SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 1D

Page 2D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017

East Indians circa 1915

How it started
The Bill abolishing slavery was passed in the annual allowance of clothing sufficient and suitable
British Parliament, then headed by Prime for the climate; there are schools on each estate for
Minister Earl Grey, on July 31, 1833 to come into the education of the children, and the instruction of
effect in 1834. However, it was not until August their parents in the knowledge of religious duties.
1, 1838 that final Emancipation came. In the Their houses are comfortable, and it may be fairly
interval, as a consequence of lobbying by West said they pass their time agreeably and happily.
Indian planters there had been a period of Marriages are encouraged, and when improper con-
apprenticeship, during which the former duct on the part of the people takes place, there are
enslaved would work for wages on the planta- public stipendiary magistrates, who take cognisance
tions in the British Caribbean colonies. But of such, and judge between them and their employ-
apprenticeship was fraught with many difficul- ers. They have regular medical attendance whenev-
ties and as the end of slavery was now clearly in er they are indisposed, at the expense of their
sight, the planters began to seek low-wage labour employers.
elsewhere. Their eyes fell first on the Portuguese He added: It would be desirable that a portion of
island of Madeira, but since it was clear that it them, at least one-half, should be married, and their
would not supply labour in the quantity they wives disposed to work in the field as well as they
wanted over the long term, they turned their themselves. We should require to bind them for a
sights to Asia, and to the British colony of India period not less than five years or more than seven
in particular. years. They would be provided with comfortable
One of the early overtures to bringing Indians dwellings, food, and medical assistance; they would
to British Guiana came from John Gladstone, also, if required, be provided with clothing, or wages
who wrote a letter to Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co to provide themselves, which, for the able-bodied,
Ltd (GACL) dated January 4, 1836 from Liver- would not exceed four dollars per month, and in that
pool. Gladstone had plantations in British Guiana proportion for females and their children as they
and Jamaica and was concerned over the loss of grow up; a free passage would be given to them to
labour he expected to face. He requested 100 Demerara, where they would be divided, and 20 to
labourers from Calcutta and informed the compa- 30 placed on one plantation.
ny that he would be disposed to sending a ship to But he need not have worried as the reply from
ferry them to Demerara. Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co made clear. This com-
According to a copy of the letter, published by pany had already been involved in sending Indians
Gulcharan Mohabir on the website to work on the sugar plantations in Mauritius. The
http://www.sulekha.com, Mr Gladstone offered response from Calcutta dated June 6, 1836 said:
some inducements: Our plantation labour in the We are not aware that any greater difficulty would
field is very light; much of it, particularly in present itself in sending men to the West Indies, the
Demerara, is done by task-work, which for the natives being perfectly ignorant of the place they
day is usually completed by two oclock in the agree to go to, or the length of the voyage they are
afternoon, giving to the people all the rest of the undertaking. The tribe that is found to suit best in
day to themselves. They are furnished with com- the Mauritius is from the hills to the north of
fortable dwellings and abundance of food; plan- Calcutta, and the men of which are all well-limbed
tains, the produce of the colony, being the most and active, without prejudices of any kind, and hard-
common, and preferred generally by them; but ly any ideas beyond those of supplying the wants of
they have also occasionally rice, Indian corn- nature, arising it would appear, however, more from
meal, ships biscuits, and a regular supply of salt want of opportunity than from any natural
cod-fish, as well as the power of fishing for them-
selves in the trenches. They have likewise an Indian Girl circa 1892 Turn to page 4D
 SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 3D

Indian indenture: Some reasons for

immigrants repatriating and settling
By Dr David Chanderbali East Indians, to decide, other than in extreme
cases, against the expressed opinion of the
(First printed in Stabroek News, doctor.
The immigrants perception of unfair deal-
May 5, 2006) ing by the courts would have also influenced
the decision to repatriate.
The Indian immigrants in British Guiana Of the majority of immigrants who were
who had completed their first contract and had weekly committed to gaol for breaches of con-
also fulfilled the five-year industrial resi- tract, a very considerable proportion was con-
dence requirement were entitled by law to free victed of neglect to do what they were physi-
repatriation to India. The advantage of the free cally incapable of doing.
return passage was not taken by a majority of Even pregnant women were liable to pun-
immigrants in the colonies more distant from ishment for neglecting to perform the ordinary
their homeland. Between 1842 and 1870, for task of work despite that they pleaded their
instance, an average of 76 per cent of the immi- delicate condition in this respect, and were evi-
grants in Mauritius, British Guiana, Trinidad, dently, by their appearance, near their confine-
and Jamaica decided to settle in their respective ment.
colony. By comparison, for the same years, of A sense of injustice of such convictions
those who had sought employment in Ceylon, seemed a very potent cause for the prevailing
Burma, and Malaya, 80 per cent decided, for resentment amongst the immigrants.
reasons undocumented, to return home at their
own expense. Another cause for resentment was the fact
Why the average 24 per cent in the more dis- that invidiously distinct positions in court were
tant colonies decided to repatriate is also not assigned to managers of estates. Some of them
easy to establish. The immigrants were not being Justices of the Peace were allowed to
questioned before their departure from the remain on the bench even during the trial of
colonies; and the Protector of Emigrants in their own cases. It very often happened that a
India, although required by law to do so, sel- manager would in open court whisper to the
dom interviewed repatriating labourers. presiding magistrate upon the subject of the
case being tried and in which he was a com-
Even when they did, it was cursory and plainant. Such behaviour would give the immi-
unsystematic. Nevertheless, regarding the grants the impression of partiality even to a
Indian indentured immigrants in British conscientious magistrate.
Guiana the following reasons, either singly or Hindu priest 19th century
Finally, the East Indians experienced a
multiple, would explain why a minority decid- social problem which would have persuaded a
ed to return to India and the rest opted to settle number of them to return to India. During the
in the colony. early days of immigration few of them had
For many immigrants, their expectations received even a modicum of education in
that were based on the recruiters promises had British Guiana. They were, however, able to
been too high, and they would have been disap- retain their religion, their social habits, and to
pointed when reality confronted them. For some extent, their language.
some immigrants, the shortage of marriageable With their mixture of caste and religions and
Indian women, coupled with their apparent their different languages and dialects, they
aversion to exogamous marriages, would have tended to become narrow in outlook and less
been a source of great discontent. That more prone to become cosmopolitan, Moreover,
men retro-migrated did not alleviate the sexual their contractual terms created a mentality and
imbalance since more males than females con- an atmosphere amongst them of a mere tempo-
tinued to arrive in the colony. Other immi- rary stay in the colony. Consequently, the pro-
grants would have been overcome by the nos- vision that the colonial government made for
talgia of Mother India and the memory of a public education during the period of indenture
wife or an old parent whose funeral pyre his tended largely to pass the Indians by.
religion required him to light. Those immi-
grants who had arrived weak and sickly and
were able to strengthen themselves by better Decision to settle
food and medical care could not have been The Indian immigrants who chose to settle
overly daunted by the perils and uncertainty of in British Guiana would have been motivated
the long voyage home. The belief in the loss of by one or a combination of the following fac-
caste was probably inconsequential to many tors.
who repatriated. After ten years residence among jahaji
With the money saved, they could establish bhais (i.e. brothers of the boat, as indentured
themselves in another community and keep shipmates affectionately addressed one anoth-
their transmarine experience a secret, or, as er) and sometimes among kith and kin, and
many had actually done, give caste-dinners at new alliances, the nostalgia that would have
which they were re-initiated, often in a higher afflicted the immigrants would have dissipat-
caste. A number of immigrants in the colony ed. In the early years of indenture, they would
would have been dissatisfied as a result of the have experienced the trauma of a contraction
treatment received from medical officers. in the field of social participation.
It was common practice for medical men to But with every new wave of immigrants
discharge immigrants from hospital before they landed on the estates, that field would have
were completely cured, and to this may be expanded to encompass a growing social circle
attributed a large percentage of the so-called comprising little Indias. All of this would have
idleness charges that were brought before mag- eased the pressure of living in a foreign coun-
istrates. By the strict letter of the law, an inden- try.
tured immigrant was bound to do his daily task At the end of the tenth year also, many
of work if he was not in hospital or in gaol, and labourers had acquired a family and built their
although the magistrate had a discriminatory own home and owned livestock and other
power of declining to convict, if he believed property.
the accused was physically unable to work, it Those who had renounced their right to
would have been difficult for him, on account
of the alleged malingering propensity of the Muslim Missionary Turn to page 10D
Page 4D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017

How it
started From page 2D
deficiency, of which there is no indication
in their countenance, which is often one of
intelligence. They are also very docile and
easily managed, and appear to have no
local ties, nor any objection to leave their
country
The best period for procuring and ship-
ping the men is in our cold season,
between the months of November and
April, and the instruction to procure the
men should precede the ship about two
months, to give time to collect them; we
should of course not be able to find a
cargo for the ship, but some morghy rice
might be sent, which with a little care
would keep for three years
The Hill tribes, known by the name of
Dhangurs [Dhangars], are looked down
upon by the more cunning natives of the
plains, and they are always spoken of as
more akin to the monkey than the man.
They have no religion, no education, and,
in their present state, no wants beyond
eating, drinking, and sleeping; and to
procure which they are willing to labour.
In sending men to such a distance, it
would of course be necessary to be more
particular in selecting them, and some lit-
tle expense would be incurred, as also
some trouble; but to aid any object of
interest to you, we should willingly give
our best exertions in any manner likely to
be of service.
Gladstone was an absentee planter
whose plantation would have been man-
aged by an attorney, and who may, or may
not have known the real conditions that
existed there. Whatever the case, the real-
ity for the Indians who eventually arrived
here was in no way related to Gladstones
fantasy.
The first Indians arrived in British
Guiana on board the Whitby and the
Hesperus 396 men, women and children
two years later on May 5, 1838. They
included Hill Coolies from the Chota
Nagpur plateau about 300 miles from
Calcutta. Even before this, Indians had
been indentured to work in other colonies,
including the French territory of Runion
in the Western Indian Ocean, and eventu-
ally they could be found in a range of
British tropical colonies, as well as in the
Vegetable sellers in Georgetown circa 1900
Dutch colony of Suriname. Castle in 1872. The causes of these strikes were the wide- tion of Indians who were disparagingly referred to as
For the next 79 yearsa lifetimeexcept for two spread dissatisfaction with long hours of work, reduced coolies. This motion failed, but interest had been
stoppages between 1839 and 1851, about 239,000 Indians pay and deductions from pay along with general ill-treat- drummed up and two years later, indentureship was abol-
were brought to British Guiana, initially on five-year con- ment and abuse. Many Indians were arrested and incar- ished in Mauritius.
tracts, which included transport back to India at the end cerated and some lost their lives. Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst,
of their period of indentureship. However, only a minori- According to Associate Professor Emeritus York who served as Viceroy and Governor General to India
ty either chose to return or were actually able to go back. College, CUNY, Basdeo Mangru, it was a campaign in from 1910-1916, based on reports he received, con-
The stoppages came about following complaints about India that set the stage for the abolition of Indian inden- demned the high death rate, the appalling incidence of
how badly the Indians were being treated and the British ture. It began, he wrote in a letter to this newspaper, with suicides, mounting planter prosecution and the inde-
government launched enquiries and then appointed immi- a resolution by Indian nationalist, Gopal Krishna Gokhale scribable sexual immorality among Indian women
gration officials, who were to ensure that the regulations that was introduced in the Viceroys Imperial Legislative which produced a high level of Indian wife murders. He
were adhered to. Council in 1910 to terminate emigration to Natal. This called for the abolition of indenture to remove a social
Nevertheless, the exploitation continued and inevitably was passed the next year and Mr Gokhale then sought stigma which was bitterly resented by Indian educated
the Indians in due course were involved in disturbances another resolution for the prohibition of recruitment of opinion, Prof Mangru said. Lord Hardinges indictment
or went on strike on various plantations. Historians have Indian labour for colonial and inland employment. He coupled with an intensive anti-indenture campaign and
documented disturbances and strikes at Plantation listed several objections to indenture: an unfair contract the outbreak of World War I which required Indian ships
Leonora, West Coast Demerara in July 1869; at Planta- which omitted the penal sanctions, high mortality, and labour led to the suspension of indenture on March
tions Hague, Zeelugt, Vergenoegen, Uitvlugt, Success absence of safeguards, mounting number of court prose- 20, 1917. The system was officially abolished three years
and Non Pareil in 1870, and at Plantation Devonshire cutions, appalling number of suicides, the degrading posi- later.
 SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 5D

Daughter of indentured
immigrants recalls the old days
By Shabna Rahman India and that was their desire but they
could not afford it. They both came with-
Pongavanum Munsammy fondly called out their parents at age 11 to work on the
Aunty Chalma, had picked kamranga sugar plantations at Leonora, and Jahaji
(carambola or starfruit) and breadfruit (friends) took care of them.
from her yard to take to the Leonora Munsammy said her father came first
Market to sell, unlikely activity for a 90- and did shovel work; he also cut cane
year-old, but for this daughter of inden- and loaded it into punts. A few years later
tured immigrants working is what she her mother came, on another ship. At age
does. 12, one year after arriving in British
Wah you gon do? she beamed proud- Guiana, someone arranged a match wed-
ly. Yuh cant sit down and get anything; ding between her and Chenganie. Their
you have to get up and get. union bore three children: Munsammy and
Munsammys only tilt to old age is that two older brothers who are both deceased.
she has become hearing impaired. She After their period of indentureship
wears her traditional rumal (madras-style ended, they bought a house lot from the
head scarf) all day. She said that the manager of the estate in another section of
women who came from India wore the the village for $1. They built a two-bed-
deep pink-checkered scarf out of room wooden house on the lot and relocat-
respect. ed there.
Reminiscing on her days growing up in She recalled that her father smoked
a logie at a place called Madras Quarter, tobacco from a pipe while her mother
she said that ten families each had a room chewed paan (betel leaf, which is some-
in the range houses. The logies were built times combined with betel nuts, tobacco
with mud walls and thatched roofs. They and lime). She recalled that her mother did
had small wooden beds with mattresses of not know how to cook roti and that almost
bihaya grass stuffed into jute bags. all of their meals consisted of rice. This
Flambeaux (chiragh) were present in would be served mainly with daal and
every home and all the cooking was done some form of curry.
on one fireside. Her father died first, in his 70s and a
Munsammys parents, her mother few years later, Andikan died when she
Andikan and father Chenganie, came on was in her 80s.
separate ships from India to British Munsammy and her siblings all started
Guiana. She said that they did not speak working at the estate from tender ages.
much about their trips because they were Her marriage was also arranged when she,
both very young. The only thing she can too, was just 12 years old. She said she
recall them saying was that the recruiters never found happiness in the marriage
had fooled them, telling them that they because her husband consumed a lot of
were going to British Guiana to work for a alcohol and ill-treated her.
lot of money and gold. They were also Aunty Chalma and her daughter Golin
told that they would be able to return to Turn to page 11D

A sill that is used for

grinding massala

Aunty Chalmas flat iron

A coal iron that was used by

a butler who worked for a
white plantation manager
Page 6D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 7D

History this week

The Leonora Incident of 1939 revisited
(First published in Stabroek News on February 25, 2010)
By Tota C Mangar per, and Mr C R Jacob, a successful merchant and member
of the existing Legislative Council. The MPCA was offi-
February, 2010 marks the 71st anniversary of the 1939 cially registered on November 5, 1937, and it concentrated
Leonora strike and riot. At that point in time, Plantation its energies on organising primarily among workers in the
Leonora on the West Coast Demerara was one of the 27 sugar industry. At the same time, the British Guiana
functioning sugar estates in colonial British Guiana. Workers League also solicited members within the indus-
During the first half of the 19th century, ownership of try with emphasis on factory and clerical workers.
Plantation Leonora was in the hands of Mc Inroy, By 1939, labourers at Plantation Leonora were already
Sandbach and Company. Following the dissolution of that known for their militancy. For example, Leonora workers
conglomerate in 1854, Plantation Leonora was transferred were among the first Indian labourers to resist the inden-
to Sandbach, Tinne and Company, the London and tured system when they rioted as early as August, 1869
Liverpool-based parent company of Sandbach Parker and against an arbitrary reduction in wage rates. This resistance
this situation was to persist for sometime. Subsequently in came about at the height of the indentureship system.
1891, all of the Sandbachs plantation holdings in Guyana Furthermore, in 1909 Leonora workers demonstrated over
came under the direct control of the Demerara Company. a wage rate dispute and as recent as 1938 many of them
In addition to Plantation Leonora, the Deme-rara had downed tools over the level of pay for loading punts.
Company by 1939, also owned and controlled Plantations It was against this background of workers struggle in
Diamond, Farm, Providence, Ruimveldt and Cornelia Ida. the sugar industry that the strike and subsequent riot at
Of the remaining 21 sugar plantations in the country in the Plantation Leonora in February, 1939 has to be considered.
late 1930s, 15 were under the control of Booker Brothers, The protest in February, 1939 at Leonora has variously
Mr Connell and Company Limited, while three each were been labelled by interest groups and scholars to connote
in the hands of Curtis Campbell and S Davson respective- the view in which it was held: as a strike, a riot, a distur-
ly. bance or even an uprising. Regardless of whatever descrip-
The strike and riot of 1939 at Plantation Leonora tion is involved one fact is inescapable, that is the protest Pay day circa 1931
emerged against the background of the Great Depression or unrest possessed almost all the elements one would nor- Uitvlugt estate. Referring to the issue, the administrative middle walk dams. While factory workers initially report-
of the 1930s which was particularly due to the impact of mally associate with a struggle between the forces of capi- manager himself admitted that was the first indication we ed for normal duty, the factory was brought to a standstill,
World War I. tal and labour, hence, a conflict between two contending had that trouble was brewing. as canes were not readily available for processing. The
By the 1920s and 1930s, workers wages were depress- classes in society. A representative group of concerned firemen met Mr Leonora field workers then embarked on a plan to board
ingly low in the face of an extremely high cost of living, Leonora sugar workers, like workers in other sectors of Lywood and repeated their demands the next morning, the 7.40 am train with their tools of trade and without tick-
there was acute poverty, the unemployment rate was high the economy, were prepared to vent their feelings against Thursday February 14. They resumed work following a ets. They were eventually dissuaded from this aggressive
and diseases and malnutrition were rife. It was not surpris- the acute social and economic hardships they were experi- promise by the manager to review the issue. Nonetheless, response by a police detachment under Superintendent
ing, therefore that the Caribbean area, including British encing. Commenting on the Leonora crisis, the Daily the protest action by the firemen apparently led other Webber.
Guiana was swept by a wave of unprecedented labour Argosy in February, 1939, acknowledged the general groups on the estate to seek redress for either outstanding The strikers subsequently proceeded on foot along the
unrests, including strikes and disturbances in the 1930s. complaint is that earnings are inadequate and not commen- or current issues. For example, the same morning, about 80 railway track to Vreed-en-Hoop, the eastern terminus of
This period of upheaval against social and economic surate with the work done. to 90 members of Shovel Gang No 2 refused an offer of the West Coast Demerara railway and the point of
oppression had also witnessed the emergence of several The first sign of discontent at Plantation Leonora was eight and nine cents per bed for work on a field at embarkation of the Vreed-en-Hoop/Georgetown ferry. At
trade unions in the Caribbean and more particularly in evidenced on Monday, February 13, 1939, when 10 estate Groenveldt, some distance from their homes. Vreed-en-Hoop, the workers were addressed by C R Jacob
British Guiana. The British Guiana Labour Union, our old- firemen staged a half-day strike, protesting the rather A small delegation of these field workers met manager who promised them that the MPCA would seek redress for
est trade union, had by this time emerged under the lengthy working day of 11 hours and requested an extra Lywood and demanded 12 cents per bed instead of the their grievances, which included wage rates, hours of work
dynamism and influence of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow hours pay. The firemen were employees retained to stoke original offer. Lywood promised to inspect the field the fol- and method of loading punts. He also advised the strikers
and it had begun to make an impact on the working class. the wood-burning furnaces. lowing day, but he withheld the prospect of upping the pay to return to their homes. The protesters, however, were not
Moreover, it influenced the formation of other trade unions Their grievance was lodged with Mr Prentice, the over- rate, claiming that he considered nine cents a sufficiently satisfied with the unions response. Instead, they wanted an
in the country at this crucial period of our history. seer, who promised to refer the matter to Mr Leonard good price. This merely served to infuriate the shovel gang immediate settlement of their concerns.
In the sugar belt, the Man Power Citizens Association Lywood, the then estate administrative manager. Lywood who then conveyed their displeasure to the District C R Jacob for his part departed for Georgetown to attend Man from Hope Estate displaying a locally-made, nineteenth-century sarangi which had been
(MPCA) was formed under the leadership of Ayube Edun, subsequently deferred taking a decision on the matter in Superintendent of Police Mr Webber. the afternoons sitting of the West Indian Royal handed down to him (photo, 1976)
a goldsmith and publisher of the Guiana Review newspa- order to consult with the manager of the neighbouring Eventually, a meeting was arranged between Lywood, Commission and it appears as if his visit to Vreed-en-Hoop
the District Commissioner of Labour, Mr Gray, and a was largely ineffective. By about 1.30 pm, the gathering of
workers delegation. But the intervening discussion did striking workers was joined by another contingent which
very little to resolve the issue. Lywood stuck to the original was conspicuous by the dominance of women. While some
price offer and Gray openly acknowledged his ineffective- were obviously wives of sugar workers, it is reasonable to
ness at the negotiations. conclude that a good many of them were sugar workers
The workers, for their part, restated their dissatisfaction themselves, as women then formed 30 per cent of field
and requested that MPCA boss, Mr Ayube Edun, be labour and were very pronounced in the weeding gangs.
involved in the discussions. This latter request found The growing crowd of protesters renewed their efforts to
favour with the Commissioner of Labour but not with the cross to Georgetown, but were prevented from boarding
administrative manager of the Leonora Estate. the steamer, MV Pomeroon by a party of policemen. While
Perhaps, it is worthwhile to point out that the MPCA, as the protesters chanted loudly, they were by no means vio-
a union, was still not yet officially recognized by the Sugar lent. This fact was highlighted by Mr Jacob before the
Producers Association (SPA) as the bargaining agent for Royal Commission when he said: They were discontented
sugar workers. Such a situation undoubtedly contributed to but quite peaceful.
the unrelenting attitude of the estate management. Clearly, By about 4 pm, the situation at the Vreed-en-Hoop ter-
an explosive situation was at hand at Plantation Leonora. minal had become chaotic. Twice the ferry had to make
With a stalemate in talks in relation to the pay rate, premature departures and police reinforcements from the
workers took the bold decision to travel to Georgetown to city and elsewhere did little to quell the protesters, who
air their grievances before the then visiting West Indian intensified their efforts to board the ferry, though police
Royal Commission in an apparent belief that the foiled their action.
Commissioners would be sympathetic to their cause. Some of the strikers then began to board the West
According to Dwarka Nath, they were no doubt influ- Demerara train without tickets, after realizing the difficulty
enced by some strong remarks made by Sir Walter Citrine in getting to the capital city. This act of boarding the train
against some employers in the course of evidence given without tickets was certainly an act of civil disobedience
before the Commission. and such a defiant spirit must have convinced the police,
Meanwhile, industrial action at Leonora escalated on rail and district authorities to accede to the strikers
Wednesday, February 15, 1939. demand for free transportation home. Additional carriages
Almost the entire field workforce joined in the strike and were attached and following instructions from the
Estate managers house took part in picketing exercises on both the sideline and Turn to page 9D Interior of a sugar factory circa 1889
Page 8D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19 , 2017

History this week

Women in the sugar industry:
The pre-independence period
(An edited version of a column first printed
in the Stabroek News on March 30, 2006)
By Cecilia McAlmont those areas that were regarded as mens
rather than womens work. In fact we are
International Womens Day was celebrat- made aware of womens continued
ed earlier this month under the theme involvement in the industry up to the mid-
Women in Decision Making. The under- dle of the 20th century because of their
lying message of all the symposia, semi- active participation in protest against the
nars and discussions organized to cele- deplorable working conditions.
brate the day was that while Guyanese Walter Rodney (1981) showed that
women have made some strides in this all sometimes disturbances on the estate
important arena, by and large, our pres- began in the female-dominated weeding
ence in the halls of power and decision gang and cited the example of Salema,
making, given the many conventions our who urged the coolies to fight.
government has signed and ratified, Women fieldworkers participated in the
remains unacceptably low. Part of the rea- unrest on the sugar estates in 1924 and
son for this is that womens contribution joined with Creole and Indian men to walk
in almost every aspect of the development to Georgetown from the East Bank
process is often half-heartedly document- Demerara to see Hubert Critchlow.
ed, sometimes by women themselves, The Venn Commission Report of 1948
hence their achievements remain unheard was one of the few occasions when
and compared to men, poorly remunerat- women were openly recognised as an inte-
ed. One of the many areas where the gral part of the estate labour force. It was
silence continues to be quite deafening is called after the 1946 Enmore
in our contribution in the sugar industry Incident to enquire into the condition
which after nearly two centuries to some of the sugar industry in British Guiana.
extent still remains the lifeblood of our According to Ashton Chase (1964), this
country. This article is intended to make a commission paid special attention to the
contribution to filling that lacuna. situation of women in the sugar industry.
The sugar industry in British Guiana It stated that during 1939, 1946 and
really began to take off in the first decades 1949, women made up 30.6%, 30.1% and
of the 19th century after its final acquisi- 27.8% respectively of the total labour
tion by Britain. English planters who had force in the sugar industry. It commented
begun investing in the sugar industry dur- on the harshness of some of the tasks
ing the latter part of the 18th century now women were called upon to perform in Indian Girl circa 1897
poured more financial and human
Turn to page 9D
resources into the newly acquired
colonies.
This increased investment in the indus-
try coincided with Britains decision to
bring an end to the trade in African slaves.
This created a problem for the acquisition
of labour and the planters looked first to
Europe and then Asia, settling on India,
which at the time was also a British
colony. Soon, ships began to sail from
India taking mostly men, but also women
and children to fill the labour gaps in the
sugar plantations left by the dawn of
emancipation.
The gender bias in the writing of history
in the past has severely underestimated the
role and contribution of women to the
sugar industry and gives the impression
that the work of sugar production was
only mens work.
During the period of indenture, women
participated just as actively in the sugar
industry.
Immigrant women were also in short
supply but unlike enslaved women they
did have a few choices. They tended to
work at the less backbreaking tasks in the
field and factory like weeding and manur-
ing of the canes. No doubt in writing the
story of the sugar industry, the over-
whelmingly male writers, influenced by
the perceptions of the role of women and
what was accepted as suitable occupations
for women, deliberately downplayed and
understated the contribution of women in Indian family group circa 1890
 SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 9D

Women in the sugar

industry: The
pre-independence period
From page 8D
order to subsidise their husbands meagre earnings.
It recommended, among other things, that crches be provided on each estate and
tasks in the field be arranged so as to permit women to return home to prepare meals
and look after their children, and also that women and girls should as soon as possible
be prevented by ordinance from working in water. Except for the crches, the recom-
mendations were quite impracticable given, in case of the first, the distance of the
fields from the homes of the women and in the second, the very nature of some of
the tasks they had to perform, made it well nigh impossible for them not to work in
water some of the time.
It is not without irony, however, that women who became best known for their
involvement in the sugar industry, did not actually work there in any capacity but
came to be recognized for their attempts to organise the sugar workers in the trade
union movement which took off after the labour unrest of the 1930s and the recom-
mendations of the Moyne Commission. In this regard,
three women come to mind immediately viz Mrs Janet Jagan, Jane Philips Gay and
Philomena Sahoye-Shury.
Dissatisfaction with the quality of representation given to sugar workers by the
MPCA led to the establishment of the Guiana Industrial Workers Union with JP
Latchmansingh as president and
Jane Philips Gay as general secretary. She served in this position with considerable
energy and enthusiasm until the split of the Peoples Progressive Party into the Jagan
and Burnham factions.
She joined the Burnham (later Peoples National Congress) faction.
A feature that has characterized the evolution of political parties in the Caribbean
is the close linkages many had with trade unions. In the case of the three women ear-
lier mentioned, they used the skills and experience they gained as trade unionists to
advance their status in politics.
Mrs Jagan certainly honed the skills she was to use in her political career from her
involvement in trade union activity. The establishment in 1946 of the Political Affairs
Committee which later became the PPP coincided with the Enmore protest which
resulted in the death of five sugar workers. Dr and Mrs Jagan were very vocal in their
representation of the workers. Mrs Jagan headed the funeral cortege of the martyred
workers and played a lead role in commemorating their death anniversary. She also
later asked that a pension be given to their families.
Despite the scant recognition in the writings on sugar, women have always made
a significant contribution to the survival and development of the industry though not
at the decision-making level. This continued to be the case in the post-indepen-
dence/post-nationalization period. While quantitatively womens participation has
not increased significantly in the millennium, qualitatively it certainly has. Cutting the canes circa 1890

The Leonora Incident of 1939 revisited

From page 7D requested the presence of union leaders, police obeyed and four strikers, including total of 69 witnesses, the Commission
Edun and Jacob. Lywood attempted to a woman, were killed, while four others laid blame on the Sugar Producers
Commissioner of Labour and Local address the gathering, but was greeted by were seriously injured. The crowd quick- Association for its failure to grant recog-
Government, Mr Laing, the train with the flying debris. Everything at Leonora was ly dispersed, as people ran helter-skelter nition to the MPCA. At the same time, it
striking workers eventually departed for pointing to an explosive situation. and the strikers were subdued. By the fol- did not think the existing conditions at
Leonora. Certainly, some of the strikers, Incidents of sporadic violence lowing day, the strike was over and work plantation Leonora justified the level of
if not all, must have viewed this develop- increased as the day progressed and the eventually resumed at Plantation discontent of the workers.
ment as a sort of moral victory. striking workers at Plantation Leonora Leonora.
However, the unrest at Leonora wors- once again demanded the presence of As to the incident, the Daily Argosy of The Leonora Strike of 1939 in the end
ened on the morning of Thursday, union officials. This demand was not Friday, February 17, had as its headline, undoubtedly helped to hasten the recog-
February 16, 1939. Very early on that day, taken seriously because of the estate Bloodshed at Leonora. Police compelled nition issue surrounding the MPCA, even
a party of striking workers entered the administrations refusal to allow the to fire on mob. Governor Wilfred though sugar workers were to be disen-
sugar factory and urged factory workers MPCA officials to enter the estate com- Jackson promptly appointed a Commis- chanted with this very move in a few
to support the strike. It would appear that pound in the absence of a union recogni- sion of Inquiry to investigate the circum- years time. This was evidenced in the
the strike call was heeded as most of the tion agreement. stances relating to the Leonora distur- late 1940s when they broke away in
factory workers, including the factorys The strikers subsequently moved bances of 1939. favour of the Guiana Industrial Workers
firemen who had earlier in the week towards the factory. In the meantime, the The Commission of Inquiry comprised Union, the forerunner of the Guyana
protested, joined in the wider struggle. District Superintendent of Police instruct- Chairman Justice Verity, First Puisne Agricultural and General Workers Union,
With tensions running high, a detach- ed his men to prevent the entry of strikers Judge Mr J A Luckhoo and Mr Arthur with its more radical and militant leader-
ment of policemen, armed with rifles and into the factory at all costs. The workers Hill, retired Immigration Agent General. ship.
batons and commanded by the District continued to advance, while throwing According to Justice Verity, the The protest action was also significant
Superintendent of Police, arrived on the missiles at the police. Constable Bijadder Commission of Inquiry should be con- from the point of view that it witnessed
scene. The police presence seemed to was pursued by a small party of labourers ducted thoroughly but with expedition prominent roles by women and the uni-
have heightened the animosity of the and three policemen went to his rescue. and we rely on every person concerned to fied action of Guyanese field and factory
striking workers. Some of them stoned Blows were exchanged between striking support us in our determination to do so. workers, especially in the latter stages of
the police bus and they even resisted workers and policemen and injuries were After 12 days of intense hearing, the strike.
arrest. sustained by both groups. involving the Police Department, the The 1939 protest at Plantation Leonora
Meanwhile, some strikers congregated As the strikers became more and more Demerara Company Limited, the rela- was indeed part of a wider and ongoing
near the Administrative Managers house threatening, orders were made to open tives of the deceased through the British working class struggle in this pre-inde-
and again demanded higher pay and fire on the ringleaders. The colonial Guiana East Indian Association, and a pendence period of Guyanas history.
Page 10D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017

Indian indenture: Some reasons for immigrants...

From page 3D
repatriation through commutation of their entitlement to a free passage
would have added to their material acquisitions the compensatory parcel
of land. All of this would have placed them in a position of comparative
wealth and comfort instead of the comparative uncertainty they would
have had to face upon returning to India. Generally, living conditions in
Indian villages from which most of the labourers had been recruited were
not up to the standard of the conditions prevailing on the colonial estates,
even as early as the 1840s. Wage rates, too, were far lower. In India,
around the same time, the average daily wage rate in terms of purchasing
value was the equivalent of four cents; in British Guiana, it ranged
between the equivalent of thirty and forty cents.
Furthermore, in India, the riot had to contend with the vagaries of
nature, often expressed in droughts and floods both of which often led to
famine. There was also the rapacity of man the moneylender or the land-
lord both of whom customarily utilized their cunning to bind their victims
into a lifetime of debt.
Those labourers whose first indenture had expired had acquired five
years experience of their work; they would have become acquainted with
their position in all its aspects; and would have been able to decide, accord-
ing to their own practical knowledge, whether it would be advantageous for
them to return to India or to remain in the colony.
For acclimatized and experienced labourers, there was competition among
the planters for their services.
Many employers were not content with offering the usual fifty-dollar boun- The first Hindu temple in Georgetown
ty money to those who re-indentured, but also offered a bonus incentive of in James Street, Albouystown
five and sometimes ten dollars. For the thrifty, this bounty money and the
bonus, the equivalent of about a years income, became the nucleus of a for-
tune.
It was thus that a number of labourers were able to invest in cattle and
become milk vendors, and to enter the retail and later wholesale trade. To a
number of labourers, re-indenturing would be viewed as being better than the
status of a free labourer as it was the only way to ensure free medical atten-
tion, free hospital accommodation, and free living quarters. The temptation
for them to re-indenture over and over again must have been irresistible.
Another possible motivation for settling concerned the implications
accompanying the loss of caste. Before leaving India, the immigrants had
been rigidly fixed in a stratified social system based on caste. But once they
had crossed the kala pani (ie the black water) they lost all claim to their erst-
while caste, re-admission to which was achievable either by travelling to
the sacred Indian city of Benares to wash seven times in the holy water of
the Ganges or by giving lavish caste dinners and elaborate gifts to often
unscrupulous priests. Initially, the popular belief among the immigrants
was that failure to thus cleanse themselves was to invite divine retribution.
However, towards the end of the nineteenth century and afterwards, the
injunction on travelling by sea was widely discredited, and it was not
applicable to all strata of Hindu society.
The immigrants ability to preserve their values and to practise their
customs must be accorded considerable significance as a factor encourag-
ing settlement in the colony.
Despite the pervasive and socially and culturally destructive influ-
ences of the plantations, the immigrants managed to keep intact the central tenets
of their cultural values which in later years were given elaborate expression. The first Muslim mosque in
This they achieved mainly through their strong desire to use their own lan- Georgetown, Church Street
guages and through their tenacity to resist imbibing trappings of Western civilisa-
tion.
The frequent visits by missionaries and other emissaries from India also tended
to keep intact the umbilical cord that bound the immigrants to India. The
practice of their culture, the availability of most of their native food-
stuffs, the presence of a growing number of their compatriots, and the
sight of masjids and mandirs on every estate must have made them feel,
in a vicarious sort of way, that they were still in their native country.
For a number of immigrants there was the fear of the long voyage to
India occupying 100 days or more and marked by their witnessing dozens
of deaths. Chief among the causes for excessive mortality on board ship
were the debilitated condition of some of the returnees; the deficiency of
animal protein and fresh vegetables; and the damp condition between
decks, which rendered the atmosphere unwholesome and conducive to dis-
ease. Finally, there was widespread knowledge among the immigrants that
suffering inevitably came to a sizeable portion of those who repatriated,
especially those who did not have or could not find relatives in their native
villages. Often adding to this problem was the fear of ridicule and shame in
India that usually accompanied an inability to demonstrate material
progress.
Despite these restraining factors it must be observed that throughout the
period of indenture, pressures had been brought to bear upon the British
government, the government of India, and the colonial government of
British Guiana, most especially by the findings of various Commissions of
Enquiry and by vociferous local and overseas critics, to enact protective leg-
islation to safeguard the interest and welfare of the immigrants. Legislative
enactments did not, of course, completely eradicate all evils in the system, but
they did go a long way to alleviate some of the sufferings of the labourers, to
make life in the colony more tolerable, and consequentially encouraging a
very large number of immigrants to make British Guiana their home. The second Shivala ever built in this country dating
from 1902 at Woodley Park, West Coast Berbice
 SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017 Page 11D

My father came here at age 10

By Shabna Rahman

Jagat Jhagroo travelled to Guyana from

India in 1895 with his pregnant mother,
Bissoondial
father and three siblings aboard a ship to estates hospital every morning to collect
work on the sugar plantation. He was ten free bread and rations to cook.
years old. He was only 13 years old when his
His son, Bissoondial (only name), father died at the age of 59. His mother,
called Mahant, 86, of Groenveldt, who had later moved to live with one of
Leonora, West Coast Demerara said that her daughters on the East Coast Demerara
his father and grandparents, like all of the died in her 90s. The last job his father did
other labourers who came, were promised before his death was to bleed rubber into a
jobs that paid a lot of money and comfort- pail to which water and acid were added.
able lives. He would squeeze the extract out before
But along the three-month journey to steaming and drying it.
British Guiana, they began to realise the Though he remembers the process,
hardships they would face. Their struggle Bissoondial was not sure what the product
began when Jhagroos eight-year-old was called or what it was used for, but he
brother fell ill and subsequently died. His said it was exported during the time of
body was tossed overboard, much to the the war.
despair of his parents, but it was the only Bissoondials mother used to weed
means of disposing of it. His mother gave grass in the canefield and in her later years
birth to another boy onboard and as they she worked in the estate managers yard as
continued the journey, they prayed that a cleaner.
their lives would improve. At age 16 after completing school, he
But they were further disappointed too got a job at the estate factory but it was
when they were taken to a 10-room logie, only temporary and he got retrenched
to share with nine other families, at a place when the estate grind off. He started
called Raj Puriva and had to start working working at a shop belonging to his sister
on the sugar plantation under harsh condi- and brother-in-law and would also seek
tions. Their work on the plantation includ- other jobs in Georgetown and other places
ed weeding, applying manure, watering as a carpenter.
the cane, cutting and loading it into punts. He recalled that during the big strike in
Jhagroo and his siblings were taken to the 1963, workers started to squat on a
field to work at tender ages. coconut walk. With the place becoming
When he was older, as was customary, populated, he decided to build a small
his marriage was arranged and he and his shop in front of his house, but bandits
wife had six children, five daughters and broke into it on three occasions and stole
then Bissoondial. The Leonora resident everything. Eventually he built the shop
said that his fourth sister, who lives in the below his house and made it more secure.
US, is the only surviving one. After that he never suffered any more rob-
Bissoondial did not know his grandfa- beries.
ther, but he said his grandmother died in Bissoondial and his wife are still oper-
her 70s. He remembered that she had ating a shop today. The couple had seven Bissoondial and his wife
stopped working and would go to the children, the eldest of whom has died.

Daughter of indentured immigrants...

From page 5D room from the rest of her living space. In a
corner on a table, sits two kerosene stoves
Her daughter Golin (only name given) and flambeaux. Her house has electricity, but
said her mother, went through a hard she uses a flambeau at night.
time... Look weh me live, she said. Me deh
Munsammys father had bought her a good. Me nah want move from hay.
small house made of shingles which she later She showed this newspaper relics from the
dismantled and replaced with a wooden past a small flat iron that she used to heat
house. She eventually gave it to Golin who to iron clothes, a coal iron that was used by a
upgraded it to a concrete structure. butler who worked for a white plantation
Her father also gave her a calf as a wed- manager, as well as a sill that is used to grind
ding present and she would cut grass while masala.
working in the backdam and take it home in Munsammy has three other daughters, one
the afternoon for feed. In time, her small herd son, seven grandchildren, five great grand-
grew and she would milk the cows and sell children and two great, great grandchildren.
the milk around the village. She is grateful that she has lived to see her
Golin spoke fondly about her grandparents fourth generation.
and recalled that they were very loving and Golin said her mother, the oldest member
kindhearted. Whenever she and her siblings of the mandir, would go there every Sunday
visited them they would always give them with her flowers and basket of fruits for wor-
food and money. She said too that when her shipping.
grandparents went to their house they would Her children hosted a religious function in
take a bag of fruits and vegetables from their celebration of her 90th birthday last month.
garden. They also made her a birthday cake.
Today Munsammy lives alone in a simple She was in the limelight last year when
logie-type dwelling and does her own cook- Pushpanjali 16 a cultural event that the
ing and cleaning. Although Golin has urged Indian Commemoration Trust organises
her to live with her, or to at least sleep at her annually honoured her for being the oldest
house at nights, she refuses. Golin says once surviving worker of the Leonora Estate.
her mother is comfortable and happy in her Pushpanjali is held for the anniversary of
own space, she would not take that away the arrival of the first set of Indian indentured
from her. labourers on May 5, 1838. It also launched
Munsammys humble abode has a mud an open-air museum and Munsammy was
floor and a curtain which separates her bed- happy to cut the ribbon to declare it open. Aunty Chalma and her four generations
Page 12D SUNDAY STABROEK, March 19, 2017

Two tadjahs
The tadjah festival was the largest festival on the nineteenth century estates. In the
latter part of the century the tadjahs were made by the Chinese, and the crowds
which took part were Indian Muslims, Indian Hindus and African Christians. It is
not known exactly why the festival became so popular, because it is a Muslim Shia
festival, not a Sunni one and most Muslims in the then British Guiana were Sunnis. A replica of the Whitby in the Indian Monument Gardens, Camp Street
The tadjahs were intended to represent a tomb and were taken in procession along
the road. There were lights, drumming and stick fights, and at the end of the obser-
vances the tadjahs were thrown into the sea at high tide.
In the twentieth century, the tadjah festival was opposed by the Christian priests and
the Muslim moulvis and eventually it was banned on the grounds of the disorderly
behaviour which was associated with it. When tadjahs from different estates met on
the road there were fights.

Muslim Mosque Hindu Temple