Prabhabati Dasgupta

Prabhabati Dasgupta was one of the very few women who took part in the trade unionist movement in colonial Bengal.

Early life

Dasgupta was born into affluence. She was the daughter of Tarakchandra Dasgupta and Mohini Devi; K. C. Das, a noted Indian enterpreneur, was among her siblings. In 1920, Dasgupta obtained a MA in psychology from University of Calcutta; the same year, she was accepted as a Barbour Scholar at the University of Michigan. In 1927, she received a PhD from Heidelberg University.

Activism

While in Germany, Dasgupta met M. N. Roy—then, a leading member of the Communist International—and was inspired to return to Calcutta and take to labor activism.

All Bengal Scavengers' Union

Beginning in late 1927, Dasgupta became a regular visitor to the residence slums of the manual scavengers in Kolkata; in the process, she socialized with them extensively—breaching caste purity norms—and came to be known as "Dhangar-er Ma" (lit. Mother of Scavengers). In November 1927, with the aid of Muzaffar Ahmad and Dharani Goswami of the Workers and Peasants Party (WPP), she formed the All Bengal Scavengers' Union (ABSU) and became its inaugural president. While scavengers had mobilized before, as early as 1870s, ABSU taught them to raise funds for collective subsistence during strikes, not run afoul of technical illegalities, and articulate their demands in writing; Tanika Sarkar, a pre-eminent historian of colonial India, notes that the Union—via their propaganda—"translated grievances into demands and demands into rights".

Scavengers' strike (1928)

In late January 1928, ABSU dispatched a list of demands to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation who employed the workers; as the demands were not fulfilled, a strike was launched from 4 March 1928. The Corporation responded by implementing a host of repressive measures—picketers were physically assaulted and even blacklisted from accessing public services including latrines—and refused to accord legitimacy to the union until un-removed wastes threatened to foment an epidemic; Dasgupta characterized them as "oppressors". The strike broke on 9 March as the Corporation negotiated with the workers and reluctantly sanctioned a salary hike of 1 Rupee; additionally, the Mayor promised to not retaliate against the picketers.

However, as police cases were not withdrawn, a renewed strike was launched on 25 June; the next day, Dasgupta was arrested for using abusive language against menial municipal employees who tried to break the strike. The Corporation yet again responded by turning a blind eye until the sewers overflowed and an enraged public demanded the issue to be sorted; the strike finally ended on 5 July with fresh commitments of non-retaliation.

Bengal Jute Workers' Union

The Bengal Jute Workers' Union (BJWU) was formed in late 1928 out of a merger between the Bengal Jute Workers' Association, which had come up in present-day North 24 Parganas, and the Chengail and Bauria Jute Workers' Union, which had a foothold in Howrah and Budge Budge. Apart from the Kankinarah Labour Union (KLU)—noted for its moderate stances and fervent opposition to Communism—it was the only significant trade union in the jute mill sector in Bengal.

In May 1929, Dasgupta—by then, a leading figure in the activist circles in Calcutta—was elected as the president of BJWU; the election was necessitated by the colonial government choosing to arrest Kalidas Bhattacharya, the founder-president of the Union, for alleged involvement in a communist conspiracy to overthrow the government. In the same election, Kali Kumar Sen was elected the chairman; a leading Communist and member of WPP, he eschewed a more radical brand of politics than Dasgupta leading to factional rivalry.

Jute mill strike (1929)

In July 1929, as the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) increased mandatory work hours and decreased bonuses, workers began defying the management by refusing to work beyond the old requirements and then engaging in total strikes. Rumours of an increase in work time had been rife for months, and the two unions had met as early as May when Dasgupta and others—unlike Sen—rejected striking in favour of a discussion-based approach. Even in mid-July, Dasgupta had refused to concede to a strike and even urged workers to rejoin work before conceding to a compromise where the workers joined work but produced fewer clothes; this plan, however, did not work as intended as the mill owners resorted to mass-layoffs.

As tensions increased, sometime around late July, Dasgupta expressed her support—out of compulsion or not—for a full-blown strike; in the next few days, Sen, Bankim Mukherjee, and other colleagues from BJWU utilized the existing networks of communist labour activists to spread the call throughout the jute belt and integrate local strikes under its purview. However, Dasgupta maintained a politically mellower stance than her rival, Sen, throughout — Anne Sailer, a labour historian of Colonial Bengal, notes that while the latter's public addresses invoked the vocabulary of class conflict, her's were predicated on honour, responsibility, and solidarity; supporters routinely introduced Dasgupta as the caring Mother of the workers and even deified her as Lakshmi.

Finally, on 3 August, Dasgupta called for a general strike in Jagatdal and Titagarh to commence from two days later. By 6 August, several mills across Kolkata and its immediate suburbs had joined what was an unprecedented confrontation between the labouring class and industrialists; the strike even spread into areas where BJWU barely had any organizational hold. By mid-August, even the mills from the extremities—Uluberia, Budge Budge, Bauria, etc.—had joined in though often with unique—and even opposing—demands that didn't find a place in the strike's official agenda, set by Dasgupta; "intensive picketing, processions of bands of workers carrying red flags, and extensive distribution of radically worded pamphlets and posters printed on red" became routine as about 3 million labourers refused to join work until their demands were met with.

As the strike prolonged, anti-colonialism became an integral part of the protest as the state drew umbrage for the poor condition of the workers; further, the strike began to spread across other industries, forcing the government to intervene. Despite not being a registered trade union, BJWU was invited to participate in a tripartite meeting with the IJMA and the government labour officer; Dasgupta was asked to represent BJWU in what was a significant political victory for the nascent organization. On 16 October, a settlement was reached—wherein the IJMA promised to increase the pay proportionately to the increased work hours, restore old bonus schemes, provide maternity benefits, and not retaliate against those who partook in the strike—and Dasgupta called off the strike.

Aftermath and Expulsion

Most of Dasgupta's colleagues were unaware of her negotiations and had rejected an informal offer—roughly to the same effects—from IJMA only a couple of days before; further, the settlement offered no solution to the unique issues that affected individual mills. Also, unknown to almost all workers, the strike never had a demand for increasing wages on the agenda; on 20 August, when workers in Champdani protested the settlement and demanded better wages, she denied support and asked them to wait till the union was in a better shape. In some areas, workers heckled BJWU leaders and even demanded that they be paid a week's salary by the union since the accepted settlement ran parallel to what was informally proposed a week before; in other areas, the implementation of the settlement was delayed, and workers took to striking again.

On 25 August, was expelled for her high-handedness and in a Communist takeover, Sen took over the mantle of BJWU; she promptly re-founded the Bengal Jute Workers’ Association (BJWA) with Bakar Ali Mirza and Nripendra Chaudhuri, and became its president.

Bengal Jute Workers' Association

From around 1930, the trade union movement became fragmented as rival unions began to exercise dominance over different areas — in North 24 Parganas, BJWA remained dominant while in the South, BJWU maintained its stronghold; in Hooghly, neither had a base and a group of revolutionary terrorists reigned supreme.

In early March, Dasgupta called for a one-day strike in the mills around Jagatdal and Titagarh to compel the IJMA into negotiating better salaries with the workers; while the strike unexpectedly continued till the end of the month, it was unsuccessful, and the workers were compelled to resume work unconditionally. In November 1932, Dasgupta organized another round of strikes; they were unsuccessful with about 300 picketers being laid off.

Retirement

Sometime around 1933, Dasgupta permanently withdrew from politics.

Personal life

Dasgupta married Bakar Ali Mirza, a fellow trade-Unionist and then-general Secretary of the Bengal Jute Workers Association. Little is known about their married life; they did not have children. Swapan Dasgupta—a leading intellectual of the Hindu Right in India—is her great-nephew.

Legacy

Sarkar notes Dasgupta to have belonged to a generation of avant-garde women—from privileged backgrounds—in inter-War Calcutta who defied the social norms of the time as much out of a personal desire to revolt as due to a commitment to leftist political ideology even if not espousing a definite political affiliation. Samita Sen notes her to be one of the very few women who took part in the trade unionist movement in colonial Bengal.

Recollecting her life in 1968, Dasgupta however rejected having engaged in any "trade union movement" ever and claimed to have acted merely out of humanist instincts; the mills and its localities were like her zamindari (fiefdom), and she had supposedly banned communists from even entering the areas.