THE STRIKES OF WORKERS OF REGIE COMPANY’S CIBALI TOBACCO FACTORY (1883-1925)

It is possible to encounter strikes in every period of paid employment. In order to balance the worker– employer relations, workers have always used strikes from past to present. Together with the industrialization movements in the 19th century in the Ottoman economy, it is seen that the strikes also increased. The strikes of the workers of tobacco sector that particularly occurred with the industrialization in the sector, have a crucial effect on the history of Ottoman labor. In response to the aggravated working conditions, wages and working hours offered to the workers by the Regie Company that monopolize the tobacco sector, the workers have resisted for better working conditions by going on strikes from time to time. The strikes of the workers of the Cibali Tobacco Factory which is the ？stanbul plant of the Company have been reactional and the grounds of the strikes have been not only economic but also social. The “working-class consciousness” of the Cibali Reji workers during the strikes draws attention. This consciousness has improved with the strikes and although the idea of socialism has gained wide currency among Ottoman workers, by watching the developments and by taken precautions the government hindered the idea to disperse in ？stanbul