Mauritius 1938: the origins of a milestone in colonial trade union legislation

Abstract

This article analyses the sociopolitical interactions that shaped an early colonial union statute that constituted a milestone because of its early passage, draconian nature and wider influence in the British Empire. We analyse the interactions between the Governor on the one hand and local and international actors on the other, to create the first trade union law in Mauritius. Colonial Office officials pressured the Governor to overcome local resistance to legislation, but this opposition and his attitudes shaped the law's content.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Mauritius Tertiary Education Commission's (MTEC) support and thank Yangna Li for her painstaking assistance in managing the archival documentation and preparing the manuscript.

Notes

  1. This article was completed during a period in 2011–2012 when Richard Croucher was the MTEC Research Fellow.

  2. Memo by Major Orde Browne, 22 April 1942. CO 167/920/3. National Archives of the UK, Kew (National Archive).

  3. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa.

  4. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa; Davies, African Trade Unions; and November, L'évolution du mouvement syndicale.

  5. Panford, African Labour Relations and Workers' Rights.

  6. Davies, African Trade Unions.

  7. ITUC, Annual Survey of Violations.

  8. Henley, “African Employment Relationships.”

  9. Memo by J.G. Hibbert, 13 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 10. Hagan and Wells, “The British and Rubber.”

 11. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa; November, L'évolution du mouvement syndicale; and Davies, African Trade Unions.

 12. Sandbrook, “Origins of the Social Democratic State”; Sandbrook et al., “Mauritius: Evolution of a Classic.”

 13. Lange, “Structural Holes and Structural Synergies”; Lincoln, “Beyond the Plantation.”

 14. Davies, African Trade Unions.

 15. Meisenhelder, “The Developmental State in Mauritius.”

 16. Eriksen, “Ethnicity Versus Nationalism.”

 17. Tinker, “Between Africa, Asia and Europe.”

 18. Ibid., 329.

 19. Joos, “Mauritius.”

 20. See the professions of loyalty, met with enthusiastic approbation from his audiences in Extracts from Anquetil's Speeches, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8 and the Governor's Accounts in “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 21. Meisenhelder, “The Developmental State in Mauritius.”

 22. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa.

 23. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa, 2.

 24. Nicholson, The TUC Overseas, 178–81.

 25. Ibid., 177.

 26. Ibid., 238.

 27. Ibid., 177.

 28. Tinker, “Between Africa, Asia and Europe.”

 29. Extract from Letter from Lord Dufferin to Secretary of State, 9 February 1938. CO 167/900/9.

 30. Ibid.

 31. Varma, The Struggle of Dr Ramgoolam, 22.

 32. “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 33. Sandbrook et al., “Mauritius: Evolution of a Classic,” 131.

 34. Allen, Slaves, Freedmen, and Indentured Laborers.

 35. Tinker, “Between Africa, Asia and Europe.”

 36. Le Radical, January 8, 1930.

 37. Narain, “The Emergence and Development,” 4.

 38. Hazareesingh, Histoire des Indiens de l'Ile Maurice.

 39. Extract from Letter from Lord Dufferin to Secretary of State, 9 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 40. Ibid.

 41. Benedict, “Stratification in Plural Societies.”

 42. Ibid.

 43. Meisenhelder, “The Developmental State in Mauritius.”

 44. Benedict, “Stratification in Plural Societies”; Meisenhelder, “The Developmental State in Mauritius.”

 45. Extract from Letter from Lord Dufferin to the Secretary of State, 9 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 46. Ibid.

 47. Narain, “The Emergence and Development,” 13; Mulloo, “The Mauritius Labour Party,” 2.

 48. Meisenhelder, “The Developmental State in Mauritius,” 280.

 49. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa, 68.

 50. “Plight of Indians in Mauritius: Treated as Worse Than Slaves,” 24 June 1940. CO 167/914/14. National Archive.

 51. Narain, “The Emergence and Development,” 9.

 52. “The Restrictions Placed on Dr Curé and Mr Anquetil” (n.d.). Governor's despatch to Colonial Office, 7 May 1938. Extracts from Anquetil's Speeches, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 53. Report by Governor to Secretary of State, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 54. “Activities of Dr Curé,” CO 167/901/11. National Archive.

 55. Extracts from Anquetil's Speeches, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 56. Governor to Secretary of State, 9 November 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 57. Extract from Letter from Lord Dufferin to the Secretary of State, 9 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 58. Clifford to Lord Dufferin, 19 March 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 59. Report from Clifford to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 7 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 60. Citrine to Malcolm MacDonald, Secretary of State, 30 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 61. Governor to Secretary of State, 9 November 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 62. J.G. Hibbert to Rosetti, 28 January 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 63. Report from Sir Bede Clifford to the Secretary of State, 7 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 64. Memo by A.B. Acheson, “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 65. Extract from Letter from Sir Bede Clifford to Lord Dufferin, 17 March 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 66. Clifford used the ‘primitive instincts’ phrase in connection with the 1938 dock strikers; memo by A.B. Acheson, “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 67. Report by Sir Bede Clifford to Secretary of State, 13 September 1938. National Archive.

 68. Memo by P. Rogers, 20 June 1938. CO 167/ 901/11. National Archive.

 69. Ibid.

 70. Memo by A.B. Acheson, “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 71. Dispatch by Sir Bede Clifford to Secretary of State, 7 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 72. Extract of Letter from Sir Bede Clifford to Lord Dufferin, 19 March 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 73. Report by Governor to Secretary of State, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 74. Memo by P. Rogers, “The Governor's Proposals,” 2 July 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 75. Extract from Letter from Lord Dufferin to Secretary of State, 9 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 76. Letter from Sir Bede Clifford to Lord Dufferin, 19 March 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 77. Mulloo, “The Mauritius Labour Party,” chapter 2: 6.

 78. Narain, “The Emergence and Development,” 15.

 79. Memo by J.G. Hibbert, 8 October 1937. CO 167/818/1. National Archive; ILO Official Bulletin, 15 July 1937, vol. XXII, no. 2: 66–9; ILO Confidential Minute, Agenda Item 22. Both in CO 167/894/2. National Archive.

 80. Ormsby-Gore to Clifford, 2 November 1937. CO 67/898/1. National Archive.

 81. Memo by P. Rogers, 28 January 1938. CO 167/901/1. National Archive.

 82. Ibid.

 83. Memo by P. Rogers, 2 February 1938. CO 167/898/1. National Archive.

 84. Handwritten note by P. Rogers on memo by J.G. Hibbert, 25 April 1938. CO 167/898/1. National Archive.

 85. Carew, “Towards a Free Trade Union Centre,” 195.

 86. Ibid., 228.

 87. Croucher and Cotton, Global Unions, Global Business.

 88. Le Cernéen, August 23, 1937.

 89. Industrial Associations Ordinance No. 7, 27 May 1938. ‘To make provision for the formation, registration and regulation of employers’ and employees' industrial associations; for the prevention and settlement of disputes between such associations; for the remuneration and regulations of conditions of employment and for the formation, registration and regulation of associations of government employees'. Mauritius National Archive, B5, Sections 2 and 4.

 90. Report from Governor to Secretary of State, 16 February 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 91. Report by Governor, 16 February 1938. CO167/900/9. National Archive.

 92. Letter from Malcolm MacDonald Secretary of State for Colonies to Clifford, 9 November 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 93. Letter from Malcolm MacDonald Secretary of State for Colonies to Clifford, 9 November 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

 94. Ananaba, The Trade Union Movement in Africa.

 95. Memo by A.B. Acheson, “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 96. Nicholson, The TUC Overseas, 184.

 97. Creech Jones to Lord Dufferin, 8 November 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

 98. Minutes of the Colonial Labour Advisory Committee, 6 August 1943. CO 167/920/4. National Archive.

 99. Letter from Malcolm MacDonald Secretary of State for Colonies to Clifford, 9 November 1938. CO 167/900/9. National Archive.

100. Extracts from Anquetil's Speeches. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

101. Memo by J.G. Hibbert, 13 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

102. Memo by A.B. Acheson, “Governor's Report on Recent Dock Strike in Mauritius,” 12 October 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

103. Ibid.

104. Report by Governor, 13 September 1938. CO 167/900/8. National Archive.

105. Memo by Major Orde Browne, 22 April 1942. CO 167/920/3. National Archive.

106. The Government Gazette of the Colony of Mauritius. Extraordinary Gazette. No. 34, 12 July 1938. Mauritius National Archive. B5.

107. Narain, “The Emergence and Development,” 30–1; Mulloo, “The Mauritius Labour Party,” 9–10.

108. Panford, African Labour Relations and Workers' Rights; van Daele, “The International Labour Organisation.”

109. Tinker, “Between Africa, Asia and Europe,” 329.