The 1930s and 1940s in Colonial India



The effects of WWI in particular aided Gandhi’s project—Why?

o Government promises

o Impact of depression during time of increased taxes

Gandhian Methods

• Tax boycott by peasants 1915-1918

• Swadeshi or “Buy Indian.”—boosting the image of Indian factory workers/capitalists—promotion of khadi

• The first mass campaign and the Chauri Chaura incident—a lesson in means and ends

• The Khilafat campaign 1919-1920

Political schisms and the emergence of new voices

• Important political developments and stresses in Congress’s influence

• The alienation of Bose, Jinnah, and Ambedkar

• Difficulty of maintaining unity with diverse groups within Congress.

• Futility of the “Round Table Conferences”

Government of India Act of 1935

Issues related to the Poona Pact of 1932

1935 Act as a blueprint for future governments

Problems created by act in terms of candidates and campaigns for future parties

Assessing Gandhian Politics and the Congress Strategy

The 1930s and 1940s in Colonial India

Congress as a big umbrella organization continues to find it difficult to keep all groups happy

• The Salt protest and Dandi March of 1931

• Growing radicalization of northern and eastern Kisan Sabhas

• New socialist Congressmen such as Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru

• Poona Pact of 1932—compromise with Ambedkar, who gives up on the idea of Separate electorates for lower-caste communities in exchange for reserved seats

• Gandhi’s retirement—decision to focus on the “uplift” of the lower castes in 1934

Government of India Act, 1935 and the election results

• Some handsome dividends for Congress, but only in core regional areas of 8 provinces

• In Muslim-majority states, the picture is mixed

o Punjab—unionists dominate

o Bengal—large urban/rural split, Kisan Praja and Faiz-ul Haq win a slim majority

o Other areas such as Sindh have factional splits

• Disappointment to both the Congress (which could only carry the NWFP) and the Muslim League (which joined a coalition government in Bengal with Haq, but would soon loose his support)

Jinnah and the reinvigoration of the Muslim League

• Early background in Bombay and participation in Congress

• Disenchantment with Congress and alienation from Gandhian tactics

• New reforms within ML—beginning of the turn around—What changed?

World War II and its Political Impact

• Once again large numbers of Indian soldiers and new recruits joined war effort

• Congress ministries resign in protest of war measures and failure to guarantee substantial movement toward self-rule

• Cripps Mission of 1942, offering half-measures fails on two grounds

o The inability of Cripps to give elected governments any actual control in war planning

o The provision in the proposal to allow provinces to opt in or out of an independent union, rather than leaving the issue to an open plebiscite

• Quit India Movement begins in 1942 weakening support of the government

• Allied leaders such Franklin Roosevelt and Chiang Kai Shek put pressure of Churchill, the British PM to compromise, with little effect

• War measures have devastating effects in rural areas, particularly Bengal where famine causes about 3.5 million peasants to die of starvation

Quit India Movement

• Begins as a Congress strategy, but is quickly transformed into a popular uprising

• While the Congress makes efforts to keep the movement peaceful, violence does occur in many areas

• Most Congress leaders are quickly arrested and will spend much of the war years in jail, leaving the field open to more extremist right-and left- leaning parties

• Bose, who was also jailed, escapes and forms the INA in collaboration with Axis powers

• Loyalty of Indians no longer to be taken for granted

• In the Army and Navy many millions of Indians fought for the Allies, but were disgruntled

o Fall of Singapore, 1942

o Segregated work conditions and lower pay

Mutinies break out at the end of war—although INA invasion fails, the British could no longer take their Indian armed forces for granted. New strategies are put in place for next elections by Congress and ML.

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