Labour History
The history is not about the past; it is about understanding the present and shaping the future. What do the past struggles of labour movements, with all their tensions and contradictions, teach us today?
- FREE
- 4 h 54 min
- Englisch
- Interdisziplinär, Politikwissenschaften, Sozial- und Gesellschaftswissenschaften
- mit Zertifikat Upgrade-Option
What is the course about?
An online course on the history of the labour movements across the word to deepen our understanding of the challenges of our times as well as sharpen our analysis, visions and strategies for the future.
By analysing historical examples of labour's responses to questions of democracy, dictatorships, authoritarianism, migration, capitalist crises and others, its achievements, but also tensions and contradictions, the online course creates spaces for critical debates about the role of labour movements today.
Check our trailer here.
Key concepts
organising, democracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship, anti-colonialism, migration, social movements, capitalist crisis.
Course structure
The course has four content chapters. Starting from 15 October 2024, a new content chapter will be posted each week. After becoming fully accessible, the course will remain open for studying the course materials at your own pace.
Chapter 1: Introduction to the course
Chapter 2: Why Does Labour Organise?: A Historical Perspective
Chapter 3: Labour Movements' Struggle for Democracy: Achievements and Tensions
Chapter 4: Labour and the Migration Question: What Does History Teach Us?
Chapter 5: Labour Movements and Other Social Movements: Collaborations and Tensions
Course materials and workload
This course has 4 content chapters. The chapter contains a series of units; each unit is composed of one video lecture, two quiz questions, one exercise, one key reading as well as additional readings. All the course materials, including video scripts, can be downloaded and used offline. Zoom workshops with the course experts are recorded and added to the course content for those interested in going deeper into the issues discussed in each video lecture.
The estimated workload for each chapter is 10 hours.
Course certificates
Certificates are available for purchase from iversity.
If you meet the course requirements, you can obtain a scholarship from the Global Labour University. For details on the requirements, read carefully the information in Chapter 1, Unit 2.
Localised workshops
The Global Labour University Online Academy will also organise a series of blended interventions through its network of 140 local local trainers and online tutors in 45 countries, namely:
Austria, Bangladesh, Argentina, Belgium, Benin, Brazi, Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Chile, Cambodia, Colombia, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Vietnam, Germany, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Liberia, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Serbia, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Let us know if you want to join a localised workshop by sending an email to online@global-labour-university.org detailing your country, city and organisation. For more details, check Chapter 1 of our online course.
What will you learn?
Upon completing this online course, the course participants will be able to:
- understand the variety of labour responses to key questions facing workers in the past and explain the main reasons behind those responses;
- identify and discuss tensions and contradictions in labour strategies, which have shaped the trajectory of specific struggles and beyond;
- draw connections as well as similarities and differences among the different case studies analysed in the online course and ongoing struggles in their particular context;
- apply the arguments and learnings from the case studies onto the questions facing the labour movement today and argue on the merits of alternative strategies from those currently pursued.
What is the target audience?
workers, trade unionists, labour and other activists, labour researchers and practitioners, NGOs, students, media and others.
What prior knowledge is required?
This is a multi-disciplinary course drawing on the fields of social, political and economic sciences. It is at the level of a Masters’ programme, but the concepts are explained in an accessible language and illustrated through examples. Therefore, it is also possible to participate in the course using the skills and knowledge acquired. The course requires a working level of English.
