In the month of July 1908, one hundred years ago, tens of thousands of workers and working people of Mumbai, with the textile workers in the forefront, came onto the streets and waged powerful struggles. They used strikes and mass protests to show to the colonial rulers of India that the Indian working class stood for an end to colonialism, for freedom and independence. Over 200 workers sacrificed their lives in this glorious struggle at the altar of freedom, as the colonialists deployed savage repression to try to cow down the protesting workers.

India was seething with revolt. When Curzon announced the partition of Bengal in 1905, it was not Bengal alone who rose up in revolt but people of the whole country. The non-cooperation movement and the movement to boycott British goods intensified. The colonial rulers intensified their oppressive policies by banning bande mataram and other slogans of the popular struggle, by banning the so-called seditious meetings (in May and November of 1907), by taking over the control of the printing presses (June 1907) through the Press Act, etc. While some leaders of the Congress Party tried to suspend the non-cooperation movement, other leaders like Lokmanya Tilak called upon the people to intensify the struggle. The colonial rulers arrested Tilak on 24th June 1908 under charges of sedition.

Enraged by this, the workers of Mumbai came onto the streets in protest. On 25th June thousands of workers and people clashed with the police in front of the court where Tilak was to be produced. The confrontation between the workers and the colonial government once again intensified on 13th of July when Tilak’s trial started. Many textile mill workers declared strike and descended to the court area. They were joined by other people of Mumbai. Army was deployed on the streets of Mumbai in large numbers to stop the workers. From 14th to 16th July, workers from various mills also joined the strike. On 18th July police opened fire on the workers, in which several workers were killed. The workers retaliated by throwing brickbats. On 19th July, in the Mahim area of Mumbai, 65,000 workers declared strike. From dock workers to small shopkeepers, people came on the streets. Meanwhile, on 22nd July along with Tilak, five leaders of the workers were also sentenced. Tilak was given a sentence of six years. In spite of heavy rains, thousands of workers were present outside the court, which forced the authorities to take Tilak out from the back door of the court.

Workers called for a six day strike. By 23rd July the strike had become very widespread and had assumed the character of a general strike. 23rd July to 28th July were six tumultuous days when more than a lakh of workers were on strike. On 24th July there were clashes between the striking workers and the army in which several workers were martyred and many others were wounded in the firing by the army. On 27th July many people from the middle class and unorganised workers joined the strike. On the last day of the strike there were clashes with the police in which domestic servants (mostly people who had come from the villages) fought shoulder to shoulder with the workers.

“….. The infamous sentence pronounced by the British jackals on the Indian democrat Tilak ….. this revenge …. by the lackeys of the money-bag evoked street demonstrations and a strike in Bombay. In India, too, the proletariat has already developed to conscious political mass struggle – and, that being the case, the Russian-style British regime in India is doomed!“ This is how VI Lenin referred to this heroic strike action of Mumbai workers in his article Inflammable Material in World Politics published in Proletary of 5th August 1908.

More than 200 workers and people were killed by the government actions and thousands were wounded.  The British government was able to suppress the struggle by unleashing violence and with the help of their lackeys in the Congress party. However, they could not suppress the political awareness that was kindled in the minds of the workers.

An Active Force in the Indian Political Arena

The anti-colonial struggle took a new strength from 1908 onwards with the mass participation of the organized work force against every measure of the colonial rulers. The Indian working class vigorously participated in 1928 in the protest against the Simon Commission, in 1932 against the oppression unleashed by the British government, in May 1930 in the struggle to establish the Sholapur Commune in Maharashtra, in 1940 against the Second World War, in 1945 in support of the INA revolt and in 1946 in support of the RIN revolt of the sailors against the British authorities.

The working class became an organised force. An all-India trade union of workers was formed leading to the establishment of AITUC in 1920. The communist party, as well as workers and peasants parties came into being. Under the leadership of the party, tens of thousands of workers came forward in political action for freedom and revolution.

India did not remain the same ever again. The working class had appeared on the scene of history.

Political aims of the working class today

23rd July 2008 will mark the centenary of the historic political strike by the Indian working class for freedom.

In the century since those glorious days, much has happened in India and the world.

In August 1947, the colonial rulers were forced to leave India. The working class sacrificed enormously, as did the peasantry, in this struggle for freedom. However, power was transferred from the colonialists to the Indian bourgeoisie, and not to the workers and peasants of India.

Nearly 61 years after this transfer of power, India is emerging as a powerful imperialist country. This is not a matter of joy for the workers of India. They remain exploited and oppressed. So are the peasants. Capitalism is flourishing, leaving in its wake devastation all around.

The working class of our country is confronted with a challenge.

It must lead the peasantry in the struggle to halt and reverse the globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation program. It must lead the vast masses of people of our country out of the present crisis, and ensure Sukh and Suraksha for the people. It must be in the leadership of the struggle against remnants of feudalism, colonialism, and imperialism. It must lead the political battles for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism. 

In order to achieve these aims, the communists must organise the advanced sections of the working class in the party. The masses of workers must be organised in the united front with the peasantry and all other oppressed and fight to replace the rule of the bourgeoisie with the rule of the workers and peasants

Precisely on this question, India’s working class has been continuously led astray by the agents of the bourgeoisie in the communist and workers’ movement.

The CPM and CPI which claim to be communist parties have substituted some other aim for the working class instead of the aim of replacing capitalist rule with worker-peasant rule.

They have long since abandoned the aim of organising workers for communism.

According to these parties, the working class should restrict itself to only securing the best deal within the capitalist system. It should not work to overthrow the capitalist system. It should remain a mere vote-bank. They call upon workers in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura to vote for the Left Front government. In other states, and in the centre, they call upon the workers to defeat the “communal forces” (read BJP and Sena) and bring in the Congress or some other bourgeois party which they declare to be “secular”. In other words, the immediate task of workers is declared to be to choose the so called “lesser evil” from amongst the bourgeois parties, most of which are already deeply discredited in the eyes of the masses. In this manner, the workers are divided, confused and rendered missionless.

The mission of the working class is to bury capitalism and build socialism and communism. Resistance to the capitalist offensive of globalisation, privatisation, and liberalisation is necessary. But for the capitalist offensive to be defeated, workers must unite with peasants and fight for overthrow of capitalism and establishment of the rule of workers and peasants.

A centenary after the great historical political strike of the Mumbai workers, this is the call to the working class. n