ABSTRACT

State Economic Enterprises (SEEs), the first large-scale industrial enterprises of Republican Turkey, have a critical role in understanding the formation of the working class in Turkey. SEEs, in which the modern sense of working-class formation took place in Turkey, have been influential on the formation of class consciousness, not only because of quantitative factors, but also by ensuring that workers come together collectively. İzmit Paper and Cardboard Factory (SEKA) was one of the first State Economic Enterprises established by Sümerbank within the scope of the economic development goals that started in the 1930s. In this respect, it is an crucial example in terms of understanding how political, legal, and economic processes affected the dynamics of working-class formation in a public enterprise in early Republican Turkey. The study deals with the union organizing process, union experiences and industrial relations in SEKA between 1946 and 1960, based on primary sources, and examines the experience of collective labour relations shaped in a period without right to strike and collective bargaining.