Three great Strikes of the Central Govt Employees,  1946,1960 and 1968

Dear Comrades and Well Wishers,

Comrade P.V.Chandrasekharan and I (V.A.N.Namboodiri) have jointly written and published three books about the great three strikes of the Central Government / P and T Employees – 22 Days Strike by P and T Employees in 1946, 5 Days Strike of CG Employees in 1960 and One day Token Strike of CG Employees on 19th September 1968. All these are in Malayalam and have been well received by the employees as a whole.

Now many comrades from other states, who do not know Malayalam, have requested that these books be translated in to English, so that they can also read the same. I have agreed to their requests. Interestingly the Malayalam books were published first about 1968 strike, then 1960 strike and thirdly 1946 strike. This was not intentional, but it happened as such. The translations, however, will start with the 1946 strike.

Now that Com.PVC has passed away, the entire responsibility falls upon me. I propose to translate and post in FB.  Within a few days the posts will start.

Your support and suggestions are most welcome in improving the contents as well as the presentation.

Yours Comradely, V.A.N.Namboodiri

THE EPIC STRIKE OF JULY 1946 BY P AND T EMLOYEES

PRE FACE

The various struggles, strikes and agitations organized by the workers and common people against the British Rule for about two centuries are part of history. Many people became martyrs in these struggles.

After the ‘Quit India Movement’ under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi in 1942, sustained struggles in one form or other continued till declaration of Independence on 15th August 1947.  ‘Royal Indian Navy Mutiny’, Thebhaga Struggle, Formation of INA under Subhas Chandra Bose and military campaign,  etc. are well known. The 1946 strike of Posts   and Telegraph employees which continued for 23 days and ended only after all the demands were achieved is also part of the great independence movement.

In preparing the original book in Malayalam, the various articles written by Comrades V.G.Dalvi, Dada Ghosh and K.G.Bose who were leaders of the strike, as also the union journals of that period have been of much help. In addition, the reports of the strike in the daily “Mathrubhoomi”,being published from Kozhikode for the entire period of the strike could be obtained and referred to, with the help of the Mathrubhoomi  management and their Librarian Shri  K.K.Vinod Kumar ( a former telephone Operator in P and T)  for which thanks are due to them. The present series of articles being posted are the English translation of the book, as demanded my many comrades from other states.

I express my thanks to all those who helped in various ways to prepare the book on the epic strike of 1946.  I pay my respectful homage to Com. P.V.Chandrasekharan, veteran leader and co-author of the book, who passed away a few months back.

V.A.N.Namboodiri