CC
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
1813-Britain industrialised by stopping Indian cloths
mercantilism. This economic system involved the colonies shipping raw
materials to Britain, with factories using those inputs to manufacture
valuable goods. The end results were then returned and sold back to the
colonists.
Is it true that the British ended the muslin production in Bengal ...
... instances of extreme brutality against silk weavers including cutting off their fingers. I am an Indian Bengali, and this is also very well-known her...
3 answers · 36 votes: Yes, absolutely. William Bolts, a merchant in his book “Considerations on India Affairs” ...
, Fluent in Bengali, English and Hindi, struggling in German.
Yes, absolutely. William Bolts, a merchant in his book “Considerations on India Affairs” recorded instances of extreme brutality against silk weavers including cutting off their fingers. I am an Indian Bengali, and this is also very well-known here.
The British also systematically destroyed the muslin production by levying a 70–80% tax on domestic muslin fabrics and a meager 2–4% tax on factory-made clothes imported from Britain. (It is amazing how western countries built much of their wealth and industry on obscenely mercantile policies and now insists on “free trade” with less developed natio
… (more)because that suits them better now. E.g. the US successfully challenged India in the WTO and stopped us from incentivizing domestic manufacturers of solar panels.)Anyhow, long story short, as a result of all their policies: the production of muslin suffered greatly, both in quality and quantity, and never recovered. The weavers: whose only skill was muslin-weaving, were thus plunged into abject poverty and an important industry was destroyed. Yay colonialism!
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