This article examines the historical roots of trade union fragmentation in India through a micro-level study of Baroda’s labor movement from the late 1920s to the mid-1980s. It argues that the diminished capacity of Indian trade unions to resist neoliberal reforms post-1991 stems not only from external economic and policy shifts but from long-standing structural and ideological fissures within the labor movement itself. Using archival and interview data, the study traces how competing national federations—Gandhi an, Marxist, Socialist, and culturally nationalist—engaged in tactical rivalry and plant-level organizing, undermining sectoral solidarity and collective bargaining strength. Baroda’s case reflects broader national patterns of union pluralism, organizational rigidity, and ideological polarization.