2. Swaraj in the Plantations
• The plantation workers in Assam believed that freedom meant the right to
move freely in and put of the confined space they were enclosed in.
• During the Act of Inland Emigration, the workers were not permitted to
leave the tea gardens without any permission, and they would rarely be
granted any.
• When they heard about the Non- Cooperation Movement, they decided to
flee to their villages but unfortunately they got caught up by the police and
were brutally beaten up, before they reached their destination.
• The vision of these movements weren’t defined by the Congress
programme.
• They interpreted that the term “swaraj” meant that all their troubles would
go away their suffering would decrease.
• They raised slogans like “Swatantra Bharat” in the name of Gandhiji, to
relate to an All – India agitation.
• They were identifying with a movement that went beyond their locality.
3. Civil Disobedience
• Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement
as it was turning violent in various places and felt that the Satyagrahis
had to be trained well in order to participate n mass struggles.
• There were also leaders who were tired of mass struggles. They felt that
they should take part in the election and that they should oppose the
British policies.
• It was important to show to the British that these policies weren’t actually
democratic. C.R Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj party. They
argued for a return to council politics.
• Younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subas Chandra Bose
pressed for more radical mass agitation.
• The effect of worldwide economic depression was one of the factors that
led to the shaping indian politics.
• Agricultural prices declined by 1930.
• Also the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined.
4. • Peasants also found it really hard to sell their goods and they were also not able to
pay their revenue.
• The Britain Constituted the Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon which
looked into the formation of the constitutional system of India and later suggested
some changes.
• This commission, unfortunately, did not have a single Indian member as they were all
British.
• The Simon Commission was greeted with the slogan “Go back Simon”.
• The Viceroy, Lord Iwrin announced in October 1929 a vague offer of Dominion
Status for India in an unspecified future, and a round table conference to discuss a
future constitution which did not satisfy the congress leaders.
• The liberals and moderates, who were proposing a constitutional system within the
framework of British dominion, gradually lost their influence.
• In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress
formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for India.
• It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day
when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence.
• But the celebrations attracted very little attention. So Mahatma Gandhi had to find a
way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.
5. Salt March & Civil Disobedience Movement
• Mahatma Gandhi believed that salt could be a powerful symbol
to unite the whole nation.
• Most of the people; including the British scoffed at the idea.
Abolition of the salt tax was among many demands which were
raised by Gandhiji through a letter to Viceroy Irwin.
• The Salt March or Dandi March was started by Gandhiji on 12th
March 1930. He was accompanied by 78 volunteers.
• They walked for 24 days to cover a distance of 240 miles from
Sabaramati to Dandi. Many more joined them in the way.
• On 6th April 1930, Gandhiji ceremonially violated the law by
taking a fistful of salt.
• The Salt March marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
• Thousands of people broke the salt law in different parts of
country. People demonstrated in front of government salt
factories.
6. • Foreign cloth was boycotted. Peasants refused to pay
revenue. Village officials resigned. Tribal people violated
forest laws.
• Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law,
manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of government salt
factories.
• As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor
shops were picketed. Peasants refused to pay revenue and
chaukidari taxes, village officials resigned, and in many places
forest people violated forest laws – going into Reserved Forests to
collect wood and graze cattle.
• The colonial government began to arrest the Congress leaders.
This led to violent clashes in many places. Mahatma Gandhi was
arrested about a month later.
• People began to attack the symbols of British rule; such as police
posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations. The
government’s repression was quite brutal.
• Even women and children were beaten up. About 100,000 people
7. • When things began to take a violent turn, Mahatma Gandhi called
off the movement. He signed a pact with Irwin on 5th March 1931.
This was called the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
• As per the Pact, Gandhiji agreed to participate in the Round Table
Conference in London. In lieu of that, the government agreed to
release the political prisoners.
• Gandhiji went to London in December 1931. The negotiations broke
down and Gandhiji had to return with disappointment.
• When Gandhiji came back to India, he found that most of the
leaders were put in jail. Congress had been declared illegal.
• Many measures were taken to prevent meetings, demonstrations and
boycotts. Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
• By 1934, the movement had lost its momentum.
8. Participants’ Perception of the Movement
• Farmers:-
• For the farmers, the fight for swaraj was a struggle
against high revenues.
• When the movement was called off in 1931; without the
revenue rates being revised; the farmers were highly
disappointed.
• Many of them refused to participate when the movement
was re-launched in 1932.
• The small tenants just wanted the unpaid rent to the
landlord to be remitted.
• They often joined the radical movements which were led by
Socialists and Communists.
• Congress did not want to alienate the rich landlords and
hence, the relationship between the poor peasants and
Congress was uncertain.
9. • Businessmen:-
• The Indian merchants and industrialists could grow their
First World War.
• They were against those colonial policies which restricted
activities.
• They wanted protection against imports and a rupee-sterling
exchange ratio which would discourage imports.
• The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress was formed
Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and
formed in 1927.
• These were the results of attempts to bring the common
on a common platform.
• For the businessmen, swaraj meant an end to oppressive
• They wanted an environment which could allow the business
• They were apprehensive of militant activities and of
socialism among the younger members of the Congress.
• Industrial Workers:-
• The industrial workers showed lukewarm response to the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
• Since industrialists were closer to the Congress, workers kept a distance from
the movement.
10. • Women :-
• Women also participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement
in large numbers.
• However, most of the women were from high-caste families in
the urban areas and from rich peasant households in the
rural areas.
• But for a long time, the Congress was reluctant to give any
position of authority to women within the organization.
• The Congress was just keen on the symbolic presence of
women.
