The peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s: Part | ° The impoverishment of the Indian peasantry was a direct result of the transformation of the agrarian structure due to: ; ¢ Colonial economic policies: ¢ Ruin of the handicrafts leading to overcrowding of land, E e The new land revenue system, + Colonial administrative and judicial system. e The peasants suffered from high rents, illegal levies, Jarbitrary evictions “and” Unpaid labour in Zamindari areas. In Ryotwari areas, the Government itself levied heavy land revenue. e The overburdened farmer, fearing loss of his only source of livelihood,* Peasant discontent _ often approached the _ loca moneylender who made full use o} the former's difficulties | extracting high rates of interests the money lent. j Often, the farmer had to mo: his hand and cattle. Sometimes, moneylender seized the mortg belongings. Gradually, over | areas, the actual cultivators | reduced to the status of tenar will, share croppers and labourers. The peasants often resiste exploitation, and soon they r that their real enemy colonial state. Sometim desperate peasants took to c come out of intolerable cor These crimes included dacoity and what has bei social banditry. established authority was ¢feature of the nineteenth century. But in the twentieth century, the movements that emerged out of this discontent were marked by a new feature: they were deeply influenced by and in their turn had a marked impact on the ongoing struggle for national freedom. (1) Peasant Movement in 1920's: __ ¢ The peasant movements of the 20th { century were deeply influenced by and had a marked impact on the 4 national freedom struggle. i *The three important peasant struggles that emerged in the | second and third decade of the 4 country: * The Kisan Sabha and Eka _ 4 movements in Avadh in U.P, 5 +The Mappila rebellion in re Malabar and «The Bardoli_ Satyagraha_ in - S—— Gujarat. EE aThe Kisan Sabha Movement in AvadA j (U.P): * Causes: * Following the annexation Avadh in 1856 and after the 1 “revolt, thé Awadh Talukdars got back their lands. ¢ The second half nineteenth century h: the strengthening of of the taluqdars landlords over the society of the provine ° The majority : cultivators were sub high rents evictions “(bedakha levies, renewal nazrana, ¢ The high price of necessities thatand followed World War | made the oppression all the more difficult to bear. + Founding UP Kishan sabhas: + Mainly due to the efforts of the Home Rule activists. oe kisan sabhas were organised in UP. + The UP Kisan Sabha was set Up in February 1918 by Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narayan Dwivedi. Madan Mohan ___ Malaviya supported their efforts. + By June 1919, the UP Kisan Sabha had 450 branches. Other prominent leaders included Jhinguri Singh, Durgapal Singh: and Baba Ramchandra. i-dhobi band: foe wards the end of 1919, the first sign of grass root peasant activity were evident in {admreports of nai-dhobi_ba' form of social boycott) on an __ estate in Pratapgarh district. - * Led by Baba Ramchandra - a sanyasi who had earlier ‘been to Fiji as an indentured labourer, peasants started Nai dhobi bandhs in various places. « These bandhs were organized by_ Panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of even barbers and washermen. + In June 1920, Baba Ramchandra urged Nehru to visit these villages. ; During these _ visits, | Nehru developed close contacts with th villagers: 0) +The kisans found sympathy Mehta, the Deputy Commissioner Sheet i e ~Pratapgarh, who promised “investigate complaints forward* The Kisan Sabha at village Roor in Pratapgarh district became the centre of activity and about one lakh tenants were reported _ complaints with this Sabha on — the payment of one annaeach. + Gauri_Shankar was also ve! active in Pratapgarh during this — period, and was in the process of | working out an agreement with — eo Mehta over some of the crucial — _tenant complaints such as | nels “bedakhli and nazrana. ° Mehta withdrew the case of theft and attempted to bring pressui on the landlords to change the! ‘ ways. a new _ confiden movement and ‘it forth.— + Awadh Kisan Sabha:Pratapgarh because of differences in nationalist ranks. . Congress } at Calcutta had chosen path of non-cooperation and many Nationalists of UP had committed themselves to it. But there were others like Malviya who preferred constitutional agitation. i «These differences were reflected in UP Kisan Sabha — as well and soon Non- — cooperators formed Awadh Kishan Sabha. ‘' This new body succeeded i integrating under its ba all the grass roots kis sabhas that has emerg Awadh through the eff Misra, Jawaharlal _ others. : ¢ The Awadh Kisan Sabl the kisans to¢ refuse to till bedakhali land * not to offer hali and begar (forms of unpaid labour), * boycott those who did not accept these conditions and ¢ solve their disputes through Panchayats. ¢ The first big show of strength of the Sabba was the rally held at Ayodhya, on 20) srennclaarzall December which was attended by roughly 106,00 000 peasants. «A marked feature of the Kisan Sabha movement was that kisans belonging to the high as well as the low castes were to be found in its ranks. ¢ From the earlier forms of mass meetings and mobilisation, the patterns of activity changed rapidly in January 1921 to the looting of bazaars, houses, granaries and clashes with the police. ¢ The centres of activity were ae aprimarily the districts of Rai Bareilly, Faizabad and Sultanpur. «In Awadh in the early months of 1921 when peasant activity was at its peak, it was difficult to distinguish between a Non- cooperation meeting and a peasant rally. *« Government response and end of Movement: ¢ The movement was over by the end of January itself. «In March, the Seditious Meetings Act was brought in to cover the affected districts and all political activity came to a standstill. + Nationalists continued to defend @ _the cases of the tenants in the ut could do little else. « The Government, meanwhile, pushed through the Oudh Rent (Amendment) Act, and though it brought little relief to the “courts,tenants, it helped to rouse hopes and in its own way assisted in the decline of the movement. «The movement declined soon, partly due to government repression and partly because of the passing of the Awadh Rent (Amendment) Act. . Eka Movement: Provinces—Hardoi, : Sitapur.— ° The inital thrust he Congiess iar and the movement grew un name of the Eka or uni « The issues involved: i . hue 1 than the recorded rate: ¢ Oppression of —charge of revenue collection; and + Practice of share-rents. . The meetings of the Eka Movement involved a symbolic religious ritual in which ihe assembled peasants asants vowed that they would: + Pay only the recorded rent but would pay it on time; a + Not leave when evicted; * Refuse to do forced labour: + Give no help to criminals, * Abide by Panchayat decisions. a e The grassroot leadership of the Eka Movement came from Madari_Pas and other low-caste leaders, al many small Zamindars: _, ¢ Unii e earlier Kisan movement. that wasan * They were not particularly inclined to accept the discipline of _non- violence that the Congress and Khilafat leaders urged. As a result, j the movement's contact with the Goes its own way. « By March 1922, severe rep by authorities brough movement to an cI d. Mappila Revolt: —<——— Malabar wer the politics at the ¢ In UP. the i* In Avadh, in the early months of 1921 when peasant activity Was at its peak, it was difficult to distinguish between a Non cooperation meeting and a peasant rally. ¢ A similar situation arose in Malabar, where Khilafat and tenants’ meetings merged into one. ¢ But in both places, the recourse to violence by the peasants created a distance between them and the national movement and led to appeals by the nationalist leaders to the peasants that they should not indulge in violence. * Often, the national leaders, especially Gandhiji, also asked the peasants to desist from taking extreme action like stopping the payment of rent to Landlords¢ The advice of the leadership was prompted by the desire to protect the peasants from the consequences of violent revolt, consequences which did not remain hidden for: long as both in U.P. and Malabar. the Government launched heavy repression in order to crush th movements. national + Their advice that peasants shot not push things too far with landlords by refusing to pi could: stem, from considerations. « The peasants themsel not demanding aboli or landlordism, illegal levies, and rents — deman national leade e The — recourst measures lik was likely tolandlords further into the lap of the government and destroy any chances of their maintaining a neutrality towards the on-going conflict between the government and the national movement. — Bardoli Satyagraha: ¢ Background: + Bardoli,talug had been in 1922 as the place fro! » However, a aken place in of the various: an ; ¢ The local leaders had worked o hard to spread the message of the Non-Cooperation Movement. 6 ‘ ae After the withdrawal of the Non- Cooperation Movement, the Bardoli Congressmen had settled down to intense construct work. — ¢ They worked hard for upliftment of the lo’ untouchable and _ known by — th i Kaliparaj (dar distinguish the:Kaliparaj, and could count on their support in the future. * The movement sparked off _in January 1926 when the authorities ain decided to increase the land revenue by 30 per cent. + The Congress leaders were qui protest and a Bardoli Inq Committee was set up to go int issue. «The committee found revenue hike to be unjustific + This was followed by a ca in the Press, the lead bei by Young India and edited by Gandhiji.. «The ‘Ashram’ group peasants to withheld t amount. They also Patel leadership of the mo’ local leaders also 1 and secured his ap: « The constitutionalistarea, including the members of the Legislative Council, also took up the issue. ~~« In July 1927, the Government reduced the enhancement to 21.97 per cent. + But the concessions were {00 meagre and came _too_late_t0 satisfy anybody. + Vallabhbhai Patel was called to lee 4 Oe Sa ie he women of Bard the title of “Sardar”. * He reached Bardolt + Under Patel, the peasants resolved to¢ The resolution was followed by the recitation of sacred texts_ texts from the Gita ‘and the Koran ade songs from __ Kabir, who symbolized Hindu-Muslim unity. The Satyagraha had begun. + Vallabhbhai Patel was ideally suited for leading the campaign. *A veteran of the Satyagraha, ee Punitive Tax Satyagraha. emerged asa Jeader of Gu up 13 chhavanis or workers’ in the taluga-ea nder the ofan Sora leader. ° Bardoli Satyagraha Pai ¢ This Patrika _ reports about the speeches of t pei pictures of | confiscation p other news. .ee EEE EE + An intelligence wing was set up_ to make sure all the tenants : ———— followed the movement’s resolutions. The main mobilization was done through extensive propaganda _ via meetings, speeches, pamphlets, and door to door persuasion. dj Those who opposed the movement faced “a —social boycott. : Special emphasis was placed on the mobilisation of women and many women activists including Maniben Patel, the Sardar’ s daughter, Sharda Mehta and others were recruited for the — purpose. Students were another special target and they were asked to persuade their families _to— vemain firm. _ + The work that the Congress leaders had done among the Kalipargi.people also paid dividends during _ this movement and the Government was totally unsuccessful in its _ attempts to use them against_the upper caste peasants, __— Sardar Patel and his colleagues also made constant efforts to see they carried the constitutionalist_ and moderate € leadership, as well as public opinion, with them on all important issues. The result of this _ was that very soon the. Government found even its supporters and sympathizers des serting its side. — « Many members a the Bombay Legislative like KM. Munshi and_ Lalji Naranji, representatives of “the Tn Merchants Chamber their seats. _ a Public opinion in the coun ee more and more restit ° Pe Bombay Presiden eet aathreatening to agitate for revision of the Téevenugs assessments in theirareas. Workers in Bombay textile_ mills were on strike and there we was a threat that Patel and the Bombay Communists would combine in bringing about a railway strike. — other organizations mobilized the people of Bombay _ for huge public meetings and ___ demonstrations. \ * Punjab was offering to send jathas on foot to Bardoli. Gandhiji had shifted to Bardoli ‘on 2 August, 1928, in order to take over the reins of the movement if Patel was arrested. | + The Government was looking for a graceful withdrawal now: + It set the condition that frst the enhanced rent be paid by all the _occupants. a “a