Chapter 5: The Age Of Industrialisation

The tale of the modern age appears to be a great time of new technologies.
The history of industrialization is all about development.

Before The Industrial Revolution

Even when there were no factories in England, there was large-scale
manufacturing aimed towards a global market. During this time, the term
"proto-industrialization" was coined
by the authors.
During the seventeenth and
eighteenth century, the merchants
started relocating to the countryside
for supplying peasants and
craftspeople with income. They tried
to convince them to operate in the
global market.
The income from proto-industrial production replaced the peasants' falling
agriculture income. As merchants were located in towns but workers in the
countryside, this system supported the development of a strong link
between the town and the remote areas.

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As finishing was done here before the export merchant sold the cloth
globally, London became the finishing centre.
The Coming Up Of The Factory
● By the 1730s, England had its first industries, which grew in number
until the late eighteenth century.
● Cotton's supply increased in the late 1800s, making it a symbol of the
new century which finally led to the Industrial Revolution.
● In the seventeenth century, a series of inventions improved the
efficiency of each phase of the manufacturing process, including carding,
twisting, spinning, and rolling. They increased output per worker
while also improving the thread and yarn quality.
● Richard Arkwright established the cotton mill, and the cloth was
produced throughout the country and it was done in the homes of the
villagers.

The Pace Of Industrial Change

Cotton was the major sector in the first phase of civilization until the
1840s, when it was replaced by the iron and steel industry, which grew at
a rapid pace.
The industrialization process took a long time to complete. The following
are some of the factors:
● Technological advancements were slow to come about.
● As new technology was costly, merchants and industrialists were
unwilling to adopt it.
● In certain cases, such as James Watt's steam engine, the machines were
not as effective as their creators and producers claimed.

Hand Labour And Steam Power

There were plenty of people willing to work for little pay. As a result, the
industrialists were opposed to the introduction of machines.
Labor demand was seasonal in different industries, and industrialists
preferred hand labor, hiring people for the season.
Hand labor could be used to make a variety of things. Uniforms and
standardized items for a mass market were the focus of machines. However,

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 products with detailed designs
and unique shapes were
frequently in high demand on the
market. Hand-made items
became the sign of taste and
status in Victorian Britain, and
the rich elite aristocrats and the
ruling elite preferred them. They
were also more refined and
well-designed. Machine-made
goods were destined for colonial markets.

Life Of The Workers

● Variation of work in several industries resulted in job risk. Many
workers had to go long periods of time without a job. They did odd jobs
to manage their food and housing throughout the period when they were
unemployed.
● Wages increased in the early nineteenth century, but nothing was done
for the employees' wellbeing. The labor conditions were terrible. Due to
unsanitary working conditions, workers were vulnerable to pandemic
diseases.
● Workers were adverse to the introduction of Spinning Jenny into the
woolen industry due to job insecurity (fear of job loss). Women who had
been surviving on hand-spinning began fighting the new machines, and
the dispute raged on for a long time.
● With the surge in building activity in cities after the 1840s, job
prospects increased. For the widening of roads, the construction of
railway stations and railway lines, the installation of drainage and
sewers, and so on, a large number of laborers were engaged.

Industrialisation In The Colonies

Let us now move to India to see how a colony industrializes.

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The Age Of Indian Textiles
● India's silk and cotton goods dominated the international textile
market before the introduction of machinery in industries. Cotton
cultivated in other nations was harsh in comparison to cotton cultivation
in India.
● Cotton was once exported in large quantities from India to a variety of
countries.
● Sea trade began in the major pre-colonial ports. Surat on the Gujarat
coast, as well as Masulipatam on the Coromandel Coast, connected
India to the Gulf and Red Sea ports.
● Bengal's Hooghly had economic ties to Southeast Asian ports.
However, by the 1750s, this network, which was controlled by Indian
merchants, had begun to degrade. The European businesses grew in
power and were able to secure monopoly trade rights.
● As a result, trade from the old ports of Surat and Hooghly, through
which local merchants had previously traded, declined. As a result, Surat
and Hooghly ports declined, while Bombay and Calcutta ports
expanded.
● European firms began to exert control over commerce through these new
ports. Several old trading houses were forced to close as a result of this.

What Happened To Weavers?

● After gaining political power, the East India Company acquired a
monopoly right to trade and developed a management and control
system to restrict competitors, control costs, and ensure consistent
supplies of cotton and silk.
● To eliminate the cloth trade's merchants and brokers, the Company
established direct power over the weavers. It appointed gomasthas, or
hired servants, to monitor weavers, collect supplies, and inspect textile
quality.
● The Company implemented the advanced system to keep company
weavers from dealing with other buyers. Weavers were provided loans to
purchase raw materials for their manufacturing after an order was
placed.
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● Those who took out debts were forced to give the cloth to the gomastha
alone. As a result, the weavers were unable to go to any other vendor.
● Previously, supply merchants (brokers) resided in weaving villages and
had a good relationship with the weavers, tending to their requirements
and assisting them in times of need.
● The new gomasthas, on the other hand, were strangers. Weavers were
penalized for supply delays. Weavers eventually left communities and
relocated to new locations across Carnatic and Bengal.
● Weavers and village traders rose against the Company and its
administrators in other places. Cotton weavers confronted new
challenges around the turn of the century.

Manchester Comes To India

● By 1850-1851, India's textile exports had decreased. Import taxes on
cotton textiles were implemented in England so that Manchester goods
could sell in the country without competition.
● The East India Company began to sell British manufactured goods in
Indian marketplaces as well, and British cotton exports surged.
● Manchester imports caused the Indian export market and the local
market to crumble. Because imported cotton goods were mass-produced,
they were inexpensive.
● When the American Civil War started and the US cut off cotton
supplies, Britain looked to India. India's factories started producing
machine parts, flooding the market.

The Factories Come Up

● In 1854, the first cotton mill in Bombay was established. Bengal saw
the establishment of jute mills between 1855 and 1862.
● In the 1860s, the Elgin Mill was established in Kanpur. Ahmedabad's
first cotton mill was established a year later. Madras' first spinning and
weaving factory began operations in 1874.

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The Early Entrepreneurs
● In India, many wealthy Indian businessmen established industrial
enterprises. In the 1830s and 1840s, Dwarkanath Tagore established
six joint-stock firms in Bengal.
● Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata, both Parsis,
developed massive industrial empires in Bombay.
● In 1917, a Marwari industrialist named Seth Hukumchand
established the first Indian jute factory in Calcutta, which also traded
with China.
● It became more difficult for Indian merchants to operate freely as British
control over Indian trade got tougher.
● They were prohibited from trading manufactured items with Europe.
They were forced to export largely raw materials and food grains to the
British, including raw cotton, opium, wheat, and indigo.
● European Managing Agencies (Bird Heilgers & Co., Andrew Yule,
and Jardine Skinner & Co.) controlled a substantial portion of Indian
businesses until the First World War.

Where Did The Workers Come From?

● With the establishment of businesses in most industrial regions, workers
came from the surrounding districts. The majority of them were
peasants and artisans who had been unable to find work in the
community.
● In 1911, the majority of cotton workers in Bombay were from
Ratnagiri, a nearby district. Kanpur mills hired laborers from the
Kanpur district. Workers eventually had to travel vast distances to work
in the mills.
● They moved to work in Bombay's textile mills and Calcutta's jute mills
after leaving the United Provinces. Although direct admission into the
mills was restricted, the industrialists used jobbers to find fresh
personnel.
● As a result, the jobbers grew in authority. They soon began abusing their
power.

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