The Age of Industrialisation

1. Before the Industrial Revolution

– Industrialization is often associated with factory industry, but there was large-scale industrial production before the establishment of factories.
– Proto-industrialization refers to this earlier phase of industrialization, where merchants funded peasants and artisans in the countryside to produce goods for the international market.
– Urban crafts and trade guilds in towns had monopolies over production, making it difficult for new merchants to set up businesses there.
– Poor peasants and artisans in the countryside worked for merchants, supplementing their income from cultivation.
– Proto-industrial production involved a close relationship between towns and the countryside, with merchants coordinating various stages of production.
– The proto-industrial system relied on a network of commercial exchanges and involved a vast number of producers working within their family farms, not in factories.
– Each merchant controlled hundreds of workers, with 20 to 25 workers employed at each stage of production.

1.1 The Coming Up of the Factory

– The earliest factories in England emerged in the 1730s, but their numbers multiplied in the late 18th century.
– Cotton production experienced a significant boom in the late 19th century, with a substantial increase in imported raw cotton.
– Inventions in the 18th century improved each step of the production process, increasing efficiency and enabling the production of stronger threads and yarn.
– Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill brought together all production processes under one roof, allowing for better supervision, quality control, and labor regulation.
– Factories became a prominent feature of the English landscape in the early 19th century, captivating people’s attention and overshadowing production in countryside workshops.

1.2 The Pace of Industrial Change

– The cotton and metals industries were the most dynamic sectors in Britain’s industrialization, with cotton leading the way until the 1840s and then iron and steel taking over.
– Traditional industries were not easily displaced by new industries, and even at the end of the 19th century, less than 20% of the workforce was employed in technologically advanced sectors.
– Traditional industries experienced growth through small innovations in sectors such as food processing, building, pottery, glasswork, tanning, furniture making, and implement production.
– Technological changes occurred slowly, as new technology was expensive and cautious adoption was common. Machines often broke down and were not as effective as claimed by inventors and manufacturers.
– The steam engine, for example, took time to gain acceptance, with limited usage in industries such as cotton, wool, mining, canal works, and iron works at the beginning of the 19th century.
– Historians now recognize that the typical worker in the mid-19th century was more likely a traditional craftsperson or laborer rather than a machine operator.

2 Hand Labour and Steam Power

– Victorian Britain had an abundance of available human labor, leading to low wages.
– Industrialists preferred manual labor over machines as they did not face labor shortages or high wage costs.
– Seasonal industries such as gas works, breweries, bookbinding, and printing relied on hand labor to meet fluctuating demand.
– Hand labor was essential for producing goods with intricate designs and specific shapes, while machines were more suitable for standardized mass-produced items.
– In Victorian Britain, handmade products were associated with refinement and class, favored by the upper classes, while machine-made goods were primarily exported to colonies.
– Unlike countries with labor shortages, such as nineteenth-century America, Britain did not face a shortage of available human labor, hence the preference for manual labor over mechanization.

2.1 Life of the Workers

– The abundance of labor in the market led to intense competition for jobs in Victorian cities.
– Social connections and networks played a crucial role in securing employment.
– Many jobseekers faced prolonged periods of unemployment and resorted to temporary shelters or lived on the streets.
– Wages varied significantly between trades and fluctuated from year to year, with the real value of earnings decreasing during periods of rising prices.
– The duration of employment and the number of workdays determined the average daily income of workers.
– Approximately 10% of the urban population were extremely poor, with even higher unemployment rates during economic slumps.
– Workers were often resistant to the introduction of new technology due to the fear of job loss.
– Building activities in the cities, including road widening, railway construction, and infrastructure development, provided increased employment opportunities from the 1840s onwards. The transport industry saw a significant rise in the number of workers employed during this period.

3 Industrialisation in the Colonies

3.1 The Age of Indian Textiles

– In pre-colonial times, Indian silk and cotton goods dominated the international textile market.
– Armenian and Persian merchants played a crucial role in transporting Indian textiles across regions.
– European companies gradually gained control of the trade, leading to the decline of Indian merchants and ports.
– Surat and Hoogly ports deteriorated while Bombay and Calcutta grew under colonial influence.
– Weavers and artisans faced challenges due to loss of market access and livelihood as they became reliant on European intermediaries.

3.2 What Happened to Weavers?

– The East India Company initially aimed to expand textile exports from India due to the high demand for Indian fine textiles in Europe.
– After establishing political power, the Company implemented measures to control and monopolize the textile trade.
– They appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers, eliminated independent traders and brokers, and restricted weavers from dealing with other buyers.
– Weavers became dependent on advances provided by the Company, resulting in the loss of their autonomy and bargaining power.
– Clashes between weavers and gomasthas, along with low prices offered by the Company, led to dissatisfaction and revolts among weavers.
– Many weavers migrated or turned to agricultural labor, facing new challenges by the early 19th century.

3.3 Manchester Comes to India

– The decline of textile exports from India began in the early 19th century, despite the earlier belief that demand would remain high.
– The development of cotton industries in England led to concerns about competition from other countries, prompting the imposition of import duties on cotton textiles.
– British cotton goods flooded the Indian market, causing a decline in demand for Indian textiles.
– Imported machine-made cotton goods from Manchester were cheaper, making it difficult for Indian weavers to compete.
– The American Civil War further impacted Indian weavers as raw cotton supplies from the US were cut off, leading to higher prices and scarcity of raw materials.
– The emergence of factories in India further threatened the survival of the weaving industry by increasing the availability of machine-made goods in the market.

4 Factories Come Up

– The first cotton mill in Bombay was established in 1854, followed by others in subsequent years, including jute mills in Bengal.
– The Elgin Mill was started in Kanpur in the 1860s, and the first cotton mill in Ahmedabad was established a year later.
– By 1874, the first spinning and weaving mill in Madras began production.
– Entrepreneurs and industrialists set up these industries, investing capital from private sources.
– The mills attracted a diverse workforce, including rural migrants, artisans, weavers, and laborers seeking employment opportunities.

4.1 The Early Entrepreneurs

– Indian businessmen who were involved in the China trade, exporting opium and importing tea, later ventured into industrial investments in India.
– Dwarkanath Tagore, a prominent figure in Bengal, made his fortune in the China trade and established joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s.
– Parsi businessmen in Bombay, such as Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata, accumulated wealth from exports to China and raw cotton shipments to England, building large industrial empires.
– Seth Hukumchand, a Marwari businessman, traded with China and set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917.
– Various merchants from Madras had trade links with Burma, the Middle East, and East Africa, accumulating capital for investment in industries.
– Indian merchants faced increasing limitations under colonial control, being restricted from trading with Europe in manufactured goods and gradually being edged out of the shipping business.
– European Managing Agencies, such as Bird Heiglers & Co., Andrew Yule, and Jardine Skinner & Co., controlled a significant sector of Indian industries, mobilizing capital and making investment decisions.
– Indian businessmen were not allowed to join the chambers of commerce of European merchant-industrialists.

4.2 Where Did the Workers Come From?

– Workers in Indian factories primarily came from the surrounding districts of the industrial regions.
– Peasants and artisans who couldn’t find work in their villages migrated to industrial centers in search of employment.
– In the Bombay cotton industries, over 50% of workers in 1911 came from the neighboring district of Ratnagiri, while Kanpur mills predominantly hired textile workers from the local district.
– Workers often moved between the village and the city, returning to their villages during harvests and festivals.
– As news of employment opportunities spread, workers traveled long distances in hopes of finding work, such as from the United Provinces to the textile mills of Bombay and the jute mills of Calcutta.
– Getting jobs in the mills was challenging due to the high number of job seekers and limited vacancies. Industrialists relied on jobbers, trusted workers who recruited new workers from their own villages and assisted them in settling in the city.
– Jobbers gained authority and power over time, demanding money and gifts in exchange for their assistance and exerting control over the lives of workers.
– The number of factory workers increased over time, but they remained a small proportion of the overall industrial workforce.

5 The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth

– European Managing Agencies focused on products like tea, coffee, mining, indigo, and jute, primarily for export rather than domestic sales.
– Early Indian cotton mills produced coarse cotton yarn instead of fabric, as yarn imports were limited to superior varieties. The yarn produced in Indian mills was used by handloom weavers in India or exported to China.
– The swadeshi movement and nationalist efforts led to a shift in industrialization patterns. Indian industrialists began producing cloth instead of yarn in response to the boycott of foreign cloth and increased tariff protection.
– The export of Indian yarn to China declined due to competition from Chinese and Japanese mills.
– Industrial growth in India was slow until the First World War. The war created new opportunities as Manchester imports declined, and Indian mills had a larger domestic market.
– Indian factories supplied war needs during the war, leading to a boom in industrial production, with new factories and increased employment.
– After the war, Manchester could not regain its former position in the Indian market due to its inability to modernize and compete with other countries.
– Local Indian industrialists gradually consolidated their position, substituting foreign manufactures and capturing the domestic market as the British economy crumbled and cotton production and exports declined.

5.1 Small-scale Industries Predominate

– In 1911, about 67% of large industries were located in Bengal and Bombay, while small-scale production remained dominant in the rest of the country.
– A small proportion of the industrial labor force worked in registered factories, with 5% in 1911 and 10% in 1931, while the majority worked in small workshops and household units.
– Handicraft production, including handloom cloth, expanded in the 20th century despite challenges from machine-made products.
– Technological changes, such as the adoption of looms with fly shuttles, increased productivity and reduced labor demand for weavers.
– Weavers who produced coarser cloth faced fluctuating demand, while those who wove finer varieties had more stable demand from the well-to-do.
– Specialized weaves and products, such as woven borders on saris and lungis, were difficult for mills to imitate, allowing traditional craftsmen to maintain their market.
– Weavers and craftspeople faced difficult working conditions, often involving long hours and the participation of the entire household. However, their role was integral to the process of industrialization.

6 Market for Goods

– Advertisements played a crucial role in creating new consumers and expanding markets for products during the industrial age.
– Manchester industrialists used labels on cloth bundles to make their place of manufacture and company name familiar and to establish a mark of quality.
– Labels often featured beautifully illustrated images, including those of Indian gods and goddesses, to give divine approval and make the foreign goods appear familiar to Indian people.
– Manufacturers started printing calendars to popularize their products, which were widely displayed in tea shops, homes, offices, and apartments, reaching both literate and illiterate individuals.
– Calendars also featured images of gods and important figures like emperors and nawabs, emphasizing the association of the product with respect and quality.
– Indian manufacturers used advertisements to promote the nationalist message of swadeshi, urging people to support the nation by buying Indian-produced goods.