The trade union movement was led by All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) founded in 1920. Lala Lajpat Rai was its first president and Dewan Chaman Lal its general secretary. Tilak was also one of the moving spirits. In 1923, the first May Day was celebrated in India in Madras. Although the organization was originally formed to give Indian representation at the League of Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO), it also met an increasing need for such a body for the rapidly expanding labor movement in India. There had been an increasing number of protests and organized lobbying in the late 1800s. This was during British rule and was a reaction against many of the conditions imposed at that time. In the wake of the upheaval caused by World War One, working people all over the world be can to view their situations with new eyes. There was a huge amount of activity and protest involving working class people during these early years of the twentieth century.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.