Political liberalization and the rise of Taiwanese labour radicalism

The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it analyzes those factors which worked together in prompting the KMT government to loosen its tight control over political participation. Secondly, it illustrates how the hasty 1984 LSL legislation which the government initially hoped would win over the labour rank and file became the determinant factor in post-1980 Taiwanese labour radicalism, facilitating numerous LSL-related employer-employee confrontations.