It was the greatest procession and rally that Calcutta has ever seen till that time. It was on 29th July 1946. Thousands and thousands of workers as per the call of the AITUC, the only central trade union at that time, went on strike in support of the P and T employees who were on strike from 11th July 1946 on their demands, which was also part of the independence struggle, and organised the biggest rally Calcutta has ever seen. Com. B.N.Ghosh, founder Secretary General of NFPTE has described the same in his articles, and mentioned about the big support for the strike from the common workers. Com. Jyoti Basu, in this auto biography, has mentioned about the general strike and rally on two occasions.
The 1946 P and T Strike was a great success with the British Government compelled to concede most of the demands of the workers. The strike further resulted in a new thinking that the then existing various unions should come together for settlement of the workers’ demands.
(From " History of P&T Movement" by Com VAN Namboodiri).
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