Indian indentured labour was deliberately used as a counterpoise against Black resistance
Evidence
Propelled by these circumstances into the far extremities of the British colonial system, they brought with them their culture: their languages, their castes, their music, and their religions. And up to the First World War, it came to be accepted that they served in Trinidad as a “substantial counterpoise against troubles with the negroes and vice versa.” “Coolie” labor, to be sure, had provided momentary succor for sugar production. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1146
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Divisive labor strategies echo themes elsewhere in the book of capital engineering ethnic division within the working class.
Related
- Indian indentured labor reproduced subcontinental caste hierarchy, muting collective resistance (similarity 0.83)
- Zulu resistance to white farm labor drove British importation of Indian indentured workers. (similarity 0.82)
- Post-slavery Indian indentured workers in Trinidad replicated caste stratification and muted their resistance (similarity 0.82)
- Imperialism matured the very social forces that later resisted it (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Colonialist attacks on a custom create the native resistance that sustains it
#expands(0.55) - Black labourers resisted plantation dependence by pursuing peasant and artisan autonomy
#complicates(0.45) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1151 - Capitalists extracted Black labor while letting African social formations reproduce the supply
#corroborates(0.40) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1429 - Coercive labor recruitment created inefficiency by heightening African resistance to work
#complicates(0.40) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 848 - Gandhi’s Ahmedabad labour union institutionalised caste divisions in its very structure
#complicates(0.35) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 340