The origins of a public voice for marginalised workers in French India, 1935-37

Abstract

This article examines how far indigenous communications contributed towards the origins of anti-colonialism in French India, as an empowering voice. They are seen as an example of a politicising move from private to public sphere via print communications. The years 1935-7 reveal a saga of severe economic exploitation, violence and political struggle - a trajectory of social conflict in the public sphere. Local archives, including print publications such as the workers’ Tamil paper Swandanthiram are used as a prism for the analysis of a forgotten episode in the history of a neglected corner of French empire. This article traces the development of the workers’ public voice and characterises this as a form of advocacy journalism, compatible with John Downing’s categorisation of ‘lateral’ and ‘vertical’ campaigning in ‘radical alternative’ publications (1984; 2001,p.x). The way that the move from private to public spheres happened, it is argued, reflects the roots of anti-colonialism communication - at a time when the Left in France was more receptive to anti-fascism as a campaigning tool