Learning from China: The National Union of Mineworkers and the South Wales Miners’ Federation Visits to Chinese Coal Mines in the 1950S.

Mark Crowley, University of Utah

In the early 1950s, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the South Wales Miners’ Federation established connections with the Chinese trade union movement representing coalminers. Emerging from civil war, China sought to rebuild its economy and industrial base after years of conflict. Because coal was central to industrial recovery and broader economic development, Chinese officials looked abroad for models of mining management and labor organization. The success and expertise of the British coal industry attracted Chinese interest and led to two invitations for British delegations to visit Chinese coalfields. Chinese officials hoped these visits would provide guidance for improving the organization and efficiency of their mining industry. While the visits facilitated exchanges between British and Chinese miners, the delegations concluded that Britain could also learn from China, particularly in the organization of collieries, labor mobilization, and practices aimed at improving productivity and workers’ welfare. These encounters challenge the assumption that models of industrial modernization flowed only from West to East, instead revealing a reciprocal process of knowledge transfer in industrial organization and labor institutions between different economic systems. This paper examines the ideas shared and lessons drawn from the two visits to China by the NUM and the South Wales Miners’ Federation. It argues that, prior to the Cultural Revolution, these exchanges strengthened connections between Chinese and British miners while fostering debates in Britain about labor organization, productivity, and the economic management of the coal industry. In doing so, the paper contributes to debates about “multiple modernities,” demonstrating how different societies pursued distinct yet interconnected paths toward industrial modernization in the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on previously unexplored archival material from the South Wales Miners Library and the Modern Records Centre, the paper examines how these encounters fostered mutual learning in mining management, labor relations, and coal industry organization.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 149. Development and Labor