Madras’ tryst with labour movement

Tiruvottiyur temple ‘strike’

One of the earliest strikes in this part of the world was held in the Tiruvottiyur temple in north Madras during the Vijayanagar rule in the 16th century. The temple dancers - or Devadasis as they are known – had several functions to perform other than just dancing before the idol. Once, after reaching the end of their tether, they decided enough was enough, and refused to go to the temple. The unprecedented move paralysed the Tiruvottiyur temple, which was an important shrine. The news about the crisis reached the king, who sent a delegation to sort out the problems and remove the irritants. The temple activities seemed to have resumed soon thereafter.

More labour unions, strikes

Once the first labour union was formed, the workers at other industries in Madras decided to follow the Madras Labour Union’s lead. The workers who took the lead to set up unions were those from the tramway, railway workshops, printing presses, kerosene oil distribution companies, and utensil manufacturers. There were many strikes, too. The contract workers of the cigar factory of McDowell and Co. in George Town struck work in June 1918. Even more effective was the lightning strike by the scavengers of the Madras Corporation seeking an increase in pay in 1927. Such was the stench that the corporation council held a special meeting and resolved to grant the pay hike that the workers demanded. However, not all strikes were successful. Two strikes that went wrong were the tramway strike and the Gemini Studio strike, both resulting in the closure of the companies, and thousands losing their jobs.

The English-speaking Parsi

When union activities picked up in Perambur, it was decided to involve public figures more closely with the union, as it had to stand up to the government. Once when the union leaders went to meet Annie Besant, she was not available. Instead, they met her secretary BP Wadia. A Bombay-born Parsi, Wadia came from India’s oldest shipbuilding company, the Wadias of Bombay. He was also deeply spiritualistic and believed in theosophy. Not surprisingly, Wadia was the last person one would expect to get involved in the trade union movement. But this was the meeting that was to transform Wadia; from a person who only had a vague idea of the B and C Mills, he became the first president of the first trade union within weeks. Every Saturday, Wadia addressed a public meeting that attracted an audience of 20,000 despite intimidation from the British police. Wadia presided over the meeting, with his speech in English translated by Thiru Vi Ka. Today, a park in Perambur honours Wadia’s participation.

Madras Labour Union building

In the early years, trade union members found it difficult to hold their meetings, as the goverment supported managements and threatened anyone who used their meetings with punitive action. So, the leaders collected money and housed the Madras Labour Union in its own building in 1930 - perhaps the first office of a labour union in the country. Moreover, the three-storey building on Strahan's Road is now in a dilapidated condition, and may not survive to witness its century in 2031.

The first Indian May Day

Though it has never elected a Communist government, Madras has the honour of holding not one but the first two May Day celebrations in the country. M Singaravelu Chettiar organised the inaugural Indian Labour Day in two separ ate functions, both of which were held on the seafront. One of these was held at Triplicane Beach, while the other was at the beach opposite Madras High Court (that beachfront does not exist anymore due to the expansion of the Madras Port). Previously, Singaravelu was instrumental in organising a boycott of the Prince of Wales in Madras. When Gandhi reprimanded him after the procedure turned violent, Singaravelu left Congress and returned to championing the workers’ cause. On May 1, 1923, he raised the red flag for the first time in the country’s history. May Day rallies have been very popular ever since.

The Triumph of Labour Statue

For nearly 40 years, the spot opposite the Chepauk Palace, one of the locations from where Singaravelu gave his first May Day call, was the focal point of the city’s May Day celebrations before the Kamaraj government decided to do something more about it. Thus, on the eve of Republic Day in 1959, the Triumph of Labour statue that depicts the hard work of the working class was erected on Marina Beach. Sculpted by renowned artist Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, the principal of Madras School of Art who was influenced by Rodin and was well-known for his impressionistic public sculptures. The statue depicts four individuals involved in moving a massive boulder. They appear to be succeeding in their work, thus symbolising the triumph of labour. It resembles the famous World War II shot of the American Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. A similar sculpture can also be found outside the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.

Thiru Vi Ka boost to workforce

With most of the workers being first-generation migrants and mostly uneducated, the leadership had to come from outside the workforce. Surprising personalities made their entry into the trade union fields. Among them was Tiruvarur Viruttachala Kalyanasundaram, better known by his Tamil initials, Thiru Vi Ka, a Tamil scholar and essayist who is considered to have defined the style of modern Tamil prose. Three letters of his name were adopted by bestselling author Kalki Krishnamurthy as a part of his pen name. He was a Congress activist and was invited to the earliest MLU meetings. Soon, he became the vice president of the union.

The original May Day

May Day was originally a pagan European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer. What changed was an eventful day in 1886, an incident now known as the Chicago Haymarket Affair. On May 4, 1886, a peaceful rally was organised to support the workers of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company who were on a strike seeking an eight-hour work day. During the rally, an unknown person threw a bomb at the police. The gunfire and riot that ensued resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians. After a trial, four workers were hanged. Three years later, the first of May was chosen as the date for International Workers’ Day to commemorate the struggle for an eight-hour workday. May Day parades were fabulous affairs in the Soviet and communist world.

The indomitable Annie Besant

Annie Besant was arguably one of the most important voices of the 20th century. From atheist to women’s rights activist to socialist to Marxist, she changed her political stands almost every decade of her rather long public life. A staunch socialist who believed in the cause of the working class, Annie wrote an article about the poor conditions of the girls working in matchstick factories, which led to the famous London matchstick girl strike of 1888. Interestingly, it is said that Annie did not know of the strike till both sides came to her for a compromise. In Madras, she contributed to the labour movement by lending space for union meetings in the famous Gokhale Hall. She also addressed the union meetings. When rickshaw pullers went on strike after the rickshaw owners hiked the rent from four to five annas, she addressed them and gifted a few rickshaws to be rented to the members at four annas a day.

VV Giri, Labour leader to President

The 1937-39 period, during which the Congress was in power in the Madras Presidency, saw a surge in trade unionism. What came as a shot in the arm for the unions was the fact that VV Giri, who made his mark as a labour leader, was chosen as the Labour Minister. Giri was born in Berhampur in present-day Odisha into a Telugu-speaking family. He founded the All India Railway Men’s Federation in 1923 and served as its general secretary for more than a decade. He was the Workers’ Delegate of the Indian delegation at the International Labour Conference in 1927 and also attended the Second Round Table Conference as a representative of the industrial workers of India. Giri negotiated with Gandhi and obtained his permission for the red flag to be hoisted with the Indian freedom struggle flag. Later, Giri would rise to occupy the presidential palace in the 1960s, being the first President to be elected as an independent candidate.

Government vs workers

Most industries that faced workers’ strikes were British-owned. Naturally, the colonial government armed itself with draconian powers and tried to suppress all exertions of the working class. The police actively intervened on behalf of the employers, escorting strikebreakers to factories, removing protesters’ picket lines by force, and banning meetings and processions in the strike-affected areas. The CID department would threaten those who lent or rented their premises for workers’ meetings. The government also split the striking workers based on religion and caste and broke the strikers’ unity. It deployed about 150 convicts from the Madras Penitentiary to work as machine men. In March 1904, it brought men from Colombo and Rangoon with inducements of extra wages. But there were also times when the government seemingly offered a hand of friendship to labour leaders. It appointed the Royal Commission on Labour (RCL) in July 1929 to inquire into the conditions of labour in India. Incidentally, the Communist Party and trade unions were banned soon after Independence. The ban imposed in 1948 was lifted in 1951.

The Binny Mills struggle

The one strike that led to trade unionism in Madras – and the rest of the country – was the Binny strike in the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills. The mill management made the workers toil for 12 to 16 hours without sufficient wages. Finally, the workers began to protest this exploitation. Between 1921 and 1924, Binny Mills witnessed many struggles, police firing and deaths, all of which made the then British government sit up and take note of the issues. The Indian Labour Act, 1926, was passed in the backdrop of the Binny Mills struggle. Around the same time, inspired by the Madras Labour Union (MLU) formed for the Binny strike, an All India Trade Union Congress was founded to coordinate the functioning of all trade unions in the country. It became the first organised trade union movement in the country.

May Day Park

Excess sewage from Chennai’s rapidly developing south was pumped and treated near the northeast corner of Chinthatripet. On January 28, 1869, the Madras Municipality adopted a resolution recommending the establishment of a park at the site. The park spread across 14.5 acres grew lush and rapid, thanks to the sewage sludge. The park was named after Governor Lord Napier. As the park was close to Simpsons, one of the main employers in Madras, its 3,000 workers began gathering there to air their problems. Soon thereafter, the company union began holding May Day celebrations at the park. In the 1970s, the government understood the significance and renamed it May Day Park.

The Mahabharata route to labour union

Selvapathi Chettiar of Perambur managed a religious institution called Sri Venkatesa Gunamritha Varshini Sabha. Under the patronage of the Sabha, religious sermons were conducted. These bhajans saw the participation of Binny Mill workers who often shared their troubles. It struck Selvapathi Chettiar that the Sabha could be used to muster the workers and organise them. He held a small group meeting consisting of about 30 workers on Vijayadashami Day in 1917 under the auspices of the Sabha. Kannabiran Mudaliar gave a discourse on the Mahabharata and through it explained the need for starting a labour union. The response from the workers was encouraging and thus started the Madras Labour Union.