Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this article focuses on how public order and authority is produced in ‘middle Bangladesh’ by investigating the political emergence and political persona of a bus labour federation (BLF) leader in Rajshahi city. The BLF is an important source for ‘muscle’ and ‘money’ power and is commonly denoted as ‘labour mafia’. Its leaders, often referred to as mastan (gangster, enforcer) or neta (leader, career politician), hold considerable power, especially where buses are the most important mode of transport. Having the capacity to bring the city to a standstill makes leaders conspicuous actors in the political power structure across the country. I examine how such leaders manoeuvre in a political system referred to as a ‘party-state’. Unlike most other labour unions, the BLF is not an organisational wing of political parties or the state, but an ‘autonomous’ and rather capricious power base that is nonetheless inextricably linked with local politics, crime, and ‘the state’.

中文翻译：

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劳动力和老板：地方领导层的形成和“中间”孟加拉国的党国

基于长期的民族志田野调查，本文通过调查拉杰沙希市巴士劳工联合会 (BLF) 领导人的政治出现和政治角色，重点关注“孟加拉国中部”的公共秩序和权威是如何产生的。BLF 是“肌肉”和“金钱”权力的重要来源，通常被称为“劳工黑手党”。它的领导人，通常被称为mastan（歹徒，执法者）或neta（领导人，职业政治家），拥有相当大的权力，尤其是在公共汽车是最重要的交通工具的地方。有能力让这座城市陷入停顿，使得领导人成为全国政治权力结构中的显眼角色。我研究了这些领导人如何在被称为“党国”的政治体系中进行操作。与大多数其他工会不同，