Encounter Ekambaram

MOVIE TIME WITH CM – MARXIST LITERARY THEORY

The Coolie movie has been the centre of attention this month since its release on August 14th. Its very title suggests the story of a protagonist who dedicates his life to fellow labourers. The film appears to celebrate and honour their struggles. Yet, outside the world of cinema, the real labourers of our society, particularly sanitary workers, were neglected at the moment they needed solidarity the most. In early August 2025, sanitary workers of the Greater Chennai Corporation, especially from zones 5 and 6 (Royapuram and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar), launched a protest at the iconic Ribbon Building. Over 2,000 workers gathered to demand justice, after their zones were handed over to private contractors. This move slashed their salaries by nearly half and created fear of job losses. If the Coolie movie symbolised respect for workers, one would expect the state’s leaders to meet the real “coolies” of the city that is the sanitary labourers. Instead, the Chief Minister chose to interact with the Coolie film crew rather than the workers fighting for survival. The irony is unmistakable that is fictional workers were given attention, while living, breathing workers were sidelined.

The protest continued for two weeks, demonstrating the workers’ resilience and determination to safeguard their livelihoods. However, the state’s reaction was not one of understanding but of suppression. Police officers attempted to weaken the movement by cutting off the food and water supply. On August 13th, a complaint was lodged by a woman named Thenmozhi, a member of the ruling DMK party, accusing the protesters of blocking pathways and creating disturbances. The Madras High Court responded to this petition with remarkable speed, much like its swift involvement in the Sathish custodial death case. But instead of offering relief, the outcome was devastating. That night, Tamil Nadu police cracked down violently on the protesters, without regard for age, gender, or health. Many officers even removed their badges and stars, hiding their identities to evade future disciplinary or legal consequences. What makes this moment historic is that it unfolded directly in front of the Ribbon Building, a place that had never witnessed a protest of this scale. Yet, mainstream television and newspapers ignored the event until social media users pushed it into the public eye.

At first glance, this may seem like another labour protest about wages and job security. But looking deeper reveals it to be a symptom of broken promises. When the ADMK was in power, ten zones of Chennai were privatised, and this decision was met with fierce criticism from the DMK. Many senior DMK leaders openly supported the workers, claiming that privatisation robbed sanitary workers of dignity. During the 2021 state elections, the DMK even campaigned on this issue, promising that sanitation work would remain government-controlled if they came to power. This promise was proudly included in their election manifesto. Yet, once in office, the DMK not only failed to reverse privatisation but allowed it to spread further. Workers who had trusted these assurances now faced betrayal. The situation worsened when Minister P.K. Sekar Babu dismissed the issue rudely in front of the media, denying outright that the DMK had ever made such commitments. His tone drew sharp public criticism. People also questioned why this matter was being handled by the Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments rather than the Minister for Municipal Administration, who actually oversees sanitation. This wide gulf between words and actions; the promise of security and the reality of betrayal sits at the heart of Marxist literary theory.

So, what does Marxist literary theory say about such contradictions? At its foundation, Marxist criticism treats literature as a mirror of society’s material conditions and class struggles. It holds that works of art, political speeches, and cultural narratives cannot be viewed in isolation, but only in relation to who controls power and who is oppressed. A crucial Marxist concept here is “false consciousness”, the idea that the ruling class sustains its dominance by making promises and weaving narratives that give workers the illusion of justice, even as exploitation continues. Literature, cinema, and political discourse often act as ideological instruments, sometimes exposing these contradictions, but often disguising them. Seen through this lens, the broken promise to Chennai’s sanitary workers was not just a failure of governance, but a calculated ideological act. The DMK used this promise to secure workers’ votes and trust, but once in power, their priorities shifted to private capital and political expediency.

Linking this back to the protest, we see how Marxist theory plays out beyond books and into real life. The workers fought for their right to livelihood, yet they were met with violence, neglect, and silence from mainstream media. Meanwhile, the Coolie movie glorified labourers on screen, giving the public the illusion that workers’ struggles are valued. This is what Marxist critics call an ideological contradiction: symbolic respect through art set against material exploitation in reality. The ruling class employs these promises and images to portray themselves as champions of the poor, while their actual actions reveal the opposite.

Ultimately, the betrayal of Chennai’s sanitary workers is not only a political issue but also one that resonates with literature and theory. Through the lens of Marxist criticism, promises are not merely moral commitments; they are tools of ideology. They inspire hope and loyalty among the oppressed while concealing the persistence of exploitation. The DMK’s broken promises, followed by their denials, perfectly reflect the Marxist argument that power sustains itself through deception. The sanitary workers’ protest, therefore, is not simply about wages or jobs, but it is about resisting systemic betrayal, exposing the distance between words and deeds, and challenging a power structure that thrives on broken promises.