International Workers’ Day

Thursday, 30 April 2026 | 6:30 - 8:30 PM | Auditorium A-11, Academic Block, LUMS

To mark International Workers’ Day, the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature organized a special session dedicated to the literary and poetic histories of labour. The discussion foregrounded literature not merely as an aesthetic form, but as a vital archive of labour: a space where histories of hardship are preserved and transmitted across generations. The session focused particularly on two significant literary interventions: Abid Hussain Abid’s poetry collection Rāt ke Ḥisār Mein and Manzoor Niazi’s poetry, especially as discussed through the book Jāñ Phullāñ Tāñ Lāl, edited by Muhammad Nasir. The conversation examined how both poets engage with questions of labour, social injustice, class consciousness, and revolutionary expression, while also differing in tone, register, and poetic method. It was moderated by Sasha Sofia Javed, a journalist, researcher, and activist whose work focuses on human rights, labour, and gender justice in South Asia.

Abid Hussain Abid, poet and progressive intellectual associated with the Progressive Writers’ Association, opened the discussion by reflecting on the literary traditions of the Subcontinent and the historical significance of progressive writing. He emphasized that the Progressive Writers’ Movement played a crucial role in transforming the literary subject. It brought the laborer of the field, the mill, the factory, and the street into the center of literary imagination.

Abid discussed how progressive intellectuals gave voice to what may be called the “wretched of the earth,” locating literature within the larger struggle against exploitation and inequality. He referred to major literary figures such as Sahir Ludhianvi and Saadat Hasan Manto, highlighting how their writings challenged dominant social conventions. In this context, he also raised an important question about the very definition of “classic” or “high” literature. He argued that traditional ideas of adab-e-aliya have often privileged themes such as romantic longing, the indifference of the beloved, distance, separation, and elite emotional sensibilities, while neglecting the lived realities of laboring people.

For Abid, the question of labour in literature is inseparable from the question of power. He stressed that the struggle against hegemonic and capitalist structures must be fought on multiple fronts, including cultural and literary fronts. He also critically reflected on institutional and official forms of criticism that, in his view, often celebrate norms and values aligned with dominant classes while ignoring or marginalizing the experiences of workers.

Muhammad Nasir, Lecturer at Government Graduate College, Chunian, and PhD scholar in Pakistan Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, spoke in detail about the poetry of Manzoor Niazi. Nasir’s research focuses on the history of bonded labour in Pakistan and the struggles of bonded labour communities for freedom and rights. Drawing on this background, he situated Niazi’s poetry within the social and political history of labour movements, especially the struggles of Bhatta mazdoor and other marginalized working communities.

Nasir highlighted that Manzoor Niazi’s poetry is deeply marked by revolutionary spirit and by an engagement with the lives of village laborers and working-class communities. Unlike more refined literary registers associated with poets such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Niazi’s diction remains closer to everyday speech and to the lived idiom of workers. This gives his poetry a distinctive force: it speaks not only about

laborers but also from within the linguistic and emotional world of laboring classes. His poetry, therefore, can be read as a form of workers’ literary expression, one that records both suffering and resistance.

An important dimension of Nasir’s presentation was his discussion of religion and theism in Manzoor Niazi’s poetry. He noted that Niazi does engage with religious themes and questions of belief, but his approach is complex. Niazi questions theism without simply blaming it. This nuance allows his poetry to engage with the spiritual and ethical dimensions of workers’ lives while remaining critical of structures that justify injustice or suffering.

By bringing together literary criticism, political history, and poetic reflection, the session reaffirmed the importance of reading labour not only as an economic category but also as a cultural and literary presence. It also underscored the continuing relevance of progressive and labour-oriented literary traditions in a time when questions of inequality, exploitation, and social justice remain urgently present.