Agrarian Labour Measures

The Great Depression of the 1930s had caused a catastrophic collapse in agricultural prices, doubling the real burden of rent and debt on the Indian peasantry. Concurrently, industrial workers faced wage cuts and retrenchment. The Indian National Congress (INC) contested the 1937 provincial elections under a progressive Election Manifesto that promised radical agrarian and labor reforms. Upon forming ministries in eight provinces in July 1937, the Congress attempted to fulfill these pledges while navigating the structural limitations of the Government of India Act 1935, which guarded landlord and industrialist interests through gubernatorial vetoes.

Agrarian Measures and Tenancy Reforms (1937–1939)

The Congress ministries utilized the Provincial List under the 1935 Act to enact comprehensive tenancy laws aimed at restricting landlord exactions and securing peasant tenure.

Key Agrarian Legislation by Province

Labor Welfare and Industrial Measures

The ministries sought to improve the working conditions of the industrial proletariat while trying to maintain industrial peace to avoid disrupting the economy.

Wage Hikes and Inquiry Committees

• The ministries appointed high-level independent labor inquiry committees in major industrial hubs, such as the Kanpur Labour Inquiry Committee in UP and the Textile Labour Inquiry Committee in Bombay.
• These committees documented systemic exploitation and successfully recommended immediate wage increases, standardized grading systems, and improved housing facilities for factory workers.

The Bombay Trade Disputes Act (1938)

• To streamline industrial relations, the Bombay ministry passed the Bombay Trade Disputes Act (1938).
• This legislation established compulsory arbitration and grievance redressing mechanisms before a union could call for a strike. While it reduced industrial friction, it was heavily criticized by radical labor leaders for restricting the unconditional right to strike.

Subhas Chandra Bose and the Left-Wing Critique

Subhas Chandra Bose, alongside Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress Socialist Party (CSP), represented the radical left-wing bloc that closely monitored the performance of these ministries.

Proposing State-Led Economic Planning

Elected unanimously as Congress President for the Haripura Session (1938), Bose accepted the functioning of the ministries but sought to push them beyond piecemeal reforms. In October 1938, he established the National Planning Committee (NPC), appointing Nehru as Chairman. Bose directed the provincial ministries to harmonize their industrial policies and budgets to prepare for comprehensive state planning. His vision was to transition from colonial exploitation straight into a planned economy featuring heavy industrialization, which contrasted with the village-centric, cottage-industry model favored by Mahatma Gandhi.

Critique of Class Compromise

By 1939, Bose became highly critical of the right-wing leadership—operating through the Central Parliamentary Board (Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, and Maulana Azad)—for steering the ministries toward a policy of class compromise.

• Agrarian Stagnation: In Bihar, the Congress ministry negotiated the Bihar Tenancy Act through a formal pact with the Zamindars. Peasant leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, founder of the All India Kisan Sabha, fiercely criticized this compromise because it left the structural roots of landlordism untouched.
• Administrative Repression: When radicalized peasants and industrial labor unions launched strikes and agitations, the Congress ministries utilized colonial-era state machinery. In Bombay, Kanpur, and Patna, the ministries deployed Section 144 of the CrPC and police forces to break up demonstrations and arrest radical organizers.

The Tripuri Crisis and the Forward Bloc

This ideological friction culminated at the Tripuri Session (1939). Bose argued that the ministerial experiment had caused a “constitutionalist drift” that dulled the revolutionary edge of the masses. He demanded that the ministries prepare for immediate resignation to launch a final mass struggle against British rule. Following his subsequent resignation from the presidency due to institutional deadlock with the Gandhian faction, Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc in May 1939 to consolidate radical peasant and labor forces into an unyielding anti-imperialist front.

Termination of the Legislative Experiment (1939)

The progressive agrarian and labor initiatives of the Congress ministries were abruptly halted in September 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II. Viceroy Lord Linlithgow unilaterally declared India a belligerent party in the war without consulting the elected provincial ministries or central legislators. This exposed the structural limitations of provincial autonomy, proving that executive sovereignty remained fully concentrated in colonial hands. In protest against this autocratic action and Britain’s refusal to guarantee immediate post-war independence, the Congress High Command ordered all provincial governments to step down. By November 1939, all eight ministries resigned, bringing a definitive end to the 28-month experiment in provincial agrarian and labor reform.