Labour Movement & Trade Unions in Colonial India

§1 — Timeline of Indian Labour Movement

Timeline of the Indian Labour Movement

§2 — Early Beginnings (1850s–1890s)

Early Beginnings (1850s-1890s)

Modern Indian industry began in the 1850s with the first cotton mills (Bombay 1854) and jute mills (Calcutta 1855), followed by railways (1853) and coal mines (1860s). By the 1880s there were lakhs of factory and railway workers. Conditions were appalling:

• 14-16 hour workdays, no weekly off.
• Children as young as 6 in factories; women in night shifts.
• No safety provisions; high accident rates.
• Wages 25-30% of British factory worker wages for similar work.
• Bonded labour in mines and tea plantations.

Indian Factories Act 1881 (First)

The first Indian Factory Act was passed in 1881, largely under British capitalist pressure (Lancashire mill owners feared Indian competition!). Provisions:

• Applied to factories with 100+ workers using power.
• Children under 7 prohibited from working.
• Children 7-12: maximum 9 hours/day.
• 4 holidays per month.

Factories Act 1891

Strengthened earlier provisions:

• Working hours for women: maximum 11 hours/day.
• Children 9-14: maximum 7 hours/day.
• Weekly holiday introduced.
• Applied to factories with 50+ workers.

Royal Commission on Labour 1929–31

The Whitley Commission on Indian Labour (chair: J.H. Whitley) appointed 1929; reported 1931. Recommendations led to the Factories Act 1934, Mines Act 1934, Payment of Wages Act 1936, and Indian Trade Unions (Amendment) Act 1938.

§3 — Early Trade Unions

Early Trade Unions (1890–1918)

Bombay Mill Hands Association (1890)

The first organised body for Indian factory workers was founded by Narayan Meghaji Lokhande in 1890 at Bombay. Lokhande, a Phule disciple, edited the journal Dinabandhu. The Association was not a trade union in the modern sense — it had no membership rolls, dues, or collective bargaining mandate — but it organised petitions and meetings demanding shorter hours, weekly off, payment without delay. It campaigned successfully for the Sunday weekly off (1890) and the strengthened Factories Act 1891.

Madras Labour Union (April 1918)

The Madras Labour Union (MLU), founded on 27 April 1918 by B.P. Wadia (Annie Besant's Theosophical Society associate; lawyer-activist), is widely considered the first "modern" trade union in India — i.e., the first with regular membership, dues, elected officers, and collective bargaining. It was based at the Buckingham & Carnatic Mills (Binny & Co.) at Madras.

The MLU's first major strike (October 1920 – April 1921) led to the Buckingham & Carnatic Mills case. Madras High Court ruling (Coutts-Trotter J.) initially treated the union as illegal — applying English common law against "criminal conspiracy". This case demonstrated the urgent need for trade union legislation, paving the way for the Trade Unions Act 1926.

Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (1920)

After Gandhi's intervention in the Ahmedabad Mill Strike of February-March 1918, Anasuya Sarabhai (sister of mill owner Ambalal Sarabhai) founded the Majoor Mahajan Sangh (Textile Labour Association) on 25 February 1920. Modelled on Gandhian principles of non-violence and trusteeship, it remained closely associated with Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Anasuya Sarabhai is honoured as the "Mother of Indian Trade Union Movement".

§4 — All India Trade Union Congress (1920)

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC, 31 October 1920)

Founding

The All India Trade Union Congress was founded on 31 October 1920 at Bombay. Background: the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had been established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles. The British colonial government nominated Indian "labour representatives" to ILO conferences without consulting Indian workers — Indian leaders saw the need for a national federation to send authentic worker representatives.

Office Bearers

• President: Lala Lajpat Rai (the same year he was also founding president of All India Hindu Mahasabha).
• Vice President: Joseph Baptista.
• General Secretary: Diwan Chaman Lall.
• Other founders: B.P. Wadia, N.M. Joshi, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Annie Besant, Tilak's followers, V.V. Giri (later President of India), Subhash Chandra Bose.

Membership

By 1929, AITUC claimed about 200 affiliated unions with around 250,000 members. By the late 1930s — with industrialisation accelerating and Congress provincial governments providing a friendlier environment — membership had grown substantially.

AITUC Presidents (Notable)

• 1920 — Lala Lajpat Rai (1st)
• 1921 — Joseph Baptista
• 1922 — C.R. Das
• 1923 — Chittaranjan Das
• 1925 — D.B. Kulkarni
• 1929 — Subhash Chandra Bose
• 1931 — Subhash Chandra Bose

Note: In 1929 (as Congress President-elect), Subhash Chandra Bose presided over the AITUC at the Nagpur session — the same year he split AITUC.

§5 — Labour Legislation

Major Labour Legislation in Colonial India

Trade Unions Act 1926

The most consequential labour law of colonial India:

• Recognised trade unions as legal entities (overruling Madras HC's 1920 Buckingham Mills case interpretation).
• Provided for registration of trade unions with state governments.
• Granted limited civil and criminal immunity to union officials for acts during legitimate trade union activities.
• Required unions to spend funds only on specified purposes (welfare, strikes, legal expenses).
• Prohibited use of union funds for political purposes (later relaxed).

The Act was largely the result of N.M. Joshi's persistent campaigning. It enabled the formal expansion of organised labour. N.M. Joshi (1879-1955) — Servants of India Society stalwart — is sometimes called the "Father of Indian Trade Union Movement" for this reason.

§6 — Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929–33)

Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929-1933)

By the late 1920s, Communist organisers had become prominent in Indian trade unions, particularly in Bombay textile mills and Bengal jute mills. Concerned about communist influence, the British launched a major prosecution.

The Arrests (March 1929)

On 20 March 1929, 31 trade union, communist, and labour leaders were arrested across India. The trial was held at Meerut (UP) — chosen because there was no jury system there (better for prosecution).

Accused

The 31 (later 33) accused included:

• S.A. Dange (Bombay; later CPI General Secretary)
• Muzaffar Ahmad (Calcutta; CPI co-founder)
• P.C. Joshi (later CPI General Secretary)
• Three Britons: Philip Spratt, Ben Bradley, Lester Hutchinson
• Shaukat Usmani
• Others — trade union and communist organisers

Trial and Verdict

The trial lasted 4½ years (1929-1933). The accused turned the trial into a political platform — Dange's defence speeches were widely circulated. Eventually, all but 4 were convicted; sentences ranged from 2 to 12 years' transportation.

Significance

• Made Indian Communism a household name.
• Trade union and Communist leaders gained popular sympathy.
• Strengthened links between Communism and the freedom movement.
• The repression backfired — most convicts emerged with enhanced political stature.

Public Safety Act 1929 and Trade Disputes Act 1929 were enacted as part of the same legislative push to curb labour radicalism. Bhagat Singh's Central Assembly bombing on 8 April 1929 was specifically directed against these two bills.

§7 — Splits in AITUC (1929-1935)

Splits in AITUC (1929-1935)

The 1929 Split — AIRTUC

At the 10th AITUC session at Nagpur (December 1929), sharp factional disputes erupted. The Congress-aligned moderate faction (N.M. Joshi, V.V. Giri) opposed the more militant Communist faction. The split lines:

• Whether to send delegates to ILO and Royal Commission on Labour (Communists opposed; moderates favoured).
• Whether to affiliate with the League Against Imperialism (Communists favoured; moderates opposed).
• Affiliation with Communist Red International of Labour Unions (Profintern).

The moderate faction walked out and formed the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) in 1930. The militant Communist faction at AITUC then reorganised; in 1931, they formed the breakaway All India Red Trade Union Congress (AIRTUC).

1935 Reunion

After the Comintern's "Popular Front" turn (1935) — calling for cooperation against fascism — the Indian Communists rejoined. By 1935, AIRTUC merged back into AITUC. NTUF also rejoined in 1938.

The 1942 Split — Quit India

When the Soviet Union entered WWII (June 1941), the CPI shifted to supporting the British war effort (the "People's War" line). When Gandhi launched Quit India in August 1942, the CPI opposed it as anti-war. This created a bitter rift between CPI-led AITUC and the Congress, which proved permanent.

§8 — Workers' and Peasants' Party

Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP, 1925–28)

The Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP) was a Communist front organisation that operated within the Indian National Congress. The Communist Party of India had been founded at Tashkent in 1920 by M.N. Roy and others, and at Kanpur in 1925 in India proper. Direct Communist organisation was difficult under British surveillance, so the WPP served as a legal front:

• Bengal WPP — Muzaffar Ahmad, Qazi Nazrul Islam (1925).
• Bombay WPP — S.A. Dange, S.S. Mirajkar (1927).
• Punjab WPP — Sohan Singh Josh (1928).
• UP WPP.

The WPPs played a major role in 1928's labour militancy — particularly the 6-month Bombay textile strike (April-October 1928, at the Girni Kamgar Union under Dange) and the Lilooah railway strike. Membership in WPPs was around 5,000-7,000 by 1928. The Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) effectively destroyed the WPPs.

§9 — INTUC and Post-Independence

INTUC (1947) and Post-Independence Labour

INTUC Founded (3 May 1947)

By 1946, AITUC was effectively dominated by the Communist Party of India (CPI). With Independence approaching, the Congress leadership — under Sardar Patel and Gulzarilal Nanda — decided to establish a parallel Congress-aligned federation. The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) was founded on 3 May 1947 at New Delhi:

• President (1st): Suresh Chandra Banerjee.
• General Secretary: Gulzarilal Nanda (later acting PM 1964, 1966).
• Patron: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• Ideological emphasis: Gandhian trusteeship, non-violent industrial relations.

HMS (Hind Mazdoor Sabha, 29 December 1948)

The Congress Socialist Party — uneasy with both the Communist AITUC and the Congress-controlled INTUC — founded its own federation in December 1948: the Hind Mazdoor Sabha. Founders: Ashoka Mehta, Maniben Kara, R.S. Ruikar, Basawon Singh. Affiliated with Praja Socialist Party / Socialist Party of India.

UTUC (1949)

A leftward split from HMS produced the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) in 1949, led by Mrinal Kanti Bose. Affiliated with Forward Bloc and other left groups.

Post-1947 Federations Summary

§10 — Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions