Coral Mill : textile mill located at Tuticorin & run with British capital. In 1908 there was a strike at the mill organised by the nationalists led by Chidambaram Pillai; it ended in an absolute victory for the labourers but the British made them all pay very heavily for working for freedom.
... passive resistance to succeed unity, perseverance and thoroughness are the first requisites. Because this unity, perseverance and thoroughness existed in Tuticorin, the great battle fought over the Coral Mill has ended in a great and indeed absolutely sweeping victory for the people. Every claim made by the strikers has been conceded and British capital has had to submit to the humiliation of an unconditional... the complete realization of the true inwardness of the Nationalist gospel which made them identify the interests of the whole Indian nation with the wrongs and grievances of the labourers in the Coral Mill. Page 926 ...
... passive resistance to succeed unity, perseverance and thoroughness are the first requisites. Because this unity, perseverance and thoroughness existed in Tuticorin, the great battle fought over the Coral Mill has ended in a great and indeed absolutely sweeping victory for the people. Every claim made by the strikers has been conceded and British capital has had to submit to the humiliation of an unconditional ...
... the complete realisation of the true inwardness of the Nationalist gospel which made them identify the interests of the whole Indian nation with the wrongs and grievances of the labourers in the Coral Mill. 25 From Tuticorin the trouble quickly spread to Tinnevelly (Tirunelveli), and Sri Aurobindo wrote a few days later to spell out the lessons of the outbreak for the authorities as well as ...
... the liquor shop and the prostitute, institutions unknown twenty-five years ago, have now the mastery of the poorest villagers," wrote Sri Aurobindo in 1908. Coral Mills was a British venture in Tuticorin. On 27 February 1908 the mill hands struck work protesting against their oppressed condition. Under the leadership of V. O. C. and Siva the people conducted themselves "with a marvelous combination... on vexed British bureaucracy to act. The arrest of V. O. C. was nothing if not commercial jealousy. What filled the bureaucrats' cup of ire was the affair of Page 200 the Coral Mills. There is no need to repeat how the working class in India was treated by its white masters. Nationalists were much moved by the repression on their countrymen. Foremost among them was Sri Aurobindo... enthusiastic Nationalism." The country did not have to wait long for the outcome of the Tuticorin struggle. On 13 March the Bande Mataram announced that "the great battle fought over the Coral Mills has ended in a great and indeed absolutely sweeping victory for the people. Every claim made by the strikers has been conceded and British capital has had to submit to the humiliation of an unconditional ...
... success. The struggle generated an acute feeling on both sides and when the commercial war extended itself and the people took sides with Indian labour against British capital in the affair of the Coral Mills, the patience of the English officials gave way and they Page 956 rushed to the help of their mercantile caste-fellows, misusing the sacred seal of justice and the strong arm of power ...
... following VOC's return from Surat were full of intense nationalist activity. The Swadeshi shipping enterprise grew from strength to strength. VOC led a major strike in the European-owned cotton Coral Mills of Tuticorin. Swadeshi meetings with fiery nationalist speeches, probably for the first time in the Tamil language, led to widespread nationalist mobilisation. Colonial ire was turned on the nationalists ...
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.