| The 1922 Kailuan Minmetals Alliance strike was a major historical event in the history of modern Chinese workers’ movement.Its origin was closely related to the bleak life of Kailuan coal mine workers.Among the coal industry that developed rapidly in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,the Kailuan coal mine managed by Britain was particularly striking,with the longest continuous operation and the highest in its output and scale.Although Kailuan coal mine adopts the western advanced western production management system,the profit model is quite old.The way of blindly lowering the production cost and expanding the coal production deepens the labor and capital contradiction.Before the general strike,the Kailuan coal mine had already gathered a large number of workers.The increase of migrants,the age structure of the young people,the unstable labor supply and the prestige of the strike leaders often caused friction between the workers and the mining bureau.After the British took over the coal mine,the living standard of the Kailuan workers declined year after year.The mining bureau has not raised a salary for more than ten years,and the workers suffer from contract labor exploitation,coupled with rising prices,the workers live hard to make ends meet.The welfare treatment of Kailuan coal mine is flashy,various facilities are not enough,or the quality is worrying,workers can not enjoy the benefits.The daily working environment is dirty,the work intensity is high,and the frequent mining accidents occur,which makes the workers unhappy.The violent management of contractors to workers,the high salary and personality discrimination of the foreign staff department make workers more resentful,and the long-standing mining problems of the mining bureau and surrounding villages also aggravate the conflict between local workers and the mining bureau.These small problems that are covered up in their lives accumulate over a long time,increasing the risk of collective action of workers in Kailuan.In the early years of the Republic of China,China’s industry and commerce were in the"golden age",but the living standard of the workers in Kailuan stagnated for a long time,lagging behind the workers in other industries during the same period.As a foreign-funded enterprise,the salary and welfare security of Kailuan coal mines are far from those of Japanese coal mines,even worse than Chinese coal mines with average profitability.Compared with the factory workers in north China and excellent railway workers,the actual income and work intensity of the workers in Kailuan are in sharp contrast.Faced with the dilemma,the workers could not find a better job,and had to stay in the Kailuan coal mine to live a "less than less"life.Under the burden of life,the workers gradually developed a complex mentality such as depression,fear of obedience,hatred of division and envy,and under the encouragement of pragmatism,determined to take risks and carry out a general strike to safeguard their own interests.Although the general strike ended hastily,its huge impact had an important impact on the workers’ future lives.The living conditions of workers have been improved step by step.Under the principle of lowering costs and raising less wages,the Kailuan Mining Bureau has taken the initiative to improve the welfare treatment and living environment of workers,with the remarkable achievements of the reform.The general strike also changed the original life order of the workers.On the one hand,due to the workers ’fierce confrontation,during the strike of the huge losses and overwhelming opinion pressure,kailuan mining bureau adopted a "labor goodwill" management mode to alleviate long-term superposition conflict,on the other hand,the general strike prompted workers’ resistance consciousness,the consciousness is mainly related to the workers pragmatism.Under the promotion of two-way effect,the life of the workers in Kailuan has made great progress. |
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