Kondisi Sosial Buruh Industri Batik dan Kretek di Kudus Pasca Kerusuhan 1918 Hingga Depresi Ekonomi

ALICHIA PUTRI SALSABILA, Prof. Dr. Mutiah Amini, M.Hum.

2026 | Skripsi | ILMU SEJARAH

Penelitian ini membahas tentang kondisi sosial buruh pabrik di Kudus sejak kerusuhan anti-Tionghoa 31 Oktober 1918 hingga Depresi Ekonomi 1930-an, dengan fokus pada industri batik dan kretek. Kudus pada awal abad ke-20 adalah masyarakat majemuk yang berstratifikasi kaku antara etnis Eropa, Tionghoa, dan bumiputra. Persaingan ekonomi antara pengusaha bumiputra dan Tionghoa, terutama di sektor kretek dan batik, menjadi latar utama kerusuhan 1918. Ketegangan itu diperparah oleh isu keagamaan, wabah influenza, dan kekeringan. Penelitian ini memakai metode sejarah (heuristik, verifikasi, interpretasi, historiografi) dengan pendekatan sejarah sosial. Sumber utama penelitian adalah surat kabar sezaman, laporan pemerintah kolonial, dan laporan perburuhan, seperti laporan batik P. de Kat Angelino dan laporan industri kretek Darmawan Mangoenkoesoemo. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kerusuhan 1918 memengaruhi peta persaingan usaha dan hubungan antaretnis dalam jangka pendek. Industri kretek bumiputra pulih sekitar lima tahun kemudian. Setelah itu, nasib buruh lebih ditentukan oleh sektor kerja, pola hubungan kerja, dan kebijakan kolonial. Buruh batik, mayoritas perempuan migran (pengobèng), terjerat utang uang muka, bekerja dengan jam panjang dan kebebasan terbatas, serta menerima upah rendah. Eksploitasi mereka berlapis, yaitu kelas, etnis, dan gender. Buruh kretek bekerja dengan sistem abon dan kerja rumahan, lalu bergeser ke sistem pabrik. Pada masa Depresi upah nominal mereka turun tajam, tetapi daya beli riil buruh yang tetap bekerja naik karena harga beras jatuh lebih cepat.

This study examines the socio-economic conditions of factory workers in Kudus Regency from the anti-Chinese riot of 31 October 1918 to the Great Depression of the 1930s, focusing on the batik and kretek industries. In the early twentieth century, Kudus was a plural society with rigid stratification among Europeans, Chinese, and indigenous (bumiputra) groups. Economic rivalry between indigenous and Chinese entrepreneurs, especially in kretek and batik, formed the main background to the riot. Religious tensions, the influenza epidemic, and drought aggravated it. The study uses the historical method (heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography) within a social and economic history approach. It draws on contemporary newspapers, colonial government reports, and labour reports, notably P. de Kat Angelino's batik report and Darmawan Mangoenkoesoemo's study of the kretek industry. The findings show that the 1918 riot reshaped business competition and inter-ethnic relations only in the short term, as indigenous kretek enterprises recovered within about five years. Thereafter, workers' conditions were determined by the sector they worked in, their employment arrangements, and colonial policy. Batik workers, mostly migrant women (pengobèng), were trapped in advance-payment debt, worked long hours under restricted mobility, and received very low wages, which reflects layered exploitation by class, ethnicity, and gender. Kretek workers were organised through the abon putting-out system and home-based work, which shifted toward factories around the 1930s. During the Depression, nominal wages fell sharply, but the real purchasing power of those who kept their jobs rose because rice prices fell faster.

Kata Kunci : buruh pabrik,Kudus, kerusuhan 1918, industri kretek, industri batik, Depresi Ekonomi/factory workers, Kudus, 1918 riot, kretek industry, batik industry, Great Depression