You will understand that warning better if you dust off the Das Kapital or the Communist Manifesto. The seething sentiments of workers can flare up to ignite a revolution. If united, the workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They still intuitively find that out long after both Karl Marx and communism are dead.

So it was a showdown. The workers showed that if pushed to the wall, they can stick together and fight back. But what did they fight for? Better wages and compensations, eleven taka per sweater instead of seven taka, weekly holiday, so long and so on. They wanted to have a better life just like the rest of us. They must have grumbled a few times. Nobody paid attention to them, and, thereafter, they hit the streets with the fury of vengeance.

The story is more or less like that. In the past buildings collapsed, and then fire broke out in some as hundreds of garment workers perished in the stampede and under the rubbles. Then they have the long hours, gruelling shifts, no holidays, vacations, which are all exacerbated by the gnawing dissatisfaction that they are not being adequately paid. How can they not get upset if their legal minimum wage has not increased in last 10 years?

So, the disparity was bound to strike them. Their owners wallowed in luxuries, while they lived in abject poverty. Yes, the owners take risks, find markets and rightly deserve a big cut of the margin. Yes, they have the right to live lavishly, go abroad, throw parties, drink, gamble, bribe and do the whole shebang of things that comes with the territory. But should they neglect the workers, or forget that the workers have their longings for life as well?

Some will argue that the workers should be happy to have their jobs. They would be struggling for three square meals if they were unemployed. And then the workers must realize that giving them a raise or cut in the hours would increase the cost of production, and thereby make prices of Bangladesh garments less competitive in the world market. Perhaps similar arguments could come from parents. Children should be happy they were brought to this world. Forget the education, lunch money, holidays, tutors, new dress, movies and ice creams. They should just grow up and get a life on their own.

That should help us see through the lame excuses. The workers are the responsibility of their owners, because their wellbeing is closely linked to their business like upkeep of machineries, protection of premises and servicing of bank loans. Perhaps the workers are more of a responsibility because they are, more than a factor of production, living and breathing human beings.

Here, something else comes into the picture. The workers have their minds and they can work out the surplus value of labor even without the help of Karl Marx. They watch their owners, flashy cars, shining houses, election campaigns, divorce, marriage, foreign trips and expensive gifts. Then they wonder at what price the owners must have sold what was produced by their labor bought at a throwaway price. Then they further wonder how the living standard of their owners grew by leaps and bounds while their own living condition stood still like stagnant water.

As the distance grows, it makes them look like suckers and that is when they start asking questions. This is the state of mind which is called metaphysical rebellion when the dignity of man begins to challenge anything and everything that denies its existence. It then hardens into defiance when the man is ready to fight in his refusal to submit before injustice, discrimination and exploitation.

Now sire, this is where you have the difference between rebellion and revolution. Rebellion is limited to emotional outbursts, often an incoherent pronouncement or outcry. But revolution originates in the realm of ideas and actually goes for a complete change. That is why rebellion kills men and destroys property, whereas revolution destroys men, property and principles.

In the activities report 1999-2004, the National Garments Workers Federation (NGWF) stated that the total number of garment workers in Bangladesh stood at 1.6 million, 1,3,20,000 female and 280,000 male. On Black Tuesday, 23 May 2006, the total reported loss to the garments industry was estimated to be Taka 4000 million. That boils down to Taka 2,500 per capita loss, which went neither to the owners nor to the workers.

Wishful thinking, but what if the same amount was given to the workers as incentive or festival bonus? What if this amount were given to the female workers as maternity allowance? At least Taka 4000 millions would have been put to good use, not squandered in ransacked factories, charred vehicles, bloodshed and disturbance of peace. In return, the owners could have won over the hearts of the workers, instead of stoking their wrath.

In as much as the calm has been restored in the garments industry, it may not last long unless there is a concurrent change in principles as well. Materialism holds that matter precedes thought. So the thought must change with the material world, and the owners must realize that as they enjoy inordinate material comfort, their workers cannot help craving for the same. Will the owners consider cutting down on their conspicuous consumption and giving more to the workers?

History repeats itself because man repeats his mistakes. For hundreds of years, working men have been struggling to get an equitable price for their sweats. For hundreds of years landlords and entrepreneurs have squeezed them to maximize profit. What we saw on Tuesday is an affirmation that the uneasy tension still exists.

Yes sire, that tension is not good. For as long as the workers feel that their sweat is wasted, their blood will boil. Rebellion is when the boiling blood spills on the streets. Revolution is when its stains write history. Owners of the world, if considerate, you have nothing to lose but those stains!

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.