr. Joseph Baptista as Chairman of the Reception Committee, the organisation starts under excellent auspices, and there is an added significance in the presence at the session of Colonel Wedgwood, the doughty champion of human rights and a messenger of sympathy and good-will from the labour movement abroad. Not many years have passed since Indian labour emerged out of its sloth and reticence, but it has shown a vitality and resilience in this short time which stand out as an earnest of its success. The number of labour unions among us is still small, such as should strictly be called trade unions are fewer still, and the existing organisations have not developed strength enough to be able to compel the hands of employers. It might therefore seem a little premature to summon an All-India assemblage at present, but the Trade Union Congress must derive its justification from the fact that it is not a summation but a nucleus, a sound beginning for a regulated expansion; and in the peculiar atmosphere of this country forces radiate from a centre with more certainty and speed than coverage inwards to a unity point.
