Coming of Age : 1976 and the Road to Anti-Racism

My Political Journey to
Grunwick and Beyond
Dr Gautam Appa
Today’s young progressive activists are not the sole bearers of the fight against racism
and for a radical alternative, even though they are the beacons of hope for the future.
I am 73 years old. I have been active since I was 14. Originally from India, I have been
a Londoner since 1963. I regard myself a socialist and feminist political activist fighting for
workers’ rights and against racism, Islamophobia and misogyny in this country. I am also involved
in the fight against communalism and castism in India and for poor people’s, such as
tribal people’s, rights. Furthermore, with my equally political Irish wife, a lifelong fighter for
Irish women’s right to choose, I am engaged in supporting Irish women who come to London
for an abortion denied them in both Irish states.
The Grunwick strike was an important milestone in my political career. When the strike
began in August 1976 I was the president of the Central London branch of the Indian Workers’
Association (GB) - IWA (GB). Together with my IWA colleagues I worked closely with the
strike leader Mrs Jayaben Desai. We realised from the start that the dispute at Grunwick had
three important elements - gender, race and class - a fight by largely female Asian workers
to be treated respectfully as women, paid a living wage and to belong to a trade union.
What follows is an account of my political journey to Grunwick and beyond – practical
experiences from involvement in various struggles and ideological quests ranging from revolutionary
paths to single issue campaigns. Of necessity there are several threads: early days
in India before I came to study at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1963; formative
experiences in the student revolts at LSE from 1966 to 1969; a brief sojourn to India with
dreams of revolutionary change; my involvement with the IWA (GB) led by anti-revisionist,
pro-Chinese Indian communists supporting the Maoist Communist Party of India known as
CPI (ML); Grunwick days and ultimately, post Grunwick, work on single issue campaigns with
many organisations in India and here. Now at 73, with reduced mobility, I continue to do researching
and writing to pursue the same political aims.
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