ABSTRACT
In politics the British system of indirect rule, that is, the adaptation of pre-colonial forms of tribal or autocratic authority to serve as vehicles of colonial administration was the classic case. The mercenary collaboration of the Sikh rulers with the British in suppressing the Mutiny of 1857 was to have a long-term effect on political developments within the province. It could be argued that due to the manner in which Indian workers were incorporated into the British economy, intermediaries remained socially and politically significant for longer in Britain than in the Punjab itself. Although craft workers represented the bulk of the AUFW's membership, the emerging ideas on the rationalization of skill are a first indication of the changing order of things. Permanent settlement, plus a new political dynamism amongst the Indian workers who continued to concentrate in the Midlands iron foundries, spelt an end to intermediaries as a generalized system of managerial control.
