India's Working Class Strikes Back

In a sign of the times for India's rising working class, dissatisfied workers are resorting to violence, and sometimes murder, to protest their managers and company executives. India has averaged more than 8 percent growth over the past half decade, leading to a burgeoning middle class, as well as a large class of workers who haven't reaped the benefits of prosperity. While the economy has grown, it has also contracted, causing manufacturers to make cutbacks. This year strikes are up 48 percent from 2008, and some dissent has turned violent. Across the country, there have been incidences of a chief executive beaten to death, a human-resources boss bludgeoned to death, and female factory workers dousing themselves in kerosene.