Labor-capital Disputes During The Republic Of China Period: Characteristic Facts And Quantitative Analysis (1927-1936

Labor dispute is one of the most intense forms of social conflicts in modern times.In the occurrence of labor disputes,it not only shows concern for the immediate economic interests,but also shows a strong complex relationship among four different powers of China: political power,gentry power,faction power and civil rights.In the handling of labor disputes,it shows that international standards deviate from the reality of China.The uniqueness and complexity of China’s labor disputes determine that the study of modern labor disputes has indispensable academic value.The prominence of labor disputes within China in the last decade is evident not only in the increase in statistics related to labor dispute mediation and grassroots people’s spontaneous mediation in the China Labor Statistics Yearbook,but also in the more extreme related legal crimes.Alleviating the labor-management conflicts and building a harmonious labor relationship are the important contents of state governance and the strong support for maintaining social stability.From 1927 to 1931,Labor disputes were at the stage of steady development,labor disputes were at the stage of full-scale agitation from 1932 to 1936.In terms of the number and extent of labor-management disputes,they are closely related to industrial development.Shanghai,Qingdao,Tianjin,Jiangsu,Zhejiang,and Hankow are all areas where labor disputes are concentrated,as well as areas with relatively good industrial development.From the industry of labor disputes,the industry concentration of labor disputes is related to the number and scale of factories in various industries.Textile industry is the largest industry in modern times,and it was also the industry with the most concentrated labor disputes from 1927 to 1936.Shanghai,Qingdao,Tianjin,Jiangsu and Hubei are all provinces and cities with more labor disputes in the textile industry.Secondly,the food industry,Jiangsu,Shanghai and Qingdao are all provinces and cities with more labor disputes in the food industry.After 1932,the chemical industry gradually rose and became an important industry in labor disputes,which mainly occurred in Shanghai,Qingdao and Tianjin.From the causes of labor disputes,the main causes of labor disputes in 1927-1929 were employment or dismissal,collective agreement and wages,while those in 1930-1936 were employment or dismissal,wages and treatment.The causes of labor disputes are gradually changing to issues related to vital economic interests.Refine the causes to the specific types of labor disputes,and find that the main cause of labor disputes is employment or dismissal,and the main cause of strike and closure is wages.Labor dispute was a common social phenomenon in the period of the National Government.After 1932,the labor conflict became more intense.Firstly,based on the domestic factors,this paper puts the labor dispute in the background of social transformation in modern China,analyzes the comprehensive effect of market activity and labor disputes,and finds that the decline of market activity leads to frequent labor disputes.After 1929,the major capitalist countries experienced the economic crisis.In order to pass on the crisis,they accelerated their economic aggression against China and competed with domestic commodities for market share.International trade became an important factor affecting the development of the domestic market.Therefore,this paper shifts from domestic factors to international factors,and examines the impact of imported goods on labor disputes from the perspective of imported goods.It is found that the increase of imported goods increases labor disputes.The impact mechanism of the increase in the quantity of imported goods on domestic labor disputes is: import trade shocks bring business difficulties to domestic enterprises,on the one hand,domestic enterprises will reduce production costs by reducing labor employment,which leads to labor conflicts in the form of labor disputes;on the other hand,domestic enterprises respond to imported goods shocks by reducing labor wages,and leads to labor conflicts in the form of strikes and lockouts.In order to get rid of the limitation of macro-statistics at the regional level and further verify the relationship between international trade and labor disputes,this paper further takes national yarn mills as an example,and investigates the micro-mechanism and action mechanism of international factors on labor disputes from within enterprises.It is found that the reduction of international yarn prices directly affects the operating rate of enterprises and reduces the employment of labor in domestic yarn mills,thus worsening the existing labor relations and increasing labor disputes.Labor dispute management is an important part of social governance.Nanjing National Government adopts "control" and "guarantee" measures to balance the interests between labor and management.In 1927,after Nanjing National Government came to power,it took "labor-management cooperation" as its policy agenda and clarify the governance concept of labor-management cooperation.On the one hand,the compulsory savings system is used to promote workers’ savings,protect workers’ welfare and promote proper cooperation between labor and management.On the other hand,the compulsory arbitration system is used to deal with labor disputes,control the delay of cases and guide the behavior of both labor and management.However,the smooth development of the compulsory savings system is based on social and economic stability.Under the crisis of inflation,the workers’ savings system ended in failure.At the same time,arbitrary modification of compulsory arbitration and voluntary arbitration not only increases personnel disputes,but also detracts from legislative authority,exposing the incompetence of legislators themselves.This paper will not only help us to understand the characteristics and trends of labor disputes in modern China,but also deepen our understanding of the interaction mechanism between domestic and foreign markets and the labor market.At the same time,the management of labor disputes also provides important enlightenment for the construction of ruling ability and authority in today’s social governance,and the matching of international standards with China’s reality.