A-Infos (en) Bangladesh Anarcho Syndicalist Federation - BASF: The bloody history of the tea workers revolt

rides-mudi-odhikar ---- Heart Grocer:: ---- Today is the historic 20th of May. Tea Labor Day. The whole world today is devastated by the 
deadly corona virus attack. In the current situation, when people of all walks of life have to fight against the deadly corona virus, the 
working people of the country have to fight with it against the perpetual scarcity, poverty and exploitation and oppression of the owner 
class. Corona's attack on the working class is a new or temporary thing, but the exploitation and oppression of the working class has been a 
daily reality for him for ages. As a result, the working class has repeatedly had to unite and fight for liberation. Kshatriya has to make 
history of new battles. 99 years ago today, thousands of protesting tea workers wrote such a struggling history. On this day in 1921, 
hundreds of tea workers were indiscriminately shot dead by the Gurkha forces protecting the interests of the British government and garden 
owners. The Gurkha forces chose the path of this barbaric massacre after failing to stop the historic "Mulluke Chal" movement organized by 
thousands of tea workers in protest of the oppression and inhuman torture of the owners. This day of history stained with the blood of 
thousands of workers is celebrated as "Tea Workers' Day".

Today we are fascinated by the beautiful and tidy tea garden, once upon a time it was an uninhabited inaccessible forest. Today's 
eye-catching tea gardens are the result of hundreds of years of relentless struggle by helpless poor peasants from different parts of the 
subcontinent and their descendants. India has a long history of developing the tea industry. As far as is known, At one time tea cultivation 
was not practiced anywhere else in the world except China. The English started tea cultivation in India in 1836. Later, in 1854, commercial 
tea cultivation began in this region through the Malnichhara Tea Garden in Sylhet. The relationship of labor with production is inextricably 
linked. And the main purpose of production in the ownership system is profit. In search of a solution to this production and profit, the 
owner class made a cruel history of exploitation of the workers. In order to buy cheap labor, the English chose the path of deception from 
the very beginning. Indigenous groups such as the poor and famine-stricken Sawtal, Lohar, Kurmi, Munda, Kulbil, etc. of Central India and 
Orissa, Bihar, Madras, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. He collects the farmers of Bakura etc. as tea workers. Poor farmers were shown the 
dream of a better life. It was said in the garden of Assam, "If you shake a tree, you will get money." The persistence of the workers who 
entered the garden on the condition of lifelong work under the deception of the English and the persuasion of the brokers is still present 
today.

When the workers who have left their traditional homeland come to Assam and see that the dream of a better life is far away, they have to 
work hard and survive by constantly fighting with the animals. Darkness descends on the lives of tea workers, deprived of the unknown and 
modern civilized world. From the beginning, tea workers have not been given any permanent land, no civic benefits. In addition, tea workers 
were then made like medieval slave workers. It was legal to arrest and beat a tea worker who fled the tea garden because he could not bear 
the oppression of the owner. In this case the rising labor, Disease and poverty are the constant companions of tea workers. Where is the 
time to build a movement for the workers who are struggling to make ends meet? Moreover, from the beginning, the tea workers were isolated 
from each other. Workers in one garden were not allowed to go to work in another. Again, since they were people from different provinces of 
India, from different tribes, there were differences in their solidarity and language. On the other hand, there was no organized labor 
movement at that time that would show them the way. As a result, even though no organized movement could be formed then, the workers 
sometimes became rebellious. Although organized labor movement developed in India in the early twentieth century, Bipin Chandra Pal tried to 
create some work with tea workers in the late nineteenth century. There were people from different tribes so there was also a difference in 
their solidarity and language. On the other hand, there was no organized labor movement at that time that would show them the way. As a 
result, even though no organized movement could be formed then, the workers sometimes became rebellious. Although organized labor movement 
developed in India in the early twentieth century, Bipin Chandra Pal tried to create some work with tea workers in the late nineteenth 
century. There were people from different tribes so there was also a difference in their solidarity and language. On the other hand, there 
was no organized labor movement at that time that would show them the way. As a result, even though no organized movement could be formed 
then, the workers sometimes became rebellious. Although organized labor movement developed in India in the early twentieth century, Bipin 
Chandra Pal tried to create some work with tea workers in the late nineteenth century.

Meanwhile, in 1917, an unprecedented event took place in the history of the world. The Russian workers, under Lenin's leadership, founded 
the "Socialist Soviet Union." The effects of this socialist revolution were felt all over the world and its impact was felt in the labor 
movement in India. Workers of different gardens went on a spontaneous strike. The owners of the gardens became more involved in the 
spontaneous movement of the tea workers. On the other hand, the anti-British movement in India then took root. Kshatriya is the strongest 
tide of non-cooperation movement in India, The effect of which also falls on the workers. In 1920, a political movement in the Surma Valley, 
chaired by Abdul Karim, called for a boycott of the business and tea gardens of foreign owners, forcing tea workers to leave the tea 
gardens. The influence of the anti-British non-cooperation movement and the intoxication of liberation from the misery of their lives 
brought the tea workers down to the battlefield. The tea workers unanimously revolted, boycotted the garden and took to the streets. They 
decided to return to their homeland. Fear of owners, arguments of brokers, The tea workers went out to return to their homes without caring 
about everything, but they did not know how to return to their homes. He only knew that they would have to return to their homeland by 
train. The tea workers did not get tickets even after going to the railway station due to the instructions of the owners. At one stage it 
was decided that they would leave for Mulluk on foot along the railway line. The historic "Let's go to Mullu" campaign started. About 30,000 
tea workers, led by Pandit Deosharan and Pandit Gangadayal Dixit, united in this "Let's go to Mullu" campaign.

Tea workers walk along the railway line. Destination Chandpur. In this long journey, under the direction of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, 
Congress leader Yathindra Mohan Sen was by the side of the tea workers from the very beginning. Workers sometimes rest on the way. Along the 
way the villagers listened to their grief, misery and provided other assistance including serving food. Many workers also died on the way. 
After suffering hundreds of miles, the workers reached Chandpur Meghna Ghat on May 20, 1921. The tea workers wanted to go to Calcutta by 
ship from Chandpur Meghna Ghat. But the ship authorities refused to take them on board because the workers did not have the money to pay the 
rent. After many pleas, the ship's officials could not be persuaded, but the tea workers were forced to board the ship.

Meanwhile, the garden authorities were already working to stop the tea workers. They sent their representatives to Chandpur with the help of 
local administration, Commissioner Kiran Chandra Dey, Magistrate Sushil Singh and other gentlemen to suppress the revolt of the tea workers. 
When the workers wanted to board the ship by force, the Gurkha forces of the British government started firing and torturing them 
indiscriminately. Hundreds of tea workers were shot dead instantly. Thousands of workers were injured. Not just ships, The workers waiting 
at the Chandpur railway station were also subjected to brutal torture. The attack of the Gurkha forces created a hellish atmosphere in the 
shipyard and railway station that day. The helpless tea workers and their family members were killed and their bodies were cut off and 
thrown into the river so that the bodies could be drowned in the river. To quell the revolt of the tea workers, the police arrested a number 
of tea workers, including Pandit Ganga Dayal Dixit and Pandit Deosharan, the two main leaders of the movement. Pandit Ganga Dayal Dixit 
sacrificed his life by going on a long hunger strike to protest against this barbaric and unjust attack on the tea workers and the 
mistreatment of the jail authorities.

Tea workers marching along the railway line chanted "Gandhiji ka joy" and "Bande mataram" during the "Let's go to Mullu" campaign. But when 
Mahatma Gandhi was asked to support the tea workers' movement, Gandhiji did not support the movement because of the compromising political 
views, but advised the tea workers to return to the tea garden. On the other hand, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das rushed to Chandpur as soon as 
he heard the news of this barbaric murder of tea workers. He stood by the injured and agitating tea workers with local leaders. Many leaders 
and activists of the anti-British movement, including the revolutionary Masterda Suryasen, played a role in the tea workers' movement. In 
support of the tea workers' demand, the workers of Assam Bengal Railway started a strike. Deshbandhu Chitta Ranjan stood by the railway 
workers. He called on the workers to continue their strike. This barbaric organized on tea workers About 25,000 railway workers went on 
strike in protest of the killings. The students, including railway workers and ship workers, united with the tea workers that day. After the 
revolt and the labor movement, the British government was compelled to form a Royal Commission to abolish the girmit system and bring the 
workers back to the garden with a promise to provide them with rations and other benefits. Thousands of tea workers protested against the 
exploitation and oppression, which over time still exists today. Tea workers played a heroic role in the great liberation war of 1971 
against the exploitation of Pakistani rule after the British exploitation. But even after 49 years of independence, tea workers are deprived 
of their land rights, minimum wages, education and medical rights. As a result, tea workers are still fighting for land, minimum wage, 
education and medical rights. Students and people including ship workers. After the revolt and the labor movement, the British government 
was compelled to form a Royal Commission to abolish the girmit system and bring the workers back to the garden with a promise to provide 
them with rations and other benefits. Thousands of tea workers protested against the exploitation and oppression, which over time still 
exists today. Tea workers played a heroic role in the great liberation war of 1971 against the exploitation of Pakistani rule after the 
British exploitation. But even after 49 years of independence, tea workers are deprived of their land rights, minimum wages, education and 
medical rights. As a result, tea workers are still fighting for land, minimum wage, education and medical rights. Students and people 
including ship workers. After the revolt and the labor movement, the British government was compelled to form a Royal Commission to abolish 
the girmit system and bring the workers back to the garden with a promise to provide them with rations and other benefits. Thousands of tea 
workers protested against the exploitation and oppression, which over time still exists today. Tea workers played a heroic role in the great 
liberation war of 1971 against the exploitation of Pakistani rule after the British exploitation. But even after 49 years of independence, 
tea workers are deprived of their land rights, minimum wages, education and medical rights. As a result, tea workers are still fighting for 
land, minimum wage, education and medical rights. Deprived of the right to minimum wage, education, medical treatment. As a result, tea 
workers are still fighting for land, minimum wage, education and medical rights. Deprived of the right to minimum wage, education, medical 
treatment. As a result, tea workers are still fighting for land, minimum wage, education and medical rights.

The Tea Workers' Movement has been observing "Tea Workers' Day" since 2000 and the Bangladesh Tea Workers' Federation has been observing 
"Tea Workers' Day" since 2000 to accelerate the Tea Workers' Movement to learn from this history. The movement of the tea workers on that 
day could not be completely successful in the face of brutal oppression and barbaric oppression by the owner class. But the bloodbath of the 
tea workers has made this revolt a new history, a path of struggle. For more than one and a half hundred years, this "Mulluke Chal" movement 
of tea workers will be the source of the consciousness of the struggle for the rights of the oppressed and deprived tea workers.

https://bangladeshasf.org/caa-shrmik-bidroher-rktsnaat-itihaas/
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