Congress Ministry and the Labour Policy, 1937–1939: Madras Presidency

Abstract

The article, while critically examining the ideas of M.K. Gandhi on the industrial strikes, seeks to locate the implication of his ideas, which had largely fashioned the policy and perspective of the Congress ministry toward the industrial conflicts in the Madras Presidency, that is, the first Congress government under the British Colonial State during 1937-1939. It also endeavours to analyse Gandhi's ideas on the issues of ‘Class’ and ‘Class Struggle’ and demonstrates how the Congress ministry under C. Rajagopalachary had attempted to put them into practice during 1937-1939. And in the process, it presents a critical analysis of the labour policy of the Congress government under C. Rajagopalachary as Prime Minister and V.V. Giri as Labour Minister While the moderate working class leaders sought to guide the industrial workers with emphasis on the approach of class collaboration forsaking the line of confrontation as its main plank and conduct the strikes through non-violent method, the Left radical working class leadership on the contrary strove to educate the workers in socialism and communism and lead them to adopt an uncompromising and unyielding attitude in their struggle against the capitalist class. Class struggle and class confrontation were explained to the workers to be the only methods suitable to achieve their demands. This approach of the Left working class leadership inevitably led to the conflict with the Congress ministry and its labour policy. Therefore, the article, while unmasking the uneasy and intricate relationship underlying the Congress ministry and the working class leadership also traces the perception of the working class and its leadership in the Congress ministry and its historic role in the advancement of the working class movement in India. It also seeks to present the appraisal of the capitalist class and colonial bureaucracy on the performance of the Congress ministry vis-à-vis the problem of the rising militancy of the working class.