r UNIT 23 FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND

NATIONALIST LITERATURE
I Structure

1 23.0 Objectives
23.1 Introduction
23.2 Literature in the 19th Century
23.2.1 Bengali
23.2.2 Gujarati
I
23.2.3 Hindi
I 23.3 Literature in the 20th Century
23.4 Let Us Sum Up ,
23.5 Key Words
23.6 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

23.0 OBJECTIVES
In the previous blocks, you studied the spread of nationalist ideas, throughout India
through a series of political activities and movements. This Unit informs you about the
contribution of literature in this process. After reading this Unit you will:
I become familiar with the literary contribution of the leading writers in various Indian
languages,
1
understand the political content of these literary works, and
learn the peculiar characteristics of this political content.

23.1 INTRODUCTION

II
Literature played a significant role in the struggle for India's freedom. Beginning with
the 19th century, when nationalist ideas began to emerge and literature in different
Indian languages entered its modem phase, more and more writers began to employ
literature for patriotic purpose. Most of them, in fact, believed that because they
belonged to an enslaved country, it was their duty to create Literature of a kind that
1 would contribute to the all-round regeneration of their society and pave the way for
!
I
national liberation. Even when freedom from the British rule had not yet emerged as a
programme of any major political organisation or movement, and the Indian National
Congress was concerned only with constitutional agitation, the realisation of subjection
and the need for freedom had begun to be clearly expressed in literature. With the
passage of time, as the freedom movement began to attract larger sections of the
people, and the demand for freedom became more insistent, literature strengthened
the growing idealism of the people. But it also did something more. Besides inspiring
people to make all kinds of sacrificesfor the cause of the country's liberation, literature
also brought out the weaknesses of the nationalist movement and its leaders. In the
following sections we shall take a look at both of these aspects.
I
1 23.2 LITERATURE IN THE 19TH CENTURY
It will not be possible for us to consider literature in all the major Indian languages. For
purposes of convenience we shall confine ourselves mainly to three languages: Hindi,
Gujarati and Bengali. We shall notice that similar sentiments and ideas found
manifestation in the literature of all three languages. This is 8 striking similarity that is
reflected in the literature of all the Indian languages. And this shows a broad identity
of sentiments and ideas in relation to the freedom movement all over the country.
It was mainly during the later half of the 19th century that political associations and
national consciousness along modern lines emerged in different parts of the country.
The foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885was, in a way, the culmination
of these earlier developments. T rature produced during this period, as also later,
was not only influenced by natio nsciousness; in turn it also influenced the
character and pattern of nationa

23.2.1 Bengali
There are two towering fi nals of early modern Indian literature. They are
Bankimchandra Chattopa 38-94) and Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi
(1855-1907). Besides bein both of them were powerful intellectuals who
made it their mission to problems of their society and country. Their
novels were intended to untrymen with patriotic sentiments. They,
especially Bankim, a1 that compelled their readers to think about the
causes of the existing w their country. Bankim even brought out a
journal - the Bangadatsban - view to educating and inspiring as many of his
countrymen as possible often written in a humorous and sarcastic style
that entertained the re mpelled him o r her to think. The combination
of entertainment and even more effective in the novels.

Though he wrote sociJ nove largely through his historical romances that
Bankim broadcast the messa . He combined history and fancy to create
characters who were only too any sacrifice -even lay down their lives,
in their fight against injustice and subjection. This combination became
particularly effective ip the (1882). With its celebrated song, 'Vande
Mataram', the Anandamath tions of patriots, and the revolutionaries
truly treated it as their gospel.
There was, however, 1 kind indu bias in Bankim's conception of nationalism.
This even assumed the form feeling when, as in the Anandamath, the
fight shown was against Mu This aspect of Bankim's nationalism has
been the subject of serious . Let us avoid its details here. What is
important for us, in this cont to realise that the kind of bias we notice in Bankim
is not confined to him alone. it confined to that group of patriots or nationalists
whom our text-books des or religious nationalists. This is a bias
which, more or less, is reflecte tion of nationalists. We may also note that
this bias is not part of the domi Indian nationalism that emerged during
the later 19th century. In n anti-Muslim bias got betrayed time and
again, it was not conscio art of the nationalist ideology.
We nnot think of a more ng example than that of R.C. Dutt (1848-1909).
Rei..embered as one of the of what is described as 'economic nationalism' for
his powerful exposure of th 's exploitation under British rule, Dutt was heavily
westemised in his dress, habi thoughts. This was only natural in view of his
position as a member of th ivil Service which was virtually monopolised by
Britishers Qut despite his westernisation, Dutt remained a Hindu who admired and Freedom Movement and
respected his traditions and culture. It is this aspect of his personality that led him - Nationalist Lileralure

the author of The Economic History of India - to write the History of Civilisation in
Ancient India and translate the Rig Veda, Ramayana and the Mahabharata. This he was
prompted to do by what he termed his 'literary patriotism'. The same literary patriotism
influenced the choice of his first four novels, all of which are historical romances.
Today the role of Dutt's literary writingsin the development of Indian nationalism may
have been forgotten. But in his own life-time, and a little later also, these inspired
people in Bengal and in other parts of the country as much as did his economic writings.
There is, thus, a cultural complement of Dutt's economic nationalism. In fact, the very
distinction between cultural nationalism and economic nationalism is an artificial and
arbitrary distinction. Indian nationalism, like nationalism in other parts of the world,
was a comprehensive force that appealed to people at more than one plane. It appealed
to their idealism as also to their material interests. In the process it affected different
aspects of their lives as social beings: as members of a professional group or economic
class; as members of a caste, sect or religion; as members of a linguistic group or region;
as man or woman.
Coming back to Dutt's historical novels or romances, there is betrayed in these a
pronounced anti-Muslim bias. It seems that with the passage of time Dutt came to
realise the political dangers of a conception of nationalism in which that part of India's
past was remembered that entailed a confrontation between Hindus and Muslims. For,
later on he moved away from historical novels of this kind and concentrated on social
novels. It is significant to note that, in spite of such a realisation, when he idealised the
ancient Indian past in his social novel Sam@ (1893), he unselfconsciously revealed a
conception of Indian nationalism in which Hindus were seen as the key figures. But to
say this is not to suggest that Dutt was a communalist. What his example is meant to
highlight is the fact that, given the circumstances of later 19th century colonial India,
Indian nationalism necessarily contained undertones that were capable of emerging, as
a result of other politico-economic factors, as communal tendencies. It means that even
the greatest of creative writers should not be seen as individual figures. They should,
rather, be understood as representative figures who gave expression to the underlying
forces and tendencies of their times. Hence the element of similarity in otherwise such
dissimilar personalities as Bankim and R.C. Dutt.
We have dwelt on this aspect of Indian nationalism at some length because it becomes
visible to us only at when we seek to understand it in terms of contemporary literature.
It is an aspect that does not correspond to the standard text-book picture of Indian
nationalism where it is neatly divided into secular and communal (or religious),
economic and cultural, and moderate and extremist. There is reason to modify this
stereotype image of Indian nationalism and to see it as an integrated, though complex,
whole.

23.2.2 Gujarati
Let us now turn to Govardhanram Tripathi, one of the makers of modern Gujarati
literature, who wrote the four parts of his famous novel, Sarasvatichdra, over a
period of no less than fourteen years (1887-1901). Designed as an epic in prose, and
written professedly to inspire and educate the reading classes of Gujarat about the
destiny of their country, Sarasvatichant ,.deals with the multi-faceted problems of
India in bondage and lays down possible lines of action for patriotically inclined Indians.
It laments the loss of India's independence. At the same time, however, it welcomes the
fact that of all the nations it is the British who are ruling over this country. k i t h their
inherent sense of justice and love of democracy, they would prepare India for self-rule.
While Govardhanram placed trust in British justice, he also emphasised that if the
Indians did not look after their own interests, even the British would feel tempted to
completely neglect their welfare.
We may today find it strange that Indians should have trusted the British like this. Still
this faith was an essential part of the Indian attitude towards the colonial connection.
In fact, it was even related to the will of God who, it was argued, had placed India under
British tutelage. In a way most of us share this attitude when we trace, to give just one
example, the making of modem India to the influences released by the British rulers,
particularly English education. Ironically enough, even the emergence of Indian
nationalism is seen, to a large extent, as a product of western influences. This being the
 -
NahPlism: case, we should not find it diffic nderstand why the early Indian nationalists
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The Inter War Years I1
' welcomed Britlsh rule although re not blind to its exploitative aspect.
We may do well, at this stage in ussion, to follow the reflection of this dual
attitude towards British rule in 1 century Indian literature. Let us begin with a
very perceptive statement mad nu Krishna Chiplunkar (1850-132).
Commenting on British rule, h his Nibandhamala about the way English
educated Indians had been affe 'Crushed by English poetry, our freedom has
been destroyed.' In this comm poetry' stands for English education and all
those intellectual influences b hich the faith was instilled among Indians
that British rule was for their result of divine dispensation. Chiplunkar-
had the insight to understand nvisible dimension of the British hold over
India. SOpowerful, indeed, t in spite of his own insight Chiplunkar
himself subscribed to the divine theory and enumerated the advantages
that India was deriving as a sh colonial connection; significantly
enough, he did this in the ve e had talked of the destruction of India's
freedom by 'English poetry'.
Considering that the insight of lunkar more than a hundred years ago does
not come to us easily even toda we are celebrating the forty years of our
independence, it is in order to f rate the point about the dual -paradoxical
-attitude of Indians towards
I 23.2.3 Hindi
We shall now move on to Hindi re and refer to Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-
85) who was largely instrumen ring the modern phase of Hindi literature.
Despite his early death Bhara duced a vase mass of literature and wrote in a
variety of forms such as poetr nd essays. He also brought out a number of
journals in order to enlighten about the affairs of their country and society.

1 L
2. B h a r t e d Harishchandra

Lj I
A large proportion of Bharatendu's literature is concerned with the question of Freedom Movement and
Nationalist Literature
subjection. For example, in a public lecture on the promotion of Hindi (1877) he asked
the people the following poignant question: 'How come, as human beings we became
slaves and they (the British) kings?' This was a question that touched the very essence
of India's political situation, and did so in such a simple and moving manner that even
the most ordinary men and women could understand it. This, however, was a question
that could drive among people a feeling of importance in the face of their all-powerful
'kings'. Bharatendu, consequently, inspifed them with yet another question which was
intended to remove their despair. 'How long', he asked, 'would you suffer these sorrows
as slaves?' H e went o n , in this lecture, to warn against the paralysing tendency of
depending on foreigners for the country's salvation. H e spurred the people on to set
aside their fear and mutual differences, and to stand up to uphold the dignity of their
language, religion, culture and country. This lecture, it may be mentioned, was
delivered in the form of very simple couplets that could touch the very core of their
listeners and readers.
Bharatendu, thus, employed poetry to carry to the people the message of patriotism.
H e even used popular and conventional poetic, and other literary, forms for the
purpose. For example, he wrote bhajans that were intended to describe the state of the
country. In this manner he could enlarge the field of his appeal and message. H e also
advised his contemporaries t o make use of popular literary forms. This, it may be
noted, was a development that reached its climax during the heyday of the freedom
movement when popular songs were composed and sung during prabhat pheries and
public rallies. Many of these songs the British Indian government was forced to
proscribe, though without much success.
O n e advantage of such compositions was that the reality of foreign rule could be
brought out in an idiom that even the illiterate millions could immediately grasp and
feel inspired by. No understanding of the intricacies of political economy with its
theories of imperialism was required to know what the British presence in India meant.
To give just a couple of examples, we know that 'drain of wealth' constituted an
important item in the nationalist critique of British rule. It was a theme that generated
a fierce controversy, and the controversy was often conducted in a language and with
the help of facts and figures that were by n o means easy to grasp. And yet 'drain'
became in course of time something that the people had little difficulty in
understanding. In the popularisation of 'drain' a significant part was played by
literature. Thus, in his public lecture on the promotion of Hindi, aharatendu singled
out 'drain' as the chief evil of foreign rule -in fact, the very reason why foreign rule
existed - and said in everyday language:
People here have been fooled by the power and trickeries of the machine.
Everyday they are losing their wealth and their distress is increasing. Unable
to d o without foreign cloth, they have become the slaves of foreign weavers.
Bharatendu uses the simple term 'foreign weavers' t o denote the powerful industrial
interests in Manchester and relates the deeper forces of imperialism with the life around
common men and women in subject India. H e translates into everyday consciousness
the two symbols -Manchester and 'drain' - of the exploitative relationship between
Britain and India. Thus he could bring out the stark reality of this relationship in a
mukari, which is a conventional poetic form containing only four lines. In what,
strikingly enough, he described a s a 'mukari for modern times', Bharatendu provided
the following description of 'drain':
Secretly sucking the whole juice from within,
Smilingly grasping the body, heart and wealth;
S o generous in making promises,
0 friend: Is it your husband? No, the Englishman.
The choice of popular forms was not confined to poetry alone. In some of his plays, too,
Bharatendu made use of conventional and well-known forms and stories. For example,
his Andher Nagari Chaupatta Raja uses a popular tale - a tale that was in common
circulation in different parts of the country -t o bring out the arbitrary and oppressive
character of British rule. While the political message is clearly conveyed, the reader is
all along entertained. Humour is effectively utilised for political ends. As for humour,
Bharatendu managed to entertain his readers even in otherwise serious writings. In the
Bharat Durdasha (1880), which is his most directly political play, Bharatendu
introduces n number of funny sequences or sentences.
 What Bharatendu said about the country's subjection in his lecture on the promotion of Freedom Movement md
Nationnlist Literature
Hindi recurs again and again in many of his writings. But this is often accompanied by
generous praise for British rule. Thus his Bharat Durdasha, despite its strong patriotic
thrust, accepts that with the establishment of British rule the regeneration of the
country has been facilitated. Similarly, in the Bharat-Janani (1877), another of his
political plays, Bharatendu admits that if the British had not come to administer India,
the country's ruin would have gone on uninterrupted.
It may be stressed that this duality of attitude towards the British connection is not
peculiar to Chiplunkar or Bharatendu. They are merely examples meant to indicate the
general pattern of the educated lndian response to the west in general and British rule
in particular. With the passage of time, the realisation of subjection and its disastrous
consequences tended to become dominant and the appreciation of the boons offered by
the British began to decline. But until the last Indians could not shed off the tendency
to admire aspects of the British connection. As we noticed earlier, the tendency persists
in our own day.

Check Your Progress 1

1 Which of the following statements are right.(d) or wrong ( x ) ?
i) The need for freedom was expressed in literature, earlier than the political
organisations.
ii) There was a pro-Hindu bias in Bankim Chandra's historical novels.
iii) Bharatendu Harishchandra praised the British in his writing.
iv) The 19th century literature adopted a dual approach towards the British rule.
2 Answer the following questions:
i) Who brought out the journal Bangadarshan?

ii) Which year did Bankim write Anandmath?

iii) Who is remembered as a pioneer of Economic Nationalism?

iv) Who wrote the play Andher Nagari Chaupatta Raja?

3 Match the following as in the text

i) A AnandMath A Literary Patriotism

ii) B Bharat Durdasha B Mukari
iii) C R.C. Dutt C Political Play
iv) D Bhartendu Harishchandra D Historical Romance

23.3 LITERATURE IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Until about the first world war (1914-18) and the Russian Revolution (1917) the general
trend of the discussion of freedom and subjection followed, by and large, the pattern
that had emerged during the later decades of the 19th century. Freedom was seen as the
natural condition to which any people should aspire. India could be no exception to this
rule. Instead of specific grievances and specific concessions, an integrated critique of
I British rule evolved over the years and freedom seemed the only solution. What this
1 freedom would mean in concrete terms, however, did not become the dominant theme
of discussion during this long phase. It is not that issues like poverty and exploitation
within the Indian society - as against the exploitation by the British -did not figure
i in Indian literature before the 1914-18war. They often did. Indian literature of this
I
NntionPlim: period offers many examples of escriptions of the poverty of peasants. Perhaps
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The Inter War Years I1
the most outstanding of these e s provided by Chhaman Atha Guntha (1897)
-Six Bighas of Land -a novel mohan Senapati, one of the makers of modern
Oriya literature. These moving are at times accompanied by radical
statements in relation to the ex ern of social organisation. For example,
Radhacharan Goswami (1 ng Hindi writer, was moved by rural
poverty to suggest, as earl d should not belong to the government or
the zamindar but to the peasa d it. Such radicalism, however, remained
confined to sentiments. It wa ted as part of a carefully worked out plan of
social reorganisation. Nor w d with the question of national freedom.
Besides economic inequal ion within the Indian society, the social
inequality and oppression as also discussed at times. But this. too,
remained more a sentimental issue.
After the first world war, howev ituation changed fairly rapidly. The issue no
longer was simply whether India become frqe. That had to be ensured, at any
cost. The real point of debate n relate to the actual content and meaning
of freedom. Freedom for who dom could not merely mean the
replacement of British with India ers. As Rupmati, a character in Premchand's
short story, 'Ahuti', says: 'Sw an that Govind sits in John's place.' She
asks: 'Will the same evils, fort ich we are' exposing our lives to danger,
be welcomed simply because thos e turned swadeshi and are no longer
videshi?'Her preference is clear. ' er swaraj is attained', she says, 'property
enjoys the same power and th e remain as selfish as before, then I
would rather not have swaraj .'
Indian literature dur freedom struggle became increasingly
concerned with the bjectives freedom was expected to
serve. It, conseque the ideological dimension of the
freedom struggle. ted the nature of free India but also
ement. After all, it could not turn a
-with its divisions and leaders -
er the country had won
independence. If the programme and leaders of the movement were not of the
right kind, it was impossible to h desired type of free India. The significance of
t in Premchand's novel Ghaban
alist sympathies, tells the leaders:
er, you will eat away the people
whe:i it is your rule. '
-Urdu novelist and a confirmed
turbing side of the nationalist
(1925) and Karmabhumi (1932), the
underlying selfishness of the y exposed. But this is
lism. It is so well disguised that
thing they are doing is in the
their compromises and secret dealings with
.But the most depressing view
h is Premchand's masterpiece
and one of the greatest Indian nov humi and Karmabhumi the nationalist

sents an aspect of nationalist politics and

etty material considerations

e satyagraha, and then goes
ously uses money in the
nd petty industrialist rolled
into one, does his bit during the edience Movement, and after that starts
than fair. And Omkarnath is a journalist
g nationalist is basically a

Exploitation being its basic theme, portrays a sad and cheerless world. Here
Premchand is not carried away by se talism. He does not offer any easy solutions.
The 'villains' in Godan d o not suddenly undergo a change of heart. In fact, there are no Freedom Movement and
Nationalist Literature
villains in this novel. It is not the wickedness of individuals that leads them to oppress
and exploit their poorer fellow human beings. Exploitation is the result of certain
socio-economic and political arrangements within the society. The oppressed classes
will not have a better deal if those belonging to the dominant classes are individually
good and kind persons. Rai Saheb, himself a kind-hearted zamindar, has understood
this when he says: 'I cannot set aside my self-interest.' H e adds: 'I want that my class
should be forced to give up its selfishness through the pressure of the administration
and morality.' What, naturally, Rai Saheb cannot see is that the real solution is not to
bring pressure upon his class -the zamindars - but t o abolish the class and make
every kisan a zamindars. The whole logic of Godan points towards this solution;
although, being a powerful work of fiction, it does not prescribe solutions.
What Godan further shows is that the zamindars, as an exploiting class, d o not exist in
isolation. They are, in reality, part of a vast and complex network of exploitation in
which businessmen, industrialists and zamindars together have a vested interest. Of
course, this network is supported by the existing political order. It is not that there are
no antagonisms among these various moneyed interests. But, despite their clashes,
they possess the sense to put up a joint front against those who threaten their
supremacy. That is how the peasants and the workers a n t i n u e to be oppressed and
exploited.

4. Premchand
~.tioo.lbrm: Godan thus brings out, in all cy, the duality of class and nation. Freedom for
Tb+lnlaWsrYurs-II
the nation is essential. But it ot be the freedom of the dominant classes to
exploit the wretched of the so tionalism should not be permitted to disguise, in
the name of patriotic idealism, erests of the few at the expense of the many.
In the understanding of the dua and nation the growing influence of socialist
ideas in the wake of the Russia performed an important function. Thus in
Premashrama, a novel that he s ng in the year after the Russian Revolution,
Premchand showed Balraj , an illager, being inspired by the example of
Russia. Calling upon his fello against injustice and oppression, Balraj
tells them that in Russia 'the ecome the rulers'.
While the duality between clas ion was seen, it was not easy to understand how
the duality could be resolved. that India was struggling against a firmly
entrenched imperialist po nt of all the classes within the Indian society
had to be forged. And this t some compromise with vested interests.
Moreover, there was also t eological preferences. If the influence of
socialist ideas suggested t terests being resolved by conflict, Gandhian
influence pointed towar change of heart. If Premchand's work is
representative of his ti t is -no clear ideological choices could be
made during the freed
For example, while he was wr t showed the futility of relying on
individual goodness and chan wrote a letter that goes against the
very logic of this great novel. is the failure of saner methods.. . .
It is the people's character t ding factor. No social system can flourish
unless we are individually uplift te a revolution may lead us to is doubtful. It
may lead us to worse forms of denying all personal liberty. I do want to
overhaul, but not st of his educated contemporaries, Premchand
felt torn between t ositions, without having been able to make
up his mind one way or the other.
It may be noticed in this conte holars have tried to argue that after the
initial Gandhian influence Premch s able to finally opt for a radical progressive
position. As against these scholars are others who maintain that until the end
Premchand remained a Gand attempts simplify a complex historical
situation. By way of confirmati ay offer the example of the literature produced
by the 'Kallol' group in Ben that had among its members the famous radical
nationalist poet, Qazi Nazar ive and realistic, these writers
consciously moved away from th privileged sections of society and wrote
about the oppressed and th aised the cry of revolt much more vocally
than Premchand. And yet d to the hidden pulls of their own social
background and failed to p eological position.
Also important, in this context, is f Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya (1876-
y and realistically about the
e cherished values of middle
class society. Like Premchand, S mpathies were with the Congress. He
admired Gandhi and had close pe ions with Deshbandhachittaranjan Das.
Unlike Premchand, Saratchandra member of the Congress. And yet he
wrote Pather Dabi (1926), a novel those who followed the path of
revolutionary violence to liberat is novel, it may be noted, was banned
by the government. This contra enough: an admirer of Gandhi and a
member of the Congress praisi ence. Saratchandra shows further
contradiction with regard to hi Between 1929and 1931was serialised
his Bipradas. These were the ss adopted Purna Swaraj as its goal
itten during these dramatic years,
Bipradas presents the picture worshipped by his raiyat to such an
extent that they -the raiyat to the appeals of the nationalists.
Reflecting these diametrically pulls, literature should persuade us to have a
new look at the making of our . It should convince us of the need to go
deeper than the carefully form ammes and pronouncements of political
parties and other organisations these consciously stated positions lay pulls
and prejudices of which people always conscious. Thus it happened that the
author of Godan was himself no re of the revolutionary logic of his novel; for,
 Freedom Moven~enland
Nationalist Literature

otherwise he could not have so emphatically argued agakst the idea of revolution in the
letter that we have already mentioned. Thus, again, it happened that when the
Progressive Writers' Association was formed in order to promote progressive ideas
through literature, Premchand was requested to preside at its first session (1936)
although, as we have seen, he was unwilling to support the idea of class war. It is not
sound history to assume that because Premchand presided over the first session of the
Progressive Writers' Association, he must have been nothing but progressive. And
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what applies to individuals -in this case Premchand applies to movements also.
For, no movement can be independent of its members. It can lay down neat principles
and objectives. It can also isolate itself formally from other movements and
organisations in the society. But it cannot ensure that itsfollowers actually share in their
entirety its principles and objectives. The individuals constituting a movement remain
exposed to other influences as well.
Literature of the last thirty years of the freedom struggle tells us that during these
momentous years people were increasingly becoming aware of socio-economic issues
even as they were being fired by the zeal for independence. They were coming under
the influence of different, even opposing, ideological currents. In fact, they did not
always realise the contradictory nature of these ideological positions. We have dwelt at
length on Premchand because both in his life and in his writings we are able to follow
the working of these contradictory influences and the inability of even the most sensitive
and intelligent of men and women to make a clear choice. If Premchand, like most of
his contemporaries, reveals both Gandhian and socialist influences, if he paints a
dismal picture of the nationalist movement and also provides stirring accounts of the
same movement, the task of the historian is not to assume that only one of these
conflicting positions can be the real position. Instead, historians should see the
conflicting positions as forming parts of a complex whole. Of course, they should see in
these unresolved ideological conflicts the working of soeio-economic forces as well. As
is clear from the description in Karmabhumi, Ranghbumi and Godan, contemporary
literature provides the historian with insights for seeing the dialectical operation of
ideology and material interests.
Nationalism: For understanding the compl rces that went into the making of our
The lntcr War Years - I1
freedom struggle we may turn p e-1947 writings of the great Bengali
novelist, Tarasankar Bandyo ,especially his Dhatridevata,
Ganadevata and Panchagram. D
be seen as a kind of preparation
one novel in two parts. Posse sions. Ganadevata and Panchagram
have as their central theme t
exploitation and industri
concern is the c o m m u ~ i t yt, . the freedom movement, too, affects
the life of the community. slim League and the revolutionaries
appear on the scene; the first t e than the third. We get a view of larger historical
forces from below. Idealism, material interests are mixed in different
proportions as they affect le in the five villages that provide the
locales of Ganadevata and Pan r, just as Godan with its two villages
and Ranghbumi with just one vi
through these five villages
about India during the fre
dispossessed in her villages.
1 ;
I,{(;(

With all his sensitivity and objec owever, Tarasankar betrays in these three
novels the kind of ideological fl e have been talking about. H e writes very
feelingly about the growing bur pression on the poorer sections of the village
society. He also describes their against this oppression; a struggle that is
doomed to fail not only because power of the dominant groups but also because
of the larger reality of industria ainst which the village community life and
economy simply cannot survive nmistakable sympathy for the poor and the
oppressed is accompanied by a mistakable sympathy for the culture that
was associated with the order t sintegrating. In other words, Tarasankar
reveals in these novels the coe implicit ideological radicalism with an
implicity social conservatism.
It is not that contemporary not provide instances o f works in which clear
ideological choices are sho literary giant than Rabindranath Tagore
(1861-1941) condemned rev olence in the clearest possible terms in his
novel Char Adhyay (1934). But, t gore was not as hiscreative best in this novel.
H e was, if anything, writing a sort ical manifesto in the form of fiction. Similarly,
Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai (1892 erhaps the most popular Gujarati novelist of
the period, showed in his Divya 1932) the complete conversion of its
revolutionary hero, Arjun, fro olence to the Gandhian path. But, like Char
Adhyaya, Divyachakshu ca as a representative work. Moreover, unlike
Tagore, Ramanlal Desai was a novelist who would unravel the
complexities of life and society.
A more representative figure in contemporary Gujarati literature can be seen in K.M. Freedom Movement and
Nationallst Literature
Munshi who was born five years before Ramanlal Desai and survived him much longer
in independent India. A leading lawyer and literary writer, Munshi was also a member
of the Congress. In his capacity as a prominent Congress leader he subscribed to a
secular ideology. But virtually the whole of his work as a novelist not only invokes a '
glorious Hindu past but also promotes a Hindu conception of Indian nationalism.

Check Your Progress 2

1 Read the following statements and mark right (V') o r wrong ( x ) .
i) Literature in India was able to spell out in concrefe terms, various dimensions of
Independence.
ii) 'Godan' was concerned only with the question of Independence.
iii) Premashrama was inspired by the example of the Russian Revolution.
iv) Although Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya admired Gandhi, yet at times idealised
those who believed in revolutionary violence.
2 Write ten lines on the Political Contribution of Premchand's literary works.

3 Match the following:

i) A Chhaman Atha Guntha A Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya
ii) B Karmabhumi B Tarashankar Bandyopadhyaya
iii) C Bipradas C Fakirmohan Senapati
iv) D Ganadevata D Premchand
- -

23.4 LET US SUM UP

W e have, in this brief sketch of Indian literature during the freedom struggle,
deliberately dealt with those aspects of the freedom movement which force us to move
away from neat categories in order to understand it. What we have said about the
freedom movement -the constant interplay of contradictory forces - holds true
about the making of modern Indian society as a whole. T o put it simply, it is not that
one person o r group is secular, progressive and nationalist while another person o r
group is reactionary and communal. Society and the people living in it are too complex
t o permit such neat classifications. This is a lesson that literature teaches us best.
Historians, and otlicr \()cia1scientists, may d o well to learn this lesson.

23.5 KEY WORDS

Historical Romance: A work of fiction placed in a historical setting.
Religious Nationalists: Those who received inspiration for their patriotism from their
religion.
Literary Patriotism: Using literature for expressing patriotic ideas.,
Economic Nationalism: An attempt, undertaken by the 19th century leaders and
intellectuals, to establish the economic roots of Indian Nationalism, by preparing an
economic critique of the British rule.
 I

I"

23.6 ANSWERS TO C H YOUR

~ PROGRESS EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1 i) d ii) d iii) x iv) d,,
2 i) Bankimchandra Chattopadhya
ii) 1882
iii) R.C.Dutt
iv) Bhartendu Harishchandra !+i
3 i) A-D ii) B-C iii) C-A

Check Your Progress 2 111

1 i) x ii) X iii) d
2 Your answer should refer to
iv)

a) the emphasis that Premchand

b) some of the political choices a
and
c) his own
3 i)A-C ii)
In the freedom struggle in his literary works,
atements made by the characters in his novels
UNIT 24 REVOLUTIONARY AND
TERRORIST MOVEMENT:
BHAGAT SINGH AND
CHITTAGONG ARMOURY RAID
Structure
24.0 Objectives
24.1 Introduction
24.2 Background
24.3 Revolutionaries in Northern India
24.4 The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
24.5 Ideological Development of the North Indian Revolutionaries
24.5 1 The HRA
24.5.2 Bhagat Singh and the HSRA
24.6 Revolutionary Terrorists in Bengal
24.7 The Chittagong Armoury Raid
24.8 Decline of the Revolutionary Terrorist Movement
24.9 Let Us Sum Up
24.10 Key Words
24.11 Answers t o Check Your ProgresslExercises

24.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we will discuss the nature of revolutionary terrorism which developed in
India after 1922. After studying this unit you will be able to:
explain the origin and nature of revolutionary organisations in India
describe the objectives and ideology of these revolutionary organisations
analyse how the revolutionary organisations underwent ideological transformation
discuss the causes of decline of revolutionary terrorism.

24.1 INTRODUCTION
In Unit 15 (Block 3) you have studied, how revolutionary trends emerged in the early
years of 20th century. This unit attempts t o explain the two broad strands of
revolutionary terrorism which developed in India after 1922. The revolutionaries were
mainly active in two regions -Punjab, U.P., Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (old central
provinces) and Bengal.
Dissatisfaction with Gandhi's leadership and his strategy of non-violent struggle after
the suspension of Non-Cooperation Movement gave impetus to the revolutionary
terrorist movement. In both the regions mentioned above the revolutionary movement
underwent changes i.e. it moved away from individual heroic action to a mass based
movement and from religions nationalism of earlier revolutionaries to secular
patriotism. We will discuss how these changes affected the movement. The main
activities of the revolutionary organisations in these regions will be traced.
The ideal of freedom which inspired the revolutionary terrorists inculcated the spirit of
building a new society free from passion and exploitation. Finally the factors
responsible for the decline of the movement will be discussed.

24.2 BACKGROUND
Frustration caused by the failure of the political struggle during early years of 20th
century and government repression ultimately resulted in revolutionary terrorism. The
revolutionary terrorists believed that passive resistance could not achieve nationalist
Nationalism: aims and therefore th f the bomb. The revolutionary terrorists were
-
The Inta.War Years 11 subjected to severe re uring the First World War and their
movement suffered a . Most 01 them were released from jails during
late 1919 and early 1920, sinc nment wanted to create a receptive
atmosphere for the Montagu reforms. The Non-Cooperation Movement
was launched in 1920. Mahat nd C.R. Das met many of the revolutionary
terrorist leaders and urged t e non-violent mass movement or at least to
suspend their movement fo he revolutionaries recognized that a new
political situation had aris aders attended the Nagpur
session of the National Co
The sudden suspensi operation Movement in early 192? after the
Chauri-Chaura incid f disappointment and discontent among the
young participants in Many of them were disenchanted with Gandhi's
leadership and began very basic strategy of non-violent struggle. Once
again they turned to overthrow of British rule. In this respect they
also drew inspiratio ionary movements and uprisings in Russia,
Ireland, Turkey, Egypt and hile the old revolutionary leaders revived their
orist leaders emerged from the ranks of
Chandra Chatterjee, Sukhdev, Bhagwati
Charan Vohra - a the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Two broad strands of revolut errorisnrd~velopedafter 1922: One in Punjab,
U.P., Bihar and Madhya Pra d CentraPProvinces) and the other in Bengal.
Both the strands came under ence of new social ideological forces.
One such influence was th of socialist ideas and groups all over India.
Second was the rise of a e union movement.
And the third was the R lution of 1917 and the consequent rise of the
Soviet Republic.
Nearly all the revolutionary gr anted to develop contacts with the leadership of
the new socialist state and to ta help both in terms of ideas and organization and
material assistance.

Revolutionaries of northe n their reorganization under the leadership of

Sachindranath Sanyal, Jo rjee and Ramprasad Bismil. In October 1924,
they met at Kanpur and industan Republican Association (or A m y )
(HRA) and set out the obje rganizing an armed revolution againsrcolonial rule
and establishing a Federal of the United States of India with a government
elected on the basis of a
To finance their organizati the objective of propaganda and collection of
arms, etc., the HRA leaders rganize dacoities against the Government.
The most important of these Kakori robbery. On 9th August, 1925, ten
revolutionaries held up rain from Saharanpur to Lucknow at Kakori, a
small village station near looted its official railway cash. The
Government, however, arresting a large number of H R A members and
leaders involved in the d ere tried in the Kakori conspiracy case. The
prisoners were subjecte ent in the jails; and in protest they had to take
recourse to hunger strikes s ,Asfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil, Roshan
Singh and Rajendra Lahiri d, four others were sent to Andamans (Kala
Pani) for life, and 17 were sen o long terms of imprisonment.
All the four martyrs died courage. Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah
went to the gallows chan the Gita and Koran. Ramprasad declared:
"We shall be born again, s in and shall jointly fight once again for the cause
of the motherland as corn e day before his martyrdom Ashfaqullah
told his nephew: "Yo at the Hindu community has dedicated great
souls like Khudiram and Kana me this is a good fortune that, belonging to the
. Muslim community, I h ivilege of following in the footsteps of those
great martyrs". Amon HRA, Chandrashekhar Azad alone
succeeded in escaping eafter, he was to live the life of a declared
absconder
 Revolutionary and Terrorist
24.4 THE HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN Movemenl: B h s g ~Singh
t and
Chittagong Armwry Raid-
ASSOCIATION
The Kakori case decimated the revolutionary ranks, but soon a new batch of youngmen
came forward to fill the gap. Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma and Jaidev Kumar in
U.P. and Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Sukhdev in Punjab started the
reorganization of the H R A under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad. They also
came under the influence of socialist ideas. Finally, the representative revolutionary
terrorists of northern India met at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground in Delhi on 9th and 10th
September, 1928. They accepted Socialism as their official goal and changed the name
of the party of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (Army) (HSRA).
The leadership of the HSRA was rapidly moving towards the ideaof mass-based armed
struggle and away from individual heroic action. But when Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the
greatest of nationalist leaders, died as a result of a brutal lathi-charge when he was
leading an anti-Simon Commission demonstration at Lahore on 30 October, 1928, the
angry and romantic youth felt that it was necessary to avenge this grave insult to the
nation. This compelled them to take recourse once again to the earlier practice of
individual assassination. And so, on 17th December, 1928, Bhagat Sigh,
Chandrashekhar Azad and Rajguru assassinated at Lahore Saunders, a police official
involved in the lathi-charge.
In the poster, put up by the HSRA the assassination, was justified as follows: "The
murder of a leader respected by millions of people at the unworthy hands of an ordinary
police official.. . was an insult to the nation. It was the bounden duty of youngmen of
India to efface it.. . We regret we have had to kill a person but he was part and parcel of
that inhuman and unjust order which has to be destroyed".
As a part of their advance from positions of individual heroic action, the HSRA leaders
now decided to propagate their political thinking among the people so that a mass
revolutionary movement could be organised. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were
deputed to throw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 to protest
against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill, which would
reduce civil liberties in general and curb the right of workers to organise and struggle in
particular, and againt the "wholesale arrests of leaden of the labour movement". The
throwing of the bombs was no terrorist act. The aim was not to kill, for the bomlis were
relatively harmless. The objective was, as the leaflet they threw into the Assembly
proclaimed, "to make the deaf hear". Bhagat Singh and Dutt made no attempt to
escape. Their intention was to get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for
propaganda so that the programme and ideology of the HSRA could get widely
propagated among the people.
Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were tried in the Assembly Bomb Case. Then the police
was able to uncover the details of the Saunders assassination and Bhagat Singh,
Sukhdev, Rajguru, and several others were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy case. Bhagat
Singh and his comrades turned the court into a forum of propaganda. Their statements
were published in the newspapers and widely discussed by the people. Their defiant and
courageous conduct in the court won them the admiration of the people. Even believers
in non-violence loved them for their patriotism. Everyday they entered the court-room
shouting "Inquilab Zindabad", "Down, Down with Imperialism" and "Long Live the
Proletariat" and singing patriotic songs. Bhagat Singh became a house-hold name in
the land.
The country was also stirred by the prolonged hunger strike the revolutionaries on trial
undertook as a protest against the horrible conditions in jail. They demanded that they
should be treated not as ordinary criminals but as political prisoners. On 13th
September, 1929, Jatin Das, a frail youngman possessing an iron-will, died fasting. The
entire nation was massively stirred. Thousands came to pay him homage at every
station as the train carried his body from Lahore to Calcutta. In Calcutta, a two-mile
long procession of more than six lakh people carried his coffin to the cremation ground.
The Tribune of Lahore wrote on Jatin Dass's death; "If ever a man died a hero and
martyr to a noble cause, that man is Jatindra Nath Das and the blood of martyrs has in
all ages and countries been the seed of higher and nobler life, better social and political
order".
 A large number of rev ere convicted in the Lahore Consipracy Case and
long-terms of imprisonment. Many of them were
ans. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were
sentenced to be hanged. as carried out on 23rd March, 1931. As the
news of their hanging spr silence engulfed the entire country. All over
the country, millions of and fasted and refused to attend schools or
carry on their daily wor on became a lenged in the country. His
photographs adorned homes . Hundreds of songs were composed and sung
about him. His popularity riv

Check Your Progress 1

1 Enumerate the Social and id cal forces which influenced the two broad strands
of revolutionary terrorism veloped in India after 1922. Write in about 5 lines.

2 What were the objectives of th industan Republican Association? Write in about

5 lines.

........................................ .............................................................
........................................ .............................................................
3 Discuss the ideology and strate HSRA. Write in about 5 lines.

The HSRA developed an advanced a1 ideology and thought to guide its activity and
the forms of revolutionary struggle were better defined.

24.5.1 The HRA

Rethinking had of course st
I counts in the earlier Hindustan Republican
Association phase itself. The lready started evolving a programme within a
broad secular, democratic an work. In 1925, itsmanifesto had set forth
its objective as the establis deral Republic of the United States of India
by an organized and arme he basic principle of the Republic was to be
"universal suffrage and the abolit I1 systems which make any kind of exploitation
of man by man possible". ouncil, in its meeting in October 1924, had
decided "to preach social communistic principles". It had decided
"to start labour peasant dvocated nationalization of the railways
and large-scale industri -building and mines.
24.5.2 Bhagat Singh and the HSRA Revolutionary and Terrorist
Movement: Bhagat S i g h and
A major shift in the ideological development of the revolutionary terrorists occurred Chittagong Armoury Rald

when young leaders such as Bejoy Sinha, Shiv Varma, Sukhdev, Bhagwati Charan
Vohra and Bhagat Singh turned to Socialism and Marxism. This shift is best epitomised
in the life and thought of Bhagat Singh, many of whose letters, statements and writings
have now become available.
Bhagat Singh was born in 1907 in a famous patriotic family. His father was a
Congressman and his uncle was the famous revolutionary Ajit Singh. Bhagat Singh was
deeply influenced by the Ghadar hero, Kartar Singh Sarabh. Bhagat Singh was a
voracious reader and had read extensive literature on socialism, the Soviet Union and
revolutionary movements the world over. At Lahore he and Sukhdev organized study
circles for young students. The HSRA leaders carried on intensive political discussion
among themselves. After his arrest he studied intensively in the jails. This devotion to
intensive reading was also true of other leaders such as Bejoy Sinha, Yashpal, Shiv
Varma and Bhagwati Charan Vohra. Chandrashekhar Azad knew little English; but he
too fully participated in political discussions and followed every major turn in the field
of ideas. Ajoy Kumar Ghosh, who was tried along with Bhagat Singh and others in the
Lahore Conspiracy Case, has written about Chandrashekhar Azad: "In between his
active life, he engaged himself in relentless study. His ideas were shaping in maturity
day by day. He never hesitated to take the assistance of his English-knowing comrades
to explain and clarify many points ...... He was of the opinion that more comrades
should devote themselves to work amongst the peasants and workers to make them
conscious of the socialist goal".
Bhagat Singh had already before his arrest in 1929 abandoned his faith in terrorism and
individual heroic action. He had come to believe that broad popular mass-based
movements alone could liberate India and mankind from servitude. As he put it,
revolution could only be achieved "by the masses for the masses". That is why he
helped found the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in 1926to carry out political work among the
youth, peasants, and workers. He became its founding secretary. It was expected to
open branches in the villages. Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev also organised the Lahore
Students' Union for open political work among students. In fact, Bhagat Singh never
identified revolution with the cult of the bomb. As we have pointed out earlier, that is
why Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt threw a relatively harmless bomb in the Central
Legislative Assembly in 1929. Their strategy was to get arrested and then turn the
courts into arenas for the propagation of their ideas. And this they did brilliantly.
In the course of their statements and manifestoes from 1929to 1931, Bhagat Singh and
his comrades gave repeated expression to their growing conviction that revolution
meant arousing the masses and organizing a mass'movement. Just before his execution,
Bhagat Singh declared that "the real revolutionary armies are in the villages and in
factories". In his last advice - his testament -to young political workers, written on
2 February 1931, he declared: "Apparently I have acted like a terrorist. But I am not a
terrorist.. . . Let me announce with all the strength at my command, that I am not a
terrorist and I never was, except perhaps in the beginning of my revolutionary career.
And I am convinced that we cannot gain anything through those methods".
Then why did Bhagat Singh not declare his opposition to terrorism openly. This too he
explained in his message. H e was asking the youth to give up terrorism without hurting
in any way the sense of heroic sacrifice that had marked his earlier career and that of
the other great terrorist leaders. He did not want it to appear publicly that he had
revised his earlier politics under the penalty of death, that he was making a political
retraction to get a reprieve for his life from the colonial rulers. Life was bound to teach,
sooner or later, correct politics; the sense of sacrifice once lost would not be easy to
regain.
Bhagat Singh and his comrades also redefined the scope and meaning of Revolution.
Revolution was no longer equated with mere militancy or violence. Its first objective
was national liberation and then the building of a new socialist society. In their
statement in the court at Delhi in the Legislative Assembly Bomb Case they made a
clear statement of what they meant by revolution: "Radical change, therefore, is
necessary, and it is the duty of those who realise this to reorganise society on a socialistic
basis". What was necessary was to end "exploitation of man by man and of nation by
nation".
 Noclolullsm:
-
The Inter War Y a n I1
and the removal of all social distinctions and

Independence, social
political and economic" and its a to establish "a new order of society in which
political and economic exploitati be an impossibility". In the Assembly Bomb
Case, Bhagat Singh and B court: "'Revolution' does not necessariij
involve sanguinary strife, nor is t
cult of the bomb and th at the present order of
-

Bhagat Singh defined socialism i tific manner: it meant the abolition of

capitalism and class domination. Ily accepted Marxism and the class approach to
society. In fact, he saw himself p as a propagator of the ideas of socialism and
communism, as an initiator of th movement in India. Summing up his political
thought, he said in a message fr in October 1930: "We mean by revolution the
uprooting of the present social this, capture of state power is necessary. The
state apparatus is now in the han rivileged class. The protection of the interests
of the masses, the translation of to reality, that is the laying of the foundation
of society in accordance with th of Karl Marx, demand our seizure of this
apparatus".
Bhagat Singh was one of the few orary leaders who understood the full danger
that communalism posed to Indi and the Indian national movement. He often
told his audience that communa s as big a danger as colonialism. He did not
hesitate to sharply criticise L Rai when he took a turn towards communal
politics after 1924. Two of the si e Naujawan Bharat Sabha -and these rules
were drafted by Bhagat Singh have nothing to do with communal bodies
or other parties which disseminat I ideas" and "to create the spirit of general
toleration among the public c gion as a matter of personal belief of man
and to act upon the same fully".
Bhagat Singh also believed that p e themselves from the mental bondage
of religion and superstition. Just yrdom he wrote the article "Why I am
an atheist" in which he subjected tique. A revolutionary, he wrote, must
be not only courageous but also ty of critical and independent thinking.
"Any man who stands for progre te, "has to criticize, disbelieve and
challenge every item of the old fai item he has to reason out every nook and
corner of the prevailing faith". Pr mg his own faith in atheism and materialism,
he asserted that he was "trying to ike a man with an erect head to the last; even
on the gallows".

Check Your Progress 2

1 What was the ideology and s Write in about 5 lines.

I 2' Discuss the political ideology of d a g a t Singh. Write in about 5 lines.

 -
Name a few leaders of HSRA. R e v o l u t l o ~ r ya d Terrorist
Movement: Bb.g.( Slngb and
............................................................................................................ C h l m ArlmurY R.id

............................................................................................................

'
24.6 REVOLUTIONARY TERRORISTS IN BENGAL
In Bengal too the revolutionary terrorists began reorganization after 1922. They
resumed large-scale terrorist propaganda in the press and developed their underground
activities. At the same time they continued to work in the Congress organization from.
the village to the provincial levels. This was because they realized that the Congress had
developed under Gandhiji's leadership a mass base, w d work inside the Congress
enabled the revolutionaries to get access to the masses, in particular the youth. At the
same time their role within the Congress enabled it to acquire active workers in the
small towns and rural areas. In many ways, C.R. Das acted as an emotional link
between the revolutionaries and the Congress. After his death, the Congress leadership
gradually got divided into two wings, one led by Subhas Chandra Bose and the other by
J.M. Sengupta. The revolutionaries too got divided. The Yugantar joined forces with
the Bose wing and the Anushilan group with the Sengupta wing.
Already, by 1924, major revolutionary terrorists had understood the utter inadequacy
of individual heroic action, and intellectually and programmatically accepted the
strategy of national liberation through armed seizure of power by mass upriqngs. But,
in practice, they still relied upon small scale 'actions', in particular dacoities and
assassination of officials. One of the several such 'actions' was Gopinath Saha's attempt
in January 1924 to assassinate Charles Tegart, the hated Police Commissioner of
Calcutta. Even though the attempt failed, Gopinath Saha was arrested, tried and
hanged on 1 March 1924 despite massive popular protest. The Government now took
alarm and started large scale repression. It arrested a large number of revolutionary
leaders and activists udder a newly promulgated ordinance. Moreover, a large number
of Congressmen, including Subhas Bose, suspected of being sympathetic to the
revolutionaries were also arrested. Nearly all the major leaders being in jail,
revolutionary activity suffered a severe setback.
Revolutionary activity also suffered because of factional and personal quarrels within
the ranks of the old revolutionary leaders. Quarrels on the basis of Yugantar vs
Anushilan were endemic. However, after their release after 1926many of the younger
revolutionaries, critical of the older leaders, began to organize themselves into a large
number of new groups which came to be known as Revolt Groups. These groups tried
to base themselves on the experience of Russian and Irish revolutionaries. Learning
from the past experience, the new Revolt Groups developed friendly relations with the
active elements of both the Anushilan and Yugantar Samitis. Among the new groups,
it was the Chittagong group led by Surya Sen, that acquired great frame and
1 prominence.

p 24.7 THE CHITTAGONG ARMOURY RAID

Surya Sen had actively participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement and had
become a teacher in a national school in a village in Chittagong. This led to his being
popularly known as Masterda. He was arrested in 1926 and released in 1928. In 1929,
Surya Sen was the Secretary of the Chittagong District Congress Committee. Surya Sen
was a frail, unpretentious, and transparently sincere person. H e was a brilliant
organiser who inspired and attracted young men and women.
Surya Sen soon gathered a large band of revolutionary youth including Anant Singh,
Ganesh Ghosh, Ambika Chakravarty and Loknath Paul. In early 1929 they formed a
~atbdium plan to organize an armed r n a small scale, to demonstrate that
~IaterWuYan-II British rule could be challe der to equip themselves adequately
with arms, they planned 1districts. They also started a
vigorous propaganda campaign.
The first action was to b n-plan was carefully prepared and
included' the occupation n Chittagong and the arming of a
large band of revolutio e telephone, telegraph and the
railway communicatio d the rest of the Bengal were to
be disrupted. The yo were to participate in the
armoury raid, were s . The plan was put into
operation at 10 O'clock on t ng men, led by Ganesh
Ghosh, captured dabad", "Down with
Imperialism" and " '. Another group of
revolutionaries cap id was undertaken in the
name of Indian Republican ranch. All the revolutionary groups
gathered outside the Poliae was formally declared the President
of the Provisional Jack was pulled down and
the National Flag de Matram" and "Inquilab
Zindabad".
Since it was not possible to fight t rces which were expected to arrive soon,
the revolutionary band took its the Jalalabad hill where on 22 April they
were surrounded by thousands ps. After a fierce and heroic fight in which
12 revolutionaries died, Surya Sen d to abandon frontal warfare and launch
instead guerilla warfare from the n uring villages. Despite severe suppressive
measures, the revolutionaries arly three years because of shelter and
support provided by the villages, hem Muslim. Surya Sen was finally arrested
on 16 February 1933, tried and h
The Chittagong Armoury Raid had ense impact on the people of Bengal. As an
official report noted, "the younger could no longer be restrained. Recruits
poured into the various terrorist g a steady stream." Even sections of the
bureaucracy, police and army wer d. Kalpana Joshi (then Datta) has narrated
an interesting incident.in this respe en a group including Kalpana Datta,
surrendered in May 1933after a bi a Subedar of the Jat Regiment slapped her.
Immediately, she was surrounded b soldiers who warned the Subedar: "She is
not to be touched. If you raise your nce again, we will not obey you".
Consequent upon the Armoury R ere was a major revival of revolutionary
activity. In Midnapore alone, thr sh magistrates were assassinated. Two
Inspector-Generals of Police were and attempts were made on the lives of two
Governors.
The Government responded with m repression. It armed itself with 20 repressive
acts. In Chittagong, it burnt several and imposed punitive fines on many others.
It arrested nationalists indiscrimina 1933, it arrested and sentenced Jawaharlal
Nehru to a two-year term in jail for n because he had, even while criticising the
politics of terrorism, praised the he f the revolutionaries and condemned police
repression.
The new phase of revolutionary ter Bengal made an advance in three aspects.
One was the large-scale participati ng women. In Surya Sen's group, they not
only provided shelter and acted as rs and carriers of arms, but also fought with
a gun in hand. Pritilata Waddedar conducting a raid on the Railway Institute
at Paharatali, Chittagong, while Ka atta was arrested and tried along with Surya
Sen and given a life sentence. In D 31, two school girls of Comilla, Santi
Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury, sh District Magistrate. In February 1932,
Bina Das shot at the Governor w g her degree at the Convocation.
Chittagong Armoury Raid showe like the older Bengal revolutionaries and the
northern Indian revolutionaries, Revolt Groups in Bengal had moved onto
group action aimed at an armed u . Though they failed to organize an armed
uprising on a significant scale, the on of their activities was clear.
The Bengal revolutionary terrorists never communal but their ideology had been
tinged in the earlier phases with Hin ligiosity. The revolutionaries of the 1920s and
1930s gradually shed this religiosity. Many of the groups now included Muslims. The Revolutlonsry and Terrorist
Chittagong group included many Muslims such as Sattar, Mir Ahmed, Fakir Ahmed Movement: Bhsgat Slngh and
Chittngong Armoury Raid
Mian, and Tunu Mian. Surya Sen and his comrades were given active and massive
support by Muslim villagers which enabled them to avoid and resist arrest for nearly
three years. Abdur Rezzaque Khan of Calcutta was the founder of one of the Revolt
Groups and cooperated with the Yugantar, Anushilan and other revolutionary groups.
Serajul H a q and Hamidul Haq weresent t o Andamans for their revolutionary activities.
Many other Muslims, including Rezia Khatun, were associated with Yugantar and
Anushilan Samitis. D r . Fazlul Kader Chowdhury of Bogra participated in the Hijli
Robbery Case and was sent t o Andamans.
However, unlike Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Beng..~lrevohtionaries failed to
evolve a broader radical socio-economic programme. &.lostof the revolutionaries,
working in the Swaraj Party, also failed to support the cause of the peasantry against
the zamindars.

24.8 DECLINE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY TERRORIST

MOVEMENT
The revolutionary terrorist movement gradually declined in the 1930s. This was for
several reasons. T h e mainstream of the national movement, led by Gandhiji, was
opposed to violence and terrorism even when its leaders admired the heroism of its
youthful practitioners and defended them in the courts and condemned the police
repression directed against them. Government's strong action also gradually decimated
the revolutionary ranks. With the death of Chandrashekar Azad on 27 February 1931
in an encounter with the police in a public park at Allahabad, the revolutionary
movement in northern India came to a virtual end. Surya Sen's martyrdom marked the
virtual collapse of revolutionary terrorism in Bengal. Revolutionaries in jail o r in
Andamans started a serious rethinking about their politics. A large number of them
turned t o Marxism a s Bhagat Singh and many of his comrades had already done in the
1920s. Many joined the Communist Party, the Congress Socialist Party, the
Revolutionary Socialist Party and other left parties and groups. Others joined the
Gandhian wing of the Congress.

7. Chnndrnshcknr Azad - Aner his denlh.

Even though the revolutionary s of the 1920s and 1930s failed in their stated
objective of leading a mass-base struggle or failed even to establish contact with
the masses, they made a major tion to the ongoing national struggle against
colonialism. Their courage and and their deep patriotism aroused the'lndian
people, especially the youth an em pride and self-confidence. In north India,
Bhagat Singh and his comrades d the seeds of socialist thought and movement.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Discuss the main activities of ary terrorists in Bengal. Write about 5 lines.

2 What was the impact of the Chi ong Armoury Raid on the people of Bengal?
Write in about 5 lines.

3 What were the factors the decline of revolutionary terrorist

movement in India?

In this unit you have studied the oad strands of revolutionary terrorism which
developed in India after 1922 - Punjab, U.P., Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and the
other in Bengal.
You have also seen how the rev0 ries organised themselves, what was their
strategy and how their actions we d by an ideology. In both regions mentioned
above, the revolutionaries were ay from the idea of individual heroic action
to the idea of mass based arme lthough the movement failed in its stated
objective of leading a mass-ba le but it made a major contribution to
the ongoing national struggle sm. The courage, sacrifice and patriotism
of the revolutionary terrorist n youth and restored their pride and
self-confidence.

Adult Franchise: The right to vote #ll citizens of the age of 21 and above.
Communism: Final stage of history Marx's analysis which visualises a classless
society.
Martyrdom: A condition which causes suffering or death of a person for a cause. Revolutionary and Terrorist
Movement: Bhagat Singh and
Marxism: A body of ideas propounded by Marx. He emphasised the role of productive Chittagong Armoury Raid
forces in relation to society, polity & culture in shaping the development of society.
Revolutionary Terrorist Movement: A movement which aims to bring about social
change through violent acts intended to terrorise.
Socialism: A stage in transition to communism which calls for dictatorship of proletariat
under whose control resources and wealth can be equitably distributed.

24.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1 Your answer should include the following points: the growth of socialist ideas and
groups, the rise of militant trade union movement and the rise of Soviet Republic.
See Section 24.2.
2 Your answer should include the following points: to organise an armed revolution
against colonial rule, to establish a Federal Republic elected on the basis of adult
franchise, etc. See Section 24.3.
3 Your answer should include the following points: it was being influenced by socialist
ideas, it was moving towards the idea of mass-based armed stuggle etc. See Section
24.4.

Check Your Progress 2

1 Your answer should include the following points: it evolved a programme within a
broad socialist, democratic and secular frame work; to establish a Federal Republic
by armed revolution, to preach social revolutionary principles etc. See Sub-sec.
24.5.1.
2 Your answer should include the following points: turned towards Marxism and
Socialism, abandoned belief in terrorism and individual heroic action, believed that
broad popular mass-based movements could liberate India etc. See Sub-sec. 24.5.2.
3 Bejoy Sinha, Shiv Varma etc. See Sub-sec. 24.5.2.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Your answer should include the following points: started large-scale terrorist
propaganda in the press and developdd underground activities, continued to work in
the Congress organisation from the village to provincial levels because they realized
that Congress had a mass base, accepted the strategy of national liberation by mass
armed uprisings etc. See Section 24.6.
2 Your answer should include the following points: Sections of bureaucracy, police and
army came under the influence of the Chittagong armoury raid, more and more
people including women joined the revolutionary movement etc. See Section 24.7.
3 Your answer should include the following paints: the main-stream of national
movement was opposed to terrorism, death of many of the revolutionary leaders,
government repression etc. See Section 24.8.
UNIT 25 CIVIL D OBEDIENCE
MOVEM T - 1930-34 k
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Background

25.3.2 Beginn~ngof the Movemen

25.3.3 Movement Spreads

25.3.5 Regional Variations

The Truce Months, March
1932-34: Civil Disobedienc
Aftermath
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words

This Unit seeks to discuss the Civil ence Movement launched by the Congress
under the leadership of Gandhi du -34. After reading this Unit you will be able
to understand:
the circumstances leading to t sobedience Movement,
how the movement was star
why the movement was temp
e why it failed to achieve its g
the importance of this move

25.1 INTRODUCTION
I,"

In Unit 18 of Block 5 you on-Cooperation Movement started by the

Congress. Though this hieve its goals yet it succeeded in involving
st the British Raj. After a gap of about eight
call for a mass movement known as the Civil
ments in the Indian situation since the
ovement, and the unchanging attitude of the
British Government to the stion, prepared the ground for the Civil
Disobedience Movemen ill discuss the background, the stagewise
development, and finall sequences of the Civil Disobedience

25.2 BACKGROU
The abrupt withdrawal of the peration Movement by Gandhi after the Chauri
Chaura incident of February demoralising effect on many Congress leaders
and led to a sharp decline in a1 movement. The All India Congress
membership went down to 1 arch 1923, and was only 56,000 in May 1929.
 - T h e Swarajist programme (you have read about it in Unit 21) of wrecking dyarchy from
within petered out into council and municipal politicking. The 'No Changer' group
which emphasised upon Gandhian Constructive Work in villages remained scattered
and kept themselves aloof from the political developments. The remarkable Hindu-
Muslim unity of the Non-Cooperation Khilafat days dissolved into widespread
communal riots in the mid-1920s. For example, there was a violent anti-Hindu outburst
at Kohat in the N.W. Frontier Province in September 1924. Three waves of riots in
1 Calcutta between April and July 1926 killed about 138 people. In the same year there
I
I were communal disturbances in Dacca, Patna, Rawalpindi, Delhi and U.P. Communal
F organizations proliferated with Hindu Sabhas and Swarajists often having virtually
I identical membership in some places. Negotiations with Jinnah over the Nehru Report
plan for an alternative constitution broke down in 1927-28 largely because of Hindu
Mahasabha opposition and Jinnah's obstinacy in relation to it.
The Hindu-Muslim Unity of 1919-22 was never regained. But otherwise there were
many signs of the growth of anti-imperialist movement from 1928 onwards. These signs
were visible in:
demonstration and hartals in towns in the course of the boycott of the Simon
Commission,
militant communist led workers movement'in Bombay and Calcutta which alarmed
Indian businessmen and British officials and capitalists alike,
the revival of revolutionary groups in Bengal and Northern India (with Bhagat
Singh's HSRA introducing a new secular and socialistic tone),
peasant movements in various regions, particularly the successful Bardoli
I Satyagraha led by Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat in 1928 against the enhancement of
I land revenue.
I
I During this period when the Congress Left was emerging, under Jawaharlal Nehru and
I Subhas Bose slogans of Purna Swaraj rather than of only Dominion Status were voiced.
(See Unit 26). After much hesitation, Gandhi accepted this change in Congress creed
at the Lahore session in December 1929, setting the stage for the next major round of
countrywide struggle in 1930-34.
You would like to know how thisnew upsurge became possible, considering the extent
of decline and fragmentation of the immediately preceding years. Historians of the
'Cambridge School' have tried to explain it by suggesting a direct causal link between
the British policies and the ups and downs of the national movement. The appointment
of the Simon Commission revived a6'moribund nationalism". Irwin gave the Congress
importance by talking with Gandhi on a level of equality. But a closer look raises doubts
about this entire thesi;, for British policies often changed in response to nationalist
pressures rather than vice-versa. For example, the all-white Simon Commission had
planned a retreat even from the Montagu-Chelmsford framework in respect of the
demands of Indians. But the mass upsurge of 1930 forced the British to make a promise
of some sort of responsible government at the centre. Further, it was the pressure from
the national movement and the heroic self-sacrifice of people which again forced Irwin
to negotiate with Gandhi in February-March 1931.
Throughout 1928 and 1929 we find that political and economic tensions between British
domination and a variety of Indian interests increased:
Contradictions were enormously sharpened by the impact of the World Depression
which set in from late 1929. Business groups were not,happy with the British tariff
policy. Lancashire textile imports were going up again, and there were growing
conflicts in Calcutta between the Birlas and British Jute interests, and in Bombay
over coastal shipping.
The workers facing large scale retrenchment started agitations with unprecedented
militancy and organization.
Rural tensions were sharpened by stagnation in agrarian production and by British
efforts to enhance land revenue in raiyatwari areas in the late 1920s-till the Bardoli
victory halted such endeavours permanently.
But socio-economic tensions did not necessarily or automatically take an anti British
turn, for the immediate oppressors would most often be Indian Zamindars.
moneylenders, or millowners, groups which could have nationalist connections, or
which nationalists generally tried to keep on their side. Yet a massive country-wide
upsurge did take place in 1930. Let us see, why and how it happened.
Check Your Progress 1
-1 What were the developments i n politics from 1928 onwards that prepared the
stage for the Civil Disobedien ement? Answer in about hundred words.

2 Which of the following st right (d) or wrong ( x )

a) During the post-No gress 'Left' was emerging under
Subhas Bose and Ja ( 1
b) The resolution for Pu as taken at the Lahore Session of the
AICC in 1929. ( 1
c) The socio-economic t sharpened by the impact of the world
Depression. ( 1
d) The socio-economic atically led to anti-British agitation. ( )

25.3 CIVIL D I S O B E D ~ C E1930

, -MARCH 1931
7 he Lahore Congress (1929) h the choice of the precise methods of non-violent
struggle for Purna Swaraj to It was resolved that a Manifesto or pledge of
Independence would be tak r India by as many people as possible on
26 January 1930. On this da obedience was supposed to commence. It was
declared Independence Day.

25.3.1 Gandhi's Efforts

Gandhi was still not sure of hi action. Before launching the movement he once
again tried for compromise overnment. He placed 'eleven points' of
administrative reform and s f Lord Irwin accepted them there would be no
need for agitation. The'impo emands were:
1) The Rupee-Sterling rati reduced to Is 4d,
2) Land revenue should be re by half and made a subject of legislative control,
3) Salt tax should be aboli the government salt monopoly,
4) Salaries of the highest should be reduced by half,
5) Military expenditure s
6) Protection for Indian textil
7) All political prisoners shou
T o many observers this charte mands seemed a climb-down from Purna Swaraj.
Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in hi
What was the point of r political and social reforms when we
were talking in terms . Did Gandhiji mean the same thing
when he used this ter we speak a different language?
The Government response t hi's proposal was negative. Still Gandhi was
hesitant. He wrote to the Vi
But if you cannot see ay to deal with these evils and my letter makes no
appeal to your ear, I roceed, with such co-workers of the Ashram as I
can take, to disrega ovisions of the salt laws. I regard this tax to be the
most ubiquitous of the poor man's standpoint.
The Viceroy gave a brief reply in which he regretted that Gandhi was "contemplating a Civll Disobedience
course of action which was clearly bound to involve violation of law and danger to the Movement - -
1930 1934

public peace".
Gandhi in his rejoinder said, "on bended knees I asked for bread and received a stone
icstead. The English nation responds only to force and I am not surprised by the
Viceregal reply".

25.3.2 Beginning of the Movement

Gandhi took the decision to start the movement. On 12 March 1930 Gandhi started the
Historic March from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi beach accompanied by his 78
selected followers. There Gandhi and his followers broke the law by manufacturing salt
from the sea. The Programme of the movement was as follows:
a) Salt law should be violated everywhere.
b) Students should leave colleges and government servants should resign from service.
c) Foreign clothes should be burnt.
d) No taxes should be paid to the government.
e ) Women should stage a Dharna at liquor shops, ctc.
The choice of salt as the central issue appeared puzzling initially. Events quickly
revealed the enormous potentialities of this choice. "You planned a fine strategy round
the issue of salt". Irwin later admitted to Gandhi. Salt was a concrete and a universal
grievance of the rural poor, which was almcst unique inhaving no socially divisive
implications. With regard to food habits salt was a daily neccssity of the peoplc. It also
carried with it the implications of trust, hospitality, mutual obligations. In this sense it
had a far-reaching emotional content. Moreover the breaking of the salt law meant a
rejection of the Government's claims on the allegiance of the people. In coastal areas
where over the previous century indigenous salt production had been ruined by British
imports, illegal manufacture of salt could provide the people a small income which was
not unimportant. The manufacture of salt also became a part of Gandhian methods of
constructive work like Khadi production. Rural Gandhian bases everywhere provided
the initial volunteers for the salt satyagraha. Above all, the Dandi March and the
subsequent countrywide violation of the salt law provided a tremendously impressive
demonstration of the power of non-violent mass struggle.

8. People breaking Salt laws

Nationalism: What came to be undermined was tire moral authority of the government and its
-
The Inter War Y e m 11
self-image of being the paterna -baap' of the poor. An additional District
Magistrate reported from Midna engal) in November 1930 that even old villagers
were talking "insolently -the ultivator simply squatted on his haunches and
laughing sarcastically said, 'We how powerful the Sarkar is"'

25.3.3 Movement Spreads

Social boycott of police and I
I administrative officials led to many
resignations. That the Britis e gravity of the threat was revealed by the
sheer brutality of repression ng men - (were) methodically bashed into a
bloody pulp", in the wor ebb Miller. But the spectacle
of unarmed, unresisting sat inable torture aroused local
sympathy and respect as n d have done. The brutal repression invoked
memories of innumerable ression by police and local officials, linking
up the all India struggle wi -day experiences of the villagers. Sympathy
quickly turned into partici the movement far beyond the fairly narrow
confines. And such participa took violent forms, with crowds of villagers
attacking police parties. The restraints had been weakened, anyway, by the
early removal of most of
While the salt satyagraha was at ight, British alarm was deepened by three major
outbursts, outside or going beyo confines of Gandhi's Civil Disobedience.
i) On 18 April 1930, Bengal onaries inaugurated the most powerful and
heroic epoch in the history rorist movement by seizing the Chittagong
armoury, and fighting a pi ttle on Jalabad hill on 22 April. Revolutionary
terrorism accompanied the history of Civil Disobedience in Bengal, with 56
incidents in 1930 (as com 7 for the decade 1919-1929). The Chittagong
leader Surya Sen manage underground in villages till as late as 1933, and
there was the evidence o 1of peasant sympathy. For the first time
Muslims were also includ ad been a movement of educated middle class
Hindu youth alone.
ii) In Peshawar on 23 April 1
I arrest of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan provoked a
massive upsurge, and a pl Garhwal Rifles (Hindu soldiers facing a Muslim
crowd) refused to open f stance of patriotic self-sacrifice, non-violence,
and communal unity whi es to be better remembered.
iii) The industrial city of Shol n Maharashtra in early May 1930 saw a textile
workers' strike, attacks on shops, police outposts and government buildings,
and even something like a el government for a few days.
The onset of the mongoon m gal salt manufacture difficult and the Congress
switched over to other forms s struggle, all characterised by a similar pattern of
careful choice of soci sues, followed by their broadening and
radicalization through a opulist initiatives. The Working Committee in May
1930 sanctioned non-pa nd revenue in raiyatwari areas, an anti-choukidari
(village police) tax in ns (not, significantly enough, no-rent), and 'forest
satyagraha': peaceful violat -old tribal and poor peasant
rights to free fodder, timbe e government struck back at
no-tax movements , yet thousands of
peasants heroically asse to neighbouring
princely states. Rural he prescribed Gandhian
bounds, through viole places, and massive
tribal invasions of forests ~n d Karnataka. The
rumour spread that

25.3.4 Response of iffe eat Sections

Urban intelligentsia support ndhian nationalism was perhaps less in evidence in
1930 than during the Non-C ion Movement and there were few instances of
lawyers giving up practice o ts leaving official institutions to join national
schools. Militant u r b h edu uth tended to be attracted more by revolutionary
terrorism in Bengal, and in dian towns Bhagat Singh's popularity briefly
rivalled that of Gandhi him most obvious weak point of nationalism as
Natkmalism: compared to 1919-21. was of c o im participation which rcmained low. on the
-
The Inter War Years I1
whole, except in Badshah Khan's and places like Delhi: for example only 9 out
of 679 Civil Disobedience prisone lahabad between 1930and 1933 were Muslims.
Social discontent turned commi ca tcwn and Kishoreganj village in May and
July 1930. and there were larges in Kanpur in March 1931, soon after the
Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Unlike Non- ion, Civil Disobedience did not coincide with
any major labour upsurge. There requent hartals in towns, but the Congress did
not include industrial or comrnu rikes in its programme, much to the relief of
British officials.
Such lags were largely made up massive peasant mobilization and considerable
support from business groups, a during the early months of Civil Disobedience.
The movement, unlike Non-Co ion, implied violations of law, arrests, and
beatings-up right from the begi and the number of jail goers was 92,214; more
than.three times the 1921-22 fi pport from Ahmedabad mill owners, Bombay
merchants and petty traders (i ists in the city being less enthusiastic), and
Calcutta Marwaris headed by can be cited as examplesof the solidarity of the
Capitalists with the national at this stage. For example, the merchants in
many towns took a collectiv ive up import of foreign goods for some
months. Combined with pic e overall impact of the Depression, there was
a spectacular collapse of Br ports, from 1238 million yards in 1929-30 to
only 523 million yards in 1930-31.
A novel and remark dience Movement was the
widespread participation of w The handful of postgraduate women students in
1930s still went to class escort heir teachers, and yet there were women from far
more socially conservative p peasant families, picketing shops,
facing lathis, and going to jail. I felt that "the Indian woman is
strugglingfor domestic and n erty at the same time .. . ." However, this sudden
active role of women in politi roduce any significant change in the conditions
of women in o r outside the fa hian non-violence, after all, did not entail any
drastic violation of the tradit of women; rather, it wasmale action that had
in some ways been 'feminiz the emphasis upon self-sacrificing acceptance
of suffering. The deeply reli ce of Gandhi's saintly image was perhaps even
more crucial: joining the C ment was a new religious mission, and certain
transaggressions were per glorified in such a context, just as Mira
centuries hack had c The one form of women's
participation which came ply condemned was an active role in direct
terrorist action. includin happened several times in Bengal. Even
Rabindranath Tagore ce of others in questions of women's roles,
then wrote a novel - condemning such 'unfeminine' behaviour.

10. ~#/3patiun by M urnrn and Childrrn

,"
25 3 . 5 Regional Variations Civil Disobedlem
Movement- -
1930 1934
T h e recent spate of regional studies of Civil Disobedience has brought t o light
interesting variations and internal tensions. Gujarat - more specifically, Kheda
district, Bardoli taluka of Surat. Ahmedabad, and the Gujarati business-cum-
professional community of Bombay City - had become the classic heartland of
controlled mass mobilization through Gandhian satyagraha. Gandhian strategies and
controls fitted in well with the interests of substantial landholding peasants like the
Patidars of Kheda and Bardoli. where in the absence of big zamindaris, rent was not
much of an issue. Rural movements tended t o be more uninhibited where Congress
organization was weaker, o r where internal zamindar-peasant divisions were quite
sharp. Thus in Central Provinces, Maharashtra o r Karnataka, where Non-Cooperation
had made little inroads, the Gandhian ideas had the flavour and vagueness of novelty.
a near millenarian flavou~~could still be seen, absent in the well-established strongholds
like Gujarat, coastal Andhra o r Bihar. In the United Provinces, district level
a ~ m p a r i s o n shave brought out clearly this inverse relationship between organization
and militancy. Parts of Agra district. with a strong Congress organisation and few big
zamindars, followed the Bardoli pattern; talukdar-dominated Rae Baraeli, saw
powerful pressures from the peasants. In Bara Banki, where khadi o r charkha were
littlz in evidence, local activists were preaching that land was a gift of G o d and could
not helong t o zamindars alone. In Bengal, with its relatively weak and faction-ridden
Congress, a near-coincidence of class with communal divisions in the eastern districts,
and the presence already of a ieft alternative. the pattern was even more complex.
There were powerful Gandhian rural movcments in parts of West Bengal like
Midnapur, Arambagh sub-division, and Bankura; a Praja movement was developing
among Muslim rich pcasants which was aloof o r hostile regarding Civil Disobedience;
and in one Muslim-majority district, Tippera, Congress activists were combining
agrarian radicalism with nationalism in ways branded as 'rank Bolshevism' by
Government officials and local Hindu landlords.

11. Kalakankar Jatha (U.P.) maWg salt.

Check Your Progress 2

1 What was Gandhi's proposal t o Lord Irwin before starting the movement? What
were its consequences? Answer in about one hundred words.
Nationslism:
-
The Inter War Years I1
......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... .......................................................:...
.......................................... ............................................................
2 What was the programme of the 1 Disobedience Movement? Answer in about
five lines.
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ............................................................
3 Why was salt chosen as the centr sue of the movement? Answer in about fifty
words.
.......................................... ............................................................
.......................................... ........................
.......................................... ........................
.......................................... ........................
.......................................... ........................
4 Give your answer in one sentenc
i) What d o you understand by
.................................... ........................
.................................... ........................
ii) What was the Government r
.................................... ........................

iii) What was the basic differenc tween the Non-Cooperation and the Civil
Disobedience Movement?

;Ipi,m
25.4 THE TRUCE M O N ~ SMARCH-DECEMBER
, 1931
Around ~ e ~ t e m b e r - O c t o b e19r isobedience entered a second, more
contradictory, phase. Pressures were mounting as the Depression began
having its major impact, and the ad to reluctantly sanction non-payment
of rent in October. Incidents of and tribal militancy and violence
multiplied in many areas. At th icial reports began speaking of a marked
decline of enthusizsm and support urban traders, many of whom started
breaking earlier pledges not t ed goods. Thakurdas warned Motilal Nehru
that "the capacity of the commerci y for endurance" had reached its limits,
and industrialists like Homi M ed the "frequent hartals which dislocated
trade and industry". Possibly t of substantial peasants in the face of
ruthless British seizure of property had started flagging too. Almost all leading Civil Disobedience
Congress leaders were put behind bars. This was probably the context for Gandhi's Movement -1930- 1934
rather sudden retreat. He initiated a talk with Irwin on 14 February 1931, which
culminated in the Delhi Pact of 5 March. The pact is popularly called Gandhi-Irwin
pact. The salient features of this accord were:

i) The agreement arrived at the First Round Table Conference shall further be
deliberated upon in another Round Table Conference.
ii) The Indian National Congress will withdraw the Civil Disobedience Movement
immediately and effectively in all respects.
iii) The boycott of British goods would also be withdrawn forthwith.
iv) The Government agreed to withdraw ordinances promulgated in relation to the
Civil Disobedience Movement. Those political prisoners against whom there were
no allegations of violence were to be set free and penalties that had not been realised
were to be remitted. Indeminities would be paid to those who had suffered in the
movement.
v) The Government was neither to condone breach of the existing law relating to salt
administration nor would the salt Act be amended. Nonetheless, government was
to permit the collection and manufacture of salt freely to the people living within a
specified area from the sea-shore.
The Congress working committee was divided when it met on 5 March, 1931 to discuss
the results of the talks. Many people hailed it as a Victory because the Viceroy had to
negotiate a settlement. Others were not happy. Gandhi agreed to attend the Round
Table Conference, more or less on British terms, in sharp contrast to his stand uptill the
end of January 1931. Even Gandhiji's request for remitting the death sentence on
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was turned down by the Viceroy, and they were
executed on 23rd March. Civil Disobedience had died a sudden death, ending "not with
a bang but a whimper", as Nehru wrote in his Autobiography a few years later.
The Gandhi-Irwin Pact had ambiguous consequences. Many others besides Nehru felt
dismayed by the unexpected halt, long before attaining the proclaimed goal of Purna
Swaraj, and peasants who had sacrificed land and goods at the Congress behest must
have felt particularly let down. There was even a black flag demonstration against
Gandhi when the Karachi Congress opened a few days after the execution of Bhagat
Singh. The session, however, ratified the new policy, with Nehru, having spent some
sleepless nights, moving the key resolution accepting the Delhi agreement. More
fundamentally, it can be argued that the Truce meant the loss of some crucial months
during which the Congress restrained no-tax and no-rent movements precisely when
rural discontent was at its height, with the Depression having its initial impact, and
when sheer economic distress had not as yet ruined the potential for largescale struggle.
The Congress did give the call for no-tax again, in January 1932, but by that time the
psychological moment had gone.
Gandhi's entry into the Second Round Table Conference also proved a virtual fiasco.
The first Conference, in January 1931, with Civil Disobedience still at large and the
Congress boycotting it, had been marked by Ramsay Macdonald's novel offer of
responsible government at the centre. But its two characteristics were a Federal
assembly on which princes who joined would nominate their own members, and a series
of "reservations and safeguards" to maintain British control over defence, external
affairs, finance, and economy. Having accepted this as the framework for discussion,
Gandhi as sole Congress representative at the second RTC found himself involved in
endless squabbles with Muslim leaders, the Scheduled Caste representative Ambedkar
who had started demanding separate electorates for untouchables, and princes. The
British watched this gleefully. The Congress had clearly been out manoeuvred.
Yet the impact of the Pact and Truce months was not entirely negative. The British,
after all, had to negotiate with Gandhi on terms of equality and courtesy for the
first time, and this was something deeply resented by many die-hard officials. The
released Congressmen seem to have gone back to their villages and towns with
undiminished confidence, almost as victors. The Congress organization expanded
rapidly in the countryside, and the general mood was quite different from the
fragmentation and decline after 1922. The Congress in fact was seeking to establish
Nationdim: itself as the alternative, more le centre of authority, starting arbitration courts
-
The Inter War Years I1 to settle local disputes, and tryi diatc in zamindar-raiyat conflicts. Meanwhile.
popular pressures were also bu in many areas, most notably no-rent agitation
in the United Provinces, which incial Congress eventually permitted in
December 1931. A powerful an aj movement in Kashmir under Sheikh Abdulla
was an indication that political u as reaching out to princely states (there was to
be a revolt in Alwar two years 1 n though the Congress leadership still refused
to intervene in princely India.
This was the overall context for itish decision of a pre-emptive strike against the
Congress before it got any stron en by the new Kight-Wing National
Government and Viceroy Willi late 1931. The new policy has been' described
as one of 'Civil martial law' (D/A - sweeping ordinances banning all Congress
organizations on 4 January 19 them in Bengal alone), abrogating all civic
freedom without formally dec ry rule, in order to force the Congress to
wage an unequal and defensive n 4 January 1932, a fresh batch of Congress
leaders including Gandhi and el were arrested. Now attempts to treat
political prisoners as common ecame more common than ever before.

25.5 1932-34: CIVIL DI&~BEDIENCE

AGAIN
Out manoeuvred and facing measures on an entirely unprecedented scale,
the national movement still aliantly for about a year and a half. 120.000
people were jailed in the fir ths -an indication, however, not so much of
more intense and systematic
fairly fast. Bombay city and Bengal
'' by Willingdon in April 1932: Gujarati small
traders were still staunchly wi ngress, and Bengal remained a nightmare partly
ue to terrorism (104 incidents, the
highest ever, in 1932; 33 in 1 sponse seems to have been less on the whole
than in 1930, though a vil Kheda was still withholding revenue in 1933,
despite confiscation of 200 whipping, and electric shocks.
As the mass movement gradu ed in face of ruthless repression, political
'realism' combined with econo ulations of certain sections of Indians pushed
Indian big business towards c o on with the British. Bombay millowners
concluded the Lees-Mody Pact er 1933, aligning with Lancashire out of fear of
Japanese competition. Ahmed nessmen and G D Birla bitterly denounced this
betrayal, but Birla and Thaku 1932 onwards were themselves pressing the
Congress for a compromisc.
think in terms of a honourable retreat. H e

April 1934. The Mahatma deci ake Harijan work the central plank of his new

by Ramsay Macdonald. The A vided for separate Hindu, 'Untouchable' and

Muslim electorates for the ne legislatures. treating Hindus and Harijans as
two separate political entities. posed this Award. H e demanded reservation

accepted Gandhi's stand. An of Congressmen preferred to go back t o

Council politics, and so the sce the mid 1920s appeared to be repeating itself.
The 1935 Government of India

25.6 AFTERMATH 111

That the Government's sense tory' had beet: largely illusory was quickly revealed,
however, when the Congress the polls in most provinces in 1937 (See Unit 30 of
Block 6 ) . The Congress had b feated by superior brute force, but its mass prestige
 was as high as ever. The Left alternatives emerged from the logic of Civil Disobedience
itself, for the Movement had aroused expectations which Gandhian strategy could not
fulfil. At the level of leadership, Nehru (and, less consistently, Bose) voiced the new
mood, emphasising the need to combine nationalism with radical social and economic
programmes. Some Congress activists formed a socialist ginger-group within the party
in 1934. Kisan Sabhas with anti-zamindar programmes developed rapidly in provinces
like Bihar and Andhra. The Communists, too, were recovering from the Meerut arrests
and their own folly of keeping away from Civil Disobedience, and a significant section
of disillusioned terrorists and Gandhian activists were moving towards them.
In this changed situation, the dominant groups within the Congress were able to retain
control only by a series of adjustments and openings towards the left, though usually at
the level of programmatic statements and not action. Thus land reforms directed
towards curbing and eventually abolishing zamindari were coming to be included in the
official Congress programme by the mid-1930s, in total contrast to all earlier
pronouncements. An early indication of such a shift was the Karachi declaration on
fundamental rights and economic policy, made-significantly-just after the Gandhi-Irwin
Pact: This declaration was very moderate in content, yet reductions were promised, for
the first time, not only in revenue but in rent, and living wages and trade union rights
, also entered the Congress programme. Peasant upsurges which had constituted so
much of the real strength of Civil Disobedience like thelabour unrest of the late 1920s,
had not been entirely futile. Though crucial political controls within the national
movement remained elsewhere, much of the Congress language and rhetoric, and some
actual policies, did have to take a Leftward direction as a consequence of the growing
assertiveness of these sections of Indian society.

Check Your Progress 3

1 What was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact? What was its effect? Write your answer in about
one hundred words.

2 How did the Government respondto the Civil Disobedience Movement after the
failure of the Second Round Table Conference at London? Answer in about fifty
words.

3 Which of the following statements is right (v) or wrong (x).

1
a) The Congress boycotted the First Round Table Conference. ( )
b) The Gandhi-Irwin Pact paved the way for the participation of the
Congress in the Second Round Table Conference. ( 1
c) Political unrest was spreading in the Princely States also during this
period. ( )
d) Gandhi had full control over the mass upsurge during the Civil
Disobedience Movement. ( )
Nationalism:
-
The Inter War Years I1

In this Unit we have discussed ivil Disobedience Movement from 1930

to 1934. You have read how the n the Indian situation during the period
following the Non-Cooperation repared the ground for the Civil
Disobedience Movement. In sp 's earnest efforts, the non-compromising
attitude of the British compelle rt the movement in 1930.
The movement got spontaneous nse from various regions of the country and
peasants took part in it with thei class demands. However, when the movement
was in progress, it was temporar pended because of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in
1931. Gandhi went to London t d the Second Round Table Conference but the
mission failed.
The movement was renewed in 1 tit lost its earlierspirit. The British Government
tightened its repressive machine he movement. In view of this situation the
movement was finally withdraw 4. Thus, another heroic struggle of the people
came to an end without achievin ediate goal. But the sacrifice of the people had
not been in vain. A change in fav peasants economic demands came in the
Congress programme, and final ation of Congress ministries in the provinces
signalled the victory of peoples

25.8 KEY WORDS

i Cll

Cambridge School: A particul f historians, mainly based at Cambridge, which

denied Indian nationalism on t f sectional interests, faction, etc. It believed in
colonial benevolence and disc elationship between the British and the Indians
as one of patron-client type.
Civil Diibedience: Peaceful violatif#f government laws.
Dyarchy: Dual government, in whi
transferred.
Lahore Congress: In 1929; at the
f ower is divided into two parts, reserved and

session of the Indian National Congress the

pledge for Purna Swaraj was take as also resolved that henceforth 26th January
would be observed as India's Ind ce Day. Jawaharlal was the president of this
session.
Purna Swaraj: Complete indepe
Strategy: The art of Planning actio
Truce: Agreement between two or two groups.

Check Your Progress 1

1 Following points should be co : Boycott and Hartals following the Simon
Commission, peasant and wo movement under the Communist leadership,
revival of revolutionary terro ging socialist ideas within the Congress, etc.
See Sec. 25.2.

Check Your Progress 2

1 Before starting the movement gave a proposal to Lord Irwin for his
consideration, which included of salt tax, release of political prisoners, etc.
Government response was negati andhi gave the call fo; the movement. See
Sub-sec. 25.3.1.
 2 Violation of salt law, boycott of colleges and government offices, burning of foreign CI~I~
clothes, etc. See Sub-sec. 25.3.2. -
M O V C ~ 1930
~ ~ - 1934
3 Salt - the essential food, universal grievance of the rural poor, no socially divisive
implications, it linked up with other Gandhian methods of constructive work, etc.
See Sub-sec. 25.3.2.
4 i) Peaceful violation of forest laws.
ii) Imprisonment, confiscation of property, etc.
iii) Direct violation of government law.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Pact between Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India and Gandhiji. Your answer should
include dissatisfaction among many nationalists over the terns of the agreement,
goal of Puma Swaraj and non-fulfilment of the peasant demands. See Section 25.4.
2 The Government through repressive measures wanted to force the Congress to take
a defensive position. For example it banned all Congress organizations, property of
I the Congress members was confiscated. Also read Section 25.4.
i 3 a) v b) v c v d) x
Structure
26.0 Objectives
26.1 Introduction
26.2 Socialist Ideas and th

26.4 Jawaharlal Nehm and

26 4 1 Nehru's Contact wit
26.4.2 Changes m Nehru's

26.6 Impetus to Socialism in

26.7 Impact on the Congress
26.8 . Let Us Sum Up
26.9 Key Words

After reading this unit you sh

the drift of Jawaharlal Nehru

iilmll

26.1 INTRODUCTION 111

Socialism aims broadly at endin tion of a vast majority of hapless humanity
by a small, powerful minority. ove the consequent injustices and
inequalities from the society. rines for achieving these ends, or for
establishing Socialist societie ard by the second half of the 19th
century, (you have read abo By the beginning of the 20th century
they had succeeded in acquiring
had groaned throughout under
resources were utilised for t ritish while its own people suffered
from deprivation and want. re impoverished, degraded and
divided because of the following:
The allies, the British sel ant strata of Indian society
The way the British pe rds and money lenders to oppress
the peasantry
The leverage they offe d industrialists to expropriate the
workmen, and
The skill with which t
It was natural in su e patriotic Indian intellectuals and

a Nath Dutta, P.S. Khankoja, G.A.K.

category. They operated from abroad till
these distinguished personalities or
ar, like M.N. Roy and Lala Hardayal,
functioned within the framework of the main nationalist organisation in lndia - the Indian National Congress -
Indian National Congress. That is why they hardly exercised any influence over its Sorialist Ideas:
Rde of Nehm and Bose
activities, policies and programmes. Till the end of the country-wide Non-Cooperation
Movement (1920-22) in the post-First World War years, Socialism had in fact made no
impact on the political behaviour of the Congress. However, after this the socialist
ideas started influencing Congress policies, and played an important role in politics. In
this unit we will discuss how the Socialist ideas influenced the Congress. We will also
discuss the role played by Nehru and Bose in this process.

26.2 SOCIALIST IDEAS AND THE EARLY CONGRESS

LEADERS
The leaders of the Indian National Congress, who were renowned publicmen and the
critics of the British Government and its policies, were aware of Socialism or the
Socialist traditions from the beginning. These leaders also came in touch with various
Socialist activities. Dababhai Naoroji, for example, had close contacts with British
Socialists like H.M. Hyndman and actually attended the International Socialist
Conference in Amsterdam (August 1904) where he was given a rousing welcome.
Leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai were also reported to have
maintained from time to time some Socialist connections, and brooded on occasions
over the evils of private property and felt the need for providing equal opportunities for
all. There were many others within the Congress who were similarly knowledgeable,
and even favourably disposed towards Socialism.
The fact, however remains that the earlier nationalist leaders did not seriously concern
themselves with the Socialist ideology. Perhaps most of them thought that adopting
these ideas might weaken the national awakening, and undermine the national unity
the Congress was trying to build up. The nationalist movement in India was conceived
from the early days of the Congress as a compaign for united opposition to the British
misrule or as a combined agitation for the attainment of Swaraj or self-rule. This
"unification" or "combination" was to encompass all communities, categories and
classes of people, including the rich and the poor, the landlords and the landless, the
mill-owners and the workers. It seems that the leaders of the Congress in its early phase
were afraid that Socialism, which encourages the resistance of the exploited against the
exploiters, and sets up workers against industrialists, and peasants against landlords,
would antagonise the wealthy and the well-to-do. In that case their support and their
money-power would not be available for the nationalist cause. Such apprehensions
were the outcome of insufficient understanding of the nature of relations between the
British authorities and their Indian collaborators, as well as of the potentialities of
Socialism for teeming millions of ppverty-stricken, suffering people in

The suspicion with which the earlier nationalists viewed Socialism was actually
understandable. Most of them came from the ugper strata of the Indian society -the
Western educated middle class which included the Lategories of rentiers, professionals
and entrepreneurs. Such elements would, at the most, sympathise with the misfortunes
of the common man from a distance, and that too to the extent that their own interests
were not threatened. Furthermore, up to the First World War, the nationalists in the
Congress were trying only to win concessions from the British regime through
resolutions, representations and debates. They were engaged primarily in
constitutional politics and agitations within the limits the British masters allowed them.
They had not generally thought of raising mass movements or stirring popular actions,
with the solitary exception of the Swadeshi movement (1905-8).
Thus, when the masses of Indian people did not form an integral part of their political
programme, the earlier nationalists scarcely felt an urge to come closer to them. It
would not be, however, correct to surmise,tbat the earlier nationalists of the Congress
had not kept the oppressed, the humiliatedand the down-trodden within their sight at
all, or had not included them in their scheme of the future in any way. They were
convinced that the attainment of self-government or the fulfilment'of the political
objective in itself would turn India into a happy and prosperous country. Once
prosperity returned, they believed that the ills of economic disparity would disappear
from the country, and a just and equitable system would emerge. Valid or not, this line
~at~ism.. of thinking dominated the pro s of the Congress for a long time, even up to the
-
Thc Inter War Y m 11
mid-1930s. But the birth of a c ine of thinking within the Congress, parallel to
the dominant one, could not b ted under a changed political climate.

26.3 NEW CLIMATE : E NON-COOPERATION

This change came during the rld War years of economic recession -the
period in which the rising pri ities and the increasing repression of the
Government played havoc w ndians. Under the new and inspiring
leadership of Gandhiji, the fter intense deliberations to opt for the
path of non-violent non-coop h the British authorities -a course of action
that depended for its succes ely on a wide participation of the people. The
unprecedented enthusiasm eration movement evoked almost among
all classes and sections, and the trength that the Indian people
demonstrated, brought about a the Congress notions about political
activity in the country. Her sation became the watchword of the
Indian national movement, e p was motivated by the desire for arousing
the masses or bringing forth a lar r of people into the anti-imperialist struggle.
Apparently, the need for unity ns -the necessity for multi-class
consolidation remained import . But the significance of numbers - the
urgency for enlisting the hithert tegories, such as the tribals, the peasants,
the workers and the women bec The Non-Cooperation Movement,
however, was not all inspiration. ehind deep marks of frustration on account
of the sudden manner of its wit y ~ o u l dnot appreciate the moral grounds
on which Gandhiji chose to wit ement, and felt let down by the call for
retreat at a time when they be1 ornered the British Raj. There was
disappointment at the failure t within one year" -a Gandhian
promise on which the people s ned their hopes. Popular anguish led
to tensions in some areas, especi ide between the landlords and the
tenants. The "misadventure" als f Gandhiji's followers to return
hurriedly to the safety of cons hat was worse, a crack appeared in
the most impressive of the G - the Hindu-Muslim amity.
The differences between the two idened rapidly, and led to the outbreak
of communal violence in many p country (notably in Punjab, Rajasthan,
U.P., Bengal, Andhra, the alabar). On the whole, the disquieting
aftermath of the Non-Cooperati ompelled some thoughtful
Congressmen, particularly those t join either the cam of the "no-changers"
(for engaging themselves for the eing in Swadeshi, Harijai-hift ,etc.) or that of
the "pro-changers" (for submer ves for the time being in constitutionalism),
to try rigorously to find out ans of the uncomfortable questions. These
seemed to be the f o l l o h g :
What were the grounds on classes, sections and communities could
stand together politically?
What should be done to ens m possible participation of the people in
a struggle for freedom?
What were the methods fo iling masses into the anti-imperialist
camp?
What precisely were the o anti-imperialist struggle should strive to
attain?
What approximately coul of Indian independence?
In other words, a search for an riate ideology that could serve as a guiding spirit
for the freedom struggle bega national movement. Socialism within the
Congress was born out of this intellectual and political exercise.
.
Check Your Progress 1
1 Name three important earl alist leaders who came into contact with socialist
ideas.
 ii) ..................................................................................................... IlldhnNs~Coayss-
S a W W Idcle:
iii) ..................................................................................................... Rok d Nebm snd Bosc

2 Why were the early Congress leaders hesitant in adopting Socialist ideas in India?
............................................................................................................

3 What problems did,the Congress face after the withdraw1 of Non-Cooperation

Movement?
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................

26.4 JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND SOCIALISM

Among those who ponderedbver the future of India was young Jawaharlal Nehru, who
had already made his presenFe felt during the Non-Cooperation Movement. What is
more important, however, was that Jawaharlal had in the meantime gathered some
first-hand knowledge of the agrarian problems by working among the peasants of
Pratapgarh and Rae Bareli in U.P., during 1920-21. Though committed very loyally to
Gandhiji's leadership, Jawaharlal was critical of the leader's decision to withdraw the
Non-Cooperation Movement. H e also did not see eye to eye with either the "no-
changers" or the "pro-changers". H e felt disturbed by the growing communal bitterness
among Hindus, Muslims and, to an extent, among the Sikhs. During this stage of
perplexity and confusion, Jawaharlal got an opportunity in 1926 to go to Europe,
primarily for obtaining medical attention for his ailing wife, Kamala, in Switzerland.

26.4.1 Nehrp's Contact with Socialism

During this visit he got the chance to explore new world views in order to arrive at a
better appreciation of the freedom struggle in India. Nehru had already been familiar
with the ideas of Fabian Socialism from the time of his student days in Britain, but did
not know much about various other forms of Socialism, including Marxism. His
understanding of the relevance of Socialist outlook in the popular struggle against a
colonial power was still inadequate. From the point of view of political education,
therefore, Jawaharlal's one and a half years' sojourn in Europe proved to be very
significant both for his own development and the Congress Party's new orientation. In
Europe he came in contact with the political thinkers and movements, and was invited
to participate, as the representative of the Indian National Congress, in the
International Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism, held in Brussels
in February 1927. There he met the best exponents of the European radical tradition,
as well as a large number of delegates from China, Mexico and other Latin American,
African and Asian countries. The exchange of views and experiences deeply influenced
Jawaharlal, who was gppointed a member of the Executive Committee of the League
Against Imperialism and for National Independence - the organisation that the
Brussels Conference had set up. From this point onwards, Jawaharlal Nehru realised
how the development of European capitalism, which required raw materials for
industrial production and extensive markets for the finished goods, led to imperialism,
and how European capitalism had fattened on the exploitation of countries in Asia,
Africa and Latin America.
Nationalism:
-
The ieier War Years I1

Jawaharlal Nehru

26.4.2 Changes in Nehru's

As was the case in India, th had their native allies everywhere, and that was
the reason why freedom fr rule had to be organically combined with the
liberation of the poor fro diate internal oppressors. Henceforth, the
struggle for national ema e colonies of imperialist powers, which implied
more than the att independence in each case, also assumed in
Nehru's eyes a glob
reality a part and parcel nal campaign against a world-wide imperialist
system.
Along with others in th t Imperialism, Jawaharlal felt that this
campaign had received uragement from the success of the Russian
Revolution (1917), an ort from the growing strength of the Soviet
Union. In Novem
greatly impressed by s in government and social reconstruction
that were being mad rse, conscious of the differences between
the nation-building and retained his faith in Gandhiji's
leadership over nationalist in the efficiency of non-violent mass movements
against British impe ,he had drawn his lessons from the experience of
Russia and desired to make
returned to India
a Socialist.
 It could be conjectured, even in 1927-28, that with their acceptance by a leader of
Jawaharlal's national stature, the Socialist ideas were bound to exercise considerable
influence over the deliberations and activities of the Congress.
I

t 26.4.3 Impact on Domestic Politics

I The year 1927 witnessed a noisy debate developing within the Congress, as well as

/ outside it, among all shades of political opinion. This was helpful to Jawaharlal for the
assertion of his recently acquired radicalism. The point of debate was related to the
extent and character of Swaraj or self-government that the Congress and others were
struggling foi. It dramatically took precedence over all other issues in 1927 when the
British authorities decided to appoint a commission, consisting solely of British
members of Parliament, to consider, under the terms of the Government of India Act
of 1919, whether India was fit to receive a further instdment of constitutional
government. The "all-white" composition of this commission (the Simon Commission)
implied, apart from a crude display of racial arrogance, that the British did not find any
one anlong the Indian publicmen fit enough to serve in a body that would make
recommendation about India's political future. In the appointment of this commission
the British government had not only refused to listen to the Indian opinion on a subject
which concerned them most, it was also guilty of casting a slur on the competence of
Indians who were by implication viewed as unfit to make a constitution for themselves.
There was all-round condemnation of the British action all over India. In its Madras
1
1
session (December 1927), the Congress gave a call for the boycott of the Simon
Commission. The boycott, as the later events showed in 1928, was tumultuous even in
the face of brutal governmental repression. Jawaharlal and his associates in the
Congress contributed considerably to its success.
The visit of the Simon Commission had brought to the forefront the issue of the type of
constitution or the kind of independence that India should obtain for itself. By Swaraj
the Congress leaders had so far meant the Dominion Status for India (similar to the
position of self-governing Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) within the ambit
of British Empire. To Jawaharlal and men like him, the acceptance of Dominion Status
as the equivalent of independence of India appeared notonly to be a recognition of the
inevitability of British presence in India, but also a perpetuation of British imperialistic
exploitation of India almost through the backdoor. In the Madrassession in December
1927, Jawaharlal moved a resolution demanding real independence instead of the
mirage of Dominion Status.
However, the controversy actually came to a head when an All Parties Conference was
convened in February 1928 at the initiative of the Congress. It decided to set up a
committee headed by Motilal Nehru to draw up a constitution for India as an answer to
the challenge of Birkenhead (incapability of Indians to frame a constitution acceptable
to all parties). When the Nehru Committee actually proceeded with its work on the
basis of interpreting Indian independence in terms of the attainment of Dominion
Status. Jawaharlal had no alternative but to build up an opposition. In organising
resistance against the acceptance of Dominion Status, and gathering support for
complete independence or severence of all unequal political and economic ties with
Britain, he received the help, notably among oihers, of young Subhas Chandra Bose,
one of the Congress General Secretaries in 1928 like Jawaharlal.

Check Your Progress 2

1 How was Nehru influenced by Socialist ideas during his stay in Europe?
............................................................................................................
halivnalism: 2 How was India's freedom s t r u a r e l a t e d to the struggle against Imperialism the
-
The Inter War Years 11
World over?
........................................ ...............................................................
........................................ ...............................................................

Ill
26.5 SUBHAS C H A N D BOSE
~ AND SOCIALISM
Although different temperame bhas Chandra Bose had certain apparent
similarities with Jawaharlal. Bo m an upper middle class background, having
also received education abroa intellectuals by their own rights, and both
committed themselves to'the c nationalism. Inspired initially by the ideas
of Swami Vivekananda, who his sympathies for the oppressed and the
humiliated, Subhas was a pol ce his student days, and rose in popular
esteem when he rejected in ion in the coveted Indian Civil Service
after competing for it with olitical mentor not in Gandhiji, but in
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das e to realise in 1922 that India should secure
"the swaraj of the masses and n
Like Jawaharlal, Subhas wa wal of the Non-Cooperation
Movement, and was not abl hangers". Despite his joining the
"pro-changers" for some ti e of his loyalty to their chief
advocate in Bengal, C.R. ot with them. For a time after the
Non-Cooperation Move the civic affairs of Calcutta (as
uly and October 1924) as was Jawaharlal with
those of Allahabad (as Chairman
of his career Subhas appeared to
which disturbed Jawah id not get at this point the
opportunity that Jawaharlal had
coming into contact with the Soc
experimentations. Als ge which Jawaharlal had had to
a certain extent, of wo nd he remained mindful of their
aspirations only from a dista ith all his leftist leanings and radical
postures, Subhas was not as he Socialist ideas as Jawaharlal had
become. Another s that Subhas did not share
ship of the Congress, nor his
as a technique in anti-imperialist struggles. He
had, however, no di t of urgency for mass
mobilisation and PO endorsing Jawaharlal's anti-
imperialist views.
 Indian National Congr~ss -
26.6 IMPETUS TO SOCIALISM IN THEORY AND sod.list Ideas:
~ Base
Role of N e h and
PRACTICE
It was in August 1928that Jawaharlal launched the Independence for India League as
a pressure group within the Congress. The aim behind this move was:
to counter the concept of Dominion Status,
to plead for complete independence of India from the British, and
to work for the establishment of an Indian republic on Socialist lines.
Subhas joined him in this venture, and they jointly moved in a resolution at the Calcutta
session of Congress (December 1928) to replace the Congress goal of "Dominion
Status" by "Complete Independence". They could only achieve limited success but
were able to generate awareness for this demand. The actual success came next year
when Jawaharlal became the President of the Congress and its Lahore session
(December 1929) adopted "Complete Independence" as the goal. With the hoisting of
the tri-coloured flag of independence by the Congress President in the midnight of 31
December 1929 in Lahore, and the nation-wide observance of the Independence Day
on 26 January 1930, the nationalist movement established fully its anti-imperialist
credentials. But the content of Complete Independence or the quality of independence
that the common man of free India should enjoy, was not adequately defined even at
this point.
However, the trend of thinking of leaders like Jawaharlal and Subhas and a large
number of their followers (who had already been calling themselves "leftist
Congressmen" vis-a-vis the more cautious and the less militant "rightist Congress
men") was not difficult to follow. It was quite apparent from the way Jawaharlal and
Subhas were communicating to the people in general and to the youth (through the
Youth League, the Hindusthani Seva Dal, the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the
Volunteers' movement), the students (through the students' organisations and
conferences) and the workers (mainly through the All India Trade Union Congress
whose Presidentship was taken over by Jawaharlal in 1929 and Subhas in 1931) in
particular. Their exposure of the nature of imperialism, their concern for the toiling
people and their anxiety for ensuring social and economic justice stirred popular
imagination. Both Nehru and Bose were in prison when the massive Civil Disobedience
Movement was launched (Subhas from January to September 1930 and Jawaharlal
from April to October 1930), yet they contributed in their own ways to the expanding
social base of the agitation, and inspired people from various strata to take part in it.
Simultaneously, whether Jawaharlal and Subhas were inside the prison or out of it,
their own ideas were taking a definite shape.
This was more specifically true of Jawaharlal, whawas able to give an indication of the
kind of independence that the Congress must stand for. In his draft of the Fundamental
Rights that was adopted in the Karachi session of the Congress (March 1931),
Jawaharlal unequivocally stated: "In order to end the exploitation of the masses,
political freedom must include real economic freedom of the starving millions". He
went on to demand:
living wages for workers,
special taxes on property, and
the state control and ownership of key industries, mineral resources, railways,
waterways, shipping and other means of transport.
Personally, Jawaharlal was even willing to do away with the institution of private
property, which according to him, "gives dangerous powers to individuals over society
as a whole".
It was, however, not possible to carry with him in this matter many Congressmen, who
represented various sectional interests, to demand the abolition of landlordism and
distribution of land to the landless. Even as it stood, the content of the Fundamental
Rights and Economic Programme of 1931 should be regarded as an important step in
the march towards Congress Socialism.
As ardent anti-imperialists, both Jawaharlal and Subhas were unhappy at the
enactment of the Gandhi-Irwin compromise (March 1931), they did not expect anything
from the futile Congress participation in the Round Table Conference in London to
discuss constitutionalism (September to December 1931) and saw no point in the
Nationalism: formal withdrawal of the Civil dience Movement (May 1933). Subhas's
The Inter War Years - 11
frustration forced him in due question the ability of Gandhiji to lead the
Congress and the country, an for an alternative uncompromising leadership.
Jawaharlal's dissatisfaction led become more conscious of the pulls and pressures
that determined the Congres nd to realise the necessity for strengthening the
unity of the Congress under ularly acclaimed leader.

26.7 IMPACT ON TH ONGRESS POLICY

In the closing stage of the nce Movement, while Jawaharlal renewed his
interest in the agitation ntry (in Allahabad, Rae Bareli, Etawah,
Unnao and Kanpur), S around the working class movement. Both,
however, continued to exerc nfluence over the youth, the students and the
under-privileged, ards a radical militant temper. This eventually
facilitated the for ocialist Party (May 1934) within the
framework of the Congress orga . Jawaharlal in fact was the moving spirit
behind this new lin has, however, took part in it, although both
drew its support on vit f jail,and visiting Europe in between (Subhas
from 1933 to 1936 and again in arlal in 1936 and 1938), Subhas and
Jawaharlal expounded their vie has confined himself progressively,
to the discussions on t a's struggle for freedom, looking for new
styles and strategies to in ent for a show-down with the
authorities. Jawaharlal w he acceleration of anti-imperialist
struggle in India. At t necessity for mingling it with the
socio-economic stru . He favoured making suitable changes
with the changing international
To attain success against B ism, Jawaharlal continued to advocate that it
was incumbent on a national or like the Congress to mobilise all sections of
people, more so the vast ing to the lower strata. Unless the causes of
these people were espoused immediate oppressors -who were in league
with imperialism, neither the sible mass mobilisation could be realised nor
could the distinction of ca s and community be transcended. For fulfilling
this essential condition of succes ti-imperialist people's struggle, it was also
necessary for the Congress to ha ue-print of the future of an independent,
liberated and secular India. The ess, therefore should commit itself:
to the elections on the basis
e a Constituent Assembly for d itution to guarantee the rights and
privileges of all Indians,
to the eradication of long-sta onomic injustices, and
the achievement of economi odern industrial lines.
All these, Jawaharlal felt, must plished in the Indian context through national
consensus, and not amidst civil s. In other words, Jawaharlal continuously
pleaded for the adoption of the les of Democratic Socialism in India, and he
eventually succeeded in influe ongress to take a pro-Socialist turn.
ent in the Lucknow (December 1935) and the
Faizpur (December 193 harlal elaborated his Socialist ideas with greater
es he made, the discussions he held and the
resident, he had often to put up with the views
of the non-Socialist (and i-Socialist) majority in the Working
Committee, accept rever , on the issue of acceptance of office by the
Congress following the el nder the Act of 1935) and tolerate sabotages
(for example, the way hi s contact" with the Muslims got torpedoed).
aking significant advances:
on the agrarian question (by co uting to the formulation of a liberal Faizpur
Congress Agrarian Programme
on the issue of constitution (by ighting the demand for an elected Constituent
Assembly),
on the question of civil libertie rdering the Congress provincial ministries to
release all political prisoners),
 on responsible government (by championing the cause of the Praja Mandal Indian National Congms-
SodPli Idofs:
movement in the Indian States against the tyranny of their rulers), and, R d c of N e h and
~ Boer
on the world-wide campaign against Fascism, the wont form of imperialism (by
taking the side of "forces of progress" in the Spanish Civil War, by protesting against
the Italian attack on Ethiopia and by organising relief for China when it was attacked
by Japan).
Comparatively, Subhas's tenure as the Congress President, following his election in the
Haripura session (February 1938), was not so attractive from the ideological point of
view, and his seeking re-election for the Congress Presidentship next year sharply
divided the Congress into the "leftist" and the "rightist" camps. Subhas nevertheless
left his Socialistic mark on the Congress by laying emphasis on the industrialisation of
India and planned economic growth on the Soviet pattern. He was in fact instrumental
in the formation of a National Planning Committee of the Congress under Jawaharlal's
chairmanship.
By the end of the 1930s, the thoughtful and the forward-looking among the
Congressmen appeared to have resolved most of the questions that perplexed them in
the aftermath of the Non-Cooperation Movement or throughout the latter half of the
1920s. On the threshhold of the 1940smany of them seemed to know those whom they
had to fight in the anti-imperialist struggle. They appeared to have identified the
manner in which the anti-imperialist struggle had to rise above all sectional
considerations of class and creed by emphasising the actual sufferings of the people.
They seemed to know how the struggle must be escalatedand strengthened by rallying
all the victims of the imperialist rule, especially the toiling people. But more
importantly, they seemed also to have caught a glimpse of the destination to which the
anti-imperialist struggle should take them. The gradual understanding of all these
crucial points, and the consequent process of radicalisation of the national movement,
owed substantially to the vision and exertion of Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra
Bose.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Why was Independence for India League launched?

2 Which sections of Indian Society attracted special attention of Bose and Nehru after
1927?

3 How did the socialist views of Nehru and Bose influence the Congress policies?
N.thm.liam:
-
The later wpr Y u m 11

26.8 LET US SUM UP 1

In this Unit, you have read ab e and spread of Socialist ideas in the
Indian political mainstream. You se ideas did not acquire prominence
within the Congress for ma ith the intervention of young leaders
like Jawaharlal Nehru and Su cialist ideas received impetus, and
influenced the programme and the Congress. You also saw how
Nehru's ventures to push forwa ist ideas did not always find favour with some
of the prominent Congressmen, to them; and prevented the
orientation of the Congress t ction. To sum up, the importance of
these ideas and the efforts ofpe e Nehru and Bose should not be judged by their
ultimate success or failure, but r influence and the sincerity and commitment
with which they were pursu

Dominion Status: Self governmen der the formal supervision of the colonial power.
Fabian Socialism: In its underst Socialism was not an alternative to the present
socio-economic system but was ary to make society more liberal for which they
laid emphasis on peaceful mean
No-changers: That section of ss leadership which was in favour of the Council
boycott and opposition to
Praja Mondal Movement: People vement in Princely Indian States demanding
democratic set up.
Prochanger: That section of Con ss leadership which supported the Swarajist
programmes.

Check Your Progress 1 !I!

1 You should mention the l e a d e d i h o have been discussed in Section 26.2
2 The early leaders were appre e because they thought that adopting Socialism
would create class antagonis ia and may weaken national movement. Also
see Section 26.2.
3 After the sudden withdrawal Non-Cooperation Movement there was general
disappointment and a com de. Also read Section 26.3.

Check Your Progress 2

1 During his stay abroad Nehru icipated in a number of conferences and met
Socialist activists. For details
2 The struggle against imperiali 11 parts of the world was directed against colonial
exploitation. In this sense In edom struggle was also a part of this. Also read
Sub-sec. 26.4.2 and 26.4.3.
 Check Your Progress 3 Indian National Congress -
Socialist Ideas:
I 1 Independence for India League was launched to oppose the concept of Dominion Role of Nehm and Bow
, Status, to plead for complete independence and establishment of Indian Republic.
See Section 26.6.
II 2 After 1927 the students, youth and workers attracted the attention of Nehru & Bose.
t See Section 26.6.
3 Nehm and Bose influenced the Congress in taking stands on agrarian question, civil
I liberties and opposing Fascism. Also read Section 26.7.
UNIT 27 GRO F THE LEFT:
ARTY OF
THE CONGRESS

Structure
27.0 Objectives
27.1 Introduction
1

27.3 Formation of the ia and its Early History

27.3.1 M.N.Rov

27.3.3 M.N.Roy at Tas

27.3.4 Early Communis
27.3.5 Formation of the

27.5 Communist Influence on

27.6 Meerut Conspiracy Case
27.7 Formation of the Congre
27:7.1 The Early Socialists
27.7.2 Brief Sketches of the Ear
27.7.3 Towards All India Congr
27.8 The Program
27.9 The Impact of the Congre alists' Programme upon National Politics
27.10 Let Us Sum Up
27.11 Key Words

27.0 OBJECTIVES
rlFI
After reading this unit you will
the historical background of ce of left in India
explain the ideology and pro f the leftist parties and groups in India during
the freedom struggle, and
show to what extent the left ced the socio-political life of India in the
pre-independence era.

/,I '
27.1 INTRODUCTION
Before going into the history oft ement in India, let us discuss the historical
and ideological significance of t '. During the period of the French
revolution, in the National Asse France, there were three groups -a
conservative group which supp arch and nobility and did not want to
reduce their powers, a liberal ted limited ieforms in the government,
and a radical group which wan s in the system of government, such as
the adoption of a constitution the powers of monarch. Within the
assembly the conservatives sat on ide of the speaker, the radicals sat to his
left, and the liberals sat in the cen then, in the political vocabulary, the word
'Left' has been used to mean ovements which stand for radical
reforms in the government a omic order keeping in mind the
interests of the unprivileged and o d sections of the society. The word 'Right' on
the other hand is used to mean suc s which are opposed m change in the existing
system of government and s ic order because of their own stakes. Those
who stand for limited changes in o-economic and political system are known as
Centrists. Left is generally cons o be synonymous with socialism, because
socialism is an ideology which aims at the upliftment of the toiling workers and Grorrth of Lcn:Cormnunla1Pwly
of I d a md Coogrrss
protecting them from exploitation by their employers, i.e.,the capitalists. Soewist Party

In Unit 12 you have already learnt how socialism originated and grew in Europe as a
result of the Industrial Revolution. You have also been told about Karl Marx's theory
of socialism, his economic interpretation of history, his doctrine of Class Struggle and
his idea of a classless society. You have also learnt (in Unit 14) how Lenin applied
Marx's theory in Russia and established a dictatorship of the Proletariat in that country.
It has also been pointed out (in Unit 26) how within the Congress leaders like
Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose subscribed to the socialist ideology. In this
unit we shall discuss the formation and the programmes of the Communist Party of
India and the Congress Socialist Party.

27.2 HOW THE LEFTIST MOVEMENT GREW IN INDIA

The Leftist movement originated and grew in India as a result of the development of
modem industries and the impact of socialist movements in other countries like Great
Britain and Russia. As a result of the industrial development in certain places like
Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, large and concentrated working populations came into
existence. Gradually the workers started organising themselves to demand better
working conditions and higher wages. This led to the emergence of trade unions. The
growth of the Trade Union Movement in India will be discussed in greater detail in
Unit 28. But here we would like to tell you that the growth of Trade Unionism prepared
the ground for the formation of the Leftist parties.
In Unit 14 you have already read about the successful Socialist Revolution in Russia.
In 1919, under the auspices of the Communist government of Soviet Union an
international organisation of the Communist parties of different countries was
established. This organisation was known as the Third Communist International, as
two similar organisations had been formed earlier. It aimed at bringing about
Communist revolutions and establishing governments of the working class all over the
world.
Till the end of the First World War, workers' strikes in the Indian industries were a rare
phenomena and the workers were not politically conscious. From the end of the First
World War onwards there were frequent strikes in the industries and a large number of
trade unions were formed. The large-scale unrest of the workers at the end of the First
World War was mainly due to the rise in prices caused by the War, and unwillingness
of the employers to raise the wages. While demanding economic benefits the workers
also became conscious of their political role. In cities like Bombay the workers
organised strikes against the repressive Rowlatt Act. The nationalist leaders also
became keenly interested in the working class movement. Tlle first session of the All
India Trade Union Congress was held at Bombay in October 1920 under the
presidentship of the nationalist leader, Lala Lajpat Rai.
Against this background let us discuss the history of the leftist parties in India.

27.3 FORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF

INDIA AND ITS EARLY HISTORY
Having seen the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the formation of
the Communist International, some Indian revolutionaries and intellectuals, working
within and outside India, contemplated the formation of a Communist Party in India.
It was M.N. Roy (Manabendra Nath Roy) who first formed the Communist Party of
India outside India in Tashkent under the auspices of the Communist International in
1920.

27.3.1 M.N. Roy

The original name of Manabendra Nath Roy was Narendranath Bhattacharya. He was
born on 6 February 1889in a poor Brahmin family of the Urbalia village of 24 Parganas
 district of Bengal. Early in li evolutionary terrorist. He received his
education in the National Un , founded by Aurobindo Ghosh. During the First
World War he was engaged in d revolt in India with the help of
German arms. While pursui a revolutionery he travelled through many
countries -Malay, Indone a, Philippines, Japan, Korea, China and
U.S.A. He landed in the ci isco in the summer of 1916. In U.S.A. he
changed his name to Mana y. During his stay in U.S.A., he studied
Marxist literature. Gradua nationalism towards international
communism. After U.S. First World War on the side of Allied Powers,
i.e.,Great Britain and Fran safe to remain there any longer. He went
to Mexico. There he came Russian Communist emissary, Michael
Borodin. Roy became erted to communism and helped
Borodin to organise th From Mexico he went to Moscow
at the call of Lenin, th

27.3.2 M.N. Roy-Lenin De#e

At Moscow he attended t ngress of the Communist International, held in
July-August 1920. This C ing to formulate the policy of Communist
International with regard to ial countries, i.e.,the countries of Asia, ruled by
the European Powers. Lenin in such countries the communists should extend
active support to the rev ments carried on by the bourgeois (middle
classes, i.e. ,propertied c ) nationalists against the foreign
imperialistic governments. He hat nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi
who were carrying a movemen st the British imperialist government were
- progressives. But Roy h is nationalists were reactionaries (opposed
to progress), and th Id carry on their struggle against
imperialism indepen parties of workers and peasants. As a result of
-.. the insistence of Roy, t of the Communist International modified
the view of Lenin in th ile extending support to "revolutionary
national bourgeoisie" in the against imperialism, the Communists would carry
on their struggle inde lliance between workers and peasants.

27.3.3 M.N. Roy at ~ a s h k 4

14. M.S ROY In October 1920, M.N. Roy ent, a place in Soviet Russia, not very far
from Afghanistan. There he ilitary school for training the Indian frontier
tribes for the purpose of armed inst the British Government, and also formed
the Communist Party of India. munist Party of India was affiliated to the
Communist International in e meantime, being disgusted with the British
Government's hostility towa n of Turkey (who was the Caliph or the
religious head of the Muslims) nds of Muslim Mujahirs (pilgrims) joined Roy at
Tashkent. There they took les the newly established military School. As this
school was closed in May 192 rs went to join the Communist University of
the Toilers of the East at Mosco e they received training in the ideas of Marx and
Lenin.
After getting training at Mosco Mujahirs returned to India. On their return they
were caught by the police a for trial to Peshawar. This trial is known as the
Peshawar Conspiracy Case ( As a result of the trial, two prominent Mujahirs
- Mian Muhammad Akbar Gawhar Rahman Khan were sentenced to two
years' rigourous imprisonmen e rest to one year's hard labour.

27.3.4 Early Communist

In the meantime, the revoluti
dltbPS
like Virendra Nath Chattopadhyay,
Bhupendranath Dutt, a who were working outside India became
converts to Marxism, a some Communist groups also emerged. Some
Non-cooperators turned m after the suspension of the Non-Cooperatior,
Movement by Mahatm
In Bombay a Communis nised by Shripad Amrit Dange. Dange was
born in October 1899in a Marat min family of Nasik. His father was a clerk in a
Solicitor's~irm.He was e n College. When Gandhi launched the Non-
Cooperation Movement, inued his studies and joined it. Soon after the
d Len: Communist Party
of India and Congress
Socialist Party
 ......

~atks.llarn: Meanwhile M.N. Roy wa

-
Tbc later War Y F Y ~II
secret emissaries. On 2nd
ontact with the Communists in India through,
1922 M.N. Roy wrote a letter to Dange, outlining
the plan of a dual organis Communist Party of India. Roy suggested the
formation of a public org
The early Indian Communists it difficult to form an all-India organisation
because ~f the British Govern hostility towards them. In 1924, the British
Government started a conspi gainst the four leading Communists -Muzaffar
Ahmad, S.A. Dange, Shauk and Nalini Gupta. The Government alleged
that these Communists had " a branch of a revolutionary organisation

known as Communist Inter th the object of depriving the British King-

Emperor of the Sovereig India. This case is known as the Cawnpore
Conspiracy Case, as the t took place in Cawnpore. During the trial
Dange claimed the right to p in India, as it had been allowed in other
parts of the British Empir ritain. As a result of this trial Dange, Ahmad,
Usmani and Gupta were ur years' ri,gourous imprisonment in May 1924.

27.3.5 Formation of the In

In September 1924, at Caw
I n Communist Party

provisional constitution of the party. This

pendence and reorganisation of Indian society
1 of means of production and distribution
of wealth "in the interests of

who had been released ference met under the presidency of

Singaravelu Chettier. The Ca nference is regarded as the formal beginning
of the Communist Party of In meeting the Central Committee of the Party
ergarhatta as the Joint Secretaries.
Towards the end of 1926 t of the Communist Party of India was
published. Meanwhile, the Ce ittee of the Communist Party held a number
of secret sessions for working y's programme. From 1925, the British
Communists started comi ganizing the Indian Communist Movement.
In 1928 two members of arty of India were elected as alternative
members of the Executive of the Communist International in its sixth
Congress. In 1930 the Part lly affiliated to the Communist International..
The infant Communist Move a had some drawbacks:
It suffered from paucity of fu
The British Government was stile towards the Communist Party of India
because of its revolutionary c and affiliatior?with the Communist
International,
There was paucity of cadres, a
The privileged upper strata ociety opposed Communism.

Check Your Progress 1

1 Give an account of the Com a from 1920to 1925. What were
the drawbacks of this Move
2 Write short notes on the following personalities: '- Growth d LcR. Communist Party
d India and Congress
i) M.N. Roy Saeinllst Parry

............................................................................................................
ii) S.A. Dange

............................................................................................................
iii) Muzaffar Ahmad

............................................................................................................
iv) Singaravelu Chettier -

.............................................................................................................
v) Satyabhakta

3 i) Who wrote the book, Gandhi vs. Lenin?

ii) Who edited the journal The Socialist?

27.4 FORMATION OF WORKERS' AND

PEASANTS' PARTIES
In spite of the obstacles, the Communist Movement gained momentum. In 1927 in
Bombay and the Punjab the Workers' and Peasants' parties were formed. These parties
attempted to propagate their ideology and programme through the use of press:
The Bombay Workers' and Peasants' Party brought out a Maratha weekly, entitled
Kranti (Revolution).
The Punjab Workers' and Peasants' Party brought out an Urdu weekly, called
Mihnatkash (Worker).
A Workers' and Peasants' party was also formed at Meerut in a conference, held in
October 1928. This conference was attended by the British Communist, Philip Spratt.
The conference passed resolutions, demanding:
national independence, abolition of princely order,
recognition of workers' right to form trade unions,
abolition of Zamindari,
land for the landless peasants,
establishment of agricultural banks,
eight-hour working day, and
minimum wages for industrial workers.
N.tioa;llism: In December 1928, an all-Indi rence of workers' and peasants' parties was held
The lntcr W w Years - Il
at Calcutta under the president Sohan Singh Josh. Here three major decisions
were taken:
i) This Conference formed a 1Executive Committee, comprising leading
Communists.
ii) The Conference emphasiz ternational character of the Communist
movement and the need liation of the Communist Party of India with
international organisatio gue against Imperialism and the Communist
International.
iii) This Conference asked the unists to carry on their movement independently
instead of identifying th th "the so-called bourgeois leadership of the
Congress".

27.5 COMMUNIST I ~ U E N C E
ON TRADE UNIONS
IQrl
In the meantime the Comm d their influence over the Trade Union
Organisations by leading the w rikes. The Communists played a prominent
role in the Railway Workshop trikes of February and September 1927 at
Kharagpur. Their influence sed over the Bombay Textile Mill workers.
From April to October 1928 t orkers of Bombay carried on massive strikes,
protesting against the wage-c trikes, the Communist Girni Kamgar Union
played the most prominent role. as a tremendous increase in the strength of this
Trade Union in 1928. By Decem its strength went up to 54,000 members, while
the Bombay Textile Labour y the veteran liberal trade unionist N.M. Joshi
had only 6,749 members.
The strikes in industries ass ing proportions in 1928. During that year 31.5
million working days were It of the strikes. The Government held the
Communists responsible e industries. The Government, therefore,
planned measures for cur ties. In January 1929, the Viceroy Lord Irwin
declared in his speech before th ral Legislative Assembly: "The disquieting
spread of Communist doctrines causing anxiety". On 13 April 1929 the
Viceroy proclaimed the dinance for the purpose of deporting the
subversive elements. Simult the Trade Disputes Act was passed. This Act
introduced tribunals for sett workers' problems and practically banned such
strikes which "coerced" or caused hardship to the people.

31 Communists on 14 March quently one more was arrested. These

Communists were tried at M charge of conspiracy against His Majesty's

Special Duty under the Director Bureau, Home Department,

Government of India). It was alle

conspiracy".
The Meerut Conspiracy case agai
India. Mahatma Gandhi describe
 instead of being a set-back for the Communist Movement, made heroes and martyrs
I out of the Communists. In their defence speeches before the court, the "accused
I Communists" made such statements which appealed to the anti-British sentiments of
L the nation and raised the dignity of the Communist Movement. For example in his
i
I
statement to the court, Radharaman Mitra, said:
This is a case which will have political and historical significance. It is not
merely a case launched in the ordinary course of its duties by the Police against
31 criminals. It is an episode in the class struggle. It is launched and conducted
as part of a definite political policy. It is an attempt on the part of the British
Imperialist Government of India to strike a blow at the force which it
recognizes as the real enemy which will ultimately bring about its overthrow,
which has already taken up an attitude of irreconcilable hostility towards it and
has already shown a very menacing strength.
In 1934 the Communists renewed their militant trade union activities. There were
strikes at Sholapur, Nagpur and Bombay. The Government became panicky, and,
finding it difficult to tackle the Communists, banned the Communist Party of India on
23 July 1934. Thereafter many of the Communists camed on their activities within the
Indian National Congress and the newly formed Congress Socialist Party. The
Communist Party continued to function underground.

Check Your Progress 2

1 Why and how did the British Government try to suppress the Communist Party of
India?

" 2 The Meerut Conspiracy case infact helped the Communist cause. Comment.

27.7 FORMATION OF THE CONGRESS SOCIALIST

PARTY
The Communists camed on their activities more or less independent of the Indian
National Congress, but within the Congress a considerable section was drawn towards
the Socialist or Communist ideology and sought to work out a Socialist programme
through the Congress. Among this section there were leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru,
Subhas Chandra Bose, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev, Achyut
Patwardhan, and Ram Manohar Lohia.

27.7.1 The Early Socialists

In 1934, after the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement, a section of
Congressmen decided to enter into the legislatures to work for the Congress cause
within the government. Mahatma Gandhi endorsed the line of action, adopted by these
Congressmen who were known as the Constitutionalists.
At this stage some socialists wanted to form a socialist party within the Congress
organisation so as to prevent the erosion of the revolutionary character of the Congress
by entry into the legislatures. The Socialists within the Congress believed in Marxist
 -

ideas like the Communists. But re two basic differences between the Congress
Socialists and the Communists:
i) First, while the Congress So owed their allegince to the Indian National
Congress, the Communists owe alleginance to the Communist International.
ii) Secondly the Congress Soci e nationalists, the Communists at the same
time also believed in the goal national Communist society.
The Congress Socialists join e bourgeois democratic forces within the
Congress for carrying on th nal liberation with the help of workers,
peasants and petty bourgeoisie.
The Congress Socialists wa ad base for the Congress organisation by
bringing into it the worker They held that the workers and the
peasants should take part ational liberation. They believed in the
efficacy of such technique nd peasants' agitation for the attainment
of freedom from foreign cialists believed in class struggle and
stood for abolition of capitali and princely states. They wanted to
incorporate radical socio-eco s for the uplift of toiling masses into the
Congress Party's programme.
In the early thirties Soci rmed by the leftist Congressmen in
provinces like Bihar, U.P., Bo the Punjab. In 1933 in Nasik jail some young
Socialists such as Ja , Achyut Patwardhan, M.R. Masani, N.G.
Gore, Ashok Meht .L. Dantwala floated the idea of forming a
Socialist Party within the Co anisation. In April 1934 at Banaras,
Sampurnananda published a in which he stressed the need for the formation
of an all-India Socialist ngress. Such a wing, he held, would
counter-act the influen
The Congress Socialist ss. They were influenced
by the ideas of Marx,
simultaneously practi
democracy of the West.

27.7.2 Brief Sketches of the#rly Socialists

Jaya Prakash Narayan, the fore der of the Congress Socialists, was born in 1902
in Bihar. In 1921 he discontinu in a Patna college to join the Non-
cooperation movement. e went to the United States of America for
receiving university education. he earned his livelihood by doing manual work
and continued his studies. In U. e came in contact with Communists and became
a Marxist. While returning fro ., he found that the Indian Communists were
taking orders from the Comm rnational at Moscow. Though he appreciated
the Bolshevik Revolution of the success of Communism in the country, he
did not like the idea of India sts acting under orders from Moscow.
Returning to India, he joined t ess party in 1929. In 1930 he was made the
President of the Labour artment of the Congress. His wife, Prabhabati
was a staunch follower of Gand a Prakash published a book, entitled Why
Socialism? in which he s e of socialism for India.
Yusuf Meherally was born in ous business family of Bombay. He was'
influenced by the writings of baldi and by the Sinn Fein Movement of
Ireland and the Chinese an ons. In 1928 he organised the Bombay
Provincial Youth League whic ctive part in organising demonstration against
the Simon Commission and in 1Disobedience movement.
Achyut Patwardhan was born o Theosophist father in 1905. He was educated at
the Banaras Hindu University. completing his education, for sometime, he
served as a University lecturer sited Europe. He joined the Civil Disobedience
Movement and was sentenced sonment in Nasik jail. Patwardhan was
profoundly influenced by the and Theosophical ideas.
Ashok Mehta was born in 1911 a lapur. His father was a prominent Gujarati
literateur. He was educated at t bay University. He joined the Civil
Disobedience Movement and nced to imprisonment in Nasik jail. For a
number of years he edited the jo of the. congress Socialist Party, entitled Congress
Socialist.
M.R. Masani was born in a rich and learned family in Bombay. He studied at the Growth of Len: c-un~st party
of ladla lad Coagrra~
London School of Economics. He was influenced by Fabian Socialism, British Labour Sodllbt m y
movement and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
Acharya Narendra Dev was born in 1889in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a lawyer. In
the early part of his life he was influenced by the extremist nationalists like Bal
Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Har Dayal and Aurobindo. After the Bolshevik Revolution he
turned to Marxism. He attached importance to the role of peasantry in the nationalist
as well as the socialist movement. So he devoted himself to the orgnisation of peasantry
in Uttar Pradesh. He also valued the role of middle class intellectuals in the socialist
movement. He proved himself to be a great exponent of Marxism and at the same time
supported Gandhi's constructive activity.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia was born in a nationalist Manvari family of Uttar Pradesh in
1910. He was educated at Banaras (Hindu), Calcutta and Berlin universities. He took
his doctorate in Political Economy from the ~ e r l i University.
n After his return to India,
Jawaharlal Nehru put him incharge of the Foreign Affairs Department of the All India
Congress Committee. Lohia was influenced by the Social Democratic ideas of Europe
and the Gandhian ideas. He did not believe in Marxism or Communism. He founded a
journal, entitled, Congress Socialist, which later on became the official organ of the
Congress Socialist Party.

27.7.3 Towards an All India Congress Socialist Party

The first All-India Congress Socialists' Conference was convened at Patna by Jaya
Prakash Narayan on behalf of the Bihar Socialist party in May 1934. The Conference
was presided by Acharya Narendra Dev. In his presidential speech, Narendra Dev
criticized the new Swarajist section of Congressmen who wanted to enter the
legislatures and thereby run counter to the revolutionary character of the Congress..He
asked the socialists to carry on their agitation for the adoption of their programme by
the Congress. The Conference passed a resolution asking the Congress to adopt a
programme that was socialist in action and objective.
After this Conference the Congress Socialists worked hard to organise the All-Idia
Congress Socialist party. As the Organising Secretary, Jaya Prakash Narayan
campaigned in different parts of the country to organise the provincial wings of the
party.
The first annual session of the All-India Congress Socialist party was held in Bombay
in October 1934 under the presidentship of Sampurnananda. It was attended by
delegates from thirteen provinces. In this meeting the National Executi'ie of the
Congress Socialist party was constituted with Jaya Prakash Narayan as the General
Secretary.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Trace the circumstances leading to the formation of the Congress Socialist Party in
1934.

2 What were the basic differences between the Communist Party of India and the
Congress Socialist Party?
The Congress Socialist Party a a constitution which outlined the following
programme of action:
i) To work for the acceptanc Congress Socialist Party programme by the
Indian National Congress,
ii) To organise the workers a easants for their own economic uplift as well as
for carrying on the movem e achievement of independence and socialism,
iii) To organise Youth Leagues Organisation and Volunteer Organisations
and secure their support for Socialist Party's programme,
iv) To resist any attempt on t of the British Government to involve India in
imperialist wars, and to crises for the intensification of the freedom
struggle,
v) To resist any negotiation wi e British Government on constitutional issues.
The meeting at Bombay adopt amme as the blueprint of a
Socialist society in India, cont
1 Transfer of all power to th
2 Development of the econo f the country to be planned and controlled by
the state,
3 Socialization of key indust teel, cotton, jute, railways, shipping,
plantations, mines), Insuran Public Utilities, with a view to the progressive
socialisation of the instrume roduction, distribution and exchange,
4 State monopoly of foreign
5 Organisation of cooperati ties for production, distribution and credit in the
unorganised sector of t
6 Abolition with compensa rinces and landlords and all other classes of
exploiters,
7 Redistribution of land a
8 The state was to encourage 4control co-operative and collective farming,
9 Liquidation of debts owne asants and workers,

!"
10 Reco ition of the right t
11 "Toe ery one according t
econo ic goods,
r maintenance by the State,
s" is to be the basis ultimately of distribution of

T"
12 Adult franchise which shall
13 The State shall neither su
functional basis,
discriminate between religions nor recognize
any di tinction based on
f
14 The S ate shall not discri
15 Repudiation of the so-ca
I
The ~ o r n b session
a~ adopted te programmes for the workers' and peasants
uplift. Fot workers the deman : freedom to form trade unions and the right to go
living wage, forty- ek, and, insurance against unemployment,
ccident and old age.
abolition of landlordism, encouragement of
P
For the p asants the demand
cooperat' e farming, exempt
reduction of land revenue an
rents and taxes on uneconomic holdings,
n of feudal levies.
~ n d e ~ e n d e n(freedo
ce ule) and socialism were the twin objectivesof the
Congress Socialist Party. e of attainment of independence the Congress
Socialists joined hands w list and non-socialist forces within the
Congress. Jaya Prakash N "Our work within Congress is governed by the
policy of developing it into rialist body". He also warned his co-workers
9
early in 1 35: "Nothings
elements and drive the
ich may antagonise the genuinely nationalist
h the compromise-seeking right wing."

f
But as th ultimate objective
society i 1ndia;the Congres
programme by the Indian Na
ngress Socialists was to establish a Socialist
s also worked to secure the acceptance of their
gress. Acharya Narendra Dev in his presidential
speech in the first all-India cialists Conference said that the Congress
Socialists should carry on their "endeavour to influence the Nationalist Movement in Glmrcb ofLen:Communist Party
o f h d L d Congma
the direction of socialism." sae~nlyparty

The Congress Socialists followed three lines of activities for the attainment of the twin
objectives of freedom and socialism:
1 Inside the Congress they worked out anti-imperialist and nationalist programmes of
the Congress as Congressmen,
2 Outside the Congress they mobilised the workers, peasants, students, intelligentsia,
youth and women for the cause of socialism,
3 They also sought to integrate the above two lines of activities.
The Congress Socialists sought to mobilise the workers and peasants for their economic
amelioration as well as the country's liberation from foreign rule.

27.9 THE IMPACT OF THE CONGRESS SOCIALISTS'

PROGRAMME UPON NATIONAL POLITICS
There was a mixed reaction among the Congressmen to the formation of the Congress
Socialist party. The conservative or Right Wing Congressmen criticized the Congress
Socialists "loose talk" about the confiscation of property and class war. Mahatma
Gandhi also rejected their idea of class war. Gandhi did not believe in the necessity of
the abolition of princely order, zamindary and capitalism. He wanted to bring about a
change of heart in the princes, zamindars and capitalists so that instead of considering
themselves the owners of the states, zarnindaries and factories they should behave as
the trustees for their subjects, tenants and workers.
But the leftist Congressmen like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
welcomed the formation of the Congress Socialist Party, though neither Nehru nor
Bose joined the party. In the annual session of the Congress, held at Lucknow in April
1936, in his presidential speech Nehru espoused the cause of socialism. He said:
I see no way of ending the poverty, vast unemployment, degradation and
subjection of the Indian people except through socialism. That involves vast
revolutionary changes in our political and social structure, ending vested
interests in the land and industry as well as the feudal autocratic Indian states
system. That means ending private property except in a restricted sense and
replacement of the present profit system by the higher ideals of cooperative
service.
In 1936 Nehru inducted three Congress Socialists - Narendra Dev, Jaya Prakash
Narayan and Achyut Patwardhan into the Congress Working Committee, besides
another leftist, Subhas Chandra Bose. The Faizpur session of the Indian National
Congress, held towards the close of 1936under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru,
adopted an agrarian programme, containing such items as reduction of revenue,
abolition of feudal dues and levies, introduction of cooperative farming, living wage for
the agrarian labourers and formation of peasant unions. In the meantime the Congress
Labour Committee asked the Congress ministries, formed in the provinces in 1937, for
adopting measures for safeguarding and promoting the interests of workers.
The Congress Socialists played an important role in the Kisan (peasant) movement.
Through the efforts of Prof. N.G. Ranga, Indulal Yagnik, and Swami Sahajanand
Saraswati the All-India Kisan Sabha was organised. The first All-India Kisan Congress
met at Lucknow in 1936. The Kisan organisations demanded the abolition of
zamindary, reduction of land tax, and collective affiliation to Congress. The Congress
Socialists changed the Congress Party's policy from aloofness to closer involvement in
the affairsof princely states. The Congress socialist activists also took part in the
democratic movements of the people in the princely states against their autocratic
rulers. They agitated for civic rights and responsible government.

Check Your Progress 4

1 What were the two main objectives of the Congress Socialist Party?
............................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
 .................................... ......................................................
.................................... ...............................................................
\

.................................... ................................................................
What kind of impact did the ess Socialist's Programme have on the nationalist
politics?
.........a*......................... ................................................................
.................................... ................................................................
.................................... ................................................................
.................................... ................................................................
.................................... ................................................................

this movement owes its ori the development of modem industries,

Working Class Movement,
other countries, particularly t

1928 the Communist led Girni Kamgar union

Communist party of India was d by the British Government.

Although the Indian National n middle class and basically
aimed at the liberation of the important section of
Congressmen also aimed a. In 1934 some leftist
Congressmen like Jaya Pra nd Acharya Narendra Dev formed the
Congress Socialist party ngress. The Congress Socialists
simultaneously camed on ndependence from foreign rule and
establishment of a socialis nised the movement of the workers and
peasants. They camed on ncely order, landlordism
and capitalism. Their mov rogrammes for the uplift
of workers and peasants

27.11 KEY WORDS w

l
Bourgeoisie: Middle Class; re propertied Classes, capitalists, industrialists,
merchants, and intelligentsia. bourgeoisie means lower middle class.
CPpit.Uwn: An economic sy sed on individual ownership of means of
production and private enterp
Cornmu- The doctrine m, propounded by Karl Marx.
C W Struggle: Karl Marx pr ed the view that human history is the history of
class struggle between privile unprivileged classes. He predicted that as a result
of the class struggle betwee alists and the workers, the workers would be
victorious and establish a d of the Proleteriat.
Fascism: A political doctrine which is opposed to the democratic concept of government crowth d m Communls( Party
of Indln and Con-
by the majority and the Communist Concept of Class Struggle. It believes in strong rule W d b t Party
by a dictator.
Fabian Socialism: It refers to a school of socialism in England, which believes in the
realisation of socialism by slow and gradual methods.
Liberal: One who believes in democracy.
Proletariat: Have-nots; landless workers; the lowest classes in a society.
Social Democracy: Refers to a school of thought in Europe, which believes in realisation
of socialism through democratic method.
Socialism: An economic system, based on the ownership of the means of production by
the State or the whole community.
Trade Union: A society of workers for protection of their interests.

27.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1 See Sub-secs. 27.3.4,27.3.5. Your answer should include (i) the formation of early
communist groups (ii) formation of communist parties (iii) roles of S.A. Dange and
M.N. Roy. For the second part of the answer you should include (i) the problem of
funds (ii) the British Govt's attitude (iii) problem of cadres.
2 a) M.N. Roy See Sub.-secs. 27.3.1,27.3.2,27.3.3. Your answer should include
(i) Roy and his contact with Soviet Union (ii) his debate with Lenin on India
(iii) his look at Tashkent.
b) S.A. Dange - See Sub-sec. 27.3.4. Your answer should include (i) a few words on
his personal life (ii) his writings (iii) his aim of seeing communists functioning as
a group in Congress.
c) Muzaffar Ahmed - See Sub-sec. 27.3.4. Your answer should include his role in
the formation of Labour Swaraj Party.
d) Singaravelu Chettiar - See Sub-sec. 27.3.4. Your answer should inlcude (i) his
role in founding the Labour Kisan Party in 1923 (ii) his critical resolution at the
Gaya session of the Indian National Congress.
e) Satyabhakta - See Sub-sec. 27.3.4. Your answer should include (i) his role in the
formation of the Indian Communist Party (ii) the Cawnpore Conference.
3 a) S.A. Dange
b) S.A. Dange

Check Your ProgreSs 2

1 See Sections 27.5 & 27.6. Your answer should include (i) the British fear about their
overthrow by the Communists by strikes and uprisings (ii) the Public Safety
Ordinance and Trade Dispute Act (iii) the Meerut Conspiracy Case (iv) ban on
Communist Party in 1934.
2 See Section 27.6. Your answer should include (i) the Universal Criticism the case
drew (ii) also the fact that the trial provided the communists a public forum to express
their views and commitments.

Check Your Progress3

1 See Section 27.7. Your answer should include (i) the influence of socialist ideology
within the Congress (ii) formation of socialist groups within the Congress (iii) the role
of different individuals like Jaya Prakash Narayan and Narendra Dev in giving
direction to early socialists. (iv) the first All India Congress Socialists' Conference.
(v) the first annual session of the All-India Congress Socialist Party. For the second
part of your answer see Sub-sec. 27.7.1 include two basic differences (a) the Congress
Socialists goal was limited to establishing socialism within India while the
Communists believed in an international communist society. (b) Congress Socialists
wanted to work only within the Congress. The Communists were ready to work
independently outside the Congress.
 ~athdimc 2 See Sub-sec. 27.7.2 for all
'IbelmterWarY.m-U a)Include (i) personal sket
b)include (i) influences of
(iii) importance of role

c) include (i) Gandhian and phist ideas influence on him (ii) Jail during Civil
Disobedience.
d)include (i) his dislike fo
democratic socialism (iii) of Congress Socialist (iv) trade unionist.
e) include (i) influence of E
believe in Marxism or

on left congressmen like Neh

policy like abolition of Zami

I 70
 UNIT 28 GROWTH OF TRADE UNION AND
PEASANT MOVEMENT:
1920s-1930s
I
Structure
I
1 28.0 Objectives
I 28.1 Introduction
I 28.2 Condition of the Workers
! 28.3 Rise of Trade Unionism
28.3.1 Meaning of Trade Unionism
28.3.2 Early History
28.3.3 Formation of All India Trade Union Congress
I 28.4 Growth of Trade Unions
28.5 Split in the AITUC
28.6 New Phase
28.7 Hardships of the Peasantry
28.8 Peasant Movements During 1920s
28.9 Peasant Movements During 1930s
28.10 Formation of All India Kisan Sabha
28.11 The Congress and the Peasantry
28.12 Let Us Sum Up
28.13 Key Words
28.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

- - - -

28.0 OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this unit is to give you a short history of the growth of "Trade Union and
Peasant Movements" in India during the 1920s and 1930s . After going through this
unit you will be able to:
know about the condition of the workers,
understand the meaning to Trade Unionism, its early history and the formation of
the All India Trade Union Congress,
follow the process of development of trade union movement and the split which took
place at the later stage,
know about the 9ardships faced by the peasantry, and
explain how peasant movements emerged in various parts of the country and how the
peasants were organised in Kisan Sabhas.

28.1 INTRODUCTION
In Unit 7 of Block 2 you have read about the peasants and the working class movements
in the second half of the 19th century. In this unit we will explain to you the growth of
Trade Union and Peasant Movements during the 1920's and 1930's. We will first take
up the Trade Union Movement and after that the Peasant Movement. You have already
seen how the exploitation and oppression by the colonial government, landlords and
mill owners led to popular uprisings of the peasantry and the workers during the second
half of the 19th century. During the first half of the 20th century you will see how these
movements gradually got an organisational character and pressurized the colonial
regime to change its policy. Some important points you should bear in mind for this
change in the character of the working class and peasant movements of this period:
the emergence of new trends in the national movement-particularly, the shift to
mass politics and mass mobilisation,
the economic and social concequences of the First World War which adversely
affected different sections of the Indian people, and
the impact of Bolshevik Russia and the growth of socialist ideas in India.
NaUodkim: These factors gave rise to the w ng class and peasant movements in India which were
-
The Inter War Years 11
radically different from what w .d witnessed in the earlier periods.

28.2 CONDITION 0 HE WORKERS

We will now briefly describe ons of the workers, which largely explain why
trade unions grew in India. B main centre of India's cotton textile industry,
and Bengal, the centre of ju dustry had the maximum working class
population in India. The living ing conditions of the workers were very
miserable. They worked for 15 18 hours a day. There were no leave rules, no
security of jobs. The workers h Jobbers (Sirdars), one whom depended their
fate. They lived in dark, damp lums) with no water supply, and no sanitary
arrangements.
The condition of the coal min ers was even more miserable. In the coal mines in
Jharia and Giridih the worki re from 6. a.m. to 6 p.m.. Women and children
worked underground and a e very common, but, it was not until 1923 that
accident insurance of a sor ed by the Government. Even so, workers
found it difficult to establis r compensation. The workers were paid low
wages so that the employe imise profits. The Royal Commission of Labour
pointed out that wages were n Madras and Kanpur and highest in Bombay.
Over the years fines were im n the workers for b;eakages, late attendance and
under production. Indebt ong the workers who often turned to Kabuli
money-lenders. These money- ed high rates of interest. There was no
provision for provident en the workers grew old, they lost their
jobs and had to rely for t their children or relatives.

Check Your Progress 1

Use the space given below for
1 Write about five lines on th

2 Write 'Yes' or 'No' against ;entente.

a) Bombay was the main c of India's jute industry. ( 1
b) Calcutta and Bombay ha : maximum working class population. ( 1
c) The workers had to work 15 to 16 hours a day. ( 1
d) The Royal Commission o tbour was appointed to enquire the condition
of the workers. ( 1
e) The workers had the right strike. ( )
f) The workers had the right ~ l age
d pension. ( )

You will now see how workers nised themselves into trade unions to fight against
their exploitation. The rise of unionism marked a new epoch in working class
movement.

28.3.1 Meaning of Trade

Trade Unions, which are ve on to-day, are associations of the workers formed
with the purpose of improvi nditions under which they work in mills and
factories. With the formatio 1s and factories in India in the 19th century,
hundreds of workers began together and meet every day. This gave them the
I opportunity to discuss their problems and place their views before the employers. The Growth or T C md
~ Union
k.SM'MOvemm': 1m-19J(k
workers were mostly illiterate. They did not have any idea in the beginning of forming
Trade Unions and uniting themselves. There were a few 'outsiders' mostly intellectuals,
who tried for years to educate and organise them in trade unions. Very often they
I became leaders of the unions.

I 28.3.2 Early History

As we have already said, a few individuals being moved by the miserable condition of
the workers tried to improve their working conditions. For example in Bengal Sasipada
Banej e e , a radical Brahmao, founded the working men's club. H e also published a
journal, the Bharat Sramjibi (Indian worker) in 1874, and organised night schools to
spread'education among the jute mill workers. But he did not form a trade union.
Similarly in Bombay, N.M. Lokhande, started-the weekly Dinabandhu in 1880 and
founded the Bombay Mill-Hands Association in 1890. This Association, though not a
trade union, put forward the demands of :
reduction in working hours,
a weekly holiday and,
compensation for injuries suffered by the workers during work at the factories.
j B.P. Wadia, a close associate of Annie Besant formed the Madras Labour Union in
t April, 1918. This was the first trade union in India. In Ahmedabad, a centre of cotton
textile industry, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led a strike of the workers in 1918.
Referring to the conditions of the woker Gandhi wrote in his autobiography (The Story
ofMy Experiments with Truth) that "wages were low, and the labourers had long been
agitating for an increment".
Gandhi requested the mill-owners t o refer the matter to arbitration but they refused.
Gandhi then advised the labourers to go on a strike. The strike continued for 21 days.
Gandhi began a fast but, after three days a settlement was reached. In 1920 Gandhi
formed the Majur Mahajan which advocated peaceful relations between the workers
and their employers, arbitration and social service.

28.3.3 Formation of All India Trade Union Congress

Trade unionism was slowly gaining ground through the efforts mentioned above. In
1919-20 there was a wave of strikes in many industrial centres such as Kanpur, Calcutta,
Bombay, Madras, Jamshedpur and Ahmedabad. Thousands of workers took part in
these strikes. It was against in this background that the All India Trade Union Congress
(AITUC) was formed in Bombay in 1920. Lala Lajpat Rai presided over the inaugural
session which was attended by prominent nationalist leaders and trade unionists like
Motilal Nehru, Annie Besant, C.F. Andrews, B.P. Wadia and N.M. Joshi. The All
India Trade Union Congress was the central organisation of the Indian workers.
Although strikes became frequent in the 1920s, growth of trade unionism among the
workers w a s ~ a t h eslow.
r The Royal Commission on Labour gives two reasons for it:
i) Differences of language and community were factors that stood in the way of
workers unity. In the Bengal Jute mills, for instance, the majority of the workers
came from Bihar and U.P.; and Bengali workers were in a minority.
ii) The jobbers and the employers were opposed to the growth of trade unions.
In 1929, only 51 unions with 190,436 members were affiliated to AITUC. But the
majority of the workers were not yet organized in trade unions. The fear of dismissal
from jobs also kept the workers away from the trade unions.

Check Your Progress 2

Use the space given below for your answers.
1 What is a Trade Union? Answer in 25 words.
N.tiondb: 2 Is Trade Union useful for the
-
I h e Inter War Yearn 11
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
3 Write five sentenceson the ea:
the workers.

......................................
......................................
4 How was the All India Trade

In spite of these hurdles t n movement was gaining popularity among the

workers. The main reaso that the workers had many grievances, such as
long hours of work, bad ages, dismissals from jobs, etc. They turned to
the 'outsiders' for help. were nationalists, communists and socialists.
Sometimes they were also nts in the sense that they did not belong to any
party. These 'outsiders' or ers, wrote petitions addressed
to the employers and fo
which in many cases were affiliated to the All
employers refused to consider their demands,
the workers struck work. Dur s often helped them with

Middle class employees who worked in

ms also formed trade unions and organised
rikes in India during this period. Bombay was
Most of these mills were built by Indian
f 150,000 workers in Bombay against the
g the preceeding four years. In 1926 the
. Joshi as the President. In April 1928 there
in most of the mills joined this strike. On
e government appointed a committee to
he strike forced the government to

In Bengal the British capitalists the jute mills. It was the biggest industry in
Bengal. There occurred 592 ind disputes in Bengal during 1921-29, out of these
the workers of Fort Gloster Mills in Bauria in

arlal Nehru wrote on this

strike:
 The village of Bauria lies 16miles from Howrah town.. . in this village and the ~ r o w t hof T r d e Union and
Peasant Movement: 1920s - 1930s
surrounding area, is being fought a grim struggle between the poor workers in
the factory and the jute kings of Bengal.. .. Fifteen thousand of them have
carried on the struggle for six months or more.
In July 1929, there was a general strike in the jute mills. The Bengal Congress showed
sympathy for the strike. The Government intervened and the strike ended on 16
August.
Jamshedji Tata founded the first modem steel factory in India in Jamshedpur which was
named after him. About 20 thousand workers worked in this factory and in 1920 the
workers formed the Labour Association. In a protest against to the dismissal of large
number of workers the Tata Steel factory started a general strike in 1928 which
continued for more than six months. Though the strike was not wholly successful, the
I
Labour Association was recognised by the employers.
During the same period in Ahmedabad a 20% wage cut by the mills-owners led to a
general strike in 56 out of 64 textile mills. Madras city was also an important centre of

I trade union movement. The first May Day was celebrated in 1923, at Madras by
Singaravelu.

I
I 28.5 SPLIT IN THE AITUC
The Great Economic Depression started in America and spread through out the world
in 1929. The Depression in India continued till 1936. Hundreds of factories closed down
and thousands of workers lost their jobs. The number of unions also fell.
Unfortunately, there were two splits within the All India Trade Union Congress during
this period. The first split took place in 1929. Jawaharlal Nehru was then the president
of the AITUC. The main issue was whether the AITUC would boycott the Royal
Commission on Labour appointed by the British Government or not. The moderates
wanted to join it while the extremists wanted to boycott it. Finally, the moderates left
the AITUC and formed the Indian Trade Union Federation with V.V. Giri as the
president. There was another split in 1931.The communists left the AITUC and formed
the Red Trade Union Congress. The splits took place when thousands of workers were
being dismissed by the employers. The splits weakened the trade union movement.

28.6 NEW PHASE

However, a new phase of trade union movement started from 1935 onwards. The unity
in the AITUC was restored. The Indian economy began to improve from 1936onwards.
In 1937 the Congress formed ministries in the provinces. The formation of the Congress
ministries aroused inspiration and expectation among the workers. The number of
trade unions doubled between 1936 and 1939 and the number of members also
increased considerably. The number of strikes increased from 157 in 1936 to 406 in
1939. Notable strikes included those affecting the Kesoram Cotton Mills in Calcutta
and Ahmedabad textiles in 1935, the Bengal Nagpur Railway in December 1936, to
February 1937, and a series of labour disputes in Calcutta jute mills and Kanpur textile
mills during 1936culminating in the next year in massive general strikes in both centres.
An important development of this period was the attempt made by the leftists and
socialists to unite the trade unions and peasant organizations for a collective movement.
Indeed it was the phase of the expansion of the trade union movement.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Why did trade union movement become popular among the workers? How did the
"Outsiders" help the workers? Answer in about ten lines.
 ..................................... ................................................................
2 What was the effect of the G r epression on the workers? Answer in about three
lines.
..................................... ................................................................
..................................... ................................................................

3 Discuss in brief the growth of union movement after 1937. Answer in about 100
words.
..................................... ................................................................
..................................... ................................................................
..................................... ................................................................

A number of peasant struggles itnessed in various parts of India during the

1920s and the 1930s. In unit 7 you have already read how the establishment
of colonial rule adversely a dian peasantry and how they rose in arms on
their own against this explo Unit we will see, how the change in time did
not bring an end to the e e peasantry. Rather it continued unabated.
But the peasants had learnt, fr experience that they should not remain
unorganised to fight against the of the government and the landlords. The 20th
century on the one hand showed ly the revolt of the peasantry against the excesses
of the Taluqdari and Zaminda but also the formation of peasant organisations
-like the Kisan Sabhas.
There may be certain variations rm of exploitation in different parts of India,
but in general the peasants i red great hardships and were always at the
mercy of the others. Here we e of the major grievances of the peasantry
which will help you understa ndition of the peasantry of that time.
In many regions the peasants occupancy rights on the lands tilled by them.
The landlords had the power them which they used to harass their tenants.
f Besides the regular taxes pa to the landlords, the landlords compelled the
tenants to pay 'Nazaranas', bs' and other gifts on various pretexts.
The heavy burden of land re ent made the peasantry heavily indebted to
village merchants and land1 charged heavy interests rates. It was very
difficult for the peasants to he debt-trap which continued from generation
to generation.
 The outbreak of the First World War added to the miseries of the peasants. For GrowU~of Trade Union and
example in many regions they had to pay for war funds; military service, etc.
P-t -
Movement: 19208 19%

/I During this period there was a sharp rise in the prices of food grains. This rise in
prices benefitted the middle men and the merchants, not. the poor.
I
In such a situation it was the duty of the Government to help the peasant. But the
, Government itself was on the side of the landlords. This was because it depended on
the landlords for stability of its rule in thecountry-side. That is why under the pressure
1 of these hardships the peasants chose the path of revolt as the way of their
emancipation.
I
Check Your Progress 4
, 1 What were the main grievances of the peasants? Answer in about hundred words.
i
............................................................................................................
i

......................................................................... ....................................

2 Which of the following statements are correct or wrong? (mark ',I or x).
i) During this period the peasantsfor the first time orp-nized themselves into Kisan
Sabhas.
ii) The landlords had no right to evict the tenants frc.n the lands tilled by them.
iii) The peasants were not forced but they willingly paid the 'abwabe' to the
landlords.
iv) The rise in prices of foodgrains was beneficial for the poor peasants.
v) The government was very much sympathetic to the grievances of the peasantry.

28.8 PEASANT MOVEMENTS DURING 1920s

Against this background we will now discuss some of the important peasant movements
that took place during the 1920s. U.P. was one of the strong centres of the peasant
movements during this period. The oppressive Taluqdari and Zamindari system made
the peasants life unbearable. The nationalists showed a great deal of interest in the
problems faced by the peasants. But it was Baba Ram Chandra who took the initiative
to organize the peasants of Oudh against the landlords. Baba Ram Chandra was a
Maharashtrian Brahmin by birth. He went to Fiji as an indentured labourer in 1905and
from there he came to the Oudh countryside in 1917-18. Dressed like a 'Sannyasi'
(Monk), he moved amongst the peasants, held meetings in the villages and quoted the
Ramcharitmanas for awakening and mobilising peasants in the countryside. He told the
peasants that they were in bondage to the Government and Taluqdars and &ly by
unifying themselves into an organised group could they end this bondage. When he was
arrested by the British government in August 1920, numerous peasants flocked to the
court compound demanding his release.
The peasant movement got associated with the Congress launched Non-Cooperation
Movement in 1920. In 1921, peasant movements became militant and spread to Rae
Bareli, Fyzabad and Sultanpur in Central U.P. The peasants held demonstrations
demanding that evictions from land should stop. They raided the houses of the
landlords and the money-lenders. On 6th January, 1921 the,peasants gathered at
 Fursatganj Bazar to protest a st of grains and cloth, the heavy profit
making of the banias and the of Taluqdars. The police failtd to
disperse the peasants and fire s were killed. The defenceless
peasants were again fired upo thousands of peasants collected at
the Munshiganj bridge in Ra ribed this incident in his
Autobiography:
"AS I reached the rivers f firing could be heard from the other side. I'was
stopped at the bridge.. found that men had been killed in the firing."
The situation however ummer of 1921. The movement faded out due
to the repressive policy o the efforts of the Congressmen to restrain
the movement and the Rent Act in 1921. But this failed to
pacify the peasants, and in la early 1922 the movement emerged again in
Hardoi, Barbanki, Sitapur In these districts the 'Eka' movement was
started by the peasants 1peasant leader, was the leading spirit
behind this. The movemen sed a serious challenge to the landlords and
the administration. Howe nt failed again due to the repressive policy
of the British governmen i could not be arrested.
In north Bihar the peasant m grew under the leadership of Swami Yidyanand.
The Raja of Darbhanga who estates in this areas oppressed the loca! peasants
in various ways. Swami Vidy nized the peasants against the Darbhanga Raj.
But here the movement was n tant as in U.P.
In Bengal also the peasants jo -tax movement. This was more intense in the
Midnapore district. The peasa o pay the Union Board taxes. The movement
became so strong that the me Union Boards resigned. The Government
decided not to proceed with t ards. Thus the movement ended in victory.
The Congress attempted t the peasants in Gujarat. In 1927 the Government
had enhanced the revenue ite of the fall in the prices of cotton. Leaders
like Vallabhbahi Patel and hta played an important role in mobilising the
peasants. This led to the e ~ a r d o jSatyagraha
i in 1928. The peasants
refused to pay revenue to . As a result there was much repression and
the lands of the peasants the Government. At least the Government
arrived at a compromise assessment of revenue was reduced.
Besides the movements menti ,there were sporadic peasant revolts in other
parts of the country as well. In ,Malabar, Orissa, Assam and other provinces
also the peasants vehemently against the injustices done to them.

28.9 PEASANT M O ~ E N T IN
S THE 1930s
During the 1930s also the p in revolt in different provinces. The peasant
struggle was most intense in re the Congress gave a call for no-tax movement
revenue. But some leaders wanted to start a no-
t? It is a movement of the tenants who paid
ment was directed against the Government,
. In the winter of 1931, a no-rent
movement was launtded. Th s a great response from the tenants. They stopped
spread in Rae Bareli, Etawah, Kanpur,
alka Prasad of Rae Bareli asked the
peasants to stop all kinds of pa The Government tried to suppress the
- movement. The peasant union lared illegal. The movement was crushed.
In Bengal and Bihar the pe part in no-tax movements. In Bengal even
peasant women prepared traband salt in Midnapore district, and were
beaten up by the police. In ,Singhbhum and Dinajpur districts the tribal
peasants joined the salt Sat d went to jail. But there was no movement for
non-payment of rent to the
In Madras the peasant move ad begun to grow. Already the Andhra Ryots'
Association was formed in 1 se leader was Professor N.G. Ranga. The Ryots'
Association popularised the te demands of the peasantry and reduction of
rents was one of the important demands which affected the landlords. When the Civil ,Growth of Trade Union and
Disobedience Movement began. The ryots held meetings in the villages and campaigned P-t -
Movement: 1920s 19%

against land revenue. The agitation became strong in Tanjore, Madura and Salem. By
late 1931 grain riots started in some districts. In Krishna district the house of a
moneylender was raided and his granary was robbed. In Guntur district there was a
clash between the police and the peasants. But in spite of the efforts of the Government
and the Congress to restrain the peasant movement, it continued to grow with much
more vigour.

28.10 FORMATION OF ALL INDIA KISAN SABHA

In different regions, provincial Kisan Sabhas were already formed by the 1920s. But the
need for a central organisation of the peasants was felt by the socialists and the
communists. Their efforts led to the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in
1936. By 1937 branches of the All India Kisan Sabha were formed in different
provinces. N.G. Ranga, Swami Sahajanand, Narendra Dev, Indulal Yagnik and
Bankim Mukherjee were some of the prominent leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha.
The objectives of the Kisan Sabha were:
the protection of the peasants from economic exploitation,
the abolition of landlordism, such as the Zamindari and the Taluqdari systems,
reduction of revenue and rent,
moratorium on debts,
licensing of moneylenders,
minimum wages for agricultural labourers,
fair price for commercial crops, and
irrigation facilities, etc.

16. Excerpts from Newspapers on I.A.K.S.

Natjadism In their meetings and Sabha popularised these demands, and
-
The Inter War Year6 11 put pressure on the these demands. In its second annual
meeting at Faizpur ~ ~ ~ A I K S perialist forces in the country and
especially the Kisans a*d wor ir day-to-day struggles against the
exploiters, as represented by ment in India, the Zamindars and
landlords and industri#sts and nders." The AIKS decided to work
independently of the Cpngress laimed that the emancipation of the peasants
lay in "their own organisation".
The Kisan Sabha launched a ne movement which was directed mainly against
the landlords. In Bihar there wa ular movement in 1937-38which was known as
the Bakasht Movement1Bakasht ated. The landlords often evicted the
tenants from Bakasht l v d . W ation of the Congress ministry in 1937, the
Kisan Sabha thought thpt the ti come to force the issue of Bakasht. It launched
the Bakasht Movemenr during ts fought against eviction. There were
clashes between the lanhlords
In Bengal also the Kisaq Sabha the Burdwan district the Canal Tax was
imposed on the peasany after t n of the Damodar Canal. The Kisan
Sabha organised a satyqgraha he reduction of Canal Tax. The
Government partly accepted t d of the Kisan Sabha and the movement was
withdrawn. In north ~ e b ~ a l a movement was launched. The
landlords collected a ledy from t o sold rice, paddy, vegetables, cattle in
fairs and hats (weekly niarkets). ts refused to pay this levy. Sometimes the
landlords came to a conlpromise asants and exempted poor peasants from
paying the levy. I
~n 1939 there was a moJement o e croppers. They were poor peasants who
tilled the land of the lanblord an rtion of the produce to the landlord, but
they had no security of tdnure an icted by the landord. In 1939the tenants
took the crop from the field to t flour. Previously they had to carry the
crop to the landlord's grbary, was threshed and then divided between
the share cropper and tlje 1 movement became strong in Dinajpur district
in north Bengal. The G e m ompromise with the peasants. It was

$
decided that in future p ddy n a place to be decided by the landlord
and the share cropper. us s successful, and the peasants learnt the
power of organisation. imil asant struggles in Orissa and Andhra
Pradesh during this peribd. a vital role in organising the peasants
in Andhra Pradesh.

The questions that now dome t at was the Congress response to the
peasants movement? M a
movement? The Congre
their importance in stru
the peasant issues and t
observation, made in 1
All else is secondary". B
dominant social groups i y were afraid of the growing class
consciousness of the I
abolition of landlordism. They asants' support to strengthen the anti-
imperialist movement, but avo
Whenever the peasant rqse the Congress leadership tried to
restrain them. The right yi ation of the Kisan Sabha as a
challenge to the Congresp
" If a Kisan Sabha $ets up i feud as between Kisan and Zamindars it harms
the Congress caqse. The ess knows best how to deal with the different
elements compoqing the ..It is for the Congress to lay down the policies.
not for individuqs or fo to dictate them by a threat or show of force?
I
 Growth of Trade Union and
-
Peasant Movement: 1920s 1930s

17. Excerpts from Ncw\prpers on progress of Peasant Movement

 and the peasant movements we find that at
the Congress. They had full faith on the
he country. But unlike the Congress right
e emancipation not only from British rule
amindars and Capitalists. This was the basic issue
Congress leadership and the peasant leadership.
The attitude of th s becomes clear from the speech of

" w e all cling t o the not for its magic or mystery, but because it
represents the nation, ot taken any false step at critical junctures.. .. All
engthen its hands in taking opportune decisions
f our national struggle for deliverance!'

started in U.P. during the 1920's? Answer in about

..................................................................

...........................................................
...........................................................
2 What wereathemajor dem the AIKS ? Answer in about five lines.
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................

i Satyagraha of 1928?

28.12 LET U$ SUM da(

The hardship and m'
trade union movem
language, race and c
employers delayed
IPery of t
nt i
mm
e fo
kers created a favourable ground for the growth of
t the illiteracy of the workers, their differences of
above all these the anti-trade union attitude of the
f trade union in India.
Even so, trade unioq movem dually became very strong from the 1920's onwards.
The 'outsiders' hel&d the g f trade unions. The formation of All India Trade
Union Congress in 1920 wa ark. It should be remembered that Congressmen,
Communists, ~ocia$stsan ents worked together in the AITUC.
There was an expahion of nionism from 1937 onwards. The Congress formed
ministries in the pravinces. roused popular expectations and they joined trade
 unions and launched strikes. The Communists and Socialists played an active role in Crowlh of Trdc Union and
these strikes.
-
P a n t Movement: 19200 1930s

The excessive burden of taxation, fear of eviction, no occupancy righ: on land and the
rise in prices of essential commodities on the one hand and the passive attitude of the
Government to this injustice forced the peasantry to rise in revolt.
Different states of India witnessed a series of peasant uprisings during the 1920s and
1930s. The peasants organized themselves in Kisan Sabhas and a new type of movement
started. The movements were directed mainly against the landlords. All India Kisan
Sabha was formed as a central organisation of the peasants. This was one of the lasting
effects of the peasant movements during this period.

28.13 KEY WORDS

I Cess : Levy
Hat-Tola : Levy on the traders in the village market which was also called hat.
1 Jobber :Middleman who used to procure labour for factories.
Mahajan : The person who lends money.
May Day :1st May is observed throughout the World as Workers' Day in memory of
those workers who lost their lives in Police firing in America in 1861. These workers
were struggling for an eight hour working day.
Occupancy Right :This means that the peasants can not be evicted as their occupancy
on the land tilled by them is acknowledged. But they are not the owners of land.
Right Wing :A group of leaders within the Congress who were opposed to Socialism.
Strike :The refusal by the workers to work in order to attain certain demands.
The Royal Commission on Labour : The Commission set up by the British to enquire
about the condition of the Indian Labourers.
Trade Unionism :The system, practices and ideology of trade unions.

28.14 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1 The workers lived in miserable condition. They had no leave, no job security and no
provision for old age pension. See Section 28.2.
2 a) No, b) Yes, c) Yes, d) Yes, e) No, E) No.

Check Your Progress 2

1 Trade Union is an association of the workers.

See Sub-section 28.3.1.
2 Trade Union gives the workers the opportu\nity to fight unitedly against the
exploitation.
See Sub-section 28.3.1.
3 Some individuals seeing the miseries of the workers tried to organize them and
educate them to improve their condition. See Sub-section 28.3.2.
4 Gradually the idea of trade union was gaining popularity among the workers and .
finally the All India Trade Union Congress was set up as a central organisation of
the workers. See Sub-section 28.3.3.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Trade union movement became popular among the workers because of the
grievances that the workers had. The outsiders helped the workers by organising
meetings, writing petitionsand educating them about their rights. See Section 28.4
2 Rise in prices, closure, of factories, suspension of workers etc. See Section 28.5
3 'The improvement in country's economy, the restoration of unity in AITUC,
formation of Congress ministries in the provinces, etc. See Section 28.6.
Natidbm:
-
The Inter War Y e w 11

e oppression by the Taluqdars, initiative taken by

Baba Ram Chan'drato e the peasants and the progress of the movement.
See Section 29.8,

ents in India (O.U.P.,New Delhi, 1983).

dia: History of Emergence and Movement

UNIT 29 CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
1921-1935

Structure
29.0 Objectives
29.1 Introduction
29.2 Effects of the Constitutional Reforms of 1919
29.2.1 Failure of Dyarchy
29.2.2 Reform Proposals between 1920-1927
29.3 Simon Commission
29.3.1 Appointment
29.3.2 Boycoii
29.4 All Parties Conference and Nehru Report
29.5 The First Round Table Conference
29.6 Gandhi and the Second Round Table Conference
29.7 Communal Award and Poona Pact
29.8 The Government of India Act of 1935
29.9 Let Us Sum Up
29.10 Key Words
29.1 1 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

29.0 OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Unit is to give you a brief history of the constitutional reforms during the
period 1920-1935. After going through this unit you will be abIe to:
know how the basic character of the Constitution of Free India (the democratic
republic with a parliamentary system of government) has evolved gradually,
explain how the struggle for freedom and the constitutional reforms went together and
were complementary to each other, and
appreciate the efforts of Indian masses and their leaders in facing (he challenge of
communal and minority problems in relation to constitutional reforms.

29.1 INTRODUCTION I

In Unit-17, Block-4, you have read about the Constitutional developments during the
period 1892-1920. In this Unit an attempt is made to familiarise you with the
constitutional developments between the period 1920-1935. Here we analyse the effects of
1919 Reforms Act and the circumstances leading to the appointment of Simon
Commission. The Nationalist response to the appointment of Simon Commission as well as
the recommchdations of the Nehru Report are also discussed. It also takes into account the
British initiatives for a compromise with the nationalists through the Round Table
Conferences. It also explains the Nationalist overture in the form of Poona Pact to meet the
challenge posed by communal and minority representation guaranteed by the British.
Finally the main features and limitations of Government of India Act of 1935 are
enumerated.

29.2 EFFECTS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS

OF 1919
Before discussing the effects of the Constitutional Reforms of 1919, let us briefly
recapitulate the main features of the Government of India Act of 1919.
Under the Government of India Act of 1919 the provincial governments were given more
powers under the system of Dyarchy. Some subjects such as finance and law and order
b.11 ionelism: Inter War
-
\ dn;tr$ 111
29.2.2 Reform Proposals between 1920-1927 Constitutional Reforms
1921-1935
The reforms introduced by the government of India Act of 1919 disillusioned the Indian
nationalists and contributed to a great extent to the growth of nationalist movement in
1920-1921. During the period after the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation movement a
political vacuum developed which the Swarajists attempted to fill up. The Gandhian No-
changers on the other hand concentrated on constructive work in villages.
In the period between 1920 and the formation of Simon Commission many reform
proposals were put forward by the Indians. A non-official resolution was introduced in the
Central Legislative Assembly in 1921. The resolution demanded establishment of full
responsible government in the provinces. Two other non-official resolutions were
introduced in 1923 but to no avail.
After entering the assembly the Swarajists introduced a non-official resolution. It
recommended to the Governor-General in Council the overhauling of Government of India
Act of 1919 to establish self-governing Dominion Status within the British Empire and
provincial autonomy in the provinces. The government rej~ctedthis proposal. Home
Member Sir Malcolm Hailey pointed out that responsible government as mentioned in the
Preamble of Act of 1919 in which executive would be responsible to the legislature with
limited powers was to be established. However, full Dominion self-government was to be a
further and final step.
Swarajists led by Motilal Nehru introduced an amendment in 1924. They demanded the
framing of an Indian Constitution by an Indian Constituent Assembly. As a response the
government appointed the Reforms Enquiry Committee under the chairmanship of Sir
Alexander Muddiman, the Home Member in the Executive Council. The Committee
published a majority and minority Report. Majority Report declared that Dyarchy had not
been established. Minority Report stated that Act of 1919 had failed. However, .the official
point of view stated that the Act of 1919 could be improved upon by adopting the
suggestions of the Majority Report. But Motilal Nehru stood by his earlier resolution. He
asked for the summoning of a Round Table Conference of all Indian (including minority),
European and Anglo-Indian interests.

Equal' in Rank but lnferior in Status.

D M o t k r Jndta :-Really. Happy. Venerable Mother India, to rea that Hi. Momt Ormcioum Majaaty hma #iron You l glorioum
.v:tneon~to
11, thim Hiatoric Empire Exhibition with us. the "Leer rsarinu Auatralianm. Wh,~atfulCanadians and Oltnch-featherd 8. Africaom.
BOLDDoodle :-Proud i d & tbr day when In rompoul mhora mad proud E r h t b i t i o ~Your BmcrdSelf i8 mccarddLguality.
But. Your Britannic M.irCy, it will ba the proudest day when Mother India rill have not oelr Equality with tho Domiiolr 1. dorm
but e h Equality in 8tatw. Of what mail ir Equality in mhora or L w u a ? Why not make Your R w a l Namr and R o b ~~~rirb.bk
In the Indian m i n b br nantio. m a t 7cur Promler bu heon bold mou#h t o p r o m l ~1 That would r a i n a m m o m mom . o d u r ~(h. you .
W o n m ID bronle or aIabu(rr.
baa Q w & . Q o r ~ ' . ~ o d * . '

2. A Cartoon on Reforms in Indian Review 1924.

Around this time the Muslim League under the Presidentship of M.A. Jinnah met at
Lahore. It demanded the establishment of full responsible government, a federal
constitution with full autonomy for provinces and adequate representation for minorities
through separate electorates. When a resolution was introduced in the Council of State for
the abolition of separate electorates Muslim members felt that the moment for doing away
Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years I11

Muslim League. A separate annual session of the

for the appointment of a Royal Commission at the

of the Act with the aim of enquiring into the

government.

o win, the Tory Government was apprehensive about

chance to make the appointment of the Statutory

Besides the To nted to send the delegation at a time when communal

situation had d the Commission should form a low opinion about the

All the seven m ission were Englishmen who were members of British
gave two arguments for excluding the Indians from
I.
 i) They pointed out that since the committee had to report its proceedings to the British Constitutional Reforms

I
1921-1935
Parliament so it was justified to appoint British members only. This argument did not
hold much weight because there were two Indian Members of British Parliament-
Lord Sinha and Mr. Saklatwala.
ii) Secondly, the British government declared that as there was, no unanimity of Indian
opinion on the problem of Constitutional development it was not possible to
I appoint any Indian as its member. Actually Birkenhead was afraid that in a mixed
commission there could be an alliance between the Indian and British Labour
representatives.
Irwin declared that Indians had been excluded from the membership of Commission
because they could not give an accurate picture of their capacity to govern to the
Parliament and their judgement was bound to be coloured. However, Prime Minister
Baldwin declared in May, 1927 "in the fulness of time we look forward to seeking her
(India) in equal partnership with the Dominions". Taking cognizance of Baldwin's
declaration Irwin made provisions for expression of Indian opinion on the problem of
constitutional development. In India joint committees consisting of non-official members
from centre and provinces were to make their views known to the commission. Indian
Legislature could send delegations to confer with the Joint British Parliamentary
Committee on the Commission's Report.

29.3.2 Boycott
The announcement of the all-white commission shocked almost all Indians. It was greeted
with strong protest by all parties, i.e., the Congress, a section C% t h e s u s l i m League,
Hindu Mahasabha, Liberals Federation, etc., proving that on the issue of Indian
representation there was unanimity amongst almost all sections of Indian public opinion.
They pointed out that what they had asked for was a Round Table ~ 6 n f e r e n c eof Indians
and British and not an exclusive English Commission. Through the boycott the Congress
tried to revive the Non-Cooperation spirit. However. Indian revolutionaries like Bhagat
Singh and others opposed the Simon Commission on the ground that only Indians should
have a say in framing the constitution of India.
The Muslim League led by Muhammed Shafi as also Justice Party in Madras, Central Sikh
Sangh and All India Achut Federation did not oppose the Commission.
The Simon Commission reached Bombay on February, 3, 1928 and was greeted with the
slogan of 'Go back, Simon'. A hartal call was given and thousands of people gathered to
shout slogans. The boycott turned into a protest movement and the scenes of Non-
cooperation days were revived. Crowds could not be held back even by bullets and lathis.
A procession led by Lala Lajpat Rai in Lahore was lathi charged and Lalaji succumbed to
his injuries. J. Nehru and G.B. Pant were lathi charged in Lucknow. A revolutionary group
led by Bhagat Singh avenged Lala Lajpat Rai's death by killing Assistant Police
Superintendent, Saunders.
The popular resentment against the Commission reflected the feeling that the future
constitution of India should be framed by the people themselves. The Congress called an
All Parties Conference in February, 1928 and on 19 May appointed a Committee under
Motilal Nehru to draft a Constitution.
The Commission paid two visits to India (February-March 1928, October 1928-April
1929). Each time it faced boycott. It made extensive tours and prepared a Report which
was published in May, 1930.

29.4 ALL PARTIES CONFERENCE AND NEHRU

REPORT
At the 1927 Madras Congress Session a resolution boycotting the Simon Commission was
passed. The Working Committee was authorised to prepare a constitution for India in
consultation with other organisations. Congress representatives as well as representatives of
other organisations such as Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, etc. met at a conferelice in
February, 1928. This came to be known as the Ail Parties Conference. This Conference
was presided over by Dr. M.A. Ansan. It was agreed that in framing the Constitution of
 Y
Nationalism: Inter War responsible self-government should be kept in mind.
-
Years I11
Session had adopted the goal of complete national

ir response to the appointment of Simon

Lord Birkenhead to Indians asking them to frame
on was united. The Committee's Report was
ongress Session it was stated that the Report had
g India's political and communal problems.

ent of full responsible government was not to be

ediate step. Apparently it was different from the

izenship and declare fundamental rights,

t with the King and bicameral parliament, and
by the Governor-General and the same
establishment of responsible governments in
and executive councils, and

f Princely states formed the State Peoples Conference

rning institutions. This move threatened the interests
itish in this matter. The result was the appointment of
of Sir Harcourt Butler which laid stress on
ramountcy. The Nehm Committee
d stated that the rights and obligations of
the government of Commonwealth of India and
ndia and Indian states were to be referred to the

atures. Inspite of the fact that the

he composition of the senate, the provinces were not

Decentralisation w
were vested in the

the fact that it was the first expression of the

the Indian leadership on the communal problem.
the frankest attempt yet made by the Indians to face
lism". The Report stated that the only method of
nority was to provide for safeguards and guarantees.
three distinct proposals:
Id provide for liberty of conscience and religion.
8

rates should be rejected and all elections should be

ele~toratessubject to reservations of seats for Muslims
 problem. Communal representation was to be reconsidered after ten years and Baluchistan - . Constitutional Reforms
1921-1935
was to be given full provincial status.
At the All Parties Convention held in Calcutta in December 1928 Jinnah demanded one
L third representation of the Muslims in the Central Legislature. As this was not accepted at
b the convention so he joined the groups led by Agha Khan and Muhammed Shafi. An All
India Muslim Conference was held in Delhi on 1 January, 1929 and it passed a resolution
emphasising two principles:
i) The first principle was that since India was a vast country, with a lot of diversity it
required a federal system of government in which the states would have complete
autonomy and residuary powers.
ii) The second principle was that the system of aeparate electorates should continue as long
as the rights and interests of Muslims were not safeguarded in the constitution.
In March 1929 Jinnah put forward before the Muslim League a detailed account of Muslim
demands known as fourteen points. These demands suggested a total rejection of Nehru
Report because of two reasons.
i) Firstly a unitary constitution was not acceptable because it would not ensure Muslim
domination in any part of India. A federal constitution consisting of a centre with
limited powers and autonomous provinces with residuary powers would enable the
Muslims to dominate in 5 provinces - NWFP, Baluchistan, Sind, Bengal and Punjab,
ii) Secondly the solution to the communal problem as suggested by Nehru Committee was
not acceptable to Muslims. Jinnah did not want to do away with separate electorates.
Within the Congress the younger section led by J. Nehru and S.C. Bose criticised the
Nehru Report because of its acceptance of Dominion Status. As has been stated earlier that,
although the Congress was pledged to the goal of complete independence, which meant
secession from the British Empire but it made a compromise and accepted Dominion
Status as its goal in order to rally all parties behind a common plan. However, due to the
opposition of the younger section the Calcutta Congress Resolution (1928) added that if the
British government did not accept the Nehru Report on or before 31 December, 1929, or
spumed it before that date, the Congress would start another mass movement. Lord Irwin
showed no signs of taking some concrete steps in the direction of establishing full
Dominion Self-Government, as he had announced, in his declaration of 31 October 1929.
Therefore, the Congress declared on 31 December, 1929, that the Nehru Report had ceased
to be valid.
In May 1930 the Simon Commission Report was published. It did not recommend the
establishment of either responsible government or Dyarchy at the centre. Separate
electorates were retained. It proposed reservation of seats for depressed classes. It
recommended scrapping of Dyarchy in the provinces and establishment of responsible
unitary government in provinces. It stated that in order to cope with the diversity of the
country the ultimate character of the Indian government had to be federal. It declared that
the establishment of responsible government at the centre was to wait indefinitely i.e., it
was to be established somewhere in the future. Simon Commission's observations
regarding Dominion status were not very clear. It recommended that a Greater India
consisting of British India and the Princely States as a federal association was to be
established in the future but the clause of British Paramountcy (with Viceroy as the agent
of Paramount power) was to remain. The report was rejected by almost all Indian Parties
and the Indian masses enthusiastically participated in Civil Disobedience Movement.

Check Your Progress 1

1 Discuss the background against which the Simon Commission was appointed in 1927.
Answer in about ten lines.
 Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years 111

ce were underway, the Indian National Congress

dience Movement. The sections led by Sir Tej

s to secure participation of the Congress.

emment and persuasion of the liberals, the Congress
ing the Round Table Conferences which included

nference. Of these 16 represented British Political

3. M.R. Jayakar were:

leader, C.Y. Chintarnani and T.B. Sapm who

12 ..,
rulers, it was a gathering of men who could not be considered real representatives of the Constitutional Reforms
1921-1935
Indian people whose destiny the Conference had to decide. In spite of this handicap from
the point of view of constitutional reforms, the Conference took intitative in favour of
two positive points. It recommended the formation of an All India Federation of the
British Indian Provinces and the Indian States. It also proposed to establish a responsible
government at the centre with certain safeguards for the transitional period. However,
to the disappointment of the nationalists, the period of transition was not clearly
specified.
The Round Table Conference gave the impression of being a -gathering of communalists
and reactionaries. Anxious to secure the Congress participation, the British Prime Minister
Ramsay Macdonald and the Viceroy of India unconditionally released the Indian leaders so
that they could meet at the residence of the ailing leader Motilal Nehru and deliberate on
the conditions on which the Congress could agree to participate in the next session of the
Round Table Conference.

29.6 GANDHI AND THE SECOND ROUND TABLE

CONFERENCE
In spite of the fact that the government stand did not show much change, Gandhi agreed to
participate in the Second Round Table Conference after concluding a pact with the
Viceroy, known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 5, 193I . During this period
revolutionary terrorism was in full swing and the Communists were organising the labour
and strikes. Apprehensive of anarchy Gandhi concluded a pact with Irwin.
The Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and it was decided that Gandhi
would be the sole representative and spokesman of the Congress at the second session of
the Round Table Conference. The Congress reiterated Puma Swaraj as its ultimate political
goal.
In the intervening period the situation had, however, undergone a change. On 26 August
1931, MacDonald's Labour Cabinet resigned and a new coalition government dominated
by the Conservatives was formed under him. Wellingdon succeeded Lord Irwin in Delhi in
April 193 1. Sir Samuel Hoare a leading conservative became Secretary of State for India.
As a result of these changes official attitude hardened. Most of the prominent personalities
of the first session returned to attend the second session. There were, however, many new
faces. Besides Gandhi, there were Muhammed Iqbal, a great poet, Madan Mohan Malaviya,
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu and Ali Imam, great political leaders and nationalists, G.D. Birla, a
capitalist and S.K. Datta, a prominent Indian Christian. They were attending the
Conference for the first time. The second session ended on 1 December, 1931 and made
recommendations on the matters such as:
a the composition of the Indian federation
structure of the federal judiciary
the mode of accession of states to the federation, and
a distribution of financial resources.
The Congress scheme tabled by Gandhi was the same as had been suggested earlier by
the Nehru Committee Report. The proceedings of the conference were bogged down by
the communal issues. Gandhi was aware of the fact that the csornmunal problem was so
complex that is defied all immediate solutions. He suggested that the communal settlement
be kept pnding till the constitutional settlement had been arrived at. The suggestion not
only displeased the representatives of the minorities but even hardened their attitude. The
Muslim representatives insisted on separate electorates. The second session thus concluded
4. Dr B.R. Ambedkar
in an atmosphere of bitterness and anxiety.

29.7 COMMUNAL AWARD AND POONA PACT

AppEehending a fresh wave of national agitation, the government arrested Gandhi on 4th
January, 1932, that is, only a week after his arrival in India, and unleashed a reign of
terror. The co~nmunalproblem gripped the nation's attention. The Indian National
Nationalism: Inter War Congress had tormul on this issue which was based on a thinking
-
Years 111 opposed to that of th Congress .reiterated that the proposed constitution
would include in the tee to the minorities of protection of their
culture, religion and 1 te communal electorates, it insisted on the
principle of universal on 16 August, 1932 MacDonald
announced the prop n, known as the 'Communal Award'
which recommended: j
1
I

torate for the minorities,

provinces where they were in minority,
women in all provincial legislatures except in the

V) to recognize dep nority community and make them entitled to the

of granting the right of separate electorate to the

ssed Classes as an integral part of Hindu society.
in the firm belief that the Hindus would do full
om they had exploited for centuries and would
rsuade the recalcitrant Ambedkar to accept his
the Yarvada Jail, resorted to a fast unto death.
rms was concluded

the depressed classes in the provincial legislatures as

nerd non-Muslim

n would be given to the

by Ambedkar accepted the principle of joint

29.8 THE G ~ V E R FENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1935

I
I 1i
a White Paper on the new constitution of India,
by the British Government contained three major
Autonomy and safeguards which vested special
executives. As it fell far short of complete
independence, the criticised and rejected by all the political parties of
White Paper was submitted for consideration to the
e Houses, which submitted its report on 22
port was passed on 2 August 1935 and after
overnment of India Act of 1935.

li
Regarding the provi cial part,
I !most significant points were:
omy. For the first time the Act recognised
a1 entity. This was so designed as to give full freedom
the Central Government except in certain specific

by the Act of 1919 was to be abolished.

Act suggested the creation of two new provinces of
t were issued on 3 March, 1936.
ng responsible government in all the eleven provinces
ong them Bombay, Bengal, Madras, the United
have bicameral legislatures.

1 d
The franchise was sed on p
increased from 5 m lion in 1
rty ,qualifications. The number of voters, ho.wever,
to 30 million in 1935.
of seats. Separate electorates and the
The governors in provinces were invested with special executive powers. They could Constitutional Reforms
1921-1935
exercise discretion in matters like law and order, interests of minorities and the people of
backward areas, the protection of the British commercial interests and those of the rulers of
states.
The Act prescribed federal structure for the Government of India. It was to comprise
provinces and states, with federal central and provincial legislatures. Dyarchy was
introduced at the centre, and departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence were resewed
for the Governor-General and the subjects transferred to the elected ministers were
subjected to safeguards.
The central legislature was to consist of two houses. The Council of States i.e., the Upper
House, was to consist of 156 members from British India and 104 from the Indian States.
Dominion Status was not introduced by the Act of 1935. Therefore, the Act was an
arrangement for the interim period of transition from responsible government to ccmplete
independence. And the provisions regarding the safeguards and special responsibility were
also made for that period of transition.
The Act of 1935 was based on two basic principles, namely, federation and parliamentary
system. Although the federation principle was introduced with a built-in unitary bias yet
the provinces were invested with a coordinate and not a subordinate authority. No doubt,
the federal character was seriously distorted by the provisions of safeguards and special
responsibility which gave extraordinary powers to the executive head at the centre and the
provinces. An important point to be noted is that fully responsible government was not
introduced at the centre. The provincial autonomy envisaged under the Act was also placed
under serious limitations. The Dominion Status for India was still a distant dream. The
incorporation of safeguards was a clever constitutional device to delay the introduction of a
fully responsible government. Although these provisions were made for the transition
period, the extent of the period of transition was not defined.
The Indian National Congress rejected the provision of safeguards and repudiated the idea
of transition. It suspected that there were sinister motives behind them and they were found
to have an adverse effect on the national movement.
The Act was criticized and rejected by the Congress on the ground that in formulating it
the people of India were never consulted, and as such it did not represent their will.
Congress charged the government of formulating the Act in such a way as to stall the
introduction of responsible government, perpetuate their rule and exploit the Indian
masses. In spite of its recognition of the aspirations of the Indians to have a responsible
government, the Act of 1935 did not fulfil those aspirations. It did not concede the right to
vote to all the adults. The property qualifications, the system of separate electorates, the
provisions of safeguard were violative of democratic rights of the people. The Act was,
therefore, denounced as undemocratic in spirit, offensive to people's sovereignty and
institutionally unworkable. The Liberals criticised the Act but were willing to work the
reforms as a step towards responsible government. The Muslim League also criticised the
Act but was ready to give it a trial. On the whole the Congress condemned the Act but
hesitated that they might be prepared to work the provincial part under protest. Thus, the
Congress participated in the elections in 1937 and formed provincial ministries.

Check Your Progress 2

1 What were the main provisions of the Poona Pact? Answer in about five lines.

2 Mark ( \/ ) against the correct statement given below:

a) Mahatma Gandhi was the Congress nominee in the First Round Table Conference.
b) The Congress participated in the Third Round Table Conference.
C) Poona Pact was signed between Gandhi and Ambedkar.
d) Communal Award aimed at abolishing minority representation.
Nationalism: Inter War 3 Discuss the main features of the vernment of India Act of 1935. Answer in about ten
-
Years I11 lines.
....................................... .........................................................................................
I
.......................................
I
...................................... ..........................................................................................
1,
I

....................................................... .........................................................................................
1
.......................................................
.......................................................
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
1.. ............... .........................................................................................
......................................
......................................1.................
.......................................................
I

UI
I

29.9 LET US ~ U M

the reforms the way they were offered by the

arliamentary democracy.

ent according to which a country is granted self-

ntinues to owe allegiance to the colonial power.
. Dyarchy: A form
two parts. Here
h there is a division of the functions of state into
cation, health, etc. were transferred to elect
as finance, law and order, etc. were reserved for
the official bloc.
e Congiess who opposed council entry.
encies on the basis of religion, community etc.

29.11 A N S W E TO
~ ECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERC ES
Check Your Progress1
owing points: Dissatisfaction of the nationalists with
tivities of Swarajists, political situation in Britain

points: India should be given Dominion

titution should define citizenship and declare

1
Check Your Progres 2
1 Your answer shoul include t llowing points: Seats were to be allotted to the
depressed classes i provinci slatures, representation was to be given to the
depressed classes id civil se . See Section 29.7.
2 C
wing points: The act introduced provincial
autonomy, s abolished by this act, it prescribed federal
ia etc. See Section 29.8.
 UNIT 30 ELECTIONS OF 1937 AND
CONGRESS MINISTRIES

Structure
30.0 Objectives
30.1 Introduction
30.2 Towards Constitutionalism
30.3 Towards Elections
30.3.1 Elections to Local Bodies
30.3.2 Lucknow Congress
30.3.3 Election Manifesto
30.3.4 Faizpur Congress
30.4 Elections of 1937
30.4.1 Selection of Candidates
30.4.2 Election Campaign
30.4.3 Election Results
30.5 Office Acceptance
30.6 Congress Ministries at Work
30.6.1 Political Prisoners and Civil Liberties
30.6.2 The Peasant's Question
30.6.3 Labour
30.6.4 Constructive Programme
30.6.5 Some Problems faced by Congress
30.7 Let Us Sum Up
30.8 Key Words
30.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exeicises

30.0 OBJECTIVES
In the previous Unit 29 we have seen how constitutional reforms were introduced by the
Act of 1935. There was a difference of opinion among the Congressmen in relation to
these reforms. After reading this unit you will:
be aware of the various opinions prevailing among the Congressmen in relation to the
question of constitutional reforms,
learn about the elections of 1937 and the various aspects related to them,
know about the functioning of the Congress ministries in various provinces during
1937-39,
be aware of the problems faced by the Congress ministries during this period, and
understand the reasons for the resignation of these ministries.

30.1 INTRODUCTION
This Unit deals with the political developments during the years 1936-39. This was the
period when the Congress gave up the path of confrontation and went for constitutional .
politics. However, unlike the e::rlier Swarajist phase, its prcsent aim was to give the
constitutional methods a trial and the Congressmen worked for their success. But this is not
to say that there were no differences among the Congressmen regarding the constitutional
r
methods. In fact every decision taken up by the Congress was strongly debated upon before
its adoption. Though there was an agreement on the basic issue of fighting British
imperialism, Congressmen disagreed on the methods to be adopted. It was during tbis
P period that the Left Wing was making its presence felt within the Congress. The Right
Wing and the Left Wing discussed and debated on various issues. After a hectic debate the
Congress decided to contest the elections in 1937 and was successful in forming
governments in seven provinces.
The Congress ministries functioned for a little more than two years. They had to sort out a
! number of problems during their short tenure in the office. Different social classes had
their own expectations from the Congress and accordingly their aspirations went up with
Nationalism: Inter War ngress succeeded in implementing certain
Years - 111 ere other issues on which the Congress was
divided from within.
Though the Congress eptember 1939, its 2,;ear period in office had
been of great struggle.

ar also sought Gandhi's support for the revival

Gandhi did not favour the idea of going back to

and Purshottamdas
Congress with each and tilt the Congress policy to its opinion

ach side by saying:

The section which sup at this time was not exactly following the
years earlier. As you have read in Unit 21, the
Swarajists had entered

with Socialist leanings who opposed council

ple the objectionable clauses of the Act of 1935

who advocated council entry differ from the views

held by the I
I j Elections of 1937 and
....................................................................................................................................................... Congress Ministries
1

I 2 Which of the following statements are rightlwrong? Mark \( or x.

I a) The second phase of Civil Disobedience Movement evoked as much response from
the people as the first phase.
b) Gandhi supported the idea of going back to constitutional methods in 1933.
C) There was difference of opinion in the Congress in relation to council entry.
d) When it came to take a position against the British the Congress had one voice.
e) Acharya Narendra Dev supported council entry.

TOWARDS ELECTIONS
Before we go on to analyse the elections of 1937 and the events related to them we shall
discuss briefly the general political situation and some of the earlier elections. After a lot
of discussion and debate the Congress decided in its Lucknow session of 1936 to contest
the forthcoming elections for provincial councils. But earlier in October 1934, Gandhi had
withdrawn from the Congress refusing Canna membership of the Congress. However, this
did not mean that his hold over the Congress had weakened or that he was not guiding the
Congress policy any longer. In fact whether a Canna member or not, his domination over
the Congress continued.

30.3.1 Elections to Local Bodies

As mentioned earlier Gandhi had given a free hand to all sections to pursue their methods
so long as they worked in one direction i.e., opposing the British. Thus from 1934 the
Congress contested elections to the Assembly and the local bodies as and when they were
held. These elections proved useful from the following points of view:
i) The Congress could test its popular base through election results.
ii) They gave the Congress tremendous experience in terms of organisation, planning, and
managing of elections.
iii) The Congress could test its allies for funds which were needed for electoral politics.
Here we can cite the elections held in the Madras Presidency. In May 1935 a Congress
Civic Board was formed for selecting party candidates for local elections. The candidates
had to pledge themselves to the programme offered by the Board (David Arnold, The
Congress in Tamil Nadu) and this included:
encouragement to Swadeshi
removing corruption
improvement in medical and educational facilities.
The results of local elections were encouraging for the Congress. In Madurai, the Congress
won 21 of the 36 seats in the Municipality (October 1935) and a year later (October 1936)
27 out of 49 seats in Madras. In the elections to the Central Legislative Assembly, the
Congress made the following appeals before the electorate in Madras:
i) They should vote for Congress and demonstrate their continued support on national
issues.
ii) Show to the government that in spite of repression the Congress was very much alive.
When the results were declared, the Congress wiped out the Justice Party by capturing all
the seven seats it contested in this Province. At the national level out of a total of 76
contested seats, the Congress candidates stood for 55 and won 44. The total polling was
6,50,000 and the Congress had secured 3,75,000 votes.
It took the Congress a long time to decide in favour of contesting the Provincial Council
elections. The Congress Working Committee in its meeting in August 1935 decided that
the election participation issue would be settled in the Lucknow session.

30.3.2 Lucknow Congress

The Congress session at Lucknow (April 1936) was presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nationralism: Inter War
Years -

':I " cOngrw

ocession During Lucknow Congress.

cialism which he regarded as "the only key to the

of India's problems". He lauded the role of the
of the Congress but as a note of self-criticism he said:
verned far more by ... middle class outlook than by the
the great majority of population.
rding to him was, that "the day to day struggle of
the masses might asis of their economic demands and other
Socialists into the Congress Working Committee,

erty" was to be carried out by the people of states

n this in Unit 32).
ess were asked to conduct agrarian enquiries, the
te the work of AICC to form an all India Agrarian
Programme.
I I

will be polluted and a new National Flag will have to

ons and postponing the question of office

mise between those who were for office acceptance and
 Elections of 1937 and
Congress Ministries

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w;fh;an ~ h R f t * f h l mi *&f 538:-
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wr mr%fk+i kur$r T? wr m ~ m ga;it 9 wrq
rl9? 3, W?T qrv rrrl 37 mi & wr3 fsnir me
d i q arm 5 q*m~)nv;nr I m f t q &? 3; m m
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k r 4 ti; rn ii fw~dtnaTt 8, f ~ i t ss'v G M I
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wii? h r r 93 ? f3u.T;I vrfd~frl'WIV % i i ~ q
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t i s l + r 6 1 .i(ql4 3 t f14, dl frrlfhr! f% f%%?a$ $I ~ ( q f
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8. A Pamphlet of U.P. Kisan Enquiry Committee.

Still there was a section of leadership which believed that no ban should have been there
on office acceptance. Leaders like Mudliar and Satyamurti in Madras, Dr. Khare in Central
Provinces and many others thought that a declaration in relation to office acceptance would
have further brightened the electoral prospects. In certain quarters discussions were already
taking place iegarding office acceptance and would-be chief ministers. However, as
Rajagopalachari put it:
The Congress has once again shown its capacity for presenting a united front. The
majorities in the debates should not be misunderstood to be any kind of political
split. They are the normal machinery for collective thinking.

30.3.3 Election Manifesto

It was the task of the parliamentary committee to draft the Election Manifesto of the
Congress. The manifesto aimed at "explaining the political and economic policy and
programme of the Congress". We list for you the prominent features of the Election
Manifesto adopted by the AICC in August 1936:
i) The Manifesto made it clear that the purpose of sending Congressmen to the
legislatures was not to cooperate with the Government, but to combat the Act of 1935 9. Rajagopalachari
and to end it. British imperialism was to be resisted in its "attempts to strengthen its
hold on India". 2I
 .-
Fationaiisrn: Inter War ~ants,workers and artisans,
Years - I11 and stated that " s of our countrymen the problem of achieving
the power to solve our economic and social

e all possible steps to end the

6.Acts which oppress the Indian people". They would

would be to secure for

ures with employers, and

consequences of old age"
There were many Manifesto, such as:

llage indushies, and

?
The question of office cceptanc
was gearing itself for e ections,
candidates.
s to be decided after the elections. Thus, the Congress
ing to reach a decision for the selection of

The Lucknow session from another point of view as well. It was during this
session that the first m 11 India Kisan Sabha was held under the presidentship
of Swami Sahajanand

The next session of d at Faizpur in December 1936, again under the

presidentship of Ja ety of issues were raised in this session. These
the internal situation. Nehm attacked Fascism in
his presidential speech passed resolutions condemning Italian aggression
hina. The Congress warned the people against
in the case of a World War. On national issues

he Congress policy is to have nothing to do with the

iation from this would ... mean a kind of partnership
ploitation of the Indian people.
e formation of a Constituent Assembly to frame a
of office acceptance was deferred again. However,
gress resolved at Faizpur was the adoption of an
outlined in this programme included:

from rent and land tax,

taxation on agri

i
This programme was wever s n the issue of the abolition of Zamindari and
laluqdari systems. Th Kisan S aders, though welcoming the programme in general,
criticised it on this gro nd for t that these systems were the root cause of peasant
exploitation. They wer supp ocialist leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan. Here it is
worth mentioning that the Right Wing in the Congress was not in favour of Zamindari Elections of 1937 and
Congress Ministries
abolition. But there is no doubt that the Agrarian Programme was a progressive document,
and as we shall see later, went a long way in rallying the peasants behind the Congress.
By this time the Congress membership increased tremendously. For example there were
4,50,000 members in May 1936, by December 1936 the number stood at 6,36,000.

Check Your Progress 2

1 What were the benefits derived by Congress through participation in local bodies
elections? Answer in about five lines.

2 Discuss in about five lines the arguments in favour of office acceptance.

.......................................................................................................................................................

3 Discuss in about ten lines the main features of the Faizpur Agrarian Programme.
.......................................................................................................................................................

30.4 ELECTIONS OF 1937

Once the Congress decided to contest elections, every Congressman made an all out effort
to ensure the success of Congress candidates.

30.4.1 Selection of Candidates

Let us have a brief look at how the candidates were selected by the Congress. The general
procedure was that the Provincial Congress Committees would recommend names to the
Congress Parliamentary Board, and the latter would have the final say in the selection. For
doing so the PCC's adopted a criteria which included that the candidate should:
abide by Congress discipline,
follow and work for the Congress programme,
Besides these two basic qualifications, the PCC's also took into account the candidates':
services to the Congress,
popularity among the people. and
abil~tyto bear election expenses on their own.
Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years 111 A+@---"*-~-.
1
r

10. Rajendra Prasad. 11. Vallabhbhai Patel.

conditions, in certai

opportunists having the Congress earlier. Similarly, in Bombay

differences arose be

o work for the peasants' cause inside and outside

tes signed the pledge but Vallabhbhai Pate1

ictory in elections by a vigorous campaigning.

that the Faizpur Agrarian Programme "should find

d villagers, he stated:
ia - those fighting for the cause of the people and
to the Councils to keep out Khan

round among the people that very soon Congress

emor of U.P. wrote to the Viceroy about the
 Congress Ministries

ALL I N D I A I i I S A N S U P P L E M E N T

ILisan hlovemant Ensures Congress Victory

ANDHRA RYOT ASSOCIA-SIONS' PLEDGE : SIRDAR'S WARNING: PLEZGL
CONTROVERSY & WITHDRAWAL : KISAN MOVEMENT ELECTIONS
On January 17th Prof. N G. Ranga, President of the Nation second to those of t h e peas:lnt:j.
of t h e All India Kisan Sabhn i:;sued the followln:: Peasants are never disloyal to the Congress a n d
statement to the press:-- they are always its loyal allies. Unlike t h e Trade
‘din pursuance of the resolution of the Union Corigress or the Congress Nationalist Party,
All India Kisan Congress, which has callcd upon t_he Kisan Sabha has not thought It At to Or-
al *<isan comrades to place all their organisational g a n i s a separate election campaign merely because
resources a t the disposal of those Congress candi- the present agrarian programme the 'Ongress
tl:itt?s, I V ~ Uplcdgt: themselve$; to do their bcsl to far s'iort Of the Demands Or be-

11:11:I~~i;11.!11Ll l : ~ !1 l l i l ! i ~ l l ~ 1 1(1I t ' t f ~ : t ~ ~ r l !oi f 111~';:;.;c:,;t!!t.!i, callstr the Cnn~:.rcssf:llled to state in unequivocal
L l l u iLlldlil.;LI,ruvii,cinl l,c ,,:; 111t:.:7 SOCj~,l,ioll I tcl.n.1~its :I ttitllilc towards the abolition of
I,rct,,:rrcd :, ,,ll.(ll:,: for,,,. 1L csl,ct:ts a c ~ ~ ~ , :Zlmindnri ~ ~ : ; : ~system or absentee landlordjsm- 111
fact, the Andhra Provillcial Ryols' Co~lfel'rrlc'(~
to vow to do his best to contantly ra-
dicalise and liberalise the Collgress atti.t,ude to- hel$ a t Nidubrole last May demanded Of its ""'-
wnrds peasants and to try to achieve the peasants* sident, Mr. Ranga, t o ~ % a n i s e a n indepcl.lticlLt
denlands (as formulated by Kfsan peasants' parliamentary yrogrumme. nut for
by suitably influencing the d:iy to day decisions of lucky interyention, things have taken an
the Congress Parl1ament;uy Party." altogether different turn."
SAlZDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL'S WAItNING. After referring to t h e existence of the Pr!ns-
on J~~~~~~20th s ~vnllubllbllai ~ ~p;,tCl,~ ant$ : Gro~rp~ of nearly
~ 30 members of the Indian
president of the ~ 1 llldia 1 c ~~ ~ ~ ~ l ~ i ~~ ~ . ~ ~~ Dc Legislative Asselllbly with , Khan
~
~ ,Sahib
~~ as ~its ~
Committee wrott: a s roifows t o tile of Prc"c!ent, a n d to the agrarian programme adopt-
tilc various parliillne,i~,,,.y ~ ~ , in~the~ . .~ :d, ~~ led~ hy : ~ t~h s Intiinn National Congress a t Falzpur,
Presidellcy with refcrcncc to Ille I<isan Ijlcdl:c the S e c r e t a ~ yconcluded his reply as follows:--
mentioned above :- "I may inform Sardar Pate1 t h a t Mr. Flnngn
is not alone responsible for this pledge, but t h e
Prof' is a Of the A"1. C. C. whole Kisan Sabha, which pnssed their remlution,
your province and is member Of the and it h a s witllin its fold many Congressmen. So
lative Assembly elected on Congress ticket; t h a t a the Sardar has to take wholesale disciplinal.y ac-
responsible m a n of his 1)osition should have' tion. But before he launches upon that extreme
thought At to a which has step, h e would do well t o realise t h a t this piedge,
been approved by the A.1.C.C. amongst the candi- while blowing the winds the sails of Jus-
dates, who a r e Pledged t o contest elections 011 t h e tice Party, claims t~ have done so much
Congress Manifesto is very regrettable. In iny for.the last ten years wllerl they
Opinl~n,it is:an act of gross i:idisclpline, :md h e were in power, strengthens the Congress candi-
should be called upon to cxr~lninhis condrlct a n d dates, where the Congress has to encountl?r the
dfscip1in:lr.y action bc t.nkcr~ :q::linst h i n ~forth- Zamindari vrsted interest in this Presidency. If
with." the Sardar insists on his unwise a n d unjust dis-
ANDHRA RYOTS' ASSOCIATION SECRET.\RY'S ciplinnry action, t h e peasants will surely stick to
REPLY. their guns, which i s not safe either for t h e Con--
On January 22nd. t h e Joint Secretary of t h e gress or t h e Kisans."
Andhra Provincial Ryots' Association issuetl a PROF. RANGA WITHDRAWS THE PLEDGE.
spirited reply to t h e threat of Sardar Patel f o r On January 23rd. Prof. Ranga lssued tlle fol-
taking disciplinary action againsl Prof. Ranga. lowing statenlent: -
He stated:- I have seen Sardar Vallabhbhai's statdement
"Neither the Andhra Pr:lsnntsl Asc,ocii~tion regarding the peasants demand for n pledpe flom
nor Mr. Ranga callccl upon the Congress candi- the Congress candidates to continuously J i I j e r i ~ l ~
dates to disobey t h e Congres; or put the ii?tertlsts ise the Congress attitude towards t h e PCXS:,II~S

12 A Report in Congress Socialist (A Newspaper 5.2.1937) - 25

Nationalism: Inter War isan versus Zarnindars". A popular election song
-
Years 111

lmost 9000 miles to canvass for Congress

ed ballot boxes. It was quite apparent that the

ous euthusiasm among the electors all over the

popular, and in a similar position was the

the chcllenge of the Muslim League and the

U.P. 134
Bihar 95
Madras 159
C.P. 70
Orissa 36

Bombay 87
Bengal 60
Sindh 8
Assam 35

18
98
12
11
13
2
21

175

8
87
10
12
17
6
2

13
-
175
 Table IV Elections of 1937 and
Legislative Council (Upper houses) Results Congress Ministries

Province Total Seats Seats won by Congress

Madras
Bombay
Bihar
U.P.
Bengal

As far as the reserved seats were concerned, we give few examples of Congress
performance (in all 11 provinces):
out of the 38 seats reserved for labour, the Congress had contested 20 and won 18.
482 seats were reserved as Muslim seats. The Congress constested 58 and could win
only 26 seats. Out of these 19 were in NWFP. The Congress could not get a single
Muslim seat in Bombay, U.P., C.P., Sindh and Bengal. However, it is worth
mentioning here that the performance of the Muslim League was no better. It could not
get a single seat in NWFP. In Punjab it got only 2 of the 84 reserved seats.
For commerce and industry 56 seats were reserved. The Congress contested 8 and
could win only 3.
For Landholders 37 seats were reserved. The Congress contested 8 and won 4.
Thus, the performance of Congress in reserved constituencies was not at all satisfactory
except in the labour seats. But it did well in general seats. The Congress Working
Committee gave to the people the following message on its electoral victory:
The Congress Working Committee congratulates the nation on its wonderful response
to the call of the Congress during the recent elections, demonstrating the adherence
of the masses to Congress policy.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Discuss in about five lines the criteria adopted for selecting Congress candidates.

2 Which of the following statements is right ( Y" ) or wrong (x).

i) Pate1 supported N.G. Ranga's pledge.
ii) Nehru wanted the Agrarian Programme to have a prominent place in election
campaign.
iii) The people believed that Congress Raj would replace British Raj.
iv) Congress performed very well in Muslim reserved seats.
v) The Congress did not perform well in elections to upper houses.

30.5 OFFICE ACCEPTANCE

As we have seen earlier, the decision of office acceptance had been left pending due to
differences within the Congress. The AICC met in March 1937 to decide over the issue.
Rajendra Prasad moved a resolution for 'conditional acceptance' of office which was
accepted. The condition attached was that the governors would not use their special powers
to intervene with the functioning of ministries. Here Jayprakash Narain moved an
amendment for total rejection of office but this was defeated when put to vote (78 in
favour and 135 against). This was considered as a major victory for the Right Wing within
the Congress. Gandhi himself was in favour of conditional acceptance of office.
At this time again there were arguments in favour of and against office acceptance. A
Nationalism: Inter War es was that through this Congress would be
-
Years I11 rkers. But leaders like N.G. Ranga, Sahajanand
ce acceptance as a retreat from the basic
rialism. Sahajanand felt that the advocates of
office acceptance felt e "trying to escape on the pretext of peasants".
And as Vallabhbhai Pa entary mentality had come to stay with the

Governors to give ass ut forward by the Congress. The next

tinue in office beyond six months. In

en felt that what genuinely belonged

ey made strenuous efforts to pressurise the
ceptance. A similar situation arose in Madras

Bihar the work of the ittee was revived, but what was being preached
.P. peasants were encouraged not to pay rents
rmed the ministry all arrears of rents would be
remitted.
legislatives (like Lord Eriskine, the
felt that the Congress would give
time he was aware that those

d permitted office acceptance.

The resignation of th
ministries. It was the

Prime Ministers

Govind Ballabh Pant

C. Rajagopalachari
Hare Krishna Mehtab
Dr. Khare
Sri Krishna Sinha
Dr. Khan Saheb

In Bengal Fazlu Huq{ni the to cooperate in forming a coalition government.

13. G.B. Pant. The Congress refused an Huq th hands with the Muslim League. In Sindh
Congress supported the inistry o Hussain Hidayatulla and in Assam of Bardoloi.
In Punjab the Congress s not in n to play a dominant role.
28
 The Congress had delayed the decision of office acceptance by about six months. Elections of 1937 and
Congress Ministries
According to Raini Dhawan Shanker Das ( The First Congress Raj] the Congress had
gained by this delay:
i) The delay had disproved the election time propaganda against the Congress that they
were office hungry and would jump at the first opportunity to form ministries.
ii) The Congress unity had been maintained and demonstrated.
iii) It had become clear to Governors and the ministers that the word of the Congress High
Command was supreme.
iv) Governors would think several times before intervening in the work of ministers.

30.6 CONGRESS MINISTRIES AT WORK

The task before the Congress was a tremendous one - particularly in the light of the kind
of expectations the people had from the Congress. Instead of giving you a day to day
functioning of Congress ministries we give you a brief thematic account of what the
Congress did during nearly 2'1, years in office.
I 30.6.1 Political Prisoners and Civil Liberties
b
'The Congress, through its election manifesto, was committed to release of political
prisoners and detenues. Many among them were in prison even without facing trials. The
Andaman prisoners had informed Gandhi that they no longer believed in the cult of
violence. The largest number of political prisoners were in Bengal - a non-Congress ruled
province. Gandhi went to Calcutta to personally negotiate for their release and after three
weeks of long talks he was able to secure the release of 1100 detenues. In U.P. many
I prisoners were released - prominent among them were the Kakori prisoners. There were
massive public demonstrations welcoming these prisoners. But the British Government
disliked this. Gandhi, Govind Ballabh Pant and Jawaharlal Nehru while welcoming their
release, condemned "welcome demonstrations". Pant felt that such a response from the
people could effect the release of other prisoners. And sure enough the Governors of
U.P. and Bihar stopped the release of prisoners. Just before the Haripura Session (March,
1938) the Prime Ministers of these provinces submitted their resignations over the
issue.
The Congress position was clearly stated at Haripura that it would not hesitate in taking
action in the "matter of violent crime" but as the prisoners had shed violence there was no
risk in releasing them. Ultimately the Government had to bow down.
The Congress also worked for lifting restrictions on the return to India of political exiles
like Rash Behari Gosh, Prithvi Singh, Maulvi Abdullah Khan, Abani Mukerjee., etc.
However, it could not do much in this regard.
The Congress was committed to civil liberties within the confines of non-violence. In
September 1938 the AICC resolved that:
.... the Congress warns the public that Civil Liberty does not cover acts of violence,
incitement to violence or promulgation of palpable falsehoods.
It was made clear that the "Congress will, consistently with its tradition, support measures
that may be undertaken by the Congress Governments for the defence of life and
property". The Left Wing in the Congress was opposed to such an approach and this
-esolution was termed as a defeat for them in the Congress.

30.6.2 The Peasants' Question

The peasant problem was a burning issue. Jawaharlal Nehru observed that: "The
outstanding problem of India is the peasant problem. All else is secondary". He believed
that the formation of Congress ministries had generated new hopes amongst the peasants,
whereas the big zamindars and taluqdars were "organising to resist this long deferred
justice to the peasantry". He stressed that "we must remain true to our pledges and give
satisfaction and fulfilment to the hopes of the peasantry". The Kisan Sabhas welcomed
such a statement from the Congress President in 1937.
Tenancy legislation was taken up in all the Congress ruled provinces. The Right Wing did
Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years 111
in Bihar the Congress signed a pact with the

ed not only by the Left Wing but also by those

easpts' cause. Prasad had written to the
come*infor a great deal of criticism from not only
rhaps the High Command". It was at
r participating in Kisan Sabha

Programme.
Bihar. The U.P. Congress was dominated more
by the Left Wing. hich was passed here was not given assent by the

1 in getting those lands restored to their original

qers as a result of the no-rent campaign during the

In all the provinces sant from moneylenders and

increase irrigation zamindars remained in a dominant
ssa paraded lorry lords of Reserve
powerful as ever in the Congress
period of tremendous awakening among the peasants,

30.6.3 Labour 1 1/11

The Congress had rking conditions to the working class. However, its
ations between the Right Wing and the Left Wing.
ons between the labourers and capitalists should be
rusteeship, but the Left Wing based them on class

r
ommittee appointed by the Congress, gave a
AICC. This included:
holidays with pay'
employment ins nce,
leave with pay d ;'ng sick
to devise way to x mini a q s , and
recognition of su h Trade s by the State which pursued a policy of peaceful and
I
legitimate mean etc.
ince to undertake Labour Legislation. The Ministry
introduced the 1 with the aim to prevent strikes and lockouts as far as
is only meant a ban on strikes as a lockout was the
ury of Capitalists for the exploitation of workers"
d do nothing. The workers went on strike which was
nt with the help of the police. About 20 workers were

kers strike in Kanpur where 24000 workers struck work

wages A d better living conditions. Here also the strike
ders. When the workers started picketting, Nehru

hot be expected that the government will not interfere

o t b e called. The workers should remember that the
aod will put down violence by violence and that the

4
Ultimately the dis e was
strike in Jute Mills1 March
Jute workers by th Huq
by the Ministry. In Bengal the Congress supported the
1937). The Bengal PCC condemned the repression of
which was a non-Congress government. During the
 Elections of 1937 and
Congress Ministries

(is-7%qsr b m 7 8 8a;rir 4 nil wqRf

mi adll?I mcir he~iiiitf rilqcii 6% f+ mi: I awq
Q a$$%?ifnw, P A d rile ic.irm ti kaa J
e~GiI wn it? ?T wrrs <I amail a i ae;lsi sri) 3 8
+
nw 9 R i gm qi4, iisn13d .ma srrilir w k
rnC~air. rcwr -13 ih 6s95 I ak'iqc fqqmii a jt
rR mm il~qrcirn rdflp eW* %R s f f i I
SF@ dc arnn gar%taraiqa $4 I
a m if ~ w

14. Statements by Congress Leaders on U.P. Tenancy Bill Propasals.

Nationalism: Inter War TISCO w o a u a btrike ru and Rajendra Prasad acted as arbitrators
-
Years 111 between the Tatas and , the left increased its influence over labour
during this period.

30.6.4 Constructive I Progra

In all the Congress ruled ere efforts were made to introduce prohibition;
encourage education and s to village industries. These included:
A vigorous
spinning by the Madras Ministry

cation. An All India National Education

23 October, 1937). The Conference formulated a
scheme which included:
even years throughout the
country
Mother tongue

On the basis of these g ussain submitted a scheme of Basic education

es (2 December, 1937). This scheme included
of mother tongue; basic scientific knowledge,
e to put this scheme into action. As a result of
the Congress education of students as well as educational institutions
i r i reased.
~ For example the number of educational institutions was
14,609 in 1936-37 and ed to 18,729. Similarly, the number of pupils
1,556.44 1 by 1939-40.
The other major achie

Carrying Jail Refom

Repeal of Mop1

4
A very important feature f this p
officials. They had to wo under
I
30.6.5 Some ~robleibsfacedm Congress
as the change in the attitude of government
ery leaders who were earlier arrested by them.

There was a malicious d aut against the Congress by the communal

parties. They accused against the minorities, but such
propaganda was carried o cal land communal overtones, rather than on
factual basis.

F
At the same time, many o portunis d the Congress during this period in order to
seek advantages of office. I e Con as aware of such characters and Gandhi wrote
frankly about corruption i the'Co his paper Harijan. In many regions a drive was
made to free the Congress1from s
During this period the e Fifty First session was held at
Haripura in February, p of Subhas Chandra Bose. This session
passed a number of re nternational affairs as well as on the internal
xt session (Tripuri) that the Congress faced a
for the President and Bose defeated Pattabhi
Sitaramayya by 1580 rded as a victory of the Left Wing, as
mayya. Even Gandhi regarded this defeat as
formation of the working committee and
ultimately Bose res
The Congress Mini mber, 1939 on the ground that theyiceroy
on its own had ma perialist war without consulting the
Congress.
 Elections of 1937 and
Congress Ministries

3 1R HARIJAN ( NOVEXIBER
19, 1933

IJ1IOGLtISSS Oh' WA1tL)liA SCHEME the principles of the Wardha Scheme bar h::,
succcssfully completed, and a training sclwl h u
[ T11c fallowing note has been prepared by been I quned to train te;~cI~<rs according to I n
Sl~rimati Ashalata Devi. M. K. G. 1 W ; ~ d l ~ Xhctnc
il of Education.
Bih;tr
A ttainirl~centre with sixty students and tight Mysore State
.t+xcIiers has been started in the Training School. A Wardha Education Committee lus bcc.1
P.tt1~3. for a six months' emergency training formed. T h e secretary has been invitcri to pit.
U I I I I ~ . i r t d 3 col~lpirct itrca 11.1s Ix.r.11 w I c c ~ ti)[
,~ side ov<r tlm first ~~nferctrce a d opcn tbc I:.:#
e ~ p ~ r i ~ ninr ~ the i t lkttiall cham of the Cham- experimental school on N o v c m b r 2nd. ar~d3rJ
p;lr.lu District. where W h s i c khools will be T R A I N I N G I N PALM-JAGGEHS
btal.t~d from March 1939.
O h Unller the auspices of thc A. I. V. I. A, tl:
A R.~sic Fducat'iun Committee consisting of -
class for rmparting training in palm j~ggeryrn.~h,ll
botlr otticial and non-official r n c n ~ b r s has been has been started for the current season frorn !,:
appointed by the Government. with Sjt. Gopa- November 1938, a t Segmn, near Wardha. T!.s
bi111dh11 a5 cliairman, to take the necessary steps course is for a month X p p i n g is not incluL.3
for the intrc~duction of Basic Education in the in it. Only the process of gur making is tauil,r
provi~rce. Eiglrt workers have been xlected by. The studcnts have to do practical work !:
the Government and sent t o Wardha to be about 7 I ~ o u na day. Theory is taught for 3.1
trained as training school teachers and supervisors. hour daily, for acquainting the students with t t z
One of the p.rny is Smt. Ancupurtu Chowdhuri. various aspects of the industry, includind I:,
t l ~ cdatrdl~trr of Sit. ChpalunJl~uCl~owdl~uri. botany, chemistry, commerce, history. ~ ~ I U I U I . ~

A training scllool with one year's course w'ill etc. T h e students must be strong enough to wr.1
be openLd in April 1939, and Basic Schools will the rigour of the practical work. A fee of W!
be opc.n~*din April 1940 in a w l c c t d conlpdct area. 5 is cllarged per student. The boarding chu;;r
will be about Rs. 8 and Re. 1 for l o d g i ~ .A
c P. deposit of Rs. 15 is required to cover the sr.J
160 pupil tzachers are receiving a further train- expenses and of R r 10 for ensurine rttu:;l
ing of two rnonths in the training school while journey expenses. The class will be closed on
tll,. dhool-building and equipment is being got 31st March 1939. Intending candidates s b ! J
ro.dy fix srnrtir~g Viclya Mandirs. It is hoped apply for admission to the Secretary. T &
tl~;ltone 1111nllred schcmls will be ready by t h e School Committee. A. I. V:T. A.. Maganyad:.
end, of December. and will s t a n work with Wardha ( C. P. ). and should not proceed hforc
the IICW yeir. 6br;rining a permision in writing.
A committee consisting of C. P. educational Segaon, 14-1 1 b G a j u m NJL
otiiccrs and lacrl members of the Hindustani Supervisor, G u t Department.
Tali~iriSangh has been formed by the Govern-
mcnt to guide the work of the training school.

Tho Cuvcr~rtnr?nt bas deputed three trained SUBSCRIPTION RATES

te;lchors, inclucling the headmaster of a training INLAND
school. to u~iJergo two months' training in
Ur;lrJha. Thc secretary is meetin& the Education
,
One Year. ~ 0 8 6IIII
Biz . Y 0 ~ 6 h e . Br 4
F&. a-8
Mi11i5r~rC J I I Nibv. 5th ;r~d6th. to Jixuss fr~rtlrer PORBIQN
One Year, poat I r w Ra. 5-0
ddtails rc&rrlli~rgt l ~ ci t ~ t r d t ~ t i oofn U~sic Educa- foreign Bh. 8 S
tion in tire province.
A private trsining school with forty students
hj b u n org.rniscd at Masulipatam attached to CONTENTS
the Andllra Jatiya Kalasala and is doing very CONGRESS
good work.
AND KH.~DI ...
TkrE I'EOPLE'S ED~~cATION
Bombay
T h e Education Minister hu accepted the plan ~~OVEMENT ...
submitted by t h e secretary for the introduction A CORRECTION ...
of Basic Education in the three linguistic provincesKHUDAIKHIDHATCARS AND
of M?harashtra. Karnatak and Gujarat and is BADJHAHWAN bf. K. C a d i ... 3J
rending the Education Secretary Sjt. Gandhi to .
Wardha towards the end of November to d i x u u
OCCAslONAL NOTES M. D. ... 3Ja
IN THEk'RONTIER PROVINCE-V PprJpl Jii
further detail.
Kruhmu S h b PROHIBI~ION IN SALEM ... 344
A short rcorganiution course organised for all PRCGRE~S OF WARDHA SCHEME . 341
teachers and inspectors to ecquabt them with TRAISINC IN PALMGUR Gajanan Naik ... 343
Printed and Published by Anant Vinayak Patwwdhan at the Ary~bhushno Press,
Hause Na 91511 Ferguam College Rcad, POOM 4

15. Rogrcso of Wasdha %hemas Reported in Harijan, 19.11.1938.

 Reg. No, I! 3092
To the Readers

VOL VI, NO.'33 ] I ONE h w ~ k

CORRUPTION I N THE CONGRESS

( &I M. K. Qandhi ) incinl. And for tbia purpose
It Is d i f f i c ~ ~ l tbo cope wlih t h e correnpondenoe
*at I a m h a v i n g f r o m several places a b o u t
rlnleooe, u n t r u t h e n d corruptlon In tho Congrenn.
TTbllnt I m u s t a o n t l n u e t o publinh typlcnl
oorrclrpondence &bout t h e w o n k n c ~ u e a:~ T o n ~ r e r n -
men, I m u r t lenue a s a r n l n g n s ~ l n n t bnatp
dodi~otlon bolng drown t h a t a l l la 111 w l t b t h e
Coogrees. I know i t ia not. R u t It is t r u e
t h a t violence, u n t r u t h a n d corruptlon h a v e m o d e
lnroeds enough to w e r r a n t d r ~ i n t i c monnurcn In
order t o prevent decay overtnklng tho groat
orgeninatlon.
Here a r e e x t r n o b f r o m t w o typical letters :

Qn oriaca LOW Lhu wcount of

diption by t i ~ u l'rimlrry, Sub-

nll CllHQR wlluro a group m

i in
and G,votod workors out of tlicir wnp. 8omo nrn
pnying tlio n i c ~ ~ t b c r r i lsi~hrrrlplion
~i~ nf nnlina 4
for o t l 1 4 ~~inele~r
~ Ll~eir ,:fmtrol f>t~t. o? t11pir
own ~ ~ o + . k , . l etncl
.a. no1110 nro j:a.in~: rn Y I F ~Iorwt1r4
nnd nro no1 l~nying a n l ~ ~ g lpci a~t 1.0 r . l l t ~ (:ongrvww
C o ~ n m i l l e c ~and instrnd nlnking tho l'rimnry of n , III:II a* 1rnve~lll1,g
Committcue under thoir clat*:hcr p r o p r e fnlse ~ s l ~ n n.nilowan~o
o, ~ : X P ( ~ L J O .o h .
~ ~ ~ t o u noft . n thoit apparent coiL:clio~~snnd thore- no1 ca1lw:t tho ~ubecriplion nod
by vvnding 'tho r u p r v i ~ i o g ogo of tho AubDivi.
eional as voU M Diatrlct Co~umittana. how all lhcse corruptions cm
Primary Committaes having lese t h m 25 mom-

mnny pnpr Cornmittcon nro . belng set . n p

q u o h of the membership sulscrlption as also to

reoure a larger proportion of representation in
those Committeee. " oeely nuppreseed t h e n n m e e
( 2 ) ( I I t is my duty to bring to your notice ne nleo of t h e province ID
the open and seandnlous corruption i n enrolling in sni11 t o oxiet.
Congress membors. Tho C'on6re.s n~~lboritirs

rteps are not taken, thingn will go from M to

worse and the whole Congrcsa fi~sl.itution will
be diegrrccd and tho hold on pcoplo will ho
loat.

16. Gandhi'b urilings on th

 17. Nehru and Bose at Haripura

Check Your Yrogress 4

1 What did the Congress gain by delaying the issue of office acceptance? Answer in about
five lines.

2 Which of the following statements is right ( ) or wrong ( x )?

i) The Capitalists were opposed to office acceptance.
ii) Gandhi was in favour of conditional office acceptance.
iii) Fazlul Huq made no efforts to enlist Congress support for ministry formation.
iv) Congress stood for the release of political prisoners.
V) In Bihar no ban was imposed on Congressmen for participating in Kisan Sabha.
g opposed the Industrial Disputes Bill.
vi) ~ 0 r n b a ~ ' w o r k i nclass

3 Discuss in about ten lines the Congress attitude towards peasants.

Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years 111

In this Unit we hav r a long debate decided to contest the

elections and eme es. The victory of the Congress was
t of the cases the Zamindars and communal
was difference of opinion among the
ons and then for office acceptance, once a
decision was taken eve it. The Ministries functioned under
certain limitations, but give relief to the people. The constructive
rmation of Congress Ministries was
perceived by the pe d they firmly believed that the days of the
British Raj were nu Wing was very vocal it was the Right Wing

4
Civil Liberties: The f dom of
government.
Interim Ministries: SJ ce the C
others to form minis ' s. These
and were formed as a 4 mporary
ment and expression granted to the people by the

s refused to accept office the Government invited

did not enjoy majority support in the councils

Manifesto: A publishdb declaratahf aims and policies of a political party.

OIRce Acceptance: 4 this te#as
Prohibition: Here this word is
been used for agreeing to form ministries.
,to denote the ban on sale and consumption of liquor.

Check Your Progres 1

!i
1 The Swarajists ha entered
those who advoca d office
ouncils to wreck the Constitution from within whereas
anted to make the reforms a success. See Section

2 a) x b) x c) w
Check Your Prog
base; gained experience for elections and could test

3 See Sub-sec. 30. 4

I
ity; services to Congress, submission to
..I.
- - - - -

UNIT 31 THE GROWTH OF INDIAN

CAPITALISM, THE CAPITALIST
CLASS AND THE FREEDOM
STRUGGLE

Structure
3 1.0 Objectives
3 1.1 Introduction
31.2 Growth of Indian Economy and the Indian Capitalist Class
3 1.3 The Emergence of a Class Organisation
3 1.3.1 Role in the Economic Sphere
3 1.3.2 Role in the Political Sphere
3 1.4 Nature of Anti-imperialism: The Constitutional Path
3 1.5 Congress and the Capitalists
3 1.6 Capitalists' View of the Congress
3 1.6.1 Approaching the Congress
3 1.6.2 Capitalists' Strategy to Contain the Left
3 1.7 Let Us Sum Up
3 1.8 Key Words
3 1.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exerc~ses

31.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit you will get to know about the:
growth of the Indian Capitalist Class in the context of colonialism and the colonial
economy,
attitude of the Indian Capitalists as a class towards colonialism,
attitude of the Indian Capitalists towards the mass movements and the left, and
relationship between the Capitalist Class and the Indian National Congress.

31.1 INTRODUCTION

The Indian National Movement was, in its initial stages during the second half of the
nineteenth century, mainly confined to the educated middle classes. However, in
course of time, it began to expand its social base and gradually other classes and sections
of society began to join it. The nature of the role played by various classes and social
groups and the timing of their joining the national struggle varied. In this unit, we will
discuss the role of the Indian capitalist class in the freedom struggle.
The modem capitalist class began to emerge in India in the second half of the
nineteenth century. Till about World War I, there were few Indian capitalists and the size
of their investments was also not substantial. Morever. they were as yet largely dependent
on the colonial government's support. At this stage of development, it was hardly possible
for the Indian capitalists as a class to take an open confrontationist position with
regard to the colonial state. The capitalists stayed away from the Swadeshi Movement of
1905-1908. At the time of the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), while many
traders participated in the movement, several eminent capitalists like Purshottamdas
Thakurdas actually opposed the movement. Subsequently. however, the capitalists'
position changed. There were many Indian capitalists who extended their support to the
freedom struggle.
Nationalism: Inter War
Years - III ONOMY AND INDIAN

during the colonial period, espe6ially in the

importantly, the gro

t Indian capital. In other words, the Indian
tal base and not as junior partners of foreign

ured goods in India's total imports declined

total exports increased. Conversely, the
total exports declined and the proportion of

ents (partially through the take over of foreign

in the course of the processes discussed above,

d by British imperialism especially

independence, Indian

While in 1914 Ind

share had increase
 However, this spectacular and independent growth of Indian capitalist class, quite unusual The Growth of Indian
Capitalism, the Capitalist
in a colonial situation, did not occur as is often argued, as a result of a conscious policy of Class and the Freedom
'decolonisation' initiated by the colonial state. It occurred inspite of and in opposition to Strug~le
colonialism either when imperialism was facing a crisis or as a result of waging a constant
struggle against the colonial interests. The lndian capitalists did not see their interests as
tied with colonialism.
Moreover. the capitalist class, on the whole. was not tied up in a subservient position either
economically or politically with pro-imperialist feudal interests in the country.
Another situation, where a colonial capitalist class may move towards collaborating with
imperialism is when, it sees a threat to its existence from radical anti-capitalist or left wing
popular movements in the colony. Such situations did arise in certain colonial or semi-
colonial countries, where the capitalist class sought to suppress the radical movement in ,

alliance with imperialism. We can cite the example of China. In India also, the capitalists
were concerned about the growth of the left. However, whenever the Indian capitalist class
felt that the threat from the left was growing, it responded not by seeking help from
imperialism but by attempting to strengthen, by various means, the right wing in the
national movement.
The fdiowing points then emerge from the above discussion:
i) The Indian capitalist class grew independently and in opposition to imperialism and
therefore did not see the long-term class interests as being tied up with imperialism.
ii) The rapid and independent growth of Indian capitalists enabled them to feel strong
enough to take anti-imperialist position.
iii) The threat of popular left movements did not lead the capitalist class to collaborate or
compromise with imperialism. The issue before the capitalist class was not, whether to
oppose imperialism or not, but that the path chosen to fight imperialism should not be
such that it would threaten capitalism itself.

Check Your Progress 1

1 Was the growth of the Capitalist class a by-product of Colonialism?

II 2 What was the attitude of the Indian Capitalist class towards the threat of the left?

31.3 THE EMERGENCE OF A CLASS ORGANISATION

1 It was in the process of figuring out its attitude towards imperialism and the national
movement that the capitalist class in India emerged as a political entity. Since the early
1920s, capitalists like G.D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas were making efforts to
I
establish a national Ievel organisation of Indian commercial, financial and industrial
interests. The initial idea was to establish an Indian business organisation which could
effectively lobby with the colonial government - a role which relatively more organised
non-Indian business interests were already performing. Thi j effort led to the formation of
the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 1927. The
FICCI soon acquired a large membership which increasingly became representative of
Nationalism: Inter War e country. Within a short period of its formation,
-
Years 111
es as well as the general Indian public as a body
within the Indian capitalist class.

31.3.1 Role in

list organisation. In pursuance of this goal

ve economic critique of imperialism in all
xposed the imperialist exploitation that was

ploitation through trade, foreign

mdas or G.D. Birla on complex economic

matters which relat

31.3.2 Role in the ipolitical#bhere

The role of the FIC ot .to be limited to making an economic critique of

ssion in 1928: "We can no more separate our

ment in politics for the capitalists meant allying with
the Indian National

ttamdas for he had earlier opposed the Non-

apitalists realised that even their economic aims

understanding in 1930:
1
"lt is impossible the pres
government to oq views. ..
strengthening the1 ands of C . political condition of our country to convert the
only solution ... lies in every Indian businessman
who are fighting for the freedom of our country".
the British Government that he

Check Your Progre

1 What was the initi nd the formation of the FICCI?
.................................. .........................................................................................

2 What role did the e economic sphere?

................................. ................ ..........................................................................................

31.4 N A T U R ~ AS-IMPERIALISM:
F THE
CONSTI UTIO LPATH

t . I ; R
The capitalist class wd concern to what kind of national struggle was to be supported
by them. The capitalists, while determining their attitude towards the British were, always The Growth of Indian
Capitalism, the Capitalist
in favour of not completely abandoning the constitutional path and the negotiating table. Class and the Freedom
They supported constitutional f o m s of struggle and were not in favour of agitation and Struggle
civil disobedience. There were several reasons for the capitalist class adopting this attitude:
i) Fears of a Mass Movement
First, the capitalists feared that mass civil disobedience, especially if it was prolonged,
could lead to the radicalisation of the masses and instead of just putting pressure against
imperialism it could begin to threaten capitalism itself. As Lalji Naranji a leader of the
Indian Merchant's Chamber, Bombay, clearly stated in 1930, "Private property", itself
could be threatened by a mass movement and "disregard for authority" created by it could
produce "disastrous after-effects" for the "government of.Swarajw. Not wishing the anti-
imperialist movement to turn anti-capitalist, the capitalists always tried to bring back the
national movement to a phase of constitutional opposition. Another reason why the
capitalists could not afford to support a prolonged and all out opposition to the colonial
government, was that in their normal day to day business they needed a minimum
cooperation of the government. And, as we all know that at this time it, was the colonial
Government. This dependence on the existing government for immediate needs, combined
with the fact that mass agitation disrupted normal business, led the capitalists to shy away
from any kind of mass action even under the aegis of the Indian National Congress.
ii) Constitutional Forums
The capitalists considered that a total or prolonged boycott of all constitutional avenues
such as councils and legislatures or the negotiations like the Round Table Conferences was
a "suicidal policy". They felt that if the nationalist forces completely abandoned these
forums then with the help of loyalist elements the government could easily get such
policies or measures passed in these forums which would seriously affect Indian economic
development. This again was linked with their own interests. Thus, keeping this in mind
the capitalists not only supported but at times actually participated in the various forums
offered by the colonial Government. For example, some of them even joined the Viceroys
Executive Council. In fact they wanted to extract to their benefit whatever reforms that
were possible within the system.
In certain cases the capitalists did not support participation in constitutional bodies
unconditionally. G.D. Birla and F'urshottarndas made it clear that they were to "participate
on (their) own terms", with "no compromise on fundamentals". It was on this ground, for
example, that the proposals of constitutional reforms put forward by the Joint
Parliamentary Committee in 1934 were rejected by the FICCI as being "reactionary".
Moreover, the capitalists generally refused to negotiate with the British government on
constitutional or economic questions without the participation of, or at least the approval
of, the leading organisations of the national movement. In 1930, for example, the
FICCI advised its members to boycott the Round Table Conference saying that "... no
conference ... convened for the purpose of discussing the problem of Indian
constitutional advance can come to a solution .... unless such a conference is attended by
Mahatma Gandhi, as a free man, or has at least his approval". Thus many leading
capitalists boycotted the first Round Table Conference but attended the second along 18. G.D. Birla
with Gandhi. When the Congress was absent for the third Round Table Conference,
Purshottamdas attended in his individual capacity. But he made it clear that the conference
could not settle the constitutional problems in Gandhi's absence. The capitalists had clearly
realised, that no progress could be made to safeguard their interests, unless support of the
Congress was secured. Ambalal Sarabhai a prominent capitalist of Ahmedabad summed up
this situation in 1929 when he said, "minus the support of the Congress the government
will not listen to you".
Thus, the capitalists were in favour of a constitutional approach and methodology due to
two reasons:
a) They could check the Left by strengthening the Right wing.
b) They could show it to the government that they were in no way a threat to the
continuity of British rule. For example, F'urshottamdas declared in December 1942, that
"the various demands put forward by the commercial community did not and could not
aim at the liquidation of the British Empire".
It was the faich in constitutionalism that G.D. Birla involved himself during 1935-37 with
Gandini regarding the question of elections and forming of ministries.
Nationalism: Inter War
Years - 111
However, at times th
concessions for their
Birla in January 1931 Civil Disobedience Movement. He said: "there
g offered at present is entirely due to Gandhiji....if

Yet they would not lik nt to continue for long. They would attempt for
a compromise that cou rawal of the movement. Often they offerid their

e negotiations before the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in

nuing, or. launching the mass movement, again

ew: one is that we should jump in at the most

(i,e., the national movement), through whose

other words, through the capitalists argued for

okement as a whole.
The c.apitalists, even
never supported the colonial government in

Check Your Progress

i) in their individ

iv) none of the abov

between the Congress and the Government in getting

You would like to kn tianship between the Indian National Congress and
Capitalists. Generally ationship is analysed from two view points:

Indian shipping, etc.

 during late 1930s financing the right wing, etc. A major reason for their support to The Growth of Indian
Capitalism, the Capitalist
Gandhi was their firm belief that "he alone could check a class war" in this country. Class and the Freedom
And Gandhi on the other hand, sided with the capitalists. Hence Congress was a Struggle
Capitalistic organisation by nature.
ii) The second point of view is based on the assumption that the Congress was not at all
influenced by the capitalists rather it dictated its own terms.
According to this view point:
i ) A programme of economic nationalism with demands for protection, fiscal and
monetary autonomy vis-a-vis imperialism did not benefit the capitalist class alone.
These were national demands for independent economic development. Anyone who
was anti-imperialist, whether a capitalist or not, had to fight for these demands. In fact
the socialists and communists in India also fought for these demands. Besides, the
doctrine of economic nationalism was developed by the early nationalists in lndia
several decades before the Indian capitalist organised themselves politically, and began
to fight for these demands. As a matter of fact when these demands were first raised in
the nineteenth century, the capitalists class had barely come into existence and it did
not come out in support of them. Clearly, the Congress did not have to be bought,
manipulated or pressurised by the capitalists to put forward these demands.
ii) Secondly, the Congress dependence on the funds from businessmen, was not the
determining factor as far as the policy decisions were concerned. Nor was the financial
dependence on capitalists so strong as to effect its policies. The overwhelming majority
of Congressmen maintained themselves on their own account and the day to day
agitations were camed out with the voluntary hospitality and support of the common
people and the funds raised through membership fees and small donations. Even during
the constitutional phase, when the Congress went in for elections. its dependence on the
capitalists for funds was not such as to make it dependent on them. In reply to a query
from Linlithgow, the Viceroy : "whether the Congress can for long continue an
existence divorced from the Gandhian moneybags", the Director of Intelligence Bureau
submitted the following very significant report in March 1939;
,
"Congress has ... very important substitutes for regular finance. The 'appeal to
patriotism' saves a lot of cash expenditures ... Both for normal Congress activities
and for election purposes, the moneybags (capitalists) are less important than the
Gandhian superstition and the powerful influence of Congress ministries in office.
With these influences to 'support them, local Congress organisations can command so
much support from the public that they are in a position to fight elections without ;.
much money".
This is not to say that the Congress did not need or accept funds from the capitalists,
especially during the constitutional phases. However, through these funds the capitalist
class was not in any basic way able to influence the policy and ideology of the Congress
along lines which was not acceptable to it independently.
The attitude of the Congress leaders, even those who were supposed to be close to the
capitalists, is very revealing in this context. Gandhiji, as early as February, 1922, while
welcoming and even appealing for support from merchants and milliowners made it very
clear that:
whether they do so or not? the country's march to freedom cannot be made to depend
on any corporation or groups of men. This is a mass manifestation. The masses are
moving rapidly towards deliverance and they must move whether with the aid of the
organised capital or without. This must therefore be a movement independent of
capital and yet not antagonistic to it. Only if capital came to the aid of the masses, it
would redound to the credit of the capitalists and hasten the advent of the happy day.
Similarly, Motilal Nehru who, in the Swarajist phase, was in close contact with Bombay
and Ahmedabad capitalists and accepted significant sums of money from them for political
work, had no hesitation in severely castigating them in 1928 when he felt that they were
trying to retreat from their erstwhile commitments. He said,
the Congress should welcome this change in the attitude of the mill owners. An
alliance between the Congress and capitalists who are bent on profiting by the
sufferings of the nation is an impossible one. The more suitable fieid of work for the
Congress is among the workers and not the owners of the mills. But 1 was misled by
 --

i
I
ersonal friends among the mill owners-Mahatmaji
i Nationalism: Inter War
Years - 111
the latter, and I have now told him that he was
 But this did not mean that the Congress did not want their financial support. On The Growth of Indian
Capitalism, the Capitalist
many occasions it took donations. For example Dalmia contributed substantially for Class and the Freedom
election funds in 1937 and the constructive programme was always financed by -.
Strueele
Birla.

31.6 CAPITALISTS' VIEW OF THE CONGRESS

How did the Indian Capitalists view the Indian National Congress? In fact the Congress
was never percieved by them as their own class party. J.K. Mehta of the Indian Merchants
Chamber put it as a party, " with room in it for all shades of political opinion and
economic views". But at the same time, the Capitalists tried to ensure that the national
movement did not get radicalised, i.e., come under the influence of socialists or
communists. With this perspective they strengthened the right wing in the Congress. For
example G.D. Birla wrote to Purshottamdas (3rd August, 1934):
Vallabhhhai, Rajaji and Rajendra Babu are all fighting communism and
socialism. It is therefore, necessary that some of us who represent the healthy
Capitalism should help Gandhi as far as possible and work with a common
object.
In fact Birla and Thakurdas had earlier opposed the suggestion of Dorabji Tata for forming
a political party of the Capitalists. This was because they felt that the Congress itself could
'
take care of their interests provided the right wing dominated in the Congress. The
Gandhian principle of trusteeship (Unit 13) suited them well for it discouraged anti-
capitaIist struggle.

31.6.1 Approaching the Congress

Interestingly, the capitalist themselves showed remarkable maturity in never seeing the
Congress as their class party or even as a party amenable only to their influence. They
fully recognised that the Congress was a multi-class popular movement "with room in it"
as J.K. Mehta of the Indian Merchants' Chamber put it, "for all shades of political opinion
and economic views". Which shade or which class perspective would exercise greater
weight within the Congress, remained an open question and was partially linked to the
political maturity and farsightedness of each class.

31.6.2 Capitalists Strategy to Contain the Left

It is with this understanding that the capitalists moulded their politics, to try to ensure that
the national movement did not get too radicalised, i.e., it did not come under the
dominating influence of the socialists or communists. However, as pointed out earlier, the
capitalists did not respond to the growing threat of the left in Indian by allying themselves
with imperialism. For example, in 1928, they refused to support the colonial government
in passing the Public Safety Bill which was intended to contain the communists, on the
ground that such a Bill would result in an attack on the national movement. The fact that
the capitalists did not abandon the side of nationalism, even when threatened by the left
tendency within the national movement, went a long way in maintaining the influence of
the capitalist perspective within the movement.
Instead of abandoning the side of nationalism, the capitalists evolved a complex strategy to
combat the left in the nationalist stream. As a part of their strategy, they gave support to
the right wing of the national movement, and did extensive political and ideological
propaganda, arguing for rapid economic growth, equitable distribution, partial
nationalisation, land reforms and schemes for worker's welfare. By formulating what
FICCI President, G.L. Mehta called "a consistent programme of reforms (as the) most
effective remedy against social upheavals". They sought to combat the influence of the left
on the national movement.

It needs to be reiterated, however, that the capitalists' attempt to contain the national
movement within bourgeois limits did not involve any compromise with imperialism.
They remained anti-imperialist, though, their goal was to evolve or support a strategy of
overthrowing imperialism, which would simultaneously ensure the maintenance of the
capitalist system:
 -

Nationalism: Inter War Check Your Progress

-
Years 111
1 It may by said that
the Congress in anyway.
nancing the Congress.
Congress but the extent to which this determined
is a matter of controversy.

2 One of the most e capitalists evolved to contain the left in the

t n
iii) remain within t Congrc
iv) none of the abo e.
gress main stream

In this unit you got to1 now:

b
italism in the concrete conditions of the space
gn capital, import substitution forced by war, and
k place because of an internal crisis in imperialism

gle against colonial policies to

class under the Federation of

Industry (FICCI), helped to define in a concrete
itically imperialism was affecting its growth.
ique of colonialism that decided the Indian

ty of the mass movements to their

form that the Congress was, towards

its class interlsts.
I

national indigenous industries.

ose enterprise is completely subordinate to foreign
capital.
minant means of subsistence is control over land and
its tillers.
1 inovement: a term which indicates that the national

31.9 A N S ~ R TB/J~HEcK
S YOUR PROGRESS

e nature of Indian Capitalists

British Imperialism.
2 See Sub-sec. 31.2.7. Your answer should include (i) the capitalists' attitude towards the The Growth of Indian
Capitalism, the Capitalist
growth of left and (ii) the strength of the left. Class and the Freedom
Struggle
Check Your Progress 2
1 See Section 3 1.3, the first para. Your answer should include the efforts of Indian
business to build a national organisation to lobby for their interests.
2 See Sub-sec. 31.3.1. Your answer should include (i) its role of a national guardian of
trade and industry (ii) its role in developing a critique of imperialism.

Check Your Progress 3

1 (iii) 2 (ii) /

Check Your Progress 4

1 (iii) 2 (iii) \/
Structure
32.0 Objectives
32.1 Introduction

32.6.6 Lessons of

32.8 Let Us Sum

32.9 Key Words

broad survey of the popular struggles in the

assess the role

achieved through a long and complex process. It

uest, intimidation or accommodation of the pre-
existed in India. The result was direct British rule

'Paramountcy' over th
mled by Indian Princes. Princely India, or the
 pas!uef o alam suope!msse le~ndodla~al-~a:,ol lslg aql 'l:,ej U I .pas!praua%alom aure:,aq
saitrls ue!pu~jo a~doada q uo a:,uanUu! si! ' l a ~ e n q :ssem
, e parunsse 1uarua~orupuo!)t!u
aqi uaqM 1na .sa~asay] u! laqaqs %u!yaasw p u ~qsgua ruolj s1suo~~al waqi jo amos
's1syleuopeu @npyh!puy6q 1sly le pap23 slam seap! a s a u .alru :,pwmine jo sassa:,xa a v
palajjns ajq Lep 01 h p l!av u! Laql se may] 103 a:,uehaIaJ aierpamm! ue peq sisypuo!~eu
aql Lq pasynlndod sa!uaqyI I!A!:,pue iuawrua~08a~q!suodsar'L:,ermmap jo seap!
put! Inpamod t! pas!:,laxa ' q p u ~
. a u 'salss av J O a~doadaqi uo a:,uan~u!%U!MOJ% qsgua
u! SIOOL u a w peq i! laye 'luama~oru~euo!ieuav 'uaddoq 01 punoq som se 'ssaIaquahaN
'Iolrno:,
pue uo!s!~adnsi 3 y s pas!:,laxa s1uap!saX a q 10 s ~ u a s vatp 'sa~trlsaq1 u! sa~!isuasaidal
l!av q 8 n o q pue 'iuamahom Ieuo!iau aq) 0 1 puaixa lq8!w sa:,uw a q 1etp uoddns
6uo jo p a ~ o ~ d d e s61811~s
~p 6aq1 'asmo:, JO -1uamuaAoE)alq!suodsaX s p n m o ~sahom
6ue a:,ueuamno:, 01 ~utrl:,nlai=am pue uo!i:,ear jo synMInq se sa1trlg u e ~ p uu!trlu!am
~ I
01 iq8nos 'hmua:, va!iuami aql u! 1uama~om~euo!leua q jo qi8ua~ls8u!mo18 atp JO
1
ixaiuo:, aqi u! 611q:,adsa 'oqm qs!iug aqi jo loop aqi 1e 6 q uopenl!s srqlloj L1!l!q~suodsa1
aql jo ued leal8 v .aj!I jo salaqds Ile u! pnmq:,eq u!erualol panu!luo:, 61uo[em
I S B A a u '61uou!m 11erus e palmgsuo:, 'la~amoq 'salns q:,nS .iuamrua~o%u! uopedy:,ped 1
nlndod jo alnsoam e 1 w ~ uaha 8 pue uopa:,npa mapom pea~ds01 suojja snouas apem os@
A a q ~'iuarudo[a~ap pysnpu! alomold pue smojal ~v:,!l!~od pue a~pens!u!mpea:,nponu!
01 h p!p 'a:,utrlsysal qs!i!la JO a:,y aqi u! ualjo 'sla~rupaua)qS!lua alom av JO amos
'alru
1e~aua8a q a1a~-e!pu~ qspua %uunoqqS!auu! ueql laq8!q ua~a-saw q 8 r ~.sluel!qequy
ssald~aqaq1 uo IIaj 611ern1eusrq1 11" JO uaplnq a u .ma.xeq aqi uy uamom jo sqrunu aq1
01 ppe 01 panu!iuo:, osle L a u .sayled ,ny!qs, %uys!w8loJO suearu 6q s1san8 u9la~ojl!av
01 iuamupuaiua q s ! ~ eaha8~ 6 a q 's6qs
~ 8uol peq pue sauluno:, ueadolng 01 s d u ~iuanbaq
apem L a u .sapuej pue sm!qM Ieuoslad luo8e~e~lxa uo sanuahal a ~ e aqi
~ s palapuenbs
slalru a u 'sald!:,uud :,pw:,oine )no-pue-)no uo unl aJam sams 1sow .s~a[qnsi!aqi
jo 11!mpooS a q alnsua 01 sainseam jo mnm!u!m a v uaha ayepapun 0 1 paau ou I I ~ JsJaIru
aq1 'Lpuanbasuo3 .Ieruam! pue ~emalxa-a:,ua1s!xai!aq) 01 s1aaq1 I@ l s u ~ 8 eh p : , a s
sJaIru aql paa1ue~en8qsgua atp 'lamod ~unome~od j
a q st! pa8palmouy:,e %u!aq~ o umar
Nationalism: Inter War in the states under Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movement which lasted
-
Years 111
from 1920 to 1922.

I
32.3 THE FfiRST P ITICAL ORGANISATIONS
a Mandals or State People's Conferences were set up
Balloda, the Kathiawad Sjates, the Deccan States,
ong the leaders who emerged through this process,
of Balwantrai Mehta, Maniklal Kothari and C.R.
niliative that the first all-India gathering of the people
to the formation of the All India States People's
on itself being attended by about 700 political workers.

II
32.4 THE CDNGRI

the states in the name of the Congress. This they

qnd the Indian States the differences on this count

sation such as the Congress, which determined its
e basis of the conditions in British India, could not
political movements in the states at that initial stage.
he people in the States to rely on the more advanced

framework of thes s and Congressmen continued to extend

variety of ways. In his Presidential Address to

e right to determine the future of the

i
While the process o politi ening and political protest went ahead in many states in
1920s and early 193 s, th rt in the movements in the states came in the latter half
of the 1930s. This s la duct of two associated developments-the Federation
scheme proposed b the G nt of India Act of 1935 and, the assumption of office by
Congress ministries1 ' the of the provinces of British India in 1937.

4
32.4.1 Federati n Sche
a
,

Indian states were to be brought into a direct

ia, as distinct from the existing position in which
ith the British Crown. This was to be achieved by
6islature which would have representatives from
British India as tates. However, while the representatives from
y the people, the representatives from the Indian
of the total members, would be nominated by the
urpose of this scheme was to use the nominated
lid conservative block to counter the weight of the
The Federation scheme was, therefore, opposed by
d that the representatives of the States should also be
. Understandably, this imparted a great sense of urgency
emment in the Indian States, for there could be no
 Popular Struggles in the
Princely States

3GO 11AlLlJ A N b l 3, 1'338

[ 1 ) ~ ~ 1 <l3t;ll
- -
Iridrcd, it is a question whether responsibld ~ ~ r i l l ~ -
strrs iri the I ) ~ O V ~ I I C ' C . \ Iiave not a moral respun-
ribllity ill r r q ~ e c t uf the people ut' t t ~stdtcs In
lllslr resl~cctivc ~~roviiices. U11der tbe c011~1itu-
ti or^. the rniiii,ters liave IU power over them.
Tlic Cover~lt,r IS the 41gClit uf tlic Vicr.tr)y who
i s tlic rcl~rcr~litdlivd tllc P ~ C Y I I L ) I IPower. M~
,5'l'A'l'Iq:S ,\N 1 ) '1'1111: l ' ~ ~ ~ O ~ ' [IIUC~ t~l ~~eI I I ~ I ~ I S ~111
Z ~ S~ I I I ~ C I I ~ I I I U O ULSI ~ ~ V I I I C Cb~.: ~ w
slrlcly ;I 11ior.1l l,-slh~n>~lility redr1Ji11y uqlut h a p p t ~
( /ly hl. K . L ' ~ I I I) ~ ~ I ~ iu tlic states. % . long as the states and the
T h e a l n i ~ s t siili~iltar~eousa\\,~kcning ill tlit ik'ur)Ie itre satislir:J, i~lillistcrs Iiave nu worry.
variolls sr;it~.sIS n v~.rv -.l!!i~iti~.:tiitcvclit in tlic UUC II~IVI: tllcy I ~ U I I ~if there is. my, viru!ent
Jutional strucgle for ii~lie~)cn,lerice.It wlll be e~idclllic in the t i i t e s which, if neglected, nuy
wrcng to tilink tilac sucll awakelling can due easily overtake the province i n which tlley uc
lo ,lie illstigatiGn of one psr-n or a my of situated ? I-lave tlley none when tliere i s I
p e r s n s or aiiy orc.lni;atiu~l. It is lust possible t l ~ a t moral epidemic which seems to be raging in
the Haripura resolution of the Congress put tlie Dh~llkanal?
people of the states on tht:ir mettle and they I understand that the prrsccuted proplr ;rrc
realized as never before t l ~ t their ralvation taking refuge ill Uritirh O r i m . Can. the mild.
depended upon tlleir own l a b & s . nut above all sters rcfusc them sliclter,? How many can t h y
it is the time spirit that has brouglit a b u t take charge o f ? Whatever luppens in these states
the awitkening. I t is t o be h o w d that the Prin- affects for better or for worse the province as a
ces and their advisers will recognize it and meet whole. I do bclieve, tt~erefore, tbat the ministera
the lcgitirnate aspirations o f the people. Tliere by reamn of the hcrvy responsibility rdsting can
is .
I~ilIf-way tlouse bctwcert total crtinctioia their slioulriers have the moral riglit, witliinbtrict
of tlle states und ?he l'rinces making their limits. t o assert tlienlselves for the sake of intu-
people ~csponsiblefor the ad~ninistration of rksir nal peace and decency. They .cannot look on
states arid themselves bcoming trusteer for the with uncoirern while the people of the statu
people, tdcilig an a r n e d cornmission for their -an arbitrary creation of the Paramount Power-
labours. are bring ground t o dust as they in Dlienkansl
1 Ilopc, tl~ercfcrre. the rulriour is rlut true rhrt a" repofled to
the llririsl~Guvernment are likely. at the instance One reads in the papcrs that some conccu-
of wme Prilices or thcir Dcwa~is, t o announce ions Lave brcn given t o tlre people of DLen-
a clrange in the policy recently enunciritcd by kanal. I do. not know whether the r e p n u
E.irl Winterton, about tlie :ibility of the Princes true and whetllcr the relief ,answers the p u c p o ~
t o Rrnllt rcsponsible povcrnrlicnt t o their people. for wliicli the I>col~lcof Dhcr~kulal arr t i g b t i ~
U a117 i ~ ftlirrn 1i;ive ajkcd tlie Uritish Govern- and oufiring. I t is, howtver, irrelevant to the
mcnt to rcvcrre rhc policy, t \ ~ e yhave undoubt- i s ~ u er.iised by rue. I fccl that the nlinirterr in
cdly done u dissrrvice to thcmscleves. And the I'rovinces are nlorally bound t o take notice
if t l ~ eI\ritisli Govcrnrnelit rk.cpond to the un- of grots misrulc in the stater within tlieir bor-
wcprthy wivh. they will prcc;rtit.,te Crrt class dcrs und t o tclider advice t o tlie P ~ n m o u n t
cribis whose ~nagriitudc it is cliflicult t o foretell. l'awcr as t o wliat, in tlicir opinion, SIIOUW lz
I rr~ubt r c f ~ r ~toc believe tli;~t tlie Ijritish Govern- doi~c. T h e Paramount Power, if it is to enjoy
rllclit can colalnit such a blunder. Earl Winterton's fricndly rcbtionr, with the provincial ministen,
announccrncrit was but an rndorbemerlt of past il bound to give sympathetic ear to tLei
prxticc. Tliev ure not kriuwn t o lwva ever advice.
intcrfcred with the state3 givil~d powers t o their T/lere is one otller matter which demands the
people, however wid2 chcy ~ n i p l ~be. t urgent attention of the states and their adviserr
I go a step further. Hvclr as cl~eBritish Govern- Ttiey fight shy of the very name Congress.
rucnt, as the Paramount Power, are bound t o protect TIICYregard Congrcs~mcn as outsiders, foreigncn
the Princes ag;~inst harm from outside or within. and what not. They may be all that in law.
they are eqclally or a fortiori bound to ensure just Uut n ~ ~ n - m a dLIW,
e if it is in conflict with the
rule on the part of the Princes. Hence it is natural law. becomes a d u d letter when the Latter
their bounden duty, when they. supply the police operates in full force. T h e pmple of the starer
o r the milit- t o any state, t o see that there is look up t o the Congrew in all matten affectin4
a proper emergency justifying the request and tbat their interest. Many of them y e members d
the militarg or the police will be used with the Congreu. Some liko Sbri Jamylalji hold
becoming restraint. From D l ~ e r ~ k a r dhave come high offices in the Congress organization. In the
t o rue worirr of fiendish iruelty exercised by eye of the Congreu there ia no distinction bet-
the state myrmidonr under the shadow of the ween members from the atatea 4 from India
police rupplied by the Paramount Power. I asked culled British. It ic aureb detrimental ta tbe
for evidence in rupport of rome o f rho urmame. interests of the r a t e r to i a ~ r ath C9RPre.u or
able cruelities. And I have enough t o iwpir. Congressmen especially when it or, rbrl luk
kliet to tender friendly auirmcr. Tbel ~lrurtr r ; o y d u

21. Gandhi's Article in Harijan on State People's Movement.

Natlonnlism: Inter War
Years-m

sprung up in many states, and struggles broke out

bad, Patiala, Jaipur, Kashmir and the Orissa States.

is all-round awakening among the people of the

... The moment they became ready, the legal,

ndary was destroyed."

15139 and this led to a marked change in the

Princes became e was a lull in the movement which was, however,

broken with the India movement in August 1942. For the first time,

for responsible government was now added

for the States to become integral parts of the

to Indian hands we
importance at this j
departure and the la
 Popular Struggles in the
Princely States

I)c:.i~,~i..i~.!; t l i ~ !hope llrat T2u1.t1 ~ ~ ~ u I I ~ ~ad~licc I ~ ~ ~ ~ I I ' s

t.1 tile 1 1 1 d i a i ~I ' I , ~ I I c ~will
- s LC l ~ ~ l l ~ ~ vt11e
c t lC ,: U V ~ ~ I ~ ~ I ~ * : I I ~
of 11-idiaar:d t1ic A.I.S.P.C. hre drifting, unable either
l o sce the ovur~lllpicture !n +.true pcrsp~ctive or lay
l ' m ns to how^ the difliculties arising.out
d o w l ~~ ~ ' t ~ n i f o plsn
o i the Jur~t.:! Pla11 arc to.be, s u r m o t ~ ~ ~ t c d .
The Union Covrrntpent. fiecks to judge each state on in-
dividual merit.
1':C. ~llraugliits spokcslnan and now ck-
'l'tic A ,I .S.
President car, :;t* liirrlt urllv in ttlcisc: ilctisns of the Ststcs
l l ~ :Ire
t f ~ A ' ~ t i ~ \ : ' ; to [ ~ 111di;~iiJ~~ioi-..
i t l l111~
l'tru:: .':ardiir Vaiiolrllbllsi I'atcl c a n ~ r t i tscc tlic IICCL.S,IIIy
,of h o l t l i ~ ra~ 1;lcbi~citeis 1;a:;lilnil. ;;ltl~ou;:ll. hc thir~ls
111;it n pli.l~iscitcirr J U ~ ; L C ~ Iis~ Ie!:s~.atiul:
I

22. Editorial on State People's Movement in Free Press Journal 18.10. 1947

the sub-continent. The national leadership, and especially Sardar Patel, played a vital role
at this stage and succeeded in getting the vast majority of the States to accede to the Indian
Union through a combination of diplomatic pressure, arm-twisting and popular
movements. Many of the more sensible rulers had realised on their own that independence
of their territories as separate entities was not a realistic alternative. However, some of the
States, such as Travancore, Junaqadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir refused to join the Indian
Union till the last minute. Only Hyderabad made a serious bid for independence up to the
last moment.

Check Your Progress 1

1 What was the initial impact of national movement on the people of the Indian States?
Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years I11 .................................................... ............................................................................
....................................., ..:........... ..........................................................................................

2 What was the policy of the In National Congress towards the popular movements in
the Indian States? ;
I

..................................... i.............
. ............................................................................
..................................... .4, ............
,
............................................................................
.....................................i.,............. ....................................................................................
.................................................... ............................................................................
..................................... ............................................................................

3 Write five lines on iie Feder

.................................................... ............................................................................
..................................................... ...........................................................................
....................................,',,............. ..........................................................................
.................................................... ..........................................................................
I
.................................................... ...........................................................................

I
4 Read the following/ ta mark right ( b -' ) or wrong (x).
'
i) The British exe is ontrol on the areas controlled by the Indian
princes.
ii) The Federation'! c ported by the nationalist leaders.
iii) The movement ;,n tes acquired an impetus in the 1930s.

at the pattern of the movements in two Indian

of detailed illustration of the movements in selected
spmmarising briefly the movements in all the States
ore helpful to us in understanding the complex
d political consciousness and political activity in
the Indian states states we have chosen are representative not only
rgest Indian state, and Rajkot among the smallest -
as ruled by the Nizarn, a Muslim, and Rajkot by a
n political workers who were in leadership whereas in

t
Hyderabad the Comq nists pla la major role in the populaf-movement against the
feudal ruler.

Rajkot was one of States that dotted the Kathiawad peninsula of Gujarat
and had a 14s importance, however, was considerable because
he Western India States Agency from where the
s dealings with an exercised supervision over all the
small States of the a

32.6.1 Reign of
g one of the first States in India where popular
dbced. This was largely due to the enlightened views
ajiraj, who ruled the State for twenty years till 1930.
k ~ Praja
t Pratinidhi Sabha, a representative assembly
e basis of universal adult franchise. The Thakore
Lakhajiraj rarely exercised this right. In effect the
power. Lakhajiraj promoted industrial and educational
development of the
 Popular Struggles in the
This enllgntened ruler actively encouraged the nationalist political activity in various ways. Princely States
He gave permission for the holding of the First Kathiawar Political Conference in Rajkot
in 1921, which was presided over by Vithalbhai Patel, the i!lustrious brother of Sardar
Pate1 who later went on became the first Indian President of :he Central Legislative
Assembly. Lakhajiraj was a great admirer of Gandhiji and very proud of the achievements
of this 'son of Rajkot'. He would often invite him to his durbar, and then make him sit on
the throne while he himself sat in his durbar. Jawaharlal Nehru was given a public
reception by him during a visit to the State. Lakhajiraj also attended sessions of the
Kathiawar Political Conference, wore khadi in defiance of the British, and donated land
for the setting up of a national school that was to become a centre of political activity.

32.6.2 Return to Despotism

The initiatives taken by Lakhajiraj were too good to last for long. His death in 1930
brought his son, Dharmendra Singhji to the throne and as a ruler he proved to be the exact
opposite of his father. Dharamendra Singhji was interested only in his own luxuries and
comforts and he was encouraged in this by tlie crafty Dewan Virawala who used the
opportunity to mncentrate all powers in his own hands. The State's wealth was wasted on
extravagant expenditure and the finances soon reached such a state that monopslies for the
sale of rice, matches, sugar and cereals were given for a price to individual merchants in
order to raise revenues. Taxes were increased, prices rose and the popular assembly was
1 allowed to lapse. All this produced a discontent and resentment among the people,
especially since the conhast with the reign of Lakhajiraj was so sharp.

I 32.6.3 Beginning of Protest

t The ground for struggle had also been prepared by different political groups who had been
active in the Kathiawar area for many years. The group that emerged in the leading
position during these yews, however, consisted of Gandhian constructive workers and their
main leader was U.N. Dhebar.
The first blow was struck in 1936 when a strike of 800 workers took place under the aegis
of a labour union organised by Jethalal Joshi, a Gandhian activist, in the state-owned
cotton mill. The strike lasted 21 days and the Durbar had to concede the union's demands
for better working conditions. Encouraged by this success, Jethalal Joshi and U.N. Dhebar
organised in March 1937 a meeting of the Kathiawar Rajakiya Parishad (Political
Conference), the first to be held in eight years. The fifteen thousand people who attended
this conference demanded responsible government and reduction in taxes and state
expenditure.
The ruler made no move either to negotiate or concede the demands. The Parishad,
therefore, launched the next phase of the struggle in August 1938 by organising a protest
against gambling, for which too a monopoly had been sold at the Gokulashtmi fair. The
administration had planned repression, and the protesters were beaten with lathis first by
the Agency police and then by the state police. The reaction was immediate: there was a
complete hartal and Sardar Pate1 presided over a session of the Parishad on 5 September.
Patel also met Dewan Virawala and presented the demands of the people which included a
committee to frame proposals for responsible government, a new election for the
Pratinidhi Sabha or the popular representative assembly, reduction of land revenue by 15
per cent, cancellation of all monopolies or ijaras, and a limit on the ruler's claim on the
State heasury. The Durbar, however, was in no mood to listen, and instead stepped up the
confrontation by asking the British Resident to depute a British Officer as Dewan in order
to effectively deal with the agitation. The British duly despatched Cadell to take over as
Dewan. Dewan Virawala, who planned the whole scheme, became Private Adviser to the
throne, and continued to operate from behind the scenes.

32.6.4 The Satyagraha

Seeing the rigid attitude of the administration, the resistance was stepped up to assume the
form of a full-scale satyagraha. There were workers' strikes in the cotton mill and students
also went on strike. All goods either produced by the State or products sold under
monopoly were boycotted. These included electricity and cloth. Land revenue was not paid
and deposits in the State Bank were withdrawn. In short, all sources of income of the State
were to be blocked. Volunteers flowed in from Bombay, British Gujarat and the other
parts of Kathiawar outside Rajkot. The organisation of the movement was highly
advanced. Every leader arrested was replaced by another according to a pre-arranged secret
Nationalism: Inter War informed of their date of arrival and arrangements
-
Years 111
in Rajkot were apers by means of code numbers. Sardar Patel,
most of the time, kept himself in regular touch by

er the possibility of what would be seen as a

want the P ~ r b a to
r come to any settlement with
that this wc-ld result in a further spread of the
movement and would ce. But, hard-pressed by the highly
settlement with Sardar Pate1 on 26
was withdrawn and prisoners were released. The
crucial part of the d tment to appoint a Committee of ten state
me of reforms designed to grant the widest possible
powers to the peopl at, of the 10 members of this Committee, seven
would be Sardar Pa
osed the agreement in the first place, now swung
est levels of the Viceroy and the Secretary of
take the stand that he would not accept Sardar
d instead have another one drawn up with the help
of the Resident. The icly for the refusal was also very significant, since it
to create caste and communal divisions: the list
, it was argued, because it contained the names only
, and the depressed classes were not represented

The Satyagraha was ry 1939 and it was met with heavy repression.
However, this repres stronger protest from all over the country.
own up in Rajkot, was so moved that she decided, in
spite of her advance to go to Rajkot. On anival, she and her
companion Manibe er, were detained in a village outside Rajkot city.
d to proceed to Rajkot. He had already taken
serious note of the ement by the Durbar. He now felt that his own
h the State and the Thakore Sahib's family called

the British, continued to be obdurate and finally

ing on an indefinite fast unless the Durbar agreed to
. No assurance was given by the Durbar and the fast
began:

32.6.5
Ibiji's fast became the signal for a nation-wide
dh telegrams demanding his intervention, Congress
ere called and legislatures adjourned. Gandhiji
amount Power, to persuade the Thakore to stick
roke his fast after the Viceroy asked the Chief
itrate and decide whether in fact the Thakore

The Chief Justice up sition in an award given on 3rd April 1939, but
to promote the communal and caste divide
by encouraging the lasses to put forward their claims and then
using these to refuse ment. The situation soon began to deteriorate,
epped in to demand separate representation for
were hostile demonstrations at Gandhiji's prayer
since it had nothing to gain and all to lose from a

o withdraw from the situation and announced that

he released the T qgreement. He apologised to the Viceroy and the
Chief Justice for also apologised to his opponents, and returned to
his failure to achieve a 'change of heart' in his
having tried to use the authority of the Paramount
ave relied only on the strength of his own suffering
 Popular Struggles in the
Princely States

460 HARIJAN [ FEBRUARY

4, 1939

1.111: Ilritisl~ RcriiJcnt is rcp*cltii~g tlie ~wrCL>r-

nla1Icc.s of the Br~tish otticinls in 'Ilr~tish Indir'
during t l ~ eCivil Disobedience days.
1 know that if the people of Rajkot con
s t m d all this nlndness w~tlrout tl~c.n~selvc.s
beconling mad, and meekly but resolutrly and
bravely suffer the inhumnn~ties heaped upon
lZXJKOT them, they w ~ l lcome out victorious and, what
( fly hf. K. Gantlhi ) is more, they w ~ l l set free the Thnkore Saheb.
The strugglc in Kajkot has a personal touch Tllcy wtll prove tliat tllcy are the real rulers
about it for me. It was the place where I of Rajkot under the paramountcy of t h e
rzceived all my education up t o the matricula- Congress. If, however, they go .mad and think
tion cxarnir~;~tion and where my father was of impotent retaliation and resort to acts of
Dewan for m;lriy years. My wife feels so much violence, their state will be worse than before
al>ouc t l ~ esullerings of t1;e people that thougb' and the paramountcj of the Congress will be of
she is as old as I am and much less able than no effect. The Congress paramountcy avails only
mysbrlf to brave such I~ardsl~ipsas may be those who accept the banner of non-violence, even
attendant upon jail life, shie feels she must go t o as the paramountcy of Br~tain avails only those
H:~jkor. And before this i s . in print slit might who subscribe to the doctrine of 'might is right'.
Itave go112 tl~cre. W l ~ ; l t then is the duty of thc Congress when
But I want to take a . dctaclictl view of the the pcoplr: of Rajkot have to face not the
struggle. Sardnr's statcnlent, reproduced elsewhere. Ruler and llis tiny police but the disciplined
is a Icgal document in the smse tliat it has not hordes nf the British Empire?
a superfluous word in it and contiiins nothicg T l ~ afirst and natural step is for the Congrtss
that cxnnot be supported by \lriit~lpe;~chdl,lerninlstry to make themselves responsible for the
evidence most of which is t : ~ s c d o n writtzn s a k t y and honour of the people of Rajkot. It
records which are attachcd to it as appendices. is true thac the Governnlent of India Act
I t furnisl~cscvidcnce of a cold-bloodt-d hrc;~chof gives the ministers no power over the States.
a .rolemn covcn.Int entcrcd into b$tuccn the Hailcot Dut they arc governc~rsof a mighty province
Rulcr and I ~ i s people. And the I)reiicl~ I1:ts Iwen in whirl1 Rajkot is but a speck. As such they have
C ~ bidtlitlg of the British rights and duties outside the Government of India
cornnritced at th* I , . ~ : J I . I and
Kcsldenc who is directly lir~kzd with the Viceroy: Act. And thcse are muctr the most important.
T o the covz~nnca British Dewan was party. Suppos~ngthat Rajkot became t h e place of refuge
H i s boast \;..IS thnt he rcli~ts:nrcli liritish autho- for all the gun& that India could produce.
rity. I l e had expected to rule rhc Ruler. He supposing further that from there they carried on
was therehrc no h o l to fall into the Sardar's operations throughout India, t h e nlinisters would
trap. Therefore the covcnlllt ws,; IIOC all extor. clearly Iiave the right and it would b e their
tion from an iml)cc~leruler. Thc Ilritihh Resident duty to i ~ the ~ k Paramount Power through t h e
Jetcsted tltc G X I ~ C E Sand S I l ~ e !irrti,ir for tlie BI-~tislrKc.l)rt*se~~rativc in Ik>ntb.~y to set thi~lgv
crime of s ; l v i ~ ~ gthe T l r l h o r e , S , ~ l ~ c b fr61n r i ~ : l ~in
t Kajkot. And it will be the duty of
bankruptcy and, prot;rl~ly, lttss d' Iris cadi. 'The tbc l!lrcln~c~urrtPower t o do so o r to lose t h e
Congress influence he cotrld r ~ o t L~cluk. And so rn~nisters. Every minister in his province is
before tlie Thakore Salrcb c o ~ ~ lpossibly d rccleem att:c.red by everything that happens in territo-
tiis promise t o his peoplc., he rrl.cJr him break ries wi~l1i11llis gcographicirl limit though out-
'

it. If the news tli;lt tlie s a r d ~ ris rccsiving from side his Icgal jurisdictiot~,especially ~f that thing
Rajkot is t o be believed, the Hcsident is showing t ~ u r t shis sense of decency. Respo~lsible govern-
the red claws ~f the British lion and says in ment in those parts may not be the ministers'
effect t o the people: "Your ruler is my creature. conccrn, but if there is plague in those parts
I have put him o n the gadi and 1 can depose o r butchery going on, it . is very much their
him. H e knew well enough t l ~ a t he had acted concern; o r else their rule is a s h m and a
against my wishes. I have therefore undone bis delusion. Thus the ministcrs in Orissa may not
action in, coming to terms with his people. sit conifortably in their chairs, if they d o
For your dealings with tha C;ongress and the not sucgeed in sending 26.000 refugees of Talcher
Sardar I stlall tdach you a lesson that you will to their home with an absolute assurance of
not forget for a generation." safe* and freedom of specch and social and
Having made the Ruler a virtual prisoner. Le political intercourse. I t is insufferable that the
has begun a reign of terrorism in Rajkot. Hera Ct. ,.*less. which is today in alliance with t h e
is what the Iatest telcgram received by the B r i t i ~ h Government, should be treated as on
SardG says : " lkcharhhci J a s ~ n i arld other enelliy a ~ ~an d outsider in the Stares which are
volunteers arrested. Twentysix volul~trqrstaken ac vas5.11~of the British.
night to a dtstnat place in the irdrocy llruits and This wanton breach, instigdted by the British
brutally. bepten. Volunteers in vi1lrgc.u are ~iniilurly Resident in Kajkot. of the charter of the liberty
treated. Agency polict contnrll~rid State agency of its people u a wrong wltich must be 6.a
;mJ searching private louse* in ci$il liurits." right a t tire earliest possible moment. It is Like

23. Candhi's Writeup on Rajkot.

 i
Nationalism: Inter War to bring about a 'chan of heart e Thakore Sahib and Virawala. The 'violence' or
-
Years 111
the coercion involved ' the meth adopted had been the cause of his failure.

monstrated the complexity of the

he Paramount Power always ready to interfere in its
nce of the Rulers as an excuse for
manded by those in opposition. In British India,
rontation was therefore of a different order. On
thods of struggle when used in
India and Indian States often produced dissimilar
ustified in showing hesitation for long years to

e Indian Union in 1947 was none other than Sardar

Patel, a veteran of the
states. Struggles such

1 Read the followin t ( ./ ) or wrong (x).

state had introduced the principle of

as undertaken by Gandhian activists.

ng the people of the state.

9 1
2 Write five lines on andhiji's lvement with the Rajkot Satyagraha.

There was one state

the largest Indian st

rising. He was used to governing in the style of

prised 10 per cent of the total area of the state.
tly to meet the royal expenses. He had obviously

s, high rents and exacted forced labour or vethi.

also suffered from religious and cultural
and Urdu promoted in a variety of ways.
share of the jobs in the government, especially at
h had began to acquire considerable popularity
hand and those who had come under its
ions without official permission. In the
moted the formation of Ittehad ul Muslimin, an
organisation based on loyalty to the Nizam on the basis of common religious faith. It was Popular Struggles in the
Princely States
this cultural, economic, political and religious suppression that prepared the ground for the
growth of people's movement in Hyderabad.

32.7.2 Beginning of Awakening

The beginning of political awakening came with the Non-cooperation and Khilafat
movements in 1920-22. National schools were set up, charkhas were popularised,
propaganda made against liquor-drinking and badges with pictures of Gandhiji and Ali
brothers were sold. Public demonstrations of Hindu-Muslim unity were popular and the
Knilafat movement was used as an effective forum for organising open political activity
such as in the form of mass public meetings since the Nizam hesitated to come out openly
against this movement.
Following upon this, a series of Hyderabad Political Conferences were held in British
Indian territory adjoining the state. Responsible government, civil liberties, reduction of
taxes, abolition of forced labour, freedom for religious and cultural expression were the
main demands put forward at these conferences. The Civi! disokdience Movemenr of
1930-32 further advanced political consciousness, for many nationalists from Hyderabad
crossed over to British India to participate in the struggle. They went to jails and mingled
with nationalists from other regions. These people returned to Hyderabad with a new sense
of urgency and militancy.
Meanwhile, the process of cultural awakening had also been under way. This took the form
of different linguistic-cultural zones fonning their own associations. The first to come up
was the Andhra Jana Sangham, later transformed into Andhra Mahasabha. This
organisation of the Telugu-speaking people of the Telengana area worked for the
advancement of Telugu language and literature, through the setting up of schools, journals,
newspapers, library associations and a research society. Despite the Mahasabha refraining
from any overt.politica1activity till the beginning of the 1940s, the Nizam's administration
would shut down its schools, libraries and newspapers started by it. In 1937, the other two
linguistic cultural zones also set up their organisations: the Maharashtra Parishad and the
Kannada Parishad.

32.7.3 The Satyagraha

In 1938 active workers of all.the three regions came together and decided to launch a state-
wide organisation named the Hyderabad State Congress. Even before it could actua!ly be
set up, the administration banned it on the ground that il did not have sufficient
representation of Muslims. Attempts at negotiations came to nought, and the decision was
taken to launch a satyagraha.
The satyagraha started in October 1938, and man who led it was Swami Ramanand Tirtha,
a Marathi-speaking nationalist, who was a Gandhian in his life-style and a Nehruite in his
ideology. As a part of this satyagraha, a group of five, in which all the regions of the state
would be represented, would defy the ban orders by proclaiming themselves members of
the State Congress. Large numbers of people would turn out to witness the satyagraha and
express support, and this continued for two months, thrice a week, at the two centres cr'
Hyderabad and Aurangabad.
At the same time, the Arya Samaj and Hindu Civil Liberties Union also launched a
satyagraha against the religious persecution of Arya Sarnaj. This satyagraha had religious
objectives and even began to take on communal overtones. There was a great danger of the
two satyagrahas being confused in the popular mind. The State administration was Lrying
precisely to work in that direction.
This was seen by the State Congress and Gandhiji. Accordingly, it was decided that in
order to keep the religious and political issues separate, the political satyagraha of the State
Congress be suspended.
There emerged during the same period the famous Bande Mataram movement, which led
to a ~argc-saleradicalisation of students. This movement began in Hyderabad colleges as a
protest strike against the authorities who refused to allow the students to sing Bande
Mataram, in their hostel prayer rooms. The strike socn spread to other parts of the State,
,tudents were expelled from colleges and many of them went to Nagpur University in the
'ongress-ruled Central Provinces where they were given admission. This movement
Nationalism: lntcr War proved to be very many of the active political workers of the time
Years - Ill emerged from this

32.7.4 World ~ 4 I1r 111

The second World ut in 1939. This provided an opportunity to the State
government to refu uestions of political reforms. The State Congress
other symbolic protest by Swamiji and
six others personal hiji in September 1940. This led to their arrest and
favour of any resumption of mass
s in the offing and all struggles should

regional cultural organisations emerging as

ame particularly true of the Andhra Mahasabha of
ised cadre flocked to the Sabha and gave it a
rtant development that occurred at this time
ged as a major leader of the younger radical
in the 1939 State Congress satyagraha, was

rtion of the younger cadre as well. The result was

of ~ahasabha'spolitics and its focus on peasant

air. I1

Ell effect as well: it sealed the rift that had taken place
-Communists. The Communist Party of India
's war line - which asked for support to Britain in

Communist elements walking out to form their own

Mahasabha in Communist hands.

ntage of their position as soon as the War came to

ly the latter half of 1946, were years of the growth
us pockets of the Nalgonda district, and to some
ssues around which the peasants were mobilized
ad to be paid to the state as a part of war-time
labour or vethi begar extracted by the
-wigs. especially landowners' illegal exactions and
between the peasants led by the Communists
the goondas of the landlords and later the armed
he fierce resistance, which included arrests,
rcing the peasants to lie low for a time but they had
themselves and in the leadership of the Sangham, as

Viceroy Mountbatten's announcement on 3

June 1947 that the India in a short time. The Nizam, on 12 June
reign after the British left. He had obviousIy
 1-he State Congress now decided to come into the open and take the lead. It had already Popular Struggles in the
Princely States
established its popularity a few months earlier when it had organised a very successful
boycott of the elections held in the State under a new undemocratic constitution that the
Nizam was trying to foist on the people. In response to the Nizam's refusal to accede to
the Union, the Congress now held its first open session from 16 to 18 June and
demanded accession to the Indian Union and responsible government. The state leaders
also begah to prepare, in consultation with the national leadership in Delhi, for a struggle
against the Nizam. The struggle was to include both mass satyagraha and armed
resistance.
To evade arrests, a Committee of Action was set up outside Hyderabad and offices were
established on the borders of the state in Sholapur, Bezwada and Gadag with a central
office at Bombay. Also funds were collected in which Jai Prakash Narain played a crucial
role. The day fixed for the launching of the movement, 7 August 1947, was to be
observed as 'Join Indian Union Day'. The movement took off with a flying start. Meetings
were held in defiance of bans in towns and villages all over the state, and workers and
students went on strike. Beatings and arrests followed, as also a ban on the ceremonial
hoisting of the national flag. In the subsequent days defying this ban by all means became
a major form of the struggle. Students played an important role in this struggle, as did
women.
The government intensified repression, aod on Independence Day, 15 August 1947,
Swamiji and his colleagues were arrested. The new development was an open
encouragement by the administration to the Razakars, who were the storm-troopers of the
communal organisation, the Ittihad ul Muslimin, to act as a para-military force. Razakars
were issued arms and let loose on unarmed crowds. They set up camps near rebellious
villages and regularly carried out armed raids. The Nizam signed a Standstill Agreement
with the Indian government in November 1947, but this did nothing to relieve the
repression.

32.7.7 Armed Resistance and the Intervention of Indian Army

The movement now took a different form, that of armed resistance. The State Congress set
up camps on the State's borders, and organised raids on custom's outposts, the police
stations and Razakar camps. But inside the State, and especially in the Nalgonda, Warangal
and Khammam districts of Telengana, it was the Communists who took the lead in
organising armed resistance. They organised the peasants into dalarns, gave the training in
wing arms, to attack the Razakars. They also attacked the landlords in many areas, killed a
few and chased away many to the towns, and distributed their illegally acquired land to the
original owners, and those with littlk or no land.
The next stage was reached when the Indian Army attacked Hyderabad on 13 September
1947, secured the surrender of the Nizam, and integrated the State with the lndian Union.
The lndian Army was welcomed by the people, including the peasants, as an army of
liberation. There was great jubiliation and the fiational flag was hoisted with great joy and
sense of freedom.

Check Your Progress 3

I Write five lines on the nature of oppression prevalent in the State of Hyderabad.

2 Read the following statements and mark right ( 'A ) or wrong (x).
i) The Non-Cooperation Movement had no impact on the people of Hyderabad.
ii) The Bande Mataram movement helped in radicalising the students of Hyderabad
state.
iii) The Quit India movement brought the Communists and non-Communists
together.
i v ) The Niram did not want to join the Indian Union.
Nationalism: Inter War
-
Years 111 32.8 LET US PUM
1

~4 I

es of Hyderabad and Rajkot brings out the

ly India and British India. Many of the
example the curse of landlordism, high
these problems tended to be more acute
of the Rulers. In the political sphere as
nd had much less of civil liberties and

consciousness and political activity in the Princely

hind that in British India. And even when political
little scope for open expression of dissent and
hing the activity underground, and even forcing it
not only in Hyderabad, but notably also in
s gave an added advantage to Communists
g to pursue the oppressed masses in the face of strong
an other nationalists in taking recourse to violence. It
unists played an important role in the movement in
d Patiala, there was a move towards violent
means of action.
The history of the
:I the Indian states also shows that the policy of the
States was constantly changing in keeping with the
e movements gained in strength, the Congress was
by 1942, no distinction was maintained between
tish India. In 1947-48, the clear-cut position taken
dependence by the States and its willingness to use
ng the Balkanization of the country and the
t vestinges of feudalism preserved by British
colonialism. I I

II
0

Federation Schemel A British erne, espoused through the Government of India Act,
1935. It attempted t a make the cely States a part of the Indian Federation by
incorporating their r resentati nto the Central Legislature.
e British Government and the Indian Princes.
The Princes uhe Paramount power and the British in return

Reaction: Oppositi of progress and change.

32.10 A N S W ~ R ST HECK YOUR PROGRESS

neral politicisation of the people of the states as well

acracy and civil liberties among them. See Section

lexity of the Congress policy toward the princely

Check Your Progress 2 Popular Struggles in the
I i ) / ii) / iii) / Princely States
2 See Sub-sec. 32.6.5.

Check Your Progress 3

I You should refer to the oppression along economic as well as religious lines. See Sub-
set. 32.7.1.
2 i) x ii) l/ iii) x iv) /
Structure

Political Disorder

33.3.2 Invasion

World War, (1933-39)

33.5 Consequences

33.6 Let Us S

After reading this nily you will l#he to:

of the Second World War,

In this Unit our mai ou with the Second World War. The Versailles
Treaty (1919), whic First World War, could not calm down the
ropean powers. The Second World War was the
the European powers and the developments taking

1
India being a colony the Bri involved in this war against the wishes of her
people. It caused great suffering Indian people and at the same time influenced the
anti-imperialist move ent in unprecedented human-toll and material
destruction during thiq war stil he popular memory. Its consequences were far
reaching particularly om the iew of the process of decolonisation. The
liberation movement id many as influenced during the war and the imperialist
 World War 11: Causes, Course
33.2 CAUSES and Consequences

The Marxist historians had argued that had the Allied Powers accepted Lenin's proposed
general peace conference during the First World War and his formula of peace without
annexation and indemnities there would not have been any German expansionism. It is
generally agreed that the Versailles treaty's territorial reorganisations and the huge
reparations bill imposed on Germany became major factors for the Second World War.
This, however, is not to disregard the powerful effect of the other political, ideological and
economic factors. The political reaction to the pgst-war treaties should be considered in
relation to the effect of worldwide economic depression, rise of fascism and militarism in
Germany, Italy and Japan and the Western democracies appeasement policy rooted in their
anti-Soviet perspective.

33.2.1 Versailles Treaty and the Continued Political Disorder

The Treaty of Versailles made with Germans (28 June, 1919), was the outcome of the
series of bargains and compromises which resulted in a patchwork type of unstable peace.
Ultimately Germany suffered internal temtorial losses: Alasce-Lorraine to France,
Rhineland to Allied forces, minor border areas to Belgium and Denmark, and colonial
possessions to Britain and France. This, however, hardly hurt Germany economically as it
was proved by her remarkable recovery in the mid-1920s. Yet psychologically the
temtorial settlements caused greater public resentment in Germany than reparations which
was put at 132 milliad gold marks under the 'War-guilt' Clause 23 1. Even the League of
Nations was seen by Germany as a means to enforce the 'unjust' temtorial settlement.
The base of the post-Versailles intemational system was more fragile than the earlier
decades. The Peace Settlement lacked 'moral force'. Germans believed that the peace was
the violation of the fundamental beliefs enunciated in the Wilson's Fourteen Points. France
perceived it as a defeat.
The territorial settlements in Central and Eastern Europe became the source of future
conflict. The disintegration of Austria-Hungary left a political vacuum and desire for the
national self-determination generated new areas of conflict. Among the big powers, the
absence of Soviet Russia and United States from the League of Nations, left only Britain
and France to maintain the world peace. But neither Britain nor France had the will or the
strength to uphold the Peace Settlement. Their strength was weakened by the militant
national liberqtion struggles in the colonies. Moreover the inter-imperialist rivalries left the
Germanquestion unsolved. The moral consensus behind the pre- 19 14 balance of power
was thus never restored. Even the League of Nations, fell far short of being universal and
proved ineffective in resolving international conflicts.

33.2.2 Effect of Economic Depression

The post-war economic recovery of Europe plunged into darkness with the 'Wall Street
Crash' of October 1929. By 1932 the industrial production in Europe had come down to
half and trade had dwindled from $ 58 billion in 1928 to $ 20.8 billion in 1935. The
worldwide economic depression also created an unprecedented unemployment problem. By
1932 there were six million unemployed in Germany, three million in Britain and thirteen
million in America.
The crisis ridden international politics could not escape the effects of depression. The
fierce competition for survival between nation-states further strengthened the extreme
nationalist sentiments. The weak political systems in Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and
Rumania gave in to the fascist and militarist regimes headed by aggressive right
'nationalist' fascist leadership and ideologies. The French effort to control German affairs
had intensified latter's nationalist sentiments. United States and France developed
bitterness over the "Hoover Moratorium" on German reparations. The competitive
devaluation of currencies and the emergence of a rival national currency block,
aggravated the politico-economic crisis. No wonder Adolf Hitler could easily get mass
consent for his programme of establishing a self-sufficient thousand-year Reich.

33.2.3 Germany and the Rise of Nazism

To millions of people in Europe during the 1920s and 30s the dominant image of life was
that of political instability, economic troubles, unemployment, the loss of faith and the
Nationalism: Inter War ttracted towards the ideas
Years-111 945), emerged out of this
em of their sufferings. Internally by 1932 "the
collapse of Weimar em, "had become inevitable; Hitler's triumph had
he was helped by a series
of events.
politics enabled the parliamentary system to survive
id depression in 1929 sealed the fate of Weimar
a precarious condition. The Nazis, who had gone
on this crisis and made a
Nazi movement used the grievances of small
classes in winning over large electoral support for

I er-nhe Fascist Ruler of Germany.

aned more towards the extreme right wing for support,

lly. So Hindenburg who was anti-Hitler initially now
as the Chancellor in January 1933. After this there was

The National grown out of one of the many small racialism and
r took its leadership from July 1921 onwards. In -
to capture power during Munich Putsch, between
vement alive and had become the German Chancellor
itler lay in his ability to play on the politics of
ent,'the end of unemployment and by suppressing
pers on the streets Hitler rose to power.
Ideologically the Nazi movement thrived on the backward-looking conservatism that World War 11: Causes, Course
and Consequences
flourished in Germany after the disillusionment of 1918 defeat. It was based on anti-
communism, anti-semitism, anti-democracy, and the discredited nineteenth century racism
and right-wing extremism. Hitlers' Nazism was associated with a defeated, but aggressive
militarism and imperialism. Most of the historians, however, argue that Hitler' was crucial
for the rise of Nazism. But the Marxist historians rightly emphasise the fact that Nazi
leader's authority was reinforced by the militarist structuring of the entire German society.
Ideologically, Nazism also stood for German racial supremacy and more "land and soil"
for them.

33.2.4 Mussolini and Italian Fascism

Fascism was not an economic system. It had no clear ideology. It was more of a
reactionary phenomenon which was aptly characterised as a "radicalism of the Right"
Fascism in Italy was a product of the post-war crisis of 1918-22: socio-economic unrest,
nationalist grievances and the failure of liberal politics to bind a society together. This was
the socio-economic environment and a political vacuum which helped fascism to take its
roots. Its emergence was generally located in the decline of liberalism, rise of 'emorphous'
masses, 'totalitarianism' or 'modernization' and the need of the stagnant capitalism to
control the workers. Economic collapse, outraged nationalism and anti-Marxism were
therefore the source of its success.
On 23 March 1919, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), a journalist, ex-serviceman, and ex-
socialist started a new movement, the Fascio di Combattimento or the "Union for
Struggle". By killing communists, socialists and other opponents they rose to power. Their
leader Mussolini became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922, who turned into fascist
dictator by 1925. In 1926 the government by decree began to function and the constitution
and elections were suspended. Between 1926 and 1939'Italian fascism's main claim was
the construction of a 'Corporate State', which in practice rarely achieved cohesion and
concealed its exploitation and oppression of labour. Mussolini's policy of 'autarky' or
economic self-sufficiency after 1936 hardly achieved results.

33.2.5 Japan and the Rise of Militarism

As in Germany and Italy, the post-war crisis of 1918-22 in Japan brought with it 'rice riot'
and industrial unrest. Politically the coming together of the Diet and the 'Big Business'
laid the foundation for Japanese Military fascism in the 1930s. The Taisho ('great
righteousness') era of 1912-1926 was only a period of transition from a liberal to an
authoritarian state:
Between 1927 and 1930 the internal mini-depression and the world-wide economic crash
hit both industry and banking very hard. The fall in exports, especially of raw silk to
America, badly affected half of Japanese farmers. The 1932 rice crop failure brought
famine conditions and unrest into rural areas. Unfortunately the liberal political leadership
failed to tackle the crisis. The crisis situation became conducive to the formation of
extreme political ideas among the junior army officers. This was reflected in the popularity
of 'Showa Restoration' articulated by Kita Ikki which meant state socialism administered
by a military dictatorship.
In the 1930s ultra-nationalism and reactionary conservatism thus struck roots in Japan
during its economic and political crisis. Ultra-nationalism and militarism with their
triumph in Manchuria and in their quest for 'Eastern Empire' drove Japan into the Second
World War.

33.2.6 Britain, France and the Policy of Appeasement

From 1937 while Hitler was busy annexing central European territories, the western
democracies were working for a detente through appeasement policy. The basic
philosophy behind appeasement was that "the man in possession when challenged must
eventually inevitably part with something." The British Prime Minister, Neville
Chamberlain practised this policy since 1937 to achieve the elusive Anglo-German
alliance.
The major factors behind Chamberlain's policy were: the fear of the combined strength of
Germany, Italy and Japan, France's political and military unreliability, suspicion of Soviet
Union, the financial cost and political repercussions of massive armaments and a long war
Nationalism: Inter War with Germany, wron rnational situation, and finally the gamble for time
Years-111
to strengthen British and political pressures, financial and military
constraints weighed
unity provided by the Soviet Union in 1938
nsider measures against aggression. They also
failed to interven on China, Italy's aggression on Abyssinia and
ler's invasion of France in 1940 could knock

aggressive military actions in Europe. The socio-

920s and 1930s, need not have culminated in the
s, had the liberal political forces shown the will and

1
33.3.1 Japan an the in Eastern Asia
The mounting conflic, in east a during 1928-37 led to the Sino-Japanese war in
July 1937. This is ge rally c
, ed to be the beginning of the slide towards the
world war. The west po to check Japan through the League of Nations but in
vain.
i~
, Japan needed capital and raw materials - coal,
Control over Manchuria became crucial,
nterestingly, four-fifths of Japanese overseas
also had her imperialist dream of developing an
Asian Empire for its
The rise of ultra-n sm in the 1930s was bound to express as
inate Kwantung army's seizure of
September 1931. In fact by February 1932 the army
u Kuo which the League refused to recognize.
h 1933 and set on an expansionist course. Neither
t a check on militarism. Military
a full-scale war on China in July 1937.
spreading elsewhere.

byssinidEthiopia 1935-36
'
in Africa either during the scramble for Africa in the
Peace Conference after the First World War. The
independent Ethiopi in 1896, had thus become Mussolini's target in
1935-36, which was s the colonial empire.
France, which was looking for his support
sympathy, assured to stand by Ethiopia. Yet
hiopia. Immediately the League of Nations declared
Italy an aggressor economic sanctions. But the sanctions remained
icy of Britain and France. They also proposed to
public resentment made them retreat.

I
By the spring of 193 the Itali
massacring thousands; f defen
May, they marched i o Addis
This war knocked
of Hitler. The
politics.
y by using poison gas in air attacks and by
ribals broke the Ethiopian heroic resistance. On 5th

ague of Nations and drove Mussolini into the arms

Axis which gravely disturbed international
 33.3.3 The Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 World War 11: Causes, Course
and Consequences
The revolutionary strings of working-class, the demand for provincial autonomy and anti-
clericalism were the three currents of popular discontent which affected Spain since 1900.
Neither the military dictatorship of Prime de Rivers, September 1923 to January 1930, nor
the elected Republicans after 1931 could redress these popular grievances. Even though,
after February 1936 elections the Left and left centre parties came to power. The extreme
left parties, not satisfied with the change, resorted to direct action: land seizures and
revolutionary strikes backed by mass revblutionary enthusiasm. The actual Civil War had
I started on 17 July, 1936 with the entry of counter-revolutionary forces against the
! revolution. *
The Spanish Civil War, which continued for three years, was both an internal struggle
between revolutionary and conservative f o r ~ e sand an international conflict involving the
i fascist and democratic governments. At a critical juncture it also became a battle of
ideologies - communism, fascism and liberalism. Indeed the developments in Spain
became a prelude to the World War.

I By December 1938, General Franco, actively helped by Hitler and Mussolini had imposed
a fascist government which was recognized by the Western democracies. This also marked
an end of the Soviet efforts for "collective security" with the western democracies, as the
later proved weak and vacillating in checking the fascist powers.

33.3.4 Germany's Move Towards the World War, 1933-39

During 1933-39, Hitler completely destroyed the democratic institutions at home and
started the process of nazifying Europe. The unfolding of events leading to war in 1939
was rather swift. The decisive point of momentum was Hitler's support to Mussolini's
Ethiopian adventure. The Spanish Civil War consolidated this friendship. During this
period Hitler also accomplished the German rearmament and remilitarization of Rhineland.
i Left free by Britain and France, Hitler then achieved Anschluss (unity) with Austria in
1938. Then followed the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and her complete annexation
I by March 1939. Hitler got the tacit support of Britain to accomplish this mission.
The critical point, however. was the German expansion into slav lands. The 'Polish
corridor' was one issue upon which Hitler whipped up Germany's ultranationalist
sentiments. At this juncture, the Soviet Union entered the scene. Stalin, disillusioned by
the western democracies' inadequate response to his popular front proposal to resist fascist
aggression, went for a non-aggress!on pact with Germany in 1939 and even accepted
Polish partition. The actual world war had started with the German invasion of Poland on
1st .September 1939; two days later, Britain and France entered war in defence of Poland.
Once again the German ultranationalism had become the basic cause for world war.

Check Your Progress 1 L.

1 What was theeffect of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany? Answer in ten lines.

2 What was the major crisis in Eastern Asia during this period? Write in about one
hundred words.
Nationalism: Inter War
Years-I11

3. Read the followi mhrk right ( V" ) or wrong (x) I

ssion led to the fierce competition for survival

f was based on anti-communism and anti-

anly because of Mussolini's leadership.

a battle of ideologies between communism. fascism

The entire course be divided into four broad stages. The initial
s, followed by a stage of intensification and
, USA, and Russia made it a global, protracted
otic war' and the popular resistance
movements in the their head, the Axis powers were pushed into a
after was the inevitable retreat and the disastrous

loops
33.4.1 Initial ~ t q k e: ~ h q r i u r n ~ h
During 1939-41, Ge any s a series of victories in Europe by adopting the
Blitzkrieg tactics, i.ell the ' ar' speedy penetration by tanks, followed by the
Luf'twaffe. Poland w s occu September 1939. The eastern Polish provinces were
occupied by Russian rerhainder was controlled by the German. The
Blitzkrieg tactics pr ed to tivle in all the initial wars of Fuhrer.
ay which could offer a valuable submarine base,
m a n army stormed through Denmark and delivered a
, Rance was threatened. The only Scandinavian
10th May Netherlands and a few days later

Surprisingly, the rdsponse proved ineffective and half-hearted. Their

ance of Blitzkrieg tactics. This cost them heavily.
into France at Sedan. Within a week the Nazi forces
ar' caught the French head on. On 25 May Belgium
also declared war on France and Paris fell
undefended. On 17 for an armistice. After conque6ng Yugoslavia and
turned towards Russia.

33.4.2 The sta~Jng~ t a g l ! Elitry

~ of Russia and USA

i
Stalin's 'appeaseme t' of Hi ed futile. On 22 June 1941, the Fuhrer opened his
attack on USSR. Th s the c ge of war on two fronts began. A total of 150
armoured divisions gan ong the line extending for nearly 2,000 miles. Until
September the fascis) forces qn unchecked, and laid the seige of Leningard which
continued for thirty , onths. r Ukraine was completely occupied. The Soviets
seemed to have ado ted a str f "trading space for time". During October and
 World War 11: Causes, Course
and Consequences

25. Newspaper Report on World War.

November the Russian winter weather compelled Hitler to slow down his march. On 2
December Stalin could defend Moscow. Now the Soviet offensive started: the Napoleonic
folly of 1812 had been repeated by Hitler which smashed his dreams.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour had brought America into the war on 7 December
1941, thus making it a global war. By April 1942, the whole of South-East Asia - Guam
and Wake islands and Singapore, Philippines, Burma and Netherlands East Indies, etc. fell
under the onslaught of Japan. Even though America kept the defeat of Germany as its first
priority, she successfully checked the Japanese expansion into Pacific by May 1942. The
Soviets won decisive victories during 1942-43 but suffered heavy losses. Meanwhile, the
British and American forces were engaged only in series of naval and air battles.

33.4.3 The Defensive Stage: Reversal of the Axis Fortunes

The Nazi rulers imposed their racial 'new order' in the occupied areas with barbarous
repression and massacres. Forced labour was imposed on people to strengthen the Reich
war machine. Spontaneous underground resistance organizations sprang up everywhere:
Marshal Tito and Charles de Gaulle were legends in organizing these movements. Even in
Germany the popular anti-Hitler movement raised its head.
. On the war front, the Axis armies had been forced into a defensive position by 1942. In
the battle for Stalingrad, the Red Army trapped a quarter million Nazi troops and when
they surrendered a year later only 80,000 of them remained alive.
In other areas the British broke out of Egypt. The Americans landed in French North
\ Africa. Thus began the Allied encircling operation of the Axis powers.
From now on the fortunes were reversed. The surrender of fascist forces was only a
question of time. On 24 January 1943, the Allies sieged Tripoli and then Tunisia by 13
May. Sicily crumbled in July followed by Mussolini's fall at home. The result was
Nationalism: Inter War
Years-I11

(a) Soviet Soldiers restoring th (b) Nazi Prisoners of War in Moscow 1944

(c)Muscovites Welcumine ~ernobiljLd~ o l d i e r s a l ( d ) Victorv Parade on Red Souare in Moscow 24.6.1945

- Fascist Banner being thrown down.
II occupation of parts of Italy by the Allies. On the Eastern front, the Red Army had
liberated major Ukraine areas by 1943. Then started the decisive cross-Channel invasion of
Europe.
World War 11: Causes, Course
and Consequences

33.4.4 Retreat and Defeat of Axis Powers

During 1942-45, the popular resistance movements played a crucial role in the defeat of
the Axis powers. The acts of sabotage became common. In many places in the USSR and
in Yugoslavia full-scale guerrilla warfare was carried on. The resistance work in all the
occupied countries infact strengthened the Allied army plans.
Meanwhile the Allied forces jiberated Rome during 4-6 June and landed in Normanday.
The total liberation of Italy however, took nearly a year. The main areas in France
I including Paris were liberated by September 1944 and completely by March 1945.
Belgium was also quickly liberated. From the Russian front the Red Army pushed through
Poland and the Baltic States and by September 1944 occupied Bulgaria: while Rumania
and Finland sued for peace in August 1944.
In Asia by May 1945 the Allies had captured Spain, Tinian, Guam, Philippines and
Burma. By capturing Okinawa Island in June 1945 they threatened Japan.
In Europe the Allies started closing on Germany from east and west starting from the
I beginning of 1945. By 22 April the Soviets had surrendered Berlin. While Mussolini was
killed on 28th. his country surrendered the next day. On the 30th, Hitler committed suicide
and Germany surrendered unconditionally on 7th May 1945.

33.5 CONSEQUENCES
Unlike the earlier wars the Second World War affected each and every aspect of human
life. The level of scientific and technological application to war, with disastrous effects
was unprecedented. Especially the application of atom for war posed a new danger to
human existence on earth.
In international relations the old notion of detente broke down. Colonialism was replaced
by a new method of world imperialist exploitation - neo-colonialism. The crumbling
down of colonialism also brought into existence several independent nations, now called
the 'third-world'. The birth of United Nations Organization brought hope for peace but the
origins of 'cold war' created new tensions.

33.5.1 Effect on Indian Political Scene

In India the political reaction to the 1938-39 fascist aggressions was very sharp. The anti-
British Congress nationalism and anti-imperialism and anti-fascist left internationalism
were together in condemning fascist aggression and Chamberlain's appeasement policy.
India was associated, without her consent, with Britain in war on 3 September 1939. But
the nationalists offered cooperation only if Britain responded positively to their demands
for an immediate genuine responsible government in the Centre and a post-war constituent
assembly for free India. The British response, however, was negative. Later nationalists
under Gandhi's leadership responded with passive civil disobedience, but left wing of the
Congress along with the communists propagated for a militant anti-war struggle.
The German attack on Russian and the Japanese occupation of South-east Asia dramatically
changed the Indian situation. The Communist party of India, after intensive debate came
up openly in January 1942 in support of the anti-fascist 'people's war' and the Allies war
efforts.
I But Gandhi's militant response in August 1942 was "Do or Die". The 'Quit 1ndia'
1
I
Movement thus engulfed India. The colonial bureaucracy however. crushed the movement
I by the end of 1942. Braving against the countrywide-wave of mass fury. the communists
worked in favour of the Britisli Ear efforts against fascism. This resulted in an open
ideological fissure in the Indian National Movement.

I
The disastrous economic consequences of the war in India were inflation, shortages, black
marketing and corruption and the famine in 1943 in which around three million people
perished in Bengal. The rise of communalism, Muslim League's demand for Pakistan and
. Nationalism: Inter War the Congress negot settlement with the colonial rulers marked the
Years-111
post-war political s militant anti-imperialist, anti-landlord and anti-
capitalist struggles d workers and R.I.N. Mutiny in"1945-46 stimulated

its birth during the wartime coalition against

d Churchill drafted the Atlantic Charter spelling out
nisation and the establishment of a "wider
bodying these principles a Declaration of
is powers on 1 January 1942. The
economic democracy, and national sovereignty were
aration which were later structured into various

ies to tackle the world economic and

ief and Rehabilitation Administration was
nd the International Bank for

problems. The Uni

ts preamble rightly declared that

s an expanding world economy, the

945. The United Nations gradually
1945 to 123 in 1963, but its effective functioning was

arked by impoverishment and the

sheltered and fed. The factors
destruction of industrial plants,
s and political uncertainties. By
uctivity and low capital
eadership of the western world
to America.
From June 1947 the me the chief basis for the recovery of Western
Programme (Marshall Plan) the United States aided

rest of Europe was. however, slow for the cold

between Russian a ion of Russia in the armistice negotiations with

ed Russian suspicions. Consequently Russia

Even the American

, SEAT0 and so on. Ever since the world has

been sitting on the brink of a Third World War, with stockpiles of nuclear weapons World War 11: Causes, Course
and Consequences
threatening the very existence of humanity on earth.

Check Your Progress 2

I Read the following statements and mark right ( 4 ) or wrong (x)
i) The popular resistance movements in the occupied areas played an important role in
the defeat of the Axis power.
ii) There was no popular movement in Germany against Hitler's war policy.
iii) The Second World War brought the end of imperialist exploitation.
iv) The basis for the 'cold war' was the resolve to resist the Russian expansibn and the
influence of communist ideas everywhere.

2 Describe in brief the effect of the World War on Indian Political scene.

3 Why was the United Nations Organization formed? Name the three important organs of
the U.N.O.

33.6 LET US SUM UP

In this unit you have seen that the peace settlement after the First World War could not
provide a stable political order. It left a dissatisfied world - particularly where the small
countries were concerned. Besides this, the economic crisis of 1929-33 accentuated the
political crisis. Rise of Nazism in Germany, Fascism in Italy and Militarism in Japan were
the turning points in international relations and they contributed towards the Second World
War. Japan's aggression over Manchuria, Italy's invasion of Abyssinia and the Spanish
Civil War, 1936-39 set the stage for a wider conflict. The policy of appeasement pursued
by Britain and France was to a great extent responsible for the aggression by the Nazi and
the Fascist forces.
The entry of USA and USSR into the war and popular resistance movements which
developed in the occupied areas pushed the Axis powers into a defensive position. Finally
the Axis power faced disastrous defeat in the War.
Nationalism: Inter War
Years-111

isation, an association consisting of USA, Canada,

UK and other Eur
It aimed to check

demanded from a defeated country. For

had to pay a huge reparation bill.
ghisation, a military alliance of some free countries
initiative of the USA, to combat communism.
poor, do not have much power and are considered
to be underdev of Asia and Africa.
by the ~mericanPresident Truman which promised
all countries mil
was to resist the

Peace Settlement of 1919. According to this clause

1 Your answer

etc. See Sub-sec. 33.3.1

3 1) V i ~ )d

war by the Congress, non-acceptance of Congress

3 To establish

Sumit Sarkar: M illan, New Delhi, 1983).

Pattabhi Sitaram