Skip to Store Area:

Shopping Cart
0 items added

Mehring Books

You're currently on:

Industrial Inferno: The Story of the Thai Toy Factory Fire

Industrial Inferno: The Story of the Thai Toy Factory Fire

Zoom In
By Peter Symonds
 
 
PrintPrint EmailEmail Add to wishlist

Short Description

This is an extraordinary account of the worst factory fire in history - the 1993 blaze at the Kader Industrial Toy Company outside Bangkok, Thailand. One hundred and eighty-eight people - 174 women and 14 men - perished in the fire. Kader workers earned less than $1 an hour making toys for such corporate giants as Toys 'R Us, Hasbro and Tyco. Those who died were trapped in a building with no fire extinguishers or alarms and no fire escape; management had locked the exits.

Be the first to review this product

Availability: In stock.

$14.95
Add Items to Cart Add to Cart


This is an extraordinary account of the worst factory fire in history - the 1993 blaze at the Kader Industrial Toy Company outside Bangkok, Thailand. One hundred and eighty-eight people - 174 women and 14 men - perished in the fire. Kader workers earned less than $1 an hour making toys for such corporate giants as Toys 'R Us, Hasbro and Tyco. Those who died were trapped in a building with no fire extinguishers or alarms and no fire escape; management had locked the exits.

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City in 1911, which killed 146 workers employed in a garment sweatshop, provoked national and international outrage. The disaster at Kader went virtually unreported in the international and US media. Industrial Inferno, which includes dozens of pictures by photographer Richard Phillips, links the Kader tragedy to some of the crucial issues confronting contemporary society.

Illustrated, Photos by R. Phillips.

See also

Author Peter Symonds
Publisher Mehring Books
Publication Date 1997
Pages 90
Publication Type Pamphlet
ISBN 978-0-929087-79-5
ChapterPage
Introduction ii
The worst industrial fire in history 1
Cheap labour in Thailand 15
Silence from the Thai union leaders 31
Thailand and the world economy 43
World production and the international working class 57
Appendix I: Chinese toy factory fire kills 81 69
Appendix II: What is CP? 73
Appendix III: The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire 77

Peter Symonds is a leading staff writer for the World Socialist Web Site and a member of its International Editorial Board. He has written extensively on Middle Eastern and Asian politics, contributing articles on developments in a wide range of countries including Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Burma, among others. He has also written on the history of science, in particular the development of modern physics.