Study The Labor Of Colonial Tea Plantations In India Assam (1839—1947)

India’s Assam area is one of the largest tea producing areas in the world, and occupies very important position in the history of tea. Colonial tea plantations existed in 1839-1947 in Assam, and established the first tea company——Assam company in 1839, which opened the Assam tea industry development. It did not end the era of colonial tea plantations until India’s independence in 1947. Assam tea industry was developed with the support of the British. The British planters actively looked for and cultivated tea tree in India. After the success of the cultivation tea tree in Assam area, the colonial government enacted a series of policies that promoted the development of tea industry. Tea industry is labor-intensive industry. Assam tea industry developed rapidly, which increased the demand for labors. Due to the shortage of local labor, a large number of migrant workers were introduced in Assam. The life of these labors was miserable in Assam colonial tea garden— they were scheduled to do a lot of works, their income was not enough to maintain basic survival, they had always been supervised and punished by the management. The labors fled to a lot and labors were also very high mortality rate. The tea industry economy rapid development in Assam was based on strict management of labors and little wages paid to labors, and finally the Tea Company and colonial government obtained enormous economic benefits, at the same time met the British demand for tea.This paper is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the background and general situation of Assam tea industry development. In 1826, the British people had established the colonial rule with a powerful military force in Assam area, which provided geographical conditions for the development of Assam tea industry; demand for tea prompted the British exploring new area. After Assam area was found, the British colonial government featherbeds Assam tea industry, so Assam tea industry continued to expand.The second part to the fourth part is the core of this article, introducing the labors related issues in Assam colonial tea plantations. The second part shows that the labors in Assam tea plantations was in heavy demand, and needed more women than men. All the workers were poor technological level, and the demand for labors had the characteristics of the seasonal variation. Most of local labors didn’t like working in the tea garden, so the works were migrant workers which benefited by colonial government who took many measures to recruit them to the tea plantations.The third part describes the works in the labors contract in Assam colonial tea plantations were indenture labor. The living conditions of Labor were miserable- lack of food, poor quality of drinking water, causing many diseases. They worked long hours and the tasks were heavy, but their wage income was too low enough to meet basic needs of life. The master of tea plantations dealt out smallholdings to labors, in this way, made the labors stay in tea plantations and met the needs of the labors in tea plantations.The fourth part shows us the management pattern of capitalism in Assam colonial tea garden. In this mode, tea plantations management made contract with labors that was treated like slaves, which formed a strange combination that modern capitalist system and the original of slavery. The colonial government, Tea Company, tea garden management (mainly manager) and labors constituted the related subject of tea plantations:The colonial government and Tea Company were benefit relevant; Colonial government enacted a series of policies "liberated" the labor from the land, which provided a large number of labor for tea plantations; Tea Company hired manager to govern tea garden; Tea garden manager strictly controlled the labors in order to improve the tea production.