1921 Buckingham and Carnatic Mills strike

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
1921 Buckingham and Carnatic Mills Strike
)

The 1921 Buckingham and Carnatic Mills strike was a strike by the workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Madras (now called Chennai), India, against the managing company, Binny and Co. The strike, which lasted from June to October 1921, caused severe losses to the Madras economy. It also created a rift in the ruling Justice Party forcing many Dalit leaders to leave.

Causes

The Madras Labour Union was one of the first organised labour unions in

V. Kalyanasundaram Mudaliar on 3 April 1918.[1] Early union activity took place in the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills during October–December 1920 when workers struck in protest against working conditions.[2] The government responded by ordering the police to shoot down striking workers on 9 December 1920 to bring the strike to a forceful end.[2]

There was widespread unrest among the workers over the low wages and poor working conditions. Their demands were supported by Indian nationalists

V. Chakkarai Chettiar and S. Satyamurti and by the self-rule supporting Indian National Congress as well as the pro-British Justice Party.[3]

Events

On 20 May 1921, the workers in the Spinning Department of the

V. Kalyanasundaram Mudaliar.[4] The Indian National Congress convened a meeting in Madras on 10 July 1921; in this meeting, C. Rajagopalachari moved for a resolution sympathizing with the workers of the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills and supporting their cause.[3]

The strike lasted for a total of six months.

Dalits and Indian Christians who had not joined the strike.[3]

The abstention of Dalit workers from the strike was severely criticized by the

Raja of Panagal, the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency and O. Thanikachalam Chetti.[7] The strike gradually evolved into a confrontation between caste Hindu and Muslim workers who were determined to continue the strike on one hand, and Dalits and Indian Christians who did not participate in the strike on the other.[6] A communal riot broke out on 28 June 1921 when a caste Hindu mob attacked the Dalit village of Pulianthope and burnt a hundred huts.[2] The Justice Party's publication, Justice blamed the riots on the "pampering" of Dalits by the Labour Department of the Madras government[6] while Dalit leader M. C. Rajah accused the union leaders of threatening non-participating Dalits from entering the mills.[2]
He also criticized the attitude of the Justice Party government of the Raja of Panagal towards Dalits:

the high-handed poisonous action of members of a party who after inflicting all known and unknown injury on our community shed crocodile tears and pose as friends of the Depressed classes[6]

The strike eventually came to an end in October through the mediation of C. Natesa Mudaliar.[4] That month, Sir P. Theagaraya Chetty, the then President of the Madras Labour Union, advised workers to resume work.[2] But with the exception of a few, most of the striking workers were not re-admitted.[2]

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the strike, the major political factions in the Madras Presidency began leveling charges against one another. The

Non-Cooperation Movement for causing the unrest and criticized the government for showing partiality towards Dalits.[2] The party demanded that the provision of free meals to Dalits in government camps should be stopped and offenders from all the communities be punished.[2]

The Madras government appointed a three-member enquiry committee headed by

Sir Lionel Davidson, said that all the violence was caused not by a labour strike but by "a faction inflamed by caste prejudice".[2]

M. C. Rajah made the following observation on Dalits and the strike:

If they had been with the rioters in the rioting, they would have certainly lost their lives. The very fact that no Adi Dravida was shot clearly indicates that the Adi Dravidas were not creating the mischief ... but my friend Mr. Thanikachalam Chettiyar has said nothing about the throwing of bombs which has become the fashion of the rioters. How many lives have been lost by the throwing of bombs, who threw them, these are questions which my honourable friend ought to have put before the Council[2]

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-81-203-2985-0
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Basu, Raj Sekhar (2011). Nandanar's Children: The Paraiyans' Tryst with Destiny, Tamil Nadu 1850–1956. SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 241–257.
  3. ^
    ISBN 81-8324-011-9
    .
  4. ^ a b c d "A street name unchanged". The Hindu. 22 December 2008. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Ambush British in India" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 September 1921.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-55671-2
    .
  7. ^ The Calcutta Historical Journal. University of Calcutta. 2004. p. 101.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1921_Buckingham_and_Carnatic_Mills_strike&oldid=1143501330"