Chapter 4: The Age of Industrialisation

1. Before the Industrial Revolution

Proto-industrialisation: Large-scale production for international markets before factories, involving rural peasants and artisans working for merchants.
European merchants moved to the countryside in the 17th-18th centuries, bypassing powerful urban guilds that controlled production and restricted new entrants.
Poor peasants, affected by enclosures, worked for merchants to supplement income, producing goods like wool and cloth in family-based units.
Merchants controlled a network where each clothier managed hundreds of workers, with London as a finishing centre for exports.

Factories emerged in England by the 1730s, multiplying in the late 18th century; cotton led the way, with imports rising from 2.5 million pounds (1760) to 22 million pounds (1787).
Inventions improved carding, spinning, and rolling; Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill centralised production, enhancing supervision and quality control.

Cotton dominated early industrialisation (until 1840s), followed by iron and steel, driven by railway expansion (exports worth £77 million by 1873).
Traditional industries (e.g., food processing, pottery) persisted, with small innovations; only 20% of the workforce was in advanced sectors by the late 19th century.
Steam engines (improved by James Watt, 1781) spread slowly; only 321 existed in England by the early 19th century, mostly in cotton and mining.
Typical workers were craftspeople and labourers, not machine operators, showing gradual technological adoption.

Abundant labour in Victorian Britain kept wages low, reducing the need for machines; industrialists preferred hand labour for seasonal industries (e.g., gas works, breweries).
Handmade goods, valued by the upper classes for refinement, required skilled labour (e.g., 500 hammer varieties); machines produced standardised goods for export.
In contrast, America used machines due to labour shortages.

Workers faced job scarcity, relying on kin networks for factory jobs; many waited weeks, staying in night shelters or under bridges.
Seasonal work led to unemployment post-peak seasons; 10% of urban populations were extremely poor, rising to 35-75% during slumps (1830s).
Wages rose slightly but were eroded by price increases (e.g., Napoleonic Wars); employment duration determined income.
Workers resisted new technology like the Spinning Jenny, fearing job losses, with women attacking machines in the woollen industry.
Post-1840s, urban construction (railways, tunnels) doubled transport industry jobs, offering more opportunities.

Before machines, India’s silk and cotton textiles dominated global markets, traded via Surat, Masulipatam, and Hoogly to Central Asia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Indian merchants and bankers financed and supplied this trade, but European companies gained control by the 1750s, causing ports like Surat to decline (trade fell from Rs 16 million to Rs 3 million by 1740s).
Bombay and Calcutta grew as colonial ports, controlled by European ships and companies.

Post-1760s, the East India Company monopolised trade, appointing gomasthas to control weavers and eliminate local traders.
Weavers received advances, binding them to the Company, reducing bargaining power; gomasthas, unlike local merchants, were harsh, often physically punishing weavers.
Many weavers migrated, revolted, or turned to agriculture as control tightened.

British industrialists imposed import duties to protect Manchester goods, reducing Indian textile exports from 33% (1811-12) to 3% (1850-51).
Manchester imports flooded India (31% of imports by 1850, 50% by 1870s), outcompeting local weavers due to low-cost machine production.
The American Civil War (1860s) cut US cotton supplies, increasing Indian raw cotton prices, making weaving unprofitable.
Indian factory production by the late 19th century further challenged weavers.

First Indian factories: Bombay cotton mill (1854), Bengal jute mills (1855-62), Kanpur’s Elgin Mill (1860s), Madras mill (1874).

Entrepreneurs like Dwarkanath Tagore, Jamsetjee Tata, and Seth Hukamchand started industries, initially earning from China trade (opium, tea, cotton).
Other merchants traded with Burma, Middle East, or within India, later investing in factories.
European Managing Agencies (e.g., Bird Heiglers) controlled industries, with Indian capital but European decision-making, excluding Indians from their chambers of commerce.

Factory workers (584,000 in 1901, 2,436,000 in 1946) came from nearby districts (e.g., Ratnagiri for Bombay, Kanpur villages).
Workers moved between villages and cities, returning for harvests; jobbers, trusted workers, recruited and controlled new workers, often demanding bribes.

European Agencies focused on export products like tea, jute, and indigo, not local markets.
Indian industrialists produced coarse yarn for handlooms or export to China, avoiding competition with Manchester cloth.
Swadeshi movement (1906) and declining Chinese yarn exports pushed Indian mills to produce cloth, doubling output (1900-1912).
First World War boosted Indian industries as Manchester imports fell, supplying war needs (jute bags, uniforms).
Post-war, Britain’s economy weakened, allowing Indian industrialists to capture the home market.

Large industries were only 5-10% of the workforce (1911-1931), concentrated in Bengal and Bombay.
Handloom production trebled (1900-1940) due to fly shuttles (35% of looms by 1941), improving productivity.
Finer weaves (e.g., Banarasi saris) and stable demand from the wealthy helped weavers compete with mills, though they faced harsh working conditions.

Advertisements shaped consumer culture; Manchester cloth used labels with “MADE IN MANCHESTER” and images of Indian gods (Krishna, Saraswati) for familiarity.
Calendars with gods and historical figures (e.g., Maharaja Ranjit Singh) promoted products, used even by the illiterate.
Indian manufacturers used swadeshi messages in ads, urging people to buy Indian-made goods to support nationalism.