CASTE OPPRESSION IN THANJAVUR 55 an increase in the wage, as the customary wage of one marakka I of paddy was clearly insufficient for subsistence. Uniform rates of payment for harvesting operation throughout the district were demanded as, traditionally, there had been wide variations between taluks and even between estates. And apart from these, the Union demanded the abolition of compulsory labour service and degrading traditional punishments inflicted on the untouchables such as whipping and being forced to drink cow-dung and cow-urine. The movement gained momentum, particularly in Mannar-gudi taluk which was to form the focus of the struggle throughout the 1940s. Many meetings were held and processions organised to popularise the demands of the Union.5 In order to stem the tide of the rising protest, the government hastily called for a 20 percent increase in wages. The landlords, unwilling to comply with the demand of the labourers, cultivated and harvested their fields with submissive and cheaper labour from outside the area. In Thanjavur there had always been a traditional influx of labour from adjoining districts during peak seasons, but, increasingly landlords opted to employ them out of season. The Early Period of Organised Struggle The movement began to advance qualitatively when in 1943 the Communist Party of India decided to work actively among the Thanjavur peasantry. In other regions of India where the party had some strength (such as Bengal, Andhra and Malabar), struggles against rural oppression were actively organized during the period. In 1943, the Communist Party newspaper, Janasakthi (June 23), announced that agricultural associations had been started in many villages in Salem, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, South Arcot and North Arcot districts. To coordinate their activities and to organize a centre where the village committees could report problems and sum up their experiences, a state organizing committee was set up in June 1943, with B Srinivasa Rao as Secretary.6 The establishment of a conscious leadership of the movement, with a defined organization, marked a watershed in the development of the struggle of the oppressed rural people in Thanjavur. Through the organised struggle in the coming years, which consolidated the initial gains of the spontaneous struggle, it was possible for the movement to broaden its influence and extend its frontiers. The conscious, organized fight of the peasantry further roused a conscious attack from the landlord class and the struggle in the countryside confronted the popular Congress Ministry in