Asian industrial competition, from Japan, China but also India, attracted greater public attention in Europe during the inter-war period than ever before. Indian industrial employment became the subject not only of extensive official enquiries, intensified legislation, a growing number of academic studies and of more popular writings, but also of debates within and between European trade unions.

Ravi Ahuja, University of Göttingen; Marcel van der Linden, IISHH Amsterdam; Anna Sailer, University of Göttingen.