RAS question
The Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918) led by Gandhi was on behalf of:
Correct answer: (C) Textile mill workers demanding a 35% wage increase.
The Ahmedabad Mill Strike of 1918 led by Gandhi was on behalf of textile mill workers whose wage dispute centred on a 35% increase.
Explanation
The Ahmedabad Mill Strike arose from a dispute between mill owners and textile workers after the plague bonus was withdrawn. Owners were prepared to give a 20% increase, while Gandhi, after studying mill finances and comparing wage rates, concluded that the workers should demand 35%. He asked them to pledge that they would not resume work without that increase and to remain law-abiding during the lockout. When some workers began wavering, Gandhi announced a fast until settlement. The final arbitration award went in favour of the workers, and a 35% raise was given to them. That is why the question points to textile mill workers, not peasants, clerks, planters, or railway employees.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Indigo planters belong to the Champaran context, whereas the Ahmedabad episode was a wage dispute involving textile mill workers.
- (B) Government clerks were not the group in the Ahmedabad mill dispute; it was a conflict between mill owners and workers.
- (D) Railway workers do not fit this episode because Gandhi's Ahmedabad campaign dealt with millhands in the textile mills.
Concept
This tests Gandhi's early local satyagrahas of 1917-18 and the social groups attached to each movement. RAS often asks these because Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad look similar in chronology but differ sharply by issue and constituency.