Problems of Working Class in Colonial Rule

Low wages
Long working hours
Unhygienic and hazardous working conditions
Employment of children
Lack of basic amenities
Working Class has to face both

Imperialist political rule
Exploitation at the hands of both foreign and Indian Capitalists

Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majadoor Mahajan Sangh)

Anasuya Sarabhai
India’s firs female union leader

Working Class Movements

Early Efforts

Early Nationalists especially Moderates

were indifferent to labour cause
Believed that labour legislations would affect the competitive edge of Indian owned industries
Did not want divisions in the nationalist movement on the basis of class divisions
Differentiated b/w labour in Indian owned and British owned factories
Nationalist leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, G Subramanya Aiyar demanded better conditions for workers and other pro-labour reforms

Hence early efforts were philanthropic, isolated, sporadic, localized

1870	Sasipada Benerjea	Started working man's club and paper Bharat Shramajeevi
1878	Sorabji Shapoorji Bengalee	Bill for better working conditions to labour passed in Bombay Legislative council
1880	Narain Meghajee Lokhanday	Newspaper Deenbandhu & Bombay Mill and Millhands Association
1881	Indian Factory Act 1881	dealt with the problem of child labour below 7 could not work in factories, while 7 to 12 not work for more than 9 hours
1891	Second Indian Factory Act 1891	fixed working hours for women at 11 hours per day
1899	First strike by Great Indian Peninsular Railways	Tilak's Kesari and Maharatta widely campaigned

During Swadeshi movement

Workers participated in widely political issues
Biggest strike of this period is after Tilak arrest and trail
Subramaniya Siva and Chidambaram Pillai led strikes in Tuticorin and Tirunelvelli and were arrested
Strikes organised by Ashwini Coomar Banerjea , Prabhat Kumar Roy, Chaudhari , Premtosh Bose, Apurba Kumar Ghosh

During and after World War I

Discontent among workers increased due to low wages despite increase in profits post World War I due to increase in exports and hike in prices
Workers started to fight for their own and for national cause
Need felt for organisation of workers in trade unions

Formation of Comintern (Communist International) in 1919
International Labour Organisation
Establishment of Socialist republic in Soviet Union

1918	Ahmedabad Mill Strike	Gandhi led and helped to secure higher wages [NOTE: It is not the first strike]
1920 Found ed	AITUC All India Trade Union Congress	Founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, NM Joshi, D Chaman Lal, Joseph Baptista Lala Lajpat Rai - first President of AITUC, Dewan Chaman Lal - first general secretary CR Das advocated that INC should take up workers and peasant cause and include them in national movement. Else they would be isolated
1926	Trade Union Act 1926	Recognised trade unions as legal associations Registration and regulation of trade unions Put some restrictions on political activities of unions
1928	Bombay Textile mill strike	Led by Girni Kamgar Union. 6 months long strike. 1928 -whole year industrial unrest
1929	Public Safety Ordinance 1929 Trade Disputes Act 1929	Made strikes illegal in public utility services like posts, railways, water, electricity Forbade trade unions activities of political nature and even sympathetic strikes (Bomb on Central Legislative Assembly 1929 during the discussion of these bills)
1929	Meerut Conspiracy Case	Govt arrested 31 labour leaders and after 3.5 year trail convicted them. Muzaffar Ahmed, SA Dange, Joglekar, Philip Spratt, Ben Bradley, Shaukat Usmani and others Trial got worldwide publicity but weakened working class movement
1930		Workers participated in Civil Disobedience Movement
1931	AITUF All India Trade Union Federation	NM Joshi - corporatist trend. Splitted from AITUC
1935		Communists rejoined AITUC which now has communists, socialists, leftist nationalists like Nehru and Subhash

During and after World War II

Initially workers opposed the war and when Russia joined the war on behalf of the Allies, communists described the war as Peoples war and supported it
From 1945-47, workers participated actively in post-War national upsurges

1945- Helped Indonesia upsurges by reluctant to load ships taking supplies to warring troops in Indonesia at Bombay and Calcutta
1946- Workers went on strike to support Naval Ratings

During last year of foreign rule, workers strikes in posts, railways and in many other establishments

Post-Independence

Working class movements polarised on the basis of political ideologies

Summary

Associations

Legislation

Movements

Imp leaders

All India Trade Union Congress 1920

AITUF All India Trade Union Federation 1931

Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majadoor Mahajan Sangh)

Girni Kamgar Union

Indian Factory Act 1881

Second Indian Factory Act 1891

Trade Union Act 1926

Public Safety Ordinance 1929

Trade Disputes Act 1929

First strike by Great Indian Peninsular Railways 1899

Ahmedabad Mill Strike 1918

Bombay Mill Strike 1928

Sasipada Benerjea

Sorabji Shapoorji Bengalee

Narain Meghajee Lokhanday

Lal Bal Pal

Subramaniya Siva

Chidambaram Pillai

NM Joshi, D Chaman Lal, Joseph Baptista

CR Das

Lala Lajapati Roy	AITUC Founder and president
Bipin Chandra pal	Demanded better conditions for labour and other pro labour reforms
Tilak	Tilak's Kesari and Maharatta widely campaigned� first strike by Great Indian peninsular railways

*16 May 2021