Socio-economic conditions of wage labor in İzmir while the Republic is being established

Although Turkish labor history literature had made significant progress, Izmir did not catch up with this development. This situation has limited our knowledge about the working class in this city, although it has a developed industrial sector with a vibrant harbor during the imperial and republican period. The aim of this study is to reveal the demographic and economic transformation of Izmir working class after the National Struggle. Newspapers which frequently used in labor history studies, constitute the main sources of the study. With the mutual analysis of Izmir, Istanbul and Ankara newspapers; the daily life of the working class, its organizations and working conditions were tried to be revealed. By examining various personal record files and the only existing registry book of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Archive; important information was obtained about the current duties of the employees at that time and the sectors they worked before. As a result of the analysis, it was found that significant demographic transformations were occurred in the labor force of Izmir between 1922-1923. The impact of migration during and after the National Struggle on wage labor in Izmir was also revealed in this study. It has been observed that the workers who are generally assumed not to be class conscious, had participated in political and economic decision making processes, tried to secure their rights through various means and established new organizations for this purpose.