This article explains the employment practices at Turkish state factories during the 1930s and 1940s when the state expanded industrial activity. Complaints about the availability of industrial workers had been commonplace since the population exchange, but emerged as a key constraint on industrial activity in the 1930s and 1940s, as industrial production expanded considerably. The article argues that the Turkish state introduced social services in Turkish state factories in response to workers' resistance to the low wages and long hours of work. Rather than a deliberate attempt at populism or building political support, the expansion of social amenities through state economic enterprises reflected the weakness of the state in enforcing industrial discipline and the limitations of creating industrial labour forces through compulsion. Notes 1. See World Bank, World Development Report 1987 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1987); and World Bank, World Development Report 2004 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004). 2. On labour union mobilization against economic reforms (1987–91), see M.G. Doğan, 'When Neoliberalism Confronts the Moral Economy of Workers: The Final Spring of Turkish Labor Unions', European Journal of Turkish Studies, No.11 (2010), available online at http://ejts.revues.org/index4321.html, last accessed 24 February 2012. For the expression of the state's responsibilities by employees at Sümerbank enterprises, see O. Babüroğlu and A. Göcer, 'Whither Organizational Culture? Privatization of the Oldest State-Owned Enterprise in Turkey', Industrial and Environmental Crisis Quarterly, Vol.8 (1994), pp.41–54. 3. M.W. Thornburg, G. Spry and G. Soule, Turkey: An Economic Appraisal (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1949), p.128; International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Economy of Turkey: An Analysis and Recommendations for a Development Program (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1951), p.119. 4. On the moral economy tradition, see E.P. Thompson, 'The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century', Past and Present, No.50 (1971), pp.76–136; and W.J. Booth, 'On the Idea of the Moral Economy', The American Political Science Review, Vol.88 (1994), pp.653–67. For a specific application to social goods, see T.C. Arnold, 'Rethinking Moral Economy', The American Political Science Review, Vol.95 (2001), pp.85–95. These dynamics are neither unique to Turkey nor uniform within countries. See, for example, M.P. Posusney, 'Irrational Workers: The Moral Economy of Labor Protest in Egypt', World Politics, Vol.46 (1993), pp.83–120; M.P. Posusney, Labor and the State in Egypt: Workers, Unions and Economic Restructuring (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). For regional and firm-level applications, see W.J. Hurst, 'Understanding Contentious Collective Action by Chinese Laid-Off Workers: The Importance of Regional Political Economy', Studies in Comparative International Development, Vol.39 (2004), pp.94–120; J. Kopstein, 'Globalization in One Country: East Germany between Moral Economy and Political Economy', in C. Candland and R. Sil (eds.), The Politics of Labor in a Global Age: Continuity and Change in Late-Industrializing and Post-socialist Economies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp.233–57; and R. Sil, 'Privatization, Labor Politics and the Firm in Post-Soviet Russia: Non-Market Norms, Market Institutions, and the Soviet Legacy', in Candland and Sil (eds.), The Politics of Labor in a Global Age, pp.205–32. 5. On factory discipline, see S. Pollard, 'Factory Discipline in the Industrial Revolution', The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol.16 (1963), pp.254–71; H.G. Gutman, 'Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America, 1815–1919', American Historical Review, Vol.78 (1973), pp.531–88; and E.P Thompson, 'Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism', Past and Present, No.38 (1967), pp.56–97. 6. K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1944). 7. For the classic work on late developers generally, see A. Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective: A Book of Essays (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1962). 8. F. Birtek, 'The Rise and Fall of Etatism in Turkey, 1932–1950: The Uncertain Road in the Restructuring of a Semiperipheral Economy', Review, Vol.VIII (Winter 1985), p.407. 9. Ş. Pamuk, Turkey's Response to the Great Depression in Comparative Perspective, 1929–1939, EUI Working Papers, No.2000/21 (European University Institute: Badia Fiesolana, 2000), p.18. 10. B. Asiliskender, 'Instilling "Modern" Lifestyle with Architecture: A Case Study of Sümerkbank Kayseri Settlement', http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/bitstream/2099/2358/1/216_223_burak.pdf, p.218 (accessed 16 April 2011). 11. A. Makal, 'The Problem of the Labour Force, Social Policy, and State Economic Enterprises in the Turkish Industrialization Process, 1930s–1940s', Toplum ve Bilim, Vol.92 (2002), pp.34–70; A. Makal, Türkiye'de Tek Partili Dönemde Çalişma Ilişkileri: 1920–1946 (Ankara: Imge Kitabı, 1999). 12. C. Nacar, '''Our Lives Were Not as Valuable as an Animal'': Workers in State-Run Industries in World-War-II Turkey', International Review of Social History, Vol. 54 (2009), pp.143–66, and N. Gürboğa, 'Compulsory Mine Work: The Single-Party Regime and the Zonguldak Coalfield as a Site of Contention, 1940–1947', International Review of Social History, Vol.54 (2009), pp.115–42. 13. C. Alexander, Personal States: Making Connections between People and Bureaucracy in Turkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p.24. 14. For the full specifics of the Law for the Encouragement of Industry, see O. Okyar, 'The Concept of Etatism', Economic Journal, Vol.75 (1965), p.98; and Z.Y. Hershlag, Turkey: The Challenge of Growth (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968), pp.52–5. 15. Okyar, 'The Concept of Etatism', p.98. 16. The government also continued to operate the handful of state factories inherited from the Ottoman state, including the Defterdar wool factory and Bakırköy cotton textile factory at Istanbul, a carpet and wool factory in Hereke, and the Beykoz shoe factory in Istanbul. 17. S.C. Wyatt, 'Turkey: The Economic Situation and the Five-Years Plan', International Affairs, Vol.13 (1934), p.835; J. Parker and C. Smith, Modern Turkey (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1940), p.113. 18. S. Pamuk, Turkey's Response to the Great Depression in Comparative Perspective, 1929–1939 (San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy: European University Institute, 2000), pp.7–8. 19. Despite the name, etatism never meant to supplant private initiative. Although Turkish politicians and intellectuals debated the definition of etatism during the early 1930s, the principal factions both supported active state investment in industry and felt that private industry was similarly essential to Turkish industrialization. M. Türkeş, 'A Patriotic Leftist Development-Strategy Proposal in Turkey in the 1930s: The Case of the Kadro (Cadre) Movement', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.33 (2001), p.93. On the character and evolving politics of etatism, see K. Boratav, 'Kemalist Economic Policies and Étatism', in E. Özbudun and A. Kazancığil (eds.), Ataturk: Founder of a Modern State (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1981), pp.165–90; and M.J. Patton, 'U.S. Advisory Aid to Turkey: The Hines–Kemmerer Mission, 1933–1934', in A. Amanat (ed.), The United States and the Middle East: Diplomatic and Economic Relations in Historical Perspective: A Conference (New Haven, CT: Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 2000), pp.69–86. 20. O. Conker and E. Witmeur, Redressement Économique et Industrialisation de la Nouvelle Turquie (Paris: Libraire du Recueil Sirey, 1937), p.179; Ç. Keyder, Definition of a Peripheral Economy: Turkey 1923–1929 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p.55. 21. İ. Tekeli and S. İlkin, 'War Economy of a Non-Belligerent Country: Cotton Textiles: From Production to Consumption', Turcica, Vol.22 (1988), p.117. 22. Hershlag, Turkey: The Challenge of Growth, p.103. 23. Thornburg et al., Turkey: An Economic Appraisal, p.128. 24. Ibid. 25. R.D. Robinson, 'Kayseri and Adana, Pattern of Industrial Development', American Universities Field Staff (New York: American Universities Field Staff, 1955), pp.1, 3. 26. Republic of Turkey, Prime Ministry, General Statistical Office, 22 October 1950, Census of Population (Istanbul, 1961), p.35. 27. See the map 'Location of the Plants Financed by the IDB', in Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, 1950–1959 (Istanbul: Türkey Sinai Kalkinma Bankası, 1960), p.10. 28. E. Tümertekin, 'L'Activité Industrielle à Istanbul', Review of the Geographical Institute of the University of Istanbul, No.7 (1961), p.52. 29. M.D. Rivkin, Area Development for National Growth: The Turkish Precedent (New York: Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, 1965), p.70. 30. A.H. Hanson, Public Enterprise and Economic Development (London: Routledge and K. Paul, 1959), p.121. 31. Rivkin, Area Development, p.171. 32. Thornburg et al., Turkey: An Economic Appraisal, p.109. 33. Hershlag, Turkey: The Challenge, p.105. 34. Keyder, Definition of a Peripheral Economy, pp.28–32. 35. Boratav, 'Kemalist Economic Policies', p.165. 36. J. Kolars and H.J. Malin, 'Population and Accessibility: An Analysis of Turkish Railroads', Geographical Review, Vol.60 (1970), pp.229–46. 37. Bursa and Urfa were the two exceptions. See Rivkin, Area Development, p.63. 38. G. Arıcı, 'Railroad Development in the Republican Era' (MA Thesis, Boğaziçi University, 2002), p.167. 39. O. Conker, Les Chemins de Fer en Turquie et la Politique Ferroviaire Turque (Paris: Librairie du Recueil Sirey, 1935), p.142. 40. C. Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable as an Animal": Workers in State-Run Industries in World-War-II Turkey', International Review of Social History, Vol.54 (2009), pp.144–5. 41. Rivkin, Area Development, p.119; Thornburg et al., Turkey: An Economic Appraisal, p.130. 42. See, for example, G. Bie Ravndal, Turkey: A Commercial and Industrial Handbook (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1926), pp.166–7; E.G. Mears, Modern Turkey: A Politico-Economic Interpretation, 1908–1923 (New York: MacMillan, 1924), p.338. 43. 'There is, in fact, a shortage of labourers and industrial production is handicapped considerably by this shortage.' S.R. Jordan, Great Britain, Department of Overseas Trade, Report on Economic and Commercial Conditions in Turkey (April 1939), p.16. 44. 'The problem which concerned him [the manager] was labour turnover. To maintain a staff of 2,000 he had been forced to hire 3,000 different men and women, boys and girls.' D.E. Webster, The Turkey of Atatürk: Social Process in the Turkish Reformation (Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1939), p.250 (emphasis added). 45. Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.149. 46. Hershlag, Turkey: The Challenge, pp.118–19. 47. Ibid., p.296. 48. 'Review of the Present Labor Situation in Izmir', 20 Feb. 1951, Confidential, Department of State, Central Decimal Files (hereafter DOSCDF), 882.06/2–2051; Conker and Witmeur, Redressement Économique, p.240. 49. R.D. Robinson, Turkish Steel, 1 March 1950, pp.3, 6, and R.D. Robinson, Turkish Coal, 3 March 1950, p.8, available online at http://www.icwa.org/FormerArticles.asp?vIni=RDR&vName=Richard%20D.%20Robinson (accessed 24 Jan. 2011). 50. Foreign Service Dispatch, 6 Dec. 1951, Confidential, DOSCDF, 882.06/12‐651. 51. As such, the difficulties of securing workers were not simply a problem for factory owners. The cotton-growing regions of Çukurova (Adana), Hatay, and Gaziantep relied on large pools of migrant workers for the 100,000-odd workers that they required. Fig, grape, and cotton harvesting in the Aegean region relied on an annual influx of 80,000 men, women, and children, while approximately 10,000 workers migrated for work in Ayvalik. The total floating pool of agricultural labour in the early 1950s was an estimated 250,000 to 300,000, most of whom were reportedly women and children. Labour brokers organized groups of 10 to 50 migrant workers, serving also as supervisors and permitting a series of abuses, including profiteering, in the labour recruitment system. Foreign Service Dispatch, 6 Dec. 1951, Confidential, DOSCDF, 882.06/12–651. 52. 'Turkish Labor Review, July–November 1950', 11 Dec. 1950, Restricted, DOSCDF, 882.06/12–1150; 'Transmitting Annual Economic Review', Report No.131, 4 March 1946, Unrestricted, DOSCDF, 867.50/3–446. 53. 'Turkish Labor Review, July–November 1950', 11 Dec. 1950, Restricted, DOSCDF, 882.06/12–1150. 54. Parker and Smith, Modern Turkey, p.110; L. Linke, Allah Dethroned: A Journey through Modern Turkey (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937), p.86. 55. 'Turkish Labor Review', 21 Feb. 1950, Unclassified, with Confidential Notes, DOSCDF, 882.06/2–2150; Parker and Smith, Modern Turkey, p.110. 56. S.M. Rosen, 'Labour in Turkey's Economic Development' (Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1959), p.100. 57. 'The situation has been considerably aggravated during the last few years by the industrial development of the country, the development of railway communications and the extensive construction programme of the Government. The demand for labour has of necessity raised the level of wages and many peasants are now finding it more lucrative to come to industrial centres and work for a period between ploughings and harvestings. This is not wholly satisfactory as it means constant changes and a fluctuating supply of unskilled labour.' Jordan, Report on Economic and Commercial Conditions, p.16. 58. 'Possibilities for Sale and Exploitation of American Manufactures and Services in the Turkish Bituminous Coal Industry', Enclosure 1 to Despatch No.101, 'Equipment for Turkey's Coal Mines', 20 July 1945, Confidential, DOSCDF, 867.6362/7–2045. 59. H.Y. Ersöz, S. Özdemir, A. Yavuz, T. Akgeyik and H. Şenocak, 'The Effects of Privatization on Turkish Industrial Relations through Employee Ownership: The Case of Kardemir', The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol.20 (2004), p.611. 60. Webster, The Turkey of Atatürk, p.249 (emphasis added). 61. Ibid. 62. W.D. Hines, 'Conclusions and Recommendations', A General Economic Survey of Turkey, 1933–1934 (Ankara: Ekonomi Bakanlığı, 1934), 7 vols., Vol.I, p.20 (emphasis added). 63. Webster, The Turkey of Atatürk, p.250 (emphasis added). 64. Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.148. 65. Tekeli and İlkin, 'War Economy', pp.131–2. 66. 'Review of the Present Labor Situation in Izmir', 20 Feb. 1951, Confidential, DOSCDF, 882.06/2–2051; Rivkin, Area Development, p.73; Parker and Smith, Modern Turkey, p.110; L. Linke, 'Social Changes in Turkey', International Affairs, Vol. 16 (1937), p.545. 67. 'Legislation for the Protection of Turkish National Economy', 8 July 1940, DOSCDF, 867.50/194. 68. 'Turkey Establishes Increased Hours of Labor in Industrial Plants', 1 June 1940, DOSCDF, 867.5041/9; Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.152. 69. M.Ş. Güzel, 'Capital and Labour during World War II', in D. Quataert and E.J. Zürcher (eds.), Workers and the Working Class in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, 1839–1950 (London: I.B. Tauris, 1995), p.130. 70. The Turkish labour regime, inaugurated in 1936 and which reportedly covered some 4,000 establishments that employed more than 10 workers, limited the working day to eight hours, instituted a weekly holiday, and put limits on overtime. It also required enterprises employing more than 50 workers to provide for their hospital care and those with more than 100 workers to maintain a hospital or ward for their employees. The new law essentially repudiated recent changes in Turkish Labour Code of 1936 for the course of the war. 71. 'Quarterly Economic Report', 26 Oct. 1944, Unrestricted, DOSCDF, 867.50/10–2644; Güzel, 'Capital and Labour', pp.135–7. The number was 25.8% in 1948. 'Labor Report–Turkey 1950 and First Quarter, 1951', 11 May 1951, Unclassified, with Restricted Notes, DOSCDF, 882.06/5–1151. 72. Güzel, 'Capital and Labour', p.138. On tax evasion, see 'Textile Production in Turkey in 1947', No.301, 22 July 1948, Unclassified, DOSCDF, 867.655/7–2248. 73. S. Zaim, Istanbul Mensucat Sanayiinin Bünyesi ve Ücretletler (Istanbul: Sermet Matbaasi, 1956), p.158. 74. 'Quarterly Economic Report', 26 Oct. 1944, Unrestricted, DOSCDF, 867.50/10–2644. 75. N. Ekin, Memleketimizde Işçi Devri Mevzuunda Yapılan Araştırmalar ve Ortaya Koydukları Neticeler (Istanbul: Fakülteler Matbaası, 1969), p.136. 76. Ibid. 77. Ibid., pp.137–8. 78. Ibid., p.139. 79. Başbakanlık Umumi Murakabe Heyeti tarafından 3460 sayılı kanunun 24. Maddesi geregince hazirlanan Sümerbank 1949 yılı raporu (Ankara: Umumi Murakabe Heyeti, 1949). 80. Zaim, Istanbul Mensucat Sanayiinin Bünyesi ve Ücretletler, pp.159, 313. 81. 'Review of the Present Labor Situation in Izmir', 20 Feb. 1951, Confidential, DOSCDF, 882.06/2–2051. 82. Ekin, Memleketimizde Işçi Devri, p.135. 83. Sümerbank, Sümerbank (11.7.1933–11.7.1943) (Istanbul: Cumhuriyet Matbaasi, 1943), pp.237–9. 84. Zaim, Istanbul Mensucat Sanayiinin Bünyesi ve Ücretletler, p.313. 85. Ekin, Memleketimizde Işçi Devri, p.138 (emphasis added). 86. 'Turkey's Occupational Insurance Law', Foreign Service Dispatch No.302, 23 Oct. 1945, Unrestricted, DOSCDF, 867.5051/10–2345. 87. 'Labor Conditions in Turkish Industrial Centers', Department's Airgram A–267, 21 April 1951, Restricted, DOSCDF, 882.06/5–2151. 88. 'State factories and mines alike have therefore had to resort to the provision of a number of costly social services and payments in kind, such as food, clothing, housing, medical care and recreational facilities.' International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Economy of Turkey, p.118; Thornburg et al., Turkey: An Economic Appraisal, p.128; Rivkin, Area Development, p.73. 89. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Economy of Turkey, p.119. 90. See the examples in Zaim, Istanbul Mensucat Sanayiinin Bünyesi ve Ücretletler, pp.312, 317. 91. Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.159. 92. S. Dingiloğlu, 'The Statist Industrialization and the Formation of Industrial Working Class in the Early Republic' (MA Thesis, Boğaziçi University, 2006), p.35. 93. Z. Toprak, Sümerbank (Istanbul: Gayrettepe, 1988); Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.158. 94. Webster, The Turkey of Atatürk. 95. Nacar, '"Our Lives Were Not as Valuable"', p.160. 96. E. Kahveci, 'The Miners of Zonguldak', in E. Kahveci, N. Sugur and T. Nichols (eds.), Work and Occupation in Modern Turkey (London: Mansell Publishing Company, 1996), p.186. 97. A. Makal, 'The Problem of the Labour Force, Social Policy, and State Economic Enterprises in the Turkish Industrialization Process, 1930s–1940s', Toplum ve Bilim, Vol.92 (2002), p.54. 98. Robinson, Turkish Steel, p.5. 99. Makal, 'The Problem of the Labour Force', p.54. 100. Ibid. 101. Gürboğa, 'Compulsory Mine Work', p.123. 102. Ibid., p.124. 103. 'Transmitting Annual Economic Review', Report No.131, 4 March 1946, Unrestricted, DOSCDF), 867.50/3–446; Makal, 'The Problem of the Labour Force', p.51. 104. 'Possibilities for Sale and Exploitation of American Manufactures and Services in the Turkish Bituminous Coal Industry', Enclosure 1 to Despatch No.101, 'Equipment for Turkey's Coal Mines', 20 July 1945, Confidential, DOSCDF, 867.6362/7–2045. 105. Ibid. 106. Z.Y. Hershlag, Turkey: An Economy in Transition (The Hague: Uitgeverij van Keulen N.V., 1958), p.296. 107. Parker and Smith, Modern Turkey, p.111. 108. US Department of Labour, Foreign Labour Information: Labour in Turkey (Washington, D.C.: Department of Labour, February 1959), p. 20. 109. See A. Le Génissel, L'Ouvier D'Industrie en Turquie (Lyon: Université de Lyon: 1947), pp.190–91; Y.N. Rozaliyev, Classes and the Class Struggle in Turkey (US Government Translation, 1966), pp.95, 96, and passim. 110. Zaim, Istanbul Mensucat Sanayiinin Bünyesi ve Ücretler, pp.261–2.
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