2.4.3 Spread of trade unionism and its impact on agrarian relations By the dawn of the twentieth century Alapuzha with its flourishing coir and oil extraction industries had become the industrial centre of the Travancore state. However, since the beginning of the s the coir industry of the area began to show signs of recession. Due to systematic cut in wages and retrenchments thousands of coir factory workers became discontent and the Communist Party successfully organized trade unions among them. Within a few years it became the nerve centre of trade union activities in the state. Most of the coir factory workers had been recruited from impoverished agricultural labour families of the adjoining villages. Whenever there was a strike or lockout in their factories these workers used to go back to their own villages to work in paddy fields. Their interaction with other workers resulted in the rapid spread of communist ideology among the paddy farm labourers 28 The first agricultural labour union in the state called the Thiruvithamkoor Karshaka Thozhilali Union (T KT U) was formed in 1940 under the auspices of the Communist Party of India(C PI. In the initial stage of its formation low caste attached farm labourers were reluctant to join the union, as they were very much loyal to the landlords and tenant farmers under whom they worked. The situation changed during the second world war period when the government introduced a system of food rationing in which food articles had been distributed to ration cardholders at subsidized rates. Along with paddy farmers farm labourers were also denied ration cards on the ground that they received their wages in terms of paddy. Farmers on the other hand tried to take advantage of the abnormal hike in the price of paddy and insisted cash payments to the workers. The resultant plight of farm labourers 27 Jose AV Op.cit. P 28 Alexander KC Emerging Farmer Labour Relations in Kuttanad,
