Chapter 4 — The Age of Industrialisation

Proto-industrialisation refers to large-scale industrial production before the factory system. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants from European towns moved to the countryside, supplying money and materials to peasants and artisans who produced goods for the international market. This system developed because urban guilds restricted competition and entry, forcing merchants to seek production in villages.

Factories emerged when costly new machines (powered looms, spinning mills) made it economical to consolidate production under one roof. Richard Arkwright created the first cotton mill, bringing all production stages together with centralised supervision over quality and labour. By the 1730s, factories began appearing; they multiplied in the late eighteenth century due to rising demand for cotton and technological breakthroughs.

The Spinning Jenny, devised by James Hargreaves in 1764, allowed one worker to operate multiple spindles by turning a single wheel, dramatically increasing output per worker. This displaced hand-spinners, particularly women who lost their income. Workers viewed the machine as a threat to employment and attacked spinning jennies in protests, with women particularly vocal in their opposition.

Britain had abundant cheap labour due to poor peasants moving to cities in search of work. Industrialists had no labour shortage and saw no financial benefit in capital-intensive machines. Additionally, handmade products symbolised refinement and class among the upper classes; machines produced standardised goods for export to colonies. Seasonal industries (breweries, gas works) preferred temporary hand labour over permanent machine investment.

The gomastha was a paid servant appointed by the East India Company to directly control weavers after the Company established political power in Bengal and Carnatic in the 1760s-1770s. Gomasthas supervised weavers, collected cloth supplies, and examined quality. Unlike the earlier supply merchants who lived in villages and had relationships with weavers, gomasthas were outsiders who acted arrogantly, often beating and flogging weavers for delays in supply.

Indian cotton weavers faced two simultaneous crises: their export market collapsed as British cotton industries grew, and their home market was flooded with cheap Manchester imports. Piece-goods imports rose from virtually 0% of Indian imports in 1800 to over 31% by 1850, and over 50% by the 1870s. Machine-made goods were produced at lower costs and were so cheap that weavers could not compete. By the 1860s, the American Civil War cut US cotton supplies, raising raw cotton prices; weavers lacked affordable raw materials.

Early Indian factory owners came from merchant and trading backgrounds. Many accumulated wealth through the China trade (opium exports, tea imports). Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata, Bengalis like Dwarkanath Tagore, and Marwaris like Seth Hukumchand were among the pioneers. They used trading profits to invest in cotton mills, jute mills, and other industries. European Managing Agencies, however, controlled large industrial sectors till World War I.

During World War I, British mills focused on war production, sharply reducing Manchester imports into India. Indian factories suddenly had a vast home market to supply. Indian mills were called upon to produce jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents, leather boots, and other war materials. New factories opened and old ones ran multiple shifts with longer working hours. Industrial production boomed, and after the war, Manchester never regained its market dominance in India.

Handloom weavers survived by adopting new technology selectively. By the early twentieth century, weavers adopted looms with fly shuttles, which increased productivity without excessively raising costs. By 1941, over 35% of handlooms were fitted with fly shuttles. Specialised handmade products (Banarasi saris, Baluchari saris, Madras lungis and handkerchiefs) could not be easily copied by mills. Demand for fine varieties remained stable among the wealthy, even during famines. Handloom cloth production almost trebled between 1900 and 1940.

Factory workers in India faced difficult conditions. Shift work lasted 10 hours, from 5 pm to 3 am, described as 'terrible working hours.' Workers often suffered health problems; one recalled his father's 35 years of work led to asthma-like disease. Workers came from neighbouring districts or travelled long distances through jobbers (trusted recruiters) who held significant power. Workers moved between village and city, returning during harvests and festivals. Women worked mainly in spinning departments.

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