Abstract
The war and the immediate post-war years witnessed truly dramatic changes in Indian life, the three universally accepted crucial landmarks being constitutional reforms (Secretary of State Montagu’s declaration of 20 August 1917, followed by the Montagu-Chelmsford Report of 1918 and the Government of India Act of 1919), the emergence of Gandhi as leader of a qualitatively new all-India mass nationalism, and important shifts in India’s colonial economy. Considerable differences exist, however, as regards the precise nature and significance of these new features and their mutual interaction.
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Further Readings
From 1919 onwards, the Indian Annual Register published annually from Calcutta provides a handy guide to political developments for advanced students and a useful starting-point for research.
1
For the Montford Reforms and their background, see R. Coupland, Constitutional Problems in India, Ch. V–VI; S. R. Mehrotra, ‘The Politics behind the Montagu Declaration of 1917 in C. H. Philips (ed.), Politics and Society in India (London, 1963);
and P. G., Robb, The Government of India and Reform: Policies towards Politics and the Constitution 1916–21, (London, 1976).
The revised ‘Cambridge’ view of the link between constitutional changes and nationalism is stated in Anil Seal, ‘Imperialism and Nationalism in India’ in Gallagher, Johnson, Seal (ed.), Locality, Province and Nation (Cambridge, 1973), and developed in Washbrook, Madras Presidency, Baker, Politics, and Bayly, Local Roots.
On the economic impact of the First World War, see Balabushevich and Dyakov, Contemporary History, Ch. I; A. K. Bagchi, Private Investment, passim; S. G. Panandikar, Some Aspects of the Economic Consequences of the War for India (Bombay, 1921);
and, for regional details, A. D. D. Gordon, Businessmen and Politics: Rising Nationalism and a Modernizing Economy in Bombay, 1918–1933 (Delhi, 1978), Ch. I–II, Judith Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power: Indian Politics, 1915–22, Ch. III; D. Hardiman, Peasant Agitations, Ch. VI;
M. H. Siddiqi, Agrarian Unrest in North India: United Provinces 1918–1922 (New Delhi, 1978), Ch. II, and C. J. Baker, The Politics of South India, Ch. 1. For the labour awakening;
see R. Kumar, ‘Bombay Textile Strike, 1919’ (IESHR 1971)
and K. Murugesan and C. S. Subramanyam, Singaravelu—First Communist in South India (New Delhi, 1975) and for food riots, Rajat Roy, Social Conflict,
and D. Arnold, ‘Looting, Grain Riots and Government Policy in South India, 1918’ (Past and Present, August 1979).
2
For the early career of Gandhi, see M. K. Gandhi, Story of My Experiments with Truth (Ahmedabad, 1927, 1940);
D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma, Vol. I, 1869, 1920 (Bombay, 1960); Judith Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power; Gandhi, ‘Hind Swaraj’ in Collected Works, Vol. X;
and for a brief exposition of Gandhian philosophy, J. Bondurant, Conquest of Violence (Bombay, 1959). On early Gandhian movements, see also for Champaran, J. Pouchepadass, Local Leaders, G. Mishra, Agrarian Problems, S. Henningham, Social Setting,
and B. B. Mishra, (ed.), Select Documents on Gandhiji’s Movement in Champaran 1917–18 (Patna 1973); for Kheda, Hardiman, Peasant Agitations, Ch. VI and Peasant Nationalists, Ch. V;
and for Ahmedabad, Erik Ericson, Gandhi’s Truth, Part 3 (London, 1970).
The classic study of the role of rumour in peasant upheavals is G. Lefebvre, The Great Fear of 1789 (London, 1973).
3
The basic sources for the Rowlatt upheaval, the Hunter Commission Report (March 1920) and the Congress Punjab Inquiry Committee Report (February 1920) are now readily available in Punjab Disturbances 1919–20, Vols. I and II (Delhi 1976). See also V. N. Dutt (ed.), New Light on the Punjab Disturbances, the once confidential Intelligence Branch’s Survey, P. C. Bamford, Histories of the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements (Delhi, 1925, reptd., Delhi, 1974); Judith Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power, Ch. V;
and, above all, the valuable collection of micro studies in R. Kumar (ed.), Essays on Gandhian Politics; The Rowlatt Satyagraha of 1919 (Oxford, 1971)—particularly the articles of H. F. Owen on organizational preparations, R. Kumar on Lahore, D. W. Ferrell on Delhi, K. L. Gillion on Gujarat, J. Masselos on Bombay City, and D. E. U. Baker on the Central Provinces and Berar.
4
For political developments from mid-1919 to the Nagpur Congress, see D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma, Vols. I and II; Bamford, Histories; Judith Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power; Chs. 6–8; Richard Gordon, Non-Cooperation and Council Entry, 1919 to 1920 (in Locality, Province and Nation); F. Robinson, Separatism, Chs. 7–9; Mushirul Hasan, Nationalism and Communal Politics in India (Delhi, 1979), Chs. IV–V;
and A. C. Niemijer, The Khilafat Movement in India (The Hague, 1972).
On the labour movement, see R. K. Das, Factory Labour in India Berlin, 1923);
Sukomal Sen, Working Class of India; History of Emergence and Movement (Calcutta, 1977);
G. Adhikari (ed.), Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India, Vol. I, 1917–22 (Delhi, 1971);
C. Sehanovis, Rus Biplab o Prabasi Bharatiya Biblabi (Calcutta, 1973); Murugesan and Subramanyam, Singaravelu; List of Labour Unions and Associations in Bengal 1920, 1921 and 1922 (Government of Bengal); and Vinay Behl, ‘Tata Iron and Steel Company ke Sramik A ndolan, 1920–28’, Anya Artha (1975). Labour history unfortunately is still in its infancy in our country. For kisan movements, see Ram Pande, Rajasthan;
Stephen Henningham, ‘Agrarian Relations in North Bihar: Peasant Protest and the Darbhanga Raj, 1919–20’ (IESHR, 1979) M. H. Siddiqi, Agrarian Unrest, Chs. 3–4; Gyan Pandey, ‘Peasant Revolt and Indian Nationalism: The Peasant Movement in Awadh, 1919, 1922’, in Guha, Studies I;
and Kapil Kumar, Peasant Movements in Oudh, 1918–22 (unpublished thesis, Meerut University, 1980).
5
For all-India studies on the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat upsurge of 1921–22, see Bamford, Histories; Tendulkar, Mahatma, Vol. II; Judith Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power, Ch. 9, Krishna Das, Seven Months with Mahatma Gandhi (Calcutta, 1928); Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography: Gopal Krishna, ‘Development of the Indian National Congress as a Mass Organization’, (Journal of Asian Studies, May 1966); Indian Annual Register, 1921–1922 — as well as of course Gandhi’s own writings, mostly in Young India, reprinted in his Collected Works. A. D. D. Gordon, Businessmen and Politics, Ch. 5,
and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Cotton Mills and Spinning Wheels—Swadeshi in the Non-Cooperation Era (EPW, November, 1976) provide important material on the role of business groups.
The secondary works I have used for regional data include Mohinder Singh, Akali Movement (Delhi, 1978) for the Punjab; Ram Pande, Rajasthan and Rajat Roy, ‘Mewar: The Breakdown of the Princely Order’ in R. Jeffrey, People, Princes and Paramount Power, for Rajasthan; D. Hardiman ‘Peasant Nationalists’, Ch. 7, and his ‘Crisis of the Lesser Patidars: Peasant Agitations in Kheda District, Gujarat 1917–24’ in D. A. Low (ed.), Congress and the Raj for Gujarat; R. Kumar, ‘From Swaraj to Purna Swaraj: Nationalist Politics in the City of Bombay, 1920–32’ in D. A. Low, ibid., for Bombay; C. J. Baker, ‘Non-Cooperation in South India’ in Baker and Washbrook, South India,
D. A. Arnold, Congress in Tamilnad: Nationalist Politics in South India, 1919–37 (Delhi, 1977)
and M. Venkatarangaiya, Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol, III (Hyderabad, 1965) for Tamilnadu and Andhra;
Dhanagare and Conrad Wood’s already cited articles on the Moplahs, together with R. L. Hardgrave, ‘The Mapilla Rebellion, 1921’, (MAS, 1977), K. N. Pannikar, ‘Peasant Revolts in Malabar in 19th and 20th Centuries’, in A. R. Desai, Peasant Struggles, and Stephen F. Dale, Islamic Society on the South Asian Frontier, Ch. VII; A. Guha, Planter Raj to Swaraj, for Assam; Rajat Roy’s unpublished thesis, his ‘Masses in Politics— Non-Cooperation in Bengal 1920–22’ (IESHR, 1974); Broomfield, Elite Conflict,
L. A. Gordon, Bengal: The Nationalist Movement 1876–1940 (Delhi, 1974) and Hitesh Sanyal’s already cited articles for Bengal;
K.K. Datta, History of Freedom Movement in Bihar, Vol. I (Patna, 1957), Ch. 8 and Stephen Henningham’s unpublished thesis, Protest and Control in North Bihar, India, 1907–42 (Australian National University, 1978—available in N.M.M.L. microfishe), Ch. II, for Bihar; and M, H. Siddiqi, Agrarian Unrest, Kapil Kumar, Peasant Movement;
S. K. Mittal and Kapil Kumar, ‘Baba Ram Shandra and Peasant Upsurge in Oudh 1920–21’ (Social Scientist, June 1978) and Gyan Pandey, Ascendancy, for United Provinces. Part of this section is also based on my own research using Government of India Home Political and Government of Bengal, Political Confidential files, together with the Reading Collection (MSS Eur E 238-IOL).
6
The major political developments of 1922–27 may be traced from Tendulkar Mahatma Vol. II, and the Indian Annual Register for the relevant years. For the Gandhian satyagrahas and constructive work, see D. Hardiman’s thesis, Ch. 7–8; D. Hardiman, Baroda: The Structure of a ‘Progressive State’, and R. Jeffrey, ‘Travancore: Status, Class and the Growth of Radical Politics 1860–1940’ in Jeffery (ed.) People, Princes and Paramount Power; Hitesh Sanyal’s articles; and G. Pandey Ascendancy Ch. 3. Rajat Roy’s unpublished thesis and Bimalananda Samal’s Bengali reminiscences about his father (Swadhinatar Phanki, Calcutta, 1967) are useful for Swarajist politics in Bengal; see also G. Pandey for U. P. and D. E. U. Baker, Changing Political Leadership in an Indian Province: The Central Provinces and Berar, 1919–39 (Delhi, 1980) for that rather neglected region. For the growth of communalism, see G. Pandey, Ascendancy Ch. 5; Mushirul Hasan, Communal Politics, Chs. 6, 7.
Richard Gordon, ‘Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, 1915–1926’ (MAS 1975),
and K. Macpherson, The Muslim Microcosm: Calcutta 1918–35 (Wiesbaden, 1974).
7
For the sharpening of political and economic resentment against imperial policies, see R. J. Moore, Crisis of Indian Unity 1917–40 (Oxford, 1974);
F. Moraes, Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas (Bombay, 1957);
and Basudev Chatterji, Lancashire Cotton Trade and British Policy in India 1919–39 (unpublished Thesis, Cambridge, 1978). Venkatarangiyya, Andhra Pradesh gives fascinating extracts from Madras Government archives; I have also used some Home Political files for reconstructing the rebellion on Sitarma Raju. Ram Pande and Rajat Roy’s articles on Mewar have been used again for Rajasthan peasants. For Bengal Swarajist attitudes on agrarian issues,
see Partha Chatterji, ‘Agrarian Relations and Politics in Bengal: Some Considerations on the Making of the Tenancy Act Amendment 1928’ Occasional Paper No. 30, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, (Calcutta, 1980). B. Stoddart, ‘The Structure of Congress Politics in Coastal Andhra 1925–37’, in D. A. Low (ed.) Congress and the Raj, provides valuable data on Andhra. On caste movements, apart from Irschik, Non-Brahman Movement, and Omvedt, Cultural Revolt,
see Hetukar Jha, ‘The Lower Caste Peasants and Upper Caste Zamindars in Bihar, 1921–25’ (IESHR, 1977);
D. Keer, Dr Ambedkar: Life and Mission (Bombay, 1954). Eleanor Zelliot, The Leadership of Baba Saheb Ambedkar’
and C. J. Baker, ‘Leading up to Periyar: The Early Career of E. V. Ramaswami Naicker’, both in B. N. Pandey, (ed.) Leadership in South Asia (Delhi, 1977); R. Jeffery, Travancore, and Murugesan and Subra-manyam, Singaravelu. For labour, see Sukomal Sen, Working Class, Vinay Behl, Sramik Andolan, Basudev Chatterji’s thesis, R. Chandavarkar, ‘Workers’ Politics and the Mill Districts in Bombay between the Wars’ in Baker, Johnson and Seal, (eds.) Power, Profit and Politics.
R. Newman’s Workers and Unions in Bombay 1918–1929 (Canberra, 1981) became available after this book had gone to press. On Communists, see G. Adhikari, Documents, Vols. I–III,
C. Kaye, Communism in India 1919–24 (reptd. ed., S. Roy, Calcutta, 1971),
and D. Petrie, Communism in India 1924–27 (reptd. ed., M. Saha, Calcutta, 1972). For terrorists, see Terrorism in India 1917–36 (reptd. Delhi, 1974). On the shift in Jawaharlal Nehru’s thinking, see S. Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol. I.
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Sarkar, S. (1989). Mass Nationalism: Emergence and Problems 1917–1927. In: Modern India 1885–1947. Cambridge Commonwealth Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19712-5_5
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