^RAMWORKERS' STRUGGLE 17 the wages. In reply, they were informed that the General Manager was awaiting the instructions of the Directors of the Company in London.10 Meanwhile, in August, two drivers of the Company were sacked, allegedly for inciting the tramwaymen against the management." On the llth of September, the Police Commissioner of Calcutta suddenly received an anonymous petition, containing a list of grievances ofCalcuttatramwavmen. Their demands in the petition included a 75 percent increase in wages, supply of free uniforms and reinstatement of the two retrenched workers.'2 The Police Commissioner, whose concerq was to avoid the impasse that would be caused by a transport strike in the city, approached both the management and the workers to come to an amicable settlement. But his efforts proved futile. The workers ultimately made it clear that unless favourable orders were passed on the petitions submitted to the Police Commissioner and management, they would resort to a continuous strike from the 1st of October.'^ Tramwaymen's grievances went unheeded and they struck work on the first day of October. \t is not clear why the drivers and conductors submitted an anonymous petition and why they picked on the Police Commissioner to place their demands with. The tiamwaymen who had no association at that time did not dare expose the names of their leaders. This simple evidence throws light on the uncertainty in which they had to work. As to the second question, the plausible answer may be that the men, being apprehensive of police excesses in the event of their resorting to a strike, kept the roost important man of the Calcutta Police informed about their position. About 2,500 drivers and conductors kept themselves away from normal duty on 1st of October, which led to a virtual paralysis of the city life.'4 The management of the Company tried desperately to retain normal services of tramcars. The checkers and inspectors, who were generally Anglo-Indians and were better paid, volunteered their services as drivers and conductors. The strikers on the other hand fought hard to make their stike a success. On the 1 st of October, the Razabazar tram depot became a scene of violence. One Mr. Kettle, trying to drive a car, received resistance from the strikers. He knocked down a conductor. Infuriated, the strikers attacked Kettle, who had to be rescued by the police.'5 The eruption of violence proved alarming both to the management, as well as to the Government. Moreover, Congress leaders of Bengal who believed in the credo of non-violence preached by Gandhi also did not like the vioi^ ' stance of the strikers. Hence a meeting took place between the workers and management on the 3rd of October, at the initiative of the Government. The workers were represented by two drivers, two conductors and five other 'gentlemen' who were not in the service of the Tramways Company.1() The identity of three of these five gentlemen is known. They were Nisith Chandra Sen, Byomkesh Chakrabarti and Nirmal Chander Chandra; the first two were barristers. All the three gentlemen were prominent Congress leaders and reportedly "staunch non-cooperators".17 In that meeting, the General Manager of the Company agreed to increase the