1914-1947

• After Tilak’s return having served sentence of six years in Mandalay he tried securing the readmission of himself and other Extremists into the Indian National Congress.  With the need being felt for popular pressure to attain concessions, disillusionment with Morley-Minto Reforms and wartime miseries, Tilak and Annie Besant readied to assume leadership.  The Home Rule League was pioneered on lines of a similar movement in Ireland.

Objective

• The objective of Home Rules League was
• Self Government for India in British Empire.
• Work for National Education, Social and Political reforms.
• Tilak linked up the question of swaraj with the demand for the formation of linguistic states and education in vernacular.  He also used Home Rule to put an end to caste feeling among the common people and advocated abolition of untouchability.
• Tilak (April) and Annie Beasnt and S. Subramaniam lyer (September) established Home Rule Leagues in 1916.
• Tilak’s League was to work in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Central Provinces and Berar and Annie Besant’t in the rest of India.
• Annie Besant set up the newspapers – New India, Commonweal and Young India (1916).
• Tilak published – Mahratta & Kesari .
• Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Shankarlal Banker, Indulal Yagnik, George Arundate, B.P. Wadia and L.P. Ramaswamy Iyer were in Besant’s League.
• Home Rule Movement declined after Besant accepted the proposed Montford Reforms and Tilak went to Britain to fight the Libel suit against Valentine Chirol’s Indian Unrest.

Methods

• Create public opinion in favour of Home Rule through public meeting, also organising discussions, reading rooms propaganda through public meetings, newspaper, pamphlets, posters, etc.
• Positive Gains Emphasis shifted to the masses permanently organizational link established between town and country prepared a generation of ardent nationalists, influenced Moderate-Extremist reunion at Lucknow (1916).
• Lucknow Session – (1916)  (Presided by Ambika Chaarn Mazumdar) Lucknow Pact  Pact (1916) was signed between the INC and the Muslim League.  The main provisions
• (a)  Principle of separate elections was accepted,
• (b)  Demand for a representative government and Dominion Status for India.

• This Act authorized the Government to imprison any person without trail and conviction of the court of law. 
• This law also enabled the Government to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus, which had been the foundation of civil liberties in Britain.
• Anti-Rowlatt Satyagraha intended to mobilize public opinion against the Act.
• It was first countrywide agitation by Gandhi and marked the foundation of Non Cooperation Movement.
• During March and April 1919, the country witnessed a remarkable political awakening in India.  There were hartals, strikes procession and demonstrations. 
• On April 13, 1919 (Baisakhi Day), Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal were addressing a peaceful rally in Jallianwala Bagh when General Dyer ordered for the infamous massacre.
• The Hunter Commission’s report on the Punjab disturbances was described by Gandhi as a ‘white wash’.
• Tagore returned his knighthood in protest.
• Sardar Udham Singh who took the name of Ram Mohammed Singh murdered Dyer in England.

The Earlier Phase

• South Africa :  (a)  1907 Satyagraha against compulsory registration and passes for Indians (b) 1910 Satyagraha against immigration restrictions, derecognition of non-Christian Indians  (b) 1910 Satyagraha against immigration restrictions, derecognition of non-christian Indian marriages while deciding the cases of new entrants and 3% tax on exindentured labourers.
• Literary Influences on Gandhi : John Ruskin’s Unto the Last, Emerson, Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, the Bible and the Bhagvad Gita.
• Appeal of Gandhi :
• He was already a leader of action who had achieved results in South Africa.
• The social composition of Indians in S. Africa made him an all India figure while the Lal-Bal-Pal, trio were essentially regional leaders.
• The doctrine of ahinsa mediated internal differences contributing to a joint nationalist struggle.
• Gandhi’s social utopia was a critique of Industrialism appealed to those alienated by it.
• The use of the Indian idiom (eg Ram Rajya) helped in communication.
• Rumours greatly enhanced his stature. 

Gandhi in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda

• The story of Champaran (Bihar) begins in the early 19th century when Europeans planters had involved the cultivators in agreements that forced them to cultivate indigo in 3/20th of their holdings (Tin-Kathia).  But when indigo became unremunerative, the European planters imposed higher taxes to compensate their losses in the international trade at that time.  Gandhi (in July 1917) was successful in abolishing the Tin-Kathia system and refund was made to the cultivators.
• In Ahmedabad (March 1918) the dispute was between the mill owners and workers over the ‘plague bonus’ which the former wanted to withdraw once the epidemic was over. The workers troubled by inflation wanted adequate compensation.  Gandhi initially persuaded the mill owners and workers to agree to arbitration by a tribunal but the mill owners withdraw after commitment. Gandhi then advised the workers to go on strike and he under took hunger strike after which the mill owners were pressurised into accepting the tribunal award of 35 percent increase.
• The peasants of Kheda district (1917-1918) were in extreme distress due to a failure of crops and the government ignored their appeals for the remission of land revenue.  The peasants of Kheda were already hard pressed because of plague, high prices and drought.
• Appeals and petition having failed Gandhi advised the withholding of revenue and asked the peasants of fight unto death.
• After the Government directed that revenue should be recovered only from those peasants who could pay, the movement was withdrawn.
• Gandhi undertook his first hunger strike at Ahmedabad (1918) for the mill wage hike of workers.
• His first Civil Disobedience movement was the Champaran Satyagraha.
• His first all-India Satyagraha was the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
• His first Non-Cooperation Movement was the Kheda Satyagraha.

• During the First World War, Turkey was allied with Germany and Austria against the British.  The Indian Muslims regarded the sultan of Turkey as their spiritual leaders. Khalifa, so naturally they sympathized with Turkey.  After the war, the British removed the Khalifa from power and fragmented Turkey.  Hence, the Muslims started the Khilafat movement in India for the restoration of the Khalifa’s position.  The demands were
• Khalifa’s control should be retained over the Muslim sacred places.
• After the post-war territorial adjustments, the Khalifa should be left with sufficient territories.

Khilafat Movement in India

• The Khilafat issue was not directly linked with politics in India but the Khilafat leaders (Ali Brother,s Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani) were eager in enlisting the support of Hindus.  Gandhi saw in this, an opportunity to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity against the British.
• The publications of the terms of the Treaty with Turkey, which were very harsh, and also the publication of the Hunter Committee Report on ‘Punjab disturbances’ in May 1920 infuriated the Indians.  Thus at one level Indian political situation also merged with the issue of Khilafat.
• Initially the Khilafat Leaders limited their actions to meetings, petitions, and deputations in favour of the Khilafat.  Later a militant trend emerged, demanding an active agitation such as stopping all cooperation with the British.
• The Central Khilafat Committee met at Allahabad.  The meting was attended by a number of Congress and Khilafat leaders.  In this meeting a programme of non-cooperation towards the government was declared.  This was to include
• Boycott of titles conferred by the Government,
• Boycott of civil services, army and police, i.e. all government jobs,
• Non-payment of taxes to the Government.
• August 1, 1920 was fixed as the date to start the movement.

The Non-Cooperation Movement

• It was the 1st Mass based political movement under Gandhi.
• The Movement was launched as per resolution of Calcutta session and ratified in Nagpur session December 1920.  Lucknow Pact, anti-Rowlatt Agitation, Jalianwala Bagh tragedy, Khilafat Movement, General economic, distress during and after the war were the reasons of Non-Cooperation Movement.
• The Tilak Swarajya Fund was started to the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• The main emphasis of the movement was on boycott of schools, colleges, law counts and advocacy of the use of Charkha.  There was widespread student unrest and top lawyers like C.R.Das and Motila Nehru gave up their legal practice.  Thereafter, the stress was on boycott of foreign cloth and boycott of the forthcoming visit of the Prince of Wales in November, 1921; popularization of Charkha and Khadi and Jail Bharo by Congress volunteers.
• Swaraj or self-rule, Redressal of Punjab wrongs and Khilafat issue were demanded through Non-Cooperation Movement.
• Non-Cooperation Movement progressed powerfully from January 1920 to Early February 1922.
• From November 1921, a shift towards radicalism was visible.  Gandhi decided to launch a no-revenue campaign at Bardoli, and also a mass civil disobedience movement for freedom of speech, press and association.
• The attack on a local police station by angry peasants at Chauri Chaura, in Gorakhpur district of UP, on Feburary 5, 1922, changed the whole situation.  Gandhi, shocked by this incident, withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Spread of NCM

United provinces

• Became a strong base of the Gandhian Non-Cooperation Movement. Organised non-cooperation was an affair of cities and small towns.  In the countryside the movement got entangled with the kisan movement.  The peasants rose in revolt not only against Talukdars but also, against merchants with widespread agrarian-riots under the leadership of Baba Ram Chandra.  In late 1921, ‘Eka’ movement under Madari Pasi started.  Demand was conversion of produce rents into cash.

Punjab

• Akali movement for reform and control of the Guruwaras got closely identified with non-cooperation.  Udasi Sikh Mahants, who managed Gurudwaras, had issued Hukumnamas against Ghadrites and honoured Dyer.  Akalis were led by Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Master Tara Singh and Baba Kharak Singh (head of SGPC).  The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandha Committee was founded by the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Maharashtra

• Non-cooperation remanded relatively weak because the Tilakites were unenthusiastic about Gandhi.  Non-Brahmins too felt that the Congress was a Chitpavan-led affair.

Andhra

• The Non-Cooperation Movement attained success in the Andhra delta area.  Allun Sitaram Raju organised the tribals in Andhra and combined their demands with those of the Non-Cooperation Movement. Temple Entry for Ezhavas and Pulayas was led by Sir Narayan Guru, NK Asan and TK Madhavan.  In 1924, Vaikom Satyagraha in Travancore was led by KP Kesava Menon. 

• The youth had participated actively in the Swadeshi movement in the hope and belief that Extremist methods of agitation such as boycott and passive resistance would take the national movement out of its elitist groove.  The inability of the Extremist leadership to adequately analyse the weakness of the movement and their failure to suggest new ways out of the impasse further strengthened revolutionary ideas of assassination and dacoities.  Brutal repression of the Swadeshi movement by the Government too added to the trend of revolutionary terrorism.  The youth drew inspiration from Irish nationalists and the Russian Nihilists.

Ideology

• Assassinate unpopular officials, thus strike terror in hearts of rules and arouse people to expel the British physically, based on individual heroic and not by mass-based countrywide struggle.

Bengal

• 1902 – First revolutionary groups in Midnapore and Calcutta (The Anushilan Samiti).
• 1906 – Yugantar and Sandhya in Bengal, and Kal in Maharastra.
• 1908 – Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose attempt to murder Muzaffarpur Judge, Kingsford.  Alipore conspiracy case involving Aurobindo Ghosh, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and others.
• 1912 – Bomb thrown at Vicery Hardinge by Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal. 
• Anushilan Committee (a secret society) whose Dhaka section had 500 branches.
• Sandhya, Yugantar – newspapers advocating revolutionary activity.

Punjab

• Revolutionary activity by Lala Lajpat Rai, Ajit Singh, Aga Haidar Syed Haidar Raza, Bhai Parmanand, Lalchand ‘Falak’, Sufi Ambaprassad.

Abroad

• 1905    Shyamji Krishnavarma set up Indian Hose Rule Society and Indian House and brought out journal The Scoicologist in London.
• 1909    Madan Lal Dhingra murdered Curzon-Wyllie; Madame Bhikaji Cama operated from Paris and Geneva and brought out journal Bande Mataram.

Maharashtra

• Ramosi Peasant Force by Vasudev Balwant Phadke.
• 1890s  - Tilak’s attempts to propagate militancy among the youth through Shivaji and Ganpati festivals, and journals Kesri and Maharatta.
• 1897 – Chapeker brother assassinated two unpopular British Officials Rand, the plague commissioner of Poona and Lt. Ayerst.
• 1899 – V.D. Savarkar and his brother Ganesh organized as secret society Mitra Mela.  They were co-accused in Nasik and Gwalior Conspiracy cases.
• 1904 – Mitramela and Abhinav Bharat were merged.
• 1909 Jackson, District Magistrate of Nasik was assassinated.

Komagatu Maru incident

• In an attempt the defied, Canadian immigration laws, Gurdit Singh chartered a ship named Komagata Maru and with 376 Indian mainly (Sikh & Punjabi Muslim) set sail for Vanconver.  The Canadian authorities turned them back after months of privation and uncertainity.   The ship finally anchored at Calcutta in September 1914.  The inmates however, refused to board the Punjab bound train.  In the ensuing with the police at Budge – Budge , 22 persons died.  The incident fired up revolutionary activities which sought to avenge the death of the inocents. 

Revolutionary Terrorism during the 1st World War – The Gadar Movement

• The Gadar revolutionaries were recruited largely from the ranks of Punjabi immigrants who had settled on the West Coast of North America.  The hostile attitude of the local population including that of the white labour unions and the increasingly restrictive immigration laws pushed the Indian community to the realization that they must organise themselves if they were to resist the blatant racial discrimination being imposed on them.  The party was built around a weekly paper – the Gadar.
• The Gadar Programme included assassination of officials, publication of revolutionary literature and work among Indian troops abroad and raise funds.  The front page of each issue of Ghadar carried the slogan “Angrezi Raj Ka Kacha Chittha”.  It preached militant nationalist with a completely secular approach and the party was pledged to wage a revolutionary war against the British in India.  In North America,  the Ghadar was organized by Lala Hardayal, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah and Bhai Parmanand.  They attempted to bring about an armed revolt in India on February 21, 1915 amidst favourable conditions created by the outbreak of First World War and the Kamagata Maru incident. The plan was foiled due to treachery.
• Bagha Jatin organised revolutionary activity in Bengal and died in an encounter (1915) in Balasore.

The 2nd phase of revolutionary terrorism

Influences on Revolutionary Terrorism

• Upsurge of working class trade unionism after the war; the revolutionaries wanted to harness the revolutionary potential of the new emergent class for nationalist revolution.
• Russian revolution 1917
• Newly sprouting communist groups with their emphasis on Marxism socialism and proleteriat
• Journals extolling the self sacrifice of revolutionaries.

Hindustan republican army (hra)

• Sachin Sanyal, Jogesh Chatterjee and Ramprasad Bismil founded Hindustan Republican Army (HRA) at Kanpur in October 1924.  HRA aimed at organizing an armed revolution and establishing a Federal republic of the USA with a government elected on the basis of adult franchise. Sachine Sanyal wrote ‘Bandi Jivan’, Hindustan Republican Army was later renamed Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).  Important action of Hindustan Republican Army was Kakori Robbery (August 1925).

Hindustan socialist republication association (hsra)

• It was founded in September 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad.  They were also influenced by socialist ideas.

Miscellaneous

• Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru shot dead Saunders, the police official responsible for the lathicharge in Lahore.
• Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt threw 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.  The objective was not to kill but to make the deaf hear.
• Bhagat Singh wrote : Why I Am an Atheist.
• Jatin Das (Sept, 1929) died after a prolonged fast in jail.
• After raiding Chittagong Armoury Surya Sen proclaimed the formation of Provisional Revolutionary Government and the Indian Republican Army, which fought at Jalalabad.
• Two schoolgirls Santi Ghosh and Sunidhi Chowdhary,  shot dead the DM, Stevens.
• Bina Das fired point black at the governor while receiving her degree at the convocation.
• Kalpana Datta  was arrested and tried along with Surya Sen.

Famous conspiracy cases

• Muzzafarpur Conspiracy – Attempt of Kingsford, Judge of Muzaffarpur by Prafful Chaki and Khudi Ram Bose in 1908.
• Alipore Conspiracy Case – Aurobindo Ghosh arrested.
• Delhi Conspiracy Case (1911) – Sanchin Sanyal and Rash Behari Bose were accused of attempting of assassinate Lord Hardinge.
• Peshawar Conspiracy Case (1922-23) – Many Muslim Muhajirs went to Moscow to receive communist and military training.  On their return they were caught and tried at Peshawar.
• Kanpur Conspiracy Case (1924) – British government started the case against four communists – Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani and Nalni Gupta.  The government alleged that the Communists wanted to deprive the British King of the sovereignty of British India.
• Kakori Conspiracy Case – On August 9, 1925, ten revolutionaries held up the 8 – Down train from Saharanpur to Lucknow at Kakori and looted its official railway cash.  Asfaquallah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil were hanged.
• Lahore Conspiracy Case – Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Raj Guru assassinated Saunders, a police official, at Lahore to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death. (December 1928).
• Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) – Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8th 1929 against the passage of Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill.

• After the debacle of Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922, a group of leaders (No-changers) : Ansari, Rajapogalachari, Kasturiranga Iyengar, Rajendra Prasad and Vallabha Bhai Patel) who still believed in Gandhian methods advocated on continuing Gandhian constructive rural work while anther group, the Pro-changers with such stalwarts like, Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das demanded Congress participation in council politics.  The Gaya session (1922) rejected council entry.  A compromise was struck by which Pro-changers were allowed to stand for elections even as their faith in the constructive programme was reiterated.
• Their immediate objective was ‘speedy attainment of full Dominion Status – Swaraj’ including ‘the right to frame a constitution with provincial autonomy.
• In the elections of 1923 the Das-Nehru group under the banner of the Swaraj Party emerged the single largest party in the Central Assembly, Bombay and Bengal Councils.
• The Swarajists pursued an obstructionist strategy to defeat all proposals for legislative enactments.
• C.R. Das died in 1925 and a section of Swarajists (NC Kelar, MR Jaykar, Lajpat Rai and Malaviya) turned responsivists.  Madan Mohan Malviya and Lala Lajpat Rai founded the Independent Congress Party and rallied the Hindus.  In 1933, it was reorganized at Congress Nationalist Party.
• In 1930 the Swarajists walked out of the Assemblies in accordance to the Lahore resolution.  The Swaraj Party now merged with the Congress as the country began to prepare for the second round of direct mass action to achieve complete independence. 

Drawbacks

• The Swarajists lacked a policy to coordinate their militancy insides the legislatures with the mass struggle outside.
• An obstructionist policy had its limitations.