Describe the effects of early industrialisation of British towns
and villages compare these similar
situation in India.
Answers
kinds of discrimination, like not allowed to own land, not allowed to do certain
jobs etc) they develop a stronger motivation to show that they can become
successful. In addition to this, Gallagher and Robinson argue, that because of their
minority status some local business communities were suitable middlemen to
support the colonial empires abroad. Because of the fact that these businessmen
belong to non majority groups many colonial governments supported these groups
as their local suppliers, translators, informants etc. In this way these groups are seen
as ‘collaborators’ in the Marxist as well as many nationalist historiography.
In this paper I argue that in different historical contexts some theories
become more fruitful than others, whereas in other contexts they fail to explain the
emergence of local industrialists. By describing three patterns of industrialisation in
India I focus on three variables: (1) the colonial attitude towards indigenous business,
especially the transformation towards large scale industrialisation4
; (2) the religious,
occupational and regional background of industrialists to be; and (3) whether or not
they belonged to a ‘minority’ group. While these patterns all led to the successful
entry of Indian businessmen into large-scale industries,they differ in the explainable
importance to be attributed to the different variables.
By comparing these variables we will be able to recognise that, e.g. the British
in India stimulated the Parsis to settle in Bombay and run their businesses there,
whereas they had a hostile attitude towards the Marwai business community in
Calcutta. In short; there was not such a thing as one ‘colonial attitude’ towards local
business communities. Along the same line it is argued that the Parsis in Bombay
were successful because of their minority status and their (protestant like) work
ethic. Therefore the Parsis were the pioneers of the Bombay cotton Industry.
However, the pioneers in the Ahmedabad cotton textile industries, were not a
minority group, they were Hindus who (according to Weber) were not known for
their worldly (capitalist) outlook. It will be shown that the entry of local business
groups in large-scale industries in a colonial setting is a complex an varied process.
By comparing three different cities, three different industries and three different
business communities we may be able to show some fresh light on this complex
theme.
This paper starts with a description of the entry of Marwari b
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