160 . I •, CHAPTE:.R Ut C:PATTERm jf!§OB:tr: TtlE f"ORMATIV£ _YEARS fl91Hfl .In this. chapter, tha of working c1eea eetivity 1n the ' ' . . early has bean tram an analyaia of · U.zt)d we move on to discuss the basis end forms of collective ' ' I ' >• • • I protests between 1919-1929. The formation Qf,the Mazdur Sabha and ,ita relationship to the movooarrt has bean taken up ln the laat section. There ware no major generalizet:t strikes in· Kanpur before 1919. l n Novembar that year ( 1919), the workers were rep01:ted · to hava bsen :/ "eeize4tf by 8 "etdke fever ... 1 Nealy 2'!t9-.00 of Kanpur re- \ / maJ.ned on strike for eight daya 2 • "no emall matter for eurprlse",' fOI' the hitherto cotton capitalists of •the city, However, tha element of eurpr1ae hee qulte clearly bean exaggerated in tho cap1 tallst version of event a. The AriDUal Report of ,the Ue,eer InS! a ChaJ!!bet gf Cornmerqe makes no mention ot any previous trouble. In tact, by portraying the wrkara as being "constant" • ''abundant" and "willing" 1 u,t ,c 1 Cu, Beqort• 1'919, P• (U.).. 2 H,P,o., f"11e 189/1920; see also P.£ataq, e.12.1919; Lgf!ldgr, 4.12.1919. u .. J,c,c .. Raportt 1919• ,;p. (ii), Click to buy NOW! P D F - X C h a n g e w w w . t r a c k e r - s o f t w a r e . c o m Click to buy NOW! P D F - X C h a n g e w w w . t r a c k e r - s o f t w a r e . c o m
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TtlE fORMATIV£ YEARS fl91Hfl - Shodhgangashodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/13872/... · maJ.ned on strike for eight daya2 • "no emall matter for eurprlse",' fOI' the hitherto
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often >.""")was expressed through a withdratJal t•am a particular mtllJ / J . J
a shift to another mill, 01 e fU.ght to the u1llega.1'
. . , l~t the tactoriy• the Camnpore workor• like the UJOrkers in India
genor..Uy; had " Nputat$.an tor doing b~ U.ttle ao ,.,etble'4
.,.. \~ of being "4-ncapable of conti,nuous work •. *' ' A. V1i tnese. from the Caumpore
Cott~n Mills complained: · !'Very tn ot them /i;orker:i/ 110rk the whole
ttma'the engine J.a running; about 10 per cent of our hands may be
seen any Ume of' day bathing1 washing garments., smoking or otherwiea . . . . . . . '16 .
loitering about the mUl compound•*' Another mitnes& ttom the same ,. '
mill t ~ .... dUring the lcng hour days t.t<ta men were slacker ...... It
·the" Qparat1ves tmeur they had to 'work long hours thay adapted themael,ves . . 1 .
accordingly,. end ,went out more.•~ 3•8• $Underland of .the North West
Tannery stressedt •rhe operative will dO ae muCh mork aa he thinks tlt,
and. ~ateuer hours your factory !Un~ yoU will not get more work out . ' . . 18
of htm -than he i,s wtlltn~ to do." The wrker preteJ>red " ... • to\\'
spin: h~e task to his own t1me • ."19
"'·
14
/ . . tnstanees at a ahtf't f'rtm one mill to another or a return to tha
. village oecur~ed even later; bUt by the 19201 8t etdkee and v other forms of eolleetive action had become a normal mode of' eXP~tassing p-rotest.
On dest'Jartion as a mode of protest aae Charles Van Onselen, \,... '"tUorker Consciousness .irt Black Ainera," R. Cohen and Gutkind (ed.). PftpMQte anst ~ro&e~,riano, PP• 1~4;-119. . .
tv.·, H.o., Allan· of Messrs Cooper }'alan and eo •• Cavmpore, !•f.L,Cu Vol. n, t9oe, P• 186. · · ·
t5 £v •• MUir Mills, 1Q!dt., p. 204.
16 £v.1 Cawnpore Cotton Mills, _j.b1gu P• 19?.
17 E.v•.t francis Horsman or Cawnpore Cotton fUlls, ibidu P• 200.
Such inatancaa of ·•tndi~c1pline", end •easY" work habits were en
obviously exaggerated b~ the lnduetrialieta aafexcu~e tor running the
machines tor longer hOl.irs.; One Sri tiah official d.te~proved .of these ' .
arguments, pointing out that. tllhUa the .uo~ers !?au~~ occaaionally
~hi~ UJOrkt, they could take veey Uttl~ rest while ~~ rnactd.nea were
runn1ng.20 Halc1ng allowancea tor some axaggerationt howaver, tm,
~ . "' ' • ' . I '
evidence cited above cannot be' diamiaaad as a me&"e· conjuration of t11a • o1 't I 1,
cap1ta11at mind.- Taking' into aceount the ci1mat1c coiuUUona and the ' ~ ; ~ .
'erdUoua wcirldng hours in the tectory1 some ,ttloitertng" and "ldlingtt
waa to be expacted. 21 This argument was inverted in 'the capitalist \ · . . . . . ~ ~ ... . . . , . . I logt~. ror them, long ~urs ware ·neeeaeary because of the caeual mo~ ..-
habits ot. the ttAaJ,ats.c" 1 , Ulherea~ tor ~h~ worker, "ldiing" waa e neca~ aery rell~f tram hie toll• 22 Some fifty .,Pinnere a.nd UJOaveta ·Gt tha ·
' Muir end Caurnpore Cotton Mille if! their evidence to the I .r .L.c •. corroborate our hypotheseei "At present, especially tn tha hot weathar,
f ' - 0 . • • .. .. ~ •
21
22
$.,Ht Fraemantle, "Report. on Supply of Labour••••" u.P. Rev., Ptogo., B, Aay 1906t Nos. 90-95, P• 94. . .
ln,tact, an official commanted1 •The operatives take every opportunity of ahirking wozkt because tht»Y ara 'physically incapable ot working steadily for the$e long houra.~.· ·s.w. Freemantle, tv_., .J,f,LiCu Vol. 11, 1908., P• 219, Thompson, while discussing the ntrregulertt habits of workers in the early atagea
. of industrtaliaaUon, l'aisa& a similat point,. · .He refers t'or instance, to attf.tudes llke that ,ot the laboUrer on tho Catileroon plantatl.onat 11Hout could a man work like that, day artor day without .baing abeent'l Would ha not dlettt • a labourer queried., · £.P. \ Thompaon, ·"Timet J:Jork .oiseipline end Industrial Capitalism", . tl/" flinn and srnout ad., E;,QftV' in Social History (Oxford 1974}. P• 65,
"Short hours have always r~ed simply because. howevet short the hours, the Asiatic .will take .proportionately similar inter-vals ot idleneea and rest as he would it they marc long,,,a £v., f1uLr Hille,· l ,r ,L,,C4t Vol, II, 1908, P• 204. This ts e fundamental pr~oe underlying.the 1ndustr1a11ats argument. Objections to
me have to go out of the mill frequently to get rest as the hours
are so long, but 1 f the hours ware shorter e~a UJOUld loiter about
loss.u"2' Thirty .weaver~ and twenty.five piecers,. residing at l)
Chotumle's building, similarly, found the long hours "try1ng.n24 It ' '
the hours were reduced, they ·argued I ·"We· ·UIOUld work ·harder end eal.'l1 ... :' · .• , ' ' . 2$' ' . ,,
·!, • the same as we dO now•". · · Long hours thus seem to have implied a .. '
. slackening'~, work, this being the 'only m'eans by which the unarganized ·, 1 ·!, :' .;, ;-'
, ,worker caul£$ 'exert a modicum ot corttrol over his .t,UOtk t1Gth "We can-
not aak · for shatter hours," they lemented, "as we ca11not combine• end ·•. I'. '. ' . ; . ..,. .• :\ ' . • • ' . ~ ' 26:
anyone puttf.ng him~elf forward would ·be dismissed." . If. a. t:10rker
' .
·~ld .'~':capo the. 1ii8tchr~l ·aye .of ·a suparviocr, ~ short raat, or al
. smatco. would perhaps ~ ~~.only resplt~ for • h1~ .• hie O\ltn way ot 1-. .. . '. . • 27' .. . e)tpreseing his distaste tor tho drudgery of work,.
I .. I' " . ' ;
,cont'd•· r.n. 22 the· ugument about tho "ingrained" habits ot the ·•rADJ.atic' have been raised in en earlier chapter• Hot~~svar;. any argument · Ulhich
· ·' · tends to ~eJect· ell· evidence. of. the lack of. ·"d1acip1.1ne" or tht worker end projects the 1110r1<er ae "committed" to hie tUOl'k is a
· ·unhistorical ·as tha view (cited above) ·which talks ·.ot.·hie in- · herent lack ot a work ethic•· ""~~ .. ~ ·
2? SUch pri'mi tive torma or protest waro very charecter1·stic or the slaves in the plantations . of 1;he American South. Genovese ahowa how the s~avee attempted to dsfina the limits of:their subordi- \' nation• Their actions, he emphasized, could not be Judged against the commonly accepted notions ot iuhat constituted ttpo11tical" .. action. The.alaves devised their own peculiar modes of resistance. f'ormeof"day to day" reaistance to slavery. included"~••• stealing, lying, dissembling, ehirking,.murder infanticide, euicidet arson ... They would shirk WOrk by feigning illness or else would slow down the. pace ot work and set norms or work pace which they considered
. . ' More active arid "aggressive•. forme of protest we~e not c01tlple:-
tely unfamiliar to the wofkere prior to 1919. Aa · rer back as 1892!t ·
there .we$ a reference to· "mild J.nstancee or wage dispUtes",. in the . ~ ~ . ..
Woollen Millet on 'the int~octuctlon' of ·tevised scalae· of pay, 28 .· Agaln ~ . . ·' ; • • I , • • ~ . • . ~ . ' -
.. ' ' in 1908, tn'wetrial:tet complained that "···· Ulh~ the worklllan finds ' '
,, . ..
hie fiJagee are lese then what he· ie ecc\tetomed' to receive· there is· ' ' I > ,· ' '• " • .-. •
::fevo1t.ett29
_: The wotkars. ~ad no f~rmal 'organizaUon. b.ringing togathe~" wo·rkers or different mills· prior to 1919, but embryonic forme or
. .
"eombi.riation" were pnsent even in 1908. f'reaman'tle felt 'that workers,
. • •• • understood 8 etgk&J bUt as yet th$y had no' otganization,'* and . .
he doubted, "Whether they reaUaed their own poUJar.~tiJO Upto the pre-
wet period it wee' reporte(J that~ n .... there was' no' organization, mill
by mtllt over a large etea •. Jt mlght $0metlmes happen that one or
two men had the poUISr to call out the .mole staff', and they occeeionally '
demanded eri increase in the rates of pay. Thls, however, was enly in
J.nd1viCIUal m111s1 end there was no organization·-~~ ct:msidar questions
attectlng their general 1ntereets1 euch as the restriction of hours.•'1
reasonable, Rp11 :loJdaD RoUt_ The World the Slayet f18dg (Nem York 19?4), PP• 59Sy 621i sea also Renaj1t Des Gupta, "Material Conditione and Behavioural Aepects of the Calcutta Working Class\/ 191S.1899,• Oceae1mal Paper, No. 22t Centr$ tor Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (mlmeo). ·
28 u.t,c.c, &mart, 19921 P• 91. '1petty StrUcea" in some mills, had been reported ln 1889 es well •. Ibid., 1889, P• 15.
~ - .. ~'
29 l Evn Muir Hille, J•E•L,cu Vol. J.l, 1908., P• 204.
Bombay workere.JB The only mase protest in their history was the J/ frenzied, emotional outburst against the implementation or the plague
regulations in 1900. A "mob" of around u;oo people armed with .lathis
end hatchets •es reported to·have attacked the pla~ae cempt forcibly
J'
' .. ~ . '
closing shops; spreading into·the·city'• "stampeding the carts from
t (· ' ~ ' ' • ! •• • ~ ( ~
. 40 shut,. end "general alarm "was reported among "all classes. • A large
number.- of mill workers· mere among the "l'iotera." · In tact, the Chamara
and butchers ttom the tanneriee end leathar·ractories uno ware knOtUn
tar their "turbulent diapoe1tion" and the millhanda umo ware bel.ievad J ~ . ' .
to be "aaai.ly excited" were or special concern to the plague cQntrol 41 .author! ties•
· I I The gtrike IYWlf! · qt 1912 Is .~ba beginnings of orgaoJ.zed collectiyJ act& on
Protests by workers had thus, not been absent in the aat'lisl"
period, but the form and d1mena1ona assumed by the strike in 1919 na
J8 . See· to!- instance, A,J. Ch1chero:v, "Tilak' 1 Tri81 end the Bombay Political Strike of 1908• and other articles in Rataner and Goldber!;) ed., Tilak. and the Stru99).e tgr 1n41an rragdgm (NOUJ Delbl 1966).
}9 Resolution, G.A.o .• , dated 15.5 .. 19001 Home Public Progs• (c.o.r.), A, June 19001 No. 29Gi eae also u.P. c.A.o., File 486 C/1900, Sox 105 (u.~.S .. A•)". For details on riots eae Ch. v.
40 Teleg. dat!Jd 16•4•19001 Homa Public ~raga. (G.o_.t.), A, luna 19001 No. 29).
41 Resolution, G.A.o.,, d4tad 1!i.S~1900, Home Public Proge. (G.o.t.), A, June 1900, No. 298 .•
econonlic ·plight 1n a situation· aitler~ tha &)r()sJ:;Gt-tiy 'of the mille e~ae I , . . . . . . .· . . .. . . . r . obvlaus; (11) an assertion ,, their salt . respect :88 a t"sactlon to the
I
i ' •. ' . ~
•arb:ttrar;• torma ot dtsctpllna itnposact upon th&m!:': · :1 ' '
$harply aft~ 1911.!1 urlt.h a l'elaxation of war controls. on: prices. ' ' ~ f .
46 For' detailed fi.gures aae thapte~ t,. '.,
· 47 · · · In a etatertlent published in Lead§ the t!IOrker$ .rater to the . tttruge prot! te" thich the mills had made during the "'ar• ~~ 14.12.1919 •. SitnUat statement& are made in Prgtaa (Kanpu!lt brought out by individuals, many ot ~om hed close links 'With the wo~ere movement.. In .an ed1 torid atticle in etptap1 G.s •
. VJ.dyarth1 aat<e \Uhsthe~ any sincere efforts had been made to . improve the cond1t1ona· of. factory .UJorkore1 in a eituation 11han themllls had made considerable profits and a.\1 their top ott1-c18ls had 'enjoyed the fruita or th1.a prosparity ... 1.12.1919.
. . . . ' ' .. ' . '
A clarifica~ion by the Go\ternrnent of India state~. categoric~ly, that the Govsr~t could " .. • by no means adml t •• • that the Ju•icj..£9 bq eaicl fps..pursha$es :Wbich mu;t b9 mgde tgr par .eareosesa gecespadJy lg mopt cases hurries&¥-• · jat a time ,of unppce:: dan}ed Qf&J.pgal noceasltY. ie tq be . t'e9f.Jlated eolelY . bY j;be CODfl• de£at1on at Qt!Qtg Drevaillng &oce11v and $!!ROtarllY through .!!lm!!.:tmal' mat·ke$ e,gn!O@.,tiongn•. The rulos as they 'etaridt; provide for the payment of a price allowing a normal rate.ot_·prof'it to
Cloth prices shot up in 1919. The profits of textile CQncerns in
Kenpur rosa despite the high supply price of raw cotton in thls per1od.49 ·
The markers expected a share in these expanded profits~ Ouring the
11181' they had been told about the primacy of war naeda end about ths
tequirements of the AOofenae of lnd1a • .S0 Now, they demanded a remt.Jat
ner$t1on in the form of a · bonus out of the p~:ot! te the mills were
making. The mllloumare, . they argued, had more than doubled the prices .
of their output. Unctor these circumstances, the 1110rkera emphaaized,
thelr. exiatlng wages should be doubl·ed.91
Not only·mere their wages lout in l'elatlon to the increasing
profits ·or the m11lownera1 but the low rates militated against their
1deae of ."fa1rness0 and "justice.• Their conception or •tur• wages~ was baaed on tho prevalent bazaar rates ot wagos. "Outside the mille"
Cont'd~ •• r.n. 48 . merchants Vlho neva acquired tha goode in .a ·normal .manner. They are designed to preclude the payment. gt .
£_..; r:·mstot~ip!late· AAiCft&h as ere,U Q d8f'1n1tely ·to dater URP,dnc1pled persons from a form of speculation; out of the ordinary course ot busineast which is ~asect solely on the principle that the utmost edvantaga ehould be taken Ot the publ1p necessity fos- the purposes of private ga1n.8 (GJnphaala addadl Weekly Progress Report of thq .. JmU..an ~nlt1ons Board, No. 41, dated 22•2•1918, Com. a Ind. LlndJ, Filed, ·April 1918. Nos. 49-53. . ' . . .. \. ~
49 'rh~ ir:~~x of' pre!1 ts of the Muir Mille !'ooe ftom a base of 1oo in 19'1.0 to 6'D in 19191 the Cawnpore Cotton M~lls ps-of1te S.n- · creased ov~r the 1910 level by 500 per cent in 1919f those of the Nem Victoria Mills had mora than dciublGd the 1911 level·by 1918•19. ror details sec Chapter 14
so See tor instance fUe on~ "f'ramlng of' Rules undar ·the Oefensa of' . India ~. 1915 eo 8$ to prevent interference .with work necessa.tJ tor· the successful prosacution of' the wl!ll"•• Com·.· ·and Ind. IJnd.J • A_, July 1919t Nos•, ,1•9• ·
they argued, ttthe pgea of ~rkmon have almost doubled, tho unskilled
labour who used to get 4 ea. 011 5 as. a day now .gets Q as. 8 day,
whlle tha skilled workman, such aa 8 mason, e carpenter nom. gets on
an average from 9 and 10 ea. e dey to fte. ·1 and Rs. 1.,..4 as. a dey."
Taking into account "•,• the hard and long houtts of arol'k and othal'
. _ . J,nco11ven,lencas incidental to life in. the mJ.lls," they. emphasized that, ' ' ' ' I ' fl'"
11the wage$ eat'nad 1n tho m1.~1a, bo"'. by afd.lled and unskilled \VOrkman
' . 'do n~t- i,Omp~e. \tery fav~urably urittt the wag~e in the bazaar•••"'2 !. ~ ( ' • i . ·;- . . . ' J ' • ' • ' '
.· .. ·.·· .-.
. ' .. ..
Kanpur worke~st in. their genaral1zad prote~·t ot. November 19191 wera . . . . . ' ' . '
elsa axpraaeing .thail' disaatisf'aetion Wtth tighter labour d1ac1pl1na,
fiod.intenaiti~ation at the work process imposad on oolne sections tram
the. start of:. tho ~r. S:J The at't~t by the. ~J.llownars to tighten ' . . ' ' ' ' .
diaelpline and contJX)lt, COUld erl$\.tre product.lve . ef'f.1c1ency t t.o the
.. benefit .of th~· capl~al.lst; but, as w9 .shall tflseuss below, they could ,_ ....
also spal'k ott' e countar-procese •, an avaraton to ell authority and
dlscip11no. . . . . ...... , ....... 54
. The . hours of mark . umre. increased to 12 houra a day to meet ~ .. . . . . 55
the pressure ef .war workJ amne m1Us \!IOrke~.·euen ·longat. The ptac-
52. lbJ,d.
53 See also Chapter l and 11.
54 Letter datsd 1?.9.19191 from the Chamber to t. t.ow, President Munitions Board, u.1.c.c., Report, 1919, Append1)C x, P• 237~ . . . .
55 In some mills the eame workers continued working for tUJO ahifta, t,.a., aorking elmoat twenty•four hours ... Prat!f), 25.8.1919. · Otten . the workers 'were ·denied their not:mal holidays. f'or instance, the Coopper Allen Co,· ·V~Qrkers complained t "DUring the Whole period of ~ar, the factory haa not been·cloaed·even'on SUndays"• • Statement of the Coopper Allen F'.ectory UDrkers, in Lepde£, 14.12.1919.
t1ce ot lang hours had prevailed, earliel' tao (as discussed 1n the pre-- . . ' . ' : ~ . " .
ceding aectlon), but the gJ."eater pl'eseure or work now demanded a . . . .
closer euperviaJ.on OVOl' the tDOl'ker and a gl'oater intoletance for any
tom or alackneu. While esUar some amount of "J.d1.1ng" may ·have ; . .
. _· ·.·been acceptable•. now any form ot negligence was punished. The ruloa •' ' . ' • .·! '- 1' ' • '. •' •
'rog~Cung' th• .$.mpQdt.lon Of 'tines ~81'8 Cdnsida~od artiitral'y end in-• • , • : ' ' 1 ' ' , , ~ , • ' i 0 0
' • : ' ·: I ' o
· . eq~tta:blo ·by. tho wo~ers• floes, they complained "~ .. are impooad on l , , "' ' • ' · · ~. '~• , I · ~ ' (i. ':! ' ,_ ·;· •
· the aU.ghteet mista-kes. · lt a man spends more than 10· minutes in . . ' '
··,;
, ·.:ariswering the :c~l: or n.,ture ~he- ~a .~iried."56 In the 'Woollen MUls~l I ' • ' l ; ;, . • ', ' ;
(engqed in hectic production dUring the mo), a clerk stood at tho1
/ . .· . -. , . ~ . . I lavatol'y keap1ng count of tho minut.oe~ A delay .o.t a .~nglo. minut~
meant· a tint"J of one anna.57 On ono.occae1on, Vlhen some.w:rt:t~kora. of
this mill 121&ra rarueed permission to go out they wel'e torcad to urinate
.in one drain. f'er this *crime• they h~d to pay a tina am~nting to\maro than thraa-faurtha or their fo~tnightly w~s/8 Tho workers of
the New Victoria Mills voiced their desire for traedam trom-such
controls in Sapt.,;,ber 1919. Among ct.hor things, they. dsmandad adequate ... time tor eating, trn going to the lavatol'y, and the remov81 ot "unjust.")
tinea. 59
Oul'ing the utar, the mills had very stringent regulations tor
giving a bonus to maintain production. tA ttm1nimum output" or ttfull >
56
. ''51
58
59
Som~ complaJ.nta of the Kanpur Workers in Prpt§h 24.11.191'i!•
attendancea wae an eaeential qualification forraceiving a bonua. One
day•e ebeence, even with leave in some cases, moant f'orftd.ting the
·60. bonus.-·· -
· ~nat her mod$ or ·control whlch th9 -work&l'O resented uraa the · . t · • • ,
eystem of corporal Puniahn'ient •. , "ln the m111e"1 , the work1)rs complained ,
in an address to. Amie 8eea'nt1 •we ·ere· inhumanly beaten and ebuaed in
the d~iioot mayo alld, meet. obscenoo to~ ••• • 6' · To . t,., ·""'" . .,gar. s of' · \_,
J.ndUatries .t~e .. workers, ware not individtJals, bUftlantbeings- thGy ha~: . '
no name or .!dent! ty ~ it\ common form of aadress was "iJll.U' ka 'patha"'
. (.son or an DUJ1).~2 · Workers were phySically assaulted ... k!ckedt baatan
or lashed on vai-.lous Pl'etext. A correspondent for' 1 PJ:atpjt writes ,
' that, in aome mllls, "'leather thongo were used to lash .thti 'wef:kera.tt6~
Mother correspondent tor the same peper reported that the Managa:n~ of' •..
the Caumpore Cotton Mille uaec:t a etic;:k to redress the ,grievanceo of'
64 his urod<ere. ·
Under the threat of' fines and physical punishment, the worker . '
ottan had to aubmit to the. pressors Qf" woJ:'k; bUt not Hungt'udgingly.• ._ ·· . . . · . , 65 .. as the President of the Chamber of' Commerce reported.. There may not
60. · bO!FI"• 14~12.1919;· P,ra&Mt 1.12.1919 and 24.11.1919• ·
, 61 'lndependan't, 4.2.1920.
62. Paatae. 1.124191~. 6J .Ibid, •. 25.9.1919. ,
' '
64 P.ratag, cited in R,N,Pa, 22•11.1919.
6$ He noted that there was "••• not a single instance of anything epprooching insubordination 01' diocontant," u.,t,c,c,. Repo;t, 191?, P• x •.
treatment and thai~ resentment against the physical assaults referred r • ' '
to in the poem above1 was reflacted~n·their complaints against the . ' •inhuman" puniehmenta and the "indJ.gnitlestt to which they dre eub-
66
• t • • •
"We are but IUOrkere end cooll.e%And they - the respected Ma11ka/ They claim to· dispense justice But cruelty ls. the!~. torte/ehre.dity their craft/ Their insolence knows no bounda / 1ndifferenca no limite/ we toll end.grind all dey end night/ Whet rewarda do we receive? / What love do we gat / We demand something to oat·/ We get thl'aehinge .instead." Bhagvati Chal'an Verma. "Garib Mazdurtt,. Pratag. 26.1,1920 (tranel. C.J.). .
61 Ject.od. These complolnte 111ere al"tlculated at a genorali&ed laval
during the at~i~e of November 1919, but embr~ic torms ot such
protest have been noted e~Uer as 11811.
For eom& time preceding the outburst of 1919, the wo*are or
various mille Urged the .mtll authorities to incrfl8s& their tuagee.
· Otal retrresentat!.one were followed by mt1tten memoranda by workere 11
· s~a of the rn1lls. 68 . But t.h~se we~ unheeded. f'edup with thG indJ.f':
renee ot tho mill author1 tiea the Victoria Fl.t.ll workers had gone on 1
stl'ike on 2~d September:. 1919., 69 Th~ promise ot. a. mage .. 1ncro8ae in . . - . 70 .
the mill mas not kept.' One or turD patty ett~ee foUoUJed as a
result• The Camnpore ·Cotton lUll managers made prornieos to placate
their workers ~hen the workers or the U1ctor1a Mille struck, but the1 . . 11 . ' . . .
ramained untultUled toll• · The atmoaph~o aaa one or general miatrt
among millhends against all employers.
This !ndif'f'et"ence of the ml11 authorities to the plight ot the
~ke~$, helped to crysta111ze discontent. Complete loas of' f'aith 1r
the menegements't mU.l to do anything to redeem the e1 tuatlon providttc
61 LgpSftE• 14.12.1919.
6B Tha woollen Mill workers had sent a momorendtllll to the manage-. m.ent, · compla1ftlng against their low wat(es, the non-payment of bonus, the syetem·ot tinea, etc •. The only reply the menagament gave, was that they should walt t111 7th November • Protap, . 24.1t•1919. The Pluf.r end NeVJ. Victoria Mlll modcere, aim11arly, had complained against low wages 1n their 'mille • Pratag, 1.12.
69 Leader. 25.9.1919.
70 The amdl.llncreaee granted uta$ limtted to the waving departman Prat!P• 1J.10•1919.• •.
a unifying force• neulting in widespread aolldarity bet.wesn the
workers of several mills 1n the general strike at the close or the
year 1919.
The strike began in the Woollen Mille on 22nd November 1919,
.,d spl'aad .to other mills later. 12 Actual physical proximity between ' \1"
tho first four mille to be affect~ • the Woollen, ·tlgil), Muir and 1
Victoria fUllet as n shall disc~-. 11elpad in the rapid spread of the 7) . :
·strike ·message. The relative absence of axclusive mill colonies . . . ,. . ' . . . 7111
meant that workers or difta28nt mille often lived in the same l~cality •
. or ten, GQrkera ·earning fmn tha same. village, ~d :be 110rking in . . . . '
different mllla~ tiut· Uving near aa~h otbft. A sensa or ahead oppre~/ . . . . \
eion pravBlledJ a re~izeUon that the oppreeeor HS not 'this' or
'that' MalJk but all ftell~gr
The P81'1od of emergence Of ganet'alized, COllective. forme of
pmteat in the city, was also one of ~eat social and political fat- \,
mant in the l"Urel uaaa or the province. Economic diatreaa, togat"
with other fol'cea • the return of halt a million demobilized aoldlara
with a new amarenaea of tbeir plightt end the emergence of new
peaeant lead81'a • lad to a widesprud peqant. agitation between ~ 1920.21.75 The first eigne or protest could be aean in lata NQvember
?2 .,, '14
.,,
~aadg£1 14.12.1919; PII\IR• 1.12.1919.
See Section 111.
On housing provisions sea Cheptu 1 ~.
P.o. Reeves, -rhe Politics of Order1 " Journal of Aaian Studil'•\i~ Vol. XXV 1 ·~• 21 February 19661 P• 2621 sea also H.H. Siddiqi, \ "taiWAn UO£est in North Jnd1a - The Un1tad P£Pv1nsas. 1918-22
1919. In Paatapgarh diet~ict far inatence, barbara, washermen and
'76 scavengers organized a •nei dhabi band" ( e a trike in thaea urvicee).
While the factory wodcere ln the olty were rebelling against. their
oppressor • the miUOIII"tar • the beginnings of a ravel t against the . ' '77
embodiment of authority in the village • the Zamindg • waa aurfacing.
The work era amo had migrated ~am Y eizabad, from Rat B8tel1 or PertaP
garh, or those coming from Kenpur district itselr,78 who had themselvaa
experienced the eJCploitaUon bY.U'Sodarl• wore likely to be mouod by
the elamour1ngs ot peasants in their home districts.·· The trnergance of ' .:
.,
new forme of peaa~t protest l.n their native villages, lt may be \~'"
suggeetad, lent thair own at~gglea a certain lsgltimacy in their 011111
eyes, 8 certain eenee of reassurance to their own defiance of authority. . .
Tha nature of working claaa activity underment 8 change after
tho first cutburst of r~ovember 1919. rrom a mase collective aoUduity,
working cleae protest now retreated into more diaperoed forms, located
within the conflnee of lndlviduel mUle.
The number of etrikae and workers involved in each strike
dwindled after 1920, reaching its lomast ebb in 1930-31. The largest
16 S.lddlqi, oe.citu P• 111,
77 P;atap, 24.2.1919 refere to the establishment of a Klaan Sabha in Kanpur. A neting in this connection •• held en 21th February 1919. See also M.H, Sldd1q1, ag.clt,, Ch. III, for the growth at peasant activity in the period.
lnumber ~r atl'ikea 1118a focussed uound the period from November 1919
\to July 1920. Roughly 19 atrikea, involving a total of 461 J25
workers, occurred in these eight months. Of th1a total, 20,000 w.re
involved in a a1ngle etrlke in 1919. In the roUolling period ( 1921•
24), there •r• 16 atr1kes involving apptoxlmately 14,000 workera.
Subaequently, after a lull between 1925-1927 there mere·9 atr1kaa
betnan 1928-29, ittvolving over s,ooo workal'a• 79 While in 1919 the
number of mandaya involved was 1601000, the numbs!' declined ahal'ply
1~ th~ foUolli':'g period_f;ee App. JX.J• \!he d1m1nuUon in the number of str~es. ef!d number. of wcn:okera
involved, •• not accompanied in e1Jp lnat;ancea, by a daereaae ln the
lntenaity of strikes, in terma of their duration. The general strike
of 1919 waa only tor 9 daya. Jn 192J, the New Victoria Mill wozokera
suateinad a strike for nearly elx weaka.,,0 Some eo 110man workers of
the 9ru8harare rectory Hmalned on strike tor 11 daya in fllay 1921.81
~gain, the atay • ln strike of the Cawnpore Cotton M.S.U wrkera laated 82 .
about 20 daya. In the Elgin Mille, a atrika which atarted on May
"19 The figuree are beead on "atataunta ahoaring details or labour atl'ikaa which have taken place recently", H.P.o., Part a, Ylle 189/ April 19201 "Reports on Strikes in U.P,•, o.t,L,, L-877 ( U)/ fllay 19221 L-877(S)/19241 L-877(6)/192~, L-871( 14)/19)01 "Weekly Report. on the Labour Situation in India~, O,l.L., L• 918(2)/1929, L-918(24)/19}0f Certain minor gapa in thaae figurea have bean tilled on the baala of nporte in Piogaer, Leadar and the tv., O.P; Govt,, R,C,L,, ~t Vol. 111 1 Pert 1, 19J1, PP• 190.191,
80 PlPO!!It 11.4.1919, 19.4.1919.
81 Copy of Latta~ No. 2577, dated 10.6.1921, tram Collector Cewnpora to Director, lndUatriaa (u,e.), o,t,L,, L-877(11)/May 1922.
82 Data11a in lnduatrial Oiaputea in u.P., Ev •• u.e. Govt., B•C.L., Ev., Vol, 111, Pert 1, 19)1, PO• 190-191,
tactlca. ln the ~~~ Hilla tor inatance, in en incident repor:tad
in 19221 ttW waavara •... aat upon' a llietl'i and .thl'ashed ·him. n When . ,, ' '' ' '
the 11111 reopened en 15th March and the 8 ringlnders• wan excluded . .
team the mill pr•J. .. e, •a number ot •attar a rushed to ·the carding
and spinning department• and compallad them to atop work under threat
ot violence.• The manag•ent closed down the ra111, "in •iew ot the ' '' 81
cuccitenent." l:arUer, in SeptMbar 1919, the ~avua ot the Victoria
Mille W8ra reported to have r.mained •obstinate• evan attar the mill ' . . ,,, ~
reopened on JOt.h S8ptember, and other l!IOrkers had rejoinad IXlrk•
The spinneret lacked the •notoriety" of the navan or tha '' ' ' 89 '
atrong fighting tradi tiona ot thai• tngUah counterpat'te. Yet,
when they nra contl'ontad with iaeuae such •• maltreatment by their
EuroPean euparvisora, or the v1ct1m1zation ot their tallow workers,
they ware loud in their proteate. \~reover1 1n • situation When the
working clase •ov•ant maa fragmented end the ftucltl' Sabha generally
disapproved of atrlkee, SOMe aMOUnt at intimidation wae to be expectadJ
86 Sea Chapter 1.
87 Copy ot letteT dated 15.J.22t tram Secy. Muir Mills Co. to tha o.M. Cawnpore, enclosed by the D.M. in letter No. 2013 dated 1'5.3.22, to the 01rector lndustriea. U.P. In Novembar 1919 too, ura hear ot the weavere ot the Woollen Mille (the tiret to go on strike) "forcing~ end "intimidating• • other workers. Sea P10Q!!E1 29·12.1919.
88 Prgtap, 1J.10.19
89 Sea for inatance; w.A. Clegg• A.fox and A.F'. Tholapson, A H11t9ry of Brit11h T:£ade Unicmt J!inct· 2!§2 ·(Oxford 1964) ,pp. 26-26J J.
Otha auch inetanceeof intimidation and "violence" could ba
Qitad. During the Cawnpora Cotton "ill• etrike it ls reported, that ~ ,, ~
the •excited" crowd atuted "breaking the windows. of the carding 96 t-oom.• The workers, it 1e alleged, brought letMo and bamboo-
aticks into the compound, to uae aa •apona, and some UJere reported-
ly heard ahouting that they would aat fire to and damage the stocks
of cotton bafOI'B leaving the mill. . T_lie "mob" according to soma, •••
"swollen with loetera and bad chatacta~a from outside•" When the
police tried to disperae the •crowd", they ware ehouarad with a hatl
of stones and briekbata.97
Allowance· should, ot caurea, be made for exaggeration in the
official report. A familiar ploy at euch official enquiries waa
(and is) to put all the onus for the otfansiva on the workers, portray
ing the police action as an "unavoidable" and "defensive" meaaura.98
The non-official enquiry into the •riot• denied any •violence" on
the part ot the strikara,99 but considering tha mood of the crowd,
96 Official communique J.eauad by the Oiett. "agiatrata Kanpur regarding the disturbance, dated 6.4.1924, enclosure No. 1 in •cawnpora Cotton Mill Riots, Report of the Magiatarial Enquiry•, H.P.Oet fila 1'J/1924e Sse alao U.P.G.A.o., rile 218/1924, Box 4)2 (u.P.s.A.).
91 Report& of the D.M.'a findings in his Jud1c1al Enquiry into the Cotton Mill Riots, in •cawnpore Cotton Mill Riota, Report ••• •, H.P.o., file 1SJ/1924.
98 The "offensive" on the part of the workera waa aimilarly exaggerated in the Swadaahi Cotton Mill firing episode in December 1977. Tha brutality of police action in th1a case haa been exposed in the REprt QD Kmpu£ Kil!AJ:m (New Delhi 19?8), baaed an the invastigat1ona of a Citizens' Committee tor ~nquiry into the Kanpur Massacre. -
99 "Report of the Non-official Enquiry Committee regarding the ahooting of Millhanda of the C8WI1)ore Cotton 11illa• in H.P.o., file 1SJ(ll)/1924.
and their stubborn refusal to 110ve, aoma •vtolenttt action probably
did occur and not always u a defensive maaaura to raa1et the police
attack.
\W.i thin the ~pontaneoua100 .activity in this period, one can
discem rudiments of self-organization of t.ha markers and ayatemati
zed and planned modes of activity, llhathar peaceful or violent. The
general atdke of Novanber 1919, araa an instance of a apontaneoua ' . '
outbreak which remained •paaceful•a the strike of April 1924, in
contl'aat, was deacribed aa a "riot• by officialdom. In 1919, there
wee no institutionalized intra-tacto&-y body 111h1ch organized the strike.
The Elgin "ill markers formed a strike committee on their o.n initla-. ' . 101
tive and decided to form aimllar committees in other mille. The
efforts to form such organa of action wee helped by the fact that
aome of the important textile mills wera concentrated naar tha Gwal-. ,
toll 8l'aa, around which •n located the 110dcing clan mohallaa (like
Khalaai Unes, end Gwaltoli ft!OhN&a} 1 the K.M.s. office, the aabha
recreation grounds - the ekhara, the •MazdUr Bal Mandal", and other
100 By apontaniety we are referring to 8xPr&aa1ona of the selfactivity' of the working claaa aa distinct from organization and mobilization of workare from above. Such ectione era spontaneous in the·aanse discussed by Gramsoi 1 • ••• they are not the result ot .any achallatic educational actit<1ty on the part of an already conscious , leading ~p, but have bean tortaad thfQugh eveatyday experience illuminated by 'common sense•, i.e. the traditional popular conception of the world • what is un1mag1nat1vely called 'instinct', although it too Sa in fact a primitive and alamentuy hiatoric81 acquioltion.• Antonio Gramsci, Salaction• tram tba Prleon Notfbooka (New York 1973), P• 198-199.
t02 centres or working class activity. further, •• we mentioned
earlier, the communication ot idaaa wee facilitated, einca workers
ot different mille lived together. This, ho•ever, did not necae-
aarlly Rld together a atabla claaa unity. !!ohaUa life had a contra
dictory aapect. When workers ot different mills lived together' the V strike aaasage could spread and intr .. ractory organizations could be
f'ol'l!led mo'r• e~aily in timu of struggle. Yet, in the diff•rent
mg!]!}lg•• ·wrkara of' d1 t'ferent caate, community and regional back• ,,0, '
g~da tended to cluster together.\ ~hie could also sustain ties '..
ot religion and com!TIJnlty which tended to unrt theaelvas especially
in periods when the working class movement was weak~ Similarly, casta
clusterings within mill depart.ents, we referred to eatlier, could
help the organization of workers in periods or otruggla. The militancy
ot the work.ers of the weaving department was linked perhaps to the I / . .
predollinsca of t100 Major caste groupings • l<oria and lulahaa, lllhilit
in other there mea a greater diversity of castes. Community and
familial ties within them could have fostered aolidarity and unity in
action. But auch unity \liOUld tend to remain a departmental unity and
not a unity or all sections ot the \10rkere1 end •• 110 shall ••• later
102 In the GtualtoU. sea of Kenpur, around lllhich are located, the Elgin, the Victoria, the Muir and the Cewnpora Woollen Hilla, one cen ·perhaps see gUmpus of tha •nol'tha&at quadrent" of Paris, VJhere the haadquarteH, cafae, meeting halls and raai• dances ot labour ~111tanta mere concentrated • a concentration which •fac111tatad the .communication ot socialist ideas in time and apace.• Theee became the "geographical canters" of labour activlem in Paris. Sse Bernard H. Moss, The O£igina of the french Lgbour "oveeot 18J[)::1914 (California 1976), PP• 16-17. Obviouely, one is drawing no comparison betwaen the natura or 110rking clue activity in Perla and Kanpur.
(The workora carried flage of different huee/Tha red flag was still
unfemiliar./Ths Woollen Mill workars carried a flag of wool./Tha
Tannary workers hung a shoe atop a pole).105 {!he workers ~r soma other
mille used their own peculiar peasant symbols, familiar to many • the
' 104 See Chap. v. The significance of familial ties in forging work• place solidarity has been emphasized by Willi.m Reddy in the cesa of the linen factori_es in Arment1erea (francs). Thia was specially true of the waving branch in the Armantieree factories. In the spinning branch, he argues, the relative absence of femi• lial ties waa one of the rea.ona tor the lack of solidarity and tho failure of atrikea. "f"wly end F'actory 1 F'r81Jch Linen Weavers in Belle tpoque," Journgl gf §ocia1 History, Vol. 8, 1974-75, PP• 101-112. Such a direct relattonehip between the family ·and workplace solidarity however, would be more true in the context of a continuity between the domaatic manufacturing industry and the factory industry • a continuity which existed in the linen industry in 19th century F'rance. The significance ot community ties in workers* organization• before trade unions became dominant, is evident in Ravindar Kumar'• study of the Bombay Textile Strike of 1919. In the absence of e developed class consciousness and working class organization, he argues, the •extraordinary soliJiarity" dur~g the atrike waa largely due to the fact that they Lthe worker.l{ were linked to each other through a variety of institutions 1 through tiee of kinship, through allegiance to jobbers and through sheer physical proximity in which they lived and laboured in the city of Bombay. I.E.s.H.R., Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1971 1 P• 27.
quelled with several volleys of firing. 112 Even if we make allowances
fer the limitations of tho evidence insofar aa the •violent" resistance
of the workers waa concerned, the firmness and determination of the
workers to •otay•in", under the thre-at of police aetion, is itself
significant.
"Aggressive" and "riotous" forms of action, which we discussed
above, have also been a characteristic mode of expreeeio.n of 1110rking
class activity in the early atagas of the growth of the ~abour movement
in other countries. When the workers scattered over different mille
and industries mere still not a ~esive force, sabotage, intimidation, ·-
and violence were perheps the only means of peraly~ng .ark in the
factory. The luddite turr against the introduction of machinery in
industrializ~ng Britain, for instance, it has been apgued, was not just
112 The shooting, the non-official Committee argued, "was dona indiscriminately and absolutely at random irrespective of tho consequences. Even some of the peaceful citizens living at a distance ware hurt, and tho shots reached houses situated at a distance of more then ~0 yards••••" Most of the injuries, their evidence revealed, were above the waist. One man lost both hie eyes. The actual number of dead and wounded remained unestimatod. The Official Committee put the number of deaths sa 41 and injured ao 24. But as this Committee itself admitted, a large number of the Cotton Mill employees naturally concealed their injuries for fear that they would be arrested as "rioters•. The Official Committee mas satisfied with the "coolness and precision" with which the pollee carriod out their orders • See Reports of the Official and Non-Official Committee 1n H.P.o., rile 15) and 15) (U)/1924.
a bUnd opposition to mach1nea.11 ' lnataad, •• Hobabawm amphaaizea,
thia lllDda ot •collective bargaining by riot"wae quite clearly, •wall
adapted to thia atage ot industrial wartara.•114 SUch a ntathod, ha
suggaata, could eneute solidarity among badly paid workera1 lacking
strike tuhds, and tor whoa "blacklagg!ng• waa an acute problem during
a strike• ~an the UJOrking claa1 110a still a "crowc:rt and not an
•army• uaed to d1ac1pl1nad action, •demonatrattona, ahouting, cheering \
and cat calling, intiaidation and violence" wra the moat ettactiva
forma ot protest~ 1~ . A variety ot luddiem, known as "ta-chang"
("hitting at tr. tactodea•) pl:'availed in China. Thia cont~rued to
manitaet itself '" the labour at~ggles ot tha 1920a. 116 "Te-chang"
in China, 1 t has been notad by Cheaneanc, was zoaroly an expJaeeion or
a resentment against the competition ot modem industry, bUt it ••
11' Hobabawm dieUnguia.-..aa between t.o typaa ot "machine breeking", (1) the t1rat typa t.plied no special hostility to machinaa, but ••• a normal means ot putting pressure on •ployeraJ (2) the second bplied e hostility to new machines especially labour saving devicla, but th1e, .tth local and sectional exceptions, was ••ak in practice. See t.J. Hobabawm, •The Machine Breakers•, Paet and Pr•••nt. No, 1, r,b, 1952, pp, 59, 61. Rude elaborates the ••e point 1 "Tha croppers or the W1st Riding, and the handloa. weavers or Lancuhire and Cheshire llho attacked ata• looms at Stockport, "iddl&ton and Weathoughton in 18121 nre certainly ho1tile to nn machlnerY•••• But the PU.dlande' ludditea, ut)o not only launched the •overasnt bUt did the greateat damage to aachinea, fll~ no ztgcb Pt&•arv J.ottntion! they ore merely using attacks upon aachinsry as a maana ot coercing their employera to make concaesione in waoea and in other matters concerning their employment.. Gao:rga Rude, "Luddlaa"' in Ih• ems in Hlttpry - A
P D c a £ 1 7 8 New Vol'k 1964 , p, 80, See also, £,P. Thoapaon, Tba 11aking of
tdJt £ngJ.iah WO£king Clata, PP• 599, 601, 608.
114 Hobab~, "The 11ach1na Breakers•, Pest and P;•a•n$• I, p, 61; sse alao Rude, "Luddi•" in !he Crowd ln Hiatpry, p~ 91,
115 A, Rigola, Rina1do Rigola e 11 Mgv1Mento Opprf1o nal Biellesp (Bare 19)0), p, 19, cited in Hobsbawm, Pat~ and Pt•t!Dt• I, p, 61,
of an anti•foreign feeling. \In ~arica,.the silk weave~• of New
Janey broke looms in 1877, to prevent production during a strike.
The Paterson ~ilk weavers regularly left unfinished warps to spoil . . '
in looms to . "pun! eh" their employ or~.. Other forms of protest, in the . .
early stages of industrialization, included food riots against high
food prices and noisy straet demonstrations a:companied by horns, . . ~19
whistles and Irish "banshee• .calls._)· In Russia, eimllerly, new
workers wore mor• prone to •turbulent demonstration• than to diacip.
lined actit:?n io th" form or a .strike.· Tha out~rata or ths mstal
workere in Russia batnen 1912-14, •n related to the abaorptJ.on of
•ru country lads• in the 118tal 1nduetry.120
117 lJiidu P• )76. Chaaneaux argues that, u the working class acquired mora exper1enca and maturity, such inc1dente of •tachang" declined. Ch&ane.ux, . OFiacit•, PP• )40y ,6,
118 Ibid,, P• 128.
119 Herbert Gutman, "WOrk, Culture end Society in lnduatria11z1ng Amoriea, 1815-1919", Amar{cao Histqr1co1 Rayiewt Vol. 78, No. '• June 1979, PP• 5::S1...,87 • Direct attecka on property - the deliberate burning of mille .. d the destruction ot machinery also occurred in cal'tain parts, in nineteenth century America. See Gary Kulikt' "Pawtucket Village and tho Strike of 18241 The Ori• gins of Claaa Conflict in Rhoda leland• Atdica1 Hiatory RavitW• No, 17, Spring 19?8, PP• ,_~1. Michael F'eldbarlt "The Crowd in Philadelphia Historya A ComparitJ.va Perapactiva" in Amican
o C •• £ t o Ame i an L b Soc Histgry Weetport 1979 , pp, 71-90.
120 Madhavan K, Palat, "Aepecte or the Labour fitovemant in Russia 1 The Worker as Paaeant",(Mimeographad).
d[he available research on other industrial centres in India,
apart fl9m Kanpur• tends to indicate, that sudden outbursts of vio"J
lance occurred in the early stegea ot the labour movement in these --regions to~ In the Buckingham and Carnatic f'U.lle in Madras, the
young ring-framer,& would occasionally go on a rampage and attack 121 .
aenlor mill personnel. On occaeiona, when their newly established . . .
union mu unable to settle their grievances, the wotkere could resort
to direct action on the shop floor. In November \918' the meavers of
the Cernatlc Mills threw shuttles at an unpopular epinnlng master.
The UJGavers in the Buckingham f.lfills stoned the European Mill Manager . .
on 27th November 1918.122 In the Bembay general strike of 1919-20,
when the workers were still •unorganl%ed•, the Jacob Sassoon Mill
workers davleed their otllft rough methods of mob1Uzing t110rkmen f&>om
their mille. They marched to the nearby Gakuldaa Mills, and induced
the workers to Join by shouting end by throwing stones at them. They
proceeded in a similar way to other mills end by noon 20,000 morkera
had Joined thom (1st JanueJ"y).12' Th~ workers ot the Sowreah Cotton -. ..
f11lls in Calcutta let loose their fury on the man~ement, in November
1899, in protest against a cut in their ~ages. They attacked the
121 E:,o. Murphy, "Class and Community in India 1 The Madras Labour Union 1918-1921 .. , l&E,S:1HeR, Vol, XIV, No. J, P• 299e
122 Ibid,, P• J05e
12:S Morris, The {lngrgeng!, P• 180. Ravindar Kumar, in his article on the strike of 1919, hoiii8Ver, suggests that such •atone throwing" was rere. Re Kumar, tlfhe Bombay Textile Strike 1919"1 l.E,S,H,R,, Vole VIIl, No. 2, PP• 1•29•
"Every 11mb or the worker ia crushed with toil/ ••• ••• /they leave in the morning and grind till evenlng/aweat1ng their labour through the day/when they return in the evening, full ot tlutt from the mill/there ls not enough bread tor a bally full."
195
Theil' protest against this arduous lite, the rigoura ot long
houra and their inadequate wages, waa vented in outbursts ot raga
against their employers.
~ontaneoualy 'violent• and 'agg~eaeive• methode of atzugglo1
ttua, n~:a quite charactariat.lc in the. early stages or t~ working
class movement in many puta. F'rom this it UJOUld • m1~aading to
draw a naceseary llnka epontaniaty a indisciplined violenceJ trade ·' . . ' .
un1ona • diecipllned, peaceful action •. Spontaneous actions by the
taO:rkera can occur evan in 81 tuatlons where a developed trade union
structure has •ergad. Spontaneous activity ia not necesearlly mind
lese, inatlonal, immature, totally unplaMed and unorganized. F'ur
tharmore, "violent• forma or ectiot:ts can coexJ.et, and occur, oven
after the growth and development ot t:rada unionea especially in
aituatione where the 1110rkera loose faith in the capacity ot trade
uniona to euccaaatully bal"gain tor their demands and the capitallets I
refuse to concede the leg1Umacy of the_ wol'ke~ta 1 demands. The
dviolent" picketing used by the etr1kera ln 19,7, we diseuse later,
wuzoe roletcd to the .ineffectiv1ty of the aabhe and S.ta reluctance to • support strikes immediately after the installation of the Congress
government, togethar llith the extreme recalcitrance of the capltellet~
One can cite instances from a more recent period, IJhen .,rkere were
compelled to resort to direct action on the ahopfloora often described
eo "coorcivo" end n.tntioidotory" cction.129 This t:JDO rolatod to tho
complete inaffoctivlty of the usual cathode of procure • compromioe
and t~edo union negotiation end bargaining, either boccuoo of inter-,, '
ncl disseno1ono end moaknooo of unionc or beccuee of the uncompro
mioing attitude ,of tho capitoliot cleo and ctateo Co cum upa in t/ Kanpur0 in tho brJenties0 thno was eo yet no organization I:Jith d'tich
tho workero could identify. f.1any of the wrkoro o:tro fresh rocruito
, 1SO • , end ~at of tham umro still first generation oorkers. If ono 1110re
to ueo Hobobt:t:.t' e terminology, tho t10rkero wars at.ill a "cromd" end
not "an army used to disciplinod action.a131 eut, ono r.:ust not ovor
ctrotch the question of d.taciplino I 1ndisciplins0 violonce I nan-
violence. Such forme could coed.st and recur at difforent 'c:::::noo •.•
\Jhet strUcos ono ultimaj;ely is ths spontanioty of tho c~~n
thooo early yeato, though tho morkero' activities remained often•
cporodict locolized0 limited to particular dsportmonto end afton un-
euccoaoful. Such ections oecurrod in o later period ao mall, but
tho K.~.s. sao moro succcsoful in controlling them~
129 Since 19'75, in a o1tuot1on ~!:hero the unions had tailed to ascure tho· cor«oro' der.Jcnds, -Ahoyq oo o form of strugglo, bscaoo a regular codo through t!lhich tho t."Drkors of th:l SrJadeohi ~illo prooosd far thoir baolc damond - the i~ediato payment of their long otanding ~o orronro• In Host Bongol too, .qb,m~,n.oJ\ bococo cl.dooproad batt?eon 1969-71.
1 '0 Tho industry expended primarily after 1900, ospcciclly du:ring tho Var and poot.Yor yccrs. See Chapter lo
131 Hobobocm, "The f'lochina Breskero," J!ant. npd Pron~$0 l'Jae I, rob. 19S2, P• 61. Tho phraos ceo barro~od by Habsbc:::n from Rinaldo Rigolo, o trcdo union loader {coo note 11S).
Throughout the firat fft months of 1920 ho•ver, aporadic atrikaa
contiooed to recur, centred in mast casas, around the quutlon at
enforcement of the provialona tor wage 1ncraase.134 Canc .. slona WIJ.'e
secured by thG w:rkers in moat of these atrlkes.
~ conditions tor granting a bonus, during the war period, had
been very stringent. The grant could be w1 thdram on very tlimey
pretexts. In Nov•ber 1919, and repeatedly in the following years, . . . ~ .
the wo:rkara aseel'tad their dMIIld tor a bonus as their rightful
claim.1~ They regarded the zoia1ng pt'Ofite of the 11Ulownera u a
product of thair labour and therefDJ:e, daended a right to a share.
In one stat8llent, tor instance, BOJICt 11101'kers ugue that they shOt.tld
ba givCH1 •a 1UIIp ara in the form at bonus", out of the hJge profits
the mUle had made, "by the snat of their (wark~en' s) bl'OII•" The
Director lnctustr1as1 U.P., in a letter to Clow, SecratafYt Department
of Industries Md Labour, noted that the labourers, "look upon a
bonus more Ol' less aa deferred pay.•1J6 They aaserted their claim,
irraspoctive of the profits of tho individual concern in which they
1 J4 Such a trikes took place 1n the Elgin "ills, the a,o11an Hilla, the Cawnpare Cotten f11lls, the t~~p1re £ ngineering Co., ttw Cooper Allen Works, the Hamau and Sectdlery tectot'Y • H.P.D., Pert B, Yila 199/Apdl 1920. .
1JS In early 1920, tha workers of the Ca~mpore Cotton Mills struck work, demanding a botv.Ja. Tha Cooper Allen WOrkers demanded a borua, 1n the .-e year, and in 1921 the t10rkera ot this C011pany duandad a larger bonua. The bonus damand _. raised again by the woman wodcere in the Bruahure Factory in May 19211 in tha New Victoria Mills in April and Decame 192), and in the Elgin Hills in April 1928 - ••• Tabla '•'•
1:56 Letter, undatac:t, from v.N. Mehta, Director Inrl.lstriaa, U.P., to A.G. Claw, Secretary, Department of lnc1tstriea end Labour (G.o.t.), April 1921 1 Delel•t L-877(11)/May 1922.
ln ouch dortcndc0 mo can poocibly ooo o reflection of tho corkor•o
at~oronooo of hiasolf oo eomcono coro then tho ..ID."litt' n wlr:.]. cho could " . 144 . '
bo hounded in any rncnner41 Tho cosmor oaa aoncitivo to the
thraohing by ~oyoro0 co ~ch co to tho heat in tho factory. Ho
expected czodicol fccilitioo if ho c:ao injured dlilo tho sorvico oi'
tho ~ployoroo Ho continaod to colmbroto hie traditional roligiouo . .
footivalo end ho dc:::u::nd:Jd m111 hol!day'o to .olloo hie to do ooo In •
March 1924 quito cignificcntl.y0 tho dcmsnd for a hol1Ckay on Su~y
ooo tho control iocuo or o otriko· in· tho Baijnath Bal.mukund SUgar 14S · .,
rcctory.(Kcnpur)o Tho ootkor oao nov beginning to dofino hie righta
l!d. thin tho opproosivo structure in· rmich ho eorkod end livedo
· . (~ost ~ overctato the icplicDtiono of these early d~ands1 ~
cust nato that those dcmando vore not ele~ayo token up .1ndcpondontly
ao tho basis for cide$pl'eod collective actiono Such widosprood
collective cction occurred, ohon thoro won on intermootd.ng end cool-
acconco of these dc::l:lndo along o1 th tho core proos1ng dcocnd for amgrio)
144 An interooting truggosUon of such t:n c::Joronoso 1s oxprooocd in a strike of tho Oudh end Roh!lkhand Roil· ay corkohops 1n rob. 1921o Aport from tho quootion of 1ll•troatmont by .mWt-}..O.p th:> morkero protested against the unnoce$sary narro&ng ®t:rn of tho entrance to tho corkchcp. The oxlt ono by one in tho ovening0 thoy said, dolayod thoir departure to thoir homes ~ lottor dated J.J.19Z1 froa nchto to Clo~ (o.o.t.) 0 o.t.L.,l-G~7(1l)~ay 1922. Tho Victoria AUl oorkoro in their atdko of Sept. 1919 dccandod that they ohould bo gtvon ouff1c1cnt tico for eating end for going to tho lavatory, 1$..1\tro, 13~10.19 J .boo~ 25.9.1919.
145 In o ototeocnt of d~nds presented to tho factory monagerp tho tnlrttoro crotol a ar ~ f:toa cholooc rckh no ki mca1d nnhin ha1 to ~th~~ koo sob lo~ leo chooti Qilna chayoe. If ycu hcvo
I esuoo like tho victimlzotion of tJOrkors0 or maltrostmont by
m1.....n1E&.n. or by European oupsrviooro, provoked imm~u:ti,oto violent ro
tlCtiona e::nong tho corkero. Hhllo those cuero rslsad in 1921 md 1922,
as ~o ehsll oeo bolosb they boccoe the foci of strikes ln the letter
halt of tho 19201s (coo Table Jo1)o Tho 00go Com:::nd eppoaro to hcve
become euboid101'y to these 1scucn0 although it OO$ on occcsiono raised
in tho coureo of thoco otrikooo
ln rebruery 1921 0 nsarly 10000 oot'koro of tho \:JooUen MUlot out
ot the total ,,,oo employed, cftJt::lod th91r tools in protoot against tro
d1sl':l1socl of an employoo, cho cos cccuaod of "stirring up diacontont" ' ' 1~
c=ong tho eorkoro. A strlko for o similar ccuso occurred in the
Ceonporo ToxUloo0 !n l'-1arch 1929o 147 More than half tho tJOrkare of
the mill e~ont on etrlko ogainot tho d1c:Qisool of teo l:lOrkoro for
"unruly bohsviour.n Both thooo strikes core unouccossfulo In the
latter, tho management recruited cufficiont now hands to ro-otart cork,
while in the Woollen f·1illo moot ot tho hondo re-joined unconditionally.
But the strikes ~ain e1gnif1cont in eo tar as they suggest that, tho
work are ooro defending their right to protoot. A muted wi thdraool
from wo:t'k and tho very hooitant complaints ot the eorUer period core
now baing roplccsd by en oasortiue dofonso of thoir right to dioccnt.
Cont'd••• t.no 145
hopes ot mrk in the n!ll boing recumed, then all tho t:JOrkore should be givon a holiday on Sundayo) • £ncloood ·by tho Director Industries, U.P., in latter no. 5346/a - '22, 26.,.19240 to Sec., lnduotrioo end Labour ~GoDo1 .• ) 0 o.I.L., L-B77(6)/1924e
146 Lotter, undotod, tram t-lohto to tlo1:1, April 1921, D.i.L., l-877 (ll}/1922o .
147 ~oek1y Reports on labour, D.I.L., L-919(24)/1930.
In the Muir Mille, in March 1922, the workers reacted against
1.S the dl.-iaaal or one worker by a mietr!, They sought to enforce
"Juatica" in their awn peculiar fashion, The waavere .. t upon thO
Nayi end thrashed hill. When the maneg•ent tried to punish th1a
"audacity" by diaallawing the auepact warkara hom entering the mill,
the weavers atl'Uck .Ork, subseqUently COiftPalling the epinn1ng and
carding workua to atop as well, The strike lqtsd about six daye
attar lllhich the . workers had to nturn uncondi Uonally,
t~ one instance, the Elgin "111 workers (April 1928) came out
in defense ot the rights of temporary workers. Tha strike, which waa
initiated by apinnare, was sparked orr by • diemissal notice given to
aevan extra hands, retained ea aparea in the spinning department. The
strike achieved only partial aucc:eae. The •anagement agreed to
discuae the quasUon ot ~llliaeals, only on the condition that all
•violence" and •coercion• .. ra to be avoided. Eventually the strike
gave the ffanagaent, an opportunity to impose new tel'lla and conditions ' .
on the 1110rkere. The number of workers in the oplnning department. were
tec1sced, reeul Ung in a heavier work load tor those llho :reaainad;
piece ·wages 111era introduced to sustain the laval of productivttv.-,1•9
A communion of 1nteraata batwaen ditfazoant workara May explain
tha1zo solidarity in casea ot victimization ot a tallow worker. Suqh
148 Oeteila on the ~ir Mills strike reported by the Secy., ~11' Mille Co, to G,M, Choma Collector Cawnpora, enclosed in letter No. 2073, dated 15,3.19221 froa the Collector to the Director lnduatr1ea1 U.P., o.x.L., L-877(11)/1922.
149 Pi2£ll''• ,.5.19281 Ev., Wilkinson, Dr!ialu !!La.. Vol. III, Part II, 1929, P• 180.
material used in manufacture. The worker had, nonetheless, expanded
a great dial or time end energy 1n its manutecturl and the loss ot
a portion of hie precious wage on thia urea sean ea an •unjust" cleim. ·
(1Two eajor strikes or the period,,one in the Victoria Mille in
Dectlllber 192) and one in tha Elgin Mille 1n "ay 1928, •r• a protest
against ill•treatllllent by European officials in the mlllef In the
fol'lllar strike,' tha worketil decided· to· set up a eommittea r~ .mangst
the .. alvea to settle their grievances. 'They had finally to return
unconditionally without securing the dlseinsal of c.w. Taylor (a
£uropaan overaD&r), which had been their primary demand.157 ln the
Elgin Mills a compto~t1ae waa negotiated by the Mazdut S8bha, the
workers being promised a redressal ot their griavanceo. The accused, 158 a European overseer, caa however, acquitted.
The diemisaal of a work.r or a thrashing by • Europaan super
vieor provoked an !Mediate, •violent" outburst. But the solidarity
in such cases waa often liaited to the particular deportment concerned.
These issues did not become the fool tor more "organized" and genera-
lized atrugglaa, unlike wag-.. and bonus demands. At one 1.-vel,
extortion, co~ruption and maltreatment were a part of their daily '
existence in the factory. Only when theee precticee exceeded the
accepted 1111ita, did they beco11a a subject or protest. TM 1110rkere
demanded redreaa only on particular 1eeuee, but not •• yet, an and
157 Particulare ot the New Victoria Mllla strike, prepared by the Oiatt. Plagistrate and forwarded by .the Director lnci.Jstriea u.P. to Secy., lnct.Jatriea and Labour, Oeparttftent (G.o.t.), 1n letter No. C 770/• 222, dated 26.1.1924, O.I.L., L-877(6)/192 ••
207 t9 .uch p~ectlcea altogether. The etrugglea therefore remained limited.
@• totm ot protest, J. t may the~ato" be euggo:ated, ., related
to thtt nature ot ~entia ltaldd 1n the couree of a ett>J.ke. The preaa
lng dMand r~ bonua and wagea, provided a un1ty1ng ro~• tor a gene
ralized abuggle ln 1919. The WO!kere aenaged to ncura concasalona 1n
relation to both theu dlltenda 1 wepa and increased, bonUa .,.. prOfltisad,
and the hoUrs ot .Ork IIWC&d. In the later aU.lkalt certterJ.ng uaund
probl-. of victlld.zat.lon; aelttaamnt or wolke'la, extortJ.on by s•tcla,
ate., thl atrikae inevitably ~ localized and iealatad, ~re la~galy
•unaucceaeful• 1n the tlaadlate aenae. Thly ~ aignlttcant, however,
•• a phala ln the developtlent or the .orkera. conaciouanaaa or the1J
right• and expectations, and the ab.lvlnga to obtain thant.
Jb! "Hd99' SUb• and tbl wmexa f!ovwnt
Thl K.M.s. calla into ax.t.stance in a UtU.. #NAA.i J.n Gwaltol.l
Mgbella of Kanpu:r, in the naighboul'hood ot which WN located two
l•portant aUla. The -.act date or ita inception it not clearly
eatabliahed. 159 1 t epp!U'a that the aabha in ita inati tuUonaUzed
tos had not ••l'ged _ prio~ w t1w at~ika or NoVIIIbe~ 1 ~!J A corn ...
pondant tor frlhR• tor instance, wt1t1ng ln Septellbal 1919, refeteed
159 The u.P. Govt. 1n ita evidence to R.t.L ... ntiona that the Sebha we• etuted 1Q 1919. g,c1Lu 11.u Vol. 1111 Put 1, ,,,, P• 18?. The Director lnduat~1ea (u.P.) puts the date at 1920. o.o. dated 2 ••• 1921, ftom Mehta to ClOWt D.I,Let Vile L-917(11), 1922. A P&•!R ~epert ot 18.J.1920 elao mentione that e aazdoor aabha ••e etuted aaae aontha back•
to the lack of a atrong, organized labou~ union in Kanpur.160 Initial
attampta to organize workers, ho .. ver, ware made earlier in the year.
Certain workers took upon th•selvea the tuk of sp~:aading ecklcatlon
aaong other workers and eat up a library for tha purpoaa. Kemdatt,
a worker in the tlgin Mllle, wae in charge or thia library. 161 Tha
early afforte at organization .. r• prlaarily the result or the inl-. . 1~ .·
tiative or the wod<ara or the Elgin and New Victoria Mille. ~abha
antinga in thna days, ..era hial.d in a clandeatina manner. The
workara would aoaeUaa •••t in a boat on the Ganges, or alae they . would gather under' the guise ot a Jsatha (a HinclJ rallgioua gathering)'
or a !mloo!J (11u811a rellgioua gathering).16' )
•n lata Novf!fftber 1919, the workers or the ,tlgln Mille organized
a meeting at Shatronghat whara they took an oath • in the nama of
Gange • end decided to fora atrika coamitteea in other m111a.164
further dataila'on thaaa caa.itteea are not known. But attar tha
strike spread to other •llla, the workara organized a •eating at
Gwaltoli to which f\lrad Lal, Ganash Shankar Vidyuthi and other local
Congreaa laadera 8re invi ted.165 At thia qatlng the workers elected
160 PrltsR• 1.9.1919. A similar refaranca is made in August. ~ correspondMt ratarl'ing to the comlng ,International Labtlur Conf'erance (Washington) noted that unllka Madras than was no labour organization in Kanpur• Pratp, 25.8.1919 •.
ten repraaentati vea from •ongat thalselvea to meat the Ueutonant
Govel'nol' of the Province. Theae included, Ramcharan, Brajki_,en,
MohalM!ad Yakub, Lactwan Praaad1 Mohammad Shafi, RamJl Lal, Sheodal'ahan,
f1athura Praaad and Ghedi Lel. Al~g with thaae ..,rkera, Murari Lal,
Naraln Prasad Nigam, Abdul Karia, Wahid Yar Khan and G.s.~ \lidyarthi
166 '' •era choaan •• the no.,....,rker repraaentativee. While. workera like
K•datt, ~vi Qayal, R.-zan Ali and Chedi Lal figured prOMinently in
161 the early efforta to organize, the. sabha leadership in· the later
years puM(f into the handa of 'city notables' Uka f\arari Lal, Ganaah
Shanka Vidyerthi; Wah1d Yar Khan and others, who had helped the
atrikers' caun. 168
The organizational atructura of the aabha au developed aftel'
the strike of November 1919. The executive committee or the sabha
consisted of two repreaentativaa rroa each Mill. These raprasentativas
169 ware elected at a meeting or the wol'kera in thu aill concerned.
166 Dr .. t1urar1 l.a1 1 a •dlcal practitioner, 11189 the President or the local Congrsae Committee, a member or the Provincial and All India Local Congress Coasittsn and the Secretery or the Hindu Sabha. LpaltE• 1.7.1920. Naraln Praead Nigam was e lawyer in Civil Linea, Wahid Yar Khan a trader and Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, the editor of Prtt!Q• and actively aeeoc1ated with the Kiean Sebhe mova~~ent in the Province • R81Deah Mi&hra and K.K. Shar11a ad., S S P . d Aw H e J t A G (Kanpur 191' , P• 12. S011e or the id••• of the nationalist• involved in the K.M.s. are diecuaaed in chapter Vl.
16? In an adc:SJ.oese to Annie Beeant, the Sabha expressed ita spacial gratitude towcde Pt. K•datt (PreoidQnt) end Oevi Dayal (Secretary), who it eaid had eprung rrom thail' own ranke (workers) and had devoted th•seJ.VtS unsparingly to the CaJS8 Of labour • Indap!!Jdlfl\t 4.2.1920. Aleo, interview with Raghubir Pl'aead, 8.12.1977.
168 In 1919, these individuals VJ8l'a atill not identified with any workers organizsde They are •erely raterred as "eb•ber vaal•" (city people) who sympathieed with ths strikers.
176 expanses. The problem of ra1a1ng funds 110uld be CCIIIIDon to moat
unions in a backwud country IIIith a relatively retarded incllatrial
uctor and iU..paid 110rkera. However, other unions, for example the
railway uniona, appear to have bean J.n a more favourable position in 117 this respect.
Low income tended to restrict the activitiee of the Sebha and \
ita ability ~. aua~~~ atrik••• ~~h ita •alender•· raaourcaa,178 the
union. ~JJld npt a.aka any praviaiona ro, ~trikara ~~ng a hertal. ln
one in.tan~e, we find a reference to art~rta at ~b~liaing corn tor . . 119 .
strikers frOIJ the maha Jane of CollectorganJ • fllore commonly, the
strikers had to look tor altornaUva sources of income on their OUin•
This 1mpli.ad either an axodua to the vil.lega, or alternative occupa
tions like vending vegetables, rickshaw Pulling etc.180 Towards the
1?6 Annual Re~rt on the working of the Trade Union Act, O.l.L,, L-1524(1?)/1930, Appendix I.
177 The Bengal and North-Western Railway Men' e Assoc. (Gorekhpur) had en opening balance of R!. 11 403-1•9 in March 1929J end a cloaing balance of R9e 1,,~-6 in March 1930. Similarly, the Eastern lnd1a Railway Employees Union, had an opening balance of
at Rs. ,,8)2-14-0, and at88 left with ,. ,,,09-?-',1 the close or the yoar. Ibid, Givan the large number of workers, thia ianot surprising. Even ifa small proportion were union1%adt the tunda would be large.
1?8 Ev,, U,P~ Gout,, R.C,L,, Ev,, Vol. III, Part 1, 19,1, P• 186,
179 s.A,I.o., 26.1.1924.
180 During the Elgin Mille strike (June 1928) tor instance, nearly 1000 st~ikers drifted to their villages. Legdgr, 1J.6.1928, The situation remains the aama today, The worf<fts drift. back to their vlllagae or else take up odd joba in the city. Evan llhan they remain in the city their preoccupations with earning a living aometimee weakens the agi tat1ona1 strength of the str11cera.
SesideB ':bringing togetbet' UJotkerG of . different cammunJ.ties;. . i '
' . ,tbssG gath~tings were ·big testl~e Oi:CG~iona. ·ror tile· UJi?rket'; with his
. i \.
twndt'ufil t.ucistertc&'t cuch occasions were ~tare. They looked forward to
. 'them a.n!l ~Jc~ad .,,_.. A,.;tber "'"" f~sUv~ gathe~ing ~~~ the '"''"'~ .. \ . . day celebration of the ~.,.,,s. • the Jalsa• as .it was c~only knoturl. ~
• , • • . . , • r,l ' ' ~ · . · , • r
This ~as an occasli,on when the work$1'S ~Would see, and hear ape'ecttes by 1
lea~e1:$ thay had only haatd about. • ~~~~tis~-~ N.M. loahl· and othere. ' .
. Pe~haps, \he ln1t1al eeaociatJ.on between workf!ll'S of .dtffet:ent
mills and cQ,~f'f'erent commt.mittl!us could be ·better forged· tht'OUgh :such . . ' -
:informal; rect"eattve ect.Lvities, ;11Jitht'Jut any overt_attempt at politi•
Ci.iation and otganization • gather:ings at the SUnrJ:ay maale and the., . " . ~ .
. 3a1sa;. recreation.: and education at the akba£a and \he li.t:JJ:&rY•. we do lo • •
not know.·· ·' :wtu!ithG'r· such .. centres .wel;'S set up in all Bt"eaa. Cons1det'lng . .
. '
.that tha sabha ac·~iv1tiaa ware concenttated around Cwa1toU., 'it ls - < ~
Nota 1 (e) Localttlea with a population of over ?5 per cent Hindus have bean ldent.lfled es "HindU" areas because Hindlla constituted ove..: aa per cent. of tha total city popu1at1on1 end we1.'8 spread in almost every part of the city.
(b) loca11ttaa with a population of ova~ 50 per cent Muslims have bean .identified aa "Muslim* ataaa because Mus11me formed only 10.8 per cent of' the city population. Clearly, it is the concentration of Mualims in only c•rtein areas ot the city ·whiCh is of greate&" e1gn1ficancth
••-rtlon at eutnctr.lt1 bated on a Hlt.gloua PHJudica. th$ _,rtentng ,.
or euthor1ty in HlatJ.on to thOJe wi t.h whOm the ~m&.dl&• « tM gate
·keeper, had cultural and 11ngu1et1c bonde •• ld.adnQ tor othoH. Thia • 0 •
49 Anoth•r atmltd l.ttcldetntt ud.th fiUOb or•• COfteeqvancn •• the c;leeh bah1een' the Pethan "blectd.S." and the GJOfklll'a Oft the oU 1natallO:t!one ln Bombay In Ottc. t928. The. Woublo iPraad to otnet ·miU. and on,.., reb. 1929 the e.t.tueUon •• nptn'ted to have teken on • "deflnlteJ,y caAmUnal• turn. tn thf.a caee, tM Pet~, GP$;t t.om bllng atl'lke •br•aketa•"wer. a1eo idefttlf&ed et moneylende-rs. tlho advanced fiDftG)' to wcn:k•ta et uaurloua ~:et.a. The' ract that they btllongttd to a dltfal"mt ta1th tumact it into a oerterel c1eah betUJGon fUnctus ond ~ellm t10rkare.. SQ: H.P.o., Flle 10/tO X K.W./19J0t H•P.O., f' .R. f'l1G 11/t1929t 3en.(1),, 8t:'JmbayJ .. tt.ra.o._ r.R., ru.e t~?/2/t"929, reb. (1), 8o11bay. ·A tnoittf enaltala eee K.e. Krlahfta, tbf! P£2bl;j pt JlnorlM!t or ,Eamlnel Rsmun: !tUcm .lQ IDdll (Lr:mdon 19J9 t P• 268 •.
Tha workers were 1nuo1vad 1n the et~ack ageirnst t.hs local. .,,...._
~:1 tie& in Hay . t900, AugUst 191' end in thtll cammurtel Cleahes or March
19J1• Hfte • have triad to uru:teratend- hotl thasl actlona wen •xpna
e1ons of nlJ.g.ioua end ~tr taaUnoa . .a.n· the minds or tl'$ wl'ker•h•
lne~ancee ot patty d.l.tlputes :tetwen lVI:l~!'~ -.ovu OOIDil!Un8l taeuea •r•
fUIIeJ:OUe• Bu., · theeo- did not al•v• ,ac.._ genarai or attect the cJklng
~·• movement. ee a UlhOle. SUch lGGUSs could acquire a 1110ro generttl
t~•• onlr in po~loda ot upawlng• of ~~,m~, to~ inetance• 1n 19)t
o, in t9Jtt511 at the a-. t1M tatlecttng also the 1188knset,~ or th$
91 s,A.l•~>•• 15 •. 4.19J9.
&2 IntGrviCJW with ftagtubl••
S' In fob., 19)9, lebCUt "agitation• 1n Kenpur aea repor-ted to btt •preotlca11y non-W•tent• btlcause of •c-.nel• tenalona 1n tt. oJ.ty. The sltuetton continued to remain tEtn&& to1 .eome 110nths • conflict HCUr~.s. ln June 19J9; an •ttack on e flUb ZJaa pi'O!Mae.ton _ •tarted o. rt a rio. t; •• s.A.I._o.,. 2S.2.'t9J9, .. : 1S.4~~9l 22.4.19J9 u.4.t9J9, 19.6•''"' tt.P.o •• r.R., ru. 18/2/19». ,....,. l)• u,.p., M.P.o., r.R., ru.e 19/6/1939, ~. {U); u,.P •. The lnf'luMCa of radical. ~opoganda, the strength tttf.ch thtt working ct...- aowmant had ocqulrad !n the pse-t decad9, the mUltant and ulllted atwgglee of tho ~ocent peat (1971•38), would have had acme t'aethtnlng
. lnfluonce en mdcing clasa invo1vomnnt in the clote.
\110Zke~:e' movement end lntenelfying ita tegmenteUOtl• 1'hna OJCPf:aniona
ot community cons(lloueno•• have to llo tmdatotood '" t81t10 of the
cmeract•• ot ttw worklno cle•• and the atiUi.u 1ft fllhlch thly 11vtct and
wofked. A• we ehal.l eea1 ~~Uctt to~ of condiouaneaa patel•tad bOcauee
t1W be-'• or thaii: ••~• cont&ruett to be re~o•tt.
Rollg.t.oua aymtiO!e aytha Md lagend& f01"1Jad a part Dt the ~1d in
whlch the Wftk•l' llw•d• In the" .-ly days or the t1azctur. Setlha•· •n J.t
waa ot.Ul in ttw procu• of' being Ol'ga""-Udt the Sabha meet.lnge had e
rol.lgiou• eua-e e'bOUt than. Prord.nant eong the eat'lY olgMf.ze~a, ltal
en Aiye S~~taJI•t,. Pe.ftdlt KGida~tt an ex-wOl'ket in the E:lg!n Mille. He . . and other woltc•r• would eotlfiltira•s c.l1 1181ltlngs uncle the gut• or a
JJAl!JI or a !Jti!Vrt.'4 Thie •• otten necaquy r.ot NatOnV .of aeourltr. vi
but the choice of the fltull iteeir, the balD• end chentlng or V•daa
•• not tlf1th8ut al.gnltJ.canca. Geatune, 1J.ke the o~h J.n ·the nam1 of
the. Gang~~ to matntaln ~. Ml99"t e certain nverence end identity
with the reltglou• ld!Om. The hiD.D encs· the Vedic d.tuela ~~He pothape
to the RaJMAt · To a UJOt:ke:t tiho s.t.nce childnood litltenGd to l'at!te-. • i ) '
tlOna ot the f!fJ!UO tn ht.a v11lat0"t tho 1hythm IVOU!d etttike a fem$.Uar
~-· Sudarshan. Chak,, a Cat'ftn'Unis.t •. had aloo been· eQhooled .tn thio
trad1t1Mt and thle waa e term ehieh pamape came to hill quite naturally .• "·
A11ua1ona to Altllat Revana end Oth:tn' logendary figure$ t:Gcut• .N~ee of
wl'ken ee u•ed ft1Clteptio2:1celly, ~lle1ng cha.l'at:tera trotD the fii!t!ountt..
Q q H.-t(J{lH.- ilcl {lt ........ 0.......
~ ~et(l ~<~
(SIIttJ.ng s~t R6'!l on thea hattltt tleld against ftavana, the ornamy diapm:ud
and ron eey). 59
J
Jn othe PD•• too, e1m1~ ltlagaa are Usadt Tho defeat of' the c:epltd.iat v
1.• p~ojact.ct ee thf,J bUmlng Of Lanket ·
S7 Thie •• pubUehad in 196t but •• on tt had beQUtt -.U••• It aele w1th ·the •nUn h.S.etm:y ot the Caildun1at rnovemltl\ and ·the .poet.'• mcaol'loe ot Ka~ lthlch c~atG. back to th\f t.nttoa., What i.e. f!Jlgnit'teent ·J.e that et.ich a langt.Jage ·te being uatct at e time -.en the COiml.tniete _,.. a q:,9warf'o1r. ·. totce t.n the· soJ:kera• ttOV.-
. · man\ 1n Ko11)~• It te intRettlnQ to not• that enot.h•l' Comr.wti.•\ poet telklng ot the atgnl.f4.oimce ot GJ8t!'IID&o!; Kotl)a to ·tl'Kt· wdcl.ng clesa ~m»t•• •t can sey 81 \h Ml comtlc:tl.on that in futui"e aeuJ1st JS4tts• will be ee ~- to the heete or th. ti0$01'$ .. thlt Rl!!lftaY&na J.e toctay.n Cited in ·s.P. Tl'lpethlt Vllf)yt@Hi Sbri §M.di!I!)!Q Q!Mf11• P• 42.
H Coupleta and tout Unod ~
59 s. Chakr, CS1!!!1'!.!!11o' !Satb&b P• 2,2., Shr1 Ram •s a IIDI'ker, a K,K,s •. actlvlst and a membel' of tho Communist party.
A pOliO on a gonoJPa1 atrlka opane with en lnvocaUon to the goddeairl
S•aewat£.61 ~ft "ftaac*JJOR J<i au Hogl.f e Chakr t'ef8l11 to ·the \UOdcOra
u the tll!.tu•• or Vte ilfabJlbl£011 anct ·..a· an eneloQV htUJeen tM
wodcU''a atwggle ~ ·the· ba•tla ln the H.!bot!bMAMi 62 . tn another POIIi · . .
be npeatedly urgo' the UJOrk•• to e\IUggle ·· !QI'. eot:ieliam, ln OJiM to
real.be the uJ.Umate dealre of IJtQMD (God). 6'
ln tstt envls:onraen\ ...,.. tellgtous t•edJ.Uons etUl had a. etrong .
lnr.Wence. the pO~le:rJ.tv ot g.ogana Uke "Ba.Jrang Bell K1 lsi" end
**AJ,lahtwo'-Akbat" amongst· the lfOdcera 1n "'e tUJSnUea1 64
does not .ane
,.rv eMah~t•ttc. In ·tho m1UGU which extetfJfS, tho reUgtou.e reellngs.
or the IIJOl'kt:J#B aomettmas found expreasl,on even dU~tng mamsnta of
atNggl•• OUting the CaillftPOra Cotton M1Ue ets-i.ke of API"il t924t wtwm
the POlice •• '"ln9 to d.l.-" the Wfka1:1 hofl .mt.U purdeeat the
e1l1tanta l'Hl•ted, end mae cnactll appeal• to the ceUgioue nnUant• of
60 s. Crtalu;• *SOnJa LekQ Mata~, Spt;hhl Kav&tgtQ (~anpu" 1956), P• 1J. Thla po8ID •• written in the contolCt or a l&ttd. Ch&QG on tha Muir MUle UJOI,'kere, ln m•t. It 1.a algnirLeant that s~h J.daae and lltagery •ra used by tomaun'•'• inK~, wan t.n '1951.
61 s. ch•'• •a.ut> K1 A• Hand"• ad •ex#•gn. P~ 79~ 62 lbJ.d•t , •••
6) s. Chekl'• 0 Bbooke ha1 8hapan•, &p1du PP• 8-10•
anothev td tnoset bet•• tne tomml\t•• had no genGnl ·obJuUon to a
. common dln:S.ng shed• provided ·he. did no• =- into pt\,.teel eonteo' ld.th
eny ottst· Ufftk••8' S\lt ~oo, ot the Elgtn· M111t 1V91Qtad that
$1!1Pei'ate dining ohadtt anauld be prtWided fOf Hl,._.ee Jn the c~ • .,,,.,,. ______ _, ••. --- v
8J lnt•nl• tJlth Cdtl• &,_1.••• Note ttuat the pracuc1a \IQ eeml'ften enough to havO b&el1 manUonecl bv el'JGillW'Ilota like· SbJ'1$, many
/
qf .._ ~d to play .,_, the •detsnCfl ot ouch bollote:, ln tboltt . endelwou~ to ehOUI tho gto\Jth or .. cleat" conaciauanea•·• Si~lu obaonaUoM Wllft •ade by Pt<e Renyen, a clek in the S_.ah1 , MUle.
••ag~e. At. thG aama tlfn•• tt. """l'il mcpuienee ot thlt attl.ka • the
genal'al e11Clt,.a.nt; the dfJiiOftettaUon-. the maetf.nga1 ttut.· cloaer bond
of \ifd.ty between all ..-1cot• ckid.ng the pelod of etNggl.~ ·• aU thla
wo ~ ""'aln outaldll the ejCphliACt tJf thoae $to etayed auy cbrt.ng
tha period. The dtlf\ baok _..talftad the "pr••dlal• Uellt cuatoru,
ttadi\:lOAa end tteglanal 1SM8Q81•
· "Th.;l~ (oatual. pOol.) ·aiaa · 8nd neieda had al.wya bean ahol"t tart~. Thai.• pa1t ,..,., etem.U.ly to .hen __, tM _... • thli lnt.-nelo abuggle to get enough to Ntt ,,. pn. Oaa'loua h01fl ·UPOn a iJ18»Q1nal employment., the dnadfld ant$.• o~.p,.uon of hwd mnt.•l'a• t1cknoae end old atJ8t . thO· ttnal and inevitable aaeuq~Uon ln'o tfta. WOI'khott••· · Thle was not a hletc:n~y .t.n any CUl'llUlaUve OJ' purpoaS.v• ellJt'tM. It -. an tmdlGI!la and manotonaua ClYf.'1• of hudatllp llunct;u•ted Oftly by the ob1truy and occaalonal collectf.•ca· out'btftt1-t umen te.te ·hed .. ..,d to PM~Dl•• to aetue aeCQW\\e wlth the rlch and r••P•otable• if only fD• a ~v.•
"The evot pr~NJalft9 dflmartda rit th• etamacta, the Chfotli.c urteeriainiy or employra.-.t, the ~los.ty aN.ttf.ng nature ot the ~ J.a'boUl' llafkat1 the pitiful •ttuogl• of ~ wodce-.: · egelnst cJ'k•• et ,._ dDclc gate, the -.w.VQY ..,., or cttr•UtuUon. encJ -.a11y erbitray eascada ()f ch&Jtlt)f ~ovldad no focua to• _, la•Ung ~h of collectln lOYalty upon llhieh. e .tt.eble cle•• c:onscf,ouanea could h ~ (St•dlaan 3on••)~9'
That thoR 11U a etmU: ot eotm~~m1 ty efllOI10 _,$8ft belonging to a
end tho~\s to eaUtf? tiUftQel'. wte not.,~· to them. Their hat:red
and -.curneea egalnat the I'J.ch and the p~apeRUa could only be expHs--. • ' . ' . • ' ' • ' • ' ·• r
do .anythi.ng fol' • tew annea, 4htllft CUI'd••• Soma cauld tta hl~ by . ' ' I ~ • '
.pl*Of\1aalone1 otondaa to commlt. the mat fftJt1rJ~S:11 or ;•cr~a.• The
otmt1oee of . ..- \!~Qre l'(lguiaS".iy' aaPloyed by l!'i.val ctmll"-ttia dUring . . . . . . . . ... '.
MunieJ.pat •t~U~a and ecm•. ~re often engaged ~ bl-" loge. dul'lng
etl'ikae!OJPntnel.onal SII.IDdfl.am could axlet. and dov•lop •1th1n euch C~ t -- ~ . • ' ~
eocSaliD11J.-.~
. The d1v£cUng J.lne batwoen what Wh ebaractel'1eUcalJ.y labelled
ee •goondatt ecUvlty t:md tl\G llt• ot tho caaual pool' aae .. of«;en vuy thin. • ' j \ ~
Than wae• ae •. hewa eeen • cloaa etruqw•at .link batwun the two. ' ' ' ' ~ .
Though the 1n~alr1al wodten · ee e · elsa• did ftOt shea tho cmuat:t..,
r.l.eUce of the ,luapan PtJOrt aafty amoke•• had indi"i.tllal Unka 111\h the ' .
. $OM tten to"" \n go beck to a 1UJ~~Petl •xlatence. Shl-1tem. end Kellen
khan •n km\Vh ae ASAndU. before they jolnGd the Commun-ist. Pe•tv. 104
10J Mote by S.,P., Kenpu~f J.4 .. t9JQ. Comrd.nion of C•.llmta· by. GOOftdaa 1ft XeftPUtt UtP• Home Poltdt rUe 412/19J1t Sox 206 (U•P•StA•).• The P¢tllce SUperint•nrtent llede thesa oba•J:VeUons in tho COftteJt' ot the "l• enc:l Ol'dU• •lt\.fatlan J.n Kenpur and quito eharecta1'1et1caliy labelled thM at "bad charac~•end "lawless folk.•
'l04 lnterv1•••• A. An~a .nd CdO. Shril'eut• Arol"e leCOUnted ·en l.nt.GI'oet-1ng J.nci.c:tOnt 1alhen ''he ftarl'owl.y eaoepod betng J.ltpllcfted tn.a deOfllty cammitt8tfby Kallen Khan, et DeJ~apur (Kenput Olatt.). At:ol'e llha wea on td.a way back '""' Derapur• had to apend tho night at thll atauon · becatae he mle..S ttta t:run. Tho pollee tii.I8Pactod Aftttat '
acUvlti•• .and tot ~ thl" wao ~ HQUler .mode ar .eatnlng a 11vtng.110
lft 19J1 ·tho hlato,y atullite aaintalned t;y .the J(enpul' pollee had a l"CJCOl'd J . ·of 101 8 cfGngei"OU811 -II; who .... (ltd.efly tb8 leedal'a Of 11ganga.•111
~ ' • ·> . (
lhOI'e •to ve.'t.taue rect.lona within ~halt among \Vhom. cleabea wen . '
eommcmt "·• •• the ~·••• ,or cne gang• Billa stngh •• ettot deadt 1ft one
or the main market~ of the clty dul'1ng the hot •athft and .Sabu t..a11o
gang .a.a bllatan t.n retutn by fsgntM and ll!l&falt About· the- eame time, . . . rnambeN or SU.J.e. stngnto gang uro&-• •notelY ea.aultad \tl1th axee, swords . . ' and &peara by Baboo Lell (\he leader of a rlval gang) end hle ••n••'12
· 11-0 Mux• a comments on the lumpen poo.r· ero in'iet em:~ eotnG'Jihat dero;atotY• Th& ploature on• gat• 1a en uftditfetentletecf. one • tma "vegabonda, the cU.sohnrgud soldi~rs; · discharged JeUbbtcte, oa-ceptd pl~ay elawe1 •ttJ.ndletet mot.mte.,...a. leuulnl, pick• pgckots, trickatus, g$1blero; ma~reaun. hMthel kaopera, porttl'ef. ll~au, Ortlllftlllg'fim.•a• l'GQ'"; pletce••• kn.lta-grind8e, tlnke~o, baggara''"el1 conatituting the 4fecum,· offe11 rafun ot aU c1eat;Jfaa8
usually co~etJ.tuUftQ thll bad• •t d.lc'ato•lhlp• Rlt flght!.lllW3 f!Mdr&. st .f.:9»&g BQMPP'fb .. (MOf)COU1 '912) t Pfl· · 63, One cannot •ea ttmee HCtiona 811 • tolotentii:M.tftt dlst.tnct OfOUP eaaanU.elly to~ ittg tn.a batds of rtghtlet'tflovorrents., ot dictatoJtehipe and r~•• A 1erg~ put of thad uoUona .,. ex-poaaan\a or ex-artleene whot aa WOI'eiey auggsntat wre "rasaent1tslly RP9Pl! &t! B;QQ!Pia. not a tlud _,;f~cbnso1ldat«t1 let alone •lf-ccnaclou• and oqanJ.zed eoclal_ ciWUk They are QGeAM. toUII'l.-n • even\ually, · thltJ hope• a P--' of .the n\tled utbllft population.• ·Peter Wreley1 "l'enan and tfu$ 'Lumpilnprolat.at>1at'"; aPs&aJ.U' f!fslf!B,1972t P. 211• l t VJOU1d be analytlq.Uy mo~"e \feof\11 to ·uee waraley' a chaJ:aokrl• zatl.on ot th1a oection aa constituting a "su1:1-Ptoletar1~.u Vtd.le _. ot them could b8COM pntoaat.onel gangatdat othet moved ftCfD JOb to JOb and ·could have a ·moflf caaual .1.ln1ca v4 th C1l'11t1na1 SCJt.1vlty. Poiitically, thle eact-lon cauld ba aabUlzed both bJ the left end the ~lght• ·
t11 s.P. i<anpur to o.M., t<.,.pur, o.o. fttQ. &-7, dated 14.;10.19"• eAclO&*f by the tl•l'\• t.o Sacy,., Meclaed, 1?.10•J1t U.P. MOllie Pollee, F'lla 412/19Jt, Box 206 (utP.s,.A.).- ·
. 112 Paparo tlled by Kunwar M~aj Slnght encloud by thtl 0-"•t datod ,.1.19J1, letta7 roo. 11BO, J.bt.d.
'• .Nm • IPJ1 or eking out an -'etenc., 1i 6 Wb11a. thO lea eomattMa
maa a IQPD41 or an lnnoetmt hrel &mmlgrent, t.he stet• had ttl$ eat.lew
reeuon of having ehlleked lawt..t.n.••• by adding to "- n\111\Je~• or auch
aittaat••
The J.a»ge IUIIbflr ot .protttQi.onali9JJl!ll• eJ.ong ·mith the local
· · "iltt-»ett"• becarrttt • pa1t or tba ;eMJ:al fttm~Y end added to uta
1ntc,~lty o' rtotl.:ng l.n S~J~Qmber 1921 end Mecm 19J1. They JoJ.Md ln
tha ,.Oc;t.ing end ar~a~m• In the penlo wh!Ch tolJ.ond the tlot&ng, U'l•
QPRDdU •• ua-.d- • pf()tectora by HindUs and fik.tallmn aU.lro, llgUnet
''- •ttoo1lgan&.- of "l.fiDIUtt or t'- otttat CJG~~a~nity. Andt the HlDI . ~· .
soan• llhD ec~ed· aa "Pft)t.ctotstt. or one, ct:llllikJnlty 1of)tfld en<f. fd.lled
- . ... -- ... ,. ..... ..... ni• 117 men anu 11J0ft't8n 0 lilt~D Owtft -cl~ tio"/• , • · · , I I t ~ • ,
then l#U tttua a releti.onohJ.p botwaan the nature or the lebclul'
matkat end t~ •tvnul~tt of the casual l•bourete. end thtl u~an poe. . . l.n addi.Uon1 in e a1tuat.t.on ""*1te ,.._.. •• a tuo• •aaowa al'IIIJ ot
labOUr, With .- .ltaoat: continuout tnrJ.oui of tural 1Wlti.Q1"anta.· a camps-
116 W. al"O not otf.etJ.nt a rational• ,.,. t:ho eotiv.S.Uea of • ao. aelled a99.DJ#Ut We u• only euggeat.t.ng cedtol.n pc;H~elbla l'ltQOfta tot the· notoriety or «anpur fot the ttc~1Ma" ,.,, ~ "bediDaall• elODant, o reaturo which •• believed to have added ta thft Qtavt\y ot the •J.ota ot 19J1. Ttle flQ'n'ea tot 1929 end 'f9JO, to. ca .. • tun undcut sec. 109 c..-. P.c., athi.ch daal.t with "'bad chuacta.-e• fl"OID 0\ttal~t "'" the hig'heet ln Kanpur• aa coaparotJ to1 all. other cJ.Uo• in the t~~"ovS.nce, s.P. Kanput to o.n. JCenpu,, oncl. tty o.M. to Macl-..dt 1?.10tltt U•P• Hoa PoUce., Fl1e ,_,2/19,1-. Box 206 (U4P•S•A•)•- .
117 See SarliiOl"t QP•Situ PP• 297•299• Accat'd1n9 to the Conpaa Report, thap _,., both, eepuate HJ.·nctu end ttwe11M •oanu•" of Sl!RmiU Gnd·ll'llxad "ganga•, fltld •wn in the JI'Jldat of the coamunal rwry the mixed •gaonc:Jaa• nre ...-n looting th• eermt houaoa ln porto~t haftlony. Th!.e aeama a J.tttl• dOUbtMt glvcm the eMPlo-o Give altu.eUon eJd.att.ng at .that tJ.cm. The plctur.a of perfect ttatatony ud. tMn tho •••d ganga• end tho amphaeJ.e ort tndepanctant. ltd.tlatlve end hoollganle of tho QRROdtl tende to play dollft tha P81"Uc1paUon at •anv Congroea~r~cm ln th9 rt.ot.tng.
tiUon tot Joba wae 1nav1tabla. A atuatiion :uthlctt tu84 tJ91ravatact during
the d.,PJoad.on. In a labour •arkot _,.. • .,. e ,,.._ and eaay eaie of
labout PfJillft .. dttf'J.wlt, ... •tiUQgle for Jobs 0,.,.,. tOOk the rum , v/
of corli11Un1ty cohu&oft • Ute· malntananco ot Job$ tty· • parUcul• c--...
nlty tcw ·Nn ot thelr o\111. CCIIIIUnl ty tc ttw pclu~lon of -.othftt• 118 . The
authority or the a&IHI • ,Jobbea-, u tar .. J.oba· J.n ihd m'ue •• . COI\C&l'Mdf t.endt:Jd to eo11dlty auch 1oye1Unt tot a StW would often
tt"V to pyah •n ot Me oum cqta o;o ·eomtnun1ty.- Tho plight t>f the . •eJo~ity ot flu&ll.cut wet .PGRicularir dlttlcult. · Ttmy .-o predc~Dlnently
urban be$edt with ~ moto •ptecad.oua* eonJtcSCUon wlth·land than the
:rett of h watk~Jta. f4u&IJ.aa. aonaettuted • atgnlf'1c• propOrtion . ot I ' • • ~ ' I. " ' '
'"- ifttlilatl"id U!Ol'ktone, In 19Jtt the pei'Can\a;e ·or MusU.me ea a pro.
POJt\!Oft or: the total 'lll.llbft of S.nQ1etri'al ·lrOI'ken waa JJ.9 ·P- cent. t e
tl.QU('• llilh1ch r.ac g~:eater algniticanca if ••n ln r{llaUcm to thalt r-D!I'
p&l'u·:n lft .,the population or ~ .cltr'/e: -.o1• uo.t pol' cant) •• 19 The '
oa11aen,ra\1on ot ftla11• wtmt••• An bot••r paid ,Jttb8 l.lke W~avtng would
.. be ~••ntact by eany ftDJloooMualilft amrktra. On the oth9r hand; tbe -fi!i.t~
workare• Qi~Jn the Pteculau_. .. of thel~ eitueUon WOt.Jld by to reteln j, • • •
the! r toothold ln "19 illrJW•t-r• conntc;te end c;J.•ev~• b&taen cammu
nS.Uee Ullte poealble .ln thS.tl et~eti.ott•
UB At K•.tn•r• (Bengal) tot J.nstericet Kul Zehltuddln Ahlrlad foftleld a ~edan Letl(tu• ASIOC1eUon, ln 189ft the pd.nctpa ellt-ot · flhlch •• the rftruit.mant ot men Mu.U.a to the Jute ld.Ua. See Olpt!ah Chetcravo~ty1 •t;ommunal Rtata ems L.~ t Senga1 'e ;Jute PllU Hench~ J.n th• 1890•a.• · · · ·
119 ·:cegJ. idu 19J1• Pet 1-t -P• At fable Ul, P• 422• Part Ut ,Teble xvn, Pert e, P•· t2o.
Ken~ end outside otters c••iett Oft .f!tt .-ttedc 8Qaln&t tfto 111...., taU• .... ,_124 ,...._ ..
The 1nvolV11Dimt or eavwd lt'ladlttg Congweaat~WJn of the l:ltr irt
the Arya :S.eJ end the Hindu Sebba actlv1t1.es left tta ~ on the
peUUcal climate of the c1tv.18 o., ~r•l La1 Rt'thatgt .and Raraln v
121 ~1\icm etatelfttnt. ot ~fuel ttiaat.n. edJ.tra, M ,f!tlii• 1D7:1.tt$n ~et.ant at MakJM ftohatlll'Jad Ab.td1 Jladatent SDCMtary, fV'Sltm OtptleftBe-. «a.npvt' ana ~ evidenCe berOH the Riot lnqul., ~au011 ( 19Jt), M.P.o., ru• 19/tt-K.w./t9Jt.
4l 122 een~e.:, satP&Sa• ,. m. 121 St:atement ot ttdct.m ~· 4lbld, ftlot• Jnquuy CG~t~m#.adon (19Jt),
tt,P.o.,. rt&e 10/tN.w~ttm. .
124 tta•de~J SWd'Ui• p, 09w240.
125 ,.01" en enalyela Of' the .lntlu-.ou ot l"811~ tdrla• on tha tongt"eaa, on Btlpan Chandra, "The Hind!$ Tinge J.n Indian National L...,.ehlp end the Grawth ot C~eliflb in ~n lndla•, f1uatd.lllll Hoaan, · "C~Nil end· Revlvall.et TtonrJe in C~••n• p.,_" ned at Seminal'
p,Ooeaa!OA amt $1~Md. tJO TM. Hu~ ct.ood st-udloUGlY oloot hem ·the·
· ·l;o~ e.:u.vs.t.t-. 4tt c~on with tho C.lv11 ntaOt!lldilinoe Movement. J : I
• ,_,~111'1 ttadel• • thG· cloth mechanta and 11Quor Gf'IOP,} avtno're, ••'*''" tho ottempte •t. fO:tdbie ol~a ot thol.t shOps by Co.trgtGee plc.tcete»a.
The attempts hv ·t.ha ~el.lrbe- to orgfJ'tf.te thsmqlvca. took the form of e
"'"d.vel of' tht.t IROI&m o~aatlon~ Tbaugh ita oateneibl• fA.IJ:f'Oacl _,
to persuade Mt..Jallme tc .-. thols: QI!U•I tlve timos a day •. it almoat
..,NIOO tho f~sm of ll pol.it1ca1 counter to t.bs Con'graee demonae.et..lGna• ' '1
Apan ftom thl$t publJ.c -.tJ.nge · au:a addtaseed by a·~ n loa~
'1S1
rot s general badcgi'Oaftd ae• G. Ptmdey., QRd!&&u PP• 114-'U.iJ.
ftosoluUon or ttw GC)vt. ot -the unlted Provtnoae on V.· Report ot the C~taelm of r.,..try J.ftto tftl CetntPOt'fi Riot. ('19J1·), H.P.o •• t£1• 10/19/19J1.. -
"•P.o., r .R .. n.1o J2/4/1trf, ~tpu.J. tu>. u.P. ftter. ..,., .,... . !IU!Mibly many Cl!MIDOn Jtettttclrmnte ln both those cn:ocos.S.o,.
'"• of o••• Nipm, &DIG .. S\11.....,. ot SdJ l!a&111.n Mlftlllta (•lo), Attvocau, ibldt . . ·
1b8 .,.aicft• at tht Matl1ud stMI'lta -~• knal1ft to '-'• flada dueb an ~·- pol~ and on Uta'• Chlracter. · At ene ~ • fJS)Qfcee ..._. Mualltta -.,.tn.t tllldn9 ...-. r.. Hiftdu Jal'MI•• · •• ,.,. ... he tteU.end, an apn.nklod ath con• u&-i•• flan>l••• ·QQadlu P•· IM•
. abtolut.ty ~alU.ng to trd'te' lfmoth ~~ btee has botn dlowed to
ento lt\\o the Ute ot the 41auict.•141
l n t.ohtl! v111egt, ln a.r.M• dl•lrlctt the locel Maha.e and
thatcu:r:a cee to bl.ovlt attn the .lu.lehae \h.:• -*• et thllt.142 loW8 . ., '
1J9 . t.uten to th1at
~- bJ!aUr• ttteUa teo dunya ae . .S.te ding!• la oa ke~ttande kii KaballJt;ddha !!'?' 6iif.!t.ft!l kf:' j!URz'e ·, .. -~ · . . u •• hO C1iiki aa.ea a~liifle r eJ.xe~. . . .
Statement of Hiinihl Miifiii Uaatn, Rta811f8rchant, KMP&il"t fttot.• lnquuy CCIIlVIl1aa1on_(19:J1), __ "•"•o•• file 10/19 " .• w./t9Jt. (W. diU. wipe out th• ex.lats.n.g f!luelbts ana plant tlw Hindu bamttr (bennar ·ot Om) atop ths Kaaba -«.n ttacca. Shave art yow beuda and 1et yctm at.lsl)&XQ ·(plgt.U) DfOllt fOUl' Pl"•Yd8·8H OYUt fold ytJUt prayer cloth).·
140 H.P.o., r .R., FJ.le J2/9/192?, s.pt,.(J.1). c.P. One rnuet cautlan ho•••• that.tfleae.ottlou;J, MpOJ'ta •• likely to have PNHntad a aC!IIte'\#hat ~ated and w!rdst p1cttmt.
141: lb1::t.
142 H.P,o.,, F .R •. t F'ile n/2/1921t rob• (1), U.P.
'l4S W. have no •vidence on the f!Ctlvlttea of Hlnctl camrunel o.-griz.tions MOti98t. the wcnr~<er-•t ••• fl"cn str-ay ·:t•t•eno.• to the invalv~ ot 1nct1v1dUe1 ~· ot the A~ya s.aJ a..S tt1ttdU sabba. 'fhete .. .,. to haV• t:teen a .fbtlft. naeanable bade fcnr tbJ tnnuence or. Pluel&m cOIIIIUMl cl'gantzaUona. '**'•• ot tt1a f•al• a.ng ot d'.-nottom.ent with tho &ongn•• end the x.tt.s., among u. "'.U.. ......
4na~Uv1ty and •lott ~eaponao ot ttt• po11ca and local otf1cle1e1 ca . . . .
tho gaMnta1 camplatnt of the local populetlon, • t.aw · u ttl& rtot& ot
Marett 19J1 •" conc:utJtna6, and thta 1188 aekftOIIledgod to eoM· extent . ., . . . . . .
the Ottlclel lftq\itil:'V C0111111tt .. aa uU.·t'S
..
ln th1a ettephrt w hava chntl\ !11th comn.t.-1 riot• and autJaurata
over l'allgf.ouo ·leau••• only 1n· ao tar aa tttov nflect upon o• effect, ' '
;
tha .1aeerma tor ·~nal• tlot.a or c~l PGlltlce 1n uona•al flo . . quoatlona too •J.U u b. tekon ·l.fP wtthSn the 11mitt or thle atudV+ Tbe
enalye1• he• f'ocuaad on, the eUouleUon ettd •MP~atlon ot .,.l'tein
. *pt1Mrd1al" forma of ~Ugtoua and CGIIIJIUnJ.ty co'*"iou~sa in thO Uvtto .. - l I • * 1 _' J lit41 t I ~ I , •.1 ..
154 lntorvJ.aa, A~waz .AlS, A. A~ret Sht"J.~tam. s.s. YUIUti It f!Uat ·be noted ~-, ~et the C0111rJ1Un£1ta tonO.d to ove e~~Phub• W• eepect ln om» to fectU.tattt tmtl.-ctJ~tJtDUnal PI'O~•·
and ect1vlt1ea ot IIOdt&li'ea Such fOr:t'll8t we 'have atA"dt tuOre t:tmtac
kr.teUc ot the wol'fd.ng oleea 1n ttttt PI'Oces• of lt• ~att.on. n.. J!!PhtPa, tha gena~ •oetal encl cultu~ 8AV1:roraont, th• link llflth tho
vlllaga, ''- ncivt. tment eyat•• the nature of t'hl lebOut meset, ell
tn ~ -v• ••tUned put tradit!ona ent.t oue~, reU.gloua end
c'*ftlni.ty u... 8fJIOl19 the wodce•a. "Mob" aaUon on ~ellolaue !ewe•
.eftd cleahtte between ct.wRmUfttt1•• tondtttJ to a.ptel1lle auch ident1U.ea. • ' • • . ~ ! • 1 '
.Atta the l'lOte at 1951 fa» i.N~t the t:OIIIIUA1ty divJ.aiona batwoeft
1Rf3allg; bet•an tt.. pre-.tnanily •HindU" ~ end tht pt<adOml•
~antly ~-~~~- b..-• -~· Pl'O'*Incecs. ttanV HJ.nt;U• ·11v1ng in
AuaU.m areas tlcad to ""ttlndU" loeo11Uee. flluelJ.m wrken booalll8 eli.,..
natad h"am d'lat aa~~e to b¥. aeon by ,_.any, as a 41Hlndu~ Mtnatet.f MudUr J Sebhe. In the flbsenco of etutflaa on this eapect to~ othft · J.ft1Uatl'1$l
e.t.U••• no broacl gtneraJ.lseUona can be •awn• But· sfJlUu obe•:rvetlons
hova tsaen mad4l abOut tn•;: Jut• mUl ual'k-. in CtV.cutta,156 eftd the . . ,,
textile work~•• in "edt••• l t 11 two that "CIOwd" action in eJ. tu.vt1ons like the pleQUfl · 1'1ota
ot 19DO, • the moeqUCJ 'f.lot (t91Jl, involved UJ1de:r leauttt .epa..t trorn
those relating to the $0Cla1 cuetcatt Gttd rol1g).mta trac:U. tlofte or t.hit
IIOdcera·• The outbreak tlflaoted ~$0 an attack ega1n~ the state •
aga.tnat it• .int.tfo~~e nth the rel1g1oue l'l;hta of tha ptsople o~
the1~r cuatomal'y llOJGa ot soc1e1 nJ.et.l.ona. st.Uarly1 in a dllmand ru I i1 I W • ••.• • W' _ . t: •• , I ( c- . J ,.
that tho -dcor••· tma.le Nkf.nlng e ~S.ty conectouMosta •' OtW r. •-••- 1 ·_-re £(? e.r cs - -"1 t t- n•·•n t 'a·
/a
i.n t.fviftQ ·to 80ft al1 ectlun& ur the wcn:tc~~e pftal)tlly oa a ·kind at ~s~o to t:mt· ~~~&ton .aftd· cotaltation ,_, the tectft1 &Y&tee ,,. J;n bls ett.empt tD ttvtild at"!y ld~ntirlcat!on of the IPM4d.IIQ eta~; uth \1M:t tMI caneltJt~rt "~"., RmeJlt oaa Gupta~ ttm~ to ~l! the d1&\tftct.tor;; br1ta18$n CU ffotent lS'G!Uel btttJ• b~,~-;leftd fer a ho:fJ.ctay f;e such ·and tna demand for • tmlf4ay M a MHgiot;l• OCOflalon) aftd he u~aa. tM ~gnlt&• canoe. or .uc~t foll'l"s or ~.Qlcua ~ COtJ:IItinltyc::onsctou•nwsa. ·~atftial Cend1Uons a1'!d Sr4hwiout"a!. bPoctD of' th• c~t~ t~u~king tlese.-" · .
fot ifttttminl• IICUld glw .,_, fo=• a cettein legJ.Umecv ln the :f!lv••
or V.O.. llbO bad bfion _..,etMUc to the League ._llCJJ• fhl C.~t
•t'-h to dl'ft• MudS.. to;~ tn uttlty with atbaJ -eU.ona dl.d. ,.,
tl8h_.l.ly ~ U. c:onacJ.wa l!nd euboaft801oue lavale or c-.nlt~
119 Ona IQU8t ~aio ugain1 the al&t1netton bet_.n ~ md.etenee ot ~ty f•1£ftp, etad •communal* paUttca ot *'cCGiftl.tftallaf&" • s.n 1d41DlcfN or a co~. ~nt. the working Ole• in Kenpur, dl.d f~Qt f'"oJ."m th• baelt or • "~nel" ao\HIImfmt• l.t as • .,. lnto the tt~tt Gldea tn "-ch t9J1, but f!hle lt ,..t, be noted1 - • pot>J.od in tllhlcft the· IIOI!k&ng clq• · eov.-.nt J.taelf .,.. . goitag through -~ tl~ pttue.