Records of the Indian Workers Association (GB)

Organisational records of the Indian Workers Association and papers relating to several local branches, including some organisational records of the Birmingham branch of the Association. The bulk of these records date from the 1960s and 1970s, but there are some publications and campaign material that date from the 1980s and one or two items dating from the 1990s. Papers of the national organisation consist of minutes; reports and conference papers; financial records; press statements; circulars; correspondence; campaign material; publications; press cuttings; writings and photographs.

Although the other records provide a valuable, though incomplete, resource to study the organisation, administration, and functions of the Indian Workers Association, it is the correspondence and campaign files, described at MS 2141/A/4, that in some ways can be considered to form the core of the collection. They are a rich source for the study of political and social attitudes towards black and Asian migrants to Britain, and particularly the Birmingham area during this period in the context of the activities of a radical Asian campaigning group providing organised opposition to all forms of racism and racist laws, and to the oppression of working people, particularly in the West Midlands region, but also nationally and internationally. Taken together with the press cuttings, described at MS 2141/A/7, they give an indication of the wide-ranging nature of campaigns in which not only the Indian Workers Association, but other black, Asian and 'progressive' white led groups played an active role during the 1960s and 1970s.

Campaign material dating from the 1980s and 1990s can be found in the papers of Avtar Jouhl and the Indian Workers Association and is described at MS 2142/A/1/4 and MS 2142/A/1/7