The Past and Present Society

Communal Riots and Labour: Bengal's Jute Mill-Hands in the 1890s

Author(s): Dipesh Chakrabarty
Source: Past and Present, No. 91 (May, 1981), pp. 140-169
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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COMMUNALRIOTS AND LABOUR:

BENGAL'SJUTE MILL-HANDSIN
THE I 890s*
ON 26 APRIL I 895 THE INDIAN JUTE MANUFACTURES ASSOCIATION

(I.J.M.A.) the organizationof employersin the jute industryof

Bengal wrote to the Bengal governmentasking for "additional
policesupervisionin the RiverineMunicipalitiesstretchingfromCossiporeto Naihati",coveringa distanceof twenty-fivemiles, for controllingthe "riotouscombination"of mill-hands.1 In the sameyear
the Europeanassistants2employedin the jutemills nearBarrackpur
organizeda CossiporeVoluntaryArtilleryForceto meetlabourunrest
"witharms".3Duringthe followingthreeyearsthe I.J.M.A. andthe
BengalChamberof Commercecoercedthe Bengalgovernmentinto
reorganizingand reinforcingthe policeforcein the mill areasof Calcutta itself, and of Hooghly, Howrahand 24-Parganas the three
districtscontainingthe industrialbelt aroundCalcutta.4(See Map.)
A specialFourthCompanyof BengalMilitaryPolicewas formedin
"whencetheycouldbe easilyandrapidlymoved
I897 at Barrackpur,
to any disturbedspot", "for employmenton the occurrenceof disturbanceamong the numerousup-countryoperatives"workingin
the mills on the two sides of the riverHooghly.5
This was a dramaticchangefrom even the recentpast when, in
I892, in replyto a labourcommissioninquiry,both the Bengalgovernmentand the I.J.M.A. hadmadeextremelyconfidentstatements
aboutindustrialpeacein Bengal.6The I.J.M.A. in fact statedthatit
* This is a revisedversionof a paperoriginallypreparedat the Centrefor Studies
in Social Sciences,Calcutta.Thanksare due to severalfriendsand colleaguesfor
commentson drafts,especiallyto ParthaChatterjee,A. K. Bagchi,R. Das Gupta
MaXidSiddiqi, Diana Tonsich, StephenHenninghamand RogerStuart.I am also
gratefulto E. P. Thompsonfordetailed,helpfulcriticism.Mygreatestdebt,however,
is to BarunDe. All errorsaremine.
Association(hereafterI.3t.M.A.),Report,s895 (Call IndianJute Manufactures
cutta, I 896), pp.4-6.
staffin theindustrywereall Europeans,mainlyScots2 The ownersandmanagerial
men.
3 I.3r.M.A.Report,I895, appendix,pp. 76-80.
4 Ibid., pp. 32-9; West BengalStateArchives,Calcutta(hereafterW.B.S.A.), 3udicial(Police),Sept. I897, A no. 85; Apr. I899, A nos. 39-42.
p.
Report,I897-8 (Calcutta,I899), pp. 8-9 ("Summary"),
5 BengalAdministration
N.A.I.), Home(Pol.), June I898, A
4I. NationalArchivesof India, Delhi (hereafter
nos. I33-47.
theRoyalCommission
6 N.A.I., Home(Jdl.),Sept. I892, A no. 280. SeealsoReportof
Papers,I892 [c.6795-XI], XXXVipt.5, [ii], TheColoniesand
onLabour,Parliamentary
theIndianEmpire.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I4I

took "no notice of such disputes' as occurredin the jute mills, and
thatno strikesor lock-outs"of generalinterestor importance7'
ever
took placethere.7
The events that causedsuch a suddenreversalof officialattitude
in I895 are the subjectof this essay. They took the formof a series
of riotsanddisturbancesthatbrokeout unexpectedlyamongthe jute
mill operativesof Bengalbetweenthe years I894 and I897.8 Interestingly,most of these riotsturnedaroundreligiousandcorrsmunity
sentimentsand not aroundpurelyeconomicissues. The riots show
strong communal (Hindu-Muslim)divisions existing among the
workers. Some of the riots, those of I896, were in fact causedby
disturbancesbetweenHindusandMuslims.A prominentexampleof
the issues involved in such communalriots is seen in the Muslim
worker'sdesire to kill cows on the occasion of festivals such as
Bakr-Id,9and in the activeoppositionto this sacrificeby the Hindu
worker.But there were also instances some in I894-5 and in the
Tallariotof I 897-when only Muslimsor Hindusriotedagainstthe
authoritiesoveressentiallycommunaldemands.The period,it seems)
sawthe growthof "communityconsciousness'amongsignificantsections of the mill workers.
The officialfingerpointedto "the massesof ignorantup-country
mill hands [who] . . . evince now-a-daysa greatertendencyto combine readilythan was formerlythe case,10 as the main sourceof
trouble.The up-countrymen referredto were the Hindi- or Urduspeakingmigrantworkersfrom the areasnow coveredby Biharand
Uttar Pradesh(previouslycalled North-WestProvincesand Oudh,
andlaterthe UnitedProvincesor U.P.). They wereindeedthe main
participantsin the riots; from all availableevidencethis appearsto
be true, thoughofficialthinkingaboutthemobviouslyinvolveda lot
of racist stereotyping.1lIt is difficult to know exactly how many
up-countryoperativestherewereat the jutemillsin I900. The census
datado not help. However,an inquiryin JuneI 895by one Mr. Pratt,
a deputy commissionerof police, revealedthat out of about70,000
jute mill workerssurveyed,between 3s,ooo and 40,ooo were "inhabitantsof the congesteddistrictsof the North WesternProvinces
andBihar".12 Anotherestimatefor I90I pUt the up-countryshareof
' I.7.M.A. Report,z892 (Calcutta,I893), p. I7.
After I898 the labour-market
was disruptedfor some time when there was an
outbreakof plaguein Calcutta:Censusof India, I9II v, pt. I, p. 72.
9 The Bakr-Idfestivalcommemorates
the PatriarchAbraham'ssacrificeof his son
Isaac.
10W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Sept. I897, A no. 92; BengalChamberof Commerce
(hereafterB.C.C.), Report,Feb. I895 - ffan. I896, 2 vols. (Calcutta,I896), ii, pp.
695-6.
11By I898, up-countrymen weredescribedas having"unknownantecedents. . .
extremelyexcitableat times and . . . likely tO act together":N.A.I. Home (Pol.)
June I898, A nos. I33-47. See alson. I8 below.
12 Citedin TheReportof theLabourEnquiry
Commattee
(Calcutta,I896), para.IO.
8

I42

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

the mill labourforce at more than 60 per cent.'3 This would have
beenmainlya malelabourforce, as the femaleandchildlabourcomponent in the jute mills was alwayssmall (nevermore than 25 per
cent).14
The sourcesused hereareconventional:mainlygovernmentdocuments,policereportsandnewspaperaccounts.The evidenceis scrappy. Muchof whatI say is conjecturalin nature.
II
THE EARLY I890S: A COMMUNALCULTURE EMERGES

Calcuttaand its suburbsappearto have enjoyeda fairlypeaceful

historyof communalrelationsoverlargepartsof the nineteenthcentury.15But from the early I890S onwardsa communalculturegrew
in the northernparts of Calcuttaand its northernsurburbs,areas
which had concentrationsof immigrantmerchantsand labourers.16
The first recordedMuslim riot broke out at Shyambazarin north
Calcuttain I89I. The issue was the demolitionof a buildingalleged
to be a mosque.17Interestingly,the s,ooo-strongcrowdin the riot
hada verylargeup-countrycomponent,mostlyJolahas,membersof
a MuslinweavingcastefromBiharandU.P. 18 Immediatelyafterthe
Shyambazarriot severalincidentsof conflictbetweenHindus and
Muslimstookplacein thearealooselydescribedasChitpur,especially
at Machuabazarwhich had a large settlementof immigrantMuslims.19The Urdupressof the city reportedin detailthe Hindu-Muslim "kine-killingriots" of Biharand U.P. of the early I890S.2?In
13 RanajitDas Gupta, "FactoryLabourin EasternIndia: Sourcesof Supply,
I855-I946,
Some PreliminaryFindings",IndianEcon. and Social Hist. Rev., Xiii
(I976),
p. 296.
4 Radhakamal
Mukherjee,TheIndianWorking
Class(Bombay,I948), p. 2I0.
15 S. N. Mukherjee's
currentresearchon the socialhistoryof Calcuttain theperiod
I806-66 confirmsthis impression:
personalcommunication
to the author.
16 Comparethe surprisecausedin the contemporary
Bengalpressby the Muslim
riot of I89I, the firstin the city: "No riot of this natureever occurredin Calcutta.

Why were the Mahamedansso excited?":Reporton NativePress(Bengal)(hereafter

R.N.P.B.), [for the week ending]23 May I89I. For a descriptionof the socialand
culturalaspectsof lifein the northernpartsof thecity(theareacoveredby Burrabazar,
ChitpurandKashipur),seeJ. H. Broomfield,EliteConflict
ina PluralSociew(Bombay,
I968), pp. I-417 This wasto becomea frequentissuefor riotingin northCalcuttathroughout
the
I890S. The Tallariotsof I897 discussedbelowfall into this pattern.
18 N.A.I., Home (Public),June I89I, A nos. 63-7. By I900, weaversin the jute

millswereusuallyJolahas,a "notoriously
ignorantandsuperstitious
people[who]took
the lead . . . in the Calcuttaplagueriots [of I898]": W.B.S.A., GeneralMisc., June
I900, A nos. I-8; S. H. Freemantle,Reporton the Supplyof Labourto the United
ProvincesandBengal(Nainital,I 906), para.40.
19See, for example,AmritaBazarPatrika,2I July I893, "Editorial";R.N.P.B.,
29 Apr. I893, 6 JulyI895. By "Chitpur"
I referto the areathroughwhichtheChitpur
Roadran.
20 See R.N.P.B., vols. for I893, especiallyfor the monthsof Juneand July;Muhammadan
Observer,I894, passim(onlythe I894 vol. seemsto be availablein India).

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I43

MAP
AREASAFFEGTEDBY MILL DISTURBANCESI894-I897

O0

Marked portion shows roughly the area

::::::::::
of occurrence of the 1897 riot
---

SHAM
NAGAR

Calcutta boundaries as in 1911

-District

bounda ry

TITAGARH

cS
RISHRA

KAMARHATI

' (COSSIPORE)
miles

$
o

aD\*.

..

SEALDAH
>-o

o w. v

I44

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

the Muslimleadersof the city-most of them Urdu-speaking

memorializedthe governmenton the subjectof its circularrestrictingcow-killingin the Bengalmunicipalities.21
Earlier,in OctoberI893, the Muslimbutchersof Calcuttawerecomplainingabout
"theconductof the Hindusin not sellingcow to them".22Aboutthe
sametime, a GorakshiniSabha(CowProtectionSociety),apparently
formedby the north CalcuttaMarwaris(aboutwhom more later),
starteddistributingstronglyanti-Muslimleafletsin the suburbs.The
leafletscreated"some excitement",and "the Police Commissioner
had to stop . . . [their]distribution".23
A significantrumblingof communaldemandswas also heardin
the yearsI 894-5in the jutemills. Sectionsof the millworkersbecame
extremelyassertiveaboutobservingtheirreligiousfestivals,including
those of Id, Bakr-Id,Muharramand RathJatra.24Disturbancesoccurredoverdemandsfor paidleaveduringthesefestivals.Therewas
a Bakr-Idriot, for instance,at BaranagarJute Mills in I894, and "a
littledisturbance"at KamarhatiJuteMillswheretheMuslimworkers
were refusedleave.25In I895 similarriots took placeat the mills in
Titagarh,Baranagarand Kamarhati.At the GoureporeJuteand Oil
Mills, Muslimsdemandedholidaysfor the Id, Bakr-Idand Muharramfestivals,whileHindusaskedforleaveon the dayof RathJatra.26
The Empressof India CottonMills grantedsuch leave, and so did
the VictoriaJute Mills in Hooghly, where the Hindus also "were
givenhalf a day for RathJatra".27At the cottonmillsat Shamnagar
no holidaysweregiven for RathJatraor Muharram.The mill-hands
thereforetook them "forcibly"by "threatening"the mill with a
strike. At the adjoiningShamnagarJute Mills, where only thrce
hours'leave had been grantedfor Id and Bakr-Id,the "cooliesdeterminedto take, and took, a whole day at the Muharram".28
"A
day", therefore,was given at Rath Jatra.Similarly,"holidayswere
claimedandtakenthisyear[I 895]"at themillsin Kankinara,whereas
I894

Muhammadan
Obsener,II Jan. I894, p. I3.
R.N.P.B., I 4 Oct. I89323 R.N.P.B., 2 Sept. I893. The leaflethad "picturesrepresenting
a cow with the
namesof the Hindudeitiesinscribedon its body,andaboutto be attackedby a butcher
knifein hand",whorepresentedthe Muslims.The leafletborea remarkable
similarity
to thosedistributedby Hindusduringthe cow-killingriotsin BiharandU.P. at this
time. See N.A.I., Home (Public),Dec. I893, A no. 2I2.
24 The Id festivaloccursat the end of Ramadanthe ninthmonthof the Muslim
yearduringwhichstrictfastingis observedduringdaylighthours.ForBakr-Idsee n.
9 above.The Muharramfestivalcelebratesthe end of the periodof fastingandpublic
mourningobservedduringthe firstmonthof the Muslimyearin commemoration
of
the deathsof FIassanandHusain.RathJatrais the chariotfestivalof the Hindus.
2s W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Jan. I896, A nos. 6-II.
26 I.7.M.A. Report,I896 (Calcutta,I897), appendix,pp. 76-80. The Hinduswere
probablytoo dividedby casteto havethe samefestivalsfor all. This mayexplainthe
Muslimpreponderance
xnthe data.
27 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Jan. I896, A nos. 6-II.
28 I
M.A. Report,I896, pp. 76-80.
21
22

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I45

at the LowerHooghlyJute Mills, whereholidayswere "givenliberally", therewas "no discontentat present".29

The most interestingpoint aboutthese demandsis of coursetheir
novelty "Lastyear[I894] andin the formeryearstheywerenever
This new accenton religiousandcommunityfestivals
demanded".30
revealedto the authorities"quite a new attitudeon the part of the
mill coolies''.31Thus the BaranagarJute Mill workersin I895 were
reportedly"moreexactingthanthey had been hitherto"."Lastyear
they had no Muharramholidays at all, but this year they took
them 32
The demandsalso reveala new communityconsciousnesson the
partof theworkers.The Muslimworkerwasemphasizingthe Muslim
part of his identity, the Hindu, the Hindu part. In 1894-5 this did
conflicts,33but the
not yet leadto communal(thatis Hindu-M^uslim)
I896 Bakr-Idriots in the jute mills were indeed communal.As our
discussionof these and the I897 riot will show, such community
consciousnesson the partof the mill worker,especiallythe migrant,
wasonly to growover time both in its depthand spread.
III
THE MILL RIOTS OF I 896

The Bakr-Idriot at Titagarhin I 896 startedwhenMahomedHossain, an up-countrybricklayerworkingat the constructionsite of the

StandardJute Mills, broughtin a heiferto be sacrificed.The heifer
was stolen by a group of four men GaneshLalla, GaneshMisr,
both dunvans(watchmen)at the constructionsite, Chowkia Hindu
bricklayer,and Ghamundia carteremployedby the firmof contractors Messrs. AndersonWallaceand Company.34These men (Lalla
andMisrsuggestingup-countryorigin)wereopposedto the sacrifice
of cows on Bakr-Id.In the ensuing riots, however,workersof the
neighbouringTitagarhPaperMillsandthe TitagarhJuteMillsjoined
in, takingsides accordingto communalallegiance.Wordhadspread
fromthe "Titaghurmosque",whereabout300 Muslimsfromneighbouringareas congregatedon the morningof Bakr-Idand where
MahomedHossairsand other Muslim bricklayershad gone to say
their prayers.About "300 or more Hindus and I80 Mahomedans"
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
3t Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 The statementneeds to

be qualified.Englishman,27 May I896, p. 5, reported

that there had been, "for sometimepast", "badblood betweenthe Hindu and the
and
Mahomedanemployeeson both sides of the riverin the vicinityof Barrackpore
Serampore".
34 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Aug. I896, A nos. 4-5.

I46

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

tookpartin the riotwheresloganslike "MarHindusalalog (Beatup

the blasted Hindus!)" were frequently shouted in frenzied outbursts.35A newspaperaccount of some of the principalMuslims
accused(andlaterconvicted)in the casegives an idea of the kind of
peopleinvolvedin the riot: "Dhanuk[Sheik]is a boilermaker['the
secondboilersirdar'in the TitagarhPaperMills], ShamadAli a labourerbut now sells vegetables;Roia [Sheikh]is a cooliein the old
JuteMills;Ramjan[Sheikh]usedto workin the papermills, butnow
worksin the Jute Mills", whereSukur,anotherof the accused,was
also employed.36These men fought for theirright to sacrificecows
on Bakr-Id.Obviouslya feeling of communityembracedthem all,
the relativelyskilled, the unskilledandthe formerfactoryworker.
The Bakr-Idriot at the Lower HooghlyJute Mill also witnessed
conflictbetweenHinduandMuslimimmigrants.Heretoo on the day
of Bakr-Id,the Muslimssacrificeda cow, and in revengesomeChamarsand Dosadhs(low-casteup-countryHindus)killeda pig within
the mill premises.37It was reportedthatthe "low-casteHindusgave
out that they [too] would have a . . . porab[festival]as well as the
Muhammadans".
The night"passedquietly",and"themenallcame
to workthe next morningabout5 A.M.". The mill was shortof yarn
on this particularday, so the weavers,all Muslimsas wasquiteusual,
were given a three-hourbreak. "During the intervalthe Muhammadanswere talkingtogether,and they askedthe managerwhathe
wasgoing to do with the men who hadkilled the pig". Passionsrose
andthe Muslimsrefusedto resumework"till the businessof the pig
hadbeensettled".Thereafterthe riotstarted,the Muslimmill-hands
aggrievedthat while they had been forbiddento hold theirsacrifice
within the mill premises, the low-casteHindus had actuallybeen
permittedto do so.38
As in the Bakr-Idriot at Titagarh,here also Muslimmill-hands
from neighbouringareasshowed a readinessto come to help their
co-religionists."Someoutside Muhammadans"
were reportedlyalreadyinside the mills, and madea demandjointlywith the Muslim
workersthat the Chamarsand Dosadhsbe madeover to them. On
the eveningof the sameday, the Hinduemployeesraisedthe alarm,
sayingthata largeMuslimforcewas comingdown"to beatthe Hindus at the mill". At the same time, about three hundredMuslims
arrived,probablyfrom the GardenReach and Metiabrujarea, in
orderto "protecttheirco-religionistslivingin the [cooly]lines"who
feareda big Hindu attackon them.39Finally, when "a numberof
Muhammadan
employesof the UpperHooghlyJuteMillsat Garden
35
36
37
38
39

Ibid., nos. I3-I4; Englishman,

2 June I896, p. 3.
Englishman,
2 June I896, p. 3; 26 June I896, p. 6.
W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos. 36-8; Englishman,
2 MayI896,
Englishman,
2 May I896, p. 3.
Ibid.

p. 3.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I47

Reachleft work [on 26 June I 896] with the objectof helpingfriends

in the lowerMills", the managersmadepeaceby dismissingthe durwans. Work was resumedbut communaldiscontentcontinuedto
smoulder.A "largenumberof Mahomedans"of the LowerHooghly
Jute Mills appearedon 2gth June beforethe jointmagistrateof A1iporeand complainedagainstthe Hinduemployees,"chargingthem
with killinga pig in theirpresencewhile they wereengagedin their
prayerson the occasionof the Bakr-Id,and therebywoundingtheir
religiousfeelings".40
Communalpassionswere similarlyarousedto a high pitch in the
Bakr-Idriotat Rishra(in Serampore,Hooghlydistrict),whereHindu
and Muslim employeesof the HastingsJute Mill were involved.41
The Muslimshad madeit knownin the localitythat they would be
sacrificinga cow that year, and a petitionin protestof the sacrifice
was made to Mr. Lister) the sub-divisionalofficer,by Hindu millhands, as well as shopkeepers,"mainly. . . telis"42of the "Rishra
Bustee",headedby a "richMarwarishopkeeper".One of the petitionerssaid, "EightdaysagoI heardBunaMian,a workerin Hastings
Mill, say that they would kill cows. I also heard Khuda Mian, a
weaver,say [that]three days ago". This was on I8th May, six days
beforeBakr-Id.On 2ISt MayListerreceiveda petitionfromMuslim
workers,headedby one MultanMian, askingfor permissionto kill
cows, whereupona counter-petitionwas submittedby fifty Hindus
saying that "Korbani[animal sacrifice]at Rishra should be forbidden".
Listerimmediatelyarrested"someeight to ten personswho were
heardto consult"on the questionof sacrificinga cow "within[the
Rishra]musfid[mosque]",andso he placedthe buildingunderpolice
guard.NazirMian, the imamof the mosque,who who was regarded
by local Muslimsas a fakir, had reportedlybeen to Barrackpurto
organizehelpfromthe Muslimworkersof Titagarhin caseof anyriot
with the Hindus. He hadalso sent a letterto Calcuttaaskingfor men
to fight the Hindus. The letterwas interceptedand Nazir Mianwas
arrestedwhen he returnedon the eve of Bakr-Id.Cow sacrificewas
forbidden.On 24th May, the firstdayof Bakr-Id,the wholeareawas
tense. Both Hinduand Muslimmill-handsrefusedto go to workand
spentthe day in keepingan eye on eachother. Onlymeasureswhich
includeda strongpolice detachmentnear the mosque, forcedstoppageof "Ingressof Mahomedansinto the town", and bandsof constablespatrollingall over the town succeededin preventinga riot.
Englishmann
I July I896, p. 6.
This accountis basedon W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I898 A nos. 52-7;Englishman,29 May I896, p. 6; R.N.P.B., I3 June I896.
42 Teli,literally"oil pressers"-traditional money-lenders
in Bengal.
40
41

I48

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

IV
COW-KILLING: AN IMPORTED ISSUE

Whatis the importof this suddenemphasisplacedby mill-hands

on communalissues such as cow-killing?
The very fact that cow-killingbecamesuch an importantissue in
the I894-6 riotsstronglysuggeststhe up-countrysocialoriginsof the
rioters.For cow-killingriots had never been seen in Bengalto any
significantextent,43whereastheyragedin districtsof BiharandU.P.
such as Ballia,Benares,Azamgarh,Gorakhpur,Arrah,Saran,Gaya
and Patna throughoutthe years I888-93, that is the period just
precedingthe troubledyearsat the Calcuttajutemills.44The districts
affectedwerealso typicallythe supplyareasfor immigrantlabourers
in Bengal'sjutemillsandotherindustries."Cow-killing"thus seems
to havebeenan "imported"issue. Someobservationsof contemporaryofficialsconfirmthis. For instance,duringthe Rishrariot(I896),
Mr. J. Laing, the magistrateof Hooghly, who had had his "own
personalexperiencein the kine-killing[riotsat] . . . Gaya,Arrahand
Saran",observedthat "the disturbingelementat Rishrawas composed of the very samelow-class,ignorant,religiousfanaticswhom
I had to dealwith in thosedistricts. . .".45
As is well known,untilthe yearsI885-6, "allthe hands[in the jute
mills] were Bengalis".46Later they were gradually"displacedby
Hindusthanisfrom the United Provincesand Bihar",and by I9I6I8 Bengalis formed "only about a tenth of the jute mill labour
force".47It is preciselythis immigrantlabourforcethat took partin
communaldisturbances,and we have to look at the differentwaves
in whichthey came.
BetweenI 89I and I900-I, the numberof workersin the jutemills
rosefrom6I ,698 to I I I ,272, of whomby I 900 morethan60 percent
were up-countrylabourers.48If we correlatethis with the figures
availablefor the increaseof loomsin the jutemills (see Table I), we
cansee thatuntilthe yearI 894 therewasprobablyverylittleaddition
to the numberof up-countrymen who hadbeenemployedin the jute
43 Compare the reaction of a Bengali newspaper to the mill riots of I896: "This is
the first year in which cow-killing quarrels have taken place in Bengal, and that in the
vicinity of the metropolis": R.N.P.B., 27 June I896. But there were a few minor and
individual cases of Hindu zemindar oppression of Muslim peasants over this question,
especially in the eastern districts of Bengal (now Bangladesh):R.N.P.B., for the years
I 893-644 See N.A.I., Home (Public), Jan. I894, B nos. 309-4I4.
45 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos. 55-6.
46 B. Foley, ReportonLabourin Bengal(Calcutta, I906), para. 29.
47 A. R. Murray, "Note on the Industrial Development in India", in
IndianIndustrialCommission, 6 vols. (Calcutta, I9I8-I9), Vi, pp. I03-I3.

Reportof the

The story of
this replacement is not yet fully told, far less explained, but a good summary of the
available data is in Das Gupta, "Factory Labour in Eastern India".
48 Freemantle, Reporton theSupplyof Labourto the UnitedProvinces
andBengal,
para. 39; Das Gupta, op. cit., p. 297, table 6.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

t49

millsin I 890. In I 894a majorexpansiontookplacein theemployment

capacityof the mills, for the firsttime in thatdecade.The processof
expansioncontinuedthroughI896-7 with the settingup of six new
mills.
TABLE

INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF LOOMSIN BENGAL JUTE MILLS

I889-I897*
Name of mill

I 889

I 890

I 89 I

I 892

I 893

I 894

I 895

I 896

I 897

Champdani
Wellington
Howrah
Shamnagar
Titagarh
Victoria
Kamarhati
Kankinara
Hastings
Budge Budge
Union
Baranagar
Clive
Shibpur
Ganges Manuf.
India
Gourepore
Fort Gloster
Hooghly
Gordon
Anglo-Indian
Alliance
Standard
Khardah

358
260

358
260

358
260

358
260

358
260

430
276

430
277

430
277

480
277

5??
458
260
I68
320
3 Io

5??
458
260
I68
320
320

50?
458
260
I68
320
320

500
458
260
I68
320
420

55 I
458
260
I68
320
420

55 I
560
400
340
320
420

646
560
435
374
459
420

646
560
600
374
459
420

646
560
707
3?4
508
436

5I5
460

5I5
460

5I5
460

5I5
460

5I5
460

52I
460

52I
460

52I
762

522
780

35?
769
I 5o
300

35?
769
I 5o
300

35?
769
I 5o
300

350
769
I 5o
300

350
769
I 5o
300

35 I
799
I 62
500

375
809
I 62
500

375
944
272
735

390
I 053
272
850

4?3
300
286

4?3
300
286

4?3
300
286

403
300
3??

403
300
3??

4I2
300
4I5

4I 3
300
4I5

550
300
4I5

550
354
665

253

253

253

253

253

370

500

500

397
8I5

8 I

8I5
I 848
I848

352
3oo
240
3oo

829
280
352
320
240
3oo

* Note and source: Indian Jute ManufacturesAssociation,Reportsfor I889-97

(Calcutta,I890-8). Whereno figuresaregiven,therelevantmillswerenotin operation.

Thus in I894-7 we havea sizeablecomponentof up-countrymillhands,a numberof whomwere,in addition,entirelynewto industrial

work. It was naturalthat their past attitudes,memoriesand prejudices would also form "freshrecruits",as it were, in the formation
of a socialoutlookof this groupof people.A tellingpieceof evidence
is the argumentwhich a workerat Rishragave to Mr. Listeras his
reasonfor insistingon killing a cow on Bakr-Id,claimingthat "he
hadeveryyearsacrificeda cow in his own country,andit washardthat
he shouldnow be prohibitedfrom so doing, merelybecausehe had
changedhis residence".49There was thus an "immigrantmind" at
work.
49W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos. 55-6.

I50

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

v
COMMUNITY CONSCIOUSNESSAND THE LABOUR-MARKET

Whatwashappening,however,wasnot justa meretransferof past

attitudesinto a new situationof industrialwork.Life in industryhad
elementswhich helped such attitudesto persistand grow.5')To explainthat phenomenon,we now turn to a discussionof the jute mill
labour-market.
In the absenceof any significantgrowthof otherindustriesin the
narrowindustrialbelt aroundCalcutta,especiallyin the absenceof
any significantengineeringindustry,5lthe jute mills were the most
importantemployerof industriallabourin a marketwheresupplyof
labouralwaysoutstrippeddemand.In I9II, for example,jutemills
employedmore than 73 per cent of the factorylabourforce in the
industrialareasof Hooghly,Howrah,24-Parganas
andCalcutta.(See
Table2.)
TABLE 2
FACTORYLABOUR IN BENGAL I9I I*

Jute mills
Brick and tile factories
Jute presses
Printing presses
Cotton mills
Machinery and engineering factories

Number
of factories

Number
of workers

so

200,446
22,0I9
I3,842
I2, I 7I
I I ,752
II,7I4

I6I
I09
I03
I8
37

* Note and source: Adapted from Ranajit Das Gupta, "Factory Labour in Eastern
India: Sources of Supply, I855-I946,
Some Preliminary Findings", IndianEcon.and
SocialHist. Rev., xiii (I976), p. 284, table 2, which is based on census data for I9II.
The above table underestimates the proportion of workers who were employed in jute
mills, as some of those mentioned would have been situated outside the industrial
region of Calcutta.

Work in the jute mills requireda low degree of skill and little
rigoroustraining.52Workersthereforewerehighlyreplaceable,and
since the mills had a pull on the entirelabour-market
of Bihar,U.P.
andOrissa,the industrycouldeasilyaffordto changethe socialcom50 Cow-killing riots, for example, were to break out in the jute mill labour milieu
even in I898, while such rioting in the labour supply areasceased after I893-4: N.A.I.,
Home (Public), July I898, B nos. 80-I.
51 The slow growth of the engineering industry is traced in A. K. Bagchi, Private
Investment
in India, I900-I939(Cambridge, I972), pp. 302-3.
52 The labour process in the mills was simple and repetitive: S. G. Barker, Report

ontheScientificandTechnical
Development
of the3'uteManufacturing
IndustCinBengal
withanAddendaon3'ute,itsScientific
NatureandInfortnation
RelevantThereto
(Calcutta,
I 935) -

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I5I

positionof its work-forcewheneverthis was to its advantage.53

Stability of labourwas not in itself a crucialconcernto the industryas,
over the long run, laboursupplywas abundant,thoughtherewere
someperiodsof temporaryscarcity.
Whatconcernedthe industrymost, then, wasa steadysupplyand
control of labour. Also, being a labour-intensiveindustry where
labouralone accountedfor more than 50 per cent of the "cost of
conversion",54
the juteindustryhadto finda relativelylessexpensive
means of recruitingand controllingits labourforce. For instance
housing, which involvedcapitalexpenditure,was never thoughtof
as a meansof control:in I897 only I3u5 per cent of the work-force
lived in company-builtcooly-lines.55The industry'sanswerto its
problemof supplyand controlwas the sardartsystem.
Sardari,or "jobbery"as it was called in English, is probablyan
exampleof a pre-colonial,pre-capitalistinstitutionbeing made an
essentialfeatureof the processof industrialization
in a colony.56 Simply put, the sardarwas both a recruiterand supervisorof labour.He
was of the same social origin as the ordinaryworker. He had the
poweralso to effect dismissal.He indulgedin all kinds of financial
extortions,whichincludedtakinga dastooC(commission)fromeach
of his recruits.In the jutemillshe wasalsotheworkers'money-lender
and landlord, and his major economic instrumentof control was
debt-bondage.57
The sardar'smodeof operationhad somecrucialpre-capitalistelements. For one thing, he alwaysrecruitedon the basis of the often
overlappingnetworksof community,villageandkin,58makingsuch
53 Thus it is interestingto observethatthe replacement
of Bengalisby up-country
workersin themillsin themid-I 8gostookplaceata timewhenmillworkwasbecoming
more onerousand Bengaliworkershad startedcomplaining.Electriclightingwas
introducedto themillsin I 895.The "workingdaywasincreasedto I 5 hours,Saturdays
included,which involvedan additionalamountof clearingand repairingwork on
Sundays",but not everywherewith a correspondingincreasein wages. A witness
beforethe I908 FactoryCommissionstatedthat this was the time whenthe Bengalis
cameto dislikemill work. See D. R. Wallace,TheRomanceof3'ute(Calcutta,I909)
pp. 49-50;IndianFactoryLabourCommission,
2 vols. (London,I909)
ii, p. 27I.
54 D. H. Buchanan,TheDevelopment
of Capitalistic
Enterprise
in India(New York
I934), p. 250.
55 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Sept. I897,

A nos. 95-9. Calculatedfroma list submitted

by the inspector-general
of police,Bengal.
56 Professor
AshinDasGuptahasencounteredjobberyin his researchon pre-British
Surat:personalcommunicationto the author.For an instanceof jobberyin Bengal,
in the pre-factorydaysof the earlynineteenthcentury,see D. Chakrabarty
andR. Das
Gupta,"Functionsof the Nineteenth-Century
Banian:A Oocument",Economicand
PoltttcalWeekly,1X no. 35 (Aug. I974), pp. M73-s. For a discussionof jobberyas a
ublquitousform of labourrecruitmentand controlin Indianindustrialization,
see
Reportof theRoyalCommission
onLabourin India, I I vols. (London,I93I; hereafter
R.C.L.I.), i, pp. 22-4.
57 R.C.L.I., i, pp. 22-458 "Sirdars
[sardars]
in the jutemills,engineeringworks,andotherconcernsrecruit
in theirownnativevillagesandsurrounding
areas;hence,thereis a tendencyforpeople
from the same villageor the immediateneighbourhoodto congregatein the same
industrialareain Bengal":R.C.L.I., v. pt. I, p. II.

I52

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

linksextremelyvaluableto the worker.The basisof the sardar'ssocial

controlof the work-forcelay in manoeuvringtheserelationships,and
the ideologiesand socialnormsassociatedwith them. Sardarswould
thushavedominatedthe castepanchayatsof up-countryHinduworkers which were alreadyin existencein I890 and which the contemporaryFactoryCommissionreportedon.59Muslimulama(priests),
whoseinfluenceoverup-countryMuslimworkerswasso visibleduring the riot at Rishrain t896,6?must have had the sardarsas their
patronsand cohorts.For the ulamawere attachedto mosques,and
mosquesin working-classlocalitiessituatedin jute mill districtsare
still namedafterimportantsardars.61
Thus the sardarimode of recruitmentand controlwent hand in
handwith the retentionof communityconsciousnessandotherforms
of pre-capitalistideologyin the working-classmilieu.62In the midI890S, as demandfor jobs grew, the sardar'spowersincreased,and
with thatthe worker'scommunityconsciousnessbecamemoremanifest.
The I890Swere a period of over-supplyin the jute mill labourmarket,whenimmigrationfromU.P. into Bengalreachedits peak.63
Between I89I-2 and I90I-2, the net increasein Hooghly, Howrah,
24-Parganasand Calcuttaof migrantsfrom Bihar,U.P. and Orissa
was I82,536.64Even if we assumethat the entireintake(48,492)in
the jute mill work-forcein this decadeconsistedonly of migrants,
and that other factories(see Table 2) had an absurdlyhigh rate of
growth, employingin this period as many people (all of them migrants)as they did in I9I I (thatis 7I ,498), we wouldstill be left with
morethan50,000unemployedmigrantsin the jutelabourbelt. When
we add to this figurethe numberof Bengalis65who mayhavesought
Reportof theIndianFactoro?
Commission
of I890 (Calcutta,I890), p. 85.
An alim(Muslimpriest),for example,declaredRishraduringthe I896 riotto be
a "dur-ul-harb
i.e. a countryof Kaf irs[unbelievers]againstwhomit is lawfulto make
warorJ^had":
R .N.P.B ., I 3 June I 896.
61 This information
is basedon my own field-work,includingan interview(on 5
Aug. I976) with a ninety-year-old
up-countrysardarin the Bhatparaarea,calledIshaqueSardar,who hasa mosquein his ownnamein thatarea.Note alsohowmosques
figurein all the riotsof I896.
62 We do not knowto whatextentlocalBengaliworkerswererecruitedby sardars
butfromtwentieth-century
evidenceit wouldseemtheywereless amenableto sardar
controlthan the migrantas they often lived in theirown housesand had theirown
smallplots of landto cultivate.For the migrantworkerthe sardar,besidesbeingthe
money-lender,was often the landlordas well. This point has been toucheduponin
RogerStuart, "The Formationof the CommunistPartyof India, I927-I937: The
Dilemmaof the IndianLeft"(AustralianNationalUniv. Ph.D. thesis, I978), ch. 3.
63 Das Gupta,"FactoryLabourin EasternIndia",p. 290, table3.
64 Ibid. The Orissacomponentwasextremelysmall,so thatfiguremainlyrelatesto
people from Biharand U.P. These peoplemigratedmostlywithouttheir families:
Censusof India,I9OI, Vi, pt. I, p. I42. We maythereforereasonably
takethisto be the
figurefor lnigrantjob-seekers.For thesepeoplecategoriessuchas "dependants"
and
"unemployed"
coalesce.
6s The Bengalipopulationof these districtsincreasedby 265,6I3
betweenI89I-2
and I90I-2.
59
60

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I53

work in the same areasof occupation,we have a high numberof

unemployed,surelyexceedingIoo,ooo.66
The operationsof sardarscouldonlyhaveaddedto the actualphysical competitionin the labour-market,as sardancorruption(that is,
the takingof bribesfor everyrecruit)usuallyled to a high turnover
in the mills.67The growingcrisisof the jute mill labourforcein the
mid-I8gosshowsthroughsomeof the eventsof the time. In October
I893 at a Howrahjute mill, "old and new workmen"fought with
each other. "The former struck work as their pay had been reduced".68There were strikes,and managerswere attackedin a few
mills. Workerswere essentiallyfightingwage cuts. The Kankinara
Jute Mills, Dunbar ShamnagarCotton Mills and ChampdaniJute
Mills were some of the sites involved.69The scramblefor jobs (especiallywhen the mills were expandingin the mid-I8gos)and the
consequentweakeningof the workers'bargainingpoweris reflected
in the wage data. The index of the averagereal wage (takingthe
averagefor I 890-4 as the base)for the jutemill workersfell firstfrom
I08 in I895 to I05 in I896, and then to 9I in I897.7?
In such a scramblefor work, the sardarin his capacityof recruiter
would undoubtedlyhave been crucialto the worker'slife.71Communalconnectionsthroughwhich the sardarfoundhis recruits,and
thereforecommunityconsciousness(which sardaricontrolfostered
anyway),would have become extremelyimportantto the worker,
especiallyto the migrantin searchof work. Such communityconsciousnesswasindeedrevealedin the demandforholidaysin I894-5.
In factthe newaccent72on cow-killingin I 896 showsa recenttightening of communalbonds, for the priceof a cow was suchthatit could
not be boughtwithoutraisingsubscriptionsfromthe community.73
Communityconsciousnesswas then, in a sense, the migrantworkYet surelyit was
er's substitutefor closed-shoptrade-unionism.74
66 Someof themwouldhavebeenabsorbedin the tertiarysector,but employment
in thatsectorwas usuallyof a temporaryandcasualnature.
Class,pp. 37-9.
67 Mukherjee,
IndianWorking
68 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Jan. I896, A nos. 6-II.
Report,I895-6 (Calcutta,I897), pp. I35-6;
69 Ibid. See alsoBengalAdministration
N.A.I., Home(Jdl.), Dec. I896, A no. 24I.
intotheRise in Pricesin India, 8 vols. (Calcutta,
70 K. L. Datta,Reporlon Enquiry
I9I4),
71

ii, pp.

I94-5.

of powerfulandoppressivesardars
IndeedfromI 893 onwardswe hearincreasingly
in the jutemills:W.l3.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Jan. I896, A nos. 6-I I; BengalAdministration
Report,I895-6.
sacrificedin mill areasin earlieryears,at
72 Goatsseem to have been customarily
leastsince I892: W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos. 55-6.
73 In the Bakr-Idriot at Titagarhin I896, for example,the heiferwas boughtfor
five rupeesfourannas,whilethe weeklywageof the weaverfluctuatedbetweenthree
anc S1X rupees,approximately.The weaverwas usuallythe highestpaidworkerin a
jute mill. See W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Aug. I896, A nos. 4-5; Reportof theLabour
para.49.
EnquilyCommtttee,
of mill workers,formedat Kankinara
74 We can now see why the firstorganization
in I895, wouldcall itself the MahomedanAssociationandhaveas its principalobjectivesthe recruitingof moreMuslimsto jutemillworkandthe renovatingof mosques:
ii, pp. 263-4.
IndianFactoryLabourCommission,
.

PAST AND PRESENT

I54

NUMBER 9 I

much more than just that. In a life characterizedby the preponderance of men, unstablemarriages,75precariousliving conditions,76
and desperategamblingin yearsof risingprices,77socializationusually took place accordingto communallines. Hindus and Muslims
oftenlivedin separatebustis(slumdwellings).78The castepanchayats
of the Hindu migrants,or the Muslim ulamaacting as communal
figure-headsfor the JolahaweaversfromU.P.,79wouldall servethe
same function:to fulfil the immigrant'sneed to hold on to certain
constantsin a hostile and changingenvironment.Communityconsciousnessthus also gave to these sociallymarginalpeople psychologicalcomfortand security.
This is what made Muslimworkersreceptiveto the politicsthey
receivedat the handsof the city'sMuslimleaderswho controlledthe
Muslim (especiallyUrdu) press, and from the itinerant"maulavis
andoolamas"who naturallyspokea religiouslanguage.8"
This is not
to suggestthatthe Hindumigrantwasanyless (or more)communal.
It was justthatfor the Hindus,as the followingdiscussionwill show,
suchorganizedleadershipwas not available.
VI
WORKERSAND COMMUNALLEADERSHIP: A DOCUMENT

The characterof the socialleadershipthat these community-consciousworkingmenoftensoughtin thisperiodis remarkably

brought
out in a letter writtenby the imam of Rishra,Nazir Mian, to Haji
(Hadji)Nur MuhammadZakaria,an importantMuslimtraderliving
in northCalcutta,askingfor help duringthe Bakr-Idriotof I896:
75 In the 24-Parganas
in I890, "casesrelatingto marriagerosefrom I64 to 2II'.
The jointmagistrateof Sealdahobserved"thatthese are generallyinstitutedby upcountryMahomedansworkingin the mills, etc., who formnikah[marriage]
connectionswithwomenwhoseprevioushistoryaffordsno guaranteefortheirfutureconjugal
fidelity":[Govt.of India],Reporton theAdministration
of Criminal3'ustice
in theLower
Provincesof BengalduringtheYearI890 (copyat N.A.I.), p. I I . A jutemillmanager,
whenaskedin I893 if therewas any familylife "at all" amonghis workers,replied,
"Practicallythere is not": DundeeAdvertiser,
28 Jan. I893, p. 6 (I am indebtedto
CarmelGammalforthis reference).Forthefast-declining
female/male
ratioin themill
areas,see R.C.L.I., v, pt. I, p. IO.
76 Fire and diseasessuch as choleraand malariawere constanthazards.I have
examinedthe minutebookspreservedat the Bhatparamunicipalofficewhichconfirm
the point. See also W.B.S.A., MunicipalProgs., Dec. I899, A nos. 242-5; B.C.C.
Report,I894-5 (Calcutta,I895), pp.278-9,3I2-I3.
77 See W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Jan. I896, A nos. 6-II* W.B.S.A., GeneralMisc.,
May I9OI, A nos. 34-6; BengalAdministration
Report,I896-7(Calcutta,I898), p.39.
78 Hence the expression"Muslimbusti".See, for example,W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol),
Aug. I 896, A nos. 6-8.
79 On the traditionally
strongulamainfluenceon Jolahasfrom U.P., see Francis
Robinson,Separatism
AmongIndianMuslims(Cambridge,I974), p. 27; W. Crooke,
TheTribesandCastesof theNorth-Western
ProvincesandOudh,3 vols. (Calcutta,I896),
111, p.70.
80 Maulavi(or maulvi)is

"oolamas").

usuallythe title of an alim(Muslimpriest;plural:ulama,

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I55

It is informedthatin villageRishra,policestationSerampore,districtHooghly,the
Hindusaregoingto createa row duringthe Bakr-Id[cow]sacrifice,they say they
do not sacrificehere,if you do so, we [Hindus]will createrow.Therefore,I request
that you all assistus. We are poor peopleand workin mills. You bettergive this
informationto Muhammadansin the Fridayprayersthat it is religiousact and
everybodyshouldassistas possible.81

The letteris significant.Partof it merelyshowsthe poorman'ssense

of his position ("We are poor people and work in mills"), but the
invocationof a "religiousact" and the whole purposeof writingthe
letter clearlybring out my point about the growthof community
consciousness.

The letterfurthersuggestsa situation.We havehereat the end of

the nineteenthcenturya groupof up-countryworkers,acutelyconsciousof theirbeingMuslims,approachinga wealthyMuslimof the
city for his supportof theircommunaldemands.The hajimusthave
appearedin theireyes as a communityleader.
VII
THE TALLARIOT OF I 897

Evidenceis lackingon the questionof how, or what sort of, connectionswere formedbetweenthe haji and the Muslimmillchands.
But we may use the Talla riot in Calcuttaof I897 and the events
connectedwith it to proveindirectlya basicpoint:a personlike Haji
Zakariawas acceptedby the poorMuslimsin and aroundthe city as
theirprotectorandguide. It is to men of this sortthattheyrepeatedly
turnedfor leadershipin tryingto solvetheirproblems.
The Talla riot was the first ever large-scaleriot to breakout in
Calcutta.It startedon 2gth June over the issue of the eviction by
courtorderof a MuslimmasonnamedHimmatKhan from a piece
of landat Tallain northCalcutta.MaharajaJotindraMohanTagore
held a life interestin the plot of land. HimmatKhan, facedwith the
courtorder,declaredhis hut to be "aMusjidof long standing".The
"mosque" was subsequentlydemolished by the police, and this
sparkedoff the riot.82 It blazedin the northernpartsof the city until
2nd July CircularRoad,MachuaBazar,HallidayStreet,Bhabani
being
CharanDattaLane,Thanthania,HarrisonRoadandRajabazar
the areasaffected while the mill-handsin the outskirtswere reported to be restive as late as the 6th.83Eighty-sevenpeople were
ultimatelysent up for trialon chargesof rioting,andeighty-onewere
convicted.84
Throughoutthe historyof the riot HaXiZakariaand otherleading
81
82

W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos. 55-6.

Ibid., Nov. I897, A nos. I2-I3, 39-43; AmritaBazar Patrika,2 July I897;

83
84

W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Nov. I897, A no. 22.

N.A.I., Home(Public),Jan. I898, A nos. 55-7;

OCt. I897,

A no. I50.

I56

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

Muslimsof Calcuttafigureasthepeopleinvolvedin theeventsleading

up to the outbreakof the riot, as in thosewhichfinallyculminatedin
its quelling.85In fact as soon as the policehadpulleddownHimmat
Khan's "mosque", Himmat with two of his Muslim neighbours,
Nabbi Bux and Abdul Ghani, "cameto the Nakhoda'smosque in
ChitporeRoad, and failing to find Haji Nur Mohamed[Zakaria],
wentoverto his houseat AmratollaStreet,wheretheyinformedhim
of what had happened".The haji contactedGolamAriff, a wealthy
silk merchantin the city from Gujarat,and the next morningthey
both went with the "Tallamen" to the house of MaulviShams-ulHuda, where they were joined by Khan BahadurSeraj-ul-Islam,
MaulviJowad,AbdurRahimand Jowad-ul-Rahim,
all of thempractisingadvocatesexceptAbdurRahimwho wasa barrister."Onconsultationthey came to the conclusionthat the land in disputemust
be takenpossessionof and a new hut built on it". "The Talla Mahomedanswere thereforeadvisedto rebuildtheir mosque [and]to
resist any attemptto dispossessthem; acting upon this advice the
ignorantMahomedansof Talla, Chitpur,Baranagarand Nikaripara
assembledat the spot on the nightof Tuesday,the 2gthJune" the
fatefulnightwhen the riot started.86
The haXiand Shams-ul-Hudawerethe only two gentlemeneverto
appearat the actualscene of the riot, wherethey addresseda large
assemblyof the riotersat a Muslimbusti"on the west of the demolishedmosque".87The haji also tried negotiatingon behalf of the
rioterswith the Tagores,the ownersof the plot of land at Talla,88
butthisfailed.The haji'simportanceto theriotersis finallyillustrated
inthe mannerin which the riot ended. It was necessaryfor the haXi
toissuea religiousfatwa(decree)beforethe rioterswouldcalmdown.
The%twawas to the effect that "no one could build a mosqueon
another'sland, and thatno mosquecouldbe builton a landwhichis
notwakf (CharitableTrust) and if a landlorddid not give his permission,thenit wasnot lawfulto offerFridayprayerson his land".89
Thefatwa was signed90not only by the haji but also by Shams-ulHuda,Haji RahimBuksh, Syed MahmedTahir, HaXiAbdulRazaq
andSheikhBukshElahi, the last two being "prosperousDelhi mer85 For somedaysthe city was agogwith all kindsof rumoursabout
the numberof
peoplekilledduringthe riot. SulabhDainik,IO July I897, reportedthat"The
public
beliefis thatmorethana thousandmenhavebeenkilled".IndianDailyNewshad
the
number
at 300, whileEnglishman
put it at goo:R.N.P.B., I7 July I897, but see also
entriesfor DaccaPrakash,II July I897, suggestingthe doubtfulcharacterof these
reports.
86 This paragraph
is basedon a confidentialnote by Mr. James,Calcuttapolice
commissioner,
appendedto C. W. Bolton's letter, I Aug. I897: N.A.I., Home
(Public),Oct. I897, A nos. I24-57.
87 Amrita
BazarPatrika,2 July w897,p. 4.
88 Ibid., 7 July I897, p- 489 SufiaAhmed,MuslimCommunity
inBengal,I884-I 9I2 (Dacca,I974),pp. 20I-2.
90 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Nov. I897, A nos.3g-43.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I57

chantstradingin Calcutta''.91Two other groupsof MuslimgentleLiterarySociety

men one of themrepresentingthe Muhammadan
-also issued leafletsto this effect, but "[HaXi]Nur Mahomedand
others"were the ones officiallydescribedas the men "who seem to
havethe confidenceof the rioters".92
It is truethatthe physicalinvolvementof Muslimmill-handsin the
beingconfinedmainlyto the
Tallariotsremainedmostlymarginal,93
few mills that were situatedeither within or very close to the city,
But certain
includingthoseat Sealdah,GardenReachandBaranagar.
eventswhich occurredsome days afterthe riotshad subsidedin the
city servedto bringout the importanceand esteemin whichthe haji
was held by some sectionsof Muslimmill-hands.It seemsthat they
would not come and help the Talla rioterswithout the haji asking
them to do so. That was the extent of the hold HaXiZakariahad on
their minds. Babu G. C. Mukherjee,assistantsuperintendentof
police, 24-Parganas,has left a graphicaccountof the events:
On the morningof the 6th ultimo[July]a letterin Bengali,purportingto be under
the slgnatureof HaziNur Mahomed[Zakaria]of Calcuttareachedsomeof the mill
to jointhe
operativesof the KankinaraJuteMill, requestingalltrueMuhammadans
andcallingthose,notcomplying,"sons
Tallariotersin rescuingthe Masiid-Ground
of Muchis[cobblersl''.
employeesof the
The letter. . . createdgreatexcitement,andthe Muhammadan
JuteMill appliedfor andobtainedleavefromthe Manager,Mr. Clark,for the day
at g.oo a.m. The mill-handsstruckworkand marcheddownwards,shoutingand
beatinga tomtom.Somehadsticks.They numberedovera thousand. . .
Paper
Theseoperativescamedownat thegateof the nextmill, viz. the Kankinara
. . . employed,theManager
Factory,butas therewereonly75 adultMuhammadans
Mr.Boonsomehowmanagedto makethemworkon; andso thismillwasnotclosed.
Jute Mill coolies next marcheddown to the Anglo-IndianJute
The KankinaTa
Mill, at Jag[ad]dal,a mile off.
The Manager,Mr. Thompson. . . allowedhis cooliesa holidaywhenaskedfor
coolieshere,including
andclosedhis millfortheday.Therewere8I6 Muhammadan
femalesandchildren.
cooliesenlployedin the adjoiningJute Mills, also were
The few Muhammadan
only76
allowedby the Asstt.... to jointheirbrethrenof the Mills.At the G,ordon
wereemployed.
Muhammadans
This largebody, numberingabout Insoo arrivedat the gate of the last mill at
Jag[ad]dal,viz. the Alliance.The operativesinside, who had evidentlybeen informedof the plansof the operativesof the othermills namedabove,appliedfor
. . . whathadhappenedto the coolies
leave,buthavingbeenrefusedcommunicated
who havecollectedoutsidethe gateand beencreatingdisturbances.94

"A row then occurred")in which the coolies used brickbatsin

responseto the Europeanassistantsopeningfireon them, and a few
91 See Bolton'sletter, I Aug I897: N.A.I., Home (Public), Oct. I897, A nos.
I24-57sZBolton'sletter,7 July I897: tbid.
9:}This is partlyto be explainedby policeprecautionsandmilitarymeasurestaken
veryearlyduringthe riotto preventanymill-handfromenteringthecity. Forexample
'the Kankinaraand ShamnagoreRailwayclerkswere instructednot to issue tickets
passengersto Calcuttaby rail":W.B.S.A., Jdl.
to anylargenumberof Muhammadan
(Pol.), Sept. I897, A nos. IOI-3. Forfurtherevidenceof policeprecautionsin themill
Nov.
I897, A nos. I6-22
areas,see W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.),
94 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Sept. I897, A nos. IQI-3.

I58

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

were killed. The news of the disturbancespreadto the two mills at

Shamnagar,the DunbarCottonMillsandthe Shamnagar
JuteMills,
wheremorethansix thousandoperativeswereemployed.The Muslims in the formerstruckwork aftermiddayn"evidentlyon receipt
of informationof the state of thiIlgsat the othermills of Jag[ad]dal
and Kankinara",while some of the 2,000 Muhammadancoolies at
ShamnagarMills cameout and i'collectedon the roadclose to their
bustis . . .'. The entiremill-handcrowdwas laterdispersedby the
police.95
In retrospectit does seemverysignificantthatall this unrestof the
Muslimmill-handswas over a mere letterwhich had reachedthem
requestingtheirhelp, andwhichwaspurportedto be fromHaXiZakaria.The letterbeingin Bengali,the Muslimmill-handsdoubtedits
genuinenessas theyknewthatthe haji"couldneitherspeaknorwrite
Bengali".96 The policelaterascertainedthatthe marchof the Muslim
mill-handsfromone mill to anotherwas causedby theiranxiousness
"to meet on a maidanand discussthe proprietyof acceptingthe call)
anddecidingon someplanof action".97
Such then was the influenceof HaXiZakaria'snameamongpoor
Muslims,both of the city and of the suburbanjute mills. Whoever
wrotethe letterthatreachedthe mill-handsmustharrereliedon this.
VIII
ZAKARIA, HIS AUDIENCE, AND COMMUNITY CONSCIOUSNESS

HaiiZakariawasanimportantmemberof the KutchiMemoncommunityliving in the Chitpurquartersof the city. The Amrata

Bazar
Patrikadescribedhim in I897 as a "respectablemerchantof Amratolla [street]".98The Memonswere a tradingcommunityfrom Gujaratwho had startedto migrateto Calcutrain I770 followingthe
declineof Surat.99In Calcuttathey tradedmainlyin traditionalitems
such as "hide and skin, [the trade of ] which they virtuallycontrolled",and exported"gums, spices, indigo, tobaccoand rice''.100
Out of this communitycame many of the nakhodamerchantsof
Calcuttain the nineteenthcentury,and a governmentdocumentof
I88I describesthe hajias theirleader.10lIt is this communitywhich
95Ibid.
Ibid.
97 Ibtd.
98 Amrita
BazarPatrika,z July I897 p. 4.
99See Statesman,5 May Ig2g, p. I0; Gazetteer
of theBombayPresidency,
23 vols.
(Bombay,I876-I90I),
iX, pt. 2, p. 5I.
100KennethJ. McPherson,"The Muslimsof Calcutta,I9I8 to I935: A Studyof
the Societyand Politicsof an UrbanMinoritNGroupin India"(AustralianNational
Univ. Ph.D. thesis, I972), pp. I-4.
101R. L. Shukla,Britatn Indis andtheTurkishEmpire,I853-I882 (Delhi, I973),
p. I76. M.A.P. Meilink-Roelofz,in her Asian Tradeand European
Influence(The
Hague, I962), pp. 42-3, 46, 48, givesthe wordnacodato meanthe captainof a ship
who also had a sharein the cargo."Butin smallershipsthe nacodawas usuallythe
owneras well . . .". I owe this referenceto GautamBhadra.
96

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I59

latergaveits nameto the biggestmosquein the city the Nakhoda

Mosque,whichevolvedout of anearliermosquethehajihadfounded,
namedthe ZakariaMosque.102In the I870S we see the hajirunning
when
his own firmcalledHajiJackariahMahomedandCompany103
he was secretaryof the IndianTradesAssociationin Calcutta.In this
lattercapacityhe was consideredimportantenoughto be consulted
by the governmentfor his views on the firstFactoriesAct proposed
for India,104whichwas passedin I88I.
Whatmight otherwisehaveonly been conjecturedfromthe letter
of Nazir Mian, the imam of Rishra,can now be seen as reality.In
I897 we have a wealthyMuslim traderwho is at the same time a
"religious"man (as evidencedby his foundinga mosque)and who
enjoys a great deal of social importance,commandinga following
from amongthe more indigentMusllmsin the city. The haji'sfollowerswerea motleycrowd,men of differentlabouringoccupations.
In the absenceof courtdocumentsit is indeeddifficultto depictthe
people who constitutedthe "crowd"in the Talla riot. Besides,motives for joiningthe riot variedwidely.105But lookingthroughsome
newspaperreportson riotingat Tallanearthe site of the mosque,we
do indeedcatchglimpsesof the mob, and can identifysomefacesin
an otherwiseanonymouscrowd. The identifiableare no doubt very
few in number,but they may be indicativeof the socialcomposition
of the men who foughtfor savingthe demolishedmosque.Therewas
for exampleSheikhChadi,a fifty-year-oldrioterkilledby the police,
So was GajadharKurmi, a
who was a "thatcherby profession''.106
fifteen-year-oldboy, also killed by police firing.107Natra Abdul,
anotherof the rioters,was a "coolie"who declaredin courtthat "he
and severalothers kept away from work" during the riot on 30th
June.108Anotheraccused,NankuKhan,"workedin Jetty"andlived
in Subedarpara,an areaof rioting.109One Nabijanwas identifiedas
havingbeen amonga groupof labourersaccusedof assaultinga certain Mr. Slotter,engineerin the AshcroftJute Pressat Chitpur,1l0
Chitpurand Kashipur(Cossipore)being two placeswheremanyof
102 Interviewon I5 Aug. I976 with AbdurRazzak,a descendantof Zakaria.The
familyis still representedon the boardof trusteesof the NakhodaMosque.
03 N.A.I., Home(Public),Feb. I878, B no. 2I5.
04 W.B.S.A., GeneralMisc., May I879, A no. I.
10sTherewerethe obvioushangers-onwhowerequickto jointherioting.Onesuch
personmentionedin the reportsis a Jew calledE. M. Cohen,who was unemployed
and dependenton his father:AmritaBazarPatrika,6 July I897, p. 4. A partof the
who gambledon whetheror
disturbancewasalso createdby Marwarirain-gamblers,
not it wouldrainon a particularday.Theyhadan "oldscoreto settlewiththe police"
who were latelygetting"strict"with the crime:N.A.I., Home (Jdl.), Mar. I897, wX
nos. 3I-42; May I897, B nos. 297-308.
06 AmritaBazarPatrika,I 6 July I 897, p .4.
07 Ibid., p. 5
08 Ibid.
Ibid., 25 July I897) p- 5Ibid., 22 July I897mp- 5-

I60

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

the localjutepresseswerelocated.111HimmatKhan,the manat the

centre of events in the Talla riot, was himself a mason;the newspaperstl2carriedreportson the "hundredsof masonsand coolies"
who foughta see-sawbattlewith the policethroughoutthe two days
of rioting.1l3The commissionerof police later reportedthat the
rioterswere composedmostly of "low class"Muslimweavers,perhaps Jolahas,and "bricklayers,who were joinedby bad characters
of the disturbedarea'',1l4while anothernewspaperidentifiedthe
bulkof the riotersas "up-countrymen".
115
These, then, were the poor up-countryMuslimsof the city who
madeup the Talla riotersand acceptedthe socialleadershipof Haii
Zakaria the mason, the thatcher,the bricklayer,the coolie, the
jettyworkerand the labourerfroma jutepressin northCalcutta.116
These and many other up-countryMuslimsworkingin mills north
of the city sharedcertaincommunalbondsandwere,in otherwords,
communityconscious. This is reflectedin their acceptanceof the
leadershipof Haii Zakariaandin the factthaton the firstnightof the
Tallariot Muslimscameover fromdifferentplacessuch as Chitpur,
Kashipur,Baranagarand Nikariparato fight the police,ll7 and that
mill-handsat GardenReachfelt restiveon the samerxight.118 This is
whyNazirMianof Rishrahadearlierthoughtthathis appealforhelp
fromMuslimsin fightingHindusduringthe Rishrariotswouldfind
a receptiveearin the city.
IX
PAN-ISLAM, PLAGUE AND THE POOR IN I897

Haji Zakariawas one of the earliestand most confirmedpan-Islamistsin Calcutta.His allegiancedatedfrom the time when the first
waveof pan-Islamismreachedthe city duringthe Russo-Turkishwar
111Indian Central Jute Committee, ReportontheMarketing
of3tuteand3rute
Products
(Calcutta,I94I; repr. Calcutta, I952), pp. I66-7.
2 Amrita
BazarPatrika,2 July I 897, p. 4.
113 The police "demolished the mosque as often as the Musalmans
built and rebuilt
it":R.N.P.B., I7 July I897.
4 W B S.A, Jdl. (Pol.), Nov. I897, A nos. 39-43.
115 Mihir-O-Sudhakar,
24 July I897, said that the Talla rioters were "men who had
comefrom up-country to make a living in Calcutta": R.N.P.B., 3I July I897.
116 The community consciousness of these men was strengthened
by the fact that
theywere all, locationally, in the same labour-market.Thus Sheikh Chadi, the thatcher
killedin the Talla rioting, had a son called Sheikh Abdul who worked in the jute mill
atSealdah. At 2.00 p.m. on 30 June, when the son heard that "his father had been
shotby some goras['whites'] at the Moonshi Bazar", he left the mills with "200 or 250
workmenand went to the scene of the riot" to join the mob: AmritaBazarPatrika,I6
JulyI897, p- 4117 See the "Confidential Note" by Mr. James, Calcutta police
commissioner:
N.A.I., Home (Public), Oct. I897, A nos. I24-57.
118 W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), Nov. I897, A no. 9.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I6I

of I876-8.l19In the pro-Turkishagitationhe was regardedas one of

"the most activeof Muhammadans
at present"in Calcutta,another
onebeing4'HajeeAhmadof BurraBazar".The governmentof Bengal
warnedthat"theGovernmentof Indiamightperhapsobtainvaluable
intelligenceby directingthe TelegraphDepartmentto give informationof the messagesreceivedby these two men. They arein constant communicationwith Bombayand the North-WestProvinces.
They have been appointedas treasurersto transmitto Bombaythe
moneyraisedin Calcutta'.120The haji'sdedicationto the pan-Islamist causeis also shown by frequentmeetingsheld at his house12lor
at his mosque.Suchgatheringswouldbe addressedeitherby himself
or someonefamouslike AmirAli.122 SyeedAtreah,the Arabmuttawallee (custodian)of the mosque,wouldreadprayersfor the Turkish
sultans welfare,123
and delegatesfromMeccawouldbe receivedand
heard.124On these occasionssums of between40,000 and 60,000
rupeescouldeasilybe raisedfor the TurkishReliefFund.125
Apparentlymany of the earlierenthusiastsdroppedout of the
pan-Islamistgroupwhen the secondwaveof the movementreached
thecity duringthe Greco-Turkish
warof I 896. In Calcuttaa proposed
"illuminationprogramme"on the occasionof the Turkishvictory
wasnotcelebrated"exceptat fourmosques") anda proposedmessage
of congratulationnever got sent to the sultan. '4Asmall fund was
collectedfor the relief of Mahomedanswho had sufferedin Crete,
but it hasnot beenremitted)andis not nowlikelyto be".126The lack
of responseis perhapsexplainedby the fact that, unlike the years
I 876-8 when Great Britain supported Turkey, pan-Islamismin
I896-7 had an anti-Britishcorollary.127
Most Muslimleadersin the
city played a fairly safe and compromisingpolitics, avoidingmass
contactsand concentratingtheir effortson demandsfor more jobs
andeducationfor Muslims.
Evenin these lean yearsof pan-Islamismin the city, HaXiZakaria
remaineda consistentfollowerof the creed.Peoplewho stoodby him
in this were also the men who had signedhis religiousfatwa during
IIgSee P. C. Bamford,Histortesof the Non-Cooperation
and KhilafatMovements
(Delhi I925; repr.Delhi, I974), p. I I0; Shukla,Britain,Indiu;
undtheTurkish
Empire
pp. 96, I00, I76, and passim;P. Hardy, TheMfusltms
of BrtttshIndia (Cambridger
I972),
20

p. II8.

N.A.I., Home(Public),Feb. I878, B no. 2I7.

N.A.I. Home(Public),Feb. I878, B no. 2X6.

N.A.I., Foreign(Secret),Apr. I878, A nos. 230-I.
N.A.I., Home(Public),Feb. I878, B no. 2I8.
Ibid, B no 2I626 Bolton'sletter, I Aug. I897: N.A.I., Home(Public) Oct. I897, A nos. I24-57.
127 Cf thefollowing:"Wehavea newelementof intrigueandcommotion
introduced
into Indiaby the Pan-IslamistCouncilin Constantinople,and the closerconnection
whichis beingestablishedbetweenthe SultanandIndianMahommedans":
Hamilton
to Elgin, 3OJuly I897: IndiaOfficeLibrary(hereafterI.O.L.), ElginPapers,MSS.
Eur.F4/I5 (microfilmcopyat N.A.I.).
22
23
24
25

I62

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

the Tallariot, the men who weredescribedofficiallyas enjoyingthe

confidenceof the rioters:Shams-ul-Huda,"HajiMahomedAbdur
Rezak, Sheik Buksh Elahi, Syed MahomedTahir and others". Of
course they were not anti-Britishas such, and showed"everydispositionto pleasethe authorities".128 But in theirpan-Islamism,they
did forma "party",whichwas describedas havingbeen:
activein holdingup the Sultanas the headof Islam,in representinghim as being
unjustlyharrassedby GreatBritainand the Europeanpowers,and in magnifying
his might as manifestedby victoriesover the Greeks.The leadersare Haii Nur
MahomedZacharia,Shams-Ul-Huda,
Seraj-Ul-Islam
andAbdulHamid,the Editor
of the MoslemChroniclewhichhas been theirorgan.All the men who signedthe
compromiseleaflet129
besidesHajiNur Mahomedand Shams-Ul-Huda,
belongto
the party.130

Thus if the menwhogavesocialleadershipto the Tallarioterswere

pan-Islamist,it is interesting to observe that pan-Islamismalso
formedan importantpart of the feelingsthat circulatedduringthe
riot. The Tallaincident,wrotea correspondentto the AmrztaBazar
Patrika,"hasits originin a currentof feelingwhichwas inspiredby
the mannerin which the news of the victoryof the Sultanover the
Greekswere so freelycirculatedamongthe Mahomedanpopulation
in the country". "The educatedMahomedanswere the agents in
circulatingthe news",so muchso thatthe Tallariotersoftenthought
that they were fighting "the cause of the Sultanand the [Afghan]
Amir''.13lThe Hitavadiconcurredin the opinion that the GrecoTurkishwardid rouseMuslimfeelingin the city:
Warnewsbeganto be pickedup by ignorantMusalmansfromtheirsemi-educated
brethren,and by the latter,fromtheireducatedco-religionists. . . IgnorantMusalmansnow beganto talkto one anotherin this strain-"The Sultanhasdefeated
the Christians.He can now, if he chooses,drivethe Englishout of Egyptat any
moment.Englishfearhim andthe Amirof Afghanistan".
132

Rumourscurrentduringthe Tallariotsalsopointto thepan-Islamist content of the riot. The AmritaBazar Patrika, in an editorial
afterthe Talla events, wrote of the "verymany"storiescirculating
on the subjectof the rioters. One such story held "that they sent
telegramsto the Sultanand the Amiraskingfor help, and received
favourablereplies"."Of course,thereis no truthin the above",the
Patrzkacommented,"but it is certainthat the rioterswere led to
believethat telegramswere actuallysent and that theirappealshave
exortedfavourablereplies''. "This stupid rumour"invigoratedthe
rioters,some of whom were even "tellingyesterday[6th July] . . .
128 Bolton'sconfidential
letter,7 Sept. I897: N.A.I., Home(Public),Oct. I897, A
nos. I24-57.
29 The referenceis to the religiousfatwa issuedduringthe Tallariot.
130 Bolton'sletter, I Aug. I897: N.A.I., Home(Public),Oct. I897, A nos I24-57.
It should be noted that the "party"consistedmainlyof tradersand professionals
(pleaders),who may'laveenjoyeda patron-client
relationship.
931 Amrita
BazarPatrika,I I July I897, p. 5, letterfrom"K".
32 Hitavadi,g July I897; R.N.P.B., I7 July I897.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I63

[that]the Sultan. . . got veryangrywith the Indianauthorities)and

that in orderto punish them, he immediatelyorderedten thousand
troopsto startfor our city [and]that they areexpectedherein seven
days 133
It was not only the distant realityof the sultan that came to be
lookeduponwith pan-Islamisteyes by the poorMuslim;the ideology
of pan-Islamismseems to have gone deeper. Even things nearerto
the daily lives of the city poor often receiveda pan-Islamistinterpretation.The mid-I8gos were problemyearsas much for the city
pooras they were for the jute mill workers.There had been, firstof
all, a very sharp drop in real wages. (See Table 3.) The city had
suffereda badattackof cholerathatbeganin NtarchI897. 134Besides,
at the end of I896 fearof plaguehad grippedthe city.'35This fear,
andresentmentof attemptsby the governmentto effect"plagueregulations",wereassumingby earlyI 897 almostall-Indiaproportions.
On 7 May I897, Hamilton,the secretaryof statefor India,wroteto
Lord Elgin: "I am surprised,in looking through the Vernacular
Press, to [see] the strongopinionsexpressedagainstthe plagueregulations. Though such readingis not conclusiveevidence still its
practicalunanimitygives one a sense of the deep seatedaversionto
houseto housevisitationand segregation".136
TABLE 3
INDEX OF AVERAGEREAL WAGESIN CALCUTTAI896-I897*

Industrialworkers
ArtlSaIlS

Generallabourers
Domesticservants

I 896

I 897

I05
I0 I
I02
I00

95
94
I00
88

* Note and source:K. L. Datta,Reporton EnquiryintotheRise in Pricesin India,

8 vols. (Calcutta,I9I4), ii, p. 204. All figuresderivefroma baseof I890-4 = I00.

Earlyin the year,Calcuttawas "restivewith rumoursaboutplague

regulations",and the "wildestpossiblenotions"were being "freely
supported".The Muslimsespeciallydislikedthe restrictionsthe governmenthad put on hajpilgrimage;in April I897 the pilgrimagehad
been temporarilystopped by the governmentunder the Epidemic
133 AmritaBazarPatrika,7 July I897, p. 4. Cf. alsoR.N.P.B., I7 July I897: "So
greatis the credulityof the ignorantMusalmanmasses,thatthey readilybelievedthe
rumourset agoingby mischiefmakersthatthe Amirof Afghanistanhadsentartillery
andthe Sultanof Turkeyan armyin aid of the Musalmanrioters"..
34 Elgin to Hamilton,I7 Mar. I897: I.O.L., Elgin Papers,MSS. Eur. F 84I5.
135 See I. J. Catanach,
"Plaguein Indiain the LateNineteenthandEarlyTwentieth
Centuries"(unpublished).I am gratefulto Dr. Catanachfor kindlyallowingme to
readand referto this paper.
136 Hamiltonto Elgin, 7 May I897: I.O.L., Elgin Papers,MSS. Eur. 84/I5.

I64

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

DiseasesAct.137 This was interpretedby the Muslimlabourersas an

actionwhichrancounterto pan-Islamism.TheAmrttaBazarPatrzka
wrote:
To say that the dispute about a cotta of land is the cause of the Talla riot . . . is to
show ignorance of human character. The feelings had been simmering long before
the present riot occurred; and the reason which offended the Musalman community
or rather the lower class of the community, was openly proclaimed by the rioters
during the hottest part of their work at Talah. This was heard by our reporters and
hundreds of other. They said that the plague regulations were a myth, and the
Government had an ulterior object in view in preventing them from going to Mecca.
The Government, they said, feared that if the Musalmans of India went to Mecca
they would come in contact with the soldiers of the Sultan, and the result would be
that the Indian Musalman would come to this country, re-inforced by the Sultan's
men, and thus the British-raj would come to end! 138

On top of everythingthere was surelythe urge of an immigrant

communityto settle down. For, behind every protest againstthe
demolitionof "illegal"musjids,there must have been an objective
demandfor land and settledhabitation.139 And if some of these alleged mosques were performingthe roles of real ones, then their
demolitionwouldonly upset the life of a settledcommunity.
Thus, fearof plague, resentmentof plagueregulations,a dropin
wage rates, the predicamentof a migrantlabouringpopulation,the
Sultan,the Britishraj all theseissueswerebecomingone. This in
the end lent the Talla riot an anti-Britishcharacterthat worriedthe
authorities.140
Feelix1gat times ran so deep that when a young boy
injuredin the Talla riot was askedby a "nativegentleman","if he
would like to be conveyedto hospitalfor treatment",he repliedby
saying,"What!To be takento a sarkari[government]hospital?That
will neverdo BabuSatib". 141
It wouldappearthatsuchsentimentsalsospreadintothe mill areas
and influencedthe immigrantMuslimsthere. The Samaydescribed
some of the "up-country","low-class"Muslimswho had comeinto
the Howrahmill areasin searchof jobs. "Thesemen are generally
addictedto ganja[hashish]and beara turbulentcharacter. . . Musalmans,in particular,seem veryfond of idle talk. Whenevera numberof them sit down together,the only subjectthey chatuponis the
Sultan".The sultanappearedto them to be all-powerful:
The usual tenor of their talk is that the Sultan is supreme over all the kings of the
world not excepting the British, that he can appoint or remove kings at his pleasure;
137 SeeElgintoHamilton, I7Feb., Io,24Mar.,2I
Apr. I897: I.O.L.,ElginPapers,
MSS. Eur. F 84/I5. For a background to the pilgrimage restriction policy, see Hamilton to Elgin, I9 Feb. I897: I.O.L., Hamilton Papers, MSS. Eur. Collection C I25
See also, N.A.I., Home (Public), Oct. I897, A nos. I24-57, for further official correspondence on the matter.
138 Amrita
BazarPatrika,2 July I897, P. 4.
139 I discuss this point below.
140 Hamilton to Elgin, 26 Aug. I897: I.O.L., Elgin Papers, MSS. Eur. F 4/I5. This
is better read together with Elgin to Hamilton, I6 Sept. I897, in ibid., where Elgin
cautions against magnifying the anti-British significance of the Talla riot.
141 Amrita
BazarPatrika,2 July I897, P. 4.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I65

that the EnglishGovernmentin Indiapays him a regulartribute.In this they are

supportedby someuneducatedor half-educatedmanwho pretendsto be a Maulvi
142

The Samayconcludedthat "theTallariotwas createdby men of this

stamp".143Thus the poormigrantMuslimsof the city and the mills
had indeed received and acceptedthe politics of the pan-Islamist
Aluslimelites in the city.
X
THE COMMUNAL QUESTION AND PROBLEMS OF
SOCIAL LEADERSHIP IN THE I890S

Why were the immigrantMuslimtradersof the Chitpurareaso

interestedin linkingup with the Muslimpoor?Afterthe Shyambazar
riots of I89I over the issue of the Nikariparamosque, KasimAriff
(fatherof the wealthyGuiaratisilk merchantGolamAriff)purchased
the disputedpiece of land for 4,500 rupeesand madeit over to the
riotersso that they could have their musjid.144 These Muslimmerchantsdid the samewhen two otherdecreeswereissuedby the civil
courtin I893, "forpossessionof plots of land held by Mahomedans
on which there were huts allegedto be mosques''.145Additionally,
"the Haji had subscribedlargelyfor the defence, in court, of the
Shambazarrioters",whom the vakil (pleader)Shams-ul-Hudadefended.146HaXiZakaria,Kasim Ariff, Shams-ul-Huda,Seraj-ul-Islam,AbdurRahimandMuhammadYusufwerealsoinvolvedasearly
as I894 in protestingagainstthe I893 circularof Sir CharlesElliott
concerningcow sacrifice.147
Abdur Rahimand MuhammadYusuf
had also triedto help the Muslimmill workersof Rishraduringthe
I896 riot 148

Muslimcharityor factionalpolitics149may have been important

Samay,3 Sept. I897- R.N.P.B., II Sept. I897.
Ibid. At the presentievelof knowledgeit is difficultto fathomdeeperthanthis
the mentalworldof the Muslimlabourer,the deeppsychologicalsourcesin the poor
man'smind fromwhere"religiousfeelings"couldspring.Suchfeelingswereindeed
expressedby a Muslimrioterwho saidthat"they[theTallarioters]aresimplytrying
to get beaten",slnce "in the masiidone cannot,without1mperilling
one'sinterestin
the life to come, avoidbeingbeaten":R.N.P.B., 24 July I89,.
t44 Bolton'sletter, I Aug. I897, in "Notes":N.A.I., Home(Public),Oct. I897, A
nos. I24-57, and James'sreportappendedthereto.On the Ariffs, see [J. G. Cumming?],Reviewof lndustrialPositionandProspects
in Bengal(Calcutta,I908), p. I I .
45 Bolton'sletter, I Aug. I897: N.A.I., Home(Public),Oct. I897, A nos. I24-57.
146 AmritaBazarPatrika,
2 JulyI897, p. 4. Thiswasalsopromised
by themerchants
to the Tallar1otersif they wouldcalmdown.
147 See Muhammadan
Observer,I Jan. I894, pp. 36-7j 25 Jan. I894, p. 4I; I Mar.
42
143

I894 p. 99.
148 See Englishman,
27 May I896, p. 5; W.B.S.A., Jdl. (Pol.), July I896, A nos.
52-3.
149 The Kutchi Memonshad a charityfund which possessed"propertiesworth
Rs. I,000,000" in I906: Statesman,I0 May I929 p. I. For factionsin the worldof
Muslimelitesin Calcutta,see McPherson,"Musllmsof Calcutta,I9I8 to I935", pp.
27I-2; A. F. S. Ahmed,"MuslimThoughtandLeadership
in Bengalin theNineteenth

Century",in BarunDe et al. (eds.), EssaysinHonourof Professor

S. C. Sarkar(Delhi,
I976), pp. 632-66; SufiaAhmed,MuslimCommunity
in Bengal,pp. I 80-I .

I66

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

factorsin thesedevelopments,buta policedocumentof I9I0 suggests

an interestingalternativeexplanation.Such explanationcan again
only be speculativein the absenceof harddata.
The documentin questionrelatesto anti-cow-killingagitationin
Chitpurin I9I0. 150 The agitationwas led by the immigrantMarwari
tradersfromRajasthan,Hinduor Jainby religion,whowereto dominate much of Calcutta'sbusinesshistoryin the twentiethcentury.
The documentshows that by I9I0 Marwariswere pushinginto the
residentialareasof Muslimtradersandlabourers,andwereprepared
to use communalismto displace them. The Marwaris,who were
deeply entrenchedin the trade of rice and jute, the two principal
twentieth-century
cropsin Bengal,broughtwith themnew chainsof
retailand wholesaletradeconnections.t51Theirentryinto the Chitpur area, the centralbusinessdistrictof the city, may have been of
importanceto theirinterests.
Though a digression,a brief descriptionof this agitationmay be
worthwhile.On29 OctoberI9I0, theMarwariAssociationof Chitpur
petitionedthe police,requestingtheforcedstoppageof a cowsacrifice
on Bakr-Idat a mosqueon AmratollaStreet(wherethe haji, apparentlydeadby I9I0, hadonce lived).The Marwarisarguedthat"they
hadneverheardof anysuchsacrificetakingplacebefore".The police
foundthis allegationtotallyuntrue.152
The historyof the mosqueandits localityshowshow the Muslims
hadbeengraduallyyieldinggroundto the incursionsof the Marwaris
throughoutthe secondhalfof the nineteenthcentury:
The mosquein questionis a smallbuilding. . . It was builtby a mannamedDin
Mahomed,a coachmanin the employof the late Haii Jakeria[Zakaria],and some
othersyces and coachmen.At that time [the I850S] the inhabitantsof the locality
were rich Momins[Memons?"Momins"were weavers,never"rich"]and Sartis
[Surtisfrom Surat?]of Bombay.These peoplehavenow lost most of theirmeans
andarebeingdisplacedby wealthyMarwarisandHinduswhoareoverflowing
from
. . . the surroundingquarters. . . it is naturalenoughthat the Marwaris,who
. . . have a very strongaversionto . . . [cow]sacrifices,feel the existenceof the
mosqueas a grievance.153

However,"the immediatecause of the . . . agitation"is even more

suggestive.Oppositethe mosque there used to be a Muslim busti,
"a little over three bighas [approximatelyone acre] in extent". In
about I903 or I904 this plot of landwas sold, halfof it to a Marwari
firm, Gopi Ram BhagatRam and Company)and the otherhalf to a
150 W.B.S.A., Home (Pol., SpecialBranch),confidentialfile no. 290/I9I0,
nos.
I-3. I am gratefulto PaulineRule and StephenGourlayfor drawingmy attentionto

this document.
tS1 PaulineRule is workingon some of these points for her Ph.D. thesis at the
Universityof Melbourne.See also her "GoondaRajin Calcutta,I9I9-I923" (forthcoming in SouthAsta).
I52 Sacrificeof cows "has takenplace at the mosqueeveryyearfor at least forty
years":W.B.S.A., Home (Pol., SpecialBranch),confidentialfile no. 290/I9I0, nos.
I -3 .
153 Ibid.

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I67

Muslim gentleman,A. M. Isabhai.BhagatRam evicted the bustidwellingMuslimson his side and built himselfa largehouse there,
whereasthe "landbelongingto Isabhairemainedas basti".In January
I9I0, BhagatRampurchasedIsabhai'sparttoo, for twicethe selling
priceof I903-4:
The [Muslim]bastihas now been clearedand the Marwariappearsto intendto
build, but so longas the [cow]sacrificescontinuehe will be unableto let or sell the
houseto one of his religion.LandanywherenearHarrisonRoad[a streetclosebyl
is veryvaluable,andif therewerenothingto offendthe Marwaris,GopiRamBhagat
Ram& Co., wouldprobablymakea largeprofit.154

Thus, "it is the generalopinionof everyonethatBhagatRamstarted and did his best to keep up the presentagitation".The M^arwaris
werealso importinghundredsof strongmen fromBikanirand were
obviouslypreparingfor a communalfight.155
SuchMarwariincursionsinto the Muslimresidentialareasof ChitpurandBurrabazar
did not startin I9I0. Indirectevidencepointsto
an earlierbeginning.The formationof a Marwari-inspired
CowProtectionSocietyin Burrabazar
in I894, or Ntarwarigamblingthatwas
particularlyrife in I896 in Chitpur,156suggest a growingMarwari
presencein these areasin the I890S. If this is true, then it would
partlyexplainwhy in this decade the poor migrantMuslimswere
oftenfightingthe demolitionof "allegedmosques".Theirsettlements
were under pressurefrom developmentsin the local land-market.
The residentialareasof the old Muslimtraderswere being invaded
by the Marwaris.They may have faced businesscompetition,too,
fromthe Marwaris.157 The ZakariasandAriffswereprobablyon the
defensiveandthereforekeento link up with the poorermigrantMuslims so as to be ableto use theirown "communalism"
againstthatof
the Marwaris.In this, a pan-Islamistideologycould be a very good
bond to cementthe Muslimrich and poor.
The leadershipof the up-countrymill-hand,by contrast,went by
default. His communalismmay have received occasionalsupport
fromHindusimportantin the locality the shopkeepers'rolein the
Rishrariot, or that of AnnapurnaDevi, a Titagarhzemindar,'58or
154 Ibid. Note the I00 per cent increasein land pricein just sevenor eight years,
also the huge amountof money involved.In I903-4 the land was sold for II0,000
rupees.
55 Ibid.
156 See "Proceedings
of the GeneralCommitteeof the CalcuttaCorporation
for 2I
AugustI896", pp 243-6 (COpy at CalcuttaCorporation
Archives).
157 It lS interestlngto observethat the NakhodaMosqueand the Marwari
areasof
BurraBazarremainedthe two focalpointsfor organizationin the communalriot of
I9I8: J. H. Broomfield,"The ForgottenMajority:
The BengalMuslimsandSeptember I9I8", in D. A. Low (ed.), Soundingsin ModernSouthAsianHistory(London
I968), pp. I96-224.
158 She ownedslumsin

the Titagarhmill area,and used to insert"a clausein the

patta[contract]grantedto tenantsmakingit a conditionof the leasethat Musalman
tenantsshouldnot slaughtercowson the estate":R.N.P.B., 20 June I896.

I68

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 9 I

of Hindu-Bengalimill-clerksduringthe Titagarhriot,159beingcases
in point. But the chain of patronagewould hardlygo beyond the
locality. 16()

The Bengalibhadralok("respectableperson"of the middleclass)

in the nineteenthcentury, with his "education,clean clothes, and
handsunsoiledwith manuallabour",161perhapsfelt distantfromthe
world of men who workedin the mills. In the I890S, with a large
numberof immigrantmill-hands,the gulf betweenthe bhadralok
and
workingmen was only to grow wider. The Bengalibhadralok
were
not sufficiently equipped culturally to communicatewith such
groups.Theirpremierpoliticalorganization,the IndianAssociation,
reactedto the Talla riot by petitioningthe viceroyto "opena volunteercorps and trainthe Bengalisin the use of arms . . . [which]
would . . . help them to resistthe rowdyrioters".162In healthycontrastto this, Rabindranath
Tagoreshoweda muchbettergraspof the
bhadralok'sproblemswhen, in a very perceptiveessay written in
I898, he referredto the Tallariot thus:
Recentlya groupof lowerclass ignorantMusalmans,brickbatsin hand, tried to
createtroubleon the streetsof Calcutta.Whatwas surprisingabouttheirattempt
was that the Englishwere made specialtargetsof it. They [the Muslims]were
adequatelypunished.It is saidthatif you startthrowingstonesat others,somewill
be thrownbackat you. Thesefoolsthrewstonesbutwerehit backwithmuchharder
stuff. We understandthat they committeda crime, and were punished;but the
wholeaffairis still not sufficientlyclear.TheselowerclassMusalmansneitherread
newspapersnordo theywritein them.Whathappenedwasafteralla matterof some
importance,yet we knownothingof whatwenton in themindsof theseinarticulate
people.163

It was in this context of a socialand culturalhiatusbetweenthe

bhadrolok
andthe migrantworkersthatthe communityconsciousness
of Hindumill workersfoundfoster-parents
in the idiosyncraticcommunalismof anAnnapurnaDevi or a Hindumill babu,whileMuslim
migrantsfoundsimilarsupportin the broadercc)mmunity
politicsof
someonelike Haji Zakaria.Bengaldid not providethem with any
alternativesocialleadership.
XI
CONCLUSION

The mid-I8gos saw intense competitionin the jute mill labourmarket, caused by an over-supplyof cheap migrantlabour. Real
159 ThreeHindu-Bengali
millclerksgaveevidencein supportof up-countryHindus
duringthe trialsfollowingtheTitagarhriotof I896: W.B S.A., Jdl.(Pol.),Aug. I896,
A nos. I3-I4.
160 Organized
Marwari(andup-countryHindu)patronagefor communalriotswas
to becomereallyimportantin the twentiethcentury.
161 The descriptionis from Sumit Sarkar,The SwadeshiMovement
in Bengal,
I903-I908
(Delhi, I973), p. 509.
62 J. C. Bagal,Histotyof theIndianAssociation,
*876-I9SI
(Calcutta,
I953), p. I29.
163 Rabindranath
Thakur[Tagore],"Kanthorodh"
[TheThrottlingof OurVoice],
inRabindraRachanabali
[CollectedWorksof Rabindranath],
I 5 vols.(Calcutta,
I96I ),
Xii, p. 96I (my italics).

COMMUNAL RIOTS AND LABOUR IN BENGAL

I69

wagesdropped and workerswere largelyon the defensive,as some

of the strikes of the period suggest. But at the same time strong
communaldivisionssurfacedn
especiallyamongthe migrantworkers.
In this the methodof recruitmentand controlof labour,the sardari
system,seemsto haveplayeda crucialrole. It effectivelyshieldedthe
workersfromviewingin otherthan communitytermswhatwas potentiallya situationof conflictbetweenlabourand capital.164The
workingclassas a resultremainedfragmented.
The picturewas complicatedby the culturaldistancebetweenthe
Bengalibhadralok,
the mainpoliticalgroupin the city, andthe workers. The only elite group interestedin taking their politics to the
poorer, working-classand up-countryMuslims were a group of
wealthyMuslimtraders.Their ideologywas providedby pan-Islamism, and such ideology did indeed achieve considerablesuccess
amongthese men. However,it only reinforcedthe communityconsciousnessandfragmentation
whichthe labour-market
tendedto produce in the workingclass.
Someof the beginningsof twentieth-century
mass-communal
politics in Calcuttamay be discernedin this story, The culturalgap
betweenthe mill workerand the Bengaliintelligentsiaremained.165
The Marwarisand the Hindu Mahasabhapartywere to becomein
time the chiefpatronsof Hinducommunalismin the city. The tradition of HajiZakariaor GolamArifffoundtwentieth-century
successors in men like H. S. Suhrawardyor Y. C. Ariff (a descendantof
GolamAriff)who organized"black"Muslimtradeunionsin the jute
mills and the CAlcuttadocks in the I920S and Ig3os.166The crucial
continuitywas of coursein the labour-market,wherethe migrants
wereto growin number,and the sardarisystemmuchstronger.The
labour-marketthus continued to churn out human materialthat
communalist-minded
politiciansin the city were only too happyto
use. The Calcuttariots of I9I8 and I926) and to some extent the
GreatCalcuttaKillingsof I946, beargruesometestimonyto this.
ResearchSchoolof Paci0icStudies,
DipeshChakrabarty
AustralianNational University
164 The institutionof jobberyin Indiathusdistancedthe workerfromthe "political
facts"of his life. A contrastingbut instructivecaseis thatof centralAfrica(Rhodesia)
where, owing to factorsunique to colonialismthere, recruitment(and control)of
labourwas not left in the handsof the jobber.Instead,therewas visibleand violent
stateinterventionon the side of capitalon boththesematters,andthis contributedto
a fairlyquick rise in workerconsciousness.See G. Arrighi "LabourSuppliesin
HistoricalPerspective:A Studyof the Proletarianization
of the AfricanPeasantryin
Rhodesia",Zl. Development
Studies,vi (I970), pp. I97-234- Charlesvan Onselen
Chibaro:AfricanMineLabourin Southern
Rhodesia(London,I976).
165 This is not to belittlethe heroiceffortsof leftistsand communists
in Bengalto
bridgethe gulf, but theirorganizational
basis,downto the I950S, remainedsomewhat
limitedto a minorityof millshavinga mainlyBengaliwork-force.SeeIndraXit
Gupta
CapitalandLabourin the3'uteIndustry(Delhi, I953), p. 42.
166 See McPherson,"Muslimsof Calcutta,I9I8 to I935", pp. 4I, I60, andpassim.