‘An evil thing’: Gandhi and Indian Indentured Labour in South Africa, 1893–1914

Abstract

Between 1860 and 1911, 152,184 Indian indentured workers went to the then British colony of Natal to work primarily on the sugar plantations. They were followed by free Indian migrants. White settlers felt threatened by a settled Indian population and passed legislation to curb their immigration, trading, employment and residence rights. The struggle of Indians against this racist legislation was spearheaded by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The most contentious issues surrounding Gandhi’s South African stay between 1893 and 1914 are his allegedly racist attitudes towards Africans and his neglect of indentured migrants and their descendants. This article examines Gandhi’s attitude to, and relationship with, the indentured. While most academic studies have argued that Gandhi was oblivious to them until 1913, this article presents a nuanced picture, drawing on aspects of historical archives that have not yet been fully drawn upon, or re-reading those that have been consulted previously. It shows that Gandhi’s views underwent an observable transformation during the time that he was in South Africa, to the point that he came to describe the system of indenture as ‘an evil thing’. However, his reasons for wanting an end to the system were multiple and complex, relating not just to the plight of the indentured, but also the utility of ending indenture for non-indentured Indians.