Labour Movement in Bombay: origin and Growth upto Independence

94 Pages·43.248 MB·English

by  Vasant Gupte

ALS 4 LIT YtoTu:m = oteA GIS
LABJUR MOVEMENT IN BOMBAY
-Origin and Growth upto Independence—
by
VASANT GUPTE
a eee
ilk ilu
Institute of Workers Education
BOMBAY
ORKERS EDUC ATION.
Nagar, Bombay 409 09)77 7

First Impression 1984

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FOREWORD
The author of this book and I have worked together more
or less continuously in the same trade union for some twentyfive
years. It happened that I came to the union three or four years
CONTENTS
earlier than him, Most of our experience in trade unionism and
such achievements as we can claim, have been in this common
endeavour and my very brief seniority to him does not really
qualify me to say anything by way of a foreword to his pain-
FOREWORD stakingly written and insightful book that can enhance its intrinsic
value. Yet, to be asked to write a foreword to a book written bv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
a close friend and cherished colleague is itself an honour which
INTRODUCTION I have not been able to resist.
Growth of Bombay from 1661-1906
The labour movement in India is no longer a novel subjec
i Labour Situation in 19th Century for study by scholars. Especially since independence, a large
number of books on this subject have appeared, written by Indian
Hil Early Twentieth Century — 1901-1930
as well as foreign authors. Most of these, however, have dealt
IV Industriai Relations (1901-1930) with the period since trade union organisations as we know then:.
began to be established in the country, that is, since after the
Beginning of Trade Unionism
first world war. Only in very rare instances like Shri V. B Karnik
VI Nineteen Thirties in his “Strikes in India” and Shri Sukomal Sen in his “Working
107 Class of India”, do we find a serious effort to go farther back in
VIL Labour Movement during and after Il War
time. to dig out source material and to illuminate the long but
134
Vill Summary and Conclusions murky passage of the movement from its earliest beginnings to
Ix Appendices 144 the formation of regular trade unions. Some earlier works have
dealt with that earlier period in patches but a coherent recon-
Bibliography 16°
struction of that stark, raw, heroic phase of the Indian labour
movement is very rare to find. Shri Vasant Gupte’s present book
must rank as one of these rare but important efforts.
That this reconstruction focusses only on one city, Bombay,
does not in any way minimise its value, for, it deals with a
period during most of which, in the very nature of things, a
‘national’ labour movement did not, indeed could not, exist. The
movement then consisted of numerous distinct, geographically
disconnected, localised events and episodes: strikes, successes,
V
failures, emergence and disappearances of loose, transient associa- dation of the International Labour Organisation, the emergence
tions of workers, Broader socio-economic factors were, no doubt. of the Communist Party of India and the efforts of various other
at the root of these episodes and these factors were active over individuals and groups, which are generally given so much credit
the whole country. But the awareness and understanding of these for the growth of the movement, probably did no more than help
factors and of their geographical sweep must have been necessarily crystalise in an organised form a mood and a situation as well
minimal among working people of that time. That workers all as an established tradition among labour which were already
over the country shared a common stream of experience charac- ripe for unionisation.
terised by ruthless exploitation and inhuman misery, and there-
fore needed organised, coordinated, nationwide action was a fact Comparison between this pre-unionisation state of the move-
which could not have been recognised by workers, or by most ment and its present state 60 years after regular unions began to
other Indians for that matter, then. That phase of the movement be formed, is interesting and educative. The movement then was
can, therefore, be meaningfully studied in depth only in its loca- spontaneous, self-reliant, virile and largely free of sectarianism
lised manifes‘ations. Bombay, by virtue of its primacy in the and rivalries which are perhaps its most conspicuous and can-
development of industry and commerce, is as good a locale for cerous features today. The workers then were largely illiterate,
such study as any that could be found in the country. relatively new to the industrial culture. Yet, their movement seems
to have suffered from no problems of leadership, Outside perso-
nalities of various hues no doubt associated themselves with
The phase of organised trade unionism in India, beginning
workers’ movement which then consisted mostly of sporadic but
just after the end of the first world war, and especially the post-
independence phase, have been so much mixed up with the free- frequent strikes, but also of occasional petitions and representa-
tions to authorities. But none of these outsiders, whether indivi-
dom struggle and party politics that an impression prevails that
dually or in groups, seem to have sought to or been able to
the Indian labour movement grew as an adjunct of the freedom
dominate, control or exploit the movement for their personal cr
movement or was launched by political parties to boost up their
group ends. The initiative of action seems to have remained
own political influence, Such a view, as Shri Gupte’s present work
will show, is far off the mark. Long before the freedom move- unmistakably with leaders from among workers themselves. One
marvels at the militancy, the readiness to suffer and fight, the
ment gathered momentum and before political parties, as we
feeling — almost the instinct — of solidarity among the workers.
know them, began to be formed, industrial workers had started
This was before political ideologies pteaching proletarian soli-
to protest on their own against the hardships, injustices and
darity and class struggle came to India.
deprivations they were subjected to and to fight, even if sporadi-
cally, against these as also against the employers who imposed
these upon them. These sporadic struggles, successful as well as Ironically enough, with the coming of these ideologies came
also the splits and fragmentation of the labour movement!
unsuccessful, naturally led workers to realise the importance cf
continuing organisations. They started forming such organisa-
The present generation of workers in organised industry ‘s
lions quite early although these early essays in organisation were
educated albeit modestly so. It also has the accumulated experi-
naturally not very well-thought-out or systematic. But it was
these early initiatives in organisation which really prepared the ence of the industrial culture over three generations. It is far
ground for regular trade union being formed later on, But for better informed of what goes on around them not only all over
the country but also in other countries. The realisation of a com-
the long history of struggles, failures and successes, and the debris
mon interest for working people in the country as a whole is 10
of organisations formed and deceased, it is unlikely that the
phase of organised trade unionism would have come when it did. longer altogether lacking. Inspite of all these favourable factors,
the workers today do not display the same degree of self-reliance
In ‘this pre-unionisation phase of the Indian labour movye- nor solidarity in organising and running their movement as their
ment, thus, it was no different from the early phases of the labour predecessors three generations ago did. What is worse, there seems
movements in other countries, The freedom movement, the foun- to be a feeling among the present generation of workers that the
VI VII
movement cannot exist and grow without outside leadership and
political linkages of some kind. They need to be exposed to the
early history of their movement to realise that these external ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
props are not really necessary; indeed, that have now become
disfunctional, To recapture the original self-reliance — without
necessarily renouncing support from whichever side it is forth-
coming — would be the first step for workers today towards a
more united, independent and purposeful labour movement. The
It gives me great satisfaction in expressing my feelings of
value of the story narrated by Shri Gupte in this book is, there-
gratitude to several persons and institutions without whose helping
fore, much more than merely academic.
hand I could not have completed this task.
First in the order have to be the Ford Foundation and Shri
Ram Centre for Industrial Relations, New Delhi who offered me
fellowship for undertaking research on labour problems, It was
Bombay, BAGARAM TULPULE
during the two-year period (1968-70) of this fellowship that I
November 3, 1980.
collected the data and prepared blueprint of the study. For this
help, encouragement and guidance, I am grateful beyond words
to these two institutions and particularly to the executives of
the S. R. Centre viz. Sarvashri Arun Joshi, K. N. Vaid, B. M.
Kapoor, and C. P. Thakur and my colleagues in the Centre Shri
A. C. Nanda, Shri O. P. Dhingra and late Kashyap Bhargava.
Then I owe much to the various libraries and their staff for
their excellent co-operation in collecting the massive data used
for the study, To name the prominent amongst them. I must men-
tion the libraries of Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi, Tata Institute
of Social Sciences, Bombay, Asiatic Society, Bombay, University
of Bombay, Bombay Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra Legis-
lative Assembly and Bombay Labour Institute.
This study owes much for its present shape to the veteran
leaders and authors in the labour field viz. Shri V. B. Karnik and
Shri Bagaram Tulpule who discussed the study at its various stages
and gave me valuable suggestions from time to time. Then I am
indebted to my colleague Shri Eknath Satam for his assistance
in taking out extensive extracts from the issues of the Labour
Gazettes and to my other colleagues in Mill Mazdoor Sabha for
sparing me intermittently for the purpose of this study.
Last, but certainly not the least, the expression of gratitude
is due to the trustees of the Institute of Workers’ Education and
particularly to its Director Shri R. Muthuswamy for taking up
IX
Vifir
ee
my study for publication. But for them, the manuscript might”
not have seen the light of the day so early.
Then my sincere thanks to many friends who, having gone INPFRODUCTION
through the manuscript, not only encouraged, but prevailed upon
me to offer it for publication. : Labour movement in a vast country like India can be studied
at three different levels viz. national, industrial and regional level.
At national level, the movement has been the subject-matter of a
large number of studies, covering practically all the aspects of the
movement, But that is not the case with the other two levels where
Bombay, VASANT GUPTE very few studies have been undertaken despite vast potentials.
Dated : Ist February 1981. Dearth of such studies is very much felt since their role is suple-
mentary to those at the national level which are general in nature
due to their vast coverage. Moreover, it is only an intensive study
of a specified industry or region which can effectively analyse
series of events that give birth and shape to the movement, Such.
a study can also provide a more homogeneous background which
is very essential for an analytical assessment of a sequence of
events. The present study which is of a regional level is a modest
effort in that direction.
Reasons for choosing the city of Bombay for such study are
many. Firstly, it is one of the very few cities in India which had
the earliest opportunity of getting industrialised. Secondly, because
of early industrialisation and many other factors, it was the first
place to experience the birth pangs of organised labour movement.
Thirdly, the city has seen some of the most long-drawn and most
effective strikes which gave inspiration to the working class
throughout the country. Fourthly, labour achievements in Bombay
have greatly influenced the service conditions of workers in other
industrial cities in India. The last, but not the least, reason lies

in the fact that the author himself, has, for the last thirty years
been an active trade unionist in this very city.
Scheme of Study:
The study is intended to cover the labour movement from
its origin in the later part of nineteenth century till the attainment
of freedom in 1947. Labour movement during pre-independence
period had a distinct character compared to that after indepen-
dence, During pre-independence period, the movement on the
\whoie was a united front of the working class. Though trade union
sleaders of that period belonged to various political ideologies and
their differences occasionally led to splits in the movement, there
Was a common thread of anti-government feeling and an urge to
achieve carly freedom which held the various forces together.
Thus the labour movement during those days was 4 movement
protest not only against employers, but against the Government growth, employment position, labour conditions, industrial rela-
too, The dawn of freedom, however, deprived the movement of tions and trade union organisations.
that common binding force. Immediate reflection of this changed
situation could be found in the formation of a separate cen il Methodology :
organisation whose main job ‘was to establish industrial peace
which was vital for the stabilisation of Congress rule in free Ind a. Data used for the study consisted mostly of material pub-
This led to a chain reaction of forming separate organisatio s lished in the form of books, journals, reports, gazettes, theses,
after every major political party in the country. Side by side with newspapers etc. Use was also made of a few unpublished studies,
this development, a new concept emerged on the. trade unioy Such published or unpublished material deals with a variety of
horizon viz, the concept of constraints of developing economy, topics which are directly or indirectly related to the subject matter
This concept arose out of a theory that developing economy calle in hand. From the collected material, core data was processed,
not afford Western type privileges for the working class in respect analysed and utilised in this study. A special mention in this respect
‘of material gains or freedom of collective bargaining. This econce rt must be made of a few books which the author has made very
not being acceptable to many, became a matter of wide confli ; liberal use of. They are “Development of Capitalistic Enterprise in
in theory and practice of labour movement in India. Tt is thes India” by D. H, Buchannan, “Emergence of an Industrial Labour
two factors among a few others which have, since independency, Force in India” by M. D. Morris, “Factory Labour in India” by
changed the basic character of labour movement in India, This Ahmed Mukhtar, “Strikes in India” by V. B. Karnik, “Cotton Mills
is more true of Bombay where all shades of political forces are of India — 1854 to 1954” by S, D. Mehta, and the Report and
active on the trade union front, It is, therefore, proposed not t0 Evidence volumes of the Royal Commission on Labour 1930.

include the post-independence period in this study.
In addition the author had structured interviews with a few
The whole period covered by the study is divided into four senior trade union leaders with a view tc get a feel of the then
blocks. The main consideration in formation of these blocks was situation and to bring clarity to the perception of many events.
to give separate treatment to each period which stands distings ’ The valuable information and clues these leaders supplied, put
from the others in respect of socio-economic conditions, nature Ob life into the skeleton of facts and figures based on written sources.
employer-employee relations, and the stage of labour movemen :
This introduction would not be complete without explaining
The first block covers latter half of nineteenth century which saW
an important point viz. the predominence of textile industry in
the earliest expression of labour unrest and the earlier forms OF
labour organisations which were very much different in character the study. Textile has been the oldest and the biggest field in
from what they were in any other period; the second first th a Bombay in respect of industrial development as well as trade
union activities. Moreover, data available on textile industry is
decades of the twentieth century which were witness to industrial
conflicts leading to some of the biggest strikes in Indian histor for a longer period and in a more organised form than any other
as also to the emergence of regular trade union organisations) industry in Bombay, No wonder therefore, if that industry greatly
influences the study.
the third with the fourth decade which was a period followed by
world-wide economic crisis resulting into mass retrenchmenh
It is hoped that this study will be of interest to those who
raticnalisation and wage cuts a period of lull followed by revival
of activities on the trade union front; and the last the years 194 v are directly or indirectly concerned with the labour movement in
India.
to 1947, a period dominated by Second World War and the fir al
struggle for freedom which had a great impact on the course

labour moyement throughout the country. These four blocks a‘ c
dealt with as separate, though not independent blocks and each
one of them covers various aspects of the movement viz. industrial

q
2
CHAPTER I
its gun-carriage section, By 1947, the dockyard employed 2000

workers to build ships for the E. I, Co., the Navy and for private
GROWTH OF BOMBAY FROM 1661-1900
shippers. In the beginning, materials for the iren ships had to ‘be

imported, but in 1851, an eighty ton steamer was built entirely
Origin of the city :’
from locally manufactured components.
In 1661, a historic event took place in India, It was in thi
Eighteen-fifties were a decade of great public works activity
year that Portugal ceded the island of Bombay to the British and throughout India. The resultant improvements in imternal com-
provided them 2 gateway to India. Population of the island at that
munications directly contributed to the growth of Bombay’s com-
time was hardly 10,006. Although Bombay has the finest natural merce. The first railway in India was opened in 1853 between
harbour in India, the island had no significance before it was Bombay and Thana, a distance of twenty-one miles. By the middle
occupied by the British. From the point of view of easy comm of sixties, the railway line was extended towards the cotton grow-
nication with productive hinterland anc overseas markets, the ing areas of Deccan plateau and Gujarat. Railway operations
western coast of India had better-located harbours in Broach and | forced establishment of railway workshops and expansion’ of
Surat. However, after the British occupation, the island began t0 foundry facilities for maintenance and repair work. Further, the
grow in importance benefiting from a number of factors like the — improved transport facilities greatly developed the export trade
commerce of the East India Company, the island’s militarily of raw-cotton through the port of Bombay, This trade in turn
strategic position and the security of its harbour. The growing _ gave rise to a number of cotton presses meant for baling cotton.
commercial importance of the island encouraged the East India Some of these presses were quite large, one of them employing
Company to import Parsi shipbuilders from Surat and establish about a thousand workers, It was also during this decade that
a shipyard in Bombay in 1735. The yard prospered as a centre Cawasjee Davar started the first textile mill called ‘Spinning and
for the construction and repair of ships in the international and — Weaving Co.’ at Tardeo in Bombay, Construction ofthe mill
country trades, By 1781, it was employing more than 500 native © started in 1854 and it opened on 7-2-1856. f
workers, The growing commercial activities attracted a steady
flow of weavers, goldsmiths, ironsmiths, construction workers and The boom period: Ts
traders and by 1780, the population of the island rose to 1,00,000.
| | Early eighteen-sixties ‘were very much favourable to the
Events in the nineteenth century gave further boost to the cotton trade it Bombay. Outbreak of the American Civil War in
importance of Bombay. The end of Maratha empire in 1818, link _ April 1861 stopped cotton éxport from South America and textile
with the Deccan plateau in 1830 through construction of roads in — industries in Europe had to depend increasingly on Indian cotton.
western ghats and international trade connections culminating 1 During the period between 1861 to 1865, every year, about oné
the opening of Suez Canal in 1869 were the main contributory million bales of cotton were exported from Bombay. It was again
factors to this development. Consequently. the population of the _ during this period that the number of the textile mills in Bombay
island which was little over a lakh and half at the beginning of rose to ten with a total employment of more than six thousand
nineteenth century, rose to 2,29,000 by 1830. workers. Further, speculative enterprises, new reclamation® works,
| building and road construction, transport facilities, new industries
In 1829, Bombay dockyard built its first steamship. In addi- and growing commerce attracted people from outside thus raising
tion to the dockyard, there was East India Company's Ordnance 4 the population of Bombay to 8,16,000 in the year 1864.
factory which as early as 1823 employed nearly 100 workers if
a
ee i However, this boom was shortlived and the end of American
| Based mostly on Chapter IT of ‘The Emergence of an Industrial » Civil War in May 1865 brought a big slump in Bombay market.
Labour Force in India’, A Study of the Bombay Cotton Mills ) Many ambitious and speculative construction projects had to be
1854-1947 by M. D. Morris (1965). | abandoned reducing employment opportunities to a great extent.

4 5
Many workers unable to find employment, returned to rural areas
The eighteen-seventies not only. saw the arrival of indastries
and the population went down considerably. According to 187 but also expansion, The number of the textile mills which was
census figures the papulation figure came down to 6,44,000. 10 in 1870, went up.to.32 in 1879 and.the employees in the indus-
tries rose from 8,103 to 28,860 during the same period. Eighties
TABLE I
also showed a similar upward trend and by 1889, the figure of
textile mills and then employees shot up to 69 and 52,490 respec-
Number of factories in Bombay employing minimum of 50
tively.
workers at the close of the 19th century. °
The early part of nineties also showed a steady trend. The
1892 1896 1901
population exceeded 8,00,000 in 1891. However, from 1896
Cotton Mills 64 68 16 onwards, Bombay suffered from periodic epidemic of plague
Silk Mills 1 2 2 resulting in a great exodus of population. In 1896, half of the
Woollen Milss 2 2 1 population fled out of the city. In the later years also, there was
Hosieries 3 2 2 a recurrence of the epidemic. sometimes resulting in the death
Cotton Presses and Gins Al 9 8 of more than four hundred a‘ day, However, famines in Deccan
Dye Works 2 2 2 districts and Gujarat in 1899 and 1900 contributed to the flow of
Flour Mills 3 5 5 people into Bombay at the very time when existing residents were
Oil Mills 2 2 1 fleeing from the city. Thus, inspite of the plague epidemic result-
Tannery — } 1 ing in exodus of about 4,00,000 people in 1896, population of the
Saw Mills & Timber Works 1 2 2 city stayed at 7,00,000 at the end of nineteenth century.
Iron Works and Foundries 8 8 8
Locks and Cutlery Works — —_ 1 ,, in this context, there is one thing which is worth noting viz.
Metal Works — _ _ that despite slump in the market and plague epidemic, industrial
Tin Works — — 1 employment was on the increase during, the latter part of 19th
Paper Mills —_ _ _- century,, The number of textile mills, which was already increas-
Workshops 6 6 7 ing year by year went up considerably employing more than 77,000
Art Manufacture J 1 1 workers at the end of the century. The figure of other factories
Gas Works 1 2 2 employing 50 or more employees which was 55 in 1892 went up
Gun Carriage Factory I 1 1 to 62 by that time. Industrywise break up of factories employing
Arsenal 1 1 t more than 50 workers in. the years 1892, 1896 and 790! are given
Mint 1 t t in Table I,
Dockyards 4 4 3
Printing Presses 7 9 10
Power Generator os ie =
Bone Mill ss poe «a
Total 119 128 138°
ae

2 Table XI (P-27) “Report on the Development Plan for Greatet
Bombay 1964”. Published by the Municipal Corporation of
Greater Bombay.
3 Variation in original Report itself.
6 tony