East Indian Immigration and its significance 
Historian, Tota C. Mangar 
Historian, Tota C. Mangar 

By Tota C. Mangar 

MAY 5, 2021 commemorates the 183rd Anniversary of the arrival of East Indian indentured immigrants in Guyana, the former colony called British Guiana. For over three-quarters of a century [1838-1917] Indian indentured labourers were imported from the sub-continent of India to the West Indian colonies, ostensibly to fill the void created as a result of the mass exodus of ex-slaves from plantation labour following the abolition of the despicable system of slavery and moreso the premature termination of the apprenticeship system in 1838. This influx into the Caribbean in the post-emancipation period of the 19th and 20th centuries was only one segment of a wider movement of Indian labourers to other parts of the world, including Mauritius, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Fiji, the Strait Settlements, Natal and other parts of the African continent. Overall, where the English-speaking Caribbean is concerned substantial numbers of indentured labourers were imported.. Based on statistical evidence our own country, Guyana was  the recipient of 238,909  Indian immigrants up to the termination of the system in 1917, Trinidad 143,939, Jamaica 36,412,Grenada 3,033,St Vincent 2,472 , St Lucia 4,354 and St Kitts 337.

Indians, by dint of much hard work and thrift, saved and emerged out of the abyss of misery to carve a new and prosperous destiny for their descendants

In addition, the non-English speaking Caribbean also imported Indian indentured labourers. For example, the former French colonies (now overseas departments of France) Martinique received 25,509, Guadeloupe 45,844 and French Guiana 19,276. Neighbouring Suriname, while under Dutch rule, imported a total of 35, 501 immigrants.
Following the abolition of slavery in 1834 and the termination of the apprenticeship system in 1838 a state of fear, uncertainty and gloom was uppermost in the minds of the then British Guianese planters. They were very conscious that a grave labour shortage on the sugar estates would certainly mean economic disaster to themselves and the sugar industry in general. The mass exodus of ex-slaves from the plantations during this crucial stage of ‘crisis, experimentation and change’ merely served to confirm planters’ fear and uneasiness. This movement was not entirely surprising as several decades of slavery and oppression had resulted in the plantation being seen as a symbol of dehumanization, degradation and demoralization and the victims quite naturally wanted to rid themselves of white planter class social,cultural and political domination and to assert their economic independence. With great enthusiasm and in the face of tremendous odds they started the village movement and peasantry in the immediate post- emancipation era.

THE GLADSTONE EXPERIMENT 

In the case of Guyana, East Indian immigration had its origin in the ‘Gladstone Experiment’. John Gladstone, the father of liberal British statesman, William Gladstone, was the owner of two West Demerara plantations, Vreed-en Hoop and Vreed-en-Stein, at that juncture of the country’s history. As a result of the acute labour problem, Gladstone wrote the Calcutta recruiting firm, Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company inquiring about the possibility of obtaining immigrants for his two estates. The firm’s prompt reply was that it envisaged no recruiting problems and that Indians were already in service in another British colony, Mauritius.
Subsequently, Gladstone obtained permission for his scheme from both the Colonial Office and the Board of Control of the East India Company. The first batch of Indian indentured labourers arrived in Guyana on board the steamships “Whitby” and “Hesperus” in May 1838 and these first arrivals were on a five -year contract.
This initial experimentation was not confined to Gladstone’s two estates but it involved plantations Highbury and Waterloo in Berbice, Belle View,West Bank Demerara and Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast as well.

The immigration scheme commenced in 1838 with a temporary halt from July1839 to 1845 after which it continued virtually uninterrupted to 1917 during which time 238,909 immigrants landed in Guyana. Of this figure 75,547 returned to the land of their birth while the remainder who survived the system chose to remain here and make this country their homeland. In the main the system of Indentureship could be characterised as one of “struggle, sacrifice and resistance” where the Indian immigrants were concerned. The system itself was closely linked to slavery. British historian, Hugh Tinker, who did extensive work on East Indian labour overseas, describes it as a ” New System of Slavery”  Anthony Trallope who visited the Caribbean in the 1850s viewed it as” A despotism tempered with sugar”. Chief Justice in the second half of the nineteenth century, Charles Beaumont, aptly describes it as ” a rotten , monstrous system rooted in slavery.” Our late distinguished Guyanese historian, Dr. Walter Rodney, highlighted the harshness of the indentureship  system and its “neo-slave nature”  Another prominent Guyanese historian, Dr. Basdeo Mangru, argues that slavery and indentureship showed remarkable similarities in terms of control, exploitation and degradation. In any event it is reasonable to conclude that the very nature of the indentureship system that prevailed lent itself to struggle, sacrifice and resistance on the part of the indentured labourers.

INDENTURESHIP

From the very inception the system was plagued with controversy. True enough there were strong ‘push ‘ factors which motivated the people to leave their homeland such as high levels of unemployment, chronic poverty, indebtedness and even famine and at the same time many of the recruits were disposed to respond to promises of better times and what they perceived as ‘greener pastures’.
Even so professional recruiting agents, the ‘arkatis’ in North India and the ‘maistris” in South India, resorted to deception and coercion to get supplies. Many were lured by glowing promises and were assured of lucrative employment and becoming rich. Recruiters exploited their ignorance and simplicity. Some were hood-winked, cajoled and lured to leave their homes under false pretences while some were even kidnapped. Indeed fraud, deceit and coercion permeated the whole recruiting system between 1838 and 1917. Against tremendous odds the immigrants struggled for their very survival. Overcrowding of emigrant ships, inadequate food, lack of fresh water, water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea and the long and arduous voyage made life unbearable. In some instances the consequence was a relatively high mortality rate to as much as 20 percent. Immigrants consoled themselves through singing, drumming and story-telling and of greater significance was the lasting friendship that developed among the ‘jehajis’ or shipmates.
In the colony indentured labourers had to endure the critical period of seasoning or adjusting to their new environment. This itself was no easy task. Even so many found themselves introduced to plantation labour very quickly after their arrival.

On the estates, the indentured labourers experienced the harshness of the system. It was obvious that the powerful plantocracy  had effective control of the immigrant labour force. An important aspect of this control was the contract under which the immigrant was recruited. It stipulated the obligation of the labourer and the employer. whiecWhile this was so very often the labour laws weighed heavily against the indentured labourer.As in the case under the various slave laws, the planter class benefited under the contract laws. One needs to take cognisance of the fact that the implementation of the laws and the period of industrial residence were taking place thousands of miles from the labourer’s homeland and in a social and political environment dominated by the employer.
It was not surprising therefore that the laws were easily varied and very often abused by the plantocracy to suit their ‘whims and fancies’.  Of added significance was the fact that some Immigration-Agent Generals and the Stipendiary Magistrates themselves tended to side with the planter class. As a result, cases of intimidation, assault and battery were often covered up. Moreover, court trials were subject to abuse and in many instances reduced to a farce as official Interpreters aligned with the plantocracy while the labourers had very little opportunity to defend themselves.

LABOUR WOES 

Throughout the period of indentureship, immigrants were faced with meagre wage rates and unrealistic task work. Weekly earnings depended on the number of tasks, the nature of the tasks, whether it was weeding, manuring, planting or harvesting and the speed with which they were completed. In any event, it was the employer who invariably determined the wage rates and whenever there was a fall in sugar prices, immigrants found their wages minimised.
One immigration agent was baffled to know how immigrants at Plantation Bel Air existed due to “insufficient earnings to support life”, Coljar, a spokesman  for immigrants in the 1890s was quoted as saying ”  Times are very hard. We cannot live on the wages we are getting, our stomachs are not being filled”.
Indentured labourers experienced a continuous problem surrounding the Muster Roll. This muster roll was held every morning. Non-attendance meant a penalty of a fine which was arbitrarily deducted from their wages. At the same time the pressure of getting into the fields and missing the muster roll was very great.  By doing so the labourer stood a better chance of completing his demanding tasks. On the other hand, if he attended the muster roll and failed to complete the day’s task the end result was the same arbitrary reduction of wages. In effect the labourer had little choice. One way or the other he was penalised.

The Indian immigrant often went before the courts as victims of the labour laws and the legal system in general. Under the law there were several instruments of prosecution available to the planter. He could prosecute a labourer for refusing to commence work or leaving work unfinished, absenteeism without authority, disorderly or threatening behaviour or even neglect . Punishment resulted in fines or imprisonment.
.Moreover an immigrant imprisoned for misconduct could have his indenture extended to include the period spent in jail. What this effectively meant was that the immigrant was actually punished twice for the same offence. Convictions of immigrants were inordinately high. Charges could be made on mere orders of managers and even for trivialities. In 1863, for example, of the 4,936 prisoners who ended up in the Georgetown jail, 3,148 were indentured labourers. Further,The ANNUAL

REPORTS OF THE IMMIGRATION AGENT GENERALS FOR 1874-1894 showed an alarmingly high figure of 65,084 convictions for breaches of the labour contracts. This again reinforces the fact that the indentured labourer was far from docile. He was struggling, sacrificing and resisting.. These numerous instances of cases under the labour contract were ample proof of his restlessness and non-compliance with a harsh and oppressive system.
Throughout the period of indentureship the indentured labourers suffered from a paucity of social amenities. The tenement ranges or logies were small and unventilated, potable water was virtually non-existent, medical facilities and sanitation were poor. As a consequence outbreaks of diseases tended to assume epidemic proportions.

RESTRICTION ON MOVEMENT
Through vagrancy laws immigrants had their movements restricted. This was an integral part of the planter’s strategy. Laws were designed to localise labour and to place arbitrary restraints on the workers’ liberty. The labourer had to get a ‘pass’ signed by the estate manager once he left his estate of residence. This ‘pass’  system exposed the labourer to indignity at the hands of colonial police who were empowered to apprehend him without a ‘pass’. Managers used it as an effective control device and also as a means of preventing the workers from making comparison of wage rates at different estates. The fear was that such knowledge could easily lead to discontent and desertion.
It was because of their powers of control over the indentured labourers that planters became increasingly arrogant. Some repeatedly and openly declared that the labourers on their estates should only be “at work, or in hospital or in gaol ” during working hours. Such was their attitude. One Demerara planter publicly and arrogantly boasted, “give me my heart’s desire in Coolies and I will make you a million hogsheads of sugar”.

RESISTANCE
It was not surprising therefore that from the 1860’s onwards the myth of Indian docility was to be seriously challenged. Indian indentured labourers began to openly defy the system. As a consequence, there was a steady deterioration of industrial relations, increasing working class protests and imperial investigation. Struggle, sacrifice and resistance were to be manifested in numerous labour unrests.
Violent eruptions were occasioned by many specific and localised grievances such as overbearing behaviour of managers, wage rate disputes, disagreement over tasks, sexual exploitation of women by overseers and arbitrary deduction of wages of labourers.
The first such disturbance  took place at Plantation Leonora, West Coast Demerara in July1869. The shovel gang complained that wages were withheld because they could not complete a job on waterlogged soil. They also demanded pay to do the job but were faced with a ” harsh and unyielding  management “‘ and in particular the hostile attitude of Deputy Manager, Richard Manson. A confrontation between armed police and the labourers was narrowly avoided but the ringleaders were arrested,convicted and incarcerated at the penal settlement, Mazaruni. Not long after there were strikes at Plantation Farm, Mahaicony and at Chateau Margot on the East Coast of Demerara.

The following year violence erupted at Plantations Hague, Uitvlugt, Mon Repos, Non Pariel, Zeelugt, Vergenoegen and Success.
Another major disturbance took place at Plantation Devonshire Castle in 1872. The root causes of this strike and protest included widespread dissatisfaction with the allocation of tasks, poor prices offered, long working hours, the frequency of unilateral pay deductions from wages and general ill-treatment and abuse of labourers. This time there was a confrontation with colonial police who opened fire and five labourers lost their lives while several were seriously injured. Those killed are today regarded as our first indentured martyrs.
Riots and disturbances continued with regularity in the 1890s and in the early years of the twentieth century. Only a mere four years before the eventual termination of the scheme fifteen labourers lost their lives at Plantation Rose Hall during a strike and disturbance.
Indeed, towards the end of the indentureship system labour protests had assumed various forms including work stoppages, mass picketing, marching towards the Immigration Department, assaults on managers and overseers,violent demonstrations coupled with passive resistance such as feigning illness, malingering and deliberately performing poor work.

SIGNIFICANCE

Indian indentured labourers and their descendants toiled and are toiling unceasingly to ensure the survival of the sugar industry in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The vast majority of the workforce in the sugar industry are Indo-Guyanese and sugar remains an important foreign exchange earner in the face of recent contraction and grave global challenges including European sugar reforms.   Guyanese of Indian origin are largely responsible for the prominence of Guyana’s rice industry. .  Indian indentured labourers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries began to cultivate rice on a large scale and this was linked to the almost exclusive Indian village settlements which emerged at the time. They were integrally involved in cattle rearing, milk selling and cash crop cultivation.
Ever since the 1880s Indian immigrants and their descendants have displayed  a high occupational profile in a number of off-plantation economic activities including cart-men, barbers, tailors carpenters, boat-builders, charcoal makers, sieve-makers, goldsmiths, porters, small scale manufacturers and fishermen..
Their descendants have made, and continue to make tremendous strides in the social, economic, cultural, educational, political and trade union fields. Many of them are today leading  sports personalities, entrepreneurs, educationists,  professionals, politicians and trade unionists in their own right. The late President and Father of the Nation, Dr Cheddi Jagan was himself the son of  indentured labourers who found themselves in the bond yard of Plantation Port Mourant..To assume the highest office in Guyana was no mean feat by this extraordinarily gifted man. Former Presidents, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramoutar and current President, His Excellency, Dr. Irfaan AIi are proud descendants of indentured labourers. Indeed descendants of immigrants are actively engaged in every facet of life in Guyanese society of today.

Indian immigrants and their descendants have ensured there is a rich cultural heritage in this multi-cultural and pluralistic society of ours. Indian customs, values and traditions have survived over the years. They brought with them their main religions, Hinduism and Islam. Approximately 83% of the immigrants were Hindus while 14% were Muslims and the remainder Christians. Mosques and Temples began to dot our coastal landscape from the late nineteenth century.. Related to this was the introduction of languages, Hindi and Arabic and several other Indian dialects. The Ramayan, Bhagwat Gita and the Holy Quoran are prized holy books in many households today. A significant contribution is in the area of dress. Traditional Indian wear such as shalwar, sari, kurta and dhoti are sometimes worn and some of these take on nationalistic flavour. The Indian ritual marriage form and the extended family system have continued, over time, with only minor changes. Indian music, songs, films, dance and other art forms have taken root in Guyanese society.. Indian foods like roti, curry, dhal, polouri, bara, keer and vegetable dishes
are regularly consumed by all Guyanese. Indian festivals are widely celebrated. These include the colourful Phagwah, Deepavali (festival of lights),Ramnoumi, Shiv Ratri, Youman Nabi, Eid-ul-Azha, and Eid-ul-Fitr. Four of the above are national holidays, a testimony to their significance. Hindus and Muslims regularly perform their religious or thanksgiving ceremonies. Evidence of this development among Hindus is reflected in the numerous Jhandi and other flags which are proudly displayed in devotees’ yards and homes respectively. Indian immigrants and their descendants were able to survive, largely due to their resilience, determination, custom, tradition and commitment to family which invariably promote thrift, industry and self-esteem. They continue to make valuable contributions to the overall progress and development of Guyana.  Their strong cultural ties are undoubtedly a motivating factor as they march forward with a great sense of purpose and maturity.. After all, Guyana relentlessly seeks to have greater economic benefits, socio-political stability and national cohesiveness at this juncture of its history and in the face of the current global pandemic.
A Happy 183rd anniversary of Indian Arrival in Guyana to one and all.

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