Papers of other campaigning organisations

This material is held atBirmingham Archives and Heritage Service

  • Reference
    • GB 143 MS 2141/C
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1960 - 1992
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 18 Files

Scope and Content

This section of the archive primarily comprises organisational records of a number of campaigning groups and political parties active in Britain, India and Canada, most of which the Indian Workers Association co-operated with on specific campaigns, or which individual members were involved with in as committee members or office holders. Papers consist of reports; correspondence; minutes and agendas; press statements; circulars; leaflets and flyers; articles; press cuttings; newsletters and magazines.

The organisations which the Indian Workers Association was most closely associated with were the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination, in which Jagmohan Joshi was Secretary; and the Association of Indian Communists, in which many of the leaders were also office holders in the Indian Workers Association. Jagmohan Joshi was also active in the Black People's Alliance, and many members of the Indian Workers Association were also members of the Communist Party of Great Britain during the early 1960s, and supported the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Avtar Jouhl was active in groups formed to challenge the increase in racist attacks and the rise of the National Front in the late 1970s, such as the Anti-Nazi League, and in organisations established to campaign against further controls on immigration introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government after 1979, such as the Campaign Against Racist Laws.

The section also contains papers of organisations not directly associated with the Indian Workers Association including several black and Asian campaign and welfare groups, as well as various publications likely to have been collected by members of the Indian Workers Association. It is possible that the Association collaborated with some of these groups on campaigns, or that their contact was in an advisory capacity.