Indian Communists and Trade Unionists on Trial: The Meerut Conspiracy, 1929-1933 - Key Data

The Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial legal saga that played out in British India between 1929 and early 1933. It began with the arrest and subsequent trial of twenty-nine trade unionists, including three Englishmen. It was alleged that they had attempted “to deprive the King Emperor of the sovereignty of British India”. They were charged under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code.

The Meerut Conspiracy Case was symptomatic of the British government’s increasing fear of the spread of communist and socialist ideas. There was a widespread belief that Marxist ideology, propagated amongst workers by trade unionists and the Communist Party of India (CPI), would undermine British rule.

Ultimately, twenty-seven trade union leaders were convicted. Yet far from discouraging communist activism and ideas, the trial gifted the defendants with a public platform. The court case thus helped to consolidate the position of the CPI amongst India’s electorate.