Introduction

This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the field of Indian labor history. It covers events that last between 1860 and 1870. This decade precedes the most important events of the modernization story explored in this study. The book discusses the hiring practices that made the work process possible. It then goes on to examine the two major forms of class conflict prevalent in this period and concludes with a section on the placing the port in a comparative framework. The year 1870 is significant in this study for two reasons. Not only did the government of India enact crucial legislation that transformed the administrative structure of the port but it was also during this year that the first jetties became operational at the port. The significance of these changes is examined in the book.