A Very Brief History of Trade Unions in the erstwhile Hyderabad State

In December 2000 when I first shifted to Hyderabad, the Confederation of Indian Trade Unions held its conference here. I met many trade unionists from all over the country and a few from other countries too. At one of these meetings I was asked about the history of the trade union movement in Hyderabad and realised that I knew next to nothing, despite my grandfather, Alam Khundmiri, having being one of those who initiated such work here in the 1930s and 1940s when the Nizam ruled over these lands.

Over the next few months I went about identifying some of the trade unionists who had lived and worked in Nizam’s Hyderabad, met them and interviewed some. What emerged was an amazing story of trade union activity in that period, much of it forgotten by present-day activists. The information I had collected was entirely oral history but I was told there would be documents available in the State Archives as well as scattered over different trade union offices and activists all over Telangana. I decided to try to get some funding for this research, even wrote out a brief note for this and tabulated much of the information about trade unions that I had heard from the old comrades.

Unfortunately, I did not get any money but did end up getting a job with The Hindu. Over the years, moving houses, changing computers and shifting jobs I had lost the notes and write-up on the trade union movement in Nizam’s Hyderabad. A few days back I discovered them in soft copy hidden under a false file name. Why would I ever do that, I do not know but what I present to you is a small but riveting glimpse into trade union activity in one of the most repressive environments of that time. It is well to remember that much of this activity also contributed to the strength of the Telangana peasants’ armed struggle in 1946-48.

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The Hyderabad State ruled by the Nizam was one of the first Native States of pre-independent India to witness industrialisation of some sort. It was also perhaps the first Native State to witness the formation of openly communist groups, the first of which was named Comrades Association and formed in 1938. Most of the time activists of these groups had to remain underground and all suspected communist activity was quickly banned and persecuted. But many of these early communists managed to establish contacts with workers in the different industries and services of the State and formed Trade Unions in many of them.

Those industries and services that had Trade Unions before the merger of the Hyderabad State with the Indian Union are listed in the table below.

The various trade unions of the city were organised into one body – the All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress which was affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The revolutionary poet, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, was its first president and Raj Bahadur Gour was its first general secretary. They, along with Linga Reddy, Lakshmi Das, Sanamurthy, Parsa Satyanarayana, T.V. Vitthal, Syed Kasim, Devraj, Jawad Rizwi, Alam Khundmiri and others, formed the core of the communist led trade union movement in Hyderabad State. After the “Police Action”, which led to the integration of Nizam’s territories with the rest of India, the Communist Party of India (CPI) went underground for some time and so did almost all the trade union leaders mentioned above.

It was at this time that the communists lost control of many of these unions, which eventually came under the sway of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), both of which were formed in the Hyderabad State areas after the Police Action. It appears that in the pre-independence era, only the AITUC was active.

There was no law about industrial disputes and their resolution in Hyderabad State. There was only something of an Industrial Disputes Order by the Nizam, which specifically prohibited trade unions. Whenever trade union leaders went to meet the labour officer, he would refuse to recognise their right to represent the workers. This made it near impossible to organise negotiations with the employers or the government. This non-recognition of trade unions also seems to have been the primary cause for the absence of any other workers’ organisation, apart from the communist led ones. On the other hand, this policy did not allow the State or the owners to play one trade union against the other, which became very common after Independence, when INTUC and HMS affiliated trade unions emerged in almost all the industries listed in the table below.

Trade union activity was very difficult during the Nizam’s time. Frequent arrests, torture, externment from Nizam’s territories and various other forms of unofficial harassment were common and it was almost impossible to organise strikes. The most frequent methods of mobilising and showing workers opinions were mass representations to the authorities and owners, and sometimes there were public gatherings, rallies and demonstrations. These were, almost without exception, dealt with severely by the Nizam’s police which sought to crush any open collective activity by the workers. Therefore, the trade union activists gave a lot of importance to individual meetings with workers, political education through meetings in small groups and other campaigns which were often semi-secret. Not many written documents were kept and those that existed were often confiscated and destroyed in the frequent arrests, searches and confiscations by the police.

This information and that contained in the table below is based on preliminary interviews conducted with Raj Bahadur Gour, Jawad Rizwi, Parsa Satyanarayana and Ali Akhtar in January and February, 2001.

Objectives of the Project

The proposed project attempts three things. One, the recording of oral histories and other testimonies of the Trade Union movement in the erstwhile Hyderabad State from persons who were Trade Union activists, officers of the Labour Department and other government agencies of the period and ordinary workers in these industries. Two, indexing all the sources in the Andhra Pradesh State Archives relating to the history of the working class in Hyderabad State. Three, identifying, indexing and wherever possible, copying documents available with Trade Unions listed above relating to activities of the pre-independence period.

—  —  List of Industries with Trade Unions in Hyderabad State — —

Name of Industry	Owner	Manufactures/ Services	Trade Union Status
Azamjahi Cotton Mills, Warangal.	Nizam’s Trust	Textiles	Led initially by Ramanathan, who was jailed subsequently
Mehboobshahi Textile Mills, Gulbarga	Nizam’s Trust	Textiles	Formed by Sreenivas Giri
Osmanshahi Cotton Mills, Nanded,	Nizam’s Trust	Textiles	Formed by Nagapurkar
Spinning and Weaving Company, Hyderabad	Private Sector	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
Purani Girni,	some baniya of Secundrabad	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
Cotton Textile Mill (name unknown), Aurangabad	Private Sector	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
Ramgopal Mills, Hyderabad	Private Sector	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
Artificial Silk factory/ mill in Sirpur Kagaznagar,	Private Sector	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
DBR Textile Mills, Hyderabad	Diwan Bahadur Ram Gopal	Textiles	Some organisation but no details
Associated Cement Company, Shahabad	Private Sector	Cement	Some organisation but no details
Allwyn Engineering Works, Hyderabad	Allauddin Tajir	Small tools, engineering products later small arms under Nizam’s orders.	Very active, formed by Alam Khundmiri, later went to INTUC
Singareni Mines	Hyderabad State	Coal	Formed by T.V. Vitthal, Parsa Satyanarayana, later led by Raj Bahadur Gour
Ramagundam Mines	Hyderabad State	Coal	Formed by T.V. Vitthal, Parsa Satyanarayana, later led by Raj Bahadur Gour
Bellampally Mines	Hyderabad State	Coal	Formed by T.V. Vitthal, Parsa Satyanarayana, later led by Raj Bahadur Gour
Vazir Sultan Tobacco Company, Hyderabad	Vazir Sultan	Charminar brand of cigarettes	Very active, strong organisation, forefront of Trade Union movt. Later went into the control of Somayajulu, HMS.
Golcunda Cigarette Company, Hyderabad	Abdul Sattar	Golcunda Brand of cigarettes	Weak and ill organised. Dependent on VST union.
Railroad	Hyderabad State	Trains in Nizam’s territories	Registered in Secundrabad, British territory, heavily persecuted in Hyderabad State. Organised the workers of the Nizam railways
Government Press	Hyderabad State	Government Printing Jobs	Formed by Lakshmi Narayan, independent Trade Unionist, but many AITUC activists too participated in this union.
Electricity Supply Department	Hyderabad State	Electricity	Formed by Makhdoom Mohiuddin, went into the hands of socialists (B.S. Mahadev Singh, Govindachari) when the CPI went underground.
Water Works	Hyderabad State	Water Supply	Formed by Makhdoom Mohiuddin, went into the hands of socialists (B.S. Mahadev Singh, Govindachari) when the CPI went underground.
Nizam State Roadways	Hyderabad State also some private interests	Road Transport	Led by Syed Kasim since formation, died down when AITUC went underground.
Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad	Hyderabad State	City Administration, Garbage Collection, Sewage	Formed by Lakshmi Das, mainly organised the lower ranks of MCH employees, like waste collectors, sewage workers, and other ‘menial’ jobs
Hyderabad Steel Company	Small scale Private,	Iron and Steel rollers, other products	Small union, not well organised.
Leather Industries	Private Sector	Various leather products for consumer use	Workers were organised not by individual workshops but by the area, since almost all these units were located in Musheerabad, Hyderabad city.
Deccan Button Factory	Salamatullah	Buttons, later converted into a gun factory under orders of the Nizam	Weak union, workers were organised not by individual workshops but by the area, since many small button manufacturing units were located in Musheerabad, Hyderabad city.
Beedi Manufacture	Private Sector	Beedis	Workers were organised not by individual workshops but by the area, since almost all these units were located in Musheerabad, Hyderabad city.
Road Construction	Hyderabad State with private contractors	Road Construction	Formed by Lakshmi Das and Devraj, pretty successful boasted of a membership of more than 5000
Building Construction	Private Contractors, etc.	Houses and other Buildings	Union same as above
Hotel and Restaurants	Private Sector	Boarding and Lodging	Weak disorganised, never able to mobilise many workers