List all the different social groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. Then choose any three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the movement.
List all the different social groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. Then choose any three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the movement.
Different Social Groups had participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement started in January 1921.
Each social group had diverse aspirations and their involvement in Non-Cooperation were motivated by varied reasons. The different social groups which participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement are listed below:
- Middle Class participation in Towns and Cities.
- Workers in Plantations.
- Peasants in Countryside
- Tribals
Gandhiji believed that British rule would collapse and Swaraj would come if the Indians did not cooperate. Gandhiji believed that British rule was established and survived in India due to cooperation of Indians.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Middle Class participation in Towns and Cities
- The Non-Cooperation Movement started in cities with the participation of the Middle Class.
- Teachers and headmasters resigned from schools and colleges.
- Lawyers gave up their practice.
- Thousands of students left the Government controlled schools and colleges.
- In many places merchants and traders refused to finance foreign trade.
- Foreign goods were boycotted by people. In many places traders and merchants refused to trade in foreign goods.
- Foreign clothes were burnt in huge bonfires.
- Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up as people started wearing only Indian clothes by discarding imported clothes.
- Liquor shops were picketed.
Struggles of Middle Class in Non Cooperation Movement
- Predominantly, to substitute the British Institutions, there were no alternative Indian institutions.
- Teachers and students started going back to Government colleges and schools.
- Lawyers joined back the Government courts.
- People could no longer afford to boycott mill cloth for too long. Poor people could not afford Khadi clothes which were very expensive compared to mass produced mill cloth.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Workers in Plantations
In Assam, for plantation workers, the meaning of Swaraj was retaining the link with the village they hail from, and right to move freely in and out of the enclosed place they were working in.Workers had a different understanding of the Swaraj call given by Mahatma Gandhi.
Swaraj in Plantations – Assam
- The plantation workers were rarely given permission to move out.
- Plantation workers in the tea garden had to seek permission before leaving.
- This rule was implemented as per the Inland Emigration Act of 1859.
- When the workers came to know about the Non-Cooperation Movement, all the workers defied the rules and authorities by leaving the plantations without permission and they headed to their home village.
- The plantation workers believed that Gandhi raj would become a reality and all of them would be given lands in their villages.
Struggles of Plantation Workers in Non-Cooperation Movement
- However, these plantation workers were not able to reach their destination.
- They were stranded because of a strike called by the steamers and railways.
- Plantation workers were caught by the police and they were brutally beaten up.
- However, the Congress did not define the vision of these movements.
- Plantation workers had interpreted the meaning of Swaraj in their own way.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Peasants in Countryside
The struggles of Peasants were drawn into the fold of the Non cooperation movement.
- Landlords and Talukdars used to demand high rents and other cesses from the peasants.
- Peasants were forced to work in the Landlord’s farm without any payment. This forced contribution without any payment was known as Begar.
- As peasants had no right over the leased land, they did not have security of tenure, they were frequently evicted.
- Baba Ramchandra led the peasant movement in Awadh.
- The peasant movement demanded to socially boycott oppressive landlords, demanded to abolish begar, and demanded reduction of revenue.
- Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up in October 1920, headed by Baba Ramchandra, Jawaharlal Nehru and others.
- As the movement spread grain hoards were taken over, bazaars were looted, merchants and talukdars houses were attacked.
- The name of Mahatma Gandhi was being invoked to sanction all action and aspirations.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Tribals
Tribal peasants interpreted the idea of swaraj and the message of Mahatma Gandhi in yet another way.
- A militant guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s, in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
- The hill people were enraged because they were prevented from entering the forests to collect fruits, firewood and graze cattle.
- Large forest areas were closed by the British colonial government.
- Tribals felt their traditional rights were denied, and it affected their livelihoods.
- The hill people revolted against British Government, when the tribals were forced to pay Begar.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju led the revolt.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement and persuaded people to give up drinking and wear Khadi.
- To achieve Swaraj, the Tribals carried out Guerrilla warfare.
Gandhiji felt Satyagrahis needed to be trained properly for mass struggles. Gandhiji realised the Non-Cooperation Movement was turning violent in many places. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922.
Different Social Groups had participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement started in January 1921.
Each social group had diverse aspirations and their involvement in Non-Cooperation were motivated by varied reasons. The different social groups which participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement are listed below:
- Middle Class participation in Towns and Cities.
- Workers in Plantations.
- Peasants in Countryside
- Tribals
Gandhiji believed that British rule would collapse and Swaraj would come if the Indians did not cooperate. Gandhiji believed that British rule was established and survived in India due to cooperation of Indians.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Middle Class participation in Towns and Cities
- The Non-Cooperation Movement started in cities with the participation of the Middle Class.
- Teachers and headmasters resigned from schools and colleges.
- Lawyers gave up their practice.
- Thousands of students left the Government controlled schools and colleges.
- In many places merchants and traders refused to finance foreign trade.
- Foreign goods were boycotted by people. In many places traders and merchants refused to trade in foreign goods.
- Foreign clothes were burnt in huge bonfires.
- Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up as people started wearing only Indian clothes by discarding imported clothes.
- Liquor shops were picketed.
Struggles of Middle Class in Non Cooperation Movement
- Predominantly, to substitute the British Institutions, there were no alternative Indian institutions.
- Teachers and students started going back to Government colleges and schools.
- Lawyers joined back the Government courts.
- People could no longer afford to boycott mill cloth for too long. Poor people could not afford Khadi clothes which were very expensive compared to mass produced mill cloth.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Workers in Plantations
In Assam, for plantation workers, the meaning of Swaraj was retaining the link with the village they hail from, and right to move freely in and out of the enclosed place they were working in.Workers had a different understanding of the Swaraj call given by Mahatma Gandhi.
Swaraj in Plantations – Assam
- The plantation workers were rarely given permission to move out.
- Plantation workers in the tea garden had to seek permission before leaving.
- This rule was implemented as per the Inland Emigration Act of 1859.
- When the workers came to know about the Non-Cooperation Movement, all the workers defied the rules and authorities by leaving the plantations without permission and they headed to their home village.
- The plantation workers believed that Gandhi raj would become a reality and all of them would be given lands in their villages.
Struggles of Plantation Workers in Non-Cooperation Movement
- However, these plantation workers were not able to reach their destination.
- They were stranded because of a strike called by the steamers and railways.
- Plantation workers were caught by the police and they were brutally beaten up.
- However, the Congress did not define the vision of these movements.
- Plantation workers had interpreted the meaning of Swaraj in their own way.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Peasants in Countryside
The struggles of Peasants were drawn into the fold of the Non cooperation movement.
- Landlords and Talukdars used to demand high rents and other cesses from the peasants.
- Peasants were forced to work in the Landlord’s farm without any payment. This forced contribution without any payment was known as Begar.
- As peasants had no right over the leased land, they did not have security of tenure, they were frequently evicted.
- Baba Ramchandra led the peasant movement in Awadh.
- The peasant movement demanded to socially boycott oppressive landlords, demanded to abolish begar, and demanded reduction of revenue.
- Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up in October 1920, headed by Baba Ramchandra, Jawaharlal Nehru and others.
- As the movement spread grain hoards were taken over, bazaars were looted, merchants and talukdars houses were attacked.
- The name of Mahatma Gandhi was being invoked to sanction all action and aspirations.
Non-Cooperation Movement – Tribals
Tribal peasants interpreted the idea of swaraj and the message of Mahatma Gandhi in yet another way.
- A militant guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s, in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
- The hill people were enraged because they were prevented from entering the forests to collect fruits, firewood and graze cattle.
- Large forest areas were closed by the British colonial government.
- Tribals felt their traditional rights were denied, and it affected their livelihoods.
- The hill people revolted against British Government, when the tribals were forced to pay Begar.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju led the revolt.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement and persuaded people to give up drinking and wear Khadi.
- To achieve Swaraj, the Tribals carried out Guerrilla warfare.
Gandhiji felt Satyagrahis needed to be trained properly for mass struggles. Gandhiji realised the Non-Cooperation Movement was turning violent in many places. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922.
