34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST in the process, alignment and realignment of individual leaders in various groups became a regular practice. Thus, while we find the working class desparately struggling to dsfend and extend its rights and for this purpose trying to organise itself as a class through trade unions, we also find each group of leaders, while extending conditional support to these efforts, simultaneously fighting with other groups to establish or retain its hold on the workers' unions. This factional fight among leaders has been a regular feature in the entire history of the Indian working class movements ever since the beginning of trade union organisations. It was in this background that the labour journals under discussion were born. The earliest of these journals, Karmi, was the official organ of the 'Employees Association', one of the earliest white-collar labour organisations of Bengal, having 6000 members on its roll at the time of the journal's publication. Its editorial board consisted of K Choudhury, M L C (better known as K C Roy Choudhury), Nagendranath Banerjee, Girindra Chandra Roy and Kshitish Chandra Mazumdar. All of them were leading members of the above organisation. However, its most important and influential leader, Mukunda Lal Sarkar, though not a member of the editorial board, was the chief guiding spirit behind both the organisation and the journal. Incidentally, Sarkar was one of the pioneers of the trade union movement in Bengal. It would be interesting to note that Karmi was published simultaneously in Bengali and English, the first issue of the English edition appearing in August 1921. The Editorial Outlook The journal was published at a time when the working class movement in Bengal had reached a peak, throwing up widespread demands for the formation of trade unions. Labour movements apart, this was also the period when the Non-cooperation Movement led by Gandhi was poised for a final victory or defeat. The question whether labour movements in the country should be integrated with the current anti-imperialist freedom movement, and if so, in what form, was being hotly discussed by the leaders of the freedom movement. Naturally, the editorial note of the first issue, after reviewing the country's political situation, indicated the role the journal was expected to play and accordingly formulated guidelines to be followed by its editorial board. Its first task—the editorial reminds readers—is to propagate ceaselessly harmony between tradition and change, so that society and social relations, religion and morality etc. are not affected or swept away by the stormy wind blowing over the entire country. The editorial is also alarmed at the growing conflicts between labour and capital, which in its view can never restore peace and harmony in the society and which, unless correct steps are taken to