Minding the gap between militancy and radicalism the case of Topkapı porters

Abstract

This study scrutinizes the history of Topkapı porters for the sources of their class militancy and political anti-radicalism. Topkapı transport storages complex was the biggest hub of domestic land transportation in Turkey until the rise of cargo firms in the 1990s and still commands a considerable market share. The complex mostly consists of small-sized firms and had socialist union leaderships since the initial unionization in 1979. Hence their history provides a rare example of a long-lasting relationship between radical leaders and workers in small businesses which employ a significant majority of the Anatolian working class. This thesis will argue that not only the discourses and actions of socialist unionists, but also the kinship and co-local networks and the porters’ masculinities formed through these networks were crucially influential in the formation of their militancy and the success of their struggles. On the other hand, these workers remained immune to socialist politics for decades and usually voted for center-right parties. Furthermore they punished their once-glorified union leader’s increasingly active participation into party politics by transferring to another union en masse. I will claim that the relations of production they enter present a significant factor for their inclination towards interclass cooperation. The influence of other factors like their increased social mobility thanks to the unionization and the failure of both left-wing political projects and the working class upsurge in the early 1990s will be taken into consideration.