46 SOCIAL SCIENTIST introduce labour displacing machinery without a guarantee of alternative employment. The outcome of the struggle, no doubt, will have significant implications for the evolving industrial structure. The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments by N Krishnaji, Sanjit Bose, Sudipto Mundle, Prabhat Patnaik and Nata Duvvury on an earlier version of this paper. 1 Karl Marx, Capital, Vol I, London, Penguin, 1976, pp 439-639 and pp 1019-1038. 2 VI Lenin, "Development of Capitalism in Russia", in Collected Works, Vol III, Moscow, Progress Publishers, I960, p 392. 3 VI Lenin, "The Handicraft Census of 1894-95 in Perm Gubernia and General Problems of'Handicraft' Industry", in Collected Works, Vol II, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1960, p 423. 4 For a detailed discussion of the evolution of the structure of coir yarn spinning sector, see T M Thomas Isaac, "Evolution of the Organisation of Production of Coir Yarn Spinning Industry", Working Paper (forthcoming), Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. 5 VI Lenin, "Development of Capitalism in Russia", op cit, p 340. 6 For a discussion of the early history of coir weaving industry and making of the radical working class movement in Alleppy, see T M Thomas Isaac, "The Emergence of a Radical Working Class Movement in Alleppy 1922-1938", Working Paper No 175, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. 7 Our description of the developments in the industry the 1940's is based on T M Thomas Isaac, "Chapter IV: Coir Capitalists, Working Glass Movement and Industrial Structure in the 'Forties' ", Class Struggle and Industrial Structure: A Study of Coir Weaving Industry in Kerala 1859-1980, Ph D thesis to be submitted tojawaharlal Nehru University, 1983, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. 8 For a detailed description of the development in coir weaving industry in the post-independence period see T M Thomas Isaac, "Class Struggle and Structural Changes in Coir Mat and Matting Industry in Kerala 1950-1980", Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XVII, No 31, July 1982. 9 For a discussion of some of the important aspects related to the emergence of surplus population and the cheap labour basis of traditional industries in Kerala, see P G K Panikar, T N Krishnan and N Krishnaji, "Changes in the Distribution of Land—-Demographic and Non-Demographic Factors", in Population Growth and Agricultural Development, Rome, FAO, 1978, pp 37-53; Centre for Development Studies, Poverty, Unemployment and Development Policy— A Case Study of Selected Issues with Reference to Kerala, United Nations, New York, 1975 and T M Thomas Isaac, "Industrial Development in Kerala—Some Issues" (Malayalam), paper presented at the seminar on "Kerala—- the Last Quarter of a Century", 1982, AKG Centre for Rch-cdi'ch and Studies, Trivandrum. 10 V I Lenin, "The Handicraft of 1894-95 in Perm Gubernia and General Problems of 'Handicraft' Industry", op cit, p 393.