Indian Cane Growers Association (1919)

From grievance to action. Fiji’s first island-wide farmers’ body, the ICGA challenged CSR on prices and contracts, paving the way for strikes and unionism.

Key Facts

Founded

1919, Ba, as cane growers sought fairer prices after WWI inflation.

Leaders

Vashist Muni (Arya Samaj swami), Ba elites, district organisers.

Flashpoint

1919–21 campaign on cane prices; climaxed in 1921 strike when CSR cut bonuses.

Impact

First collective action by Indo-Fijian farmers; inspired Kisan Sangh (1937) and Maha Sangh (1941).

Origins

By 1919 cane farmers across Ba and Lautoka districts were agitated by CSR’s price-setting power. Wartime inflation had raised living costs but bonuses were cut. Leaders including Vashist Muni, an Arya Samaj preacher, mobilised growers into the first Indo-Fijian farmers’ association.

Milestones

Timeline

1919

Association founded in Ba; petitions for higher cane prices.

1920

Growers refuse to plant unless contracts improve; CSR resists.

1921

Strike spreads across cane belt; Vashist Muni arrested and deported, but collective action shakes CSR dominance.

Why It Mattered

The ICGA showed cane farmers could organise beyond village or caste lines. It put prices, contracts, and rights at the centre of Fiji’s politics, a template later unions expanded.

Legacy

The ICGA collapsed under repression but left behind a model of mobilisation. Later bodies—Kisan Sangh, Maha Sangh—borrowed its playbook of petitions, price boycotts and strikes.

Gallery

Cane fields in Ba, Fiji, 1920s
Cane fields in Ba, Fiji (1920s). Early heartland of the Indian Cane Growers Association. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

References

Table of Contents

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