Formation of an industrial labour force in Kenya: participation of state and capital in training labour for metal manufacturing industries

Abstract

The paper discusses the first stage of a research project which addresses itself to the perspectives for metal manufacturing in Kenya. It relates the issue to mechanisms of industrialization in developing countries, referring to theories of internationalization of capital on the one hand and to theories of establishment of 'attraction moments' for industrial capital in peripheral societies, on the other. The role of the state in industrialization is emphasised, and the paper relates to an ongoing debate about the role of the national bourgeoisie and the Kenyan State for expanded capitalist production.

The availability and creation of skilled labour is seen as a vital condition particularly for expansion of metal manufacturing. The study will analyse how state and capital supplement each other in training labour in metal manufacturing trades.

It will investigate how training may contribute to segmentation and competition in the industrial labour market. From the point of view of the individual worker it will be asked in the second stage of the study, how work and training experiences influence his/her level of reproduction.