“In view of these challenges both organisations have decided to reunite and work for the fulfilment of the aims and objectives for which the IWA was formed.”
Lalker, 1990:1-2
The separation of IWA (Southall) and the national IWA (GB) in the later 1950s/early 1960s is perhaps the most marked and permanent split between IWA contingents, as noted in the story of the Dominion cinema. However also of great significance is the splitting into two of the national IWA(GB) at the national conference in Leicester in 1967. This split can be understood through several concerns, including level of support for the Naxalbari uprising in India, closeness to the CPI-M and debates about the importance of Black power within the wider working-class struggle. These differences led to the formation of two national IWA (GB)s – one led by Jagmohan Joshi and Avatar Jouhl (and based more firmly in the West Midlands) and the other led by Prem Singh (the organisation from whose material these archive stories are drawn) (Josephides, 1991). Despite working on many similar issues and in many related areas, the central structures of these organisations and their associated branches remained distinct until the late 1980s, and it is this story that these archives focus on – the repairing of relations between these two groups after 23 years of separation.
The formal separation of the two IWAs in 1967 was nuanced by the continuation of joint activities after the ‘split’. These included working together to organise Indian workers in a trade union context, organising a demonstration against the Prime Minister of the time Harold Wilson, supporting democratic rights during the State of Emergency in India and through the organisation of CARL (Campaign Against Racist Laws), which leaders of the two IWAs co-chaired. Whilst attending to many of the same concerns, the primary instigation for the thawing of relations was the increase in Sikh fundamentalism perceived by both the IWAs as a threat to democracy and the working-class struggle. Concerns over the formation of Khalistani separatist movements and Sikh fundamentalism challenged the existence of both IWAs, with both groups seeing reduced numbers of members and increasing struggles for influence amongst communities of Indian heritage. Holding a Unity Conference on 9th June 1990 the IWAs recognised the variety of challenges that existed for the organisations.