CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT

Prepared by: Nagendra kumar B M_117_RAG2016

Date: 01-10-2016

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an
occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of
the system as a whole.

A variety of criticisms has been directed against the philosophy and practice of civil disobedience. The radical critique of
the philosophy of civil disobedience condemns its acceptance of the existing political structure; conservative schools of
thought, on the other hand, see the logical extension of civil disobedience as anarchy and the right of the individual to
break any law he chooses, at any time.

The philosophical roots of civil disobedience lie deep in Western thought: Cicero, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Locke,
Thomas Jefferson, and Henry David Thoreau all sought to justify conduct by virtue of its harmony with some antecedent
superhuman moral law.

The principle of civil disobedience has achieved some standing in international law through the war crime trials at
Nrnberg after World War II, which affirmed the principle that an individual may, under certain circumstances, be held
accountable for failure to break the laws of his country.
The man who most clearly formulated the concept of civil disobedience for the modern world was Mohandas Gandhi.
Drawing from Eastern and Western thought, Gandhi developed the philosophy of satygraha . First in the Transvaal of
South Africa in 1906 and later in India, Gandhi led
his people in satyagrahas to obtain equal rights and freedom.

Factors Leading to the Civil Disobedience Movement:

The prevalent political and social circumstances played a vital role in the launching of the Civil Disobedience
Movement. The Simon Commission was formed by the British Government that included solely the members of the
 British Parliament, in November 1927, to draft and formalize a constitution for India. The chairmanship of the
commission rested with Sir John Simon, who was a well known lawyer and an English statesman.

Accused of being an 'All-White Commission', the Simon Commission was rejected by all political and social segments
of the country. In Bengal, the opposition to the Simon Commission assumed a massive scale, with a hartal being
observed in all corners of the province on February 3rd, 1928. On the occasion of Simon's arrival in the city,
demonstrations were conducted in Calcutta.

In the wake of the boycott of the recommendations proposed by Simon Commission, an All-Party Conference was
organized in Bombay in May of 1928. Dr MA Ansari was the president of the conference. Motilal Nehru was given the
responsibility to preside over the drafting committee, appointed at the conference to prepare a constitution for India.

Barring the Indian Muslims, The Nehru Report was endorsed by all segments of the Indian society. The Indian
National Congress pressurized the British government to accept all the parts the Nehru Report, in December 1928. At
the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress held in December, 1928, the British government was warned that
if India was not granted the status of a dominion, a Civil Disobedience Movement would be initiated in the entire
country. Lord Irwin, the Governor General, after a few months, declared that the final objective of the constitutional
reforms was to grant the status of a dominion to India. Following this declaration, Gandhi along with other national
leaders requested the Governor General to adopt a more liberal attitude in solving the constitutional crisis. A demand
was made for the release of the political prisoners and for holding the suggested Round Table Conference for
reflecting on the problems regarding the constitution of the country.

None of the efforts made by the Congress received any favorable response from the British government. The patience
of the Indian masses were wearing out. The political intelligentsia of the country was sure that the technique of
persuasion would not be effective with the British government. The Congress had no other recourse but to launch the
Civil Disobedience Movement. In Bardoli, the peasants had already taken to satyagraha under the guidance of Sardar
Patel in the year 1928. Their non tax agitations were partially successful. The Congress took the decision to use the
non violent weapon of satyagraha on a nation wide scale against the government.

The Launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement:

MK Gandhi was urged by the Congress to render his much needed leadership to the Civil Disobedience Movement. On the
historic day of 12th March 1930, Gandhi inaugurated The Civil Disobedience Movement by conducting the historic Dandi
Salt March, where he broke the Salt Laws imposed by the British Government.

On 12 March 1930 at 6-10 A.M. Gandhi came out of his room, calm and composed, accompanied by Prabhashankar Patani,
Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal, his secretary. He offered prayers, looked at his watch and exactly at 6.30 A.M. commenced his
march with seventy-eight volunteers.With his
usual gentle smile, betokening his unifying faith in the justice of the cause he was pursuing and in the success of the great
campaign he had embarked upon, he headed the procession with quick and unfaltering steps.

Dandi Salt March had an immense impact on the entire nation.

13 March, Gandhi and his satyagrahis reached a small village, Aslali, where they were received well by the villagers. Gandhi
emphasised the importance of salt and criticised the salt tax levied by the government. He stated, 'The poor destitute
villagers do not have the strength to get this tax
repealed. We want to develop this strength... We should make a resolve that we shall prepare salt, eat it, sell it to the
people and, while doing so, court imprisonment, if necessary. If, out of Gujarat's Population of 90 lakhs, we leave out
women and children, and the remaining 30 lakhs get
ready to violate the salt tax, the Government does not have enough accommodation in jails to house so many people.

The second halt of the Dandi marchers was at Bareja, a village with a Population of 2,500. He emphasised the importance
of khadi, its production and use by the villagers. 'Khadi is the foundation of our freedom struggle. I request you to
renounce luxuries and buy khadi from
this heap before you'.

As the march proceeded, so the pressure of publicity and social boycott was built up and resignations began to occur in
large numbers. By 22 March, approximate number of resignations were four from Ahmedabad district: twenty-seven from
Kaira (of whom sixteen were from Borsad
taluka) seventeen from Broach, and two from Surat. But Surat soon became the most affected district by 5 April. One
hundred and forty headmen had resigned and ten clays later, the figure had risen to two hundred and twenty
seven.Gandhi warned them, 'It will be regarded as cowardice to hand in one's resignation and then to withdraw it. There is
no compulsion to resign. It is advisable to give up the post of Headman, Each and every corner of the country was gripped
in a unique fervor of nationalism. Soon this act of violation of the Salt Laws assumed an all India character. The entire
nation amalgamated under the call of a single man, Mahatma Gandhi. There were reports of satyagrahas and instances of
law violation from Bombay, Central and United Provinces, Bengal and Gujarat.

The program of the Civil Disobedience Movement incorporated besides the breaking of the Salt Laws, picketing of shops
selling foreign goods and liquor, bonfire of cloth, refusal to pay taxes and avoidance of offices by the public officers and
schools by the students. Even the women joined forces against the British. Those from orthodox families did not hesitate
to respond to the call of the Mahatma. They took active part in the picketing exercises. Perturbed by the growing
popularity of the movement, the British government imprisoned Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, in
a bid to thwart it. Thus, the second struggle for attaining Swaraj launched by the Congress, under the able guidance of
Mahatma, served the critical function of mobilizing the masses on a large scale against the British.

The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi's principles of nonviolent protest called satyagraha, which he
loosely translated as "truthforce. In early 1930 the Indian National Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic for
winning Indian independence from British rule and
appointed Gandhi to organize the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha. The
Salt March to Dandi, and the beating by British police of hundreds of nonviolent protesters in Dharasana, which received
worldwide news coverage, demonstrated the
effective use of civil disobedience as a technique for fighting social and political injustice.

May 4-5 midnight. Gandhiji was arrested !

The Dharasana Satyagraha went ahead as planned, with Abbas Tyabji, a seventy-six year old retired judge, leading the
march with Gandhi's wife Kasturba at his side. Both were arrested before reaching Dharasana and sentenced to three
months in prison. After their arrests, the march
continued under the leadership of Sarojini Naidu, a woman poet and freedom fighter, who warned the satyagrahis, "You
must not use any violence under any circumstances. You will be beaten, but you must not resist: you must not even raise a
hand to ward off blows." Soldiers began clubbing the satyagrahis with steel tipped lathis in an incident that attracted
international attention.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact:
Salt Satyagraha succeeded in drawing the attention of the world. Millions saw the newsreels showing the march. Time
magazine declared Gandhi its 1930 Man of the Year, comparing Gandhi's march to the sea "to defy Britain's salt tax as
some New Englanders once defied a British tea
tax." Civil disobedience continued until early 1931, when Gandhi was finally released from prison to hold talks with Irwin.
It was the first time the two held talks on equal terms, and resulted in
the GandhiIrwin Pact. The talks would lead to the Second Round Table Conference at the end of
1931.In the March of 1930, Gandhi met with the Viceroy, Lord Irwin and signed an agreement
known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. The two main clauses of the pact entailed; Congress participation in the Round Table
Conference and cessation of The Civil Disobedience Movement. The Government of India released all satyagrahis from
prison.

Salient features of Gandhi-Irwin Pact:

1. The Congress would participate in the Round Table Conference.

2. The Congress would discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement.

3. The Government would withdraw all ordinances issued to curb the Congress.

4. The Government would withdraw all prosecutions relating to offenses other than violent one.The Government would
release all persons undergoing sentences of imprisonment for their
activities in the civil disobedience movement.

Second Round Table Conference:

The second session(September December 1931) was attended by Mahatma Gandhi as the
Congress. Gandhi attended The Second Round Table Conference in London accompanied by Smt. Sarojini Naidu.

At this Conference, it was claimed by Mahatma Gandhi that the Congress represented more than eighty five percent of the
Indian population. Gandhi's claim was not endorsed by the British and also the Muslim representative.

The Second Round Table Conference proved to be futile for the Indians and Gandhi returned to the country without any
positive result. The political scene in India thereafter assumed an acute dimension. The Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, in the
absence of Gandhi, adopted the policy of repression. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was violated and the Viceroy took to the
suppression of the Congress. The Conservative party, which was in power in England, complied with the decision to
assume a repressive stance against the Congress and the Indians. The Congress was held responsible by the government to
have instigated the 'Red Shirts' to participate in The Civil
Disobedience Movement, led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar and provoking the cultivators of U.P to refuse to pay land revenue.
Adding to this was the serious economic crisis that took hold of the country.

Communal award 1932:

When the Indian leadership failed to come up with a constitutional solution of the communal issue, the British Prime
Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced his own formula for solving the problem. He said that he was not only a Prime
Minister of Britain but was also a friend of the Indians and thus wanted to solve the problems of his friends.
After the failure of the Second Round Table conference, Mr. MacDonald announced the 'Communal
Award' on August 16, 1932.

According to the Award, the right of separate electorate was not only given to the Muslims of India but also to all the
minority communities in the country. The Award also declared untouchables as a minority and thus the Hindu depressed
classes were given a number of special seats, to be filled from special depressed class electorates in the area where their
voters were concentrated.

Under the Communal Award, the principle of weightage was also maintained with some modifications in the Muslim
minority provinces. Principle of weightage was also applied for Europeans in Bengal and Assam, Sikhs in the Punjab and
North West Frontier Province, and Hindus in Sindh and North West Frontier Province. Though the Muslims constituted
almost 56 percent of the total population of Punjab, they were given only 86 out of 175 seats in the Punjab Assembly. The
Muslim majority of 54.8 percent in Punjab was thus reduced to a minority.
The formula favored the Sikhs of Punjab, and the Europeans of Bengal the most.

The Award was not popular with any Indian party. Muslims were not happy with the Communal Award, as it has reduced
their majority in Punjab and Bengal to a minority.Yet they were prepared to accept it. In its annual session held in
November 1933, the All India Muslim League passed a resolution that reads; "Though the decision falls far short of the
Muslim demands, the Muslims have

accepted it in the best interest of the country, reserving to themselves the right to press for the acceptance of all their
demands.

Poona Pact:
(Sept. 24, 1932), agreement between Hindu leaders in India granting new rights to untouchables. The pact resulted from
the communal award of Aug. 4, 1932, made by the British government on the failure of the India parties to agree, which
allotted seats in the various legislatures of India to the different communities. Mahatma Gandhi objected to the provision
of separate electorates for the scheduled castes (untouchables), which in his view separated them from the whole Hindu
community. Though in prison, Gandhi announced a fast unto death, which he began on September 18.

B.R. Ambedkar, the untouchable leader, who felt that his group's special interests might be advanced by the government's
system, resisted concessions until Gandhi was near death. He and
the Hindu leaders then agreed to the pact, which withdrew separate electorates but gave increased representation to the
scheduled castes for a 10-year period. Ambedkar complained of blackmail,
but the pact marked the start of movement against untouchability within the Indian nationalist movement.

Renewal of the Civil Disobedience Movement:

Under such circumstances, the resumption of The Civil Disobedience Movement was inevitable.
The Congress Working Committee took the decision to restart The Civil Disobedience Movement, as the British
government was not prepared to relent. Gandhi resumed the movement in January 1932 and appealed to the entire
nation to join in. The Viceroy was also informed of the stance assumed by the Congress. Four ordinances were
promulgated by the government to deal with the situation. The police was given the power to arrest any person, even on
the basis of mere suspicion. Sardar Patel, the President of Congress and Gandhi were arrested, along with other
Congressmen. The second phase of The Civil Disobedience Movement lacked the organization that marked its first phase.
Nonetheless the entire nation put up a tough fight and the movement continued for six months. Gandhi commenced his
twenty one days of fast on May 8th, 1933, to make amends for
the sins committed against the untouchables by the caste Hindus.

The movement spread and salt laws were challenged in other parts of the country. Salt became the symbol of peoples
defiance of the government.

In Tamil Nadu, C Rajagopalchari led a similar march from Trichinopoly to Vedaranyam.

In Gujarat, Sarojini Naidu protested in front of the salt depots. Lakhs of people including a large number of women
participated actively in these protests.

The Civil Disobedience Movement carried forward the unfinished work of the Non-Cooperation Movement. Practically the
whole country became involved in it. Hartals put life at a standstill. There were large-scale boycotts of schools, colleges and
offices. Foreign goods were burnt in bonfires.

People stopped paying taxes. In the North-West Frontier Province, the movement was led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan,
popularly known as Frontier Gandhi. For a few days, British control over Peshawar and Sholapur ended.

Allahabad, the nerve centre of U. P. politics, witnessed scenes of enthusiasm in connection with the celebration of the
commencement of the satyagraha campaign. Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the national flag over the building occupied by the
offices of the A.I.C.C., the City Congress Committee and the All-India Spinners' Association, U.P. Branch.

Peasant movement in India:

In 1930s nation wide awakening of peasants was largely the result of the combination of particular economic and political
developments.

The great depression that began to hit India from 1920-30 and

The new phase of mass struggle launched by the Indian National Congress in 1930.

The depression brought agricultural prices crashing down to half of less of their normal levels dealt a severe blow to the
already impoverished peasants burdened with high taxes and rents. Therefore the peasants were placed in a situation
where they had to continue to pay taxes, rents and debts at pre-depression rates while their incomes continued to spiral
steadily downward. The civil disobedience movement was launched in this atmosphere of discontent in 1930s and in many
parts of the country it soon took on the form of no-tax and norent campaign. Peasants emboldened by the recent success
of the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) joined the protest in large numbers. In Bihar and Bengal powerful movements were
launched against the hated chowkidar tax by which villages were made to pay for the upkeep of their own oppressors.

In Punjab a no-revenue campaign was accompanied by the emergence of Kisan Sabhas that demanded a reduction in land
revenue and water rates and the scaling down of debts. The consolidation of left after the formation of the Congress
Socialist Party in 1934 acted as a spur to the formation of an all India body to coordinate the Kisan Movement a process
that was already underway through the efforts of N.G Ranga and other Kisan leaders.

The culmination was the establishment of the all India Kisan Congress in the Lucknow in April
1936which later changed its name to All India Kisan Sabha.Swami Sahajanand was elected secretary. The first session was
greeted in person by Jawaharlal Nehru.

A Kisan Manifesto was finalized at the All India Kisan Committee session in Bombay and formally presented to the Congress
Working Committee to be incorporated into its forthcoming manifesto for the 1937 elections. The Kisan Manifesto
considerably influenced the agrarian programme adopted by the congress at its Faizpur session. The formation of Congress
ministries in a majority of the provinces in early 1937 marked the beginning of a new phase in the growth of the peasant
movement.

The political atmosphere in the country underwent a marked change: increased civil liberties, a new sense of freedom
born of the feeling that our own people are in power a heightened sense of expectation that the ministries would bring a
pro-people measures- all combine to make the years

1937-39 the high water mar k of the peasant movement. The chief form of mobilization was through the holding of Kisan
Conferences or meetings at the Thana, taluqa, district and provincials levels at which peasant demands would be aired and
resolutions passed. These conferences would be addressed by local, provincial and All India leaders.

During Second World War years the Kisan Sabha continued to play an important role in arranging relief works during
Bengal famine of 1943.It also continued its organizational work despite being severally handicapped by its taking the
unpopular pro-war stance which alienated it from various sections of the peasantry.

End of the Civil Disobedience Movement:

The Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended, when Mahatma Gandi withdrew mass satyagraha on July 14th 1933.
The movement ceased completely on April 7th 1934.

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