History – Jamaica and other Caribbean islands
By Jwala Kallee From DEF media
Settlement and development follow more or less the same pattern. They were British, Dutch or French colonies. They all thrived on sugar production, banana cultivation and other agricultural activities.
There was felt in all of them a dire need for cheap labour following the abolition of slavery in 1833 by the British Parliament. This act caused a certain upheaval in the colonies that feared for their future that depended mostly on farming, agriculture and livestock.
The freed slaves bargained for higher wages that meant high cost of production and less profit due to competition among the colonies. Mauritius had to fight hard to make the British Parliament agree to its plea for the same treatment as the Caribbean colonies. The West Indian nabobs, that is the planters, were bent on safeguarding their interests through their representatives in Parliament. Sir Robert Farquhar, an ex-governor pleaded on behalf of Mauritius and obtained certain advantages that saved the colony by giving a new boost to sugar and hence, the dire need for labour to exploit the colony.
In previous issues, the situation in India especially in the north viz Bihar and, the north western states were encouraging the Indians to move to foreign lands for better prospects in addition to the carrot of a leisure and rich life being dangled to them. They were easily influenced and moved to different destinations across the ocean that accounts for the Indian Diaspora worldwide. Women also emigrated to escape marital or domestic problems and to seek an independent life. To some it was a form of adventure. The voyage on ships was an ordeal.
On the ships single women were placed in the aft, followed by married couples and the single men in front. Attempts were made to ensure that the ships disposed of adequate crew aboard, medical personnel, sweepers and cooks to care for the welfare of the migrants. There were tensions between black migrants and the Indians. Sergeant Superintendent Cominus noted that the West Indian topazes were useless, indolent and subordinate and prejudices and dislike of East and West Indian to each other was a great barrier to their acting well on board of the ships.
There was no communication between the crew and the migrants. They hardly knew about each other. Female migrants complained of the behaviour of white crew for at times the latter sexually abused them. Attempts were made to render the voyage as comfortable and bearable as possible for the migrants by providing medical care, access to entertainment and musical instruments.
Sailing ships leaving Calcutta, crossing the Indian Ocean, and then to the Atlantic and finally to the Caribbean took three months or more. Steamships completed the same journey in around fifty days. Mortality rate was as high as 17 percent but declined substantially with the use of steamships in the first decades of the twentieth century. The mortality rate went down as low as two or three per cent.
Indenture conditions
Conditions in general in all the colonies were more or less the same for the planters from the Pacific to the Mascarenes were bent upon extracting the last atom of labour from the indentured. It was a military life, quite harsh and extremely exploited. At first, they were located on sugar plantations but later, they were also employed for other types of agricultural production. In 1911, 47 per cent were located on banana plantations whereas 39 percent on sugar estates. Livestock farms also employed Indian labourers that numbered 2percent of the total.
By 1838 a three-year contract with the first employer was the norm and by 1865 5-year contracts took over. Indian indentured labourers could buy out of their indenture and contractual obligations but only a few could do so because of financial constraints. Poor economic conditions forced many to renew their indenture.
They engaged in day labour or task labour earning wages ranging from 4 pence to one shilling and six pence a day or per task.
Males above 16 received six pence, women and children between 12 and sixteen were paid 9 pence and children under 12 only 4 pence. They worked mostly in gangs under the supervision of an African or Indian headman just as in Mauritius sirdars supervised workers. Both tasks and day work were gender discriminatory. Men could get higher wages and stood chances for promotion to a higher grade .In Mauritius, the workers were graded according to criteria and wages varied accordingly. Women and children were preferred to male labour for they delivered the same work at a cheaper price.
The Immigration Order and Law 0f 1875 stipulated that all wages had to be paid in cash rather than in kind and that employers could not make any deductions except for rations. Failure to adhere to the regulations resulted in penalising the employer by a fine not exceeding three pounds. However, regulations were flouted regularly. The same happened in Mauritius too, a long and arduous battle put an end to such treatment and exploitation. Even now the neo capitalists fleece workers wherever and whenever possible. There exists evidence of workers being badly paid, not even earning minimum wages.
A worker named Ramadhin wrote to the Protector of Immigrants informing him that he did not even earn 3 pence a week and he could hardly make ends meet. He warned that investigation was imperative and improvements must be made, else trouble would be in store.
There was much to be done in the social and living conditions. Between 1845 and 1941 gradual improvements occurred. Some lived in detached huts, others in barracks with dirt floors. They were provided minimal clothing. The immigration laws stipulated that the employers should provide each male with a shirt and trousers and each female with a jersey with sleeves and petticoat. Poor conditions kept the death rate high.
Malaria, ulcers and hookworm took a heavy toll though hospitals alleviated the situation slightly. Estate managers abused them. Control methods like pass were in force throughout and the immigrants did not accept the infringement of the laws meekly. What ought to have been a civil contract between two parties was one sided in favour of the employers. Just like the Code Noir supposed to protect the slaves did the exact opposite. The migrants staged strikes, demonstrations, and various means to manifest their resentment.
Some even committed suicide. 18 strikes took place between 1847 and 1921. No employer was punished except one for assaulting an Indian labourer. Turn wherever you may the migrants underwent the same trials and tribulations. They have however risen to the highest position by dint of hard labour, untold sacrifices and patience. This is a lesson that the young must learn and follow in their footsteps.
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