The beginning of the 20th century saw a rapid emancipation of the Mauritian working class in the political development of the country. In November 1901, Mahatma Gandhi, on his way back to India, stayed for two weeks on the island. He invited the Indo-Mauritian community to educate themselves and participate more actively in the political life of the country. He sent to the country a young lawyer in the person of Manilall Doctor who helped with the political training of the Indo-Mauritians.
The year 1910 was a year of intense political turmoil. The local middle class began to rebel against the oligarchs, who were the big sugar producers. Dr. Eugène Laurent, then Mayor of Port Louis, asked that the right to vote be extended to the middle class through his Liberal Action party. Which did not please the Party of the Order of Henri Leclezio.
1936 saw the birth of the Labor Party. The founding members were Dr. Maurice Curé, Jean Prosper, Mamode Hassenjee, Barthelemy Ohsan, Samuel Barbe, Emmanuel Anquetil, Godefroy Moutia and Pandit Sahadeo.
The Party was modeled on the British Labor Party, with an ideology of defending the interests of the working class, with decent wages and paid leave.
The Labor Party held 55 Conferences across the country demanding among other things: the right to vote for the working class, their representation in the Legislative Assembly, a department to look after workers’ rights and an end to capitalist exploitation of workers.
Labor Day was first celebrated in 1938. More than 30,000 workers sacrificed a day of wages and converged on the Champ de Mars for a show of force.
During the Second World War, living conditions became more difficult and the prices of basic foodstuffs doubled. There were social unrest and demonstrations by workers. Workers at the Sucrerie de Belle Vue Harel began a strike on September 27, 1943. The Colonial Police used firearms and there were 3 deaths, including a 10-year-old teenager and a pregnant woman Anjalay Coopen.
There was pressure to modify the Constitution dating from 1885 where the right to vote was restricted to 4,061 voters including 295 of Asian origin out of a population of 359,419 inhabitants.
In September 1940, Dr.S.Ramgoolam founded the newspaper ‘Advance’, which demanded universal suffrage, economic reforms and social justice. Dr.S.Ramgoolam wrote a series of articles under the pseudonym Thumb Mark II and crossed swords with the conservatives of the time. His articles made a strong impression on intellectuals who saw in him a future leader.
A.J.
