SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF INDIAN

NATIONALISM
ii
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Indian Feudal States and National Liberation Struggle
Gandhi's Truth&Non-violence X' Rayed
Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism
Rural India in Transition
Rural Sociology in India
Essays on Modernisation of Underdeveloped Societies (2 vols.) (Ed.)
Slums and Urbanization (with S. Devadas Pillai)
A Profile of an Indian Slum (with S. Devadas Pillai)
State and Society in India
A Positive Programme for Indian Revolution (Ed.)
Peasant Struggle in India
Urban Family and Family Planning in India
India's Path of Development
Violation of Democratic Right in India
iii
SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF INDIAN NATIONALISM
A. R. DESAI
FOREWORD BY
SUMIT SARKAR

POPULAR PRAKASHAN
iv
POPULAR PRAKASHAN PVT. LTD.
35-C, Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya Marg
Tardeo, Mumbai 400 034
1948 by A. R. Desai
First Published 1948 Sixth Edition 2000
(3418)
ISBN - 81-7154-667-6
PRINTED IN INDIA
By Tarun Enterprises, Delhi and Published by
Ramdas Bhatkal for Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.
35-C, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Marg
Tardeo, Mumbai 400 034
v
To
The Memory of My Grandfather
A man with 'tougher intelligence, especially a humorous intelligence and one that had long
suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' who revealed to me the glory of reason, the
richness of humanism and the ecstasy of existence.
vi vii

Foreword
IT IS INDEED a privilege to have been asked to write a preface to this new edition of Professor
A. R. Desai's Social Background of Indian Nationalism. A. R. Desai's life was a rare and
exemplary combination of activism and scholarship. What he modestly described in the first

edition of this book as a "limited association with the student, working class, kisan and political
nationalist movements in my student days" was in fact a lifelong commitment and involvement
in socialist and democratic causes : as pioneer Marxist theoretician, activist for a time in the
Revolutionary Socialist Party, major inspiration for a variety of Marxian Leftand particularly
Trotskyiangroups in Bombay and Gujarat, and from the 1960s onwards, a central figure in all
civil liberties initiatives in western India. This went along with dedicated and rigorous
scholarship, as sociologist and historian, author of numerous highly influential studies on
nationalism, rural sociology, and urbanisation, and editor of two important collections on peasant
struggles in India.
Social Background of Indian Nationalism remains A.R. Desai's most widely-read book, as
revealed immediately by a glance at its publication data. Written as doctoral thesis in 1946, it
was first published in 1948. New editions came out in 1954, 1959, 1966, and 1976, and since
then there have been no less than twelve reprints down to 1998. The book has also been
translated into many Indian languages. For fifty years, it has served generations of students all
over the country as an introduction to modern Indian history, and one which for many has also
provided a highly accessible illustration of Marxist historical method.
Continued relevance for five decades is deeply impressive, but also
viii
a source for some problems. There had been some authorial revisions, and in 1960 a
supplementary volume, Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism, continuing the narrative beyond
the original end-point of 1939 down to the 1950s. No revision has been possible, however, since
1976, and in essence the volume remains a product of the 1940s. What this means is that the vast
majority of detailed, archive-based regional studies of twentieth-century nationalist and popular
movements which came out after access to official records was eased (in the mid 1970s) remains
uncovered. Nor could there be discussion or critical review of many of the major
historiographical tendencies and debates that perforce must figure prominently in any study of
colonial Indian history today : the so-called 'Cambridge' and 'Subaltern' schools, most obviously,
but also very important recent work on the early colonial period, economic history, pioneering
studies of caste and gender, the recent vogue for critiques of 'colonial discourse'. Marxist
historical approaches have also changed enormously, in content, method, and stylechanges
about which Professor Desai was of course fully aware, but which he had no time to integrate
into his 1948 book.
And yet Social Background retains relevance and value, to a degree that could be missed by a
hasty reader today, driven off by a language that to many nowadays might appear somewhat
wooden and dated. It remains, in the first place, one of the very few synoptic, integrated singlevolume accounts we have of the economic, social, and political aspects of colonial India, written
from a Marxist perspective : standing comparison with Rajani Palme Dutt's India Today,
perhaps, but more simply written and therefore accessible to those encountering modern Indian
historyand/or Marxist historyfor the first time. With the proliferation of detailed, most often
region or locality-based research, such synoptic efforts have become both difficult and rare. But
history imbued with progressive values needs to remain accessible to audiences immensely wider

than the 'sophisticated' or specialised few. This need, further, has perhaps never been more
urgent in India than today, when we face a wholesale cultural and political offensive by Rightwing Hindu communal forces that would like to reduce all history to an unthinking chauvinist
drill.
Professional historians, in the second place, should find the book interesting also as an important
index to the intellectual milieu of the mid-or late-1940s, in India and more specifically in
Bombay. What I personally find quite striking are the signs of fruitful interconnections
ix
at that time between Left-nationalist intellectuals and Marxists. Social Background, originally a
thesis submitted to the sociology department of Bombay University, is throughout extremely
explicit about its Marxism, claiming to have used "the method of historical materialism in the
treatment of the subject." G. S. Ghurye, the distinguished sociologist who then headed the
University department and acted as Desai's supervisor, was far from being a Marxist, and yet he
helped to get his student's thesis published as part of Bombay University's Sociology Series, and
that just around the time (1948) when Marxists in India were coming under considerable state
repression. Perhaps more could have been implicit in this gesture than liberal toleration of
difference alone. It is noteworthy, for instance, how Desai's first chapter (Economy and Culture
in Pre-British India), which beginspredictably, for its timewith rehearsing the model of the
self-sufficient and unchanging village community, gets to the standard citation of Marx only
after quotes from Ghurye, Shelvankar, Wadia and Merchant, and D. R. Gadgil, who all emerge
as sharers of broadly similar assumptions. Such apparent convergence between Marxists and
mainstream Indian sociologists and economists would become, and remains, rare after the 1950s.
For A. R. Desai in 1948, the core of the Marxist historical method clearly lay in the effort to
move serially from the economy as transformed under British rule, through "the rise of new
social classes", to socio-cultural and political developments culminating in multiple forms and
phases of nationalism. The linkagesand even more, the language in which they are
presentedmight appear over-general, even somewhat mechanical and reductionist today. The
sheer volume of specialised local studies of particular aspects available now sometimes leads to a
virtual abandonment of efforts at establishing connections, a tacit acceptance of
compartmentalised, purely sectoral history that also has its problems. The cultural dimensions of
colonial domination, in particular, tend to get abstracted from more material histories in ways
that over-simplify at least as much as earlier economic-reductionist assumptions.
Let me end with an example of potential depths concealed by a now largely discredited language
: an instance, further, where A. R. Desai's views appear today both highly controversial, and yet
worthy of consideration. The underlying framework for the early chapters of Social Background
is provided by Marx's well-known assessment, in his early 1850s articles on India, of the dual
role of British colonialism, both
x

destructive, and regenerative. The dominant tendency today, shared by a wide range of historians
and cultural critics, would be to reject outright, as perhaps even crypto-Orientalist, the references
to what Desai unproblematically terms "historically progressive features." These for him include
the destruction of the traditional, stagnant village community through the decline of rural
handicrafts, as well as, despite its many limits and contradictions which in fact he carefully
outlines, the introduction of "modern education" with a "progressive essence." There is also an
undoubted tendency in some parts of Social Background to press the argument about the
transformative aspects of British rule further than many other Marxist thinkers would accept,
today or earlier. Thus in his 1976 Preface, Desai understands colonial rule to have dealt "a fatal
blow" to indigeneous forms of feudalism, a "mortal blow" to caste. The assumption, in fact, is
that the colonial era brought about a "transformation of the feudal economy of pre-British India
into a capitalist economy, however imperfect or distorted." Clearly, a particular viewpoint was
being implied in what by the 1970s had become the famous "mode of production debate."
There are undeniably unilinear assumptions here, and yet the framework is less off-putting than
what many readers might assume today, when the dialectical ambience of classical Marxist
language is often forgotten. It needs to be emphasised that for Marx, 'progressive' did not
necessarily connote unqualified approval : otherwise the Communist Manifesto would have to be
read as an apologia for capitalism. Dialectical development was thought to involve advance as
well as loss. Behind the dated language of Social Background lies an awareness of contradictions
that is not all that common today. The chapter on education, for instance, despite its necessary
brevity, emphasises phases and distinctions within colonial policy that all too often get ironed
out today in what tends to become a simplistic denunciation of Macaulay. The 1976 Preface is
careful to emphasise that despite commonness of anti-colonial aspiration, nationalism necessarily
took on very varied, even mutually-opposed, forms : "The content of this aspiration was different
for diverse classes." It is rather easy today to denounce orthodox Marxism for its stilted language
of 'laws of social development' and unilinear assumptions : much more difficult to avoid
simplifications of our own that might be quite as gross.
New Delhi, 1998 Sumit Sarkar
xi

Contents
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION xviii
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION xxiii
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xxv
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xxvi
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxviii

PROLOGUE xxx
Nationalism, A Historical Phenomenon-NationDevelopment of Nationalism in Various
CountriesNational Sentiment, Dominant Sentiment TodayNationalism, Special Field of
Research Today Study of Rise and Growth of Indian Nationalism.
1. ECONOMY AND CULTURE IN PRE BRITISH INDIA 1
SelfSufficient Village CommunityIndian Feudalism Vs. European FeudalismNature of
Village Economy in Pre-British India Nature of Urban Economy in Pre-British IndiaNature
of Village Culture in Pre-British IndiaNature of Urban Culture in Pre-British IndiaReligioIdeological Unity of Indian CultureAbsence of National Sentiment.
2. BRITISH CONQUEST OF INDIA 23
Transformation of Indian Society, A Product of British Conquest British Conquest, Its
CausesBritish Conquest, its Peculiar FeaturesFar-reaching Effects on Economic Structure of
IndiaHistorically Progressive Significance.
xii
3. TRANSFORMATION OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE UNDER BRITISH RULE 30
Indian Feudalism, its Basic FeaturesIntroduction of Private Property in LandNew Land
Revenue SystemCommercialization of AgricultureBreakdown of Traditional Indian Village.
4. SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE
43
Emergence of National AgricultureGrowth of Sub division and Fragmentation of Land
Effects of FragmentationNew Land Revenue SystemCommercialization of Agriculture
Growth of PovertyGrowth of Rural IndebtednessTransfer of Land From Cultivating to Noncultivating OwnersRise of SerfdomGrowing Polarization of Classes in Agrarian Areas
Rise of Agrarian ProletariatRise of Parasitic Land-Owning ClassColonial Character of
Indian AgricultureReconstruction of Agriculture, its pre-Requisites.
5. DECLINE OF TOWN HANDICRAFTS 70
Effect of British Rule on town HandicraftsDisappearance of States, Patrons of Town
HandicraftsForeign Rule, its Disastrous Effects on Town Handicrafts-Reasons for their
RuinationDecline of Indian Town HandicraftsHistorical Significance of Decline.
6. DECLINE OF VILLAGE ARTISAN INDUSTRIES 83

Pre-British Village Artisan IndustriesCauses of their Decline Their Decline, an Uneven

ProcessSurviving Village Artisans, their Changed StatusAbortive Attempts at their
ReconstructionDecline of Village Industries, its Consequences.
7. RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN INDIAN INDUSTRIES 93
Development of Modern Industries in IndiaBrief History of their DevelopmentEmergence
of Trusts and MonopoliesDominance of Finance CapitalBritish Capital, its Stranglehold on
Indian EconomyReasons for the Lop-Sided Growth of Indian Industries Indian Monopolies,
their PeculiaritiesPrerequisites of Healthy Industrial DevelopmentBombay Plan, its
LimitationsSocial Significance of Indian Industrial Development.
xiii
8. MODERN MEANS OF TRANSPORT AND RISE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM 117
Transport in Pre-British IndiaIntroduction of Modern Means of TransportTheir Lop-sided
DevelopmentRailways, their Progressive SignificancePrerequisites for the Sound
Development of Transport.
9. THE ROLE OF MODERN EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN
NATIONALISM 125
Education, its Social Significance Pre-British Indian Culture, Two misconceptionsEducation
in Pre-British IndiaIntroduction of Modern Education-Unhealthy Reactions to Modern
Education Growth of Modern Education upto 1854From Wood's Dispatch to Lord Curzon's
University ActThird Phase, 1901-1921Fourth Phase, 1921-1939Modern Education in
India, Main Criticisms Its Progressive EssenceIndian Nationalism, No Offspring of Modern
EducationModern Education and its AdvantagesPrerequisites of its Healthy Development.
10. POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE UNIFICATION 154 OF INDIA UNDER THE
BRITISH RULE
Absence of Basic Political and Administrative Unity in Pre-British IndiaLegal Unification
Administrative UnificationEstablishment of Uniform Currency SystemUnification, its Chief
Defects.
11. RISE OF NEW SOCIAL CLASSES IN INDIA 162
Uneven Emergence of New Social ClassesNew Social Classes Forces leading to their
EmergenceSurviving Old Classes, their Changed PositionZemindars their Interests and
Organizations Tenants: their Interests and OrganizationsPeasant Proprietors: their SubDivisions, Interests and OrganizationsIndian Kisans, their Principal MovementsKisans,
their Specific Psychological and other TraitsRise of Modern Indian IntelligentsiaModern
Indian Bourgeosie: its Interests, Organizations and Movements Rise of the Modern Indian
ProletariatModern Proletariat, its Distinguishing CharacteristicsGrowth of Working Class

MovementsNew Social Classes, National in CharacterTheir Consciousness of Common

InterestsUneven Development of their ConsciousnessGrowing Reactionary Trends in
Propertied Classes Twofold Movements in India.
xiv
12. THE ROLE OF THE PRESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN NATIONALISM
206
Press, Its Decisive Social RoleIts Absence in Pre-British India Growth of Indian Press, Upto
1900 A.D.Its Subsequent DevelopmentIndian Press, its Broad Political TrendsIts Slow
and Meagre Growth and the ReasonsRepressive Measures Against Press, their HistorySir
Jenkins on Press Act of 1910Press Acts of 1931 and 1932, their SignificanceThree News
AgenciesIndian Press, its Progressive RolePrerequisites of its Sound Development.
13. SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS AS THE EXPRESSION OF
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC AWAKENING 224
Reform Movements, Expression of Rising NationalismTheir Democratic Yearnings.
14. CRUSADE AGAINST CASTE SYSTEM 227
Caste System, 'Steel Frame of Hinduism'Castes Vs. Classes Caste System, its Chief
FeaturesGrowing Disintegration of Caste System, CausesImpact of New Property
RelationsImpact of Modern CitiesImpact of New Legal SystemImpact of New Social
FormationsImpact of Class StrugglesImpact of Modern EducationImpact of Political
MovementsCaste System, its Reactionary SignificanceMovements Against Caste System
Movements Perpetuating Caste SystemDual Aspects of Lower Castes' MovementsFuture
Trend.
15. CRUSADE AGAINST UNTOUCHABILITY 246
Untouchability, Inhuman Institution of Hindu SocietyDepressed Classes, their Strength
Movements to Ameliorate their Conditions"Neutrality" Policy of Britain, its Criticism
Impact of New Economic ForcesImpact of Modern EducationImpact of Nationalist
MovementPre requisites of Abolishing Untouchability.
16. MOVEMENT FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 256
Woman, and their low position in pre-British IndiaNew Economic Forces, their impact on
Women's StatusMovements to elevate their StatusStruggles for Right to Education
Women's Participation in PoliticsWomen's Participation in Class Struggles.
xv
17. RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS AMONG 263 HINDUS AND MUSLIMS

Religious Reform Movement, Expression of National Awakening "Appeal to Past", its Real
SignificanceMedievalism Vs. LiberalismReligio-Reform Movement, its All-Embracing
Scope Similar Developments in EuropeBrahmo Samaj Movement Prarthana Samaj
Arya SamajRamakrishna Mission MovementTheosophyReligious Reforms by Eminent
Political LeadersMaterialism, its Near-absence in IndiaEarly Religio-Reform Movements,
their Progressive SignificanceGrowth of Rationalism and MaterialismNational Awakening
Among Muslims, Reasons for its Slower GrowthAhmadiya MovementAligarh Movement
Sir Mahmud IqbalOther Muslim Reform MovementsReligio-Reform Movements, their
Reactionary Role in Subsequent Period.
18. RISE OF POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AS THE 288 EXPRESSION OF INDIAN
NATIONALISM
Political Nationalism, Outcome of Foreign DominationFirst SproutingsRevolt of 1857, its
CausesCharacter and Significance of the RevoltNew Strategy of British RuleIts
Consequences Principal Events between 1857 and 1885Disastrous Famines and Peasant
UprisingsIlbert BillGrowing Discontent and New LeadershipHume's Views about a
"Safety Valve"Other Historians Share the ViewFounding of Indian National Congress
Liberal Leadership, its Principles and MethodsThe Progressive Role of the Liberal
LeadershipUnfulfilled DemandsGrowing DisillusionmentEmergence of Militant
Nationalist Leadership "Swadeshi and Boycott"Jawaharlal Nehru on Militant Nationalism
Militant Nationalists, their Chief ActivitiesCongress Split in 1907MorleyMinto Reforms
and AfterRise of Terrorist and Revolutionary MovementsMontagu-Chelmsford Reforms
Jallianwala Bagh TragedyEpoch of Gandhi and GandhismN. C. O. Movement-
Withdrawal of N. C. O. Movement, its Results Formation of Swaraj PartyGrowth of
Communal Tensions Growth of Socialist and Communist IdeasFrom Boycott of Simon
Commission to Lahore CongressComplete Independence, Declared ObjectiveCivil
Disobedience MovementGandhi-Irwin PactRevival of C. D. MovementLessons of C. D.
Movement
xvi
Limitations of Gandhi and GandhismRise of Radical OrganizationsCongress Ministries in
ProvincesRift Between Gandhi and Subhas Bose.
19. PROBLEM OF NATIONALITIES AND MINORITIES 358
Problem of Nationalities and Minorities in IndiaGenetic Causes of Rise of NationalitiesNation and National Minority, their DifferencesIndian Nationalist Movement, its
PeculiaritiesAwakening of Dormant NationalitiesTwo Contradictory Tendencies at Work
Indian Muslims, A National MinorityCommunalism Among Muslims, ReasonsLate
Awakening Among Muslims and its ReasonsSir Syed Ahmed and Muslim Awakening
Muslim League, its Communal and Upper Class CharacterBritish Strategy of "Communities,
Classes and Interests"its CriticismGrowing Militancy Among Muslims after 1912Khilafat
and Hijrat MovementsCommunalism, its Real EssenceFourteen Points of JinnahJinnah's
Criticism of Congress GovernmentsMuslim League Demands PakistanOther Muslim

OrganizationsHistory of Idea of PakistanViews of Various Parties and Leaders on

PakistanLeaders of Indian National Congress-Congress Socialist PartyIndian Liberals
Hindu MahasabhaDr. Ambedkar Communist Party of IndiaProblem of Nationalities,
Prerequisites of its Progressive Solution.
EPILOGUE 408
Nationalism in India, its Chief PhasesFirst PhaseSecond PhaseThird PhaseFourth
PhaseFifth PhasePerspective.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 418
INDEX 427
REFERENCES
The references in the footnotes are to authors and page numbers only. The books to which the
notes refer are listed in the Bibliography on page 418.
Where more than one book by the same author is referred to, the page reference is preceded by a
bracketed number indicating the sequence in which the titles appear under the author's name in
the Bibliography.
xvii

Preface to the Fifth Edition

Social Background of Indian Nationalism is being published in its fifth edition as a popular
paperback. By now it has been translated into Gujarati, Malayalam and Hindi languages and the
Indian Council of Historical Research has undertaken to translate it in rest of the regional
languages in India.
For me it is deeply satisfying to find that this study is becoming more and more popular, useful
and is acclaimed by scholars as one of the few books which provide a synthetic, multi-sided
account of the structural transformation that took place in India under the impact of the British
Rule in India. Further, I feel a sense of fulfillment because this book is being recognised as
necessary reading as a reference work or a textbook for graduate, post-graduate and auxiliary
courses in many universities and research centres in India as also in other countries.
The circumstances under which the study emerged have been detailed in prefaces to earlier
editions.
I will indicate, what according to me, are the few distinctive features of the work which have
enabled the book to be placed in the category of authentic and reliable studies of social
transformation that took place in Indian society during the British Rule.

I
Indian society experienced a qualitative structural transformation during British Rule, which led
it on a new and different path of development. British Rule initiated some of the basic changes in
the social physiognomy of Indian society, though to subserve its own interest.
xviii
It generated new currents in the economic processes, though as a colony of British capitalism. It
inaugurated new principles of political rule, established different criteria of sovereignty, different
norms for governance and administrative bureaucratic set-up. British Rule dealt a fatal blow to
the peculiar feudal framework which provided the matrix for the Indian society for a millennium.
It generated forces which directly or indirectly gave a mortal blow to the very root of the peculiar
stratificatory system known as Caste system and created basis for the emergence of new social
classes, strata and associations and thereby laid the foundation for modern class system. During
the British period, Indian society experienced the introduction and growth of new and modern
means of transport, communication, and educational system. It should be recognised and
remembered that all these changes were taking place to suit the needs of various phases of
British capitalism and to subserve the basic interests of British capitalism. However, it should not
be forgotten, as Marx pithily pointed out, that British Rule, though indeed for its selfish interest,
unconsciously inaugurated a qualitative structural transformation which hitched the Indian
society to a new path. For Indian society, there was no going back after freedom. It had to
reshape itself either as a capitalist or socialist society.
As a reaction to the new web of politico-economic and socio-cultural relations which were being
created by British policies, various movementsreligious, intellectual, social, cultural, economic
and politicalemerged in India. The quality, functions, forms and techniques of these
movements were different and new compared to those movements which Indian society
experienced during the pre-British period. The endeavours made by various classes and strata to
alter the situation created by the British Rule and to assimilate or challenge its good or evil
effects, manifested themselves into complex movements which created a new exciting,
interesting, heroic and unique history for Indian people. The reactions and movements being
basically against the British Rule, manifested themselves into a national movement and a
national awakening. We can easily characterise the Indian national movement as an aspiration
and movement of various sections of Indian people to counter-act the evil effects of the British
Rule, to secure political freedom from British tutelage and to reshape Indian society on the basis
of progress and prosperity. The content of this aspiration was different for diverse classes. These
varied contents manifested in
xix
various types of movements. Whether Independent India would make real progress on capitalist
path or the socialist path was another dream.

The national movement during the British period was not a small, insignificant phenomenon. It
had epic dimensions. It enveloped the striving and the struggles for transformation of one-fifth of
humanity.
The present work attempts to sketch an outline of this episode. It is the conviction of this author
that a proper scientific appraisal of the social background of this titanic event viz. national
movement, can alone provide adequate perspective to comprehend the changes that are taking
place after Independence and assist the progressive forces to channelise them on progressive
lines.
Such an endeavour to discern the social transformation of Indian society is the first distinctive
feature of the present work. There are a number of studies which strive to unlock the
transformation of one segment or another of Indian society. There are also some studies which
attempt to disclose the changes that took place in Indian society, say in early nineteenth, late
nineteenth or first, second, third or fourth decades of twentieth century, during the British period.
There is, however, not a single work excepting R. P. Dutt's India To-day, and Jawaharlal Nehru's
Discovery of India, which tries to portray the overall transformation that took place in India
during the entire British period. The present work, to the satisfaction of the author, is a
contribution of this type, which I think is the cause of its widespread acceptance.
II
The second distinguishing feature of this book is the specific sociological approach adopted in
the study. The entire study is developed on the explicit assumption of applying Historical
Materialism or Materialist Conception of History. This approach is now proving its immense
effectiveness in understanding Indian social reality. This is slowly being proved by the works of
Prof. Kosambi, Prof. R. S. Sharma, Prof. Man Habib, Prof. Chhana, Prof. Debiprasad
Chattopadhyaya and others.
The present study was also one of the few earlier studies undertaken with a conscious desire to
apply this method to understand the social transformation that took place in Indian society during
the British period. The delineation of the transformation of Indian society on the
xx
basis of application of this method in its major outline is being recognised as fairly authentic and
superior to any other delineation based on other approaches. It is satisfying to the author, that the
sketch of Indian structural transformation drawn on the basis of application of Historical
Materialist method is being found more and more authentic, and is proving more fruitful as a
starting point to deepen the understanding of Indian reality. The present work stands as an
evidence of immense power inherent in Historical Materialism as a method of understanding
social reality.
This explicit methodological basis of inquiry is another distinctive feature of the present work. It
has also given a glimpse of titanic potentiality of this method for adequate and fruitful
understanding of Indian society.

Another distinctive feature of the present work lies in the type of deductions drawn and some of
the propositions made on the basis of analysis of the social background of Indian nationalism.
Some propositions pertain to the nature of future trends about Indian development on the basis of
studies of the Indian national movement. Some pertain to diverse and complicated currents in
Indian national movement, about the nature and types of leadership and the pattern of
programmes and techniques of struggles adopted by them, and the problems which emerged in
Indian society as a consequence after the withdrawal of British Rule.
It was explicitly stated in the work, which was written before the Independence, that for
removing poverty, illiteracy and insecurity of jobs for a mass of Indian people, and to develop
the immense resources of the country and unfettered development of productive forces in the
country, two essential pre-requisites would be needed viz. (1) End of British Rule and political
freedom, (2) Power in Independent India, not in the hands of the capitalist class but in the hands
of the working class. Similarly, it was stated that after Independence for proper development of
Indian society, the economic axis of Indian society, should be socialist and not capitalist.
India secured Independence on the basis of bargaining with British Rulers by Indian leadership
and that too on the basis of vivisection of India on communal lines. The power came in the hands
of the capitalist class and the economic axis created was capitalist based on mixed-economic
indicative planning. The post-war development of the last twenty-five years has proved
convincingly that this path cannot
xxi
solve any of the basic problems of the people. This was stated almost categorically in the book
written before Independence.
The value of the work has been proved by the fact that the major propositions arrived at by
understanding the major structural changes in Indian society, on the basis of Historical
materialist method stand vindicated by subsequent unfoldment of Indian social development. I
am happy to state that the subsequent studies made by me about the post-war developments in
India, on the basis of the application of the Historical materialist method of analysis, have been
found to be very valuable for understanding and predicting the trends of development in India
and are providing useful to those who are striving to organize movements to end capitalism and
usher in the socialist social order in India.
I am thankful to the Publishers and the National Book Trust, India, for pricing this paperback
edition within the reach of the students.
Jaikutir A. R. DESAI
Taikalwadi Road, Bombay-400 016 5th October 1976
xxii

Preface to the Fourth Edition

THE AUTHOR feels glad to write a preface to the fourth edition of Social Background of Indian
Nationalism. Social Background of Indian Nationalism, as indicated in the preface to the first
edition, is an effort to give a composite picture of the complex and variegated process of the rise
of Indian nationalism and its various manifestations. Its scope of inquiry is limited to a period
beginning with the advent of Britishers till the beginning of the Second World War. The studies
of nationalism in India during the war and post-war periods have been published in my
complimentary work, Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism. The two volumes provide, to the best
of my knowledge, a continuous story of this fascinating phenomena in India. They also prove, at
least to the author, the fruitfulness of studying the transformation that is taking place in Indian
society during the last two centuries, by applying the method of Historical Materialism. It is
indeed very heartening to the learn that the Social Background of Indian Nationalism is still
warmly received in various parts of the world and needs a fourth edition.
I once again express my deep sense of gratefulness to Dr. G. S. Ghurye who initiated me in this
study and gave me affectionate and valuable guidance in exploring such a complex subject. I am
also thankful to the University of Bombay for publishing its first edition in its Sociology Series.
I warmly thank my young friend Uday Mehta, Research Assistant, for his assistance in getting
this book through, along with the preparation of Index.
To Shri Ramdas Bhatkal and his team of associates attached to Popular Prakashan, I extend my
sense of gratitude for bringing out
xxiii
this edition in its elegant form. I am sure the book and its complimentary volume will continue to
provoke discussion.
Department of Sociology A. R. DESAI
University of Bombay
Bombay
March, 1966
xxiv

Preface to the Third Edition

THE AUTHOR feels happy to write a preface to the third edition of Social Background of Indian
Nationalism.

As pointed out in the preface to the second edition, the World War II and Post-war periods have
been momentous and crucial in the history of Indian Nationalism. Nay, they are cyclonic in their
effects on a global scale. History during these periods has been moving with a hurricane tempo,
though not arbitrarily or capriciously.
My publishers pressed me to add a short postscript to indicate these war and post-war trends of
Indian Nationalism. I tried to evolve a short postscript. However, due to the complexity and
richness of data, it emerged into a separate study and is being published simultaneously as an
independent book Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism.
It is indeed satisfying to learn that Social Background of Indian Nationalism is being warmly
received in various parts of the world.
I again express my deep sense of gratefulness to Dr. G. S. Ghurye, under whose affectionate and
valuable guidance the present study emerged.
I am thankful to the University of Bombay for publishing its first edition in its Sociology Series.
A. R. DESAI
Department of Sociology
University of Bombay Bombay 1
November 1959
xxv

Preface to the Second Edition

THE FIRST edition of Social Background of Indian Nationalism appeared in the University of
Bombay Publications, Sociology Series, under the General Editorship of Dr. G. S. Ghurye,
Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology, in 1948. It received an appreciative
evaluation from a large number of reviewers of different shades of social and political opinion.
This study is an attempt to give an all-sided and inter-connected account of the rise of
Nationalism in India which is a very significant phenomenon in the evolution of modern India.
More than a decade has passed since this work was undertaken. This period has witnessed
momentous and cyclonic events both in India and in the world. Mighty transformations have
taken place. Numerous implicit developments have suddenly become explicit. The physiognomy
of human society on a global scale has undergone very rapid and qualitative changes. India, too,
has experienced far-reaching changes under the impact of internal and international social forces.
Decades of slow development are being compressed into years of rapid transformation.

The main object of the work was to trace the social background of Nationalism in India. A mere
postscript added to this study in the second edition would have been hardly adequate to cover the
momentous happenings of the decade. I thought a separate volume treating the recent
developments as a sequel to the present volume would alone serve the purpose.
The scope of the enquiry is, therefore, not extended beyond the period that was covered in the
first edition. I hope to examine the social background of Nationalism in India in recent years in
another study.
xxvi
The second edition, is however, reprinted with the following changes:
1. Elimination of repetition of ideas which crept in the first edition.
2. Elimination of incongruity of tense, which occurred due to the fact that British rule existed in
India when the script for the first edition was prepared.
3. Making certain ideas explicit, which remained vague in the earlier edition.
4. Addition of sub-titles to aid the study of the book. I again express my deep sense of
gratefulness to Dr. G. S. Ghurye under whose affectionate and very valuable guidance the
present study emerged.
I am also thankful to the University of Bombay for publishing its first edition in its Sociology
Series.
A. R. DESAI
Department of Sociology
University of Bombay
Bombay
August, 1954
xxvii

Preface to the First Edition

THE TRANSFORMATION of Indian society from a medieval to a modern basis during the last
one hundred and fifty years and the resultant rise of Indian nationalism and the nationalist
movement in its various forms: social, religious, economic, political and cultural, constitute a
most fascinating theme for study for the students of social sciences and Indian history. This

mighty movement of almost one-fifth of the human race has not only something of the grand and
the dramatic in it, but has also a vital significance for the future of humanity. The theme was
enchanting and I was drawn to it.
Further, during my limited association with the student, working class, kisan and political
nationalist movements in my student days, I reached the conclusion that intelligent
comprehension of, and fruitful participation in these movements required, as an indispensable
prerequisite, a concrete and comprehensive understanding of the structure! transformation of
Indian society during the British period, of the emergence and role of new social forces, and of
the socio-genetic causes of the rise of Indian nationalism and the nationalist movement. The
nature of the new social forces and the law of development of Indian society had to be grasped.
This accentuated my desire to make a special study of the subject.
So far, to my knowledge, there is no single published work which gives a historical synthetic and
systematic account of the genesis of Indian nationalism, or a portrayal and evaluation of specific
weights and mutual interactions of a multitude of the new socio-historical forces which gave rise
to national consciousness. The present work, which emerged out of the thesis submitted for the
Ph.D. degree of the Bombay University, is an attempt towards contributing to the fulfillment
xxviii
of this need. I have tried to use the method of historical materialism in the treatment of the
subject, for locating and assessing the specific weight of different social forces which evolved
and formed the social background for the emergence and development of Indian nationalism.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. G. S. Ghurye, Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology,
Bombay University, under whose affectionate and very valuable guidance I prepared the thesis.
This is an attempt to give a composite picture of the complex and variegated process of the rise
of Indian nationalism and its various manifestations. The author is himself fully conscious of its
many limitations. However, he will consider his labour fully rewarded if the book stimulates
interest in the subject and provokes further work based on richer data and more specific
conclusions.
A. R. DESAI
Bombay
April, 1946
xxix

Prologue
Nationalism, A Historical Phenomenon

LIKE ALL social phenomena, nationalism is a historical category. It emerged in the social world
at a certain stage of evolution of the life of the community when certain socio-historical
conditions, both objective and subjective, matured. As E. H. Carr remarks, ' "nations", in the
modern sense of the world, did not emerge until the close of the Middle Ages'.1
Before national communities, national societies, national states, and national cultures came into
existence, communities in various parts of the world generally lived through tribal, slave, and
feudal phases of social existence. At a certain stage of social, economic, and cultural
development, nations came into being. They were generally distinguished from non-national
communities of previous periods of social existence by certain specific characteristics such as an
organic welding of the members of the nation, living in a distinct territory within a single
economy, so that they felt conscious of common economic existence; generally one common
language used by them; and further, a similar psychological structure among its members and a
common culture evolved by it. Though an ideal nation possessing all these traits in a state of
fullest development remained an abstraction (since the elements of the past always survived, in
varying degrees, in the economy, social structure, psychological habits, and culture, of any
nation), still, from the sixteenth century onward, national communities, in different stages of
national consolidation, have appeared in the amphitheatre of human history.
xxx

Nation: E. H. Carr's Definition

Regarding the traits which distinguish a nation from a non-national community, E. H. Carr
remarks as follows:
'...The term nation has been used to denote a human group with the following characteristics:
(a) The idea of a common government whether as a reality in the present or past, or as an
aspiration of the future.
(b) A certain size and closeness of contact between all its individual members.
(c) A more or less defined territory.
(d) Certain characteristics (of which the most frequent is language) clearly distinguishing the
nation from other nations and non-national groups.
(e) Certain interests common to the individual members.
(f) A certain degree of common feeling or will, associated with a picture of the nation in the
minds of the individual members.'2

Development of Nationalism in Various Countries

The integration of communities into nations was a prolonged historical process. The nascent
nation had to struggle against various obstacles which barred its growth. For instance, in England
it had to struggle against the feudal state which strove to perpetuate the feudal economy which
kept the people economically disunited and thwarted the free growth of trade and manufacture,
the prime levers of the economic consolidation of the people. The nascent nation had to struggle
against the authority of the Roman Church which hallowed the feudal social and state structure
in England, a structure based on the social and economic disunity of the British people. The
nascent nation struggled against the Roman Church and established a national Protestant Church
of England. The English people, further, through a series of political struggles, reformist as well
as revolutionary, replaced the feudal state by a nation state. This state became their weapon to
further consolidate their national social life, economy, and culture.3
The English people were among the first to be welded into a nation. As a result of a number of
historical reasons, nationalism was born in England earlier than in a number of other countries.
For example, the early growth of trade and manufacture which enveloped the people
xxxi
more and more in a network of exchange relations, paved the way for the growth of a national
economy. It also led to the early emergence of democratic and nationalist ideas which attacked
feudal conceptions of state, society, and the status and position of the individual.
In course of time, historical conditions for the rise of nationalism matured in other countries also.
This was the result of the development of internal forces as well as the impact, on these
countries, of outside forces.
The development of nationalism in different countries followed lines determined by its
respective social and cultural history, the extant political, economic, and social structures, and
the specific character of the psychological and economic traits of the social classes which were
the vanguard of the struggle for a national social existence in those countries. Every nation was
thus born and forged in a unique way.
The history of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is primarily the history of the
formation of nations in enlarging zones of the human world, of the struggles of nascent nations
seeking to be full-fledged nations against internal and external obstacles, and of the struggles of
already formed nations, among themselves, for self-preservation or self-aggrandizement. The
process of nation formation has continued during the twentieth century also when the awakened
peoples of Asiatic and African continents, such as the Indians, the Chinese, the Turks, the Arabs
and the Egyptians, organized movements to remove indigenous feudal or foreign imperialist
obstacles in the way of their full development as free nations. These movements have expressed
their yearnings for a free and unobstructed development of economic and cultural life on a
national basis. Even in Europe, at the end of the First World War (1914-18), a number of
national groups like the Magyars, the Hungarians, the Czechs, and others, who lived in a state of
subjection under the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire, organized struggles to shake off
that subjection.4

That the human world is now mainly composed of nations, and is a conglomeration of these
nations, was recognized, when at the end of the First World War a League of Nations was
formed to maintain peace in the world and even after the Second World War, the United Nations
Organization was formed. The nation is recognized as the dominant form of community
prevailing in the present epoch. In fact, the principle of nationalism has primarily governed
various schemes of political and other reconstruction evolved by modern sociologists,
xxxii
statesmen, and politicians with a view to eliminating discord from the social world and creating a
premise for the free and full expression of the creative power of human groups. Even the Soviet
Union, which revised its economy from a capitalist to a historically higher socialist basis, has
recognized the national principle inasmuch as it is a union of national republics. The dream of
even the most daring Marxist regarding the future human society, on a world scale in the next
stage has taken the form of a world federation or union of socialist nations.

National Sentiment, Dominant Sentiment Today

The nation is thus the prime facet of the present epoch and the national sentiment, the dominant
emotion of man. Contemporary movements in the spheres of economy, politics, or culture
(barring the field of such objective sciences as natural sciences and technology) are inspired by
conscious national motives and urges, irrespective of whether they are organized to defend and
develop the freedom and culture of respective nations or to mitigate or suppress the freedom or
culture of other nations. The nation remains, also, a unit in all contemporary programmes of
world reconstruction which seek to integrate humanity, on a capitalist or socialist basis.

Nationalism, Special Field of Research Today

Due to this decisive significance of the role of nationalism in the life of humanity, some of the
most acute and eminent thinkers of the world have, in recent years, made nationalism a special
subject of study and investigation. They have attempted to study and solve problems concerning
nationalism, such as what constitutes a nation, under what socio-historical conditions the
nation came into existence, what role nationalism plays in human progress, and what its relation
with internationalism or the urge of men to integrate on a world scale, is. Further, they have tried
to study the various expressions of nationalism in diverse fields such as social, economic,
political, and cultural. Finally, some of them have also investigated the history of the rise and
development of nationalism in separate countries and attempted to lay bare the genetic causes of
this rise and growth in each individual country. In fact, the literature on nationalism produced in
recent years represents an attempt to unveil the complex and multifold process of
xxxiii
the formation of nations, their traits, struggles, and modes of self-expression and self-assertion.
Since nationalism emerged in its own unique way in each separate country, the study of
nationalism in each country became a separate task.

Study of Rise and Growth of Indian Nationalism

Indian nationalism is a modern phenomenon. It came into being during the British period as a
result of the action and inter-action of numerous subjective and objective forces and factors
which developed within the Indian society, under the conditions of the British rule and the
impact of world forces.
The study of the rise and growth of Indian nationalism, is of great significance from the
standpoint of a general study of nationalism. The process of the growth of Indian nationalism has
been very complex and many-sided. This is due to a number of reasons. Pre-British Indian
society had a social structure quite unique and perhaps without a parallel in history. It sharply
differed in its economic base from the pre-capitalist medieval societies of European countries.
Further, India was a vast country inhabited by a huge population, speaking many languages and
professing different religions. Socially, the Hindus, comprising two-thirds of the population were
almost atomized in various castes and sub-castes, a phenomenon peculiar to the Hindu society.
Again, Hinduism itself was not a homogeneous religion but a conglomeration of religious cults
which divided the Hindu people into a number of sects. This extreme social and religious
division of the Hindus in particular and the Indians in general, presented a peculiar background
to the growth of nationalism in India. Nationalism in other countries did not rise amidst such
peculiarly powerful traditions and institutions. India's peculiar social, economic and political
structure and religious history, together with its territorial vastness and a teeming population,
make the study of the rise and growth of Indian nationalism more difficult, but also more
interesting and useful. The self-preservative will of the past social, economic and cultural
structure was stronger in India than perhaps in any country in the world. Further, the significance
of the Indian nationalist movement for the present and future history of humanity is also great
since it is the movement, increasingly becoming dynamic, of an appreciable section of the human
race.
xxxiv
Another very striking thing about Indian nationalism is that it emerged under conditions of
political subjection of the Indian people by the British. The advanced British nation, for its own
purpose, radically changed the economic structure of the Indian society, established a centralized
state, and introduced modern education, modern means of communications, and other
institutions. This resulted in the growth of new social classes and the unleashing of new social
forces, unique in themselves.5
These social forces by their very nature came into conflict with British Imperialism and became
the basis of and provided motive power for the rise and development of Indian nationalism.
Thus, Indian nationalism has grown and is developing in a complex and peculiar social
background.
This work is an attempt to assess and evaluate the role of numerous elements comprising this
social background and to portray the process of the rise of nationalism there from.

References
1. Carr, p. 7.
2. Ibid, p. xx.
3. Refer Weisbord, Laski.
4. Refer Macartney, Hans Kohn, Stalin.
5. Refer Weisbord, Carr.
1

One Economy and Culture in Pre-British

India
THE HISTORY of the rise of national sentiment in India is closely bound up with the growth of
a unified national economy. This unification took place as a result of the destruction of former
pre-capitalist forms of production prevailing in India and the substitution, in their place, of the
modern capitalist economic forms. We shall study, concretely and in detail, the whole process of
this economic transformation in its various stages, which was brought about by the impact of the
British conquest of India. We shall first make a brief survey of the basic features of the economic
system obtaining in pre-British India.

Self-Sufficient Village Community

A self-sufficient village, based on agriculture carried on with the primitive plough and bullockpower and handicrafts by means of simple instruments, was a basic feature of pre-British Indian
society.
The self-sufficient village as the basic economic unit had existed for centuries in India and,
except for some minor modifications, had survived till the advent of the British rule, in spite of
all political convulsions, religious upheavals and devastating wars. It stood impregnable in face
of all foreign invasions, dynastic changes, all violent territorial shiftings in inter-state struggles.
Kingdoms rose and collapsed but the self-sufficient village survived. "The village communities
are little republics having nearly everything that they want within themselves, and almost
independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last within themselves where nothing else
lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down; revolution succeeds revolution; Hindu, Pathan,
Mogul, Maratha, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn; but the village
2

communities remain the same."1

The village population was mainly composed of peasants. The village committee, representing
the village community which was the de facto owner of the village land, distributed this land
among the peasant families in the form of holdings. Each holding was cultivated by the peasant
family by means of the collective labour of its members and with the aid of the primitive plough
and bullocks. The peasant family enjoyed a traditional hereditary right to possess and cultivate
its holding from generation to generation.
Regarding the mutual relations of these families, Shelvankar remarks: "They were subject to
various collective restrictions and entitled to various collectively managed services. The
'municipal' services, watch and ward, etc., the enjoyment of rights in common grazing grounds
and woodlands, the necessary co-operation for purposes of arranging irrigation and water supply
etc., the organization of defence against marauders as well as to protect the land and crops from
wild animals, pests and stray cattleall these urgent and necessary conditions of village life
imposed on the peasantry a regime of co-operation that was a bar to the growth of sharply
antagonistic or irreconcilable private claims. Above all, there was the even present necessity of
meeting, collectively as a rule, the revenue-rent demands of the overlord of the village, whether
he was the ruler in his own right or only an intermediary."2

Indian Feudalism Vs. European Feudalism

Indian feudalism was distinguished from European feudalism by the fact that, under it, no private
property in land existed. "In the Hindu period, the land belonged to the village community, and
was never regarded as the property of the king."3 The king of his intermediary claimed only a
part of the produce of the land, a claim which was met by the village committee as the
representative of the village community. "The state had merely a right to a share always paid in
kind. Under the Moslems, the existing tenures and tax system were adopted with some
modifications."4
Since neither the king, nor the intermediaries (such as zemindars or tax-gatherers; jagirdars or
nobles on whom the king, out of favour, conferred the right to collect revenue from a specified
territory and retain a part or whole of it; or religious, charitable and educational
3
institutions endowed by the prince with a similar right) were owners of the land, all conflicts
which took place among rulers, or between them and the intermediaries or the village
community; were only over the magnitude of the share of the village produce. Conforming to the
traditional concept and practice, neither the king nor the intermediary expropriated the village
community of the possession and control of the village land and established their property rights
over it or concerned themselves with the methods of cultivation.
In fact, "None of the major struggles in Indian history had for its object the exercise of rights
within the village, but the exercise of rights over the village. They were conflicts between
overloads of various grades for the right or power to get a payment from the peasant, not to seize

his land. European history, on the contrary, reveals a conflict between the peasantry and the
manorial lords because the latter not only demanded a share of the produce, but desired to retain
a particular method of cultivationby forced labouror to introduce new methods of
cultivation (enclosure, large-scale farming). The Indian conflict was one between lords who were
concerned not at all with methods of cultivation, but to draw an income from the peasantry... The
issue was always between different claimants of the sword, the village and the peasantry
remaining throughout the passive subject of conflict, the booty over which the rival powers
fought each other."5

Nature of Village Economy in Pre-British India

The structure of agricultural production in the Indian village thus remained uninterfered with for
centuries. No emperor or his viceroy ever challenged the ultimate customary right over the
village land by the village community.
Further, village agriculture produced for the needs of the village and, excepting a share of this
produce which the village had to surrender to the lord of the momentmay be the suba of the
Delhi Emperor, or the sardar of the Poona Peshwathe entire produce was almost locally
consumed by the peasant and non-peasant village population.
Besides the peasant families, the village population also included industrial workerssuch as a
smith, a carpenter, a potter, a weaver, a cobbler, a washerman, an oilman, a barber, and others.
They all worked almost exclusively for satisfying the needs of the village population.
4
Further, the village community generally also included within it "a class of menials who did the
work of scavenging, the outcastes, most of whom were the descendants of the aboriginal
population of the country, who were absorbed in the Hindu society of these early days, instead of
being exterminated."6 All exchange of products produced by the village workers, agricultural or
industrial, was limited to the village community and hence was very restricted in scope. The
village population consumed almost the whole of what it produced.7
Regarding the nature of the exchange of village products, Shelvankar comments:
"It is, however, not strictly accurate to say that there was exchange between individuals. For,
while the peasants individually went to the artisans as and when they needed his services, the
payment he received in return was not calculated on the basis of each job nor was it offered him
by each customer (or client) separately. This obligation was borne by the village as a whole,
which discharged it by permanently assigning to the craftsman a piece of land belonging to the
community and/or the gift of a fixed measure of grain at harvest time. Thus the other party to the
exchange was the collective organization of the village as much as the individual peasant, and
the artisan was not merely a private producer but a sort of public servant employed by the rural
community."8

Thus not only did the village not have any appreciable exchange relations with the outside world,
but also within itself, the phenomenon of a market was absent. Gadgil remarks: "The mere fact
of the isolation of the village is not striking in itself, nor was the fact that all the artisans lived in
the village peculiar. But the peculiar feature of the Indian village was that the majority of the
artisans were servants of the village."9
Another feature of the village economic life was the low stage of the division of labour based on
insufficient differentiation of agriculture and industry. While principally attending to agriculture,
the farmer family also engaged itself in domestic spinning. Similarly, the artisan who was often
given a plot of village land by the village committee carried on agricultural activity for some
time in the year.
The village artisans secured locally the raw materials, such as wood, clay and hide, required for
their crafts. Wood was available from the forest area in the periphery of the village. The
carcasses of dead
5
animals of the village provided the cobbler with hides. Cotton grew in almost every part of the
country. Iron, however, had sometimes to be imported. On the whole, the village was almost
self-sufficient regarding the raw materials needed for the village artisan industry.
Thus, economically, the village was predominantly autarchic. Local produce prepared mainly by
means of local labour and resources was almost locally consumed. There was very little
exchange between the village and the outside world. Whatever little trade existed, was carried
on, generally, on a specific day of the week, at the market in a big village where a variety of
goods from a number of centres was sold.
"To complete the self-sufficiency of the village it usually happened that even the raw materials
were close at hand. Wood growing within the village area could be used for buildings and
implements. Cotton was available in many parts of the country. Most of the goods produced
were consumed in the village; and the surplus could be disposed off in the village fairs, held once
a week. The handworkers derived their skill through the heritage of centuries. Their respective
occupations had a religious sanction behind them."10
The technique of village agriculture and industry was on a low level. "Simple agricultural
equipment and the hand-manipulated tools for manufacture were all that were known. Even
wind-mills and water-wheels were seldom employed. The sickle and plough, the saw and chisel,
the spinning-wheel and pit-loom, were made of a trifling amount of material in a very short time,
but sometimes gave service for generations."11
The village population lived for centuries an almost unvarying economic life based on selfsufficient village agriculture and industry carried on by means of this feeble technique. The
autarchic village, almost completely independent of the outside world and with the resultant
absence of any appreciable social exchange, remained for centuries an invulnerable stronghold of
the same stationary, stereotyped social existence. "The only break was an occasional catastrophe,

an invasion from the land-hungry hordes behind the mountains, or the disturbance caused by
drought...."12
Karl Marx vividly and picturesquely described this never-changing type of social organism in the
following words:
'These small and extremely ancient Indian communities ... are
6
based on possession in common of the land, on the blending of agriculture and handicrafts, and
on an unalterable division of labour ... each forms a compact whole producing all it requires. The
chief part of the products is destined for direct use by the community itself, and does not take the
form of a commodity. Hence production here is independent of that division of labour brought
about, in Indian society as a whole, by means of the exchange of commodities. It is the surplus
alone, that becomes a commodity and a portion of even that, not until it has reached the hands of
the state, into whose hands, from times immemorial, a certain quantity of those products has
found its way in the shape of rent in kind. The constitution of these communities varies in
different parts of India. In those of the simplest form, the land is tilled in common, and the
produce divided among the members. At the same time, spinning and weaving are carried on in
each family as subsidiary industries. Side by side ... we find the 'chief inhabitant', who is judge,
police and tax-gatherer in one; the book-keeper who keeps the account of the tillage; ... another
official who prosecutes criminals, protects strangers travelling through, and escorts them to the
next village; the boundary man who guards the boundaries against neighbouring communities;
the water-overseer who distributes the water from the common tanks for irrigation; the Brahmin
who conducts the religious services; the schoolmaster who on the sand teaches the children
reading and writing; the calendar Brahmin, or astrologer, who makes known the lucky and
unlucky days for seed-time and harvest; a smith and a carpenter who make and repair all
agricultural implements; the potter, who makes all the pottery of the village; the barber, the
washerman, the silver-smith; here and there the poet who in some communities replaces the
silversmith, in others the schoolmaster. This dozen of individuals is maintained at the expense of
the whole community. If the population increases, a new community is founded, on the pattern of
the old one, on unoccupied land. ... The law that regulates the division of labour in the
community acts with the irresistible authority of a law of Nature. ... The simplicity of the
organization of production in these self-sufficing communities that constantly reproduce
themselves in the same form, and when accidentally destroyed, spring up again on the spot and
with the
7
same namethis simplicity supplies the key to the secret of the unchangeableness of Asiatic
societies, an unchangeableness in such striking contrast with the constant dissolution and
refounding of Asiatic states, and the never-ceasing changes of dynasty. The structure of the
economic elements of society remains untouched by the storm-clouds of the political sky."3
Another characteristic of the village community was that caste, rigidly, almost with the

inexorable force of a natural law, determined the occupation of its members. Since castes were
based on the principle of heredity, occupations also became hereditary.
Since the economic life was constrained and exchange almost limited to the village, there was no
necessity for travelling, except on a marriage occasion or a pilgrimage once in many years. There
was, therefore, no stimulus for the development of means of transport. The bullock-cart was the
chief means of transport in pre-British India.
About the social and other aspects of life of the village community, O'Malley remarks:
"The chief social institutions, as they existed in their integrity, were not individualist but
collectivist. The unit was not the individual but the family which regulated the relations of its
members inter se. The inter-relations of different families were governed by the village
community and the caste, the former of which was a collection of families organized for the
purposes of communal self-government, while the latter was an aggregation of families united by
rules as to marriage, diet, occupation and intercourse with the rest of the community, but not
localized like the village community. All three, the family, the caste, and the village community,
maintained ideological control over the individual who was bound to conform to their standards.
The individual scarcely existed except as a member of a group. Self-determination was only
possible within the limits which the latter imposed. ... the village community was only partially a
social institution. It was more an economic and administrative organization, over which the state
had right of control though this was sparingly exercised. The affairs of the caste and the family,
however, were matters with which the state had no direct concern. The relations of their
members were governed not by secular law but by Hindu law and customary regulations."14 PreBritish Indian society almost completely subordinated the individual
8
to the caste, the family and the village panchayat, throughout its centuries-old existence. "Even at
the end of the eighteenth century, the Indian social order was, for the most part, equivalent to the
discharge of obligations to the family, to the caste and the village panchayats working on the
basis of an economic self-sufficiency in the rural units, and in addition, to the guilds and
corporations on the basis of trade and commerce between urban areas."15

Nature of Urban Economy in Pre-British India

Amidst an ocean of tiny, autarchic villages, a few towns had sprung up and existed. These towns
were of three kinds, those of political importance, those of religious significance and others of
commercial value.'16
Towns of political importance were capitals of kingdoms and empires. They were seats of
governments, headquarters of princes or emperors with their courts of noblemen and satellites,
army chiefs and state officials of various grades. They were also chief cantonments since the
bulk of the army was stationed in capitals. Here also gathered as auxiliaries such social groups as
musicians, sculptors, painters, poets, courtesans, and dancing girls, who catered to the healthy or
unhealthy physical or artistic needs and whims of the rulers and the nobility.

There was another group of towns like Benares, Mathura, Puri, Nasik and others which were
centres of religious worship and places of pilgrimage. A fixed population, which attended to the
requirements of thousands of pilgrims who visited these towns, dwelt there.
Then there were towns which had commercial importance because they were situated on sea
coasts or on the banks of navigable rivers or at the confluence of strategic trade routes.
Handicraft industries, complex and diversified, flourished in these towns. As Calverton writes:
"The industries of India, far more advanced than those of the West, were the product of clever
brains, fine abilities creative genius. To begin with, they constructed in those early centuries,
when Occidental navigation was still in an undeveloped stage, ships of "a thousand and a
thousand and two hundred behares burden. ...
In Hindustan the manufacture of textiles was the leading industry,
9
and the goods produced which included diverse cloths, cotton, and silks, were internationally
admired and craved. In addition, thirteenth, fourteenth-and fifteenth-century Hindustan had
metalwork, stonework, sugar, indigo, and paper industries. In other parts of India, woodwork,
pottery, and leather industries flourished. ... Dyeing was the leading industry in many parts of
India, and, in a number of centres, gold threadwork and different forms of embroidery were
developed to a high point of perfection....
Lead and mercury mines, combined with a few iron mines, constituted another industry of
importance. The manufacture of glass, by methods which were the most ingenious of the time,
was one of the best developed industries. Many travellers commented on the excellent quality of
the iron manufactured, and concerning the chemical industries there is not a single word of
disapprobation that can be discovered. Porcelain, too, as in Cathay, was a conspicuous product.
Hindustan's ivory was sought after by all the nations. Out of it were made bracelets, rings, dice,
bedsteads, beads, and a score of other things which enchanted the eyes of Europe. Great skill was
shown in many different industries in work on precious stones."17 In contrast to the artisan
industry which had to supply the limited needs of a small village group, it was the urban industry
which produced luxury articles for the aristocratic and wealthy merchant strata of the society;
which produced equipment for the army, forged weapons of war and undertook the construction
of military forts; which erected magnificent palaces, imposing temples and even such
monuments of rare art or engineering as the world-celebrated Taj Mahal and Kutub Minar. It was
the urban industry which undertook to construct canals.
The town handicrafts of India, during centuries of their existence in pre-British India, had
reached a high level of development. The fame of their products, which were varied and of great
artistic quality, had spread to distant countries. The Indian industries, consequently, commanded
a world market. V. F. Calverton remarks: "... from ancient days, when Indian fabrics, tapestries,
gems, carpets, enamels and mosaics adorned the private and public buildings of Rome, down to

the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the world looked to India for its most arresting and
exciting wares."18
10
The urban industries which met the varied needs of diverse groups can be broadly divided into
three categories. There was the first group of industries of a luxury or semi-luxury type which
produced luxury articles for the aristocratic and wealthy strata of society, Indian as well as
foreign. These industries constituted the predominant part of the total urban industry. Then there
was a group of industries which satisfied the requirements of the state and other public
institutions. Finally, there were industries which "included the iron-smelters ... the saltpetre
worker, the bangle maker. ... They were mostly localized industries, carried on in some parts of
India."19
The urban industrial workers were broadly divided into two groups, those who worked
independently, and those who were employed by the state and other corporations or private
individuals on the basis of wages.
Handicraftsmen, who were not wage workers but independent producers, owned the tools and
raw materials necessary for production, worked in their own places and brought finished
products to the anonymous market. This was in contrast to those urban workers who worked on
the wage basis since the latter were provided with raw materials by their employers, were
mobilized in places of work fixed by them and produced for these specific employers and not for
the market.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the urban industries was the extremely limited character of
their market. This was due to the fact that they did not produce articles of daily use for the
common people but functioned to meet the specific needs of the social strata and institutions
mentioned above. Further, the requirements of the vast mass of the population living in autarchic
villages were met by the local artisan industry of the villages themselves, thereby narrowing
down the market of urban industries to extremely restricted zones.
Though there existed in pre-British India some of the pre-requisites for a capitals transformation
of Indian economy and social structure, these prerequisites could not mature so as to lead to such
a transformation. The non-development of bourgeois society on the basis of the growth of
indigenous social forces, namely commercial capital and urban industry, was due to the
extremely peculiar political and economic structure of pre-British Indian society. Among the
obstacles to such consummation, the self sufficient village was perhaps the most formidable.
"Owing to the direct combination of domestic industry and agriculture
11
that it (the village community) represented, and the resultant economies, the village was able to
preserve its equilibrium and offer the strongest resistance to disruptive influences."20 "The
village which had in general no room for serfdom or baronial exploitation, was the more firmly

articulated in its inner structure and therefore succeeded where the manor had failed, in
maintaining its distinctive character. When we consider that, in the nineteenth century, it
withstood the assault of mass-produced goods-and broke down finally under the cumulative
pressure of political and economic changes, we cannot be surprised at the tenacity it displayed
for so long."21
The industrial and mercantile classes of the towns, due to the almost impregnable balanced
economic of the self-sufficient village, could not bring the countryside within the orbit of any
appreciable trading operation. This not only restricted the growth of industry and trade in preBritish India but also made the classes economically and hence politically dependent upon and
servile to the feudal prince and his nobility. They could not economically conquer the
countryside and mobilize the support of the rural population against Indian feudalism and seize
power.
There was, according to Shelvankar, a second reason too why the incipient Indian bourgeoisie
could not overthrow the feudal regime and establish a dominant capitalist economic system in
India.
"For the agrarian system of India, public works and irrigation works were a necessity. It could
only be met by an organization with the resources and the authority of the state. And to control,
regulate and supervise public works and the collection of the land tax, the state was compelled to
station its agents at the various local centres, which were the towns."22
And further, "in Indian conditions, ... the state, whose fortunes were bound up with the land,
never relaxes its hold on the towns which were the bases of its action."23
These were, perhaps, the principal reasons which explain why the Indian bourgeoisie did not
reach high levels of political and economic strength and capitalism did not grow as a dominant
economic system in India. "For these reasonsthe invincible toughness of the village and the
political impotence of the bourgeoisiethe evolution of Indian economy was inhibited and the
spontaneous emergence of a capitalist order was rendered impossible."24
12
It was the advanced bourgeoisie of England who, in fact, subsequently expropriated the Indian
feudal princes of political power, established its own political domination over the country and
accomplished a far-reaching capitalist transformation of Indian economy, both rural and urban,
'the only genuine social revolution in Indian history' as described by Marx.

Nature of Village Culture in Pre-British India

We will now take a survey of the social and cultural condition of the Indian people in pre-British
India.
For centuries, the mind of the overwhelming portion of the Indian people distributed in
numerous and autarchic village centres, each village being a closed system with very little social,

economic or intellectual exchange with the outside world, remained cramped, did not grow.25
The almost complete absence of any appreciably developed economic exchange between the
village and the outside world, together with the very weak means of transport which did not
grow beyond the bullock-cart, isolated the village population, reducing it to a single small unit
mainly living its life exclusively in the village. A country fair, a pilgrimage or a marriage were
the only occasions when the villager left his village and that too for a brief period.
Within the village, the economic life based on primitive agriculture and artisan industry was on a
low and almost stationary level. For ages, the same primitive plough driven by the bullock,
added to the elementary instruments of the artisan, constituted the sole productive forces of the
village humanity. The productivity of labour being low as a result of this low level of technique
of production, there hardly survived for the mass of people, either surplus of products (after
satisfying the needs of self-preservation and the land-revenue claims of the often rapacious
government) or time for organizing a high standard of material and cultural life.
The scientific knowledge of the village people was as meagre as their technique of material
production was feeble. This, in conjunction with the facts that no vital economic exchange
existed between the village and the world beyond, and that the means of communications were
ineffectual, explains why the village always lived a precarious existence. A catastrophic flood or
a failure of crops threatened the village with extinction since, due to the very weak contact with
the
13
outside world and feeble means of transport, assistance could not be secured from the outside
world.
Such precarious economic existence, such helplessness before natural catastrophes and such a
state of insecurity, were bound to develop the outlook of the village population on lines of
superstition, religious mysticism and the crudest forms of worship of natural forces. A feeling of
defeatism and frustration dominated their outlook.
The caste-stratified social organization of the village population was also not conducive to any
development of individual initiative, adventure or striking out of new paths. The villager
considered the caste system as divinely ordained, docilely submitted to all its bans and taboos
and passively accepted whatever status and function the 'God created' caste system assigned to
him in the social and economic structure of the village life. Effectively inoculated with religiomystical explanations, the villager could hardly feel an urge to investigate independently into
that structure and the ideology which sustained it. In fact, his isolated social existence in the
village, the frequent frustration of his efforts by forces of nature such as floods or droughts,
reinforced by the grip of the caste system and of the authoritarian joint-family and by the religiomystical philosophy drummed into his mind from childhood, smothered the mental initiative, the
experimenting impulse, the investigating urge and the rebellious mood of the villager for ages.
The village population thus continued to live for centuries, the same sterile, superstitious,
narrow, stereotyped social and intellectual existence. Almost the same group of superstitions, the

same pantheon of deities, the same narrow village and caste consciousness, the same local
perspective not transcending the limited miserable village existence, held in their grip the Indian
humanity almost wholly concentrated in those autonomous, self-sufficient, self-absorbed
villages, which were so many citadels of economic stagnation, social reaction and cultural
blindness.
Even when the greater part of India was brought under a single political and administrative rule
by an outstanding monarch like Samudra Gupta or Akbar, this in no way affected the essential
life-processes of the autonomous village. It left intact and undisturbed or only slightly modified
the essential life of the village. The only change due to such an imperial event, so far as the
village was concerned, was that the land revenue was now transferred from the old to the new
monarch. The village continued to remain economically self-sufficient.
14
The villager continued to be governed by the caste and village committees and codes. The same
intellectual stagnation and mental stultification of the people, growing out of the low level of
socio-economic existence in the village, persisted.
The conservative, unchanging, autarchic village survived, in its main outline, all the military,
political and religious upheavals which took place so frequently in Indian history.
There could not, therefore, evolve any national consciousness among the people since the growth
of this consciousness presupposes, as its material reason and prerequisite, unified and common
political and economic life. Such an economic life comes into being only when productive forces
have reached a high level of development, the division of labour has become universal and allembracing, and, as a result, there is an all-round economic exchange. The growth of means of
transport and communications, arising out of the needs of such highly advanced economic life,
further consolidates this economic life, and facilitates the mass movement and mass social and
intellectual exchange among the people, thereby strengthening the feeling of solidarity among
them.
In the epoch of the autarchic village, common economic life did not exist among the people as a
whole, and hence there could not emerge any consciousness of a common economic existence.
There did not exist, then, consciousness of a common political existence either, since the state
did not exercise any fundamental influence on the social, ideological, economic and even
administrative life of the village group. The political and administrative unity of the territory,
achieved spasmodically by able and victorious monarchs, was surface unity. It did not penetrate
and affect the anatomy of the social and economic structure of village life. Not only did the selfsufficient economy of the village remain unaffected by such political changes but also the social
and legal processes of village life continued as before, being governed by ancient caste and
village (panchayat) committees and codes.
This does not, however, mean that, during its age-long historical existence, nothing happened to
or inside the village. In fact, while retaining its fundamental autarchic characteristic and

stationariness, the village was a theatre of considerable inner society activity. The village people
had their own social festivals, a rudimentary stage (Ramlila), religious gatherings (Kathas), and
other forms of collective
15
activity. In the period of a titanic religious upheaval such as the rise of Buddhism or of a new
tendency within the framework of Hinduism itself, it also happened that the preachers of the new
religion or a fresh interpretation of the old religion (schools and sects founded by Shankaracharya, Vallabhacharya, Chaitanya, Ramanuja and others) spread out to the villages with a
view to convert the people to the new religion or cult. It even happened that, as a result of such
religious propagandist activity, a village which was overwhelmingly Hindu before, became
overwhelmingly Buddhist, or which was predominantly Vaishnavite, became predominantly
Shaivite. Such startling changes in the religious outlook of the people in the village, however, did
not bring about any fundamental change in the consciousness of the people, did not extend their
consciousness, did not and could not engender and build up any national consciousness. The
same narrow village perspective continued to dominate the outlook of the villager. Instead of
considering himself a Hindu, he considered himself a Buddhist, or instead of feeling himself a
Vaishnavite, he now felt himself as a Shaivite. He never developed the consciousness of being an
Indian, which the growth of the national sentiment signifies. Even when he felt the unity of
India, it was only in a religious sense, i.e. India to him wrs the land of the Hindus who were
united by the common religion of Hinduism and not that of the Indians who inhabited the Indian
territory and who were economically and politically welded into a single unit. It was the
consciousness of a religio-ideological unity and not that of a politico-economic unity
(nationalism).*
* 'Religious upheavals like the rise of Buddhism, the militant movement of Shankaracharya for
the restoration of Hinduism, the Bhakti upsurge of Ramanuja, the superb movements of Ka' ir
and Nanak to synthesize the Hindu, Muslim and other communities socially and religiously did
not, could not engender any common national sentiment or consciousness among the Indian
people. They (such 'mystic revolutions') may have brought about a change in the religioideological attitude of the Indians but did not stimulate among them a nationalist outlook which
required as an objective basis a unified national economy, rapid and ramified means of
communications for extensive economic and social exchange, and a common state existence
imposed by the British conquest. The mystic revolution, in the absence of a fundamental change
of the Indian social economy, was bound to be a mirror revolution. With the British rule, the very
basis of the Indian social economy has been changed.' D. P. Mukerji, p. 28.
16

Nature of Urban Culture in Pre-British India

While the economic and cultural life of the autarchic village was poor, almost stationary,
stereotyped and scarcely transcending the perimeter of the village, that of the town was, in sharp
contrast, mobile, rich, relatively progressive and in constant contact with the outside world. The
towns were the seats of government, headquarters of the monarch and the court, or commercial

centres in live economic contact with other towns and, frequently, even with other countries, or
focal points of religious rallies, of constant visits of pilgrims. The town economy was more
developed and differentiated since it had to cater to the highly complex and manifold needs of
such social strata as the king and his nobility, wealthy merchants and exalted ecclesiastical
dignitaries. A good proportion of the land revenue appropriated by the state from the village was
spent in towns. The mercantile community consumed its profits in towns. All this gave a fillip to
the economy of the town, determined its production and brought into existence such industries as
the manufacture of superior types of cotton and silk cloth, artistic metal and marble-ware, luxury
articles of all varieties demanded by fastidious aristocratic and merchant classes, and weapons of
war.
By far the greater portion of the wealth of the kingdom gravitated to towns and was spent there.
Thus there was relatively a prosperous economic life in urban centres.
Again, in towns were concentrated classes which appropriated a big share of the wealth of the
country. These wealthy sections, the king, the nobility and the merchants, had a surplus of wealth
to maintain artists, philosophers, poets, painters, musicians, sculptors, architects, builders who
could erect marvellous monuments, engineers who could construct magnificent palaces,
astronomers and other categories of scientists, physicians, etc.
Thus, it was in towns, in contrast to the poor, restricted, stultifying life of the village, that a
highly developed cultural and economic life flourished. In fact, it was in towns that great
philosophic and artistic movements grew and got nourishment. The aristocratic and wealthy
merchant classes were always the patrons of these movements.
Again, there was also a great and constant movement of men in and from these towns for
military, political, trading or cultural reasons. People came to town not only from other Indian
towns but from other countries with which India had been developing and extending contact
17
for ages, as envoys of friendly states, travellers, merchants, philosophers, artists or even
propagators of other faiths. The town did not live an exclusive existence. There was generally
economic and cultural exchange between one town and other Indian towns, nay even the distant
countries.
All the scientific, philosophic, artistic, and religio-artistic culture of the period was concentrated
in towns. While superstition and the crudest forms of nature and god-worship were rampant in
the village, most subtle, complex, and logically most elaborate kinds of idealistic and
spiritualistic philosophies thrived among the englightened section of the towns-people. The
monarchs, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim, maintained at their courts, under royal patronage, a
galaxy of artists, literatteurs, philosophers, and scientists who were the best representatives of,
and epitomised, the entire culture of the period in its various aspects. The royal patron sat in the
court surrounded by these savants and artists, who are celebrated in Indian history as 'Nava
Ratnas' ('Nine Jewels').

At the courts of Ashoka, Vikramaditya, Bhoj and other Buddhist and Hindu kings as also at the
courts of Akbar, Shah Jahan and other Mogul emperors, the outstanding artists, scientists, and
thinkers of the respective period congregated. Kalidas, Bana, and other luminaries of artistic
Hindu literature, flourished at royal courts. Tansen, the best musician of medieval India and
founder of new tendencies in music, was patronized by Akbar. Astronomers were encouraged
and supported by kings who built for them observatories as king Jayasing did. Whatever history
has come down to us, recording the events of those ages, was written by court historians
maintained by the ruling kings.
Indian culture, both Hindu and Muslim, was primarily and fundamentally religious. The religious
note generally permeated all the intellectual and artistic creation of both Hindus and Muslims. As
O'Malley remarks:
"The most distinctive feature of Hindu culture was the religious element by which it was
suffused. Religion was interwoven with the Hindu system of law. The books in which it was
incorporated were regarded as divinely inspired. ... religion and literature were so closely
associated that the greater part of the works composed in different Indian languages are
devotional in character. ... Art again, which reflects the aesthetic sensibility of a people, was
intimately connected with religion, architecture finding
18
expression in temples, and sculpture in the carvings, instinct with religious symbolism which
adorned them.'26 The same was true of the Muslim culture which too was mainly and essentially
religious in nature and tone. Even when, as a result of the prolonged and close association of the
Hindus and the Muslims, a strong tendency towards a synthesis of the two cultures grew, the
essential religious character of the two cultures marked their cultural synthesis.

Religio-Ideological Unity of Indian Culture

The culture (philosophical, religious and other) of the pre-British Indian feudal-agrarian society
was predominantly mystical in character. This was due to the fact that the society was
economically on a low level, stationary and socially rigid. Whatever changes occurred within it
were of a quantitative and not a qualitative character. Basically it remained the same for
centuries. Such a social material existence inevitably bred a predominantly mystical world
outlook. This mystical outlook determined the character and content of most of its creation in the
philosophical, artistic and social-organizational spheres.
"By and large, Indian society was a 'closed' one, if it was not static. Naturally, when it remained
so over a long period, it developed, in P. Sorokin's language, the 'ideational' traits of culture with
more or less defined views on the nature of needs and ends and the means of their satisfaction,
i.e. of social activity, with specific aesthetic, moral, social values and systems, and with certain
common notions of Truth, Knowledge, Self and the Ultimate Reality. In other words, the Hindu,
the Buddhist and the Muslim had together evolved a Weltanschauung in which the fact of Being
was of lasting significance with all that it meant in the way of indifference to the transient and
the sensate and of pre-occupation with the processes in which self was subordinated to and

ultimately dissolved in the Ultimate reality. Practically, for the individual, it meant that the
proper observance of customs and rituals released him for the control of his inner life. For the
society, it connoted a hierarchy in which those values alone were permanent which led to
spiritual realization .... and those persons alone were leaders whose supreme attainment, if not
the only engagement in life, was spiritual culture. This world
19
view is usually called mystical. Before the impact of Western commerce, it was the ruling view
in India."27
Both Hindu and Muslim cultures, religious in spirit, prospered in towns and under the patronage
of kings, nobles and wealthy merchants.
The great Hindu temples in numerous Hindu centres of religious worship, such as Benares, Puri,
Madura, Nasik, Mathura, and Somanath Patan, were constructed by Hindu monarchs, aristocrats,
or rich traders. Vastupal and Tejpal, two wealthy Jain merchants, built at Delvada a group of Jain
temples which for their beauty and architectural fines are among the most remarkable structure
of all time. The famous pillars constructed by Ashoka, on which were inscribed ethical doctrines
which formed the quintessence of Buddhism and which are scattered all over India, bear witness
to the great art which flourished during that period under royal patronage.
In fact, there is not a town in India where we do not see a temple embodying the religious zeal
and artistic talent of bygone ages.
The Muslim monarchs were not less distinguished for their patronage of art and culture. The
grand mosques at Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Ahmedabad and numerous other towns constructed by
Muslim kings, who at some time or other ruled in these places, bear eloquent testimony to the
profound love and enthusiasm of these kings for art. Without their patronage, the artists who
constructed those magnificent mosques could not have built them.
The Mogul emperors of Delhi, with the exception of the ultrapuritan Aurangzeb were all
passionate patrons of art. The world-celebrated Taj, 'a dream in marble', the Moti Masjid, even
royal palaces at Delhi and Agra, each a marvellous synthesis of both engineering and artistic
skill, the beautifully laid-out parks in Shrinagar (Shalimar and Nishat Bag) and Lahore, all are
effective and irrefutable proof of the great level of artistic development of the period as also of
the enthusiastic support of art by the monarchs.
The town was also the stronghold of intellectual life of the period. Under the auspices of the
monarch, philosophical duels were arranged at the royal court between the exponents of rival and
antagonistic philosophies. Often, even from distant towns and countries, redoubtable champions
of different religions were invited by the monarch to debate with the representatives of local
religion as to what the best religion was.
20

About the contacts of India with other countries, O'Malley writes: "Saints, poets, architects and
travellers came to Indian from Central Asia, Turkey, Persia, and North Africa: the historian
Firishta, was a native of Astrabad on the Caspian Sea; Ibn Batuta came from North Africa; Babar
imported architects from Constantinople; according to Persian authorities, the designer of the Taj
Mahal was a Turk from the same great city."28
In the earlier periods, the Hindu culture spread as far as Java, Bali, Sumatra, Malaya, and other
islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Even today, the life and customs of a good proportion of the
people of some of these islands bear the imprint of Hinduism.
Towns were also the centres of learning during those periods. Hindu and subsequently Muslim
seminaries were functioning in various towns.
Thus there was a rich, complex, cultural life bristling in the town of the pre-British period.

Absence of National Sentiment

This culture was however not inspired by any national spirit which did not and could not exist in
that period. Even non-religious secular art was not national in content or scope. It glorified the
greatness of a monarch (Kutub Minar, stately palaces, tombs loaded with rich architectural
designs) or eulogized the monarch's deep undying love for his royal spouse (Taj Mahal). It was
the art of the aristocracy or of the religious community, Hindus or Muslims, not of the nation or
new social classes composing the modern nation (national in form and class in content). The
consciousness of the towns-people, the king, the nobility, the traders, the artisans, was not
national consciousness.
The objective and subjective prerequisites (such as a common economic, social and state
existence, and the consciousness of such existence) for the emergence of a national culture did
not exist in pre-British India. A national culture implies the welding of a community into a
nation, which is consummated when, as a result of economic development (the growth of
sufficient productive forces and division of labour so as to enmesh the community into a single
system of exchange relations, the development of a well-ramified and rapid system of transport),
it becomes economically and, in course of time socially and politically more or less integrated.
The exigencies of a common economic life tend to accelerate the growth of a common language,
21
which is a further instrument of consolidating the community into a well-knit nation. The nation,
in different stages of its consolidation, evolves the consciousness of a single economic, and the
urge for an independent state existence. It increasingly evolves a culture which, in song,
sculpture, painting, drama, novel or sociological literature, expresses the needs of development
of the national society and the aspirations of the individuals, groups and classes comprising it for
a free unfettered and richer social, economic and cultural life. The national culture exposes, or
kindles emotions of indignation or hostility towards all forces which thwart the development of
national society, such as feudal remnants of a pre-national historical period or foreign

domination. It cries lyrically, or through ratiocination, against all obstacles to the free material
and cultural advance of the nation.
Capitalist economic forms, which in various societies have brought into existence modern
nations, also by economically and socially unifying a loose community, engendered the Indian
nation. Like its predecessor, the capitalist society has also a class structure. The bourgeois nation
too is composed of classes and, in India, was adulterated with a reactionary feudal admixture
such as the princes, semi-feudal zemindars, etc. The new social classes, namely, the progressive
sections of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the proletariat, were
however the offspring of the new national economy, integral parts of the new national society
which existed on a national basis and scale. They felt the pressure (to varying extents) of the
reactionary feudal elements as well as the Imperialist rule on their free development. The culture
of these new (national) social classes, which had different and even conflicting class interests, in
proportion as they developed group consciousness, became national in form though class in
content, e.g. the culture of the class-conscious workers which became socialist in content and
national in form. These growing cultures of the new classes, namely, the national bourgeoisie,
the national proletariat, the national petty bourgeoisie and the peasantry, formed the totality of
national culture in India, which also included the cultures of awakening nationalities in different
territorial zones of the country such as the Bengalis, the Gujaratis, the Maharashtrians, the
Karnatakis, and others.
Such a national culture, comprised of the cultures of awakened social classes and nationalities
constituting the modern Indian nation, reflected the needs of free development of those groups as
well as of
22
the Indian nation as a whole and obviously could not exist in pre-British India since a united
nation with its specific variety of component parts did not exist then. Both the rich, complex and
elaborate culture of the feudal and wealthy merchant classes and that of the masses (this latter
being principally composed of folk art, fairy tale and religious festival) of pre-British Indian
society, lacked a national form and scope.

References
1. Sir Charles Metcalfe quoted by Ghurye, p. 24
2. Shelvankar, p. 95.
3. Wadia and Merchant, p. 234.
4. Ibid, p. 234.
5. Shelvankar, p. 102.
6. Wadia and Merchant, p. 30

7. Refer Gadgil, pp. 10-12.

8. Shelvankar, pp. 124-5.
9. Gadgil, p. 10.
10. Wadia and Merchant, p. 31.
11. Buchanan, p. 15.
12. Ibid, p. 15.
13. Karl Marx, p. 391.
14. O'Malley, p. 355.
15. Mukerji, D. P., pp. 1-2.
16. Refer Gadgil, p. 6.
17. Calverton, pp. 16-7.
18. Ibid, p. 18.
19. Gadgil, p. 45.
20. Shelvankar, p. 139.
21. Ibid, p. 139.
22. Ibid, p. 142.
23. Ibid, p. 142.
24. Ibid, p. 143.
25. Gadgil, p. 12.
26. O'Malley, p. 2.
27. Mukerji, pp. 2-3.
28. O'Malley, p. 8.
23

Two British Conquest of India

Transformation of Indian Society, A Product of British
Conquest
THE TRANSFORMATION of the pre-British feudal economy, the basic features of which have
been described in the previous chapter, into a capitalist economy (however, including feudal
survivals) was a long-drawn-out process. It was mainly a result of the British conquest of India,
the political and economic policies adopted by the British government and the economic
penetration of India chiefly by British capitalism in its three phases of developmenttrading,
industrial, and financial.
While in England, France, Italy, Germany and some other European countries, the substitution of
feudal economy by capitalist economy was accomplished by the respective capitalist classes of
those countries, in India this was mainly achieved by the capitalist class of Britain and not by any
class of indigenous capitalists. Hence, this capitalist economic development did not follow
independent lines but was determined, in nature and extent, primarily by the needs and interests
of British capitalism. This is why India was described as the economic colony of Britain.
A native merchant capitalist class, though weak, existed and was gathering strength in India
before and during the period when the British, the French and other foreign companies
established contact with India and started a career of commercial penetration and political
domination of India. In fact, "In the early years of the eighteenth century, when the Mogul
Empire was distintegrating, a new middle class was beginning to rise. Although the village still
retained its position as the productive unit, urban trading centres had arisen as a result of the
exchange and distribution of commodities carried on by a middle class which was already
becoming wealthy. These towns had
24
attracted numerous classes of handicraftsmen, producing for exchange and export, rather than for
local use. The new states which sprang up amidst the ruins of the Mogul Empire were largely
controlled financially by the trading class, although their political structure remained feudal. But
India was destined to undergo a new invasion from a country which had already reached a more
advanced stage of economic development, before these new economic forces had been able to
weld her into unity and while she was in a state of transition and disintegration which left her an
easy prey to foreign conquest."1
Before the rising merchant class of India could develop sufficient economic and social strength
to seize political power from the feudal classes and use that power for capitalist expansion,
thereby transforming India from a feudal to a capitalist economic foundation; armed and
economically more powerful foreign commercial corporations had already made India the arena
of their struggle for economic and political domination. This struggle ended, as is well known, in
the final victory of the British East India Company.

British Conquest, its Causes

The political situation of India was extremely propitious for its conquest by a well organized,
united, economically and militarily more advanced, foreign power. The conditions of chaos and
internecine war which ensued after the disintegration of the Mogul Empire favoured such a
conquest.
"How came it that English supremacy was established in India? The paramount power of the
Great Mogul was broken by the Mogul viceroys. The power of the viceroys was broken by the
Marathas. The power of the Marathas was broken by the Afghans, and while all were struggling
against all, the British rushed in and were enabled to subdue them all. A country not only divided
between the Mahomedan and Hindu, but between tribe and tribe, between caste and caste; a
society whose framework was based on a sort of equilibrium, resulting from a general repulsion
and constitutional exclusiveness between all its members. Such a country and such a society,
were they not predestined prey of conquest?"2
It was, however, not the political domination of India but the use made of this domination by the
British that had profound economic
25
consequences for the Indian society.
India had been conquered formerly many times. But these conquests had led to a change in
political regimes only. So far as the basic economic structure of India was concerned, these
conquests did not affect it. With the self-sufficient village based on communal possession of
land, unity of village industry and agriculture, the village as the unit of revenue assessment and
finally village production almost exclusively for village use, this economic structure of preBritish India triumphantly survived, in its main outlines, for centuries all foreign invasions,
military convulsions, religious upheavals and dynastic wars. All these events, however
spectacular and cataclysmic, affected only the social, political or religio-ideological
superstructure of Indian society but not its economic base. The self-sufficient village, in which
practically the entire population lived, successfully survived the most violent political storms and
military holocausts.
This stubborn survival of the economic structure of pre-British Indian society, in spite of the
numerous wars and invasions which mainly comprise the history of India, is due to the fact that
none of the invaders or belligerents represented a new mode of production, higher than the feudal
mode on which the Indian economy was based.* In fact, all invaders from the north, who
establish their sway over and subsequently settled in India as rulers, belonged, before they came
to India, to a society which was economically more backward than the Indian. In fact, they
belonged to societies which were still in pre-feudal nomadic or semi-feudal stages of
development. As such, their conquest of India and later domicile in and rule over the country did
not lead to any overhauling and reconstruction of the feudal economic base of the Indian society.
The new rulers accepted the old economic base.

"Arabs, Turks, Tartars, Moguls, who had successively overrun India, soon became Hinduized,
the barbarian conquerors being, by an
* Pre-British Indian economy was the Asiatic variety of feudal economy with certain unique
features distinguishing it from European feudal economy. It was based on absence of private
property in land, village possession of land, village autarchy based on unity of industry and
agriculture, and irrigation and other public works as the concern of the state. According to Marx,
these traits determined the life history and development (or rather lack of development, relative
stationariness) of pre-British Indian society.
26
eternal law of history, conquered themselves by the superior civilization of their subjects."3

British Conquest, its Peculiar Features

The British conquest of India was, however, of a different type. It was the conquest of India by a
modern nation which had abolished feudalism in its own country and created, in its place,
modern bourgeois society. It was the rule by a people who had already overcome feudal disunity
of their country based on feudal economy and integrated themselves into a modern nation
through the rise and expansion of capitalism which, as the history of modern nations
demonstrates, has made the social, political and economic unification of a people possible.4
A capitalist nation is socially, politically, economically and culturally stronger than a feudal
people. Since capitalism is based on a higher technique of production than feudalism, a capitalist
nation is economically more powerful than a feudal people. A capitalist nation has a high sense
of patriotism and nationalism since, unlike the feudal people, who are physically separated,
socially disunited and politically unamalgamated, it is socially, economically and politically
highly integrated, living under one political regime and a single economic system. This is why,
throughout the whole history of the British conquest of India, one hardly comes across Britons
who betrayed the interests of Britain in India in contrast to hundreds of Indians, princes, generals
or merchants, who went over to the British and assisted them to dominate India. National
solidarity, sense of discipline, patriotic feeling, habit of co-operation and capacity for
organization, are highly developed among capitalist nations because of the very socio-economic
milieu under which they live and of which they are the product.* It was, therefore, no wonder
that capitalist Britain vanquished disunited feudal India.
* It must, however, be noted that capitalist society, a historically higher social formation than the
feudal type, is still composed of classes with divergent and even irreconcilably conflicting
interests. However, in its early phase, the national bourgeosie, as a rule, is able to gather all
progressive social groups within the fold of national unity, instill the sentiment of nationalism
among them and secure their support in the movement against feudalism and for a democratic
reconstruction of society as also in their
27

Far-Reaching Effects on Economic Structure of India

Since, unlike in the past, India was now ruled by a capitalist nation, this rule had a profound
effect on her economic structure. Britain could not use colonial India for her own capitalist
economic requirements without uprooting the feudal base of Indian society and intro during
capitalist economic forms in India. In fact, every step in the extension of Britain's political sway
over India was paralleled by a simultaneous step towards the disruption of the old Indian
economic system and introduction of new economic forms.5
The history of the progressive British domination of India is therefore, at the same time, the
history of the progressive transformation of the feudal economy of pre-British India into a
capitalist economy, however imperfect or distorted. It is bound up with the decay and even
extinction of old land relations and artisan and handicraft industries, and with the emergence of
new land relations and modern industries. It is, therefore, bound up with the decay of old classes
associated with old industries and land system and the rise of new classes resting on new land
relations and new modern industries. In place of the village commune appeared the modern
peasant proprietor or the zemindar, both private owners of land. While the class of artisans and
handicraftsmen disappeared, with the rise of modern industry and transport in India under the
British rule, new classes appeared such as the class of capitalists, the class of industrial and
transport workers, the class of agricultural labourers, the class of tenants, the class of a new type
of merchants connected with trade in products of modern Indian and foreign industries. The
British impact on India not only led to the transformation of the economic anatomy of Indian
society but also its social physiognomy.
"England has to fulfill a double mission in India: one destructive and the other regenerating-the
annihilation of old Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundations of Western society
in Asia. ... The British destroyed it (Hindu civilization) by breaking up the native communities,
by uprooting the native industry. ...
The political unity of India, more consolidated and extending farther
projects of capitalist consolidation and expansion. This becomes increasingly difficult with the
decline of capitalism and growth of labour movements based on the principle of class struggle.
27
than it ever did under the Great Moguls, was the first condition of its regeneration ... the
Zemindari and Ryotwari themselves, involve two distinct forms of private property in land-the
great desideratum of Asiatic society."6
Historically Progressive Significance
It may here be remarked that the destruction of the economic disunity of India based on selfsufficient independent village economy and the transformation of India into a single economic
unit by the introduction of capitalist forms were historically progressive results of British rule
over India. However, to the extent that this transformation was subjected to the economic

requirements of British trading, industrial and banking interests, the independent and
untrammelled economic development of Indian society was impeded.7 Thus the British impact
both helped as well as hindered the historical progress of Indian society.
In fact, the Indian nationalist movement was the product of the pressure exerted by British
interests on the free evolution of the Indian people and the various social classes composing it.
This was done by subordinating the interests of such free and normal development to British
interests, by obstructing or restricting Indian industrialization, by distorting her agricultural
production to meet the raw material needs of British industries, in short, by keeping India as
primarily an agrarian, raw-material producing colony of Britain and as a market for British
industries. Indian nationalists, while admitting the progressive role of Britain in India in the
initial stages, also criticised her for basically retarding the free, healthy, historical, economic,
social and cultural advance of the Indian people.* The very fact of the Indian nationalist
movement being in opposition to Britain indicated the pressure of Britain on India.
We shall first observe how capitalism penetrated the Indian village during the British period. It is
necessary to follow this process of the
* "The Indians will not reap the fruits of the new elements of society scattered among them by
the British bourgeoisie, till in Great Britain itself the new ruling classes shall have been
supplanted by the industrial proletariat, or till the Hindus themselves shall have grown strong
enough to throw off the English yoke altogether." Karl Marx, p. 63.
29
growth of capitalism since, thereby, it destroyed the village self-sufficient economy and made
village economy an integral part of a single unified Indian economy. It was this economic
unification of India which became the objective material basis for the steady amalgamation of
the disunited Indian people into a unified nation, for the growth of national sentiment and
consciousness among them and for the rise and development of an all-India national movement
for their political freedom, and social and cultural progress.

References
1. Joan Beauchamp, p. 16.
2. Karl Marx, p. 58.
3. Karl Marx, p. 59.
4. Refer Laski, Tawney and Stalin.
5. Refer R. C. Dutt.
6. Karl Marx, pp. 59-60.

7. Refer Gadgil, Wadia and Merchant and also R. P. Dutt.

30

Three Transformation of Indian Agriculture

Under British Rule
Indian Feudalism, its Basic Features
INDIAN FEUDALISM is distinguished from European feudalism by the striking feature that no
class of landed feudal nobility with proprietary rights over land ever existed under it. This has
been the characteristic of the pre-British Indian society in all its known stages of existence, either
in ancient or medieval India, under Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim monarchs.
The feudal nobility which existed throughout the pre-British period was given by the monarch
only the right to collect and appropriate land revenue over a specific number of villages. The
nobility was not the owner of these villages but only the revenue collector keeping the whole or a
portion of the land revenue.1
The institution of the manor never existed in the pre-British Indian society.
Similarly, it was also not the monarch who was the owner of the agricultural land of the realm.
The monarch or the state had a right only to receive a definite proportion of the produce.
"The soil in India belonged to the tribe or its subdivisionthe village community, the clan or the
brotherhood settled in the village-and never was considered the property of the kind."2
"Either in a feudal or an imperial scheme there was never any notion of the ownership of the soil
vesting in anybody except the peasantry."3
Since the king was not the proprietor of the land, he could not create a class of nobles with
proprietary rights over it. It was only his revenue-collecting power which he bestowed upon and
transferred to the nobles.
The very fact that under all types of kings, benevolent or despotic,
31
Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim, no attempt was made to deprive the village communities of the land
and establish a class of landowners over them, is a testimony to the fact that the land was not
regarded as the property of the king, that the village community was the de facto owner of the
village land and that the state or the monarch had a claim only over a share of the realized annual
produce from it.

On the other hand, there did not exist individual peasant proprietorship over land either. This
means that there did not exist in pre-British India any form of private ownership of land.
Even when, under the Mogul emperors, innovations were introduced, these in no way affected
the fundamental land relations in agriculture. The system of money payment of the land revenue
due to the state from the village was introduced but the village possession of and its customary
right over the land was not interfered with. The village as the unit of revenue assessment also,
continued as a rule.

Introduction of Private Property in Land

The British conquest of India led to a revolution in the existing land system. The new revenue
system introduced by the British in India superseded the traditional right of the village
community over the village land and created two forms of property in land; landlordism in some
parts of the country and the individual peasant proprietorship in others.
It was Lord Cornwallis who, during his term of office, created the first group of landlords in
India by introducing the Permanent Land Settlement for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1793. These
landlords were created out of the tax farmers in the provinces who had been appointed by the
political predecessors of the British rulers to collect revenue from these provinces on a
commission basis. The Permanent Land Settlement converted these revenue collectors into so
many landlords.4 Under the terms of the settlement, they had henceforth to make a fixed
payment to the government of the East India Company.
This was the first breach effected by the British conquest of India in her old land system based
on village right over land. Three principal reasons prompted a group of British administrators to
introduce the landlord system in India.
First, the East India Company in India adopted British juridico-economic conceptions for land
settlements. The economic past of
32
England was fundamentally different from that of India. The English landlord system was
conceived and carried out in the spirit of the tradition of private property in land, in the past
feudal period. In India, however, the creation of the landlord system had no precedent, in her
economic history.
Secondly, from the standpoint of administration, in earlier stages of British rule, it was found
easier and more economical to gather land revenue from a few thousand landlords than from a
legion of small peasant proprietors.
Thirdly, for political-strategic reason, the young British Raj in India needed a social support in
the country to maintain itself. It was expected that the new class of landlords, which owed its
existence to the British rule, would naturally support it. Lord William Bentinck, Governor
General of India from 1828 to 1835, remarked thus:

'If security was wanting against extensive popular tumult or evolution, I should say that the
Permanent Settlement, though a failure in many other respects and in its most important
essentials, has this great advantage at least, of having created a vast body of rich landed
proprietors deeply interested in the continuance of the British Dominion and having complete
command over the mass of the people."5
This expectation of the East India Company was borne out by subsequent events. The British
rule in India always found in landlord classes its staunch supporters.
The East India Company also created a group of landlords out of the petty chiefs by transforming
their tribute into revenue and by taking over their political, military and administrative power.
There was also a third method adopted for the purpose. Persons who rendered valuable military
or other aid to the British government were granted land and were transformed into landlords.
When it was found by experience that it became economically disadvantageous to the
government to have fixed permanent revenue from the landlords, the new land settlements so far
as revenue was concerned, were introduced on a temporary basis. While the landlords created
under those temporary land settlements were invested with proprietary rights over land, the
revenue they had to pay to the government could be subsequently revised.6 The Permanent
Zemindari Settlements prevailed in Bengal, Bihar and sections of North Madras and enveloped
about twenty per cent of British India. The Temporary Zemindari Settlements covered the major
portion of the United Provinces
33
and the Punjab and constituted about thirty per cent of the British Indian territory.
While the British rule created large scale landed ownership in some parts of the country, in other
parts, it created individual peasant proprietorship. The latter was known as the Ryotwari. Under
the Ryotwari, the individual cultivator was transformed into the owner of the land he tilled.
It was Sir Thomas Munro who felt that the landlord system was alien to the Indian tradition. He
advocated, in its place, the Ryotwari system which, he thought, would more or less harmonize
with that tradition. He initiated it in 1820, when he was the Governor of Madras, in the major
part of that province.
The Ryotwari was subsequently extended to a number of other provinces. The Ryotwari
settlements, prevailed in Bombay, Sind, Berar, Madras, Assam, and some other areas
constituting fifty one per cent of British Indian territory.
Considering that the Ryotwari like the Zemindari was based on private property in land which
was unknown to pre-British India, it was as much exotic to the Indian tradition as the Zemindari.
Both were points of departure from the traditional Indian economy which excluded the economic
category of individual private ownership of land. "The Ryotwari system, although it was
advocated as a closer approach to Indian institutions, in point of fact, by its making the
settlement with individual cultivators, and by its assessment on the basis of land, not on the

proportion of the actual produce, broke right across Indian institutions no less than the Zemindari
system."7
Thus private property in land came into being in India. Land became private property, a
commodity in the market, which could be mortgaged, purchased or sold.
Thus the British conquest of India brought about an agrarian revolution. It created the
prerequisite for the capitalist development of agriculture by introducing individual ownership of
land, namely, peasant ownership and large-scale landlord ownership. This, together with the
commercial and other new economic forces which invaded and penetrated the village,
undermined both the agrarian economy and the autarchic village of India of the pre-British
period. This transformation of the land relations was the most vital link in the chain of causes
which transformed the whole pre-capitalist feudal economy of India into the existing capitalist
economy. The profound social, political,
34
cultural and psychological results of this material transformation of Indian society will be
described subsequently.

New Land Revenue System

Till the village ownership of land existed, the village was the unit of assessment. It was the
village community which, through the headman or panchayat, paid the state or the intermediary a
specific proportion of the annual agricultural produce as revenue. This proportion may have
varied under different regimes, but it was, except in rare cases, the village which was the unit of
assessment and the payer of revenue.
The new land system eliminated the village as the unit of land assessment and revenue payment.
By creating individual holders of land, it introduced the system of individual land assessment
and revenue payment.
Secondly, a new method of fixing the land revenue and its payment was introduced. Previously
the revenue due to the state or its intermediary to whom the monarch had 'farmed' out the village,
was a specified portion of the year's actual produce which varied from year to year. "This was
now replaced by the system of fixed money payments, assessed on land, regularly due in cash
irrespective of the year's production, in good or bad harvests, and whether more or less of the
land was cultivated or not, and in the overwhelming majority of settlements fixed on individual
landholders, whether directly cultivators or landlords appointed by the state."8 This new method
and form of the land revenue assessment and payment had a far-reaching result.
When previously a part of the actual annual produce constituted the revenue due to the state, the
village possession of land was never in danger. If during any year the harvest failed, the land
revenue automatically lapsed that year since it was dependent upon and was measured in terms
of a portion of the actually realized harvest. The nonpayment of the revenue by the village
however did not jeopardize its possession of land.

But when, under the new system, fixed money payments assessed on land and not on the annual
produce were introduced, the landlord or the peasant proprietor had to meet this revenue claim of
the state irrespective of the failure of crop.
The practice of the new land and revenue system logically and
35
inevitably brought in its wake the phenomena of the mortgage, the sale and the purchase of land.
When a landholder could not pay the land revenue due to the state out of the returns of his
harvest or his resources, he was constrained to mortgage or sell his land. Thus, insecurity of
possession and ownership of landa phenomenon unknown to the pre-British agrarian society
came into existence. The new land system disastrously affected the communal character of the
village, its self-sufficient economy and communal social life.
Previously, the village owned the land, looked after and supervised agriculture carried on by
different peasant families among whom it had distributed the land according to customary law.
Along with this agricultural-economic function, it also performed, through the village panchayat,
the judicial function of setting the disputes arising among the peasants in connection with
agriculture.
Under the new land system, the village was no longer the owner of land hence no longer also the
superintendent of agriculture. The individual landholder was directly connected with the
centralized state to which he owed his proprietary right over land and had directly to pay the land
revenue. Further, all land disputes were now settled, not by village panchayats, but by the courts
established by the centralized state. This undermined the prestige of the panchayats, now shorn
of power.
Thus the new land system not only deprived the village of its agricultural-economic functions but
also led to the loss of its judicial functions. It also broke the bonds which organically tied the
village peasant to the village collectivity.
The organ's of the centralized state took over almost all essential functions relating to the village
life which were previously performed by the self-governing village organization.
Since the fulfillment of village needs was the objective of the village production and produce,
both industrial and agricultural, in pre-British India, this objective determined the character of
this produce and production. It was on this basis that the unity of the village agriculture and
industry was possible and built and their balance maintained.

Commercialization of Agriculture
One of the consequences of the introduction of the system of new land relations and revenue
payment
36

in the form of fixed money payment was that the old objective of village agriculture, namely
production for village use, was replaced by that for market. The production and produce were
now determined by the new objective, that of sale, and, hence, changed their character.9
Under the new system, the peasant produced mainly for the market, which, with the steady
improvement of means of transport and expanding operations of trading capital under the British
rule, became available to him. He did so with a view to realizing maximum cash, primarily to
pay the land revenue to the state which was fixed fairly high and, in course of time, to meet the
claim of the moneylender in whose hands he progressively fell due to numerous causes.
This led to the emergence of the phenomenon of what is known as the commercialization of
agriculture. This also led to the practice of growing specialized crops by the peasants. The land
in groups of villages was solely used, because of its special suitability, for the cultivation of a
single agricultural crop such as cotton, jute, wheat, sugarcane and oil-seeds.10
"It was this same ease of communication that was bringing about another important change in
Indian agriculture. This change might be called, for want of a better term, the commercialization
of agriculture. Broadly speaking, the change might be described as a change from cultivation for
home consumption to cultivation for the market. ... The spread of transport facilities, when it
began to break down the compact character of the village, affected also its agricultural economy.
The change was seen in a gradual extension of the area of some industrial crops under cultivation
and a specialization in crops grown in different districts. Export trade increased and internal
trade also to a very great extent. ... The first impetus towards this tendency of commercialization
was noticed when money economy was introduced into the village in the shape of cash
assessments; but the effect of this could not go far until communications were improved. Then
slowly rents in kind went out of fashion and cash rentals were introduced. The effect of this,
combined with the assessments, was to compel the cultivator to sell a part of his produce
immediately after harvest; and as, generally, the interest of the moneylender became due also at
about the same time, the part of the produce that he disposed of at this time was a large part of
his total crop."11
With the rise of modern industries in England, the necessity of raw materials for these industries
grew. The British government in India
37
pursued economic policies which expanded the area of growth of such raw materials as needed
by the British industries. It thereby accelerated the commercialization and specialization of
Indian agriculture.
"The commercialization of agriculture had progressed most in those tracts where the crops were
largely grown for export out of the country. This was so in the Burma rice area, the Punjab wheat
area, the jute area of Eastern Bengal and the Khandesh, Gujerat and Berar cotton tracts. Through
the operations of exporters, an efficient market organization for moving the crops quickly to the
ports had come into existence."12

"A very large portion of he total crop now came into the market instead of being retained at
home. Naturally, the movement was not marked in crops in which there was either a large
internal or external trade, but even when, as in the case of the millet crops, the internal trade was
not important, a large proportion still came into the market as a result of certain circumstances."
"These circumstances were the payment of government assessments and the interest of the
moneylender. To pay these two dues the cultivators had to rush into the markets just after
harvest, and to sell a large part of their produce at whatever price it fetched. Most of the poor
cultivators had to buy back after about six months part of the crop they had sold away at harvest
time. The prices at harvest time were very low but in six months' time they had risen to height
which were absolutely ruinous to the cultivator. ..."13
From the standpoint of the growth of a single national Indian or world economy, this was a step
forward in spite of the annihilation of self-sufficient village communities and economic misery
consequent on this destruction through the capitalist transformation of the Indian economy. It
contributed towards building the material foundation, namely, the economic welding together of
India and of India with the world, for the national consolidation of the Indian people and the
international economic unification of the world.
The commercialization of agriculture was a step forward also from the point of view of
production. "These changes were, firstly, a commercialization of agricultureby itself quite a
beneficial movement. For it brought about a slightly better distribution of the crops and increased
the profits of cultivation."14
Diversion of the village agriculture production, from serving the personal needs of the peasant
and village requirements to catering for
38
the Indian and world market, not only led to commercialization and specialization of crops but
also disrupted the ancient unity of agriculture and industry in the traditional Indian village.
In addition to the two reasons which prompted the farmer to produce for market, namely, to
realize maximum cash for the payment of the land revenue and meet the debt claim of the
moneylender in whose hands he subsequently and generally fell, there was a third reason also
why he produced for sale. The progressive improvement of the means of transport by the
government made it possible for him to purchase the manufactured cloth and other necessary
articles from the market organized at a village or district fair. Formerly, as a rule, he produced
his own cloth and the village artisans met his other needs in return for a part of the annual
produce. Now, he bought most of these things from the market. This was also one of the
principal causes of the decline of village artisan and other village industries. The
commercialization of village agriculture together with the decay of village industries due to the
influx of the manufactured and later, cheap machine-made goods of Britain and subsequently of
other countries and even of Indian industries, seriously affected the balanced village economy.

Breakdown of Traditional Indian Village

Thus, the unity of village agriculture and industry, the basic pillar of the self-sufficient village
economy, was disrupted. The economic base of the autarchic village existence was undermined.
"Owing to the peculiar form of rent in kind by which it is bound to a definite kind of product and
production, owing furthermore to the indispensable combination of agriculture and domestic
industry attached to it, also to the almost complete self-sufficiency in which the present family
supports itself and to its independence from markets and from the movements of production and
history in the social spheres outside it, ... this form is quite suitable for becoming the basis of
stationary conditions of society, such as we see in Asia."15
Further, "domestic handicraft and manufacturing labour, as side issues to agriculture which
forms the basis, is the prerequisite of that mode of production upon which natural economy rests,
in European antiquity and the Middle Ages as well as in the Indian commune of the present day,
in which the traditional organization has not yet been
39
destroyed. The capitalist mode of production completely dissolve this connection."16
The communal and self-governing character of the village was undermined by other measures
and enroachments also. In addition to the village being deprived of its traditional possession of
the village land, it also lost the right to the free use of pasture and forest land in its proximity.
The peasants and other village folk used this land for collecting fuel and grazing cattle, under the
control of the village as a whole. Further, this land had a decisive value for the maintenance of
the general village economy and agriculture. The new state expropriated the village of its
possession and free use of this peripheral land. Regarding Forest Laws which brought this about
Pattabi Sitaramayya had remarked: "With a single stroke of the pen... Government had
extinguished the immemorial communal rights of the Ryot, and village society had thus been
revolutionized."17
It was because of these functions, such as village agriculture under the control of the village, its
neighbouring forest zone under its own possession and administration that a vital collective life
existed and thrived in the village. The village was a self-governing and self-determining
organization. Village life was one organic whole. It was because of their daily collaboration in
matters of common interest which they themselves decided, that a live collective village
consciousness was maintained among the villagers. With the removal of land, both agricultural
and forest, from the possession and collective control of the village, and its transformation into
private and state property, the old bonds of economic co-operation and common interests
between the villagers dissolved. The economic functions, formerly carried out by the village
community, were now taken over by the centralized state. The self-governing village based on
the co-operation and collective life of its members broke down. Private property and market
further drove a wedge into and dissolved the nexus of the co-operative relations among the
villagers based upon the old economy.18
The centralized state also took over other functions of the village community such as defence.
The village slowly but steadily became transformed from a self-governing community into an

administrative unit of the centralized state and a dependent economic part of the national
economy, nay even of the world economy. The economic and administrative autarchy of the
traditional village disappeared. Collective village life based on common economic interests and
the resultant
40
co-operative relations gave way to a new village existence based on competition and struggle.
Competitive economic relations resulting out of private property and market replaced former cooperative socio-economic relations.
The creation and penetration of capitalist economic relations into the village together with the
political-administrative unification of India by assembling all hitherto independent centres into a
single unified state system struck a mortal blow to the seemingly impregnable traditional village.
With new social relations in production, distribution and exchange, appeared new institutions.
Formerly custom had mostly governed the relationship between the members of the village
community. The village committees (panchayats) had regulated the relations between and
adjusted disputes among villagers. Now legal codes and law courts established by the new
regime governed the complex social relations arising out of the new land system based on private
property in land. "Over the face of the agrarian world took place a change such as England had
witnessed in the sixteenth century: the disruption of the medieval framework, the influx of
foreign agents and of pecuniary considerations and of contractual relations, and the substitution
of individual responsibility, 'enterprise' and freedom for co-ordinated effort along paths
prescribed by custom."19
Thus twilight fell over the ancient traditional Indian village, the seemingly invulnerable 'Rock of
Ages'. It could successfully resist all former political upheavals, wars and invasions. But it
succumbed before the action of the political and economic measures of a new type of political
regime historically never experienced before and of the commercial and industrial forces of
modern capitalism.
Historically speaking, the destruction of the self-sufficient village was a progressive event
though it involved much tragic destruction such as that of collective life among the village
population, of tender human relations between them and of economic security among its
members unless a war or a famine intervened.
On the other hand the village life existed on a narrow village scale, was poor in cultural quality,
unprogressive and passive. If the Indian people were to advance to higher forms of social
existence such as nationhood, economic unity and intellectual progress, the self-sufficient village
had to leave the stage of history.
History moves dialectically. Progress is achieved not through the
41

quantitative extension of the good aspects of the old but its qualitative transformation. Higher
forms of co-operation and social existence emerge not through the quantitative expansion of old
forms but by their dissolution. It is true that the capitalist transformation of the village economy
was brought about by the destruction of village cooperation but its historical progressive role lies
in the fact that it broke the self-sufficiency of the village economic life and made the village
economy a part of the unified national economy. It was a historically necessary step towards
integrating the Indian people economically. It simultaneously broke the physical, social and
cultural isolation of the village people by creating the possibility of large-scale social exchange
through the establishment of such means of mass transport as railways and automobiles.
How could a united nation evolve out of a people who are living an isolated existence in
numerous centres, who are physically divided and between whom there is very little social and
economic exchange? How can the consciousness of a people be elevated to a national plane
when they live independent isolated lives in small groups? Conditions of material existence
determine the nature of consciousness and the conditions of narrow material existence in the selfsufficient village could give birth, in the mass, only to the village consciousness. With rare
exceptions, the population in the bulk could not transcend the village outlook and village
consciousness under the conditions of life in the hermetically sealed village.
It is true that the introduction of capitalist relations destroyed village co-operation. But this cooperation was co-operation in maintaining the narrow self-sufficient village existence. That is
why the population of the autarchic village could, for centuries, remain unperturbed by
catastrophic social events such as the rise and fall of empires and dynasties, or the devastation
and destruction of entire districts and provinces outside their narrow village boundaries. The
village solidarity bound up with the self-sufficient nature of the village thrived only in the
absence of any higher form of solidarity such as the national or the international. The village cooperation was founded upon the village self-sufficiency and it fell with the latter's destruction.
Since it was bound up with the latter, it could not be saved. But the capitalist unification of India
based on the destruction of the village autarchy and co-operation on the narrow village scale
paved the way for higher forms of economy and social collaboration. It paved the way for a
42
national economy and nation-scale collaboration among the Indian people. It became the
material premise for the emergence of the Indian nation out of the amorphous mass of the Indian
people which, before this unification were scattered in numerous villages between which there
was very little exchange, social or economic, and hence, which had hardly any positive common
interests.
However tragic, the destruction of the autarchic village and the collective life of the people living
in it, it was historically necessary for the economic, social and political unification of the Indian
people. Social progress is achieved, as history shows, through the amoral action of historical
forces. It should not be forgotten that these villages were the strong-holds of social passivity and
intellectual inertia, reproducing the same type of existence for ages. They were powerful
obstacles to all attempts at unification of India in the past. We need not shed any reactionary
tears over their extinction.

References
1. Refer O'Malley and Baden Powell.
2. Radhakamal Mukerji, p. 16.
3. ibid., p. 36.
4. Refer Thompson and Garratt, O'Malley and Baden Powell.
5. Quoted by Keith, Vol, I. p. 215.
6. Refer Ranga, Baden Powell and Datta.
7. R. P. Dutt, p. 213.
8. bid., p. 207
9. Refer Gadgil, pp. 153-5.
10. Refer Gadgil, and Buchanan.
11. Gadgil, pp. 153-4.
12. ibid., p. 154.
13. ibid., p. 155.
14. ibid., p. 162.
15. Karl Marx, p. 82.
16. ibid., pp. 82-3.
17. Sitaramayya, p. 62.
18. Refer R. C. Dutt and Shelvankar.
19. Shelvankar, p. 106.
43

Four Social Consequences of the

Transformation of Indian Agriculture

Emergence of National Agriculture

WITH THE establishment of new land relations based on private property in land and the right
of the individual landowner freely to dispose of his property in land, the agrarian economy of
India entered a new and hitherto historically unknown stage of development and the agrarian
population a new phase of social and economic existence. We will now study the problems
which arose out of the new situation.
One vital fact, which emerged from the new situation was that with the introduction of new land
relations in agriculture, it no longer had an isolated village character and significance. A national
agriculture, as an integral dependent part of the total national Indian economy came into
existence. The problems of Indian agriculture, consequently, acquired a national character. The
technical-economic problems of agriculture such as the formation of compact economic
holdings, technical reorganization of agriculture by the introduction of modern agricultural
machinery, scientific manure and other scientific methods of cultivation, became national
problems.
Under the British rule, Indian agriculture rose to the level of a national agriculture but it did not
grow into a prosperous agriculture. The material conditions of the agrarian population as a whole
also did not rise.
Nor did agriculture as a whole reach any high level of organization and productivity. In fact, the
history of Indian agriculture, in spite of its becoming national in character, under the British rule
was a history of its 'continuous and increasing disorganization'. It was also the history of the
progressive impoverishment of the agricultural population, of the steady growth of their
indebtedness, of the increasing expropriation of the peasants of their land and their
transformation
44
into paupers or the agricultural proletariat.

Growth of Subdivision and Fragmentation of Land

One of the most alarming and ruinous features of Indian agriculture was the extreme subdivision
of land and its fragmentation. The amount of land available to each cultivator declined or, in
other words, the holdings progressively became more and more uneconomic.
There were a number of factors which brought about this state of things. The introduction of
capitalist relations in agriculture in the European countries was paralleled by the creation of
compact farms as units of cultivation. In India, on the other hand, no such reorganization of land
was accomplished by the British. From the standpoint of ownership and individual cultivation,
the land remained intermixed. The disadvantages of land fragmentation and the open field
system continued.1

With the establishment of private property in land and the individual's right to its free disposal,
there appeared centrifugal tendencies within the joint family, the members of which previously
jointly held and cultivated the land assigned to it by the village. This led to the division of the
family land among various claimants, resulting in increasing subdivision of land.2
Another factor which contributed to the process of subdivision of land was the growing practice
among the landholders and even tenants to rent or sub-rent the land. The holding, already small,
was, thus, dissected into still smaller holdings.
However, the most decisive factor which accelerated the process of subdivision of land and its
fragmentation was overpressure on agriculture brought about by the economic ruination of
millions of urban and village handicraftsmen and artisans.
The growing process of persons dependent on agriculture is seen in the following Census
Record: Percentage of population dependent on agriculture:3
1891 .. .. .. 61.1
1901 .. .. .. 65.5
1911 .. .. .. 72.2
1921 .. .. .. 73.0
1931 .. .. .. 75.0
45
We can compare this growth of dependence on agriculture with the decline of dependence on
industry.
Percentage of population dependent on industry.4
1911 .. .. .. 5.5
1921 .. .. .. 4.9
1931 .. .. .. 4.3
1941 .. .. .. 4.2
In fact, this process had been appreciably growing since the middle of the nineteenth century.
The Famine Commission Report of 1880 already remarked that "the numbers who have no other
employment than agriculture are greatly in excess of what is really required for the thorough
cultivation of the land."5

We can contrast this tendency with the opposite tendency in the European countries, "in France
the percentage of agricultural population fell from 67.6 to 53.6 between 1876 and 1921, in
Germany, the percentage fell from 61 to 37.8 between 1875 and 1919, in England and Wales it
fell from 38.2 to 20.7 between 1871 and 1921 and in Denmark from 71 to 57 between 1880 and
1921."6
This phenomenon was known as 'de-industrialization' of India, i.e. the destruction of the old
handicraft industry without the proportional growth of modern industry. The result was
increasing overcrowding on land.
The overcrowding on land accelerated the process of subdivision and fragmentation of land.
Regarding a typical Deccan village which he surveyed, H. Mann remarked that the size of the
average holding diminished from 40 acres in 1771 to 7 acres in 1915.
The process of subdivision of fragmentation of land was not confined to the Deccan. It continued
with varying intensity in all provinces and all over India. "In the United Provinces the cultivated
area comes to an average of 2.5 acres per cultivator. In Bengal the size of the average holding is
3.1 acres, in Assam 3 acres, in Bihar and Orissa 3.1, in Madras 4.9, C.P. 8.5, in the Punjab 9.2,
and in Bombay 12.2."7
These were, however, the figures of the average holdings. They do not reveal the fact that the
overwhelming number of holdings were of small size and uneconomic. According to the
Agricultural Journal of India for 1926, holdings were classified as follows:
46
Over ten acres .. .. .. 24 per cent
5 to 10 acres .. .. .. 20 per cent
1 to 5 acres .. .. .. 33 per cent
One acre or less .. .. .. 23 per cent
Even regarding Punjab, a relatively thriving agricultural zone, the Royal Commission on
Agriculture remarked as follows:
"The Punjab figures ... indicate that 22.5 per cent of the cultivators cultivate 1 acre or less, 15 per
cent cultivate between 1 and 2 1/2 acres, 17.9 per cent between 2 1/2 acres and 5 acres and 20.5
per cent between 5 and 10 acres."
The process of subdivision of land was also paralleled by that of its increasing fragmentation.
The Congress Agrarian Inquiry Committee Report described the situation in the United
Provinces thus:

"This process of fragmentation of holding has steadily continued for the past so many years. It is
difficult to estimate the number of peasants who own plots of from a hundredth to a four
hundredth of a bigha but it is fairly large."8
This extreme fragmentation of holdings made it very difficult for the agriculturist to carry on
agricultural operations efficiently.9 The subdivision and fragmentation of land reached all over
the country such a disastrous limit that, "Even the plough may not be used on many small
farmers. ... As with greater fractionalization of holdings, the supply of agricultural labour
increases, the use of spade and hoe becomes more common."10 This was a strong technical
evidence showing the appalling degree of subdivision and fragmentation of land.
The absolute growth of population was an additional factor which intensified overcrowding on
land. The role of that factor, however, was often magnified.
It is necessary to recognize "the fact that this extreme, exaggerated, disproportionate, and
wasteful dependence on agriculture as the sole occupation for three-fourths of the people, is not
an inherited characteristic of the old, primitive Indian society surviving into the modern period,
but is, on the contrary, in its present scale a modern phenomenon and the direct consequence of
imperialist rule. The disproportionate dependence on agriculture has progressively increased
under British rule. This is the expression of the destruction of the old balance of industry and
agriculture and the relegation of India to the role of an agricultural appendage of imperialism."11
47
The overpressure on agriculture could not be explained by lack of sufficient land either. "Only
34.2 per cent of the total area is actually cultivated. Leaving 35.2 per cent of the land as being
not available for agriculture, we still have 30.6 per cent of the total area which can yet be
cultivated. In Sind and the Punjab, there are large tracts of potentially very fertile land which
only need water but the Government does not propose irrigating these areas. Moreover, the
opening up of new agricultural tracts requires capital and the Indian peasantry with all its burden
of indebtedness cannot possibly afford the necessary initial investment. The government being
supremely indifferent to the problem does not offer any subsidies or easy financial aid in any
other form."12

Effects of Fragmentation
The effects of the extreme subdivision and fragmentation of land were highly detrimental both to
agriculture and the economic position of the agriculturist.
Large compact tracts of land as units of cultivation are physical premises for large-scale
scientific agriculture. Small holdings, further, split up into scattered and smaller plots, could not
be made the adequate basis for a prosperous agriculture.
If small holdings largely explained the poverty of the peasant, this poverty of his explained why
the peasant was unable to improve the methods and technique of production. Having no money
to invest in land, the peasant was constrained to stick to old primitive methods and means of

production. He could not utilize scientific manure and modern agricultural machinery nor could
he keep his livestock in a state of robust health and strength. This only led to the progressive
deterioration of agriculture.
As a result of overpressure on agriculture pasture land providing fodder for the livestock was
increasingly encroached upon for the purposes of agriculture and steadily diminished. This
resulted in the diminution of fodder supply for the livestock which, consequently, in absence of
sufficient nutrition, lost in vitality. This adversely affected agricultural productivity.
These multiple factors explain why the yield per acre of cultivated land steadily declined.
Visvesaraya remarked: "On the normal pre-war basis, the average
48
production of British India including irrigated crops cannot be more than twenty-five rupees per
acre; in Japan, it cannot be less than one hundred and fifty."13
We will now consider other factors which affected agriculture and the conditions of the
agriculturists.

New Land Revenue System

As observed earlier, the British government inaugurated an entirely new land revenue system.
The agriculturist had to pay, under the new system, land revenue (in form of a definite sum) to
the government every year whether the annual crop was successful or not. In a country like India
where there was no extensively ramified irrigation system guaranteeing security against absence
of or insufficient rains, where even in a normal year he realized a meagre sum for his crops in the
Indian or world market, it was inevitable that, sooner or later, the agriculturist could not meet the
annual demand of the state. He steadily sank into poverty and indebtedness.
That land revenue had been one of the main causes of the growth of poverty of the agriculturist
and his resultant indebtedness was recognized as early as 1892.14 Vaughan Nash, in his book
The Great Famine remarked: "I was perfectly satisfied during my visit to Bombay that the
authorities regarded the moneylender as their mainstay for the payment of revenue."15
The land revenue system established by the British thus proved to be one of the main factors
which led to the impoverishment and indebtedness of the agricultural population. "A system
which establishes fixed revenue assessments in cash, at a uniform figure for thirty-year periods at
a time, irrespective of harvests or economic changes, may appear convenient to the revenue
collector or to the government statesmen computing their budget; but to the countryman, who
has to pay the uniform figure from a wildly fluctuating income, it spells ruin in bad years, and
inevitably drives him into the hands of the moneylender. Tardy suspensions or remission in
extreme conditions may strive to mitigate, but cannot prevent this process."16

The harmful effects of the rigid land revenue system were further aggravated by the high amount
of land revenue.
At the time of the political transfer of India from the East India Company to the British Crown in
1957-8, the land revenue of the
49
whole of India was 15.3 million. There was a progressive rise in the land revenue during the
subsequent period. By 1900-1, it rose to 17.5 million; by 1911-12 to 20 million and by 19367, it amounted to 23.9 million.17
There was a constantly operating tendency of rise in the land revenue. "In Madras, Bombay and
the United Provinces in particular, assessments have gone up by leaps and bounds" remarked
Radhakamal Mukerjee in his work Land Problems in India.18 He further stated: "While the
agricultural income during three decades (from 1890 to 1920) increased roughly by 30, 60 and
23 per cent, the land revenue increased by 57, 22.6 and 15.5 per cent in the United Provinces,
Madras and Bombay respectively. Such a large increase of land revenue coupled with its
commutation in cash and its collection at harvest time has worked very unfavourably on the
economic condition of cultivators of uneconomic holdings who form the majority in these
provinces."19
Excessive land revenue, in the conditions of the growth of uneconomic holdings due to the
subdivision of and overcrowding on land, was the prime cause of the impoverishment of the
Indian agriculturist in the earlier stages of the British rule. The progressive inability of the
agriculturist to meet the increasing revenue claims of the state from his declining income brought
about his subsequent indebtedness.

Commercialization of Agriculture
There was another factor which adversely affected the agriculturist. It was the factor of the
commercialization of agriculture under the British rule. The agriculturist now produced for the
Indian and the world market. He became thereby subject to all the vicissitudes of the ever erratic
market. He had to compete with formidable international rivals like the big agrarian trusts of
America. Europe, and Australia, which produced on a mass scale and by means of tractors and
other modern agricultural machinery while he himself cultivated his miserable strip of land by
means of the labour power of a couple of famished bullocks and the primitive plough. Further,
the commercialization made the agriculturist dependent, for sale of his product, on the
middlemen, the merchants. The merchant, by his superior economic position, took full advantage
of the poverty of the peasant. The poor peasant, having no economic reserves and confronted by
the revenue claims of the
50
government and increasingly also by the claim of the usurer, had to sell his product to the
middleman at the harvest time. This transaction originating in sheer necessity brought a less

amount to the peasant than it would have if he could have waited. The middleman thus
appropriated a very large share of profit.

Growth of Poverty
There were other factors which also contributed to the growth of poverty among the
agriculturists. In addition to such economic earthquakes as the periodically occurring agrarian
crises, there were such non-social causes as drought, or devastating rains which also brought
economic misery to the agriculturists. The Indian peasant hardly had any economic reserves to
fall back upon in bad times. A large proportion of Indian peasants got into debt due to their
inability to pay land revenue as a result of bad monsoons. Famines were a feature of the
economic existence of the Indian people.
In addition to land tax, the agriculturist had to pay a host of taxes on articles, of bare necessity
such as kerosene, oil and salt. "A poor cultivator, who not only pays to the state a substantial
portion of his income from land, but also bears the burden of the duties on sugar, kerosene, oil,
salt and other articles of general consumption, seems to receive very different treatment from the
big zemindar or landholder in areas where "permanent settlement" prevails, who owns extensive
estates for which he may pay to the state a merely nominal charge fixed over a century ago and
declared to be unalterable for ever, while his agricultural income is totally exempt from income
tax."20
Further, the state monopoly of forests prohibiting the people from picking wood for fuel or
construction purposes forced the peasant to use cowdung for fuel instead of utilizing it as
manure. This reduced the returns from the land and further increased the poverty of the Indian
agriculturist. "The havoc done by the Forest Laws is not sufficiently appreciated. They vied only
with Land Revenue assessments and the Salt Tax in burdening the people with fetters they could
not bear."21
It is obvious that the agriculturist who could not provide enough food for himself and his family,
would be unable to keep his livestock in a fit condition. While the bullocks multiplied, the
nourishment they received diminished. This led to the villages being "overstocked with
51
herds of wretched, starving cattle", and accelerated the decline in the productivity of agriculture.
The cumulative effect of all the factors enumerated above explains the growth of the phenomenal
poverty of the agricultural population. The growing disparity between his income and the claims
he had to meet, constrained the agriculturist to contract more and more debts, even the interest on
which he was unable to pay.
It was a vicious circle. Arising out of his poverty, the indebtedness of the agriculturist became, as
it grew, the main cause of accentuating his poverty. Unable to pay his debt and even interest on
it, the agriculturist not only lost his crops to the moneylenders but rapidly lost his land to him.

This process of expropriation of the land of the agriculturists advanced during the present
century at an accelerated rate.

Growth of Rural Indebtedness

There was a progressive rise in the indebtedness of the Indian agriculturists under the British
rule. It swelled from decade to decade.
The agrarian indebtedness had reached a high level even in 1880. "One-third of the landholding
classes are deeply and inextricably in debt and at least an equal proportion are in debt though not
beyond the power of recovering themselves."22
The indebtedness of the rural population was increasing since 1880, even at a geometrical rate.
This was recognized by all investigators of this phenomenon.23
"The vast majority of peasants live in debt to the moneylender. (Simon Report, Vol. I, p. 16)."
There were various attempts, from time to time, to assess the agrarian indebtedness which
assumed colossal proportions. These estimates revealed the growing curve of his indebtedness.
Maclagan estimated it at 300 crores for British India in 1911; M. L. Darling at 600 crore in 1925;
the Central Banking Inquiry Committee Report at 900 crores in 1929; and the Agricultural Credit
Department at 1,800 crores in 1937.24
The world economic crisis of 1929 affected the Indian agricultural classes very seriously. They
lost so heavily due to the catastrophic fall of prices of agricultural commodities that during the
period from 1929 to 1936 their total indebtedness rose to the staggering figure of about Rs 1,800
crores. "The main cause of this phenomenal increase has
52
been that while since 1929 the incomes of the agriculturists have been reduced by more than
half, the burden of taxation on the peasantry has remained the same. The remissions granted by
the Government in certain distressed areas have been miserably small. ... In the Zemindari areas
an additional factor has been the increased burden of litigation cost on the peasantry. Complete
inability to pay rents on the part of the tenants has led to large accumulation of areas and to
extensive litigation by the zemindars. This has taxed the cultivators heavily who in their present
condition have to rely entirely on the moneylenders for meeting the litigation costs."25
"By far the largest part of indebtedness is due to the fact that over 75 per cent of the peasants
cannot get even a bare livelihood from land." ...26
'Thus indebtedness is one of the acutest problems of rural India today. ... The position today is
that over 80 per cent of the peasants with their present holdings can never pay up their debts."27

Transfer of Land from Cultivating to Non-Cultivating

Owners
Due to the expanding indebtedness of the agriculturists, largescale transfer of land from the
hands of the peasant proprietors to the moneylenders took place in the Ryotwari areas and mass
ejection of tenants from land occupied by them in the Zemindari zones.
The moneylender exploited the economic helplessness of the peasant with the thoroughness of
the traditional Shylock. The rates of interest, though varying from province, were always high.
They ranged from a minimum of 12 per cent to even the exhorbitant figure of 200 or 300 per
cent.28 This made the village sahukar an object of almost universal dislike, even detestation. He
was looked upon as the very embodiment of rapacity and inhumanity and served the role of the
villain in literature, stage plays and film stories in the country.
The moneylender, in addition to legal methods, employed also fraudulent measures to squeeze
out the agriculturist such as making him sign a bond for a sum greater than what had been
advanced to him, keeping false accounts and others. He took advantage of the ignorance of the
peasant who could not detect fraud and of his poverty which made it difficulty or often
impossible to resort to court action.
The attempt made by the government to solve the problems of rural indebtedness, by means of a
series of legislative measures, did not
53
meet with any tangible success. "Legislative measures to deal with the problem of indebtedness
have proved a comparative failure" commented the Report of the Royal Commission on
Agriculture.
Regarding the causes of the colossal irremediable and unbearable indebtedness of the
agriculturists, the Report added:
"To a very great extent, the cultivation in India labours not for profit, not for a net return but for
subsistence. The overcrowding of the people on the land, the lack of alternative means of
securing a living, the difficulty of finding any avenue of escape.... combine to force the cultivator
to grow food wherever he can and on whatever terms he can. Where his land has passed into the
possession of his creditor, no legislation will serve his need: no tenancy law will protect him; for
food he needs land and for land he must plead before a creditor to whom he probably already
owes more than the total value of the whole of his assets."
Under the new land system, land became a marketable article. While giving the peasant the
freedom to mortgage or sell his land, it also gave the creditor of the indebted peasant freedom to
seize the latter's land. In the conditions of poverty engendered by the new economic environs
more and more land began to be transferred to the moneylender in lieu of the debt the peasant

owed to him. Largescale expropriation of the Indian peasanty leading to the widespread growth
of absentee landlordism took place.
Transfer of land from the cultivating owner to the non-cultivating owner, a merchant or a usurer,
did not result in any improvement in the means and methods of agriculture. The Deccan
Commission appointed in 1892 to report on the working of the Agriculturists' Relief Act
criticized "the transfer of the land in an agricultural country to a body of rackrenting aliens who
do nothing for the improvement of the land."29
The heavy burden of debt had an undermining effect on the incentive of the agriculturist and
agriculture. Henry W. Wolff, late president of the International Co-operative Alliance, remarked:
"The country is, so Sir Daniel Hamilton has graphically put it 'in the grip of the Mahajan.' It is
the bonds of debt which shackle agriculture. It is usurythe rankest, most extortionate, most
merciless usury which eats the marrow out of the bones of the ryot and condemns him to a life of
penury and slavery in which not only is economic production
54
hopeless, but in which also energy and will become paralysed and man sinks down beaten into a
state of resigned fatalism from which hope is shut out and life drags on wearily and unprofitably
as if with no object in view. There is no use in denying the fact. It is plain to all eyes."

Rise of Serfdom
Indebtedness led even to the transformation of the agriculturist into a serf in some parts of India.
Economic servitude arising from modern indebtedness acquired a medieval form.
"Of the extreme to which economic servitude can extend, where the moneylender's grip is strong,
two instances may be given. In Bihar and Orissa, we were told of a system known as kamiauti....
which is practically one of cultivation by serfs. Kamias are bound servants of their masters; in
return for a loan received they bind themselves to perform whatever menial services are required
of them in lieu of the interest due on the loan. Landlords employing labour for the cultivation of
their private land prefer to have a first call on the labourers they require, and hence the practice
arose of binding the labourers by means of an advance, given conditionally upon their services
remaining always at the call of the landlord for the purpose of agriculture. Such labourers get a
daily wage in kind for those days on which they work for the creditors.... In the first place, the
kamia cannot bargain about his wages.... The wages represent only one-third of the day's wage
for the free labour hired, for example, by a contractor for road repair work.... The kamia never
sees any money, unless it be the occasional few piece he may earn in his spare time.
Consequently, he has no chance of ever repaying the principal of his debt and becoming a free
man again. A Kamiauti bond, therefore, involves a life sentence."30
Under the new legal system, the rich moneylender had an advantage over the poor agriculturist
since litigation was expensive. While the former could employ lawyers and hold out even if the
suit dragged on, the poor agriculturist, who could hardly maintain himself on his income, could

much less mobilize the costly legal services of lawyers. In enforcing his claims, the shrewd
moneylender generally took full advantage of that situation.
55
The heavy indebtedness of the agriculturists was frequently explained on the ground that they
suffered from the habit of extravagance and squandered money on social and religious occasions.
Investigation of experts into the family budgets of the agriculturists, however, revealed that the
expenses incurred by them for such functions constituted only a small fraction of their income.31
Another feature of this sorry state of things was that even if the measures of the government or
humanitarian bodies brought some economic advantage to a section of agriculturists, in the
condition in which he was placed, he generally did not benefit much by them. The moneylender
or landlord, in lieu of his claims which were too formidable to meet completely, seized this gain.
The cause of the immense poverty of the Indian agriculturists and their resultant indebtedness as
also of the decline of productivity of Indian agriculture worked on the basis of uneconomic
holdings and primitive technique, lay deeper. It was a consequence of the predominantly colonial
character of Indian agriculture and general Indian economy with all their disabilities for a normal
free evolution.
The immense poverty of the Indian agriculturists and their indebtedness progressively led to the
expropriation of their land by the merchant, the moneylender or the landlord. The number of
peasant proprietors diminished and land steadily concentrated in the hands of an increasingly
narrowing number of owners. While a very small fraction of the poor and middle strata of the
peasantry grew into rich peasants, by far the bigger portion of them dropped into the ranks of
tenants or agricultural labourers.

Growing Polarization of Classes in Agrarian Areas

Thus a process of class differentiation went on, continuously and at an increasing pace, among
the agricultural population. The number of cultivating owners and tenants steadily diminished
while that of the non-cultivating landlords grew.
This was the new type of absentee and non-cultivating landlord class which emerged in addition
to the class of zemindars created and confirmed in permanent proprietory rights by the British
government, such as the class of zemindars in Bengal, Bihar, Madras and other parts of the
country.
The following figures reveal the high rate at which the growth of
56
non-cultivating landlords and the parallel growth of agricultural labourers took place in British
India:32

Non-cultivating landlords
Cultivators (owners or tenants)
Agricultural labourers
..

..
..
..

1921
Millions
..
3.7
..
74.6
21.7

1931
Millions
4.1
65.5
33.5

We will illustrate this process by taking instances of the Provinces of Madras and Bengal.
Figures for Madras (per thousand)33
1901
1911
1921
Non-working landlords
Non-working tenants
Working landlords
Working tenants
Proletariat

1931
..
..
..
..
..

..
..
..
..
..

19
1
484
151
345

23
4
426
207
340

49
28.
381
225
317

34
16
390
120
429

Figures for Bengal (per thousand)54

Percentage
1921

1931

increase or

Non-cultivating landlords or rent receivers

Cultivating owners and tenants
..
Proletariat
..

..
9,275
1,805

390
6,041
2.719

decrease
634
+62
-35
+50

Other provinces revealed the same tendency of the growing class differentiation among the
agrarian population. Since the same causes operated everywhere, the same consequence
appeared.
There was a progressive rise in the number of agricultural labourers. The number which stood at
71/2 millions in 1882, swelled to 211/2 millions in 1921 and about 33 millions in 1931. Experts
on this subject reached the conclusion that since 1931 there was a further growth of the
agricultural proletariat.35
57
Non-cultivating landlords, cultivating owners and tenants, and land labourers did not exhaust all
social groups associated with agriculture. Below the stratum of the landless proletariat, there
were other sections of agricultural population who lived in great poverty and conditions almost
of serfdom.
Serf and semi-serf forms of labour were rampant in many parts of the country. Dublas and Halis
in Gujerat, Padial in Tamil Nadu, Bhakela in Hyderabad, Barsalia in the C.P. and such groups in
other zones, formed the nethermost stratum of Indian society, living in conditions of almost
medieval economic exploitation and social bondage.36
The conditions of some of these groups were those of near slavery as in the case of Halis in
Gujerat. "Halis are agricultural labourers who do not work for wages at their own convenience

but are maintained hereditarily as permanent estate servants by the larger landlords who provide
them also with home and food. They cannot resign and seek occupation elsewhere. There is
virtually no difference between the position of these Halis and the slaves on the American
plantations prior to the Civil War except that the courts would not recognize the rights of the
masters as absolute over the persons and services of these people. They are free men de jure but
slaves de facto."37
The conditions of life and labour of workers of such agrarian capitalist enterprises as the
extensive rubber, tea and coffee plantations, a great majority of which were owned by European
companies, were also bad. European capital selected colonial countries as fields of investment
mainly because labour in these countries was cheap. Apart from the low level of wages of the
workers on these mostly European-owned plantations, they were subjected to a number of
restrictions due to the fact that they were required to stay with their families on the estates.38

Rise of Agrarian Proletariat

As mentioned before, due to the impoverishment of the large section of peasant proprietors, the
class of land labourers rapidly grew in India, and was estimated by experts to be even so big as to
constitute nearly half the agricultural population. The condition even of the poor peasant owners
who still owned their lands, or sub-tenants, was so bad that there was no appreciable difference
between it and that of land labourers.
58
"We find it difficult to draw a clear line between cultivation by farm servants and sub-letting.
Sub-letting is rarely on a money rental. It is commonly on a sharing system, the landlord getting
40 to 60 or even 80 per cent of the yield. The tenant commonly goes on from year to year eking
out a precarious living on such terms, borrowing from the landlord, being supplied by him with
seed, cattle and implements. The farm servant, on the other hand, uses the landlord's seed, cattle
and implements, gets advances in cash from time to time, or petty requirements, and is paid from
the harvests either a lump sum of grain or proportion of the yield. The farm servant may in some
cases be paid a little cash as well as a fixed amount of grain. The tenant may cultivate with his
own stock and implements but there is, in practice, no very clear line between the two; and when
the landlord is an absentee, it is not always obvious whether the actual cultivator is a farm
labourer or a sub-tenant."39
The class of agricultural proletariat combined with the large mass of the poor peasants, a good
proportion of whom were also semi-proletarians, formed the large majority of the agricultural
population. Their number daily increased due to a process of steady impoverishment of the upper
peasantry and the expropriation of their land. Only a tiny fraction of the middle and upper layers
grew into prosperous small and big landlords.

Rise of Parasitic Land-owning Class

This class of landlords, composed of moneylenders, merchants or those who had amassed wealth
in urban vocations, like the old class of zemindars, in general did not play any useful progressive
role in agricultural development. Both these landlord classes, old and new, evinced no live
interest in agriculture beyond that of gathering rent from their tenants. In a country like India
where there were limited industrial avenues of capital investment and where there was excessive
demand for land, investment in land was found more profitable.
Agriculture was alien to this new non-agriculturist type of landlord, the merchant, the
moneylender, or the wealthy city dweller. As a rule, he did not feel any urge to organize and look
after agricultural production on his land, to improve its methods and technique.40 Since he had
no vital interest in agriculture, he had purchased or secured land from
59
the peasant debtor in a haphazard way, and not in a compact mass. Since land hunger was acute
in the countryside, he leased out his land to tenants on the basis of heavy rent.
The old class of zemindars, to which this new class of landlords was added, also remained an
unprogressive class, which beyond claiming and collecting harsh rents from their tenants took
very little interest in agriculture.
The unprogressive character of the old zemindars was criticized not only by the nationalists, but
also by British viceroys, statesmen and publicists, who frequently advised them, in the interest of
their continued existence as a class, to relax rent burdens on tenant, to take a personal interest in
agriculture and reconstruct it on a better technical and scientific basis. This advice given to them
with a view to transforming them from conservative, passive, semi-feudal landlords, into active,
enterprising, modern capitalist landlords did not bear fruit.
The Indian zemindar never rose to the level of his compeer in the west. He did not inaugurate
scientific agriculture on his estates, did not become the pioneer of mechanization of agriculture
replacing the plough, the ancient technique of Indian cultivation, with the modern tractor, thus
exiling the former as the technical category of the past.
The almost exclusive interest of the Indian zemindar was to wring out maximum rents from the
tenants. A number of tenancy acts had to be enacted to protect the tenant from the harsh
exactions, legal and even illegal, of the zemindars. These defence measures, however, did not
prove effective.
Another feature of the zemindari agriculture was that, as a rule, there developed a host of
intermediaries between the cultivating tenant and the zemindars, due to the widespread practice
of renting and subrenting of land. Radhakamal Mukerjee described this process of subinfeudation thus: "The zemindar need not part with his estate by an absolute sale, but can raise
money by allowing his proprietary right to be subdivided into smaller estates of minor values; he
still retains his status and receives an annuity that leaves enough margin for this payment of
government revenue. Inferior tenure holders follow the same practice, with the result that
middlemen after middlemen spring up who have no interest in the improvement of land.... There

is a close similarity between the landlords' estates in Northern India and the latifundia in Laly
and Spain. The estates in both cases are owned by great landlords whose sole interest in their
property is in their rents.
60
They let to one or more middlemen who make what profit they can during the term of their
lease.... Many of the landlords of Bengal .... like those of Italy and Spain are absentees and attend
to their property only for the purpose of receiving their rents."41
"In some districts the sub-infeudation has grown to astonishing proportions, as many as 50 or
more intermediary interests having been created between the zemindars at the top and the actual
cultivator at the bottom."42
As a result of this, the cultivating tenant, the last link in the chain of the graded hierarchy, bore
the burden of the entire army of the non-cultivating rent receivers. It was not one Old Man of the
Sea who rode the back of the peasantSindbad. It was an army of such Old Men whose
combined rent pressure constituted an almost unbearable burden on him.
The practice of renting and sub-renting of land steadily grew also in the Ryotwari area with the
land passing from the hands of the cultivating peasant proprietor to the non-cultivating owner.
The new landlord leased out his holding to tenants who further sub-let it, till a chain of
intermediaries was formed. The cultivating tenant who constituted the last link that chain had to
bear the burden of maintaining this host of non-cultivating rent receivers.
Thus the phenomenon of rackrenting, which was formerly confined to the zemindari areas,
appeared with the growth of absentee landlordism in the Ryotwari areas also. "Even in the
Ryotwari tracts, there has been a large increase in the number of tenants and subtenants... 30 per
cent of the lands in Bombay and Madras Provinces are not cultivated by the tenants themselves.
So also in the Punjab, the number of rent receivers has increased recently from six to ten million.
In the United Provinces, the rent receivers have increased by 46 per cent between 1891 and 1921
and during the same period in the Central Provinces, there was a 50 per cent increase."43 The
problem of rackrenting, like the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of land, of
overpressure on agriculture, of the declining productivity and technical backwardness of
agriculture, of the heavy growth of peasant indebtedness and of the general pauperization and
proletarianization of the Indian agriculturists, became, by its very universality and by its being
the effect of the same causes which brought about the other results, a national problem.
61

Colonial Character of Indian Agriculture

While the British conquest and the rule in India led the Indian agricultural economy to evolve on
new lines of development, this development, due to the colonial subordinate position of India,
did not proceed freely and, therefore, did not lead to a prosperous agriculture and a flourishing
agrarian population. In England, France and other free capitalist countries, with the introduction

of capitalist relations in agriculture, agriculture reached higher and higher peaks of productivity
and agricultural population higher and higher level of prosperity. The technical basis of
agriculture became increasingly more and more mechanized, thereby raising the productivity of
agricultural labour. The plough and other medieval implements of agricultural labour were
increasingly supplanted by modern agricultural machinery such as tractors, threshers and
harvesters. Compact farms as physical units of agriculture came into existence. The material and
cultural level of agricultural population also rose higher and higher.
It is true that even in free capitalist countries, with the general decline of the capitalist economy
resulting in disastrous and more frequently occurring economic crises in recent times, both
agriculture and the agricultural population were affected. Still, the effects of these crises both on
agricultural economy and population did not prove so ruinous as on the colonial agriculture and
agricultural population of India.
In contrast to these countries, the introduction of new land relations in agriculture was not
accompanied by a simultaneous and parallel growth of modern capitalist industries in India. The
mass of Indian handicraftsmen ruined as a result of the influx of manufactured machine-made
goods of British industries were not absorbed in any extensively developed indigenous
industries. The ruined mass of these handicraftsmen, in the main, took to agriculture for
subsistence. This led to overpressure on agriculture which proved one of the major obstacles to
the growth of a prosperous agriculture in India. It was this overcrowding on land which primarily
explained the ruinous subdivision and fragmentation of land resulting in the growth of
uneconomic holdings, the deterioration of agriculture and the steady impoverishment of the
agriculturists. Even after indigenous industries began to grow in India after 1850, the rate of their
expansion lagged behind the rate at which the handicrafts of India were being ruined.
62
The overcrowding on land with resultant subdivision and fragmentation of land brought about a
steady decline in the income of the broad strata of the agricultural population. The action of the
frequently occurring agrarian crises, the vicissitudes of the world market, and the exploitation of
the agriculturists by the merchant middlemen on whom they were dependent for the sale of their
products and who took full advantage of their economic helplessness and ignorance, further
reduced their income. They were being impoverished at a rapidly rising rate.
Unable to pay excessive land revenue and compelled to purchase articles of primary necessity
which were heavily taxed by the government, the mass of agriculturists were driven more and
more to borrow from moneylenders or co-operatives. The moneylenders extorted high interest
from the agriculturists who, in course of time, were not only unable to repay the debt but even to
pay interest regularly on that debt. This indebtedness of the overwhelming majority of the
agricultural population reached monstrous proportions. It further accentuated their poverty.
The process of impoverishment which enveloped more and more strata of agricultural population
disastrously affected agriculture. The impoverished agriculturist could not renew his livestock or
properly manure the field. He and his family lost physical energy due to malnutrition and thereby

capacity for labour on the field. Thus, agriculture stagnated, in fact, deteriorated. The yield per
acre steadily diminished.
With the increasing impoverishment and resultant indebtedness of the ever increasing strata of
the agriculturists, land rapidly passed into the hands of rich landlords, merchants and
moneylenders. This led to the growth of a new landlord class in addition to the class of
zemindars created by the British rule in an earlier period. This new class of absentee landlords
had no vital interest in land. They did not introduce any technical improvement in agriculture.
On the other hand, taking advantage of the extreme land hunger rampant among the peasantry,
they rented the land to tenants who frequently sub-rented it to subtenants. Thus a hierarchy grew
among the agricultural population. The actually cultivating sub-tenant who was the last link in
the chain had to carry the entire heavy load of non-cultivating landlords, tenants and- sub-tenants
over him. This renting and sub-renting of land also further accentuated the sub-division of land
and its fragmentation, making the holdings more and more uneconomic.
63
The passing of the land from the hands of the peasant proprietors into the hands of noncultivating landlords brought about, increasing polarization of classes in agrarian areas. At one
pole of the agrarian population the class of non-cultivating landlords grew increasingly; at the
other, the rapidly swelling class of agricultural proletariat as well as of the poorest peasants and
sub-tenants who were hardly distinguishable from land labourers.
Thus the class of landless peasants and that of non-cultivating rent receivers continuously
increased. Property in land accumulated at one pole of agrarian society and landlessness and
extreme poverty at the other. This tendency grew alarmingly after 1914. Radhakamal Mukerjee
remarked: "So long as there is no radical change in the rural economy of India through land
adjustments, agricultural co-operation or scientific farming, the problem of the landless peasants
will become more and more acute and there will be a tendency for this class to come in line with
the industrial proletariat of the cities. That will portend social upheavals."44
Thus the introduction of new land relations in agriculture in the conditions of the subordinate
colonial position of India, did not result in any modernization and mechanization of agriculture
nor did it bring, even for a period, prosperity to the mass of the agricultural population. While
social relations in agriculture changed from village ownership or possession of land into private
property in land, the technical basis of agriculture remained the same.
The colonial Indian peasant working with the primitive plough and on an uneconomic holding,
had to compete in the Indian and world market with powerful agrarian capitalist trusts or
prosperous capitalist farmers of free countries like England, France, the U.S.A. and Australia,
which produced on large estates or extensive farms and with modern machinery. As a result of
this whenever the cyclone of agrarian crises broke out, the colonial Indian peasant was unable to
withstand its devastating force. He sank into greater and greater impoverishment and the
resultant indebtedness.

Since the Indian people were not politically independent they could not formulate and put into
action independent economic policies such as would aid the free development of Indian
economy, its industry commerce and agriculture. The development of Indian agriculture was
adjusted to be economic necessities of British capitalism which required India primarily as an
agrarian colony for the production of raw
64
materials for British industries. This prevented the independent development of Indian
agriculture, fulfilling the economic requirements of the Indian people. Indian agriculture
remained, therefore, distorted in its development'lop-sided'.
In spite of this, it must be recognized that, by bringing the village agricultural production within
the sphere of Indian and world markets, by making agriculture an organic part of Indian
economy, the British rule over India elevated Indian agriculture to the status of a national
agriculture. This was a progressive aspect of the British conquest.
Since Indian agriculture became national in character, its problems also assumed national
significance. Previously, in the period of the self-sufficient villages, agriculture was a part of the
self-sufficient village economy. Problems connected with it were problems of the autarchic
economy of the village, primarily affecting the village community only and not the population
outside the village. It is true that the state was dependent for land revenue on village agriculture
but, so far as the general population was concerned, it was not dependent on the agriculture of
the particular village. The population of every village depended mainly on the agricultural
produce of its own village and not on that of other villages. Every town had a group of villages in
its periphery which provided its agricultural needs. Hence every village had its own independent
problem connected with agriculture.
After the elevation of Indian agriculture to the level of national agriculture, the problems of
agriculture assumed a national character. The state of agriculture of a particular village or district
affected the rest of the country since the agriculture in a particular centre produced not only for
that centre but for the entire country and even for the world. Hence, such problems as the decline
of agriculture, the deterioration of livestock, the poverty and indebtedness of the peasantry,
subdivision and fragmentation of land, became national problems. Not only that the agricultural
population of India felt in this their common problems arising out of the same causes such as
absentee landlordism, excessive land revenue, lack of sufficient industrialization of India, etc.
but even classes associated with modern industries in India considered these problems as their
own. The state of agriculture and the condition of the agriculturists affected the state of industry
and the economic position of non-agricultural classes also. Thus the problems of agriculture and
the conditions of the agriculturists all became national problems.
65
Since the problems of Indian agriculture became national and were conditioned by the same
causes, these problems served as focal points for the mobilization of the people and its different
sections on a national scale. Every party representing the interests of a particular social group

had its own programme and policy for the reconstruction of national agriculture corresponding
with the interests of that group. The conflict of interests between different classes, even between
various sections of the agricultural population itself such as landlords, peasant proprietors,
tenants, and land labourers, made different programmes and policies of different classes
divergent. Still the significant fact remained that all these different and often even antagonistic
programmes and policies referred to and revolved round the problem of national agriculture, an
integral part of the Indian national economy.

Reconstruction of Agriculture, its Prerequisites

The restoration and reconstruction, on a prosperous basis, of Indian agriculture and improvement
of the material standards of the agricultural population, became the common objective of all
those numerous programmes and policies.
Since it was Great Britain which created the new agrarian system in India and determined the
political and economic policies affecting Indian agriculture, all movements of various classes for
the restoration and reconstruction of Indian agriculture were designed to exert pressure on the
British government to bring about this restoration and reconstruction. Since the British
government was not a national but a foreign government, these movements assumed a national
complexion. Thus various sections of the people who pressed on the British government to
introduce reform or revolution in the sphere of agriculture, felt inspired with a national sentiment
since this pressure was exerted on a foreign government. Thus national agriculture built up by
the British conquest and rule in India brought about a common material interest in agriculture
among the Indian people. This paved way for the growth of a national sentiment among them to
strive for a prosperous national agriculture.
The problem of the reconstruction of Indian agriculture and its further development as also of the
transformation of the agrarian population into a prosperous community was a stupendous one. Its
66
solution demanded a comprehensive plan which had to be an integral part of a planned national
economy, since no single sector of Indian economy could advance without a general advance of
the entire economy. "The planning of agricultural production must be correlated to a planning of
industrial production, and these two again can be successful only if they rest upon the foundation
of a planned currency and credit organization."45
Since the existing land relations and heavy mass indebtedness were two of the principal causes
of the impoverishment of the agricultural population and resultant degeneration of agriculture,
the programme of planned national agriculture required to embody vital items like radial revision
of existing property relations in land and cancellation of debts. Such a programme could be
carried through only by overcoming the most stubborn resistance of landlords, moneylenders and
other groups of vested interests like the Indian bourgeoisie who had interests in land also.
Therefore, sporadic and partial measures, which had been adopted, did not and could not yield
any really tangible results. "The debt of the cultivating classes is but the symptom of a deeply

rooted disease... Legislation scaling down the debt or restricting the activities of the
moneylenders will not cure the disease."46
And, further, "Not until the ryots are enabled to start on a clean slate by measures like wholesale
cancellation of existing debts and get security with regard to agricultural operations ... by a
many-sided and simultaneous attack on all the factors connected with their poverty, can here be a
reasonable hope of better and more prosperous condition of Indian agriculture."47
The same authors remark: "If instead of resorting to measures of a tinkering and halting
character, we consider the possibility of a redistribution of land with consolidated holdings and
co-operative large-scale production, such measures may have revolutionary implications,
involving a prolonged struggle with vested interests, ranging from the moneylenders to the
feudatory and absentee landlords.... The choice lies between drastic and radical measures
planned with a view to bringing about reconstruction of our social and economic organization, or
a continuance of the present planless drift, with sporadic attempts at halting reforms which may
end in a grave agricultural crisis followed by a violent revolution."48
A national plan of agricultural reconstruction, having, as its objective, free development of
agriculture from the standpoint of the general
67
economic advance and needs of the Indian people, required as an indispensable prerequisite
political power in the hands of the Indian people. Thus the fulfillment of a programme of a
planned and prosperous national agriculture presupposed as a prerequisite, a real national
government which would reflect the will, the interests and the needs of the mass of the Indian
people, and not those of vested interests, foreign or indigenous.
It must also be recognized that such a colossal task as the reconstruction of the entire agrarian
economy implying a planned mobilization and use of all available physical, technical and human
resources of the vast sub-continent of India could not be realized by private enterprises, capitalist
or individual. Only the state could accomplish it. The plan would also imply the elimination of
profit motive and competition from the sphere of agricultural production and had to be based on
the principle of co-operation and production from the standpoint of the needs of the Indian
people and general advance of Indian economy. "The type of agricultural organization we are
visualizing is an organization based on the state regulation of production in the general interests
of our people and the conversion of agricultural production into a public utility service."49
It is obvious that only a real national government of the Indian people (and not of the Indian or
foreign vested interests) could put such a plan into successful action.
Thus the restoration and further development of Indian agriculture was not a mere 'technoeconomic' problem. Basically, it was a socio-economic and 'political' problem. It was bound up
with rapid and free all-round development of Indian industries which not only could absorb
surplus population in the countryside but could also provide agricultural machinery for the
modernization and mechanization of Indian agriculture. It also was bound up with the problems

of the overhauling of the existing property relations in land. It further raised the problem of
political power, of the establishment of an independent sovereign state of the Indian people
where power lay in the hands of the producing and exploited strata of the people themselves and
not in those of Indian vested interests.
Thus bound up with the problem of freedom and socio-economic reconstruction of Indian society
on a historically higher level, the problem of agricultural reconstruction had a progressive
national character.
68

References
1. Refer Shelvankar, pp. 106-7.
2. Refer Wadia and Merchant, p. 167
3. ibid., p. 85.
4. ibid., p. 87.
5. Quoted by Ahmad, p. 1.
6. Ahmad, p. 1.
7. ibid., p. 3.
8. Congress Agrarian Inquiry Committee Report, p. 28.
9. Refer Radhakamal Mookerjee, Mann, Brijnarayan, Ranga.
10. Radhakamal Mookerjee, p. 196.
11. R. P. Dutt, p. 184.
12. Ahmad, pp. 2-3.
13. Visvesvaraya quoted by Ahmad, p. 8.
14. Refer Report of the Commission of 1892.
15. Quoted by R. P. Dutt, p. 228.
16. R. P. Dutt, p. 227.
17. Refer R. P. Dutt, p. 205.

18. Radhakamal Mookerjee, p. 206.

19. ibid., p. 345.
20. Report of the Indian Statutory Commission, 1930, Vol. I.
21. Sitaramayya, p. 62.
22. The Famine Commission Report, 1880.
23. Refer Sir Edward Maclagan, M. L. Darling. The Central Banking Inquiry Committee, P. J.
Thomas, Agricultural Credit Department and others.
24. Refer Wadia and Merchant, p. 185.
25. Ahmad, pp. 26-7.
26. ibid., p. 27.
27. ibid., p. 27.
28. Refer Reports of Provincial Banking Inquiry Committees.
29. Quoted by R. P. Dutt, p. 235.
30. Royal Commission on Agriculture, pp. 433-4.
31. The Deccan Riots Commission, Bengal Provincial Committee Report, Report of the
Committee on Co-operation in Madras.
32. Refer R. P. Dutt, p. 216.
33. quoted from Wadia and Merchant, p. 249.
34. ibid., p. 249.
69
35. Refer Sarkar in Indian Journal of Economics, July 1939, pp. 94-6.
36. Refer Dinkar Desai, 'Agrarian Serfdom in India' in Indian Sociologist, July 1942.
37. J. M. Mehta, p. 125.
38. Refer Royal Commission on Labour, R. P. Dutt and Shiva Rao.

39. Report of the Madras Banking Inquiry Committee, 1930.

40. Refer Floud Commission Report, p. 37.
41. Radhakamal Mookerjee, p. 90.
42. Simon Commission Report, Vol. I, p. 340.
43. Wadia and Merchant, p. 239.
44. Quoted in Congress Agrarian Inquiry Committee Report, p. 23.
45. Wadia and Merchant, p. 271.
46. ibid., p. 195.
47. ibid., p. 195-6.
48. ibid., p. 182.
49. ibid., p. 270.
70

Five Decline of Town Handicrafts

Effect of British Rule on Town Handicrafts
THE EFFECT of the British rule on the town handicrafts is very succinctly summarized by D. R.
Gadgil in the following words: "The only dramatic event in this economic transition is perhaps,
the decline of the old handicrafts. The collapse of these was indeed sudden and complete."1 He
further remarks: "The causes working towards this result were very numerous. But the most
important of these were (1) The disappearance of the native Indian courts; (2) the establishment
of an alien rule, with the influx of the many foreign influences that such a change in the nature of
government meant; (3) the competition of a more highly developed form of industry."2
We shall now survey this 'sudden and complete, collapse of the town handicrafts in India under
the British rule in detail.

Disappearance of States, Patrons of Town Handicrafts

The conquest of India by the East India Company resulted in the disappearance of native rulers
in rapid succession. State after state vanished, their place being taken by the new forms of rule
and administration evolved by the East India Company. Even the territory where native rulers

were not ousted came under the indirect political domination of the British. This disappearance
and decline of states had a direct and immediate effect on the town handicrafts of India. As
observed, the states were the biggest customers of the town handicraft products. Further, they, in
many cases, maintained large manufactories and workshops and employed some of the best
craftsmen. Hence their disappearance and decline, "struck the first blow at Indian handicrafts by
steadily curtailing the demand for their products. The immediate
71
effect of this was the stoppage of the production of the highest class of goods such as would be
required only by the princes and the highest nobles on a big State occasion. The ordinary demand
did continue for some time even after this disappearance of the courts, but it invariably had a
tendency to diminish steadily."3
The disappearance of the states also affected the industries which supplied the goods needed for
the military and other purposes of these states. To take an instance, the production of military
weapons like swords, spears, daggers, shields and other varieties of arms made of iron and steel,
and the accompanying artistic industries like enamelling and damascening work had reached a
high state of development in pre-British India. The disappearance of the states had a very ruinous
effect on these industries.

Foreign Rule, its Disastrous Effects on Town Handicrafts

We shall now survey the effects of the establishment of the foreign rule along with foreign
influences on the manufactures of India.
The East India Company, from 1600 to 1757, was essentially a trading corporation which carried
on trade in India under the patronage and with the permission of the Indian kings, and sometimes
even in defiance of them. However, it was essentially a trading company which brought goods or
bullion from foreign countries to exchange them for the luxury articles from India such as spices,
textiles, and others. During this period the export trade of manufactured articles in India
increased.
"The end of the seventeenth century marks the highest point in the export of silk and cotton
goods. It was an extremely profitable business for the company, and in 1672 'several artificers
such as throwsters, weavers, and dyers were sent over by the Company with, great quantities of
English patterns, to teach Indian weavers new methods of manufacturing goods suitable to
English and European markets'."4
Thus the export trade of India increased during the period when the East India Company was a
trading concern, and when it struggled to open markets for the Indian goods if; English and other
countries. During this period, the British government, perturbed by the flow of Indian goods into
England, had to pass laws such as would make the sale of Indian goods in England difficult.5
72

The victory of Plassey placed the East India Company in a favourable position in India. It
thereby secured the weapon of political power which could be used to create facilities for
pushing its trade, to dictate its own terms to artisans and manufacturers, to get commodities at a
cheaper price, to monopolize these handicraftsmen, to force its imported goods on the people of
India, and also to oust rival traders, both foreign and indigenous, by political measures with a
view to maintaining its monopoly position.
Between 1757 and 1857, the East India Company expanded its control over more and more
territory in India, eliminated a number of states and drained enormous wealth from India, which,
though called 'Plunder' by the critics of the East India Company, became the necessary capital
('primitive accumulation') for carrying through the Industrial Revolution in England. In his work
entitled The Law of Civilization and Decay, Brooks Adams elucidates this point very succinctly:
"Plassey was fought in 1757 and probably nothing has ever equalled the rapidity of the change
which followed. In 1760 the flying shuttle appeared and coal began to replace wood in smelting.
In 1764 Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, in 1776 Crompton contrived the mule, in 1785
Cartwright patented the powerloom, and, chief of all, in 1768 Watt matured the steam engine, the
most perfect of all vents of centralizing energy. But though these machines served as outlets for
the accelerating movement of the time, they did not cause that acceleration. In themselves
inventions are passive, many of the most important having lain dormant for centuries, waiting for
a sufficient store of force to have accumulated to set them working. That store must always take
the shape of money, and money not hoarded, but in motion. Before the influx of the Indian
treasure, and the expansion of credit which followed, no force sufficient for this purpose existed;
and had Watt lived fifty years earlier, he and his invention must have perished together. Possibly,
since the world began, no investment has ever yielded the profit reaped from the Indian plunder,
because for nearly fifty years Great Britain stood without a competitor. From 1694 to Plassey
(1757) the growth has been relatively slow. Between 1760 to 1815 the growth was very rapid
and prodigious."6 The Industrial Revolution, thus brought about, created a powerful
73
industrial and manufacturing class in England. This class increasingly got control of state power
in Britain which it used to deprive, in course of time, the East India Company of its monopoly of
the Eastern trade and also to compel it to adopt economic and political measures as would serve
the economic needs of the British industries. After a stubborn struggle, industrial capital scored a
political victory over trading capital in Britain.
It was during this period of the increasing strength of the industrial class in England that Indian
handicrafts received a powerful blow and rapidly declined. We shall study the various factors
which brought about this ruination.
The blow to the export trade of India with Britain came from the various measures adopted by
the government preventing Indian goods from flooding the English market, and, thereby, giving
protection to the rising English manufactures which still could not compete with Indian goods.
As Horace Wilson vividly describes it: "The history of the trade of cotton cloths with India...is...a
melancholy instance of the wrong done to India by the country on which she had become

dependent.... Had no such prohibitory duties and decrees existed, the mills of Paisley and
Manchester would have been stopped at their outset, and could scarcely have been again set in
motion, even by the power of steam. They were created by the sacrifice of the Indian
manufacture. Had India been independent, she would have retaliated.... This act of self-defence
was not permitted her; she was at the mercy of the stranger. British goods were forced upon her
without paying any duty, and the foreign manufacturer employed the arm of political injustice to
keep down and ultimately strangle a competitor with whom he could not have contended on
equal terms."7
B. D. Basu in his well-known work Ruin of Indian Trade and Industries gives a detailed table of
the heavy duties imposed on different goods imported into England fro India, which very clearly
reveals how the export trade of India was deliberately thwarted by the British government to
foster its own industries and supply them with a home market.8
However, foreign countries were a minor market for the products of Indian handicrafts. The
major market was India itself.9 It is here that the foreign influences and the foreign rule had a
very disastrous effect.
74

Reasons for their Ruination

The rule of the East India Company proved disastrous to the handicraft industry in India for a
number of reasons. The first reason was that it destroyed the native states, which were the
greatest customers and patrons of this industry. Secondly, the East India company, which was the
successor of these States, could have given impetus to the industries, but, being a foreign
company under the control and direction of a foreign power, it adopted measures under the
pressure of the British government which proved detrimental to the manufacturing interests of
India. Thirdly, being a trading company, it wanted to produce things cheaply and sell them
profitably in other market. The heavy duties levied on Indian goods in England further
necessitated the lowering of the cost of the goods which it bought to maintain the level of profit.
To attain this purpose, it monopolized weavers and other handicraftsmen, and compelled them to
produce things at a stipulated price. Having also political power, it could bring political pressure
on them to submit to its demands. The Company prevented handicraftsmen from selling their
products to Indian or other foreign merchants at a higher price thus reducing them to the position
of virtual slaves. Fourthly, it imposed customs and adopted transit measures in India which
created such unfavourable conditions for the Indian merchants that they could not carry on
internal trade effectively. These measures, designed to oust all rival traders and to acquire
monopoly trade control over the Indian market, by stopping the Indian merchants from carrying
on internal trade, crippled the market for Indian handicraft products. Further, by 1813, the
industrial classes had become politically powerful in England. The Charter of 1813 destroyed the
monopoly of trade of the East India Company and opened India for Free Trade to all merchants
of England These merchants were of a different category from the merchants who came during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This class of merchants did not come to India to buy
manufactured goods produced in India but to secure a market for the manufactured goods
produced in the mills of England, and to secure raw materials from India to supply those mills.

From 1814, onwards, the policy of the East India Company government, which had now mainly
become a political instrument of the industrial classes of England, was to adopt measures which
would facilitate the import and the export of Indian raw materials to Britain required by
74
the British industries. Further, the establishment of the British rule in India and the new type of
government which it set up, created "the new types of wealthy Indians the businessmen, the
Europeanized officials, the successful moneylenders"10 "who had different tastes, and who did
not patronize the very elaborate Oriental work, much of which was only suitable for a feudal
method of living"" and hence not suited to their new way of living.
We shall now see how these multifold reasons gave a mortal blow to the town industries.
To counteract the effects of the heavy duties which were imposed on the goods imported into
England by the East India Company and also to get the goods as cheap as possible, the merchants
of the Company used very harsh measures against the handicraftsmen.12
The oppressive methods adopted by the agents and merchants of the Company, assisted by the
regulations passed by it like the Act of 1793 in Bengal, had a very disastrous effect on the life of
the handicraftsmen and the condition of their work. Thousands of families of weavers began to
abandon their profession. Bolts mentions "Above seven hundred families of weavers, in the
districts round Jungalbarry, at once abandoned their country and their professions on account of
oppressions of this nature."13
Thus the new rulers who replaced the native states reduced the handicraftsmen almost to a
condition of slavery and put obstacles in the way of a free existence of the industry. As a result
of this, the industry suffered both in extent and efficiency, and a growing number of families of
the towns handicraftsmen started abandoning their profession.
The iniquitous system of transit duties and customs within the country and the various coercive
methods that were adopted by the customs officers have been vividly set forth by Sir Charles
Trevelyan in his famous Report on Transit Duties. "No less than two hundred and thirty-five
articles of personal and domestic use were subject to inland duties."14
Further, the various measures adopted to subserve the needs of the rising British industries
disastrously affected a number of other Indian industries also.
The Indian shipping industry was disastrously affected by the decision of the Court of Directors
to use only British ships and prohibit Indian ships for the purpose of trade. There were also other
reasons
76
for its crippling.15

The Indian paper industry also was undermined during this period due to the policy of the British
rulers to purchase only British-made paper for use in India. The order passed by Sir Charles
Wood which made it obligatory for the British government in India to use only British-made
paper deprived the Indian paper industry of its greatest patron.
Regarding the ruination of another important industry, Gadgil remarks: "In one peculiar case,
British rule effectively killed a handicraft. This was the damascening and inlaying of arms,
weapons and shields, which...was...common all along the north-west portions of India-in Cutch,
in Sindh, in the Punjab. By removing the necessity for, and by an active prohibition of, the use
and possession of arms, the British succeeded in reducing this industry to the state of being
confined to produce ornamental knick-knacks for European tourists and others."16
The iron smelting industries were also seriously undermined. The principal reasons which
accomplished their ruin were the elimination or decline of the Indian states, the chief customer of
these industries; the prohibitory duties imposed on the import of their products into England by
the British government and the preference of British iron products by the new government
required for its purposes.
Further, "An unwise tariff and the discovery of Chili nitrates gave a serious shock to the saltpetre
industry; the iron smelting industry was suffering from the great rise in the price of charcoal due
to the reservation of forests and the extension of railwaysand the competition of imported pig
iron."17
Thus, industry after industry began to collapse during this period on account of a series of
measures adopted by the foreign government to suit the requirements of the British industries.
B. D. Basu enumerates the principal among these measures as follows:
"From the time England acquired political power in India, she destroyed Indian industries
principally by means of:
(1) The forcing of British Free Trade on India.
(2) Imposing heavy duties on Indian manufactures in England.
(3) The export of raw products from India.
(4) The transit and Customs duties.
77
(5) Granting special privileges to the British in India.
(6) Building railways in India.
(7) Compelling Indian artisans to divulge their trade secrets.

(8) Holding of exhibitions."18

Another factor which affected the handicrafts in India was the attitude of the new wealthy classes
which evolved on the basis of the establishment of the British rule in India.
"The next class which was the natural successor to the position of the nobles was the newly
created educated class. This was mostly an urban and professional class, somewhat
corresponding to the professional section of the "bourgeoisie" of the west. This new class might
have been expected to patronize the handicrafts. Indeed, with a few exceptions, they entirely
turned their back on indigenous arts. One of the most harmful effects of a foreign rule is the
imposition on the conquered peoples of the ideals of the conquerors; and the newly created
Indian 'bourgeoisie' showed itself during the latter half of the last century extremely ready to
accept European standards and to pour scorn on everything Indian... To follow European
fashions was considered the hallmark of enlightenment. Consequently the products of indigenous
industries suffered... It was perhaps natural for this class to act as it did; it was itself entirely a
product of British rule. But, in a number of cases, their tastes were almost forcibly fixed for them
by some stupid rule or convention of European officials or by the fear of incurring their
displeasure."19 Thus deprived of foreign markets, deprived of home markets in the form of
states, nobility, and wealthy strata of society, also hampered by the conscious and unconscious
acts of the foreign government which replaced the old states, and discouraged and even often
repudiated by the new wealthy classes which replaced the old nobility and wealthy urban classes
of the old states, the handicraft industries declined and almost collapsed. By the middle of the
nineteenth century, the handicraft industries had been almost ruined. The railways, which began
to develop in the forties, enabled the British manufactured goods to penetrate to the remotest
corners of the land thereby establishing the permanent dominance of British goods in the Indian
market.
Such was the tragic fate of the highly organized handicraft industries of India which had existed
and thrived for centuries, which had spread the fame of India throughout the world, which had
evoked the
78
admiration and jealousy of other peoples from ancient times, from the Egyptians, the Persians,
the Chinese, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, and the Europeans, which had made India
known as 'Gorgeous Ind' for epoches. Today they exist in the form of a relic of the past, a
specimen of curiosity, mostly in the museum. Their memory has mainly survived in the
counterfeit copies which are still produced in some places like Agra, Benares, Ahmedabad,
Surat, or some cities in Rajputana, by the descendants of the old handicraftsmen, who finding no
other source of employment, stick to their old trades, eking out their existence from day to day
generally working under horrible sweating conditions in karkhanas owned by small capitalists.
The decline of the handicraft industry was nearly complete by 1880.
As D. R. Gadgil puts it: "India in the eighties afforded the spectacle of a huge country with
decaying handicrafts, with any other form of organized industry almost non-existent and a
consequent falling back upon the land."20

This is the history of the decline and decay of Indian handicrafts under the British rule. These
handicrafts, once the price and glory of India, could not withstand the pressure of political and
above all historico-economic forces and succumbed to this pressure.

Decline of Indian Town Handicrafts

In England and other capitalist European countries, handicraft industries began to lose ground
with the rise of modern manufacture and machine-based industry. By the law of economic
selection, the latter methods of production progressively ousted the former due to the working of
the most fundamental law of economics, namely, that the industrial technique, which is more
labour-saving, finally routs that which is less labour-saving since its products are cheaper than
those of the latter. Thus handicrafts, all over the world, gave way to the rising tide of modern
industry.
In England and other European countries, however, there were indigenous modern industries
which vanquished and crushed indigenous handicrafts. The ruined mass of handicraftsmen was,
on the whole, absorbed in the new indigenous modern industries.
In India, the decline and decay of native handicrafts was not accomplished by any rise of
indigenous manufacture or machine industry. The political pressure of a foreign government
together with the
79
influx of the cheap products of foreign machine industry were the principal causes of this decline
and decay.
Since the ruin of the Indian handicrafts was brought about by foreign industries and not by any
indigenous industries, the mass of economically ruined handicraftsmen had no new industrial
means of livelihood. Even after 1850, when modern industries steadily grew in India, they could
not grow with sufficient rapidity so as to incorporate the ever increasing number of ruined
handicraftsmen. The result was that while a fraction of the latter was absorbed in the new
industries, by far the larger proportion of it took to the land as a means of livelihood. They
became farmers, tenants, but mostly land labourers.21 There was also a diminishing section of
these handicraftsmen who desperately stuck to their fast decaying industries and strove to eke out
a precarious existence from them. In the conditions of dependence on the market for the disposal
of their products, they fell more and more into the economic grip of the merchant class whose
exploitation of them ever grew in intensity.
The destruction of urban handicrafts, without the parallel growth of substitute modern industries,
led to the disequilibrium of industry and agriculture in India. It brought about an overpressure on
agriculture which was both disastrous for the economic condition of those living on the land as
also for the efficiency of agriculture. The general economic policy of Britain, while it
accomplished the destruction of the old handicrafts of India, did not aid the free development of
modern industries in the country lest these industries should menace the British industries in the
market. This mainly brought about the lack of balance between the agricultural and industrial

parts of Indian economy. (See Chapter VII 'Rise of Modern Industries'). The second reason why
Britain desired and strove to keep India predominantly agrarian was that it required the cheap
agricultural raw materials of India for her industries. This made India, mainly, a colonial agrarian
appendage of Britain.
While recognizing the high degree of development of the Indian handicrafts, we should not lose
sight of their limitations. First, these urban handicrafts produced articles which primarily catered
for the luxurious tastes of a limited aristocratic and wealthy mercantile stratum of medieval
society or the military needs of the state or the specific requirements of ecclesiastical groups and
institutions or pilgrims periodically visiting religious centres. The urban handicrafts did not
80
produce to meet the primary daily needs of the common people. This significant fact restricted
the volume of their production as well as their market.22 Even when it exported their costly
products to foreign lands which were their customers. Thus limitation of markets was a fetter on
extensive development of the urban industries, which was possible only if industries produced
primarily for the daily needs of the common people. Further, the industrial economic unification
of a country could take place only when industries produced goods on a mass scale for the
elementary needs of the common people.
The primary daily needs of the overwhelming portion of the Indian people distributed in
numerous self-sufficient village centres were met by mainly locally produced and locally
consumed products of village artisan industries. In towns, artisan industries producing on a vast
scale to meet the basic economic requirements of the people as a whole, the country was not
economically integrated. Every village was almost an independent producing and consuming
centre. Exchange in articles of daily and primary use was not much developed.

Historical Significance of Decline

The decline and decay of the urban handicrafts and the capture of their market by the cheap
products of modern foreign and subsequently also Indian industries, along with the crippling of
the village artisan industry, steadily transformed India into an industrial market for these goods.
The exchange spread from village to village, between villages and towns, between India as a
whole and the outside world and was not merely restricted to the class of luxury goods or goods
of military importance but extended to articles of daily human consumption. Exchange relations
enveloped and permeated the entire Indian society. This contributed to the economic unification
of India.
It is true that the destruction of urban handicrafts involved untold misery for the operators of
these industries, specially because no parallel and sufficient industrial development took place in
India itself which could provide work for the ruined handicraftsmen. It is true that this caused a
suffocating over-pressure on India's agriculture resulting in the steady impoverishment of the
rural population. But while feeling sad about these agonies of the people and the ruin of old
industries, we should recognize the vital historical fact that the destruction of the pre-capitalist
urban handicrafts and the village artisan industry

81
of India brought about by the forces of modern industries and trade, made way for the
transformation of India into a single economic whole. It objectively unified the entire people and not a section - within the web of a system of exchange relations. It thus contributed to the
building of the material basis for the growth of a common and joint economic existence for the
Indian people, for the economic integration of the Indian people into a nation.
The mass of ruined handicraftsmen, in part, took to modern Indian industries, and became
factory and transport workers, but, in the absence of sufficient growth of these industries, in the
main, took to agriculture and became tenants or land labourers. They had rarely sufficient capital
to purchase land and become free peasant proprietors. Thus the class of Indian handicraftsmen, a
class based on medieval handicrafts, steadily dissolved itself into and increased the class of the
modern proletariat, of tenants and land labourers. They became integral parts of the new classes
in India which arose on the basis of the new capitalist economic relations which developed in
India during the British rule. They became a part of the capitalist socio-economic structure of
Indian society however insufficiently developed. They became parts of the new classes which
were nationally unified and had to confront problems which transcended a mere town but were
national in scope. The new class of land labourers or industrial workers or tenants or peasant
proprietors had a community of interests and common problems which could not exist among
Indian handicraftsmen in pre-British India. The ruined handicraftsmen now achieved the status
of being members of classes which were component parts of the Indian nation and existed as
national units with common interests and problems. This was a distinct historical advance.

References
1. Gadgil, p. vi.
2. ibid., p. 37.
3. ibid., p. 38.
4. Thompson and Garratt, pp. 431-2.
5. Refer Lecky.
6. Brooks Adams, pp. 263-4.
7. Quoted by Mill, p. 385.
8. Refer Major Basu.
82
9. Refer Gadgil and Buchanan.

10. Thompson and Garratt, pp. 434-5.

11. ibid., p. 434.
12. Refer Basu, pp. 85-7.
13. Bolts, p. 195.
14. Ramachandra Rao, p. 99.
15. Refer A. Mehta
16. Gadgil, p. 41.
17. ibid., p. 45.
18. Basu, pp. 10-11.
19. Gadgil, pp. 40-1.
20. ibid., p. 43-4.
21. Refer Gadgil.
22. Refer Gadgil and Buchanan.
83

Six Decline of Village Artisan Industries

Pre-British Village Artisan Industries
AS SEEN in a former chapter, village artisan industries constituted the industrial part of the
balanced and predominantly self-sufficient village economy of the pre-British village providing
almost all its industrial requirements. It was the industrial pillar of the economic autarchy of the
village, the other pillar being the self-sufficient village agriculture. Further, the division of labour
had not reached an advanced stage as is seen from the fact that most of the artisans were parttime cultivators, cultivating the patch of land assigned to them by the village just as the
cultivators - especially their womenfolk - spent some time in industrial activity such as
spinning.1
A particular feature of the village economic relations was that the artisans (except perhaps the
weaver) had more the status of the servants of the village community which assigned them a part
of the village land and a portion of the annual agricultural produce, than that of free producers
exchanging their products and services among themselves or with cultivators.2

Within the artisan industry itself, there was very limited division of labour and very little
specialization, thus keeping the artisan's technical skill at a low level. External competition also
was absent since the village was almost an independent economic unit. This not only led to the
absence of incentive to the artisan to improve technique and skill but also prevented the growth
of localization of industry in India.3

Causes of their Decline

The influx of cheap British and non-British machine-made goods into India was the fundamental
cause of the decline of village artisan
84
industry. The introduction of railways and, later of buses, made it easy for goods to reach the
villages. "The railways and steamships have made it possible for European power manufacturers
to offer the Indian farmers much better terms than the Indian village craftsmen could give. Selfsufficing local economy has been displaced by international specialization and trade, much to the
discomfiture of the Indian craftsmen."4
The steady growth of modern industries in India itself, during the second half of the nineteenth
century and thereafter, accelerated this decline. A brief survey of the process of this decline is
made next.

Their Decline, an Uneven Process

The process of the decline of village handicrafts, though universal, was, due to social, economic
and local reasons, uneven.
The handloom industry in the villages was adversely affected by the influx of cheap machinemade cloth and rapidly declined after 1850. Subsequently the decline was partly though not
effectively retarded by propaganda in its favour, by Indian leaders such as Gandhi and
organizations like the All-India Spinners' Association. The factories, however, utilized the
popularization of the use of khaddar and put into the market mill-made khaddar which obstructed
the spread of this type of cloth.
"Yet on account of the great relative economy of the factory method, hand spinning has little
chance in competition and hand weaving is endangered....Like the handloom workers in India
have suffered greatly from lower prices of factory-made goods, both from abroad and from
Indian mills."5
The economic position of the village carpenter deteriorated in proportion to the introduction of
machinery in rural production. The adoption of such new devices as the iron plough and the iron
cane-crushing machine seriously affected him. A section of the ruined carpenters were
incorporated in the furniture making and such other industries which sprang up in the towns.

The new economic environment had, however, a minimum effect on the position of the village
blacksmith. The demand for the repair work which he performed in the village did not diminish
to any tangible extent. A section of the village blacksmiths, however, migrated to the towns and
was employed in modern engineering workshops, in
85
iron foundries and such other enterprises.6
The village tanner was, perhaps, the worst sufferer from the economic transformation of the
countryside. In the pre-British period, he got carcasses of animals gratis from his fellow
villagers. After India was linked with the world market and tanning industries developed in
India, the owners of dead animals found it very profitable to sell the hides to the representatives
of these industries, Indian and foreign.7 While the new town tanning industries absorbed a small
section of the ruined village tanners, a big proportion of them were constrained to be land
labourers.
The import of cheap aniline dyes seriously affected the village dyeing industry and almost ruined
the village dyer. By the end of the nineteenth century, this village artisan industry was
irretrievably damaged.8
The increasing substitution of kerosene in place of oil for lighting purposes by the villagers
seriously affected the village oilman. The growth of the oil-pressing industries in towns which
produced oil for culinary purposes, however, had no tangible effect on his trade.
The increased use of enamelled ware imported from foreign countries and metal ware produced
by the growing brass and such other industries in India, by the upper strata of the village
population, contracted the demand for the goods produced by the village potter. However, since
the poor strata of the village continued mainly to use earthenware, he was not quite ruined.9
Since an economically stranded village potter could not be incorporated into any urban industry,
generally he became an agricultural worker.
The various famines which broke out also contributed to the decline of village artisan industries.
During the period of famine, poor artisans, specially weavers, were constrained to seek relief by
taking to other forms of work. While blacksmiths or carpenters could sometimes get work,
artisans like weavers had to resort to manual labour. It was often difficult for them to rehabilitate
their craft skill after the crisis was over. "In the absence of extraneous aid, many weavers are
obliged under the stress of the famine to fall off from their own trade; of these a considerable
number never return to it, but sink into and swell the ranks of ordinary' labourers."10
Some of the artisan industries persisted due to the poverty of the rural population. For instance,
the village potter still commanded customers because the major portion of the population was too
poor to
86

buy metal or enamelled ware and big pottery industry existed in the country.
The tendency of all village industries was, however, towards decline.

Surviving Village Artisans, their Changed Status

There arose a special difference in the conditions in which the village artisans now worked and
in those in which they formerly worked. While formerly they were almost servants of the village
community getting for their services and goods free land and a fixed amount of grain at the
harvest time, now predominantly, though not exclusively, they worked on a cash basis and had
independent economic relations with the members of the village. The transition from the old to
the new method had been slow and not always completed. Still "the point to be emphasized is
that almost everywhere the tendency was for the regular income of the artisan from the dues and
the perquisites, etc. to diminish steadily in importance."11
Another aspect of the change in the status of the artisan was that he was increasingly transformed
into a wage worker. For instance, in earlier periods, the village weavers supplied the needs of the
village people. They did not produce for the market. Under the new conditions, the weaver
became more and more dependent upon the merchant for the sale of his products in the local or
distant market. Further, competition made more capital necessary than the weaver possessed.
This resulted in the weaver coming steadily into the grip of the merchant. "Often the worker is
still technically independent and supposedly buys yarn and sells cloth; usually he is bound to
deal with only one merchant to whom he is heavily in debt."12 Thus like the cultivators, the
artisans increasingly became subjected to merchant capital.
The decline of village artisan industries and urban handicrafts in India was not accomplished by
the simultaneous, parallel and proportionate expansion of modern industries in India. The causes
of this have been mentioned in the chapter dealing with the growth of these industries.
Due to this insufficient development of modern industries, surviving village handicrafts, even in
the extant state of progressive ruination, played an important role in meeting the needs of the
rural population concentrated in the legion of villages in the country, "...even
87
today, the large bulk of the industrial population of India is formed of country artisans."13

Abortive Attempts at their Reconstruction

Various attempts were made to stem the tide of the progressive dissolution of the village artisan
industries, even to restore them to their former strength and status. The most important and
spectacular attempts to rehabilitate those industries were those of the Indian National Congress
and Gandhi. The All-India Village Industries Association organized by the same leader had for
its aim the revival, in a modified form, of all cottage industries.

These attempts did not, however, yield any appreciable results. The protagonists had more to rely
on the patriotic and humanitarian sentiments of the people than on arguments of the economic
superiority and advantages of village industries. For instance, regarding non-mill khaddar,
Gandhi exhorted the people "to wear khadi even though it may not be so soft and elegant in
appearance as foreign fineries, nor as cheap."14 Mahatma Gandhi, with all his personal influence
and even with big financial resources which were incidentally collected, in the main, from the
Indian industrialists and came from the profits of the very modern industries in India whose
growth had contributed to the ruin of the village industries, was unsuccessful in restoring these
industries to any tangible extent. The fundamental cause of the failure of those attempts was that
they worked against the forward march of history, against the forces of economic evolution.
The All-India Village Industries Association was organized on the initiative of Gandhi with the
declared object of emancipating the village from dependence on machine goods, or reviving dead
or dying pre-capitalist artisan industries. This programme of economic retrogression ignored the
fundamental fact of history and life. It wanted to go against the inexorable fundamental laws
which govern social existence. It strove to revive technique and economic forms which had been
superseded by more advanced techniques and economic forms in historical development.
The pre-capitalist artisan industries, which this programme sought to revive, declined mainly due
to the unequal struggle against the modern machine-based industries. The historical strength of
the machine industries lay in the fact that its products were cheaper than
88
those of the handicrafts. In a society, based on exchange of products, only those forms of
production are selected in the economic struggle which satisfy human wants with minimum
labour. In a society based on the market, cheaper products will always prevail and oust the costly
ones. It was due to the action of the iron law of economic selection that artisan industry declined
and machine-based industry came to stay.
It is not possible to revive an economic system undermined in the normal course of historical
development. In historical progression, pre-capitalist handicrafts were increasingly superseded
by modern industries. The attempts of leaders like Gandhi to revive the artisan industries based
on a backward technique and the resultant lower productivity of labour were unhistorical and
therefore not likely to succeed.
The almost ineffectual episode revival of some of the village industries such as hand spinning,
handloom and some crafts, had been due to a number of factors. "For given the hopeless existing
agricultural disorganization, which condemns an overcrowded population on the land to forms of
labour that are estimated to leave the equivalent of half the working year unoccupied, and given
the absence of industrial development, the promotion of hand spinning, the handloom and craft
industries is... a temporary palliative...."15
This partial and extremely limited alleviative economic measure, however, was "based on
acceptance of the worst evils of the existing distortion and cramping of Indian economy and is
directed to adaptation of these evils instead of to changing them." "Economically, there is no

future for an artificially attempted revival of hand industry in a capitalist world. The khadi or
hand-made cloth cannot compete in prices with the mill-made cloth, and is therefore beyond the
reach of the poorest.""' In fact, the artificial revival, very limited and only episodic, was brought
about with the aid of a group of industrialists like Birla and Bajaj who financed this revival* and
a section of the upper classes who made deliberately economic sacrifices by purchasing
* Some of the Left nationalist and socialist groups considered the financial support given by
Indian mill magnates and landlords to the khaddar and cottage industries movements as an astute
manoeuvre. It was to divert the economic discontent of the agrarian population from finding
expression in struggles against landlords, merchants and moneylenders who exploited
89
the products of these industries believing that their sacrifice would reanimate the moribund
handicrafts, would hit the British economically and liquidate the poverty of the Indian masses.
This hope could not materialize since the programme clashed with historical and economic
forces as well as psychological factors. Even Gandhi, once the uncompromising opponent of
modern industries, modified his view in the light of the failure of his programme and came to
accept a conditional and limited mechanization of production.

Decline of Village Industries, its Consequences

The progressive ruination of the village industries disrupted the unity of agriculture and industry
on which the village economy was based. It made the village dependent for industrial goods on
the outside world. The village no longer remained the almost autonomous economic unit it once
was. It became a dependent part of the national and even world economy.
The introduction of capitalist land relations and new land laws such as making the individual
peasant the unit of land revenue collection, was not sufficient to break up the economic autarchy
of the village. The undermining of its industrial pillar, the village artisan industries, was also
necessary. The combined action of both these factors dealt a serious blow to the self-sufficient
village.
The progressive ruination of the artisans drove larger and larger numbers of them to abandon
their crafts which they had plied for generations. A section gravitated to cities and became
factory or workshop employees or joined oil, sugar, tanning, furniture making and such
industries. A section with some means bought land in the village and became peasant proprietors.
Those without means became land labourers or even paupers. This resulted in overpressure on
agriculture.
"The millions of ruined artisans and craftsmen, spinners, weavers, potters, tanners, smelters,
smiths, alike from the town and from the
it. The rich patrons thereby tried to decoy the rural masses into concentrating on programmes of
fictitious solutions of their poverty which was, in reality, due to exorbitant rents, debts, land tax,

and such other causes. In India the industrialists had close economic affiliation with the
zamindars and the rural merchant and money-lending classes.
90
villages, had no alternative save to crowd into agriculture. In this way India was ... transformed,
from being a country of combined agriculture and manufacturers, into an agricultural colony of
British manufacturing capitalism."17 This was due to the fact that modern industries which could
incorporate the ruined artisans did not develop at the same rate at which the handicrafts were
ruined. A section of the ruined artisans sent their sons to schools who, after receiving a limited
education, became teachers or clerks.
Nevertheless, as already mentioned, due to slow industrial expansion in India, the village artisan
population in spite of its diminishing number formed a very large proportion of the total
industrial population of the country.
The self-sufficient village was an obstacle to the growth of national consciousness and the
development of a common national life. The progressive dissolution of the village artisan
industries by undermining the economic foundations of the autarchic village paved the way for
this consummation.
"Sickening as it must be to human feeling to witness those myriads of industrious, patriarchical
and inoffensive social organizations, disorganized and dissolved into their units, thrown into a
sea of woes, and their individual members losing at the same time...their hereditary means of
subsistence, we must not forget that these idyllic village communities...had always been the solid
foundation of Oriental despotism, that they restrained the human mind within the smallest
possible compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition, enslaving it beneath traditional
rules, depriving it of all grandeur and historical energies."18
Historically, the self-sufficient village economy had to be a casuality before the single national
economy of the Indian people could come into being. Similarly, the self-sufficient, almost closed
existence of the village community had to be shattered before the entire Indian people could be
welded into a nation and live a common and historically higher social, political, economic and
cultural existence.
The artisans who left their village and became city workers, became members of the working
class which, transcending all local and provincial limitations, began to organize on national lines.
The ex-artisans developed wider consciousness of being members of the Indian working class.
They developed a national outlook also.
Even those sections of the ruined artisans, who bought land and
91
became peasants or who, due to lack of means, became land labourers, developed a different and
wider consciousness. Under the new conditions created by the transformation of Indian

agriculture, they were not members of an economically self-sufficient village community but
formed, economically, classes which were integral parts of the Indian nation. Now living under
the same system of land laws, the interests of all peasants or land labourers throughout India
became more or less identical. The recognition of this stimulated a wider class and national
consciousness among them and prompted them, in course of time, to build up or join such
organizations as the All-India Kisan Sabha and others.
Even the artisans who still survived, were different from those in the pre-British period. While
the latter were almost village servants catering mainly to the village needs, the former produced
for the market. As such, they were affected by the movement of world prices and other forces.
Hence, they organized themselves for economic self-defence on a national basis, building such
organizations as the All-India Spinners' Association. Thus the village artisan developed a wider
outlook and knowledge. He showed more initiative and individuality than the artisan of the selfsufficient village.
These were the principal historically progressive consequences of the destruction of the selfsufficient village to which the decline of village handicrafts contributed.

References
1. Refer Gadgil.
2. Refer Gadgil, Buchanan, Wadia and Merchant.
3. Refer Gadgil and Buchanan.
4. Buchanan, p. 130.
5. ibid., pp. 77-8.
6. Refer Gadgil.
7. Refer Buchanan and Gadgil.
8. Refer Gadgil.
9. ibid.
10. Report of the Finance Commission, 1896.
11. Gadgil, p. 175.
12. Buchanan, p. 77.
13. Gadgil, p. 163.

92
14. Gandhi, Hanjan, 19 November, 1938.
15. R. P. Dutt, p. 515.
16. ibid., p. 515.
17. R. P. Dutt, p. 129.
18. Karl Marx, pp. 20-1.
93

Seven Rise and Development of Modern

Indian Industries
Development of Modern Industries in India
THE ESTABLISHMENT of modern machine-based industries in India during the period of the
British rule played a significant role in the consolidation of the national economy of the country.
It also generated social forces which gave impetus to the growth of Indian nationalism and the
nationalist movement. It is true that the industrial development of India was insufficient and lopsided due to a number of reasons. Still, this industrial development created powerful social forces
which helped national advance. To mention only the most important among them, the growth of
modern industries brought into existence modern industrial cities which became the theatres of
intense social, political, and cultural life and prime sources from which all progressive
movements generally emanated. Further, the growth of modern industries led to the emergence
of such new social groups as the class of the bourgeoisie and that of the proletariat, two basic
classes whose specific weight in the movement of contemporary society was found great, even
decisive.
The bourgeoisie and the proletariat are the basic classes of the modern capitalist society. As
capitalist economy based on competition and commodity production develops, the intermediate
classes of small producers such as artisans, and others, being unable to compete with powerful
industrial rivals in the market, are ruined and increasingly fall into the ranks of the workers. In
the countryside, too, the intermediate stratum of peasant proprietors, due to progressive
impoverishment in the circumstances of capital economic environment, increasingly lose land to
usurers and merchants and other capitalists and a good proportion of them become landless
labourers or agricultural proletariat.
94

Thus while the intermediate social groups are unstable and dissolving social categories, the
proletariat remains a stable and increasing class. The conflict between the proletariat and the
bourgeoisie is, therefore, the basic conflict in capitalist society, providing movement to it. In this
class struggle, the working class sets to itself the goal of socialism, a social system based not on
wage labour and private property in means of production as in the capitalist system, but on social
ownership of those means and free co-operative labour of all workers.
The Indian working class, while striving for national independence, considered independence
only as a milestone on the road to its socialist liberation.

Brief History of their Development

We will now take a survey of the rise and expansion of these industries in India under the British
rule, the extent and the nature of their development, and their organizational structure.
The establishment of railways in India, during the middle of the nineteenth century, created a
condition for the growth of modern industries in India. One of the main motives in constructing
railways in India was outlined by Lord Dalhousie in his famous Minute on Railways thus:
"The commercial and social advantages which India would derive from their establishments
are...beyond all present calculation...
England is calling aloud for. the cotton which India does already produce in some degree, and
would produce sufficient in quality, and plentiful in quantity, if only there were provided the
fitting means of conveyance for it from distant plains to the several ports adopted for its
shipment. Every increase of facilities for trade has been attended, as we have seen, with an
increased demand for articles of European produce in the most distant markets of India... New
markets are opening to us on this side of the globe under circumstances which defy the foresight
of the wisest to estimate their probable value or calculate their future extent."1
Thus the construction of railways in India was primarily undertaken to meet the raw material and
market requirements of the British industries. Their construction also gave scope for the
investment of British capital and sale of the products of the growing engineering industry of
Britain in India.
95
The establishment of railways and the accumulation of sufficient savings in the hands of the
Indian merchant class to serve as basic capital, made possible the creation of the Indian-owned
modern industries in India.
Regarding the role of railways in this development, Karl Marx wrote:
"When you have once introduced machinery into the locomotion of a country, which possesses
iron and coals, you are unable to withhold it from its fabrication. You cannot maintain a net of
railways over an immense country without introducing all those industrial processes necessary to

meet the immediate and current wants of railway locomotion, and out of which there must grow
the application of machinery to those branches of industry not immediately connected with the
railways. The railway system will therefore become in India truly the forerunner of modern
industry."2
The British were the pioneers in establishing modern industries in India such as plantation
industries like indigo, tea and coffee, by the middle of the nineteenth century.
It was between 1850 and 1855 that the first cotton mill, a few jute mills and coal mines were
started. In 1879, there were 56 cotton mills in India. The number of jute mills, mainly owned by
the Europeans, rose to 20 in 1882. In 1880, 56 coal mines were working in the country. These
were the only three principal modern industries in 1880 in India.
Between 1880 and 1895, though no important new industries were established, the old industries
registered an appreciable advance. The extension of the cotton mill industry was particularly
striking the number of cotton mills increasing to 144 in 1894-95. The number of jute mills rose
to 29 and that of coal mines to 123 in the same year.3 Nationalist economists like Ranade were
impressed with the steady expansion of the Indian industries during this period and visualized a
great industrial future for the Indian nation. Ranade remarked: "India has now fairly entered
upon the path which, if pursued in the same spirit which has animated its capitalists hitherto,
cannot fail to work its industrial salvation."4
Between 1895 and 1905, the rate of growth of the Indian industries, especially the cotton
industry, slowed down. This was mainly due to the serious deterioration of the economic
condition of the agrarian
96
population as a result of two disastrous famines and, further, due to American speculation in
cotton in 1902 which led to the shooting up of the prices of cotton, thereby adversely affecting
the Indian mill industry. The Indian industries, however, in spite of these unfavourable factors,
made progress during these years though at a retarded rate.
The Swadeshi movement which was started principally by the Indian National Congress in 1905
gave a momentum to the expansion of the Indian industries. In 1913-14, the number of cotton
mills rose to 264 and that of jute mills to 64. The coal mining industry which had been
developing uninterruptedly was employing 151,376 workers in 1914. The growth of this industry
was mainly due to the extension of communications and expansion of the mill industry.
Between 1890 and 1914, new industries like those of petroleum, manganese, mica and saltpetre,
came into existence. Some rice and timber mills were also started. In addition, "Engineering and
railway workshops, iron and brass foundries, also grew rapidly."5
D. H. Buchanan described the industrial expansion between 1890 and 1914 thus:

"The growth from 1890 until the World War was fairly steady in all fields. Cotton spindles more
than doubled, cotton power looms quadrupled, jute looms increased four and a half times and
coal raisings, six times...."6
In spite of this steady advance, the level of Indian industrial development was low in 1914.
Progress was achieved primarily in the cotton and the jute industries only. Heavy industries were
absent. "Engineering was only represented by repair workshops, chiefly for the railways; the
barest beginning with iron and steel was just being made on the eve of the 1914 war; there was
no production of machinery."7
There were a number of reasons why the industrial development of India did not proceed at a
greater rate. Young Indian industries required, for rapid growth, protection, aiding them thereby
to compete successfully with the powerful, well established industries of countries like Britain,
Germany and others. The Indian government did not grant such protection. Neither did it
concretely help the Indian industries. British publicists also recognized this as one of the main
reasons thwarting the rapid industrial advance of India.
"Our record in regard to Indian industrial development has not always been a very creditable one
in the past, and it was only under
97
the pressure of war necessities that Government was driven to abandon its former attitude of
aloofness if not jealousy towards purely Indian enterprise."8
The pressure brought on the Indian government of the British economic interests was declared to
be a reason for this omission to aid the Indian industries, in the Government Annual Report of
1921. It stated: "Some time prior to the war certain attempts to encourage Indian industries by
means of pioneer factories and Government subsidies were effectively discouraged from
Whitehall."9
Another handicap to rapid industrial development was insufficient cadres of technicians. The
provision for technical education was meagre.
"The question of technical and industrial education has been before the Government and the
public for over twenty years. There is probably no subject on which more has been written or
said, while less has been accomplished."10
There were a number of other factors which explained the insufficient and lop-sided
development of the Indian industries. We will enumerate them at the end of the survey of
industrial development.
During the war of 1914-18, due to a considerable decline in the import of foreign goods and,
further, due to war requirements, Indian industries developed further. The government declared
industrialization as its active policy. Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, explained it thus in 1915:

"It is becoming increasingly clear that a definite and self-conscious policy of improving the
industrial capabilities of India will have to be pursued after the war, unless she is to become the
dumping ground for the manufacture of foreign nations who will be competing the more keenly
for markets, the more it becomes apparent that the political future of the larger nations depends
on their economic position. The attitude of the Indian public towards this question is unanimous,
and cannot be left out of account...."
"After the war India will consider herself entitled to demand the utmost help which her
Government can afford, to enable her to take her place, so far as circumstances permit, as a
manufacturing country."11
In pursuance of this aim, the Industrial Commission was appointed in 1916.
The Montagu-Chelmsford Reported published in 1918 stated: "On all grounds, a forward policy
in industrial development is
98
urgently called for, not merely to give India economic stability, but in order to satisfy the
aspirations of her people....
'Both on economic and military grounds Imperial interests also demand that the natural resources
of India should henceforth be better utilized. We cannot measure the access of strength which an
industrialized India will bring to the power of the Empire."12
Cotton and jute industries expanded during the war, as a result of the almost complete absence of
foreign competition. The production of steel rose 91,000 tons in 1913 to 124,000 tons in 1918.
The rapid industrial development of a country requires as a premise the presence of the basic
heavy (metallurgical and machine-producing) industry in that country. The practical absence of
such an industry in India set a limit to its industrial expansion in war-time.
"The absence of basic engineering and heavy chemical industries was the weakest spot in India's
industrial system."13 During the war, the Indian industries did not expand as they otherwise
would have due to the fact that there were no well-established industries in the country
producing machinery, chemicals, dyes and other articles necessary for industries. The iron and
steel industry founded by J. N. Tata in 1911 only partially met the requirements of the Indian
industries. There were other reasons also for the insufficient expansion of Indian industries
during the war when, due to the diversion of shipping mainly to war needs, the imports of
articles from outside had considerably declined. Lokanathan enumerates them as follows:
"Apart from the lack of indigenous capital, of industrial leadership and technical skill, there were
also some serious gaps in the supplies of raw materials and resources required for production.
The supplies of sulphur, copper, zinc, lead and rubber were inadequate. Although large quantities
of coal were available, they were not evenly distributed being concentrated in Bengal and Bihar,
where ninety per cent of the total output was produced. Further, the peculiar type of industrial

leadership which India developed, popularly known as the Managing Agency system, had the
blighting effect of removing from the Managing Agents all incentive to risk money on new and
possibly unsafe ventures when, as importers of machinery and mill stores and as traders and
insurance agents, they could earn liberal commissions. Above all, a laissez-faire policy was quite
inadequate for a poor country like India, which can only be developed under a well-conceived
99
Government plan...."
"Thus the last war, beyond affording temporary gains to a few established industries, did nothing
to set the country firmly on the road to industrialization."14
The Report of the Industrial Commission embodied a number of recommendations, the most
essential being that the government should actively interest itself in the industrial development of
the country and aid it by adopting various measures such as equipping itself with an adequate
scientific and technical staff, which would guide the industrialists in efficiently developing the
existing and creating important new industries in the country and others. The most essential of
these recommendations, however, remained unfulfilled.15
The Reforms Act of 1919 transformed industry into a Provincial Subject but the provinces were
technically and financially too weak to assist any appreciable industrial expansion. Regarding it,
D. H. Buchanan remarked thus:
"....With the constitutional reforms of 1919, the provincial organization (of industry) was
made...one of the "transferred subjects" and thus put in the hands of the local governments
responsible to elected legislatures. Unfortunately also, since the funds available have been
wholly inadequate, no very important policies could be initiated. Furthermore, the
encouragement of industry requires a far-reaching unified government policy concerning not
only raw materials and methods of production, but markets as well... It is doubtful whether the
mere provincial offices set up in India will have any considerable effect."16
The recommendation of the Fiscal Commission in 1922 advising the government to inaugurate a
policy of 'discriminating protection' was implemented by the latter in 1923. As a result of the
new policy, a Tariff Board was established in 1923. In 1924, the young Tata Iron and Steel
Industry received a government subsidy and also protection at the rate of 331/2 per cent. In
addition to this industry, other industries like cotton, match, sugar and a few others were also
given protection to varying extent.
To assist industrial development a Central Bureau of Industrial Intelligence and Research was
subsequently established.
These measures, however, did not lead to the creation of the vital prerequisite for a free, rapid
and substantial expansion of Indian industry, namely the development of heavy industries. M.
Visvesvaraya

100
in his book, Planned Economy for India (1936), wrote, "Heavy industries, the greatest need of
the day, have been left severely alone."17
The subsidy granted to the Tata Iron and Steel Industry was withdrawn in 1927.
From 1927 onwards, the Indian tariff system was governed by the principle of Imperial
Preference which worked mainly to the benefit of the British products "over both non-empire
and Indian production in the Indian market."18 The Ottawa Agreements which were reached in
1932, were based on the principle of Imperial Preference. There was a storm of protest from the
Indians against them. But they became operative in spite of this. Kate Mitchell comments: "In
this way the tariff system of the early twenties, originally proclaimed as a means for accelerating
Indian industrialization, was transformed into a system which assisted British industry, to
compete in the Indian market, while giving India in return the privilege of favoured rates for the
sale of her raw materials and semi-manufactures in the British market...an obvious attempt to
revert to the pre-1914 status."19
The economic depression of 1929-33 hit the Indian peasantry very hard. They had to draw on
whatever gold reserves they possessed.20 There was a further loss of the gold reserves of the
Indian masses during 1936 and 1937, diminishing thereby their purchasing power for industrial
goods. This had an inevitable adverse effect on industrial expansion.
Regarding this drain, Kate-Mitchell remarked, "This gold drain from the past savings of the
masses of the Indian peasantry meant a still further impoverishment of the Indian market and a
corresponding depression of Indian industry."21
In spite of these difficulties, modern industries steadily developed during the years between the
two wars. The following statistics reveal the progress made in some principal industries during
this period:
1922-3

1938-9
Cement
..
Coal
..
Cotton piece goods
Jute
..
Matches
..
21,100,000

..
..
..
..
..

Tons
Million tons
Million yards
Million yards
Gross Boxes

(1934-5)
Paper
..
..
Tons
Pig iron Tons
..
..
Sugar
..
..
Tons
Sulphuric acid ..
..
Cwt
Steel ingots
..
..
Tons
(Refer Wadia and Merchant, pp. 285-6)

193,000
19
1,713.5
1,187.5
16,500,000

1,70,000
28.3
4,269.3
1,774

23,576
455,000
84,000
529,637
131,000

59,198
1,575,500
1,040,048
607,000
977,400

101
Due to the expansion of the industries producing consumers' goods, the import of such goods
from foreign countries into India declined. "There has been an increasing tendency for imports of

goods of general consumption to diminish in relative importance. These declined from thirtyseven per cent in 1926-7 to twenty per cent in 1938-9. . . . The imports of raw materials (such as
textile materials, dyes, colours and paints) have shown a great increase. From sixteen per cent of
the total imports in 1922-3 they increased to twenty-four per cent in 1938-9. The imports of
machinery and other capital goods which formed nineteen per cent of the total imports in 1926-7
constituted twenty-five per cent in 1938-9."22
This increasing independence of the Indian people from foreign countries regarding consumers'
goods, and increasing dependence on them for capital goods, before the outbreak of World War
II, was described by Wadia and Merchant thus:
"The economic situation before the outbreak of the present war may be summed up as follows so
far as industrial development is concerned. The expansion of the protected industries has not
meant a very considerable addition to the total national income. The existence of these industries
and their ability to meet the requirements of the internal market cannot be regarded as giving to
the country that degree of self-sufficiency which may relieve it of all anxiety about the future,
for, whilst we are independent of foreign countries for the supplies of sugar, cotton goods and for
iron and steel, we are still largely dependent on foreign countries for the off take of a substantial
part of our production of raw materials. What is more important is that we are still dependent on
foreign countries for the supply of machinery and other capital goods without which the
establishment of new industries would be impossible."23
In spite of this steady development of modern industries, India, as a whole, was being 'deindustrialized' since the rate of their
102
development lagged behind the rate at which pre-modern indigenous industries were being
ruined. In 1936 The Economist, Indian Supplement, wrote: "The proportion of the population
dependent upon industry as a whole has tended to decline. . . . Although India has begun to
modernize her industries, it can hardly be said that she is as yet being 'industrialized'."24
The Second World War which broke out in 1939 gave a momentum to Indian industrial
development. The table of statistics that follows mirrors the expansion achieved.
There was hardly any appreciable advance in shipping, aircraft and such other industries.
In spite of the wartime situation, neither did any real development of heavy industries take place;
the prime prerequisite for the independent and rapid industrial progress of a country and a
barometer of its general economic advance. However, a number of light industries made progress
during the period.
1938-9 1939-40 1940-1 1941-2 1942-3 Average

Iron and Steel .. 100 110 125 150 200 146 Cotton manufactures . . 100 94 100 153 92 110 Jute
manufactures .. 100 106 91 103 85 96 Sugarcane factories .. 100 191 168 120 163 160 Paper ..
100 118 149 159 112 134 Electric energy 100 109 115 135 135 123 generated ..
(L. C. Jain, Indian Economy during the War, p. 31)
"The progress registered even during the war has been almost all in the consumers' goods
industries to the sad and striking neglect of production of capital goods industries. Cotton, sugar,
paper, cement and even leather have all expanded, while the basic industries for the production
of machine tools, automobiles, railway engines, ships and aeroplanes have been left out."25
Further, ". . . such industrial progress as has taken place in the country due to war is somewhat
artificial and temporary in character rather than real and permanent."26
"On the whole, there is substantial evidence for the view that Indian industry during the war is
falling behind its competitors in its degree of both mechanization and rationalization. . . . the
post-war danger in
103
India in industrial collapse, while the post-war need is industrial expansion..27

Emergence of Trusts and Monopolies

After this brief sketch of the development of modern industries in India under the British rule we
will proceed to describe some of the important characteristics of this development.
One of the striking features of economic development in India during this period in the sphere of
trade, industry and banking, was the concentration of a big proportion of enterprises in a few
hands.
"There are (in 1940) nearly 9,000 factories in India giving employment to about 17,00,0000
workmen. The capital invested in companies, registered in India, totals up to three thousand
million rupees..."
"A group of Managing Agents control about 500 industrial concerns, with capital of nearly
fifteen hundred millions and covering every field of industrial activity. This concentration of
control is common to all industries."28
This contrasted with the history of the economic development of such countries as England,
France, Germany and the U.S.A. where such concentration only took place in later stages of their
economic growth.29 In India, on the other hand, concentration took place within a few decades
of the establishment of industries.
This concentration led to the growth of Trusts on lines both of horizontal and vertical
combination. These Trusts controlled a substantial sector of the economic life of the nation.
There were about forty such Trusts in the country in the year 1940 which controlled about 450

concerns with capital over eleven hundred million rupees. These concerns covered industrial and
transport as well as financial fields. Killick Nixons, Sassoons, Andrew Yule, Bradys and Jardine
and Skinner were some of the powerful British Trusts. Tatas, Birla and Dalmia were some of the
outstanding Indian monopoly organizations.
These Trusts controlled economic enterprises of almost all categories. For instance, Tatas
controlled twenty-two concerns including four cotton mills, four electric companies, four power
companies, one iron and steel works, one airway company, one oil company, one insurance
company and even a hotel. Similarly Andrew Yule&Co. which operated in Eastern India,
controlled fifty-two concerns including eleven jute
104
mills, eleven coal mines, fifteen tea, one paper, two rubber, one oil and even one landed estate.30
These instances give an idea of the extensive activity of those few Trusts in the field of national
economy and their control over the economic life of the people.
Further, within the small number of Trusts, the control was concentrated in the hands of a few
Directors who commanded key positions. The system of interlocutory directorships which was
widely prevalent further helped to strengthen the power of these few Directors. About this,
Asoka Mehta wrote in 1940: "Five hundred important industrial concerns of our country are
managed by 2,000 directors. These directorships are held by 850 individuals. But, 1,000 of these
directorships are held by just seventy men.... At the apex of the pyramid stand ten men holding
300 directorships, the supreme arbiters of the destinies of our industrial economy."31
For instance, Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas was a director of fifty-one enterprises of such diverse
types as the B.E.S.&T. Co., the Oriental Government Security Life Assurance Co., the Indian
Radio and Cable Communications Co., the Reserve Bank of India, a number of presses, a
number of textile mills, a number of railway companies, the Tata Hydro-Electric Co. and a
number of electric and other companies.

Dominance of Finance Capital

Since large masses of capital are necessary for starting the modern type of industries and as it is
not possible to mobilize large sums from small investors, the aid of banks and big financial firms
becomes indispensable. This resulted in the control of Indian industry by finance capital. India
here exhibited the general feature of the economic life of all capitalist countries today, namely,
the control of finance capital over almost all branches of economy. "A dozen individuals, by
their control over banks, insurance companies and investment trusts, occupy commanding
positions in the industrial life of Bombay. Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas and his cousin Sir
Chunilal Mehta, between them hold directorships in every Trust and in well-nigh every
important concern in Bombay. They have facilitated or frustrated as it suited them many an
amalgamation and absorption. Premchand Brothers, Jeejeebhoy Brothers, Cowasji Jehangirs, in
their ways exert similar influence, thanks to their financial power."32
105

Finance capital, both British and Indian, mainly operated through what is known as the
managing-agency system. "By this system a relatively small number of managing-agency firms
promote, control and to a considerable extent finance the various industrial companies and
enterprises, govern their operations and output, and market their products, the boards of directors
of the companies fulfilling only a subordinate or even nominal role. The cream of the profit
passes, not to the shareholders, but to the managing agency."33

British Capital, its Stranglehold on Indian Economy

The English managing-agency firms were stronger than the Indian. Andrew Yule&Co. and
Jardine and Skinner were two of the powerful English firms. Their superior financial strength
and key control of industrial companies helped these firms to establish increasing power over
industries, especially during periods of economic difficulty.34
Finance capital, both British and Indian, operated through the system of banks also. The Reserve
Bank of India founded in 1934 and the Imperial Bank of India established in 1920 were the two
most powerful banking institutions in the country. A number of Exchange Banks also operated,
engaged in the import and export trade of the country, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and
China, the National Bank of India, and the Mercantile Bank of India, being the important ones
among them.
There was a third group of banks in the country, the Indian Joint-stock Banks in which there was
a preponderance of Indian capital.
The Imperial Bank and the Exchange Bank were predominantly non-Indian. Their combined
financial resources were greater than those of the Indian Joint-stock Banks which were mainly
under Indian control.
The Reserve Bank of India was the strongest banking institution in the country. It had wide
powers and was controlled by the Government through the right of appointment of its principal
officials such as the Governor, Deputy Governors and a number of Directors of the Bank.
A number of Indian nationalist economists and politicians declared that the substantial British
domination of Indian banking was one of the decisive obstacles to the rapid as well as free
industrial development of India. In the matter of financing the Indian-owned industries, both the
British-controlled banks and the government pursued policies which
106
were primarily determined from the standpoint of British economic interests and not those of
Indian industrial expansion.35
Thus the predominant control of British finance capital retarded the rapid tempo and free growth
of the industrial and general economic development of India. The Indian nationalist movement
which stood for a programme of rapid industrial development of the country as a pre-condition

for the material, social and cultural advance of the Indian people was consequently very critical
of the attitude of British finance capital and the economic policies of the government.
The Indian National Congress, the Liberals and other political organizations and groups, who
stood for the transformation of India into a highly industrialized country, severely criticized the
various economic safeguards provided by the Constitution framed under the Government of
India Act of 1935. They stated that the powers given to the Governors of provinces to overrule
the action of Indian Ministers would only perpetuate the existing preponderance and control of
British capital over the Indian economy and prevent the free and rapid industrial and general
economic advances of the country.
Due to the development of Indian industries as well as the increase in the competitive power of
Britain's non-Indian rivals like Germany, Japan and the U.S.A., Britain's share of the Indian
market exhibited steady decline.36
"Since 1936 India... is no longer Britain's principal customer as it had been for a century past, but
fell in 1937 to second place and in 1938 to third place.
This sharp decline, developing most rapidly in the post-1918 period, in Britain's share in the
Indian market reflects...the collapse in what had been the main field of nineteenth century
industrial capitalist exploitation of Indiathe export of cotton goods...
But while the old basis was thus collapsing, the new basis of profits by finance-capitalist
exploitation was steadily rising and extending in volume. By 1929 the total of British capital
investments in India was estimated in the Financial Times...at 573 million on the most
conservative basis, and more probably 700 million."37
The British Associated Chambers of Commerce estimated the figure at 1,000 million for 1933.
107
One important feature of British and other foreign capital investments in India was that there had
been a disproportion between the degree of industrialization and the amount invested. It was due
to the fact that a good proportion of foreign capital had been invested in non-industrial economic
fields since this was found more profitable. Even regarding industries, it found expression in
light industries.38

Reasons for the Lop-sided Growth of Indian Industries

Indigenous capital, already very small, also sought to some extent investment in more profitable
non-industrial channels. D. R. Gadgil remarks: "The smallness of India's capital resources, the
competition for these from both agriculture and industry, the high profits to be obtained in
money lending and in commerce, and the particularly high rates that ruled for money
accommodation at harvest time, all these combined to prevent a large flow of Indian capital into
industry."39

There were a number of reasons why the industrial development of India had been slow, retarded
and lop-sided. The Indian industries developed only after powerful industries were established in
England, Germany, the U.S.A. and other countries. This made it difficult for the former to
compete successfully with the latter in the market. Further, the industries of those highly
industrialized countries had the active support of their national states. In India, on the contrary,
the British government, following the principle of free trade, did not grant till 1924 any great
degree of protection to Indian industries, which was vitally necessary for them to be able to
compete with the giant state-aided industries of other countries. Even when the Tariff Board was
established and protective duties initiated, it did not appreciably help Indian industries, since, as
mentioned before, the policy of protection was subordinated to the principle of Imperial
Preference. However, a number of industries producing consumers' goods benefited by the
protective measures.
The absence of considerable well-established heavy metallurgical and machine-producing
industries in the country was another, and perhaps the most serious handicap for the rapid
industrial development of the country.
One of the characteristics of a colonial economy which makes it subservient to the interests of
imperialist economy is that it does not possess, to a large extent, heavy industries. These
industries are a vital
108
precondition for free, balanced, and rapid industrial development of a modern society.
"The real change comes in any country when the iron and steel industries begin to be
successful... The development of the metallurgical industries means the real industrial revolution.
England, Germany and the United States of America all started their iron and steel industries
before they started their textile factories."40
Another obstacle to the growth of Indian industries was the immense poverty of the agricultural
population which constituted about four-fifths of the Indian people and who represented a
formidable potential market for industrial goods. As seen in the chapter dealing with agriculture,
a number of factors such as debt, rent and revenue burdens, together with the declining income
from agriculture, had brought about serious impoverishment of a great majority of the agrarian
population. Indian industries could not appreciably expand unless a radical agrarian reform had
been introduced including a revision of land relations and productive aid by the state to the
farmers to renovate agriculture, thereby increasing the purchasing power of that huge population
and enabling them to extensively buy industrial goods.
The frequent dependence of Indian industrial development on British finance capital and the
resultant penetration and control of Indian industries by British capital, adversely affected that
development. Financial aid had often been rendered on the condition that Indian industrialists
purchased industrial plant from British firms and to those industries which did not come in
conflict with similar British industries in the market.

Inadequate supply of cadres of technicians due to insufficient institutions imparting technical

education was another factor which worked as a handicap to the growth of industry. The demand
for increased technical education in the interests of industries had been a permanent demand of
the Indian nationalist movement since its very birth. The Indian National Congress, the Liberals
and all other progressive political groups, always included in their programme the item of
technical education.
Further, Indian industries had entered the phase of concentration and monopoly. The
disadvantages of the monopoly form of organization to industrial expansion were, therefore,
inherent in the industrial situation in India.
109

Indian Monopolies, their Peculiarities

Monopolies in India were, however, distinguished from monopolies in the highly developed
capitalist countries like the U.S.A., Britain, France, and others in a variety of ways. Monopolies
in those advanced countries came into existence as climax of a long period of development of
capitalist economy on the basis of 'free competition'. In India, due to the belated arrival of
capitalism, capitalist economic enterprises assumed a monopoly form without any long period
and tradition of a non-monopoly phase of indigenous capitalist development. Thus, while in
countries mentioned above, capitalist monopolies appeared after the development of productive
forces and general economic evolution had reached a very high level, in India they emerged even
while the productive forces of the country were insufficiently developed. In India, the monopoly
form existed in contradiction to the immature state of industrial and other productive forces of
Indian society. Parasitism and social, political and economic retrogression, which a monopoly
form of capitalist economic organisation implies, was particularly harmful to Indian economic
development since it was on a low level.*
The second difference between Indian monopolies and those in
* The working out of the laws of competition between various enterprises under capitalism gives
rise to monopolies, which own and control entire branches of industry, entire industries even,
both in the national and international economic spheres. Though monopolies emerge,
competition does not vanish. Now, monopolies compete with one another in the world arena.
The struggle between these economic giants assumes world-wide and fierce forms sharpening
conflicts between capitalist nations and leading to intense economic and military warfare among
them.
The rise of monopolies indicates an extraordinary development of productive forces and their
social character. It also indicates the conscious or unconscious recognition of the planning
principle by the capitalist owners themselves, without which modern productive forces at their
present level of development cannot be freely and fruitfully operated. However, under the
conditions of capitalist private ownership of the means of production, a comprehensive,
harmonious and universal planning of production is not possible. Thus, while the highly
developed productive forces of the modern epoch provide the indispensable material basis for

socialism, socialist economy is the only determined economic form within which these forces
can further and freely develop.
110
advanced countries lay in their relation to their respective states. Monopolies in the U.S.A.,
Britain, France, and such other countries, in general, determined the economic policies, both
internal and international, of their governments and received even state support. On the other
hand the Indian-owned monopolies as a rule, did not and could not influence the basic economic
policies of or receive appreciable support from the Indian government which, not being a
national government, was usually solicitous of safeguarding the British economic interests.
A third peculiarity in the position of Indian monopolies lay in the fact that they existed in a
predominantly agricultural country inhabited by poverty-stricken rural masses. The problem of
market was particularly acute for Indian industrial monopolies. It was the paradox of Indian
capitalist development that the highest form of capitalist economic organization, the monopoly
form, came into existence on the background of an economic environment which primarily
consisted of primitive and poor agricultural economy, with semi-feudal and even pre-feudal
remnants within it.
Along with private monopolies, there existed in India, as in advanced capitalist countries, state
monopoly enterprises. However, there was a basic difference in the role of those state
monopolies in India and in other countries. In India, state monopoly enterprises like railways
were owned by a government which was not a national government and which therefore
administered those monopolies usually to suit the interests of British capitalism and not of the
free economic advance of the Indian people. Railways were, therefore, kept outside the control
of the Central Legislature. In free countries like the U.S.A., Britain and France, when the state
took over and owned certain enterprises, the senate or the parliament had complete control over
the policies governing the conduct of those enterprises by the state. Those policies might be, till
the state power rested in the hands of the capitalist class in those countries, in the interest of that
class but they did not subserve any foreign interests as in India. The basic economic policy of the
Indian government, though modified by the pressure of popular opinion, was moulded neither by
the Indian people, nor by the Indian-owned monopolies but by the interests of British finance
capital. The current policy of the government, reflected in measures such as the regulating of
exchange ratio unfavourable to Indian interests was also one of the factors which retarded free
industrial development.
111
These were some of the principal obstacles in the way of the rapid all-sided industrial advance of
India.
India possessed the prerequisites, both human and material, for evolving powerful and
prosperous industries which would have made the Indian people rich and an independent
industrial national. Still, due to these handicaps, she remained predominantly a poor and agrarian
community with insufficient industries. Regarding this, D. H. Buchanan wrote in 1934.

"Here was a country with all the crude elements upon which manufacturing depends, yet during
more than a century it has imported factory-made goods in large quantities and has developed
only a few of the simplest industries for which machinery and organization had been highly
perfected in other countries. With abundant supplies of raw cotton, raw jute, easily mined coal,
easily mined and exceptionally high grade iron ore; with a redundant population often starving
because of lack of profitable employment, with a hoard of gold and silver... and with access
through the British government to a money market which was lending large quantities of capital
to the entire world; with an opening under their own flag for British business leaders who were
developing both at home and in numerous new countries, all sorts of capitalistic industries; with
an excellent market within her own borders...; with all these advantages, India, after a century,
was supporting only about two per cent of her population by factory industry...'The country
remains overwhelmingly agricultural."41

Prerequisites of Healthy Industrial Development

All progressive nationalist groups in the country, stood for and pressed the demand for
industrialization of India. They considered it as a material premise for the economic prosperity,
democratic social progress and cultural advance of the Indian people. Industrialization of India
was recognized as the main remedy for relieving the overpressure on agriculture which was one
of the reasons of the impoverishment of the agriculturists. Hence, all social and political groups
in the country, in spite of their other vital differences, made industrialization an essential item of
their economic programme. The Swadeshi movement, the fight against the rupee ratio, the
struggle
112
against the power granted to the Governors of Provinces under the Constitution of 1935, of
'safeguards' to protect British economic interestsa struggle in which all political groups
joinedwere inspired with the aim of transforming India into a rich industrial country. The same
aim animated the sponsors of such economic plans as the Tata-Birla Plan, wherein a Loyalist
Dalai, a Liberal Tata and a Gandhian Congressite Birla made a common cause.
We have enumerated the main obstacles to the rapid expansion of Indian industries such as the
basic economic policies of the government; the immense poverty of the agrarian population, the
potential market for industrial goods; the financial weakness of the Indian bourgeoisie; and ever
intensifying competition with international rivals who had the support of their respective
governments, and others.
In such a situation, a programme of planned national economy, covering every branch of
economic life, could have alone brought about an assured, rapid and symmetrical development of
industries. Such a programme would have included the transformation of the poor and primitive
agriculture into a prosperous modernized agriculture; modernization and extension of industries;
development of metallurgical, chemical, electrical, machine producing and such other industries;
extension of railway, bus and other means of transport; raising of technical and engineering
cadres; training of agronomists on a mass scale and other vital items. In fact, the programme of a
planned national economy would have involved a veritable techno-economic revolution in the

economic life of the Indian people. It would have presented the colossal economic task of
mobilizing and making a maximum and planned use of all vast material and human resources of
the Indian sub-continent. Without such a programme, however, rapid industrial development as
well as a general economic advance were not possible.
That a national economic plan was the vital prerequisite for economic survival and expansion,
was recognized even by the bourgeoisie whose 'holy of holies' in the pre-crisis period was the
principle of laissez faire.

Bombay Plan, its Limitations

The Indian industrialists too recognized the arch-need of planning national economy. The
Bombay Plan was the most outstanding among the various plans projected by the Indian
industrial groups. Realizing that political power was vital for implementing any such plan, the
113
sponsors of the Bombay Plan looked forward to a national government to aid them in its
fulfillment.
There were some serious defects in the Bombay Plan. Its protagonists hoped to achieve the
programme of extensive industrial expansion without any radical revision of land relations extant
in the country. This was a vital pre-condition for liquidating the poverty of the agriculturists
thereby elevating their purchasing power. A revolution in land relations was necessary, to save
the agrarian economy from further deterioration and even collapse and the agrarian population
from deeper impoverishment.
The sponsors of the Plan further hoped to implement it within the framework of the categories of
capitalist economy such as competition, production for profit, private ownership of productive
apparatus and others. Though planning on a limited scale is possible on a capitalist basis, a
comprehensive and nationwide planned economy requires as its prerequisite social ownership of
land, industries, transport and other material means of production. A free, planned, and
maximum manipulation of resources in the interests of and for the use of the people rather than
the profits of a few owners, demands that these resources should be owned by the society as a
whole. The entire motive of production must be shifted from that for profit to that for use.
Even then, due to the fact that we live in an epoch of international division of labour and, more
or less, a world-wide unified economy, the most well-planned national economy will be subject
to the forces of world economy. A fully well-planned national economy can therefore become
only a part of a planned world-wide economy.
However, planned national economy was substantially possible in a country like India with its
tremendous manpower and rich natural resources. But, for its realization, it presupposed as an
inescapable premise national freedom; power, not in the hands of vested interests but in those
of the producing strata and social ownership of the means of production. The exponents of the
Bombay Plan, however, conceived it in a different way.

"May we suggest that this plan definitely rejects the idea of the control of the economic
organization in the interests of the consumers on the socialist basis, and only contemplates
planning within the present economic structure? So long as the profit motive functions in a
capitalist structure, the possibility of periodic crises and chronic unemployment cannot be
overcome. Nowhere in the present scheme do we find a
114
reference to this inherent weakness of a capitalist order. But it is naively assumed by the authors
of the plan that they can organize economic life in such a way that some parts would be fully
owned and managed by the state, others merely managed, while others would be only controlled.
In other words, they propose a sort of dual or mixed economy, one sector being fully free, others
partly controlled and/or managed by the state. But it is forgotten, attempts at the regulation of
one part of the economic structure may serve to sharpen the conflicts of competition in the
structure as a whole."42

Social Significance of Indian Industrial Development

In spite of its insufficient and unbalanced character, industrialization played almost a
revolutionary role in the life of the Indian people. It led to the consolidation of the unified
national economy which evolved in India as a result of the introduction of capitalist economic
forms in agriculture by the British government, penetration of India by the commercial forces of
the world and spread of modern transport during the British rule. Industrialization made the
Indian economy more unified, cohesive and organic. It raised the tone of the economic life of
India.
Further, it brought into existence modern cities which became the centres of modern culture and
increasing democratic social life and from which all progressive movements, social, political,
and cultural, emanated.
The progressive social and political groups in India realized the advantages, direct and indirect,
of industrialization. Though they differed in their views regarding the social organization of
industrial and other economic forces and resources whether on the laissez faire principle of
private enterprise and unlimited individual competition or on a planned national basis, capitalist
or socialist, they all stood for rapid, all-sided expansion of industries. While sharply divided on
many vital issues, they put up a united demand for it. They jointly struggled for the removal of
the various handicaps on industrial development. The demand for industrialization thus became a
national demand.
The establishment of modern industries, in addition, engendered two important classes of the
contemporary society, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, whose great significance in the
national movement will be subsequently discussed.
115

References
1. Lord Dalhousie, Minute on Railways, 1953.
2. Karl Marx, p. 62.
3. Refer Gadgil, pp. 74-7.
4. Ranade, p. 18.
5. Gadgil, pp. 117-18.
6. Buchanan, p. 139.
7. R. P. Dutt, p. 153.
8. Sir Valentine Chirol, in the Observer, 2 April, 1922.
9. Moral and Material Progress of India, 1921, p. 144.
10. Sir John Hewett, Lieutenant-Governor of the U.P. at the Indian Industrial Conference, 1907.
11. Dispatch to the Indian Secretary, 26 November, 1915.
12. Montagu-Chelmsford Report, p. 267.
13. Lokanathan, p. 6.
14. ibid., p. 6.
15. Refer Wadia and Merchant, p. 284.
16. D. H. Buchanan, p. 464.
17. Sir M. Visvesvaraya, p. 247.
18. Wadia and Merchant, p. 285.
19. Kate Mitchell, p. 285.
20. Refer Varga. . ,
21. Kate Mitchell, p. 286.
22. Lokanathan, pp. 7-8.

23. Wadia and Merchant, p. 287.

24. A Survey of India Today, 12 December, 1936.
25. Jain, p. 48.
26. ibid., p. 128.
27. ibid., p. 128.
28. Asoka Mehta, p. 3.
29. Refer Hobson and Lenin.
30. Refer Asoka Mehta, p. 9.
31. ibid., pp. 11-12.
32. ibid., p. 14.
33. R. R Dutt, p. 168.
34. Report of the Central Banking Inquiry Committee, 1931, Vol. 1, p. 279.
35. Refer Visvesvaraya, pp. 64-5.
116
36. Refer Review of Trade of India in 1937-8 issued by Dr. Gregory, Economic Adviser to the
Government of India.
37. R. P. Dutt, p. 146.
38. Refer R. P. Dutt
39. Gadgil, p. 193.
40. Knowles, p. 443.
41. D. H. Buchanan, pp. 450-51.
42. Wadia and Merchant, The Bombay Plan, a Criticism, pp. 3-4.
117

Eight Modern Means of Transport and Rise

of Indian Nationalism
Transport in Pre-British India
THE ROLE of modern means of transport such as railways, buses, and steamships, in the
consolidation of people into modern nations cannot be overestimated. It is not a mere accident
that the nineteenth century, the century of the invention of modern means of transport, was also
the century of emerging nationalism. It is true that some people like the English and the French
embarked on their careers as nations in the eighteenth century, yet their full development as
nations in the social and cultural sense took place only in the course of the nineteenth century.
Modern means of transport invented in that century helped to consolidate them, economically
and culturally, as nations.1
In India too, the establishment and spread of railways and motor buses appreciably contributed to
the forging of the Indian people into a nation.
The technique of transport depends upon and is determined by the existing level of economic
development of a country. India of the pre-British period possessed a feeble transport system
because, as a result of the scientific and technical backwardness of the people, modern industries
which alone could manufacture modern means of transport, did not exist. The village, where the
overwhelming portion of the population lived, was autarchic. As a result of this, there was no
stimulus to the improvement of the existing means of transport. Weak economy perpetuated the
weak transport system and the weak transport system hindered the development of that
economy.2
"Most of the people lived in isolated villages, and except for a few articles of small size and high
value, such as drugs, silks, and precious stones which are easily transportable, and a few bulkier
commodities more universally used, yet in small quantities,
118
such as iron and salt, they were dependent almost entirely upon local produce. There was little
specialization among the communities and hence little movement of either goods or persons.
Taking the crops from the fields, and a small share of these to nearby trading centres, was the
chief movement of goods and this could be effected on the heads of men or the backs of animals.
For the few longer distances and large-scale movements, bullock-carts were used in the dry
season. In a few regions, especially in Bengal, the many rivers and bayous connected with the
mouths of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, provided local and fairly long-distance carriage by
water. Also the Ganges and the Indus systems in the north and west, and the Krishna and the
Godavari in the south furnished, access for small craft to parts of the interior. During Mogul
times there were a few dirty roads connecting the local capitals, and the British did little road
building until after they became rulers."3

Due to the feeble means of transport existing in pre-British India, there was no development of
large-scale unified economic, social and cultural life among the people. Mass exchange among
the common people for economic, social and cultural purposes, was not possible since there were
no facilities for quick travel. It is true that a few learned individuals, a few traders, some of those
connected with state apparatus and pilgrims travelled over the country, still the overwhelming
majority of the population living in autarchic villages rarely left these villages. In the absence of
any appreciable social exchange among the people, they developed only local village or caste
consciousness. They could not develop national consciousness and outlook.

Introduction of Modern Means of Transport

In the first half of the nineteenth century, as a result of the unprecedented technological advance,
together with the accumulation of capital from the trade during the previous period, powerful
machine-based industries sprang into existence in England. The English industrialists were faced
with the problem of rapid disposal of the products of these new and steadily expanding industries
and securing raw materials for them from India and other parts of the world.
The interests of the British industries urged the government of the East India Company to
establish railways and construct roads in India.
119
Lord Dalhousie, who initiated a programme of wide railway construction in India, in his famous
Minute on Railways unambiguously defined the economic reason behind this construction.
Further, British capitalism was being steadily confronted with the accumulation of surplus
capital which could not always be employed profitably in Britain. An outlet was needed for this
surplus capital. If the Indian government were to adopt a programme of railway construction, it
would require capital. A part of the surplus capital accumulated in Britain could be loaned to the
Indian government and thus find an outlet.
In addition to these economic reasons, there were political-administrative and military-strategic
reasons for establishing railways in India. The British conquest, when it became complete, united
India, for the first time in her centuries-old history, into a single political-administrative system.
This political-administrative unity of India accomplished by Britain was not a surface unity.
Unlike the pre-British governments which were largely only revenue-collecting agencies, the
British government made inroads in the inner life of the village, broke its inner juridical and
policing independence, subjected it to the reign of a uniform system of law governing the entire
land, posted its representatives in the village to enforce these laws, in fact, took over from the
panchayats of the autonomous villages all those functions which belonged to the state but which
those bodies had been performing from times immemorial.
Thus the British evolved in India a colossal administrative apparatus penetrating even the
remotest village. The need to erect and efficiently operate such an apparatus also prompted them
to establish and extend railways, to construct modern roads, to establish the post and telegraph
systems. It was this necessity of assembling villages, towns, districts, and provinces, increasingly

brought under the British rule, into a single political-administrative system, which also
stimulated railway construction in India.
Further, the military-strategic reason, also made the introduction of the modern transport system
in India necessary. The British regime established in India had to be defended both against
internal rebellion and from external invasion. For a rapid mobilization and transfer of troops at
the required key strategic points, it was necessary to lay down adequate railway lines and
construct modern metalled roads. Thus the military defence need of Britain also led to railway
120
construction and, in general, to the extension of modern means of communications.

Their Lop-sided Development

Thus, the modern means of transport were established and extended not from the point of view
of the free, normal, all-sided development of the economic, social, political and cultural life of
the Indian nation, but primarily to serve the economic, political and military interests of Britain
in India. This lent a colonial adjunct of the British metropolis. It, therefore, led to the
insufficient, lop-sided distorted development of both railway and modern road systems in India.
"The comparative inferiority of India in the matter of railway mileage may be illustrated by
pointing out that as against India's 2.2 miles of railway line per 100 sq. miles and 7,894
inhabitants per mile of railway line, the United States which is a vast agricultural country like
India,...has 8.42 miles of line per 100 sq. miles and 469 inhabitants per mile of railway line.
Again, Canada, Argentina, the Union of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, have an
average of only 300 inhabitants per mile of railway line."4
The British government, realized the vital role of railways in safeguarding the economic interests
of British capital in India as well as in preserving the British power. Hence, it always retained the
final control of railways in the hands of its representative, the Viceroy of India. Even the
Government of India Act of 1935 provided that "the Executive Authority of the federation in
respect of the regulation and the construction, maintenance, and operation of railways shall be
exercised by a Federal Railway Authority. The Federal Railway Authority will be directly under
the Governor-General and the Legislature will have no control over it."
Railway and road construction in India was certainly motivated by the considerations of the
British interests and as a result of this, its development remained insufficient and lop-sided. Yet
it objectively played a progressive role in the history of the Indian people. Railways helped the
historically progressive new economic forces to destroy the economic foundations of the old
Indian society. They helped the penetration of India by the industrial products of the modern
society, thereby breaking the economic autarchy of the village. They helped to weld India into a
single economic unit and also linked India with the
121

world market. Railways helped to create a national economy, the material framework of the
Indian nation.
"The railways were of outstanding potency. By creating the conditions necessary for
specialization, they revolutionized production and trade, enabled the establishment of large-scale
modern industries, and led to the development of great ports and industrial centres... The
railways also tried to equalize prices throughout the country and throughout the year and, in
general, to effect economic unification... railways did even more than the famine relief
organization to transform the famine problem. They also helped to make slave-emancipation a
reality by providing alternative occupations and facilitating mobility."5
We will enumerate some of the principal positive gains derived from the introduction of railways
and motor bus transport in India. The establishment of railways in India made inevitable,
whether the British liked it or not, the birth of Indian industry owned by Indian capital, as Karl
Marx had prophesied as early as 1853:
"I know that the English millocracy intend to endow India with railways with the exclusive view
of extracting at diminished expense the cotton and other raw materials for their manufactures.
But when you have once introduced machinery into the locomotion of a country, which
possesses iron and coals, you are unable to withhold it from its fabrication. You cannot maintain
a net of railways over an immense country without introducing all those industrial processes
necessary to meet the immediate and current wants of railway locomotion, and out of which
there must grow the application of machinery to those branches of industry not immediately
connected with railways. The railway system will therefore become, in India, truly the forerunner of modern industry."6

Railways, their Progressive Significance

The role of railways in accelerating the process of industrialization was also pointed out by Joan
Beauchamp:
"The building of railways, the spread of education among the Indian middle classes, the growing
burden of the tribute exacted by Great Britain coupled with the increasing pressure on
agriculture, the presence of profitably worked up in India itselfall these things made the
coming of industrialism in India inevitable..."7
Railways coupled with the profits from trade in the hands of the
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Indian trading class, sections of landlords and rich intellectuals made the birth of independent
Indian industries possible. This was an event of profound significance since it brought into
existence the class of national industrial bourgeoisie, whose very interests brought them into
conflict (over market) with Britain, and that of the industrial proletariat whose specific weight in
the National movement steadily increased.

Railways and modern roads created a veritable revolution in the agricultural area. They made
agricultural production marketable. The agriculturists began to produce commercial crops. The
agricultural economy became an integral part of the national and even world economy. The
economic isolation of the village, the main cause of its social and cultural stagnation, broke
down.
Railways were a veritable boon during periods of famine. The surplus products of other parts of
the country could be swiftly brought to the famine-stricken area and the agony of the population
of that area alleviated. If famines still occurred, it was generally and primarily not because of the
lack of products in the area affected but often because of the lack of minimum purchasing power
of the people. Modern means of transport were a formidable force in unifying the Indian people
socially. The locomotive, triumphantly traversing a big physical distance, also helped to
annihilate the social distance dividing the people living in different parts. Motor buses, which
were introduced at a later stage, played a great role in breaking the isolation of the village. "As
the millions of Indian rats carry plague, so the thousands and thousands of buses, always
crammed with passengers, and carrying them from the villages to the city and back, carry the
virus of modernism."8
Railways and buses made mass migration of people from one part of the country to another
possible. To get work or to improve their prospects, people travelled by buses and railways from
Madras to Bombay, from Lahore to Calcutta. Educated individuals, doctors, teachers, clerks,
chose to change their province for employment and in cities, like Bombay, professional classes
composed of individuals belonging to almost all provinces in the country were found. The
intermixture of people made possible by the large-scale facilities of travel provided by modern
means of transport, had profound results. Though for a time, old local and provincial outlooks
persisted, a process of their undermining slowly set in. Old narrow perspective and outlooks
were steadily overcome. This paved the way for the growth of a wider
123
national consciousness and co-operation on a national basis.
Railways proved effective dissolvents of orthodox social habits regarding food, physical contact,
and others. Railways, impartially only on the basis of payment of railway fare carried the
Hindu touchable and the untouchable. Though the former was first shocked, he soon reconciled
himself to travelling with the untouchable since he did not like to forgo the advantages of
travelling by train. Railways thus weakened the adamantine orthodoxy of the Hindus. The
practice of railway travel, in course of time, dissolved his scruples regarding food, drink, and
untouchability. Railways made people move and intermix. This constant intermingling and social
exchange steadily destroyed the former habits of social isolation.
But for railways, motor buses and other modern means of communications, political and cultural
life on a national scale would not have been possible. If these became the means of consolidating
and preserving British rule in India, they also played the role of being the material means for
organizing the political movement of the Indian people on a national scale against that rule. Such
political organizations as the Indian National Congress, the Liberal Federation, the National

Democrats, Youth Leagues, the All-India Women's Conference, All-India Student Organizations,
All-India Kisan Sabhas, the All-India Trade Union Congress and other could neither have come
into being, nor been able to function on a national scale without the facilities provided by
modern railways, buses, post and telegraph. The nationalist movement would have been
inconceivable but for the fact that the railways made it possible for the people of different towns,
villages, districts, and provinces to meet, to exchange views and decide upon programmes for the
movement. Without the modern means of transport, no national conference could have been
held.
Railways and buses made it possible to spread progressive social and scientific ideas among the
people. In the absence of the modern means of transport, scientific and progressive literature
(books, magazines, papers), could not have been quickly distributed throughout the country.
Printed books for elementary schools were instruments for filtering education to the masses.
Printed books might have been turned out in tens of thousands but, without their quick
distribution among thousands of villages and towns which railways and motor buses could
accomplish, these books would not have reached those centres. No mass education would have
been possible without these services.
124
The scientific and cultural gains of a single centre could be made national property by the aid of
railways. Scientists, artists, sociologists, philosophers, and economists could bring the wealth of
their knowledge and the delight of their art to the people if they could travel. Scientific and
cultural conferences, where the quintessence of Indian intellect and artistic talent met, were
possible only if such swift means of travel as railways and buses existed. Thus mass education as
well as a culture, national in character and accessible to the nation, depended on railways as
much as on other factors.

Prerequisites for the Sound Development of Transport

The lop-sided and limited character of the development of modern means of transport and
communications in India prevented the full unfolding of the potential power of these means to
accomplish a still closer social and economic integration and more rapid cultural advance of the
Indian people. The problem of extensive and adequate expansion of those means was closely
bound up with the problem of the political power in the hands of the Indian people. It was also
with that of a rapid development of the productive forces of the Indian society through a
scientific plan of economic reconstruction which would have been fully possible if society, as a
whole, owned all means of production.

References
1. Refer Laski.
2. Refer D. H. Buchanan, Gadgil, O'Malley.

3. Buchanan, p. 176.
4. Soni, p. 24.
5. O'Malley, pp. 269-70.
6. Karl Marx, pp. 62-3.
7. Joan Beauchamp, p. 42.
8. Basil Mathews quoted in O'Malley, p. 248.
125

Nine The Role of Modern Education in the

Development of Indian Nationalism
Education and its Social Significance
NO SOCIETY can ever exist without economic activity. It must carry on the production process
even with a view to maintaining the bare physical existence of its members. To be able to
produce, that is to transform elements of nature into forms suitable for meeting the needs of men,
it must gather an understanding of Nature i.e. it must achieve scientific knowledge. It is in the
process of the social practice of man for biological existence that mechanics, physics, chemistry,
agronomy and other sciences developed. Men, associated in big or small groups, applied this
scientific knowledge and evolved technology i.e. such means of production as the plough and the
tools of the handicraft industry. The human mind has invented such marvellous means of
production, such as machinery driven by steam, electricity and even by atomic energy.
Every society, however backward, therefore, always possessed some scientific knowledge and
technology. It always possessed a philosophy or a world outlook, however crude it might be. PreBritish Indian society which had been existing for centuries was, therefore, not without any
scientific culture. It lived by agriculture and handicrafts, which presupposed such sciences as
astronomy, agronomy, mathematics and mechanics. Pre-British Indian society also possessed the
science of medicine.
Since pre-British Indian society stood at a low level of economic development, the amount of
scientific knowledge it had attained and accumulated was small. Indian people had done
pioneering work in sciences such as mathematics, chemistry, and medicine, centuries before
most of the modem peoples of the world ever awoke to civilized life. But, thereafter, Indian
society became stabilized almost at the same
126

economic and cultural level for a long period and the Indian people did not progress appreciably.
It evolved, during this period various interpretations of the idealistic philosophy it had
formulated in the Upanishads. However, it did not accomplish any striking development in the
sphere of natural sciences and technology.
By introducing modern education in India, the British brought Indian people in contact with the
extensive and profound achievements of the modern west in the sphere of scientific and social
scientific knowledge.
"The time has arrived when the ancient debt of civilization which Europe owes to Asia is about
to be repaid; and the sciences, cradled in the East and brought to maturity in the West, are now
by a final effort to over-spread the world."1

Pre-British Indian Culture, Two Misconceptions

There were two misconceptions about the pre-British culture in India. The national-chauvinist
Arya Samaj idealized India's past even to the fantastic extent of claiming that all knowledge,
scientific, social, and spiritual, was achieved by the Aryans and lay deposited in the immortal
Vedas. The Arya Samaj claimed that all marvellous discoveries and inventions of modern times,
all principles and conclusions of modern physics, chemistry, biology and engineering, were
stated in the Vedas only if one knew how to interpret them appropriately.
The national-chauvinist claim of the Arya Samaj arose out of its ignorance that all knowledge is
historically conditioned, that, though growing, it is finite at a given moment and that its depth
and extent depend upon the level of social development which a people has reached. Pre-British
Indian society, during all phases of its existence, stood at a low level of socio-economic
development and, therefore, the knowledge it possessed was less than that achieved by modern
humanity.
Lord Macaulay, on the other hand, suffered from a misconception of the contrary nature. He
contemptuously dismissed all Indian culture as a colossal mass of unadulterated superstition. He
inquired whether the British should "countenance at the public expense medical doctrines which
would disgrace an English farriar, astronomy which would move laughter in girls at an English
boarding-school, history, abounding with kings thirty feet high and reigns thirty thousand years
long and geography made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter...."2
This was a one-sided picture of India's past culture. It is true that
127
superstition is rampant on an extensive scale in every backward society but, along with
superstition, there is always some element of scientific knowledge in every society. As
mentioned before, to exist, a society must produce and production presupposes technology and
scientific knowledge, however meagre. No society can, otherwise, survive. The very fact that the
Indian society could exist for centuries in the Pre-British period shows that it possessed scientific
knowledge. The task of every society is to critically carry over the culture of the past, i.e. to

assimilate the scientific elements in the culture of the past. Macaulay's uncritical denial was as
unhistorical as the uncritical idealization of India's past culture by the Arya Samaj.

Education in Pre-British India

Hindu society was caste-stratified and, in the caste scheme which assigned a specific social
function to each caste, it was the Brahmin caste which had the exclusive right to preach religious
doctrines, to officiate as priests, and to function as teachers. As such, they alone had the privilege
to study all higher religious and secular knowledge. Other castes were debarred by religious
edicts enforced by the Hindu state from all higher studies. The Brahmins studied in special
seminaries started for the purpose, such as Tols, Vidyalayas and Chatuspathis. The medium of
instruction was Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Hindus, in which only, all religious and
higher secular knowledge was expressed.3
For the common people, there were, in every village and town, vernacular schools which taught
mainly reading, writing, and rudiments of arithmetic. These schools also imparted religious
instruction to the pupils. These schools were generally taken advantage of by the sons of the
traders. Women, the lower castes and agriculturists hardly received any education. Thus
education among the Hindus, in pre-British India, was extremely restricted and for all, except the
brahmins, very poor in content. The Brahmin enjoyed the monopoly of all higher education.
Further, this education, as a part of the entire culture of the Hindu society, controlled and
administered by the Brahmins, was a means of training the pupil in accepting the existing caste
structure of the Hindu society, in believing in the infallibility of the Vedas, and of the Brahmins,
in interpreting these Vedas. It also taught the pupil the virtue of
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unconditional allegiance to elders, to parents, to teachers, to the king. In fact, education was a
means of making the individual accept and conform to the hierarchic structure of society and
completely subordinate his individually to it.
Among the Muslims in pre-British India, higher education was not a monopoly of a section. This
was due to the democratic character of Islam. Any Muslim could study at the Madarasa.
However, all higher education was imparted in Arabic, an alien language in India, since the
Koran was written in that language. There were, however, schools which, in addition to the
Koran, taught vernaculars, Persian, 'the language of Islamic culture and administration', and
other subjects.
"The systems" (the Hindu and the Muslim) "had much in common.4 They taught in a language
or languages foreign to the people at large, they drew their strength from their association with
religion, and, being based on unchanging authority, they discouraged the spirit of free inquiry
and resisted change. But there was one respect in which they differed profoundly. While the
Hindu schools were designed for one favoured class of the community... Muslims schools... were
open without let to all who confessed that there was but one God and Muhammad was his
Prophet."5

Neither individuality nor a rationalist outlook could develop among the pupils in these schools in
pre-British India. The education imparted was to make the pupils staunch Hindus or Muslims,
uncritical subscribers to their respective religions and social structures sanctioned by those
religions. The introduction of modern education was an event of great historical significance for
India. It was definitely a progressive act of the British rule.

Introduction of Modern Education

Three main agencies were responsible for the spread of modern education in India. They were
the foreign Christian missionaries, the British government and the progressive Indians.
The Christian missionaries, who did extensive work in the sphere of the spread of modern
education in India, were inspired mainly by a proselytizing spirit, to spread Christianity among
the Indian people. They sincerely believed that their campaign to convert the Indians was a
civilizing mission. They attacked polytheism and the caste inequalities among the Hindus, for,
Christianity
129
fundamentally stood for one God and social equality. These missionaries were among the
pioneers of modem education in India. While imparting modern secular education, the
educational institutions started by them also gave religious instruction in Christianity. These
principally secular schools served as centres to bring together the Indians and then preach
Christianity to them. It happened, however, that while the overwhelming majority of the students
who attended these institutions imbibed modern education, a very small fraction of them became
Christians. Though their principal aim in starting these institutions was religious, these
missionary organizations played an important role in spreading modern education among the
Indians.5
The British government was, however, the principal agent in disseminating modern education in
India. It established a network of schools and colleges in India which turned out innumerable
educated Indians versed in modern knowledge. In spite of the limitations and distortions of the
education impartedwhich were the object of criticism of Indian nationalism, the fact remains
that Britain by spreading modern education in India, liberal and technical, even due to its own
needs, objectively played a progressive role.
The introduction of modern education in India was primarily motivated by the politicaladministrative and economic needs of Britain in India. It was not a mere accident that by the
middle of the nineteenth century, especially under Lord Dalhousie, important beginnings of the
inauguration of modern education in India were made. It was by that time that Britain brought
under its rule a substantial portion of the Indian territory. It was also then that the industrial
products of Britain began to flow into India and though it was to Britain's advantage, the trade
between Britain and India reached huge proportions.7
The British government organized a huge, extensive, well-ramified state machinery to administer
the conquered territory. A large number of educated individuals was required to staff this

immense machinery of political rule. It was not possible to secure this supply of educated people
from Britain herself. It, therefore, became necessary to establish schools and colleges in India to
turn out educated people who would staff the administrative apparatus of the British rule. The
British government entrusted the key posts in this state machinery to the British and filled the
subordinate posts with educated Indians.
For the expanding trade with India, also for the industries which
130
she increasingly established in India, Britain needed clerks, managers, and agents who knew
English.
This political-administrative and economic necessity mainly urged the British government to
establish schools and colleges in India, where modern education which alone could meet the
needs of a modern nation was imparted. These educational institutions provided clerks for the
government and commercial offices, lawyers, versed in the structure and processes of the new
legal system, doctors trained in the modern medical science, technicians, and teachers.
There were other motives which encouraged some of the British statesmen and leaders of
English thought to endorse the introduction of modern education in India. These enlightened
Britishers were convinced that the British culture was the best and the most liberal in the world
and that if India, South Africa, and, later on, the entire world, were 'anglicized' culturally, it
would pave the way for the social and political unification of the world. The British were
inspired by an almost missionary zeal for spreading British education and culture. Macaulay
belonged to this group of British statesmen headed by Cecil Rhodes. In his will, Cecil Rhodes
"sketched his idea of the British Empire, and beyond its bounds of the great commonwealth of
peoples linked together by the bond of english language and culture, serving the cause of peace
among men." His aim was "the extension of British rule throughout the world, the occupation by
British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates... the
whole of South Africa... the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part
of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial
Parliament, which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire, and, finally,
the foundation of so great a Power as to hereafter render wars impossible and promote the best
interests of humanity."8
This was a programme of 'anglicizing' the world and thereby achieving the empire and world
political and social unity of peoples under the guidance and leadership of Britain.
A group of prominent Englishmen, Mountstuart Elphinstone among them, also held that English
education "would make the Indian people gladly accept the British rule." It was hoped that "The
enlightenment due to education would reconcile the people to British rule and even engender a
sense of attachment to it. Education in English, according to Mountstuart Elphinstone, was a
political necessity. The British were
131

exposed to danger from the precarious foundation of their government, owing to the total
separation between them and the people, and the only means of ensuring its stability was to
communicate their own principles and opinions by the diffusion of a rational education. The
spirit of English literature, Trevelyan wrote in 1938 in his brochure on the Education of the
People of India, could not but be favourable to the English connection, forgetting that it is the
literature of freedom and calculated to inspire a spirit of nationalism and independence."9
Thus the political and economic necessity of British capitalism in India, together with an almost
fanatical belief in the role of Britain as the Messiah to civilize and unify the world by a worldscale dissemination of British culture, prompted the introduction of modern education in India.
The third powerful agency in spreading modern education in India was the Indians themselves.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the pioneer of progressive modern education in India. He hailed the
English education as the key to the treasures of scientific and democratic thought of the modern
west. He declared that perpetuation of the old system of education in India would only perpetuate
superstition and authority. "If it had been intended to keep the British nation in ignorance of real
knowledge, the Baconian philosophy would not have been allowed to displace the system of the
schoolmen, which was the best calculated to perpetuate their ignorance. In the same manner, the
Sanskrit system of education would be the best calculated to keep this country in darkness if that
had been the policy of the British Legislature."10
Subsequently, numerous organizations such as the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the
Ramakrishna Mission, the Aligarh Movement, and individuals like Deshmukh, Chiplunkar,
Agarkar, Maganbhai Karamchand, Karve, Tilak, Gokhale, Malaviya, Gandhi and others worked
towards the establishment of educational institutions, both for men and women, imparting
modern education throughout the country. It is true that they were critical of some aspects of that
education, still they recognized its value, and with some changes, supported its spread among the
people. Some of them criticized its secular nature and, in the institutions they organized, added
religious instruction. The Benares Hindu University organized by Pandit Malaviya and the
Aligarh University organized by Syed Ahmed Khan were the outstanding instances of this
movement. Some criticized the textbooks used in the government or missionary schools as
promoting an attitude of
132
deprecation of India's past or for being divorced from the realities of life, and prepared and
substituted different textbooks which would kindle national self-respect among the Indians.
However, almost all of them retained the essential core of modern education, its antiauthoritarian liberal note, its emphasis on individual liberty, its rejection of blind faith and stress
on modern natural sciences. Even schools and colleges started by the Arya Samaj (Lajpat Rai
Section), the militant foe of alien influences, accepted and taught modern education, only adding
to it religious instruction, such as the teaching of the doctrine of the infallibility of the Vedas.
This in fact, contradicted the very spirit of the liberal education which they imparted, the keynote
of which was to appraise things by experiment and reason.

Unhealthy Reactions to Modern Education

Modern education created an unhealthy reaction among a section of the Indians who received it.
The first contact with modern western culture through new education was electrifying. The
essential rational and liberation core of this culture however was not comprehended by a section
of Indians. While correctly discarding old norms and criteria which only imposed fetters on the
free creative initiative of the individual, the educated Indian failed to substitute, in their place,
rational norms and criteria to guide individual conduct. He misunderstood freedom from all
irrational taboos as freedom to do anything that a chance impulse incited. He mistook freedom as
license to drink or to indulge in unhealthy modes of sex life. While overthrowing old
authoritarian conceptions of social life, he could not evolve a positive social conception. His
reaction to the old milieu was predominantly negative. He saw through the irrationality of the old
forms and outlooks but could not build up a new positive progressive theory for individual and
social practice. This often bred anarchy in personal life and brought about his isolation from the
people. Instead of feeling the historical responsibility of the intellectual vanguard to guide people
from a stationary and superstitious social existence to a progressive democratic free national life,
he developed an unheroic contempt for them, for their social and cultural backwardness. A
chasm developed between him and the people. He branded the people as 'barbarous', the people
called him 'anglicized' and 'denationalized'.
133
Western culture did not recommend unhealthy personal habits or antipathy to the common
people. What modern rationalism demanded, was the development of a rational outlook on life
healthy personal habits, rejection of blind faith and a critical attitude to all cultures and social
institutions of the past, implying thereby that whatever was of permanent value in those cultures
and institutions should be assimilated and whatever was found erroneous in the light of the
reinforced knowledge of contemporary society, or had outlived its historical necessity and
therefore did not correspond to the needs of a changed social situation, be rejected. Individual
liberty, social equality, collective progress, reason as the supreme criterion to judge ideas and
institutions, intense nationalismthese, in fact, constituted the cornerstone of western
Liberalism. In spite of the fact that some of these principles were abstractly formulated and were
only partially realized, due to capitalist conditions of social existence," their enunciation was a
landmark in the social and cultural evolution of mankind and signified progress from
Medievalism to modern capitalism, a historically higher form of society.
There was a vital reason why such a phenomenon occurred where a section of the educated
Indians shook off healthy mental and moral restraints and exhibited an uncritical contempt for
everything Indian. The restrictions imposed on individual liberty by the medieval social
structure, authoritarian at its very core, by the iron rule of caste and social custom, were so
stifling that, under the first impact of the social libertarian ideology of the west, the educated
Indiansonly a section of them thoughrebelled against the idea of any restraint. Feeling a
frenzied yearning to be free from extant chains, both physical and mental, imposed on him by an
authoritarian social system and ideology, he temporarily (and temporarily only, though social
reaction exaggerated this first aberration,) mistook the doctrine of liberty advocated by western
Liberalism as the cult of anarchic living. Such blind reactions mark all transitional periods in
social history.12

Serious defects in new education further accentuated this phenomenon. It gave exaggerated
importance to the English language which led to the development of a social gulf between the
educated Indian and the masses. This education was greatly divorced from the real life of the
Indian people and problems viewed from the standpoint of Indian national progress. It glorified
and idealized the British rule and depreciated India's past instead of giving a critical scientific
134
appraisal of it. It overemphasized the study of the English history. It did not awaken any national
pride. All this further prompted the educated Indian to disorient from the Indian people, to feel
himself identified with the ruling nation and harbour a contempt for the common people.
Social and religious reaction, of course, utilized this mis-assimilation of the great rationalist and
democratic culture of the west by this section of educated Indians, to denounce western culture
itself. It tried to misrepresent western culture as giving a free passport to drink, unhealthy sex
life, arrogant anti-social and anti-national egoism. Reaction, thereby sought to entrench itself
against the critical intellectual attack on itself by the social liberatarian and rationalist doctrines
which formed the core of modern western culture. In the name of social discipline, it justified its
oppressive bans and taboos on individual freedom, which were a veritable strait-jacket for the
free physical, mental and emotional life of the individual. In the name of nationalism, it strove to
conserve the past with its archaic social institutions and superstitious mental outlooks.
It should be noted, however, that this blind reaction was only an ephemeral phenomenon.

Growth of Modern Education upto 1854

Before 1813, there were sporadic efforts to introduce modern education by missionary groups
and the East India Company. The extent of the combined educational work of these two agencies
was extremely limited and had significance only as pioneering work.
The Charter Act of 1813 marked a point of departure in the East India Company towards the
education of its Indian subjects. Under it, the Company, for the first time, assumed state
responsibility for education. It provided that "a sum of not less than a lac of rupees in each year
shall be set apart," for educational purposes.13
There were two schools of thought among the Britishers regarding the type of education to be
imparted to the Indians. The first school of thought known as the Anglicists, of which Macaulay
was the most outstanding protagonist, advocated "the substitution of Western culture for the
Indian." It set, as the aim of the education, the creation of a class of Indians who would be
"Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes, in opinion, in morals and in intellect."14 This
school further
135
stood for English as the medium of education. It was supported in this view by the missionaries,
the younger officials of the Company and progressive Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

The second school known as the Orientalists, while agreeing to the programme of the
dissemination of western sciences and knowledge among the Indians, however, staunchly
advocated the encouragement of Sanskrit and Arabic literature. The adherents of the second
school were however split into two groups over the question of the medium of instruction. One
group argued in favour of classical languages such as Sanskrit and Arabic being adopted as the
medium of education. This group was especially strong in Bengal and was influenced by the
views of Warren Hastings and Minto. The other group was led by Munro and Elphinstone and
was strong in Bombay. It held that Western education could reach the mass of the people only if
it was imparted in vernaculars.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his group were enthusiastic supporters of Macaulay and his compeers.
Roy submitted a memorial to the Governor-General in 1823 wherein he urged the government to
"promote a more liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing mathematics, natural
philosophy, chemistry, anatomy, with other useful sciences."15 Roy's attitude in this matter was
the forerunner of that of the Liberal school in Indian politics which subsequently evolved and
which idealized western education and was criticized by other nationalist groups (Pal, Ghose,
Gandhi and others) for depreciating Indian culture.
The controversy was settled in favour of the Anglicists when Lord Bentinck, the GovernorGeneral of India, endorsed and adopted their view in 1935. The resolution published by the
government stated that "the great object of the British Government ought to be promotion of
European literature and science among the natives of India, and that all the funds appropriated
for the purpose of education would be best employed on English education alone..." and further
"that all the funds be henceforth employed in imparting to the native population a knowledge of
English literature and science through the medium of the English language."16
The educational policy of the Company's government neglected mass education and indigenous
village schools which imparted elementary education, however limited and crude, to the people.
The Anglicists believed in the Downward Filtration Theory which held
136
that knowledge would percolate from the educated classes to the masses through the independent
effort of the former.
In Bombay, the advocates of vernaculars as the medium of education suffered a defeat.
Jagannath Shankerseth, one of the three Indians on the Board of Education, along with Framjee
Cowasjee and M. I. Mackba, stated in the Minute he submitted: "I am persuaded that the
vernacular languages possess advantages superior to English as the medium of communicating
useful knowledge to the people of western India. It cannot be denied that they must have less
difficulty in understanding whatever is communicated to them in their own language, than in a
foreign language. I am far from wishing to discourage the study of English, but I believe it to be
beyond the reach of the masses of people."17

The controversy in Bombay had one result. Though English as the exclusive medium of
instruction was adopted at the collegiate stage, the use of the vernaculars was retained at the
secondary stage.

From Wood's Dispatch to Lord Curzon's University Act

The first phase in the history of modern education in India ended with Wood's Dispatch, 1854,
which resolved all controversies of the period round the subject of education into well defined
attitudes. The Dispatch was usually called the Magna Charta of Indian education because of
some larger tasks it set to the government. However its implementation in subsequent years was
declared inadequate by some Indian critics.
The Dispatch stated that the educational system in India was organized for the triple object of (1)
spreading western culture, (2) securing properly trained servants for the public administration,
and (3) doing their duty to the sovereign by the Indian subjects.18
Regarding the controversy about the medium of instruction, the Dispatch reached the conclusion
that (1) English should be used as the medium of instruction at the collegiate stage, (2) secondary
education was to be imparted both through English and through modern Indian languages, and
(3) modern Indian languages were to be encouraged with a view of making them the media in
course of time for imparting higher education. The Indian critics of the government blamed it for
not implementing properly the last two conclusions.19 The Dispatch further stated that the
government should assume direct responsibilities
137
for the education of the masses (thus abandoning the former Downward Filtration Theory) and
women.
It was Wood's Education Dispatch of 1854 which laid the foundation of the structure of modern
educational system in India. The growth of education gathered momentum after 1854. It was
however after 1880 that the rapid advance of education took place in India. From 1880, largescale educational work was organized in the country by the missionaries, the Education
Department of the government and progressive Indians. Among these three agencies, Indian
private enterprise had the largest share in the spread of education in 1901-02.20
The Deccan Education Society, established in the Bombay Presidency in the seventies by Tilak
and Agarkar, was an outstanding instance of educational enterprises started by the nationalist
Indians on their own initiative. The founders of the Society recognized the significant role of
modern education in the social, political, and cultural advance of the Indian people. They also
aimed at gathering round the Society a band of self-sacrificing educated Indians who would
consecrate their lives to educational and other forms of national work. In fact, a number of
patriotic Indians including Tilak and Gokhale, two of the most outstanding leaders of Indian
nationalism, were associated with the activities of the Society.

Special reference may be made to Vijapurkar, who at the end of the nineteenth century started a
Rashtriya School at Talegaon, which was probably the first among the group of independent
educational experiments made by the Indians, a forerunner of experiments such as Vidyapith and
Vardha Educational Scheme which were conceived and organized in the subsequent period.
The school imparted technical education. Indian industries had appreciably developed by this
time. The founder of the school was urged by the motive of providing technicians to these
industries so that their dependence on foreign technicians might be diminished. It is also possible
that another motive prompting the organizer was to meet the need of the growing terrorist
movement in the country for technicians who could forge weapons for the movement.
The indigenous school system rapidly declined by the end of the nineteenth century. This was
mainly due to the operation of two causes namely (1) absence of financial support from the state
and (2) only those who received education in new schools were eligible for posts. Even private
employers preferred them.
138

Third Phase, 1901-1921

The period between 1901 and 1921 was a period of political unrest, of the Bengal Partition
Movement, The Morley-Minto Reforms, World War I, the Home Rule and Non-Cooperation
Movements. It was a period of the great national awakening of the Indian people, of their rising
political consciousness and increasing critical attitude to the measures of the British government,
in the spheres of politics, economics and education.
There had been a phenomenal growth of education between 1880 and 1901. Lord Curzon and
others criticized this growth from the standpoint of quality. They remarked that the quality of
education had appreciably deteriorated since 1880, that educational institutions under private
control were inefficient, that the educated Indians had an innate incapacity to assimilate foreign
culture and that the educational system should be remodelled with a view to turning out men of
character.21
The Indian critics, on the other hand, stressed the vital importance of quantitative expansion of
education in the interests of the general culture of the Indian people. According to them, what
was required was not the limiting of the education out of anxiety for quality but "a very rapid
expansion of higher education on a voluntary basis and the introduction of compulsory
elementary education for the masses." "Let not Government imagine that unless the education
imparted by colleges is the highest... it is likely to be useless and even pernicious; and secondly
let not the achievements of our graduates in the intellectual field be accepted as the sole or even
the most important test to determine the utility of this education. I think... that, in the present
circumstances of India, all western education is valuable and useful... To my mind, the greater
work of western education in the present state of India is not so much the encouragement of
learning as the liberation of the Indian mind from the thraldom of old-world ideas... For this
purpose, not only the highest but all western education is useful."22 The Indian critics also stood
for full freedom for private enterprise in the field of establishing educational institutions.

Extremists like Pal and the Ghose brothers attacked this education as it was imparted as
denationalizing. Their criticisms are referred to later.
In spite of almost universal Indian opposition, the Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed,
which, among other restricting provisions,
139
made the conditions for affiliation of a college to a University stricter. It also vested in the
government, power regarding the rules to be framed by the University Senate, also power to
nominate the majority of Fellows and to require approval for affiliation or disaffiliation of
colleges. The critics remarked that, under the Act, the Universities were reduced merely to a
Department of State.
A further setback, from the standpoint of the expansion of education, was caused by the revised
Grant-in-Aid Codes framed between 1904 and 1908. This adversely affected the growth of
secondary schools. Finally, the defeat of Gokhale's Bill for introducing compulsory education
(described as the Magna Charta or primary education) dissolved all hope of making the Indian
masses educated.
The growing discontent at the educational policy of the government steadily kindled among the
Indians, a desire for the control of the Department of Education itself. It also created among
some of the leaders an urge to organize new independent educational experiments.

Fourth Phase, 1921-1939

Under Dyarchy, the Department of Education was transferred to the control of Indian Ministers
in 1921. Now the Provincial governments had greater freedom to adopt and implement
programmes of educational expansion. There was, as a result of this, an appreciable growth in
the spread of education after 1921.
Limitations of financial resources, however, soon restricted this growth. This discontinuance of
specific grants to education sanctioned by the Government of India from 1901-21 reinforced by
the economic difficulties born of the world economic depression, made it difficult to carry
through big schemes of educational extension difficult. There was, however, a steady expansion
of education between 1921 and 1937. The following figures portray this growth.

Statistics of Education 1921-2 and 1936-7

Type of Institution
1936-7
Universities
9,697

No. of Institutions

No. of Scholars

1921-2

1936-7

1921-2

..10

15

Figures not
available

Arts College
86,273
Professional Colleges
20,645
Secondary Schools
22,87,872
Primary Schools
1,02,24,288
Special Schools
2,59,269
Total for Recognized
Institutions
1,28,88,044
Unrecognized
Institutions
5,01,530
Grand Total
1.33.89.574

..165

271

45,418

..64

75

13,662

..7,530

13,056

11,06,803

..1,55,017

1,92,244

61,09,752

..3,344

5,647

1,20,925

1,66,130

2,11,308

73,96,560

16,322

16,647

4,22,165

1,82,452

2,27,955

78,18,725

140
(The above figures are for British India excluding Burma).
In addition to the Indian control of the Department of Education, there were other factors which
explain the expansion of education. The tremendous social and political awakening among the
people during this period was one among these factors.23
The rapid extension of mass education was one of the most significant events during this period.
A number of Compulsory Education Acts were passed in most of the provinces. Such Acts,
where they existed, were more or less given effect to, during this period. The following figures
reflect the advance in primary education from 1922 to 1927.

Statistics of Primary Education

Number of Primary Schools
..
Number of Pupils in Primary Schools
Expenditure on Primary Education
(Direct)

1921-2
1,55,017
61,09,752

1926-7
1,84,829
80,17,923

Rs. 4,94,69,080 Rs. 6,75,14,802

After 1927 the rate of progress in primary education began to decline. The economic depression
which raged in subsequent years was one of the main causes. It compelled the abandonment of a
number of schemes for the extension of primary education. The other reason for the slowing
down was the recommendation of the Hartog Committee to the
141

government to concentrate more on consolidation than 'diffusion' of primary education. This

view was generally criticized by non-official opinion which favoured quantitative growth of
literacy and education. 'Education must pour and not trickle.'
"Not only the example of other countries but their educational history also shows that rapid
expansion must precede all other educational reforms. India has never realized the greatest truth
in mass education that slow progress is no progress at all."24
The period between 1921 and 1937 witnessed a number of educational experiments by
distinguished Indian educationists and outstanding leaders of Indian nationalism. Vishwa-Bharati
started by poet Rabindranath Tagore, the S.N.D.T. Women's University organized by Karve, the
Kashi Vidyapith, the Jamia Millia, the Gujarat Vidyapith followed by the Tilak Maharashtra
Vidyapith, were principal among these enterprises.
The period after 1937 was marked by three outstanding events which had a great effect on the
life of the Indian people: (1) the introduction of Provincial Autonomy in 1937, (2) the outbreak
of the Second World War in 1939, and (3) the political storm which broke out in August 1942, in
India and the subsequent developments.
The introduction of Provincial Autonomy, on the whole, gave an impetus to the growth of
primary education. However, such experiments as the Vidya Mandir Scheme of Education based
on Gandhian ideology sponsored by the Congress Ministers in some provinces, provoked severe
criticism from sections of the intelligentsia as well as the non-Hindu communities. The other two
events had a very far-reaching effect on the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the
entire Indian people.

Modern Education in India, Main Criticisms

Since modern education was introduced in India to meet the needs of Britain, as already
enumerated above, its progress had been restricted and its character, from the standpoint of the
progress of the Indian people, was unsatisfactory. Since the main purpose of the introduction of
modern education was to supply the English-knowing personnel to the British apparatus, mass
education had been seriously neglected throughout.
After more than a century of the British rule, 94 per cent of the
142
Indian population remained illiterate in 1911, and 92 per cent in 1931. The number of students
receiving education in primary and secondary schools amounted to 13.5 million only which
meant 4.9 per cent of the entire population in 1934-35. Even of these, two-thirds who studied in
primary schools did not study beyond the first year and less than one-fifth reached the final
year.25
"The majority of children in primary schools are under instruction for between three and four
years only; and for the greater portion of the time, four out of every five linger in the lowest

class. In consequence, there is a tendency to lapse into illiteracy after the short period of
instruction comes to a close."26
The illiteracy and resultant ignorance among the masses inevitably obstructed social, political,
and economic progress. The number of students studying in higher education institutions was
159,254 in 1941-42 with a total of about 0.5 per cent of the population.
The economic development of a backward country demands educational cadres trained in
technical studies. In 1934-35, the students graduating in engineering agriculture or commerce
numbered only 960. "The greatest shortage has been in technical education. In such fields as
agriculture, commerce and engineering, one sparsely settled American state such as Iowa, with
one per cent of the population of British India, has more students."27
The expensive nature of education was another target of nationalist criticism. The Indian people
were extremely poor and could not afford to pay for a costly education. The University Reform
measure of Lord Curzon, met popular opposition because though it made education more
efficient, it was also more expensive. In fact, the Indian nationalists suspected Lord Curzon of
the desire to limit education, under the cover of making it efficient, since he thought that the
spread of education 'bred sedition'. Even the non-Indians had noticed that the British officials
attributed political ferment to the spread of English education. "Many officials in India sincerely
believed that education would increase unrest and make the problem of governing more
difficult... the chief argument, however, was always financial."28 All higher education, because
of its cost, had been inaccessible to the great majority of the Indian people.
The Indian nationalists criticized the government for insufficient expenditure on education which
always remained "the Cinderella of the Services". While one-third of the total State revenue was,
on the
143
average, spent on the military, education was assigned a scanty sum.
Further, the Indian nationalists criticized this education from many points. According to them, it
was divorced from the actualities of Indian life. It did not give a true picture of Indian life, of the
political servitude and of the real causes of the economic and cultural backwardness of Indian
society. It did not pose Indian problems or offer their solution from the Indian national
standpoint. It gave a distorted account of India's past history, glorified the British conquerors of
India and portrayed the British as civilizers of India. It tended to weaken national pride and selfrespect. Further, as this education was transmitted in English, a foreign language, to suit the
needs of the British, it retarded the rapid assimilation of knowledge and created a chasm between
the educated Indian and the common people of India. The Indian nationalists criticized the
methods and organization of the educational system as well.
"The neglect of mass education merely showed that the new rulers of India had not come to the
country to indulge in 'social uplift'; and the excessive importance attached to English was the

natural consequence of their desire to economize in administration by creating on the spot a class
of minor officials instead of importing every clerk and civil servant from England.
"...Its (the educational system) object was... to impress on middle class Indian youths the glory
and grandeur of Britain and to train them to be competent servants of a foreign bureaucracy. It
was vocational education with a vengeance; vocational education... which threw the weight of
the curriculum on such matters as English syntax, Shakespearean prosody and the dates of the
kings and queens, who had reigned over England."29
"The British Government in India has, from the very beginning, tried to shape and control the
course of public education, and the motive has always been to strengthen the foundations of their
political authority in the country."30
Various attempts at organizing parallel educational systems on national lines were made by
Indian nationalist groups but they did not meet with any appreciable success. There were reasons
why the schemes of national education did not succeed. Since degrees and diplomas of
government Universities were generally necessary for securing posts, both in private as well as
government services, independent national educational institutions not affiliated to the
government Universities
144
did not draw a large number of students. The demise of the Gujerat Vidyapith started by Gandhi
in Ahmedabad was an instance of this. The Snatakas or the graduates of this college were as a
rule not considered equals of the graduates of the Bombay University even by the Congressminded employers.
Further, the Indian nationalists were never unanimous about the principle on which a scheme of
national education was to be constructed. Some like Malaviya, Gandhi and the Arya Samajists,
found fault with the secular character of the education given in official schools and colleges.
They advocated religious instruction (Gita for the Hindus and Koran for the Muslims) as an
integral part of education. Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru preferred purely secular education
since it should have a rational basis while religion rested on faith and intuition.
In fact, in attacking the secular nature of official-education, leaders like Gandhi thereby attacked
the very progressive element in that education. Their suggestion to incorporate religious
instruction in the curricula of education was a reactionary one. Gandhi evolved the Vidya Mandir
Scheme, a scheme of national education for India. He described that scheme as a polytechnique
scheme of education, since it combined theoretical education with industry with a view to
achieving an all-sided development of the individual. The principle of polytechnique education
was a progressive one but when that idea was propounded in Europe, it meant an education
based on the union of modern theoretical education and modern industry. Gandhi, on the other
hand, in his scheme, combined modern education with an added religious veneering with premodern handicrafts. This looked like an unhistorical wedding of modern education (the product
and guide of modern socio-economic conditions) and pre-modern crafts of a past era. Such

educational schemes, being unreal and unhistorical, could not gain support. However, the main
criticisms of the Indian nationalists were correct.
Mass education had drawn the attention of the Indian nationalists. "It is obvious that an ignorant
and illiterate nation can never make any solid progress and must fall back in the race of life.
What we therefore want and want most urgently, is first of all, a widespread diffusion of
elementary education, an effective and comprehensive system of primary schools for the masses;
and the longer this work is delayed, the more insuperable will be our difficulties in gaining for
ourselves a recognized place among the nations of the world."31 The
145
necessity of mass education for national progress was categorically pointed out. Since then,
increasing effort in that direction was made by all progressive Indians. Campaigns to liquidate
illiteracy were organized. Student groups spent summer months in trips to villages to spread
literacy among the villages. Night classes for workers were organized in cities for the same
purpose. Such organizations as the Indian National Congress, the Social Service League, the All
India Students' Organizations and many other institutions, increased their work in that direction.
However, the task was so colossal that they could only just touch the fringe of it.

Its Progressive Essense

In spite of the defects already enumerated, the introduction of modern education in India was a
progressive act of the British rule. It was secular in character, liberal in essence, open to all,
irrespective of caste or creed, unlike the education in the pre-British period. But above all, it was
the key which opened the great treasures of rationalist and democratic thought of the modern
West to the Indians. It was not a mere accident that the pioneers and all subsequent leaders of
Indian nationalism came from the educated classes of the Indian society.
"The rising generation assimilated European teaching with astounding receptivity. They quickly
became nationalists, democrats, and socialists. Cavour, Mazzini, Kossuth, Parnell, and Mill
became their teachers and heroes. The English Government forbade European history of the
nineteenth century to be taught in Indian schools. But already it was too late. The process could
no longer be checked, and at this point it soon took a new turn. A more intimate acquaintance
with European culture had been attained and it was no longer accepted uncritically.... The
European writers who themselves criticized Europe.... Ruskin, Carlyle, Tolstoy, and other...
played their part."32
The British government was frequently alarmed at the spread of extreme political ideas among
the educated Indians which they imbibed from the political literature of Europe due to their
knowledge of English. It took administrative measures and regulated the influx of foreign
literature into India. Sometimes, it prohibited such works as the Life of Mazzini, based on the
leader of Italian nationalism. In spite of such obstruction by the British government to the spread
of certain species of modern European thought, it must be admitted that it was the
146

knowledge of English which helped the Indians to study modern European literature. Indian
nationalism always struggled for the freedom of unhindered contact with modern European
thought of all varieties. Thus modern education played a contradictory double role. Introduced at
the outset with a view to meeting the political and administrative needs of Britain and even to
strengthening the bond of the British rulers and the Indians it also helped Indian nationalism in
its struggle against that rule.

Indian Nationalism, No Offspring of Modern Education

A number of British statesmen and writers claimed that Indian nationalism was the product of
the modern education which the Britishers introduced in India. They asserted that the urge for
national freedom grew among the Indian people because modern education helped them to study
and imbibe the doctrines of liberation propounded by western authors. While one recognizes the
progressive role played by the introduction of modern education in India, it would be incorrect to
conclude that Indian nationalism was the child of this education.
Indian nationalism was, in fact, the outcome of the new social material conditions created in
India and the new social forces which emerged within the Indian society, as a result of the British
conquest. It was the outcome of the objective conflict of interests, the interests of Britain to keep
India politically and economically subjected to her and the interests of the Indian people for a
free political, economic, and cultural evolution of the Indian society unhindered by the British
rule.
Indian nationalism crystallized as a national movement in the latter half of the nineteenth
century. By that time, educated classes grew in the country and, with the rise of Indian industries,
the industrial bourgeoisie came into existence. These classes were the organizers of the national
movement, which inscribed on its banner such demands as Indianization of Services, Protection
for Indian Industries, Fiscal Autonomy. The movement arose out of the conflict of British and
Indian interests in the economic and other spheres. This conflict of interests is the genetic cause
of the Indian national movement.
"The Indian national movement arose... from the conditions of imperialism and its system of
exploitation... the rise of the Indian bourgeoisie and its growing competition against the
domination of the
147
British bourgeoisie were inevitable, whatever the system of education; and if the Indian
bourgeoisie had been educated only in the Sanskrit Vedas, in monastic seclusion from every
other current of thought, they would have assuredly found in the Sanskrit Vedas the inspiring
principles and slogans of their struggle.""
In fact, left nationalist leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal and others did find in a reinterpreted
hinduism, a religion of nationalism and in Goddess Kali, a deified expression of this nationalism.

Different classes had their specific grievances against Britain. The industrialists desired freedom
for unobstructed industrialization of India and protection for the native industries. The educated
classes demanded the Indianization of Services, since the higher posts were mainly the preserve
of the British. The agriculturists demanded reduction of the land tax. The workers demanded
better conditions of work and a living wage. The nation as a whole demanded the freedom of
association and press, assembly, elected legislatures, representative institutions, dominion status,
home rule and finally complete Independence. It was out of these contradictions of interests of
Britain and India that Indian nationalism grew.
It must however be recognized that the assimilation of modern democratic ideas of the west by
many nationalist leaders, with the help of modern education prompted them to give the national
movement democratic forms and aim. Under their leadership, the nationalist movement did not
aim, after securing Swaraj, at the rehabilitation of the monarchic forms of rule and authoritarian
social systems which prevailed in pre-British India. The nationalist movement organized itself,
on the whole, on modern liberal principles such as elections, democratic committees, decisions
reached by a majority vote etc. It also visualized for a free India, representative institutions based
on democratic principles. Thus, modern education, indirectly if not directly gave a democratic
direction to Indian nationalism.

Modern Education and its Advantages

The advantages of the knowledge of English were almost immeasurable. It gave access to
modern English literature, one of the richest, if not the richest, literatures in the world. It was the
literature of the British nation, the first modern nation in history which vanquished and
overthrew medievalism as early as the end of the
148
eighteenth century. In the struggle against medievalism, it laid the foundation of modern
democratic, scientific, and rationalist culture which it further developed and enriched during its
subsequent victorious existence. In its struggle against the absolutism of the medieval state based
on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, it laid the foundation of the theory of the
sovereignty of the people and the democratic state. In its struggle against the religious
obscurantist ideology of the Middle Ages, it forged the weapon of modern Rationalism. In its
struggle against serfdom and hierarchic medieval social structure based on the principle of
heredity, it proclaimed the doctrine of individual liberty. Further, it developed a rich scientific
and technological culture. It created modern natural sciences such as modern physics, chemistry,
biology and agronomy. It also made a huge advance in medicine and engineering, and created a
science of society, modern sociology.
From the sixteenth century onwards, Britain produced giants of thought in every sphere of social
endeavour. It produced Bacon, who gave the scientific method to study processes and
phenomena, both social and naturalthe method of induction. He declared practice as the source
of scientific theory and the criterion to judge the validity of any theory. This gave a death blow
to the theory of a priori reasoning and paved the way for rapid and real progress in the field of
knowledge both of Nature and Society. Britain produced a galaxy of profound thinkers after

Bacon such as Darwin, the disoverer of one of the most valuable scientific theories, the theory of
evolution of organic life, especially of the human species, which dealt a fatal blow to the
fantastic explanation of man's origin provided by religious fables; Spencer, the profound
sociologist; Locke, the great philosopher; Godwin, the pioneer of philosophical anarchism; John
Stuart Mill, the implacable foe of all authoritarianism and stalwart exponent of individual liberty
and popular sovereignty; Adam Smith, the father of modern economic science; Newton, the
brilliant mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. There were Carlyle and Ruskin, both ruthless
critics of social injustices rampant in modern society, though exponents of reactionary social
solutions of the problems, harking back to the past; Ricardo, perhaps the most daring and
incisive of all British economists; Gibbon and Buckle, both outstanding historians of the modern
epoch; Hobhouse, Rivers, Briffault, Gordon Childe and Ginsberg, outstanding sociologists,
Bertrand Russell, the world-celebrated mathematician and philosopher; H. G. Wells, the
colourful portrayer of the socio-historical and naturo149
historical process of evolution and the brilliant and imaginative writer of fascinating social
novels; Bernard Shaw, the immortal master of social satire; Eddington and Jeans, both
astronomers of world renown; Haldane, the world-celebrated biologist now an Indian citizen,
Aldous and Julian Huxley, Levy, and Bernal, the world-renowned scientists; and others. These
giants of thought have, in different fields, enriched human knowledge and contributed to the
building up of the rich modern world culture.
The educated Indian, who studied English democratic literature and imbibed its democratic
principles, felt inspired to rebel against the reactionary social institutions and world outlook of a
bygone era, such as caste and authoritarian social philosophies which sought to enslave the
individual and suppress his free initiative. He also thought in terms of a free national existence of
the Indian people on a democratic basis. This gave the Indian nationalist movement, the
offspring of the colonial status of India under the British rule, a democratic objective. The
movement also developed on a democratic basis, on the basis of such principles and methods as
election and elected committees and such demands as the widening of franchise, freedom of
press, speech and association, representative government, executive responsible to the people,
etc.
The study of the English language thus provided an opportunity to study the social libertarian,
natural-scientific and rationalist philosophical literature in that language. This study helped to
build up a democratic and rationalist outlook. If the social libertarian philosophy became a
weapon to achieve individual and national freedom, the rationalist philosophy became an
instrument to liberate the mind from dark superstition, from the grip of a multitude of gods, and
fatalism, and other-worldliness.
Indian literature, both Hindu and Muslim, of pre-British era did not include any work on
nationalism. It was inevitable and can be historically explained by the fact that due to economic
backwardness, the Indian people were not socially or politically integrated into a nation.

The study of the English language unfolded the treasures of democratic and nationalist thought
crystallized in precious scientific works. The study of these works clarified, made more vivid and
even fanned into fire, the nascent nationalism of the educated Indians which grew out of the
conditions of subjection in which the Indian people
150
lived under the British rule.
Further knowledge of the English language also brought within the reach of an educated Indian,
the most vital portion of the scientific, philosophical, sociological, and literary-artistic
achievements of non-English-speaking peoples.
Through English translations, he could study the philosophical systems of Democritus,
Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Descartes, Leibnitz, Kant, Comte, Nietzche, Hegel, Max
Stirner, Benedetto Croce, Oswald Spengler, Karl Marx. He could also assimilate the social
theories of Plato, Machiavelli, Diderot, Holbach, Helvetius, Voltaire and other ideological
brilliance of eighteenth century France and Auguste Comte, Saint-Simon, socialist Marx and
Engels, anarchist Bakunin, syndicalist Proudhon and others. He could enrich his scientific
knowledge by studying, through translations, the works of non-english-speaking mathematicians,
physicists, and philosophers of world fame such as Einstein, Dirac, Schrodinger, and Heisenberg.
He could, through translations, enjoy the artistic creations of such non-English literary artists of
the first rank as Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, Maxim Gorky, Emile Zola, Balzac,
Flaubert, Guy De Maupassant, Anatole France, Victor Hugo, Moliere, Proust, Heine, Goethe,
Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Sanders and others. Thus, an educated Indian through the study of English,
could make the cultural achievements of the non-English-speaking populace, his property.
This imbibing of world culture helped the educated Indian not only to reinforce his knowledge
enormously but also to develop a world outlook and perspective. It gave him a sense of unity of
world development, a world sense. He was able to get rid of the isolationist conception or rather
misconception of the Indian social development. He understood Indian national development as
a part of world development. He became free from the error that the Indian society had its own
independent and special law of development and was unconnected with world development.
Without losing sight of national peculiarities, he recognized that the same laws which governed
the development of other societies governed the Indian society also.
The new political and economic environs, created by the British conquest and rule in India,
posed before the Indians problems which were quite new and could not be solved by theories and
methods which the old Indian culture provided. For example, to solve the national economic
tasks arising out of the new economic milieu such as greater
151
industrialization of India and development of a prosperous agriculture, an Indian economist like
Ranade, Gokhale, Gadgil, or K. T. Shah, turned to the theoretical works on economics of Adam
Smith, Ricardo, List, or Marx. Neither Chanakya, the ancient author of Artha Shastra, nor Vyas,

the immortal composer of Mahabharata, could arm him with theoretical means to solve modern
economic problems.
The intelligentsia exercises great ideological influence on the people. In India, advanced
intellectuals who imbibed modern scientific world knowledge through their study of English
began to transmit it to their own people. A number of them translated into various vernacular/
regional languages works of outstanding scientific value, literary artistic merit, and political,
economic and sociological importance. They also wrote independent books in vernacular
languages embodying thoughts and scientific information which they studied from the English
books. This increasingly helped the non-English knowing literary section of the people to gather
wide knowledge of the world. Some of these intellectuals also spread new ideas and information
even among the illiterate strata through talks and lectures. This helped in the broadening of the
vision and enriching of the knowledge of the common people.
The English language did a great service as a medium of communication for the educated
Indians throughout India to exchange views, on a national scale, on different subjects of social,
political and scientific interest. It proved very valuable as a medium of expression at various
national congresses and conferences especially in the earlier stages.
The progressive role of the introduction of modern education in India and of the resultant contact
with modern culture was strikingly proved by the fact that practically all leaders of progressive
movements, economic, political, social religious, or cultural, belonged to the English-educated
intelligentsia. The pioneers and leaders of the ever expanding and deepening national movement
were English-educated Indians.

Prerequisites of its Healthy Development

In spite of the growth of a modern intelligentsia and an educated middle class, an overwhelming
portion of the Indian peoples, however, remained illiterate. The principal reason for this was
their great poverty. The liquidation of mass-illiteracy was, therefore, bound up with the problem
of the removal of the mass poverty of the Indian people.
152
This great poverty of the Indian people, as we have seen, was the product of the colonial
character of Indian economy, the resultant low development of the productive forces of the
Indian society and, further, the prevailing system of land and other economic relationships.
Elimination of mass poverty, therefore, implied national freedom, power in the hands of the mass
of the Indian people instead of the vested interests, and a comprehensive plan of national socioeconomic reconstruction. Such a plan could be fully realized only if society owned the means of
production. The state of a free and economically prosperous country alone could evolve a
financial budget such as could pay adequate attention to mass education and social services.
The problem of the complete solution of mass illiteracy and, further, the extensive spread of the
rich scientific and artistic culture of the contemporary era among the Indian people was, thus,

closely bound up with national freedom and an economic plan based on the social ownership of
means of production.

References
1. Trevelyan, p. 168.
2. Macaulay's Minute, 1935, quoted by Thompson and Garratt, p. 661.
3. O'Malley, p. 138.
4. ibid., p. 138.
5. ibid., p. 139.
6. Syed Nurullah and Naik, p. 92.
7. Refer Thompson and Garratt.
8. Hans Kohn, pp. 94-5.
9. O'Malley, pp. 658-9.
10. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, pp. 471-4.
11. Laski, pp. 18ff.
12. Refer Hans Kohn, p. 117.
13. Syed Nurullah and Naik, p. 49.
14. Macaulay quoted by Margarita Barns, p. 176.
15. Syed Nurullah and Naik, p. 67.
16. Selections from Educational Records, Vol. I, pp. 130-1.
17. Selections from Educational Records, Vol. II, pp. 16-7.
18. Syed Nurullah and Naik, p. 179.
19. ibid., p. 181.
153
20. ibid.

21. ibid., p. xx.

22. Gokhale's Speeches, pp. 234-5.
23. Report of the Hartog Committee, p. 31; and Quinquennial Review of the Progress of
Education in India, 1927-32, Vol. I, p. 3.
24. Parulekar, pp. 110-11.
25. Dutt, p. 78.
26. Moral and Material Progress and Condition in India, 1923-4, p. 227.
27. Buchanan, p. 479.
28. ibid., p. 480.
29. Shelvankar, pp. 54-5.
30. B. C. Pal quoted by Buch 2, p. 150.
31. Gokhale, pp. 74-5.
32. Hans Kohn, p. 118.
33. Dutt, p. 271.
154

Ten Political and Administrative Unification

of India Under the British Rule
Absence of Basic and Administrative Unity in Pre-British
India
ONE OF the significant results of the British conquest of India was the establishment of a
centralized state which brought about, for the first time in Indian history, a real and basic
political and administrative unification of the country.
Such a unity was unknown in pre-British India, which was almost chronically divided into
numerous feudal states, frequently struggling among themselves to extend their boundaries. It is
true that attempts were made by outstanding monarchs like Ashoka, Samudragupta and Akbar to
bring the whole of India under a single state regime and administrative system. However, even

when they succeeded in bringing a greater portion of India under their rule, the political and
administrative unity achieved was of a nominal character only, since the legion of self-governing
villages wherein the preponderant portion of the Indian population resided were not thereby
affected. In fact, these villages, from time immemorial, had been so many self-governing
republics. The village committee reinforced with the caste committees constituted the de facto
government of the village population.
"The villages had an organization designed to make them self-supporting and self-governing.
Their autonomy was part of a loosely organized system of government, in which the sovereign
power left communal and local institutions to function independently, each in its limited sphere.
Each village coordinated the social activities of its inhabitants and was an independent unit."1
The main reasons why effective political and administrative unification of India in the preBritish period did not take place, were the absence of a unified national economy and efficient,
well-ramified,
155
and extensive means of communications. The history of the rise of centralized states in European
countries shows how the growth of such state structures is closely bound up with the growth of
unified national economies and the development of rapid and efficient means of
communications.2
It is true that a conception of unity of India existed and flourished in pre-British India. But this
unity was conceived as the geographical unity of the country and the religio-cultural unity of the
Hindus. India was 'both a geographical and cultural continuum'.3
As O'Malley remarked: "Hinduism, in fact, produces certain unity between men who had no
common language and who were socially atomized and politically divided, but who had common
sympathies founded on the same religion."4
The concept of the political unity of the entire Indian people did not and could not emerge under
the given socio-historical circumstances. The people were not socially and economically
integrated; they were, therefore, not integrated politically either.
The British established a state structure in India which was of a distinctly new type. It was highly
centralized and ramified in the remotest corner of the country.

Legal Unification
The British established a uniform reign of law in the country. They enacted laws and codified
them. These laws were applicable to every citizen of the state and were enforced by a
hierarchically graded system of tribunals which constituted the judicial section of the state.
Judicial officials appointed by the state interpreted and enforced the laws of the state
incorporated into its various codes in every village, town, and city. There was thus established in

the country a system of lower courts, district courts and high courts, finally culminating into the
Federal Court and the Privy Council.
In establishing the new system of law and tribunals, the British had to supersede the customary
law which prevailed in pre-British India and expropriate village and caste committees of their
power to enforce the customary law which further varied from place to place in the absence of a
uniform system of law.
The legal system introduced by the British was on the whole equalitarian in contrast to the
customary law prevalent in pre-British
156
India which discriminated between caste and caste, community and community. This was due to
the fact that the customary law was governed by religion which sanctified hierarchically graded
caste and other distinctions.
The new legal system was based on the democratic conception of equality of all citizens before
the laws of the state. In pre-British India, a Brahmin offender was meted out a lighter punishment
than a non-Brahmin offender for the same offence. Under the new law, all citizens, no matter
what their caste or creed, were considered equal before law, the jurisdiction of which further
covered the entire territory of the state. Thus, the British brought about a legal unification of the
Indian people on a democratic basis for the first time in Indian history, in spite of some
discriminative legislation in favour of the Europeans.

Administrative Unification
The British also accomplished another progressive act, namely the administrative unification of
the country. They established hierarchically graded public services which brought about the
administrative unification of the country. Thus were created, imperial, provincial, and
subordinate services which formed the executive section of the centralized state. In pre-British
India, even when a monarch brought the major part of the country under his rule, a real basic
administrative unification of the country did not take place. This was because the representatives
and officials of the monarch, stationed in different parts of the kingdom, did not generally
concern themselves with the life of the people beyond collecting land revenue from the collective
village, levying troops, securing tribute due to the emperor from the townspeople through their
principal representative and guilds or sometimes attending to irrigation and road construction.
Caste and village committees were the de facto governments and administrative bodies so far as
the individual village was concerned. These committees looked after the distribution of land
among peasant families in the village, regulated relations between its members composed mainly
of artisans and peasants, and attended to such matters as education, sanitation, adjudication of
disputes, and others. The state only claimed its share of village produce and left its
administration to the village community. This was in contrast to the new administrative system
inaugurated by the British under which the state expropriated the
157

village and cast committees of their functions and powers and undertook the responsibility of the
administration of the inner affairs of the village which was now carried on by the official
appointed by it and responsible not to the village community but to the centralized state. Thus,
the self-governing village was transformed into a unit and a part of the single administrative
system existing on a countrywide scale. The establishment of British rule in India brought about
an extensive and basic political, administrative and legal unification of the country for the first
time in India's history. Such a state structure became necessary to the new type of economy
which came into existence in India under the British rule. The capitalist economic transformation
of India broke up the multitude of separate village economies, welded the Indian people
economically, through a system of exchange relations, and made contract the key basis of their
economic relations. The British government created a new land system on a private property
basis and introduced money economy. A uniform system of law had to be evolved to maintain
and regulate the new land relations and contractual transactions such as purchase, sale and
mortgage of land resulting inevitably from the new system.

Establishment of Uniform Currency System

Under the British rule, all production in the country became commodity production. India was
also linked with the world market more extensively than before. Both the internal and foreign
trade of India increased in volume and scope. Further, modern industries on a capitalist basis
steadily developed in the country. The new state had to enact a mass of laws to regulate the huge
complex of contractual and other relations inevitably arising from such an economic state. Thus
there came into existence a system of new laws, uniformly operating and governing all complex
and multifold relations and transactions between the tenants and landlords, workers and
employers, manufacturers, traders and bankers. They also controlled laws determining the
relations of India with other countries regarding perennially operating trade and other activities.
The new economy also necessitated the introduction of a uniform currency system in the
country.
The new state made education its responsibility. This became necessary since the new economy
and administrative apparatus needed
158
for their functioning a personnel trained in modern liberal, scientific, and technical education.
The new state established by the British unified India and the Indian people more
comprehensively than any state during the pre-British period. The Indian people, for the first
time, found a substantial sector of their economic and social life coming under the governance of
a universally and equally operating system of law.

Unification, its Chief Defects

Though the British rule in India accomplished the political, legal, and administrative unification
of the Indian people, there were a number of defects and limitations in the unification carried out.
We will enumerate the chief among them.

First, though the process of bringing the Indian territory more directly under a single state rule of
the British continued till 1857, the Proclamation of Queen Victoria in that year declared the new
policy of the British Crown which took over the government of India from the East India
Companythat of abandoning further annexation of the state territories of the surviving feudal
princes. The surviving states which could have been liquidated by superior British power were
perpetuated and transformed into so many reliable props of British ascendency in India.
The perpetuation of the numerous petty and big feudal states had, however, the effect of
restricting the historically progressive process of the political and administrative unification of
India under a single state. India was divided into two parts, one governed by the princes, the
other by the British government. Coupland made the following observation regarding this: "Thus
India was divided into two distinct parts, in which the basis and form of government were quite
different' .5 Coupland further remarked: "This division between the Indian states and British
India defies geography.... the states are scattered haphazard over the map. Here and there, the
British territory is closely interlaced with theirs."6
Though these states were mostly ruled by autocratic princes, their economic structures
experienced a transformation. They generally introduced the new land and revenue system which
was established in British India. The self-sufficient and self-governing village almost became
extinct in the territories of these states also. A few advanced
159
states like Baroda, Mysore and Travancore, introduced even the administrative system almost on
the model of that operating in British India. They also established a uniform system of law and
created courts to enforce laws. However, these states represented many distinct governments and
administrations and remained demarcated both from British India and from one another.
Another characteristic of the political and administrative unification of British India was that the
state machinery, which accomplished this historically progressive act, had been evolved in
various stages in accordance with constitutions which were the creation of different Acts of the
British Parliament. These constitutions which shaped the state structure of British India were not
decided by a Constituent Assembly composed of the elected representatives of the Indian people.
As a result of this, the British government in India remained legally and technically responsible
to the British Parliament through the Secretary of State for India and not to the Indian people
whom it governed. This constituted the inevitable undemocratic feature of the state structure
established by the British in India.
The defects enumerated above were the inevitable consequences of the fact that the new state
was, historically, the offspring of the British conquest of India. It was primarily and basically
designed to meet the requirements and subserve the political, economic, and strategic interests of
British capitalism. Hence, along with certain historically progressive features, it also inevitably
exhibited and suffered from basic and vital limitations and defects.
This contradiction, namely that of a foreign state governing a native population, was one of the
main factors which gave rise to the Indian nationalist movement.

"The presence of the British in India did not stimulate Indian national consciousness simply by
bringing all Indians under an effective common government and by making accessible Western
ideas. The incursion of an alien race, themselves imbued with a strong consciousness of
nationality and of colour, had its customary effect in stimulating a similar consciousness among
their subjects..."
"... the British rule did not merely make the Indians aware that they possessed characteristics in
common; it also provided them with common interests and common grievances."7
The Indian people, as they became politically conscious, organized movements to secure
demands such as administrative reforms,
160
Indianization of the Services, representative institutions, elimination of racial discrimination,
franchise, elected legislatures, and executives responsible to these legislatures civil liberties, a
Constitution on lines of self-governing colonies, and finally a Constituent Assembly as the sole
authority to shape the constitution for the Indian people.*
In fact, these demands sought to democratize the state machinery and to transfer, in varying
degrees, administrative initiative and political power from the British to the Indian people. Thus
the national movement became essentially a democratic movement.
It is to be noted that the nationalist movement desired to retain the political and administrative
unification of India, accomplished by the British, which represented a historical advance of
Indian society. It did not aim at the resuscitation of the self-governing village and the general
political and administrative disunity of pre-British feudal India. The Indian nationalists aimed at
putting the state structure on a democratic basis. Its most progressive section finally set, as the
objective, Independence in terms of a sovereign state existence for the Indian people.

References
1. O'Malley, pp. 3-4.
2. Refer Carr.
* The Indian Nationalist Movement had a multi-class basis and was directed against the British
foreign rule. Each social group or class put forth demands which reflected its interests and
aspirations. These groups generally, however united for such demands as civil liberties, Swaraj
and others, which were of common interest.
While the Indian Nationalist Movement had reached a stage when it had put forth the demand of
Independence or a sovereign state existence for the Indian people, various political groups
representing different classes had their own conception of the nature of the future state structure
of India. Barring the Muslim League which stood for the division of India into Hindu and
Muslim sovereign states, other political groups and organizations desired to preserve the single

state existence of the Indian people accomplished by Britain (though granting the right of selfdetermination to nationalities). However, while some of them visualized a democratic Indian
state based on modern capitalist economy, others like the All-India Trade Union Congress and
socialist groups stood for a socialist state based on socialist economy.
161
3. O'Malley, p. 1.
4. ibid., p. 1
5. Coupland, p. 7.
6. ibid., p. 14.
7. Carr, p 153.
162

Eleven Rise of New Social Classes in India

Uneven Emergence of New Social Classes
THE EMERGENCE of the social classes in India was the direct consequence of the
establishment of a new social economy, a new type of state system and a state administrative
machinery, and the spread of new education during the British rule.1
These classes were unknown to past Indian society, since they were primarily the offspring of the
new capitalist economic structure which developed in India as a result of the British conquest
and the impact on her of the British and world economy. The Indian people were reshuffled into
new social groupings, new classes, as a result of the basic capitalist economic transformation of
Indian society.
The process of the rise of new social classes in different parts of the country and among various
communities was, however, an uneven one. This was due to the fact that the new social economy
spread, both in time and tempo, unevenly, since this spread depended on the growth of political
power of Britain in India. The conquest of India by Britain resulting in the economic
transformation which it led to, was not a single simultaneous event. India was subdued by Britain
by instalments and through stages. Different parts of the country became more or less
economically transformed on the new capitalist basis in sequence of their political subjugation.
Hence, new social classes came into being earlier in those zones which came under British
influence earlier. Bengal was among the first prizes which fell to Britain and where the British
Government created, for the first time in Indian history, private property in land in the shape of
Zemindari. Therefore, it was in Bengal that two of the new social classes, the zemindars and the

tenants, came first into existence. It was also in Bengal and Bombay, that the first industrial
enterprises such as jute and cotton factories were started
163
leading thereby to the emergence of such new classes as industrialists and proletariat. Further, it
was for the same reason that in these provinces Britain established a complex, well ramified,
administrative system and introduced new educational institutions imparting knowledge in
modern sciences such as modern medicine, law, etc. thereby leading to the growth of the
professional classes first.2
However, as the British conquest of India finally enveloped the entire country, the new social
economy, administrative system, and modern education spread all over India and gave rise to
new social classes on a national scale.
The process of the rise of new social classes among different communities was also an uneven
one. This was due to the fact that certain communities were engaged, in the pre-British period, in
definite economic, social, or educational vocations. For instance, in pre-British society, mainly
the banyas were traders and Shroffs, and the brahmins, the custodians of education among the
Hindus. In the new social environment, the banyas were among the first groups (another being
the Parsis) to take to modem capitalist commerce and banking and develop into new social
classes, namely the commercial and financial bourgeoisie. Similarly, the Brahmins were among
the first to study and assimilate the modern education introduced by the British government and
project a modern intelligentsia and an educated middle class. The upper strata of the Muslim
community in the pre-British period, were, on the whole, divorced from medieval trade or
money-lending and were mainly engaged in military and administrative careers. Further, they
predominantly resided in Northern India which came under the British rule much later. The vast
Muslim population of Bengal mainly belonged to the poorer classes. Hence a modern
intelligentsia, a modern educated middle class and a bourgeoisie, on a substantial scale, sprang
from within the Muslim community later than from within the Hindu community.3 (See Chapters
9 and 19).

New Social Classes

We will next enumerate the new social classes which evolved in the Indian society during the
British rule. In agrarian areas these were principally (1) zemindars created by the British
government; (2) absentee landlords; (3) tenants under zemindars and absentee landlords; (4) the
class of peasant proprietors divided into upper, middle and
164
lower strata; (5) agricultural labourers; (6) the modern class of merchants and (7) the modern
class of money-lenders.
In the urban areas, these were principally (1) the modern class of capitalists, industrial,
commercial and financial; (2) the modern working class engaged in industrial, transport, mining,

and such other enterprises; (3) the class of the petty traders and shopkeepers bound up with
modern capitalist economy; (4) the professional classes such as technicians, doctors, lawyers,
professors, journalists, managers, clerks and others, comprising the intelligentsia and the
educated middle class.

Forces leading to their Emergence

Primarily, the new classes came into existence as a result of the basic economic transformation
brought about by various acts of the British government (such as the new type of land relations),
the penetration of Indian society by commercial and other forces from the outside capitalist
world, and the establishment of modern industries in India.
The introduction of private property in land in the form of Zemindari and Ryotwari by the British
government brought into being the new classes of large estate owners, the zemindars, and
peasant proprietors. Further, the creation of the right to lease land brought into being such classes
as tenants and sub-tenants; the creation of the right to purchase and sell land together with the
right to hire and employ labour on land, created conditions for the growth of the class of absentee
landlords and that of the agricultural proletariat.
As Marx wrote in 1853: "The Zemindari and Ryotwari system were both of them agrarian
revolutions effected by British ukases, and opposed to each other; the one aristocratic, the other
democratic; the one a caricature of the English landlordism, the other of French peasantproprietorship; but pernicious, both combining the most contradictory characters, both made not
for the people who cultivate the soil, not for the holder who owns it, but for the government that
taxes it."4
As a logical working out of the new agrarian-economic system, a hierarchy of intermediaries
developed between the zemindar and the cultivating tenant in the zemindari zones, and a chain of
intermediaries, namely money-lenders, absentee landlords, and merchants, grew up between the
cultivating peasant and the state in the Ryotwari area. Due to the operation of causes enumerated
in the chapter on agriculture, a
165
large class of capitalist landlords, similar to that in England and the U.S.A., or a preponderant
class of economically stable and flourishing peasant proprietors, similar to that in France, did not
evolve in India.5
Instead, along with the classes of zemindars, tenants, peasant proprietors, and land labourers,
there developed in the agrarian area, on an increasing scale, such groups as modern
moneylenders, merchants who were intermediaries between the peasants and the market and
absentee landlords interested only in securing rent. These classes and groups were unknown in
pre-British Indian society.
Though the classes of moneylenders and merchants existed in the rural area in pre-British India,
their function and position in the old economy were substantially different from those in the new

economy. The moneylender in the old Indian society played almost an insignificant role. He
occasionally lent money to the village agriculturist or artisan, the interest strictly fixed by the
village panchayat. Further, the moneylender could not annex the land or livestock in case a
farmer did not meet the interest claim since the land belonged to the village community.
Similarly, the village merchant, in old society, only reinforced the village with a few articles
which it could not produce. His role was, however, magnified, even became transformed, when
the new land system was introduced, when land became private property and agricultural
produce became a commodity. The merchant became indispensable to the peasant as an
intermediary for the sale of his crop in the Indian or world market.6
Since their roles were transformed, the classes of modern merchants and moneylenders in
agrarian areas might be described as new classes linked up with the new capitalist economy and
performed functions which were quite different from those that they had performed in the social
economy of medieval pre-British Indian society. The modern commercial bourgeoisie was also a
new evolution. Under the British rule, all production in India, rural or urban, agricultural or
industrial, became production for the market. As a result of this, the internal market expanded
and a large class of traders engaged in internal trade grew. Also during the British period, India
became linked up with the world market far more extensively than before. This led to the growth
of a large class of merchants whose function was to export and import goods from and into India.
Thus came into being the class of commercial bourgeoisie, engaged in extensive internal and
external trade in the country.
166
It is true that, in pre-British India, both internal and foreign trade existed but their volume and
scope as observed earlier were limited. As a result of this, the merchant class in pre-British India,
engaged both in internal and foreign trade, was extremely small. Its significance and specific
weight in the country's economy also was not very great.
The new commercial classes which grew out of the new economic situation were of a different
type from their counterparts in pre-British India. The new merchant classes traded in all
production, rural and urban, agricultural and industrial, in the country. They purchased
agricultural produce from the zemindars, tenants, and peasant proprietors, and sold it in Indian
and international markets. They purchased industrial goods from the owners of modern industrial
enterprises and likewise sold them in the Indian and world markets. While, in pre-British India,
the role of the merchant class was small since the overwhelming proportion of the country's
products was outside the scope of the market, the role of the modern and new commercial class
of India became an imposing one.7
The establishment of railways and accumulation of profits and savings in the hands of the Indian
trading class, a section of zemindars and wealthy members of the professional classes, which
could serve as capital, led to the rise of Indian-owned textile, mining, and other industries and
the growth of the new class of industrial bourgeoisie in the country. Along with this class
inevitably emerged the new class of modern proletariat in India. Indian society now included in
its composition such new groups as mill-owners, mine-owners, and other owners of new
capitalist enterprises; also such groups as factory workers, mine workers, railway workers,

workers on the plantations. These classes and groups did not and could not exist in pre-British
Indian society since there did not exist modern factories, mines, plantations, or railways. Thus
with the growth of modern industries in India, the new classes of the modern bourgeoisie and the
working class came into existence.8
Indian industries were established and developed at a rapid rate only in the later decades of the
nineteenth century and thereafter. The industrial bourgeoisie and the working class grew in
number, in proportion as these industries developed.
The professional classes comprising modern lawyers, doctors, teachers and professors associated
with modern educational institutions, managers and clerks working in modern commercial and
other
167
enterprises, officials functioning in state administrative machinery, engineers, chemists,
technologists, agronomists, journalists and others, formed another new social group which
evolved in Indian society during the British period. The new economic, social, and state systems
required, as personnel, cadres of educated Indians, versed in modern law, technology, medicine,
economics, administrative science, and other subjects. In fact, it was mainly due to the pressing
need of the new commercial enterprises and the administrative system which prompted the
British government to inaugurate modern education and establish, on an increasing scale, modern
educational institutions in India. Schools and colleges imparting legal, commercial and general
liberal education, were started to meet the needs of the new state and society. Thus there came
into existence, in steadily expanding numbers as this society developed, the modern professional
classes in India.9 Such social groups linked up with modern industry, agriculture, commerce,
finance, administration, press, and other sections of the new social life, were unknown to preBritish society since such a social, economic, and class system did not then exist.
In pre-British India, village panchayats and caste committees performed all judicial,
administrative, and even economic functions in the legion of villages. The village intelligentsia
was almost exclusively composed of the village priest and schoolmaster who were the servants
of the village community and looked after the religious-cultural and secular-cultural interests of
the people. In the cities lived highly learned pundits and maulanas, great artists and literateurs,
astronomers and astrologers, vaidyas and hakims proficient in medical knowledge existing then,
and artisans and mechanics embodying knowledge and skill of their respective crafts. These
groups, however, flourished under the patronage of princes, nobles and wealthy merchants, and
mainly responded to the needs of their patrons. They were, in general, not public practitioners of
their skill the advantage of which could be had by the population at large. Their artistic scientific
and technical capacities were in the main, annexed to their royal and other masters.10
Modern professional classes which developed on the basis of the requirements of the new society
and the spread of the rich modern western culture and education in India during the British rule,
contrasted sharply with these groups of pre-British India. Economically, their knowledge and
skill, artistic, scientific or technical, could be at the disposal of any citizen who could pay for it.
Socially they became an

168
integral part of the new capitalist society which evolved in India. Further, these professional
classes were trained in modern knowledge, in modern western sciences and arts. They were
lawyers who studied and practised the new jurisprudence and laws enacted by the British
government; doctors who studied modern medicine; engineers who became acqainted with
modern technological science; teachers and professors who studied and taught advanced modern
social, political, economic, natural, and other sciences, which developed in the west. They were
journalists and writers who edited papers and published books which were sold in the market and
the content of which was consumed by thousands of people. They were managers and officials
who staffed the enormous and complex economic and administrative state machinery of a
politically and economically unified India and tackled complex problems affecting the life of the
whole nation. This was, in fact, a new social group evolved in the Indian society, to be
distinguished from its meagre counterpart in pre-British India where the specific talent and
capacity of a schoolmaster, a physician, or an artist, were low and, further, were also a monopoly
of the royal or other patron, or at the disposal of a small village community.
In addition to the new classes enumerated above, there existed in the urban area, in every town
and city, a big class of petty traders and shopkeepers, which had developed with the growth of
modern cities and towns.

Surviving Old Classes, their Changed Position

Though the social economy of India had been transformed from a medieval to a modern
capitalist basis (which represented a historical advance of Indian society) during the British
period, this transformation had not been so thorough and intensive as in countries like France,
England or the U.S.A. The factors explaining this thwarted development have been mentioned in
a previous section dealing with Indian economy.
As a result of the insufficient industrial development, remnants of the old economy such as precapitalist handicrafts and village artisan industries survived in the country. Corresponding to
these remnants of the old economy, classes of pre-capitalist Indian societyvillage artisans,
urban handicraftsmenalso survived and coexisted with new classes in India.
It is, however, to be noted that these remnants of old classes were
169
not identical, in function and characteristics, with the old classes of the pre-British period.
Environed by the general capitalist milieu, they bore a number of new features. For instance, the
village artisansa class which was still numerousdid no work as the servants of the village
community as in the past but usually brought their goods to the market. Similarly the urban
handicraftsmen, who still existed in good number, did not work specifically for princes, nobles,
or wealthy merchants as in the past. They also brought the products of their skill to the general
market. However, in technique and often even in organization, they retained the old
characteristics.

The class of Indian princes, petty and big, ruling over about one-third of the Indian territory was
another class of the pre-British Indian society, which also survived. Its survival was due to the
decision of the British government to perpetuate it for political reasons. These princes
maintained royal courts, held feudal functions, maintained the paraphernalia of the old feudal
regime. However, they had to be distinguished from the pre-British princes in some salient
features. A great majority of them had no sovereign powers; all vital functions and powers of
their states were taken over or were controlled by the paramount British power. The economic
structures on which these states were based, were also on the whole fundamentally different from
those on which the pre-British states rested. In fact, in spite of the survival of some remnants of
the old economy and social relations like serfdom, basically the economies of these states
became an integral part of the national economy of India.
A modern legal system was introduced in advanced states though absolutism also prevailed in a
number of them.
Democratic liberties did not exist or existed in a very curtailed form in these states. This
handicap retarded the social, economic, and cultural development of the inhabitants.
Due to these reasons, Indian princes who governed these states could not be considered to be the
same as the old class of princes in pre-British India. Though the states were not as yet,
economically, socially, politically, or culturally, modernized, still they were also not the replica
of those which existed in the pre-British period.11
The Indian princes also were not a pure class of medieval nobles who lived on revenue mostly
derived from land. A number of these princes invested their money in modern commercial,
industrial, and financial enterprises, even in territory outside their state frontiers. To
170
that extent, these princes were transformed into modern capitalists bound up with the new
capitalist economy. The Indian princes, modified survivals of the old class of princes of preBritish society, coexisted with the new classes which evolved in Indian society.
The survival of the remnants of old classes, even though existing in a modified form alongside
the new classes, made the Indian society a complicated organism with extremely variegated and
antagonistic social forces struggling for their respective interests within it. The Indian people
became a motley crowd composed of numerous old and new classes. Social groups belonging to
various societies, past and present, constituted the new Indian society. Corresponding to this, old
outlooks, which were the world conceptions of past epochs, interpenetrated modern views which
sprang from the basic modern social soil. This was one of the reasons which explained the slow
growth of national consciousness and national unity among the Indian people.
We will now briefly refer to the interests, traits, problems, programmes, organizations, and
movements of the important among these new classes.

Zemindars: their interests and Organizations

As seen before, the class of zemindars had been largely the creation of the British government.12
N. N. Ghosh writes: "The zemindars with whom the Permanent Settlement was made, were an
aristocracy manufactured by Lord Cornwallis. They were entirely the creatures of the state."13
Due to such genesis, the zemindars, on the whole, always supported the British government and
opposed it only when their Zemindari rights were in any way encroached upon. The British
government, on its part, counted upon them as a reliable loyal force and treated them with
favour. "Sir Lawrence showed the Talookdars all the attention and consideration in his
power."14 Lord Lytton frankly stated that the conservative forces of the Indian society including
the landed aristocracy should serve as the support of the British rule in India (see Chapter 10). In
various reforms and constitutional schemes introduced by the British government, the zemindars
were given special representation (see Chapter 10) and the political weight of this class was
thrown on the side of the British government, either in the struggle of the latter in legislatures or
outside against the nationalist forces.
171
The landed aristocracy almost always supported the government when the Indian National
Congress, under Liberals, Extremists or Gandhi, put forth demands for democratic rights,
administrative reforms or Swaraj, and organized struggles, parliamentary or extra-parliamentary,
to back up these demands (see Chapter 18). This was due to the fact that the landed aristocracy
apprehended that any democratic transformation, social, political or economic, would jeopardize
its class interests and even class existence.
The zemindars were, on the whole, conservative and unenterprising. They formed their principal
organization, the British Indian Association, in 1851. E. S. Montague described this organization
in his Indian Diary, published in 1930, thus: "The British Indian Association (is) more or less a
conservative body headed by the Maharaja of Burdwan, the best type of conservative Indian. ...
He has a fierce love of the British connectionnot a passive acquiescence, but a firm belief in it.
... He is a large and very rich zemindar, and wishes to be made an independent chief."15
The Indian princes were the first to be associated with the state apparatus established by Britain
in India. In 1862, the Maharaja of Patiala and the Raja Benares were nominated to the GovernorGeneral's Legislative Council. The next group of nomination consisted of zemindars. About this,
K. B. Krishna writes: "A group of nominations can be drawn as it were beginning with the rajas,
zemindars, retired officials, merchants and professional classes."16
The zemindars took, on the whole, an anti-democratic stand, on vital questions affecting the life
of the Indian people. B.C. Pal writes: "To protest against the Press Act of Lytton, the Indian
Association convened a public meeting of the inhabitants of Calcutta at the town hall. The
British Indian Association, representing the Bengal zemindars, refused to join the meeting. But,
the educated middle class, not only of Calcutta and Bengal but practically of the other provinces
also, fully supported this protest of the Indian Association."17
Since the zemindars appropriated a good proportion of income from land, the economic
condition of the mass of tenants in the Zemindari zones steadily deteriorated. While the latter
were increasingly impoverished, agriculture also, for lack of proper manure, seeds, etc.,

increasingly decayed. The nationalists as well as British statesmen recognized the precarious
position of agrarian economy in the Zemindari area and the alarming poverty of the tenant
population.
172
The critics of landed aristocracy, Indian and foreign, remarked that the zemindars did not play
any productive role in the Indian economy. They stood for the rationalization if not the
elimination of the Zemindari. They considered this as one of the indispensable prerequisites for
the renovation and development of Indian agriculture on which the economic position of a great
majority of the Indian population depended.18
Socially, the class of zemindars, on the whole, opposed far-reaching social reform. The Maharaja
of Darbhanga declared in favour of the perpetuation of the anti-democratic caste system on the
ground that the caste system was the best and surest safeguard against forces which menaced
civilization (see Chapter 14, 'The Crusade against the Caste System'). While a few enlightened
zemindars supported and assisted the movement for democratic social progress, as a class they
took an attitude of reactionary opposition to it. Classes connected with landed property or nations
who live on agriculture have been generally conservative in contrast to commercial and
industrial communities. In his Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Tawney remarks: "The
psychology of a nation which lives predominantly by the land is in sharp contrast with that of a
commercial society. In the latter, when all goes well, continuous expansion is taken for granted
as the rule of life, new horizons are constantly opening, and the catchword of politics is the
encouragement of enterprise. In the former, the number of niches into which each successive
generation must be fitted is strictly limited; movement means disturbance... and the object of
statesmen is, not to foster individual initiative, but to prevent social dislocation."19
The Indian zemindars exhibited this attitude of antagonism to reform and progress with a special
emphasis.
As the nationalist movement developed with a programme of democratic reorganization of the
Indian society and as subsequently the movement of peasants, tenants, and land labourers grew,
the zemindars more than ever, looked to the British government for the protection of their
interests and rights. Through their own organizations, they asked for appropriate representation
in the legislatures.

Tenants: their Interests and Organizations

The creation of Zemindari simultaneously engendered the class of tenants in India. The tenants
were rackrented, impoverished and suffered
173
from oppression at the hands of the zemindars.

In course of time, a series of intermediaries developed between the zemindar and the cultivating
tenant whose condition thereby increasingly deteriorated. The Bengal Tenancy Acts of 1859 and
1885 aimed at ameliorating the position of the tenant. However, the legislation did not
accomplish much. The mass of tenants continued to live in an increasingly worsening condition.
In addition to the class of tenants in the Zemindari tracts, a new class of tenants also grew in the
Ryotwari areas. Due to the progressive impoverishment among the peasant proprietors, land
steadily passed from the hands of the latter to those of absentee landlords.
Gradually an awakening started taking place among the tenants in various provinces.20 In the
U.P., Bihar, Bengal, and other areas, they formed their tenants' unions or joined kisan sabhas
which sprang up and which were composed of peasants, tenants, and land labourers of all
those who worked on the land. These tenants' unions and kisan sabhas formulated the specific
grievances and demands of the tenants and even organized movements to back up these
demands. Since the organizers of these unions, sabhas, and movements were staunch nationalists
like Jawaharlal Nehru, Professor N. G. Ranga and Swami Sahajanand, the tenants, along with
other categories of those who worked on the land, came under the influence of nationalist
propaganda and increasingly joined the nationalist movement under their own flag and with their
own class demands. The nationalist spirit began to percolate steadily to the economically and
culturally backward tenants. The kisan sabhas and tenants' unions began to be critical not only of
the British government but also of the Indian National Congress which, according to them, was
on the whole, solicitous of looking after the interests of the zemindars. They formulated their
programme of demands such as reduction of rent, abolition of the practice of illegal dues
exported by the zemindars, rackrenting etc. Kisan sabhas even described the Zemindari system
itself as wasteful, inefficient, iniquitous, and against national interests.

Peasant Proprietors: their Subdivision, Interests and

Organizations
The creation of property in land in the form of Ryotwari engendered the class of peasant
proprietors in India, which was broadly divided
174
into three main categories according to the economic strength, viz., the upper, middle and lower
strata of peasant proprietors. As a result of the operation of factors like heavy land tax, small
holdings, fragmentation of plots, growing heavy indebtedness, and others enumerated before,
this class had been increasingly impoverished since it came into existence. It had been in a state
of permanent disintegration. A process of differentiation was constantly at work within it, a
meagre minority of the mass of peasant proprietors ascending to the level of rich peasants while
a large number falling into the ranks of the poor peasants, tenants of the absentee landlords or
land labourers. This process of differentiation grew at an accelerated rate since the rate of
impoverishment of the peasantry increased. This led to the increasing passing of land from the
hands of the peasant proprietors into those of moneylenders, merchants, or others, who formed
the new class of absentee landlords. The middle stratum of the peasantry was steadily dissolving

and its number diminishing as growing impoverishment constantly drove a section of its
members into the ranks of lower peasantry or even paupers or agricultural proletariat. As seen in
the chapter on agriculture, both the classes of absentee landlords and agricultural proletariat grew
at a high and geometrical rate in India in subsequent years.
The peasant proprietors developed national consciousness earlier than the tenants. This was due
to the fact that the peasant proprietors were directly linked up with and had directly to deal with
the state to which it paid the land tax while the tenants came into conflict with the zemindars
over the question of rent and not with the state.
There was another reason which explained why the peasant proprietors acquired national
consciousness earlier than the tenants. The Indian National Congress led by Gandhi was
dominated by the Gandhian ideology of class harmony and formed its programme, on the whole,
in the spirit of that ideology.21 According to that view, the zemindars and tenants were Indians
and any programme which would take up and fight for the demands of the tenants would thereby
only betray partisanship of that class and antagonize the zemindars, resulting in damage to the
national united front of all classes in the struggle for Swaraj. However, the growth of the Kisan
movement exerted some pressure on the Indian National Congress which, under that pressure,
formulated a programme of demands for the tenants. Swami Sahajanand, Professor N. G. Ranga,
Indulal Yagnik and other leaders of the Kisan
175
movement, however, criticized the Congress leadership for not working enthusiastically for that
programme and even asserted that in Bihar and a number of other provinces, the right wing
leaders holding the Gandhian viewpoint allied with the zemindars against the tenants. They
further pointed out how the Congress government even used coercive state power against the
legitimate struggles of the tenants.22

Indian Kisans, their Principal Movements

We will briefly refer to the principal movements and organizations of the Indian kisanspeasant
proprietors, tenants, and land labourers during the British period.
It was after 1918 that the kisans began to develop political consciousness, take part in organized
national struggles and subsequently even build up their own organizations under their own flag
and programme and organize struggles for the fulfillment of that programme under their own
leadership.
However, before 1918, there had taken place, a number of peasant movements which were
spontaneous, spasmodic, and having limited and local economic aims.
The period between 1870 and 1897 was interspersed with severe famines in India, among which
those of 1870, 1896, and 1897, were most devastating. This led to great misery among the kisans
in affected areas. Periodically occurring economic depressions also led to great hardships among

them. As a result of this, occasional kisan struggles broke out against the zemindars,
moneylenders, and the government.
In 1870, the Bengal tenants were hit hard by the economic depression accentuating their general
poverty. Thousands of them "came to consciously refuse rents, disobey the dictates of courts,
obstruct their eviction and finally to fight with whatever weapons were available. ... A regular
state of anarchy came to prevail in a large part of Bengal and Santal countryside. ..." The rising
was quelled by the government which, however, appointed an Inquiry Committee and
subsequently enacted the Bengal Tenancy Act in 1885.
The slump in cotton prices after the end of the Civil War in America hit the Indian kisans hard.
Their debt burden as a result became very heavy and, in the Deccan in 1875, the Maratha
peasants rose against the moneylenders who, with the aid of Courts, threatened them with
eviction. They raided the houses of moneylenders, destroyed documents
176
of debts and even killed some of them. The riot was quelled. The government, however,
recognized the necessity of relief to the peasants and passed the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act
in 1879.
A revolt of the peasants threatened with loss of their land to the moneylenders took place in the
Punjab in the last decade of the nineteenth century. To ease the situation, the government enacted
the Punjab Alienation Act in 1902-3.
During the time of Lord Curzon, a Resolution of the Government of India on Land Revenue
Policy was adopted aiming at protecting the tenants from the heavy pressure of the demands of
the zemindars. The Indian National Congress "did not lay as much stress on the need for relief
for our peasants during 1905-19 as it did on the needs of Indian industrialists," such as
protection, etc.23 Especially, the Indian nationalists, on the whole, avoided reference to the mass
of tenants living under the Zemindari. "Lord Curzon's challenge to Romesh Chandra Dutt, an expresident of the Congress, that it was the government which had done more to protect tenants
from the rapacity of the zemindars remained unanswered."24
In 1917-18 the struggle of the peasants of Champaran in Bihar, led by Gandhi, against the indigo
planters, most of whom were Europeans, took place, where Gandhi employed his method of
Satyagraha. The government appointed an Inquiry Committee with Gandhi as a member and, on
the basis of the report published by it, enacted a law which brought partial relief to the kisans. N.
G. Ranga, who was critical of Gandhi's leadership of the struggle, remarked: "Just as the earlier
Congress agitation led by Romesh Chandra Dutt against temporary settlements did not embrace
the exploitation of our peasants by zemindars, so also this agitation led by the Mahatma in
Champaran did not lead up to any fight against the main causes for the terrible poverty and
sufferings of Champaran peasants, namely the excessive rents and exorbitant incidence of debts.
... It does strike us rather significant that both he (Gandhi) and Rajendra Prasad should have
remained scrupulously silent upon the ravages of the zemindari system. ..."25

Thereafter, Gandhi organized the Satyagraha movement of peasants in Kaira against the
collection of land revenue which they could not pay due to failure of crops. These were some of
the main kisan struggles before the Non-Co-operation Movement of 1919. The struggles lacked a
political content and were often anarchic.
177
Sections of Indian kisans were roused to political consciousness during the Non-Co-operation
Movement. The Indian National Congress cave a slogan of non-payment of land revenue which
had a great effect. The peasants interpreted the political struggle for Swaraj in terms of a struggle
against the heavy land tax and sections of them sympathized with, supported, and participated in
the movement. It was the first participation of a section of Indian peasants in an organized
political movement.
During the period of the Non-Co-operation Movement, peasant struggles which were not
organized by the Congress also broke out, such as the struggles in the Guntur District, Karnatak,
and Oudh Rent Act of 1921, which partially met the demands of the peasants was enacted by the
government.
The Moplah Rebellion of 1922 had both communal and economic roots. The economic
discontent of the Moplahs, who were mainly Muslim agriculturists, intensely exploited by the
Nambudris, who were Brahmin landlords in Malabar, was canalized by the Muslim
communalists into communal channels with the result that a revolt, predominantly economic in
content but religious in form, broke out leading to tragic loss of life and property.
It frequently happened in India that, where the Hindus were landlords and the Muslims were
peasants, often due to instigation of communalists, economic class conflict between them
assumed communal forms.
Two more peasant struggles, one that of the Koyas in the Narsipatan Taluka, led by Sitaram
Raju, and the other that of the peasantry of Sitapur, Rai Barelli and other districts in the U.P.,
may also be mentioned. These struggles were, however, spontaneous in character, bearing
striking resemblance to those of the nineteenth century.
It was after the end of the Non-Co-operation Movement that the process of the formation of
independent class organizations of the Indian kisans started. Ryots' associations and agricultural
and labour unions were formed in Andhra in 1923. Kisan sabhas were started in some parts of
the Punjab, Bengal, and the U.P. in 1926-7. In 1928, representatives of the Bihar and U.P. Kisan
sabhas presented a memorandum to the All-Parties Conference presided over by Motilal Nehru,
which embodied such demands as universal franchise, fundamental democratic rights and
national independence. The Andhra Provincial Ryot's Association was started in 1928.
178

Two struggles of the peasantry of the Bardoli District in Gujarat broke out, one in 1928-9 and the
other in 1930-1. The first was led by Vallabhbhai Patel and its success in persuading the
government to concede most of the demands gave a strong impetus to the peasant movement.
In 1930, Gandhi the absolute leader of the Congress, submitted his Eleven Points to the British
government as a compromise. He was criticized by the left nationalists and socialists for not
including in the Eleven Points the vital demands of the Indian working class and peasantry
though they included the most crying grievances of the Indian capitalists.26 N. G. Ranga
remarked: "Mahatmajee should certainly have asked for a considerable reduction of rents
charged by zemindars, redemption of our agricultural indebtedness ... a minimum wage for our
labour, nationalization of our key industries. ... But he would not do it consistently with his class
collaboration convictions and his anxiety not to divide our people into two political groups
basing their difference on economic interests."27
The world agrarian and general economic crisis which occurred in 1929 hit the Indian peasantry
hard. They were in a state of ferment. Sections of them participated in demonstrations and
meetings organized by the Congress. There were peasant movements in the U.P., Andhra,
Gujarat, Karnatak, and other parts of the country, both authorized by the Congress and
unauthorized.28
The process of independent organization of the kisans as a class gathered momentum after the
end of the Civil Disobedience Movement. An impression grew among the radical nationalists
and advanced elements in the kisan movement that the Congress leadership was solicitous of the
interests of the capitalists and landed magnates.
They felt that, to safeguard the interests of the kisans, their independent class organizations and
leadership must be evolved. They also thought that the national struggle for Swaraj could be
successful only if the kisans were drawn into its orbit, by taking up their own class demands. The
Congress Socialist Party, Communist groups, and Left Nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru,
stressed the necessity of forming kisan organizations in the country.
The kisan movements began to gather strength in the thirties of the present century. The first
Indian Kisan School to train active kisan workers in the method of carrying on propaganda and
organizational work was started at Nidubrole in 1938. The Madras Presidency Ryot's
179
Association was formed in 1935. The Madras Presidency Agriculturists' Association was
organised in 1937.
There were also attempts to organize the kisans on a communal basis. Sir Abdur Rahim and Fazlul-Huq started in Bengal the Praja Party to muster the Muslim kisans. The party subsequently
changed its name into Krishik Praja Party. It adopted a programme of agrarian reform and even
abolition of the Zemindari system. The party gained considerable strength among the Muslim
peasantry of Bengal.

The Bihar Kisan Sabha which was started in 1927 developed into an extensive organization after
1934. This was due to the effort of Swami Sahajanand Sarswati. Bihar Kisan Sabha had been
perhaps the strongest section of the All-India Kisan Sabha which was subsequently formed.
The Provincial Kisan Sabha was formed in the U.P. in 1935 with a programme which included
the demands for the abolition of the Zemindari system. Kisan sabhas also began to spring up in
other parts of the country.
The government passed a number of relief measures to alleviate the conditions of the kisans. In
the U.P., five Debt Relief Acts were passed in 1934; in the Punjab, the Regulation of Accounts
Act was passed in 1934; in Bengal, the Moneylenders Act was passed in 1933 and the Relief of
Indebtedness Act in 1935. Since even this legislation did not appreciably improve the position of
the kisans, their discontent continued to grow and find expression in the growth of the kisan
movement.
The first All-India Kisan Congress which met at Lucknow in 1935 decided that the Congress
should be established as the supreme kisan organization in the country. Jawaharlal Nehru
expressed strong sympathies and support for this Congress.
The establishment of the All-India Kisan Congress, though it did not envelope the entire kisan
population of India, was an event of great historical significance. For the first time in the history
of the Indian people, an all India organization of the Indian peasantry came into existence with a
programme of common demands and expressed the aspirations of the entire kisan humanity of
this vast land. It revealed the birth of a new higher consciousness and a wider perspective which
transcended the mere local perspective existing in the pre-British India among the rural
population.
The All-India Kisan Sabha carried on wide educative and propaganda work among the Indian
kisans. It also extended its organization in the
180
country. The All-India Kisan Sabha asked for collective affiliation to the Indian National
Congress. The Congress, however, did not agree to the suggestion.
On the eve of the elections for provincial legislatures held under the New Constitution in 1937,
the Indian National Congress published an Election Manifesto which embodied democratic
demands for civil liberties and a social economic programme of radical improvement of the
conditions of the kisans. The votes of the agrarian population, who were enthused by the
manifesto, in favour of Congress candidates, played an important role in their successes at the
polls.
The Congress governments which were subsequently established in a number of provinces,
however, failed to meet the obligations made to the kisans. They passed some agrarian
legislation in some provinces, (for details refer to Chapter 10) which hardly affected the lower
strata of the kisans. The dissatisfaction of the kisans with the Congress governments found

expression in a number of protest meetings, conferences and demonstrations. Further, they

criticized the Congress governments for arresting a number of kisan leaders, banning kisan
meetings, and even using police force against the kisans, especially in Bihar.
During the period of Congress governments, the kisan sabhas organized a number of meetings,
conferences and kisan marches, to bring pressure on them to implement their demands. The
Right Wing leaders of the Congress and the Congress Ministries disapproved of such extraparliamentary forms of struggle when Congress governments were functioning.
During the period of the growth of the kisan movement since 1934, volunteer organizations
among kisans also sprang up in a number of places.

Kisans: Their Specific Psychological and other Traits

After narrating the history of the growth, conditions, movements, and organizations of large
sections of peasant proprietors, tenants, and land labourers, we will next describe the specific
psychological and other traits of these social classes.29
The class of peasant proprietors owning their land, working on it and trading in its products,
exhibit certain psychological characteristics. Since they own land, however modest in dimension
it be, a peasant
181
proprietor is usually conservative and does not exhibit that audacity in action which a factory
worker, who is usually propertyless, shows. This is the general experience in different countries.
Further, the very method of individual production in which he is engaged on land, makes the
peasant individualistic, and makes it difficult for him to collaborate in a common endeavour.
Here, the peasant contrasts sharply with the factory worker engaged in the production process in
modern factories which is based on an extensive division of labour. This is one of the reasons
why a workers' trade union and other organizations sprang up earlier than those of the kisans in
India. It is also the reason why there have been more frequent and numerous collective and
organized actions of an economic and political nature among the working class than among the
peasants, even though the economic condition of the peasant has often been worse than that of
labourer.
The peasantry is scattered over a vast area unlike the workers. This has also made the work of
organization of the kisans more difficult.30 Further, the kisans live in the countryside which is
culturally backward and where life goes on at a slow, almost monotonous pace in sharp contrast
to cities which are the focal points of a country's culture, which are strongholds of the dynamic
processes of contemporary life and where advanced social, political, educational, and other
movements mostly originate and grow. Isolated from town culture and dynamic processes of
modern life, the kisan, mentally natured in the culturally poor countryside, is relatively inert,
mentally dull and ignorant. Educational and cultural workers and nationalist propagandists have
found it more difficult to rouse the kisans to a comprehension of social, political, and other
problems than the lower strata of urban population.

There is another reason why the kisan is more superstitious and inert than other backward groups
composing the nation. Unlike industry, agriculture mainly depends for its fruition on natural
forces such as good rainfall, which have not been mastered by science or technology. Good land,
proper seeds and effective plough, healthy livestock, and his own labour, are not the only the
prerequisites for the realization of crops which finally depend on the unmastered forces of Nature
like rainfall. This fact contributes to make the peasant more superstitious and, to some extent,
even diffident and defeatist. This is why the grossest superstitions thrive among the rural
population. Rather than struggle for life by organized collective audacious action, the kisans
182
often submit to catastrophies in a helpless manner or exhibit the blind valour of a desperate man
when they take to the road of spontaneous, unorganized, and futile revolts.*
Significant historical development and events that took place in India, such as the growth of the
nationalist movement and educational and propaganda work of social, political and other
workers, together with their own increasing impoverishment, however began to weaken the
social and mental inertia of the proverbially immobile Indian agriculturists. As described before,
they began to move, though very slowly, to build up their own organizations, formulate their
own demands, and increasingly to participate in the national and their own class movements.
This was also due to the fact that Indian nationalists began paying greater attention to this section
as they realized that without the support of the kisans who formed a vast section of the
population, freedom could not be achieved. Congressmen, socialists, communists and other
groups, approached the kisans and organized work among them.
Due to the process of differentiation that went on at an increasing rate among the agricultural
population, the class of land labourers had been rapidly growing. Though this class owned
absolutely no property and lived in poverty, due to its cultural backwardness it had still not
developed much consciousness. However, the kisan movement and general nationalist
movements had been also steadily drawing it in their orbits.

Rise of Modern Indian Intelligentsia

We will now see the role of the intelligentsia in the social, political,
* Due to these organic weaknesses, social and psychological, such as dispersion on a vast area,
heterogeneous social composition, conservatism and others, the peasantry does not play an
independent political role in the history of social struggles. In modern times, it has followed
either the bourgeoisie or the working class. In the French Revolution of 1789, the serfs who were
toilers on the land accepted the leadership of the rising bourgeoisie who guaranteed them
freedom and land, in the struggle against the feudal nobility. In the Russian Revolution of 1917,
the peasantry supported the Bolshevik Party, the party of the Russian working class, which alone
promised them land. The Social Revolutionaries, who represented the heterogeneous peasant
mass, split and their Left section went over to the Bolsheviks.
183

and cultural development of the Indian people.

In India, a modem intelligentsia developed decades before modern industries were established
and the industrial bourgeoisie came into existence.31 Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his group
constituted the first group of intelligentsia who studied western culture and imbibed its rationalist
and democratic doctrines, conceptions, and spirit. The number of educated Indians was small in
the first decades of the nineteenth century. It was only after the British government established
more and more schools and colleges, private effort of the missionary groups and enlightened
Indians reinforcing this growth, that a big class of educated Indians developed during the second
half of the nineteenth century, projecting from it a large section of intelligentsia.
The role of the intelligentsia in the history of modern Indian nationalism was decisive. They
integrated, to a great extent, the Indian people into a modern nation and organized various
progressive socio-reform and religio-reform movements in the country. They were the pioneers,
organizers and leaders of all political national movements. They brought ideas of nationalism
and freedom to wider sections of the Indian people, through educational and propaganda work
which involved great self-sacrifice and suffering. They created rich provincial literatures and
cultures, trying to impregnate them with the spirit of nationalism and democracy. They produced
great scientists, poets, historians, sociologists, literateurs, philosophers and economists. In fact
the progressive intelligentsia, which assimilated modern western democratic culture and
comprehended the complex problems of the incipient Indian nation, were the makers of modern
India.
Between 1851 and 1884, the professional classes had formed three organizations in the country,
namely the Madras Native Association, the Bombay Association, and the Indian Association.
(See Chapter 10). These organizations pressed the government to Indianize the services on the
ground that the state machinery of a country must be staffed by its own nationals and not by
foreigners. The demand also corresponded to their own sectional interests.
With the establishment of Universities in the country after 1857, the numerical strength of the
educated Indians rapidly increased. The educated Indians were the first to acquire national
consciousness in India. Outstanding members of the Indian intelligentsia backed up by a
commercial and incipient industrial bourgeoisie founded in 1885 the first national political
organization of the Indian people, the Indian
184
National Congress. The language adopted by the Congress was English. The intelligentsia thus
became its first leaders. (See Chapter 10).
The subsequent history of the nationalist movement in India, which developed mainly under the
leadership of the Indian National Congress, a broad middle class basis in the first decade of the
twentieth century and a still broader mass basis after 1918, has been narrated in the chapter on
politics. The important thing to note, however, is that in all its phases of development, the
nationalist movement was led by the intellingentsiawhichever section of it led it and however
different its ideology, methodology and programme were, from those of other sections. During

the Liberal phase, the nationalist movement was led by such outstanding Liberal intellectuals as
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Dadabhai Naoroji, S. Bannerji, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Pherozshah
Mehta, and others, who were the product of modern education introduced in India by the British
government. In its next militant phase, the movement was guided by such great and sacrificing
leaders as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghose and Lala Lajpat Rai who
themselves belonged to the modern English-knowing intelligentsia. Even the terrorist movement
which, as a minority current, grew in the country, was initiated and led by educated middle class
youths who had studied the Irish terrorist and Russian nihilist movements. After 1918, when the
nationalist movement, due to a number of historical reasons (see Chapter 10), acquired more or
less a mass basis, its leadership was provided by members of the intelligentsia such as Gandhi,
C. R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Vithalbhai Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal
Nehru, Subhas Bose and other socialist and communist intellectuals. The various social reform
and religious reform movements among the Hindus, the Muslims and other communities, were
organized by the members of the intelligentsia of those communities. For instance, B. R.
Ambedkar, a member of the intelligentsia, led a movement of social reform and political
education among the depressed classes. In fact, almost all progressive social, political, and
cultural movements which took place during the British rule were the work of the intelligentsia
who had imbibed the new western education and culture.
The intelligentsia has been the organizer and leader of all progressive movements in all countries
in the modern world. In countries like China, India and others, where the general mass of
population has been illiterate and ignorant, the intelligentsia, has been playing a
185
particularly important role, since the illiterate and ignorant masses of these countries are not in a
position to take even a minimum initiative in self-organization and self-enlightenment. It was the
educated Indian who, having studied the history of trade union and peasant movements in other
countries, gave a lead to the Indian workers and peasants and helped them to form their class
organizations and movements. If the Indian masses had been literate, they could have known by
study, the trade union and other movements in other countries, and would have, on their own
initiative, formed such organizations. Similarly, the educated Indians who had assimilated
modern ideas of democracy and freedom and who knew about the social, cultural, and scientific
achievements of other peoples, spread this knowledge among the illiterate Indian masses.
The educated middle class was the product of the new system of education inaugurated by the
British government in India. It was composed of lawyers, doctors, technicians, professors,
journalists, state servants, clerks, students and others. The educated middle class steadily grew in
number in the second half of the nineteenth century and after, as a result of the increased
establishment of modern educational institutions in the country.
The Council Act of 1861 "was a concession to the educated aristocracy. ..." "The Council Act of
1892 was another index to the growth of the professional classes and to the concessions given to
these classes."32

The growth of modern education in India was not paralleled by a proportional economic
development of the country. Industrial development guarantees a general economic development
of the society, thereby increasing its wealth and general prosperity and by creating an ever
increasing number of jobs and other avenues of income. This was slow in India due to a number
of factors, of which the economic policy of the British government was an important one. As a
result of this disparity, by the end of the nineteenth century, unemployment among the educated
class had already assumed serious proportions. Political discontent that rose out of the economic
suffering due to unemployment among the educated middle class, was an important factor in the
growth of the political current of militant nationalism of which Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat
Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Aurobindo Ghose were the principal leaders. It also led to the
growth of the terrorist movement.
186
As the educated middle class grew in the country in the subsequent decades and became more
conscious of its own sectional interests, its various groups began to form their own organizations
and formulate their own demands. Thus, there came into existence, in increasing numbers,
organizations of these groups over and above their general organizations such as Youth Leagues,
Volunteer organizations. This process became particularly swift after 1930. A number of unions
and associations of such groups as teachers, lawyers, engineers, emerged to defend and organize
struggles for getting redress of their grievances. These organizations were similar to trade unions
or kisan sabhas which protected the sectional and immediate interests of workers and peasants.
The rapid growth of students' organizations and unions, particularly after 1934, all over India,
culminating in the formation of all-India students organizations, was also notable.

Modern Indian Bourgeoisie: its Interests, Organizations and

Movements
We will next consider the rise of another new social class which emerged in the Indian society.
As a result of the enormous expansion of internal and foreign trade, the establishment, in course
of time, and subsequent growth of modern industries and banks in India, during the period of the
British rule, a new class developed, the class of modern commercial, industrial and financial
bourgeoisie. This class was, as in other countries, economically and socially perhaps the
strongest class in India.
The rise and development of the Indian bourgeoisie was bound up with the expansion of trade,
commerce, industry and banking in India. The history of the expansion of the latter has been
narrated in the chapter on the rise of modem industries. We will refer to the principal interests,
traits, problems, organizations and struggles of this class.
It should also be noted that the Europeans were also engaged in trade, industry and banking in
India. Pursuing their interests, they formed their own organizations separately or together with
the Indians according to the nature of the economic enterprise.

The first European Chamber of Commerce was established at Calcutta in 1834 and at Bombay
and Madras in 1836. The first Indian Chamber of Commerce, The Bengal National Chamber of
Commerce, was started in 1887. The Indian Merchants' Chamber was founded in
187
Bombay in 1907. The Marwari Chamber of Commerce was started at Calcutta in 1900 and the
South Indian Chamber of Commerce at Madras in 1909. The Indian Chamber of Commerce was
created in 1925 "to promote and protect the trade, commerce, and industries in or with which
Indians are engaged or concerned."33
Provincial organization of the Indian commercial community also sprang up subsequently. The
Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce was started in 1927. The conflict of interests between the
Indian and the European commercial classes was the main reason for the formation of the
independent organizations of these respective groups. However, it must be noted that "where
both are traders, their interests are not identical. Where both are employers, their interests are
identical, as shown in the Millowners' Association of Bombay."34
The main grievances of the Indian merchants was what they described as preferential treatment
shown to European business by the British government in the sphere of trade and undue
restrictions put on Indian trade with non-British countries.
The Indian commercial community criticized and struggled against the privileged position of
British commercial interests in India. They, for instance, attacked the favourable position
occupied by the British businessmen in the coastal shipping of the country. This led to the
introduction of the Reservation of the Coastal Traffic of India in the Legislative Assembly by
Mr. Haji. He argued that the coastal trade was controlled by a foreign monopoly which hindered
the development of Indian shipping.
Sir P. C. Ray, a nationalist scientist, remarked: "What the British in the country are enjoying and
what they want in a new constitution, is not equality of rights, but special prerogatives as a ruling
race, continuance of the preferential treatment they have received from a Government with
which they have a kinship and the perpetuation of the existing inequalities; unless all these
prerogatives, privileges and unfair conditions are ceded, Indians will have not chance to build up
their economic future."35
The commercial community did not, however, present such militant opposition to the British
government as the class of industrialists which, in course of time, developed in the country with
the establishment of modern industries. This was due to the fact that the British government
strove to safeguard the interests of British industries in the inevitable struggle for markets
between these interests and those of rising Indian industries.
188

"The market is the first school in which the bourgeoisie learns its nationalism."36 Almost since
its inception, the industrial bourgeoisie put up a strong agitation against the government for
securing such demands as protection for the incipient Indian industries.
From 1880 onward, modern industries steadily developed in India and the industrial bourgeoisie
grew in strength. The nationalist intelligentsia had already pioneered the nationalist movement in
India and had set up the premier national political organization, the Indian National Congress, in
1885.
The rising industrialist class had become sufficiently strong and conscious by 1905. From that
time, it began to support the professional classes, who were already fighting for breaking the
monopoly of the British in the services and professions.
"The professional classes aimed at replacing a group of Britishers who still enjoyed a practical
monopoly of medical, legal and journalistic functions in India. The industrialist classes likewise
aimed to replace the British monopoly of industries in India. The development of the largest
Indian industry, cotton textiles, was against the British traders. The development of capitalism in
India was of a colonial character. The social economy of the country, together with the rigid free
trade of the British ruling class, hindered the interests of the rising industrialists. They had to
fight against commercial discrimination. They had to fight against free trade.
Their watchword was Swadeshism, protectionism. These rising industrialist classes naturally
allied themselves with the professional classes."37
The critics of the economic policy of the British government remarked that, yielding to the
pressure of the interests of the British industries, it hindered the free development of Indian
industries.38
This led to India becoming mainly an agrarian country producing raw materials for British
industries. The Indian economic development was adapted and subordinated to the requirements
of British industries, thereby reducing the Indian economy to a colonial adjunct of the British
economy. Joan Beauchamp commented thus: "Her (India's) industrial development is subjected
to the following restrictions: (a) it must be under the control of British capital, Indian capital
being placated with a junior partnership; (b) Indian industries must never be
189
allowed to compete on equal terms with home industries, or to work up raw materials which are
required for British industries; (c) the Indian market for British manufacturers must not be
interfered with, and (d) industries for the production of the means of production must not be
developed."39
The industrial bourgeoisie entered the orbit of the Indian nationalist movement with their own
slogans of protection, favourable exchange ratio, subsidies for the growing industries.

The industrial capitalists began to enter the orbit of the nationalist movement during the first
decade of the twentieth century. This class began to gravitate to the Indian National Congress
during this period and enthusiastically supported the programme of Swadeshi and boycott of
English goods, since it also served its own class interest.
The Swadeshi Movement which was successful for some time, gave an impetus to the growth of
Indian industries, especially the textile industry. The nationalist movement which was hitherto
mainly restricted to the intelligentsia, sections of the commercial bourgeoisie and educated
middle class, secured a broader social basis from 1905 as a result of the entry of large sections of
the middle class and politically conscious industrialists.
During the period of the First World War (1914-18), industrial development took place at a rapid
rate in the country. This was due to the fact that the British and other foreign industries were
mainly diverted for the war and could not supply goods to the Indian market. This gave an
impetus to Indian industries and accelerated their expansion. Further, the British government
itself, for strategic reasons, supported the establishment of steel and such other industries.
This further added to the social and economic strength of the industrialists. It was, however, after
the end of the war that the specific weight of this class within and influence over the nationalist
movement and its principal organization, the Indian National Congress, progressively increased.
It was particularly after 1919-20 that it increasingly dominated the Congress organization,
shaped its programmes and determined the forms and methods of struggles started by it. The
tendency was towards increasing control of this class over the Indian National Congress.
The Indian National Congress came under the influence of Gandhian ideology and Gandhi's
political leadership in 1919-20. Gandhi had declared his irreconcilable opposition to modern
machinery and
190
industries based on it. The fear of Indian industrialists was, however, dispelled when Gandhi
supported the resolution on Swadeshi at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in
1920. The resolution stated: "The session of the National Congress advises that Swadeshi be
adopted on a wide scale in respect to cotton goods. ..." (See the chapter on politics).
The industrialists, with their historical sense and knowledge of laws of economy, did not regard
Gandhi's parallel propaganda of khaddar as a danger to their industrial programme. In fact, while
operating and multiplying modern machine-based industries in India and deriving profits out of
them, some of them, anomalous though it be, donned handspun khaddar and even subsidized the
khaddar movement. They saw in the Congress and the movements started by it, weapons to force
the British government to grant political and economic concessions which would be of benefit to
their class.
Further, Gandhi's social philosophy based on such theories as those of class harmony, capitalists'
trusteeship of their property and 'Capitalists are fathers and workers are children', also appealed

to the industrialists. They saw in this philosophy a defence against the working-class movement
developing on a class struggle basis.
Gandhi's consistent opposition to the doctrine of class struggle made him popular among the
industrialists. While the latter viewed with disfavour the All-India Trade Union Congress which,
like the British Trade Union Congress, was based on the principle of class struggle, they
endorsed and even supported the Majur Mahajan which was the trade union organization of the
Ahmedabad textile workers sponsored by Gandhi and founded on the principle of class
collaboration.
Wealthy industrialists like Birla, Bajaj, Ambalal Sarabhai, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, and others,
supported the Congress under Gandhi's absolute leadership and financed its programmes. They
also subsidized such schemes as the revival of pre-capitalist handicrafts. In fact, it was mainly
due to the financial aid of these industrial magnates who subsidized the All-India Spinners'
Association and such other organizations, that the relics of steadily declining old modes of
production in India were artificially buttressed and kept alive.
Further, the propaganda of Gandhism with its philosophy which idealized poverty and preached
love to the opponent, was also subsidized by these industrialists, perhaps because it was the best
antidote to the discontent of labourers with their low wages and bad conditions of
191
work. If poverty is idealized, the demand for a higher standard stands self-condemned.
Paradoxical though it may seem, the wealthy industrialists did not themselves attempt to practise
these Gandhian theories of life. They retained their love for property and chase for profit,
notwithstanding their support to Gandhism.
The mass movements organized by the Indian National Congress under Gandhi's leadership and
on Gandhian principles had, however, a pressure value which the industrialists appreciated. The
movements became levers to secure from the British government the satisfaction of their
demands such as protection, favourable ratio (a demand embodied in the Eleven Points of
Gandhi), (See Chapter 10).
One of the main obstacles to the rapid economic development of India was the nature of agrarian
relationships. An agrarian reform of a far-reaching character was a pre-condition for renovating
agriculture and for improving the economic condition of the agrarian population, thereby also
increasing their purchasing power. The rapid expansion of Indian industries was possible only if
a prosperous agrarian population became their customer.
The Indian industrialists did not, however, stand for a programme of radical agrarian reform.
This was due to the fact that in India the two classes, the zemindars and the industrialists, were
often interlocked. The zemindars invested in industries and banks and the banker and the
industrialist had a landed interest.

The Congress governments which were established in 1937, were criticized by left nationalists
and others for pro-capitalistic leanings. (See Chapter 10). The critics remarked that sections of
the industrialists supported the Congress because the latter looked after their interests. The use of
the police force by the Congress government during the textile workers' strike in Bombay, the
enactment of the Trades Dispute Act, ban on workers' meetings in Ahmedabad and Sholapur,
and incarceration and deportation of some of the labour leaders by Congress governments in
various provinces, were pointed out by the critics to prove that the Congress governments
favoured capitalist interests.40
Like other classes, the industrial bourgeoisie evolved a number of organizations, to protect its
interests and press its demands. The Bombay Millowners' Association was found in 1875; the
Indian Tea Association in 1881; the Indian Jute Mills' Association in 1884; the Ahmedabad
192
Millowners' Association in 1891; the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
in 1927; the Employers' Federation of Southern India in 1920; the All-India Organization of
Industrial Employers in 1933 and the Employers' Federation of India in 1933. These were
important among the organizations.
The Indian economy had already entered the monopoly phase of development. The growing
tendency of a steadily diminishing number of capitalists towards establishing monopoly over a
particular branch of industry, even over an entire industry or a group of industries, has been
described in the chapter on industries. This led not only to an increasing grip of a small group of
industrialists and financiers over the economic life of the Indian people but also to their control
over their social, political, and intellectual life. This could be seen from the instance of the Press.
Birla bought over an entire group of papers which thereby invested him with the power to shape
the views and mould the outlook of the reading public according to this desire. This contrasted
with the earlier phase when individuals like Surendranath Banerjee, Agarkar, Tilak, and others,
could run the Press and carry on independent propaganda of their views. Big business steadily
brought within its orbit and control, a larger portion of the Press, thereby controlling the thought
of the community. In other industries, also, the same tendency became perceptible. Monopoly
control in economy tended to lead to monopoly control of the intellectual, political, and social
life of the people.

Rise of the Modern Indian Proletariat

We will now refer to another new social class which came into being in the Indian society, the
modern working class.
The modern working class in India was the offspring of the modern industries, transport, and
plantations, established in India during the British period. It was a class which grew in
proportion as plantations, modern factories, mining industry, and transport developed in India.
The Indian proletariat was formed predominantly out of the pauperized peasants and ruined
artisans, who became wage earners.41

The low level of the living and working conditions of the Indian workers was recognized by
official as well as non-official writers. "All enquiries go to show that the vast majority of
workers in India do not receive more than about (1 Rs.) per day."42
193
"We visited the workers' quarters wherever we stayed, and had we not seen them, we could not
have believed that such evil places existed. ...
"The overcrowding and insanitary conditions, almost everywhere prevailing, demonstrate the
callousness and wanton neglect of their obvious duties by the authorities concerned."43
S. V. Parulekar, Indian Workers' Delegate at the International Labour Conference held at Geneva
in 1938, said in his speech: "In India the vast majority of workers get a wage which is not
enough to provide them with the meanest necessities of life. ... The workers of India are
unprotected against risks of sickness, unemployment, old age and death."44
A large proportion of the workers had fallen into indebtedness due to their inability to maintain
themselves and their families on the basis of the low wages they got. The Whitley Commission
concluded that "in most industrial centres the proportion of families or individuals who are in
debt is not less than two-thirds of the whole."45
The conditions of the miners were especially bad regarding wages and living conditions.46
The workers employed on plantations which were mostly owned by Europeans got probably the
lowest wages. About this Shiva Rao wrote: "In the Assam Valley tea-gardens ... the average
monthly earnings of men workers settled in the gardens are about Rs. 7-13-0 a month, of women
and children about Rs. 5-14-0 and Rs. 4-4-0 respectively."47
The government enacted some legislation to protect the workers such as the Indian Ports Act of
1931, the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1934, the Factories Act of 1934, the Mines Act of
1935 and the Payment of Wages Act of 1936.
The labour and social legislation passed by the government was, however, described by a
number of writers as inadequate to protect labour.
"Taking all labour legislation into account, affecting factories mines, plantations, docks,
railways, harbours, etc., it is doubtful whether more than seven or eight millions at the outside
come within its protecting influence. The rest who constitute by far the greater majority of the
industrial workers are engaged in small or what is known as unregulated industries."48
These hard conditions of life and labour led to a steady growth of the working class movement in
India from 1918 onwards. The Indian
194

working class developed national and class consciousness much later than the intelligentsia, the
educated middle class, and the bourgeoisie. This was due to the fact that it was culturally
backward, almost illiterate. The first few generations of workers composed of pauperized
peasants and ruined village artisans suffered from the village backwardness even after they had
migrated to cities and become workers. Even later, considerable sections of Indian workers had
strong ties with the village.

Modern Proletariat, its Distinguishing Characteristics

Due to its very conditions of life and labour, the working class develops specific characteristics
and capacities which distinguish it sharply from the peasantry or even the urban middle class and
which make it easier for it to organize itself, unite and put up a collective struggle to secure its
class interests. First, a proletarian being propertyless is more militant than the peasant, who owns
a meagre plot of ground and has a stake, which makes him hesitant in action. Secondly, the
workers are concentrated in factories and workshops in the industrial centres. This renders the
task of organization of the workers easier in contrast to that of the peasants who are scattered
over a vast area and hence difficult to be welded into unions. Further, the workers operate
modern power-driven machinery and are not dependent on the capricious forces of Nature like
rain for the fruition of the labour they invest in the production process. This has a tendency to
make the worker self-confident, logical and clearheaded, in contrast to the peasant who develops
self-diffidence and defeatism. Moreover, the labour process in which the worker is engaged is
based on a more complex and extensive division of labour. The daily necessity of cooperating
with other workers in the production process itself slowly engenders in the worker a collective
urge and a capacity to co-operate. This is one of the reasons why trade unions spring more
rapidly and strikes and collective actions are more frequent than peasant unions or peasant
movements.
Further, it must also be noted that the working class occupies key positions in contemporary
society. It runs factories, operates railways and buses, generates power like gas and electricity,
digs coal and carries on the work of postal and telegraphic transmission. The role of this work is,
socially and economically most vital to maintain modern society. This renders the social specific
weight of the modern working
195
class out of proportion with its numerical strength.
The Indian working class, like the working classes of other countries, being divorced from the
modern means of production which it operated itself, on the basis of wage system, increasingly
gravitated to the conception and programme of a socialist society. This was reflected in the
constitution of the All-India Trade Union Congress which set as its aim the establishment of a
socialist state in India. As the history of Britain, France, and other countries shows, by its very
position in modern society, the working class orients towards and struggles for this final goal.
While other classes of contemporary Indian society desired a free India, the Indian labour dreamt
of a free socialist India.

There were, however, factors and forces in Indian society which worked towards retarding the
process of self-organization of the workers for which their conditions of life and labour created a
favourable premise. These were chiefly their cultural backwardness, caste and communal
divisions which split them, influence of religious superstition and a fatalistic attitude towards life
which weakened the will to act boldly. On the whole, however, the trade union, political, and
cultural movement of the Indian working class had been steadily growing.

Growth of Working Class Movements

Though as an organized movement, the Indian labour movement began only after the end of the
World War of 1914-18, there had been, before that, episodic activity of Indian labour. This
activity was, however, of a sporadic and spontaneous character and was not animated by any
definite conscious class purpose.
The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants was founded in 1897. Its membership was,
however, composed only of salaried upper staff of the railways, mostly Anglo-Indians. A few
unions like the Printers' Union in Calcutta and the Postal Union in Bombay were also formed in
the first decade of the twentieth century. These unions were, however, weak in membership and
lacked a proper theoretical or programmatic basis. The period before 1918 witnessed a few
industrial strikes also. They were mostly spontaneous, unorganized, and not animated by any
clear trade union consciousness.49
Politically also, the Indian working class remained almost unconscious and passive till 1918, the
only exception being the political general strike of the Bombay textile workers in 1908 on the
occasion
196
of the incarceration of B. G. Tilak, the popular nationalist leader. It was 'the only political action'
of the Indian workers and was greeted by Lenin as the symptom of their growing political
awakening. (See Chapter 10).
It was, however, after 1918 that the Indian working class took to the road of organization on
class lines and increasingly developed trade union and political consciousness. This
transformation is described in the Report of the Whitley Commission as follows:
"Prior to the winter of 1918-19 a strike was a rare occurrence in Indian industry. ... Lacking
leadership and organization, and deeply imbued with a passive outlook on life, the vast majority
of industrial workers regarded the return to the village as the only alternative to the endurance of
the hard conditions in industry. The end of the war saw an immediate change. There were some
important strikes in the cold weather of 1918-19; they were more numerous in the following
winter, and in the winter of 1920-21, industrial strikes became almost general in organized
industry. The main cause was the realization of the potentialities of the strike in the existing
situation, and this was assisted by the emergence of the trade union organizers, by the education
which the war had given to masses, and by the scarcity of labour arising from the expansion of
industry, and aggravated by the great epidemics of influenza."50

The economic crisis following the war, entailing suffering for the workers, the repercussion of
such events as democratic revolutions in Germany, Austria, Turkey and other countries and the
socialist revolution in Russia, among the Indian people including the working class, and the
general ferment in the country, were also some of the causes of the beginning of the organized
movement of the Indian working class after 1918.
The years 1918 to 1920 were marked with the outbreak of a series of strikes throughout the
country, in a number of industrial centres including Bombay, Cawnpore, Calcutta, Sholapur,
Jamshedpur, Madras, and Ahmedabad. It was the first time that such numerous and extensive
strike actions took place.51 In addition to these economic strikes, workers in Bombay and a
number of other industrial towns went on a political strike as a protest against the Rowlatt Acts,
demonstrating thereby their growing political consciousness. It marked the entry of the working
class in the nationalist movement.
197
It was during this period that the first attempts to form trade unions in various industries took
place in a number of centres, such as Bombay, Madras, and others. Soon, a number of trade
unions sprang up in the country.
In 1920, as a result of the efforts of N. M. Joshi, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Joseph Baptista, the AllIndia Trade Union Congress was founded. Its declared aim was to co-ordinate "activities of all
organizations in all the provinces of India, and generally to further the interests of Indian labour
in matters economic, social, and political."52
The formation of the All-India Trade Union Congress was a landmark in the history of Indian
labour. For the first time, the growing trade union movement found an all-India expression.
The leadership of the A.I.T.U. Congress remained for almost a decade, mainly in the hands of
liberal politicians like N. M. Joshi. Nationalists like V. V. Giri and C. R. Das, in course of time,
also associated themselves with it. The nationalist and reformist ideology of the leadership
determined the propaganda carried on among the workers. The A.I.T.U. Congress, however, had
a very small numerical base.
After 1927, a left wing leadership developed within the trade union movement, mainly composed
of left nationalists, socialists and communists, which steadily began to displace the earlier
leadership. Since 1922, socialist and communist ideas had been spreading among the Indians
resulting in the crystallization of socialist and communist groups in the country. These groups
realizing the significance of the working class for the success of the nationalist movement
organized Workers' and Peasants' Parties. The members of these parties gained increasing
influence in the Trade Union Congress. Their declared object was to base the trade union
movement on the principle of class struggle and also draw the workers into the orbit of the
nationalist struggle with a programme of national independence to be secured by the method of
direct action.

The left wing succeeded in becoming the leader of the A.I.T.U. Congress, the old leadership of
the Joshi group becoming a minority force within the Congress. In 1929, a sharp difference of
views occurred between the two wings over such questions as the boycott of the Royal
Commission on Labour and representation at the International Conference at Geneva. It led to a
split resulting in the secession of a number of trade unions which formed the Indian Trades
Union Federation under the leadership of the Joshi group. A further split in
198
the A.I.T.U. Congress took place in 1931. The two sections, however, united in 1935.
In 1938, both the A.I.T.U. Congress and the Indian Trades Union Federation achieved unity
resulting in the re-emergence of a strong All-India Trade Union congress in the country. The AllIndia Trade Union Congress had an advanced programme which included such objects as the
establishment of a socialist state in India; socialization and nationalization of the means of
production, distribution and exchange, as far as possible; amelioration of the economic and
social conditions of the working classes; securing for the workers civil liberties like freedom of
speech, press, association, assembly and strike; participation in the national struggle for freedom
from the point of view of the working classes, and abolition of privileges based on caste, creed,
community, race or religion.53 This was an advanced democratic and socialist programme.
The total membership of the All-India Trade Union Congress, which comprised trade unions in
various industries, stood at 3,37,695 in 1942. This was a small per cent of the total number of
workers. The low membership of the trade union organizations in India was mainly due to such
reasons as the poverty and cultural backwardness of the workers, danger of victimization at the
hands of the employers. During the period of strikes, however, trade unions had maximum
influence among the workers and gained in membership.
It was after 1927 that the Indian working class entered the phase of considerable activity in the
sphere of both economic and political struggle. During the years 1928-30, some of the biggest
economic strikes including that of the Bombay textile workers took place. After 1927, the Indian
working class began to constitute itself as an independent political force, evolved its own flag
and independent class programme, and its considerable section followed its own leadership in the
united nationalist movement. The workers joined the demonstrations organized by the Indian
National Congress as a protest against the Simon Commission, mostly under their own flag, with
their own slogans, and under their own leadership. The government considered this development
as dangerous and a result of communist agitation. It, therefore, enacted the Trades Dispute Act
and issued as an Ordinance the Public Safety Bill in 1929. The former restricted the freedom to
strike and the latter armed the government to deport undesirable aliens. It also arrested a number
of labour leaders belonging
199
to the left wing and started their trial, the famous Meerut Conspiracy Case. Sections of the
working class also participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-33.

The great success of the Congress candidates at the elections held in 1937 was due to the
enthusiastic support of the workers to whom the Election Manifesto of the Congress had
appealed. They felt, however, disillusioned about the Congress governments. They accused them
of not fulfilling their pledge to improve their living and working conditions and also blamed
them for enacting undemocratic pro-capitalist legislation like the Bombay Trades Dispute Act,
for police firing on the strikers in Bombay, banning labour meetings and imprisoning labour
leaders.
After 1938, there was a rapid growth of trade union organizations in the country. This growth
was reflected in the increase in the number of trade unions affiliated to the All-India Trade Union
Congress.54
This new social class was acquiring increasing importance in the nationalist movement.

New Social Classes, National in Character

After narrating the interests, traits, problems, organizations and the movements of the principal
new social classes, we will now refer to certain specific characteristics of these classes which
distinguished them from the old classes of pre-British India.
One striking characteristic of the new social classes was their national character. This was due to
the fact that they were integral parts of a single state regime. This engendered community of
economic, political and other interests, of the members of each of the new social classes on an
all-India national basis. As the individuals and groups comprising the class became conscious of
this basic identity of interests (though they might compete among themselves within the
framework of this basic identity of interests), they felt an urge to organize themselves on an allIndia scale and start movement to advance their common interests on a national basis.
It was not so in pre-British India, when no single national economy or state regime existed. In
pre-British India, the village artisan, for example, had no common economic ties or interests with
artisans in other villages since he was a part of village autarchy. The same followed with the
town handicraftsmen of other towns. India was, in fact, then
200
divided into a conglomeration of almost unconnected local economies and a congeries of states.
Hence, there were neither common political nor economic interests of all the artisans,
handicraftsmen, or agriculturists. This led to the absence of impulse to organize and struggle on a
national basis and scale.

Their Consciousness of Common Interests

The new social classes which emerged on the basis and lived under the auspices of a single
national economy and state rule, stood in sharp contrast to the old classes. The industrialists, the
factory and transport proletariat, the modern merchants, peasant proprietors, tenants, land

labourers and even professional classes, had respective common interests and problems such as
protection, ratio, wages and conditions of work, state regulation of prices, level of revenue
imposition, freight, services, and others in the economic field, or franchise, representation in
legislatures, civil liberties for advancing their own group interests, and others, in the political
sphere.
This was why with the establishment and development of the new economic system, which
brought into existence the contemporary capitalist (notwithstanding some survivals of the past
society) society and centralized state regime in India, we observe that each new class, urged by
the compelling force of its specific common interests, as it became conscious, moved towards a
national, i.e., an all-India organization, the bourgeoisie increasingly felt as a national bourgeoisie
and built up its Indian Chambers of Commerce and Federations of Industries. The proletariat felt
as a national proletariat and built, in course of time, its all-India organizations such as the AllIndia Trade Union Congress. The kisans, though a culturally backward and poverty-stricken
amorphous mass of land labourers, the peasant proprietors and tenants, made the first attempt to
evolve an all-India organization such as the All-India Kisan Sabha.
All such social groups, as students, women, depressed classes, doctors, editors, and others, who
as they became conscious of common interests, endeavoured to organize on a national scale and
built organizations like the All-India Women's Conference, the All-India Medical Practitioners'
Association, the All-India Journalists and Editors Conference and others. Even the Indian
princes, the modified survival of the corresponding old class, organized themselves on an allIndia
201
basis, in the Indian Chamber of Princes.
Another feature of the new Indian society was that while the new social classes moved towards
national organization and strove to accomplish their respective ends, allying or struggling among
themselves as the exigencies of their interests dictated, these classes, in varying degrees,
increasingly became conscious of certain common interests of Indian people such as the
development of productive forces and the general economic advance of the Indian society,
increased control of state power by the Indians and spread of modern education and culture. The
enlightened sections of the new classes increasingly recognized that sectional advance of those
classes was bound up with the general advance of the Indian society as a whole; that for the rapid
development of industries, restoration and reorganization of agriculture was indispensable, and
also that a prosperous agriculture implied, as a prerequisite, the expansion of industries which
would relieve overpressure on agriculture. They realized that the prosperity of the professional
classes mainly depended on the general prosperity; and that spread of education and culture were
vital prerequisites for social and economfc progress. They also further recognized the role of
political power in bringing about the social transformation. This led to the growth of a united
nationalist movement of all progressive social classes and groups in the country with a common
programme embodying such demands as radical administrative reform, control of executives by
the legislatures, comprehensive civil liberties, universal primary and increased higher, liberal and
technical education, Home Rule, Dominion Status and Swaraj.

Uneven Development of their Consciousness

Further, national and class consciousness did not grow among the new classes simultaneously.
The intelligentsia who assimilated the ideas of nationalism, democracy, and rationalism, were the
first to feel the democratic and national impulse and, thereby, also became the pioneers and
leaders of all progressive social, religious, economic, political, and cultural movements.
Subsequently, the educated middle class, the bourgeoisie, the proletariat and the peasantry, in
increasing numbers, developed a national outlook. It was after 1918 that the conditions for a
broadbased nationalist movement matured and a united nationalist movement came into
existence (see the chapter on politics).
202
The tendency towards a united national movement for political freedom and social, economic
and cultural advance of the Indian people, was, however, retarded by the growth of
communalism (to be distinguished from the growth of nationality consciousness among certain
provincial and minority groups) and other factors which worked for disruption. The reactionary
section of the educated class, reinforced by a section of vested interests, tried to keep alive and
even accentuated mutual distrust among different communities, generally with the object of
serving their own sectional interests such as those posts in services or seats in legislatures or
rivalry in trade, (see Chapter 19, 'Problem of Nationalities and Minorities'). The cultural
backwardness of the people helped the communalists in their anti-national work.
The demands for a greater spread of modern education and culture, of extensive industrialization,
of a democratic revision of land relations and modernization of agriculture, of democratization of
the state system, of Independence, and others, which constituted the programmes of progressive
new social classes, separately or jointly, had a progressive and national character since they were
conceived on a national scale and aimed at building a prosperous national existence. Higher
material and cultural existence for the Indian people became the objective of those programmes.
The desire for democratic social and state structure, a prosperous economy and a rich advanced
cultural life a greater or lesser degree, inspired these programmes.

Growing Reactionary Trends in Propertied Classes

It should, however, be noted that all the new classes were not consistently democratic in dealing
with some vital national problems. For instance, though a radical revision of land relations
involving loss of the valuable rights of the zemindars, not to speak of the abolition of Zemindari
itself, was essential for the restoration of agriculture and the improvement of the economic
condition of the agrarian population, the Indian bourgeoisie exhibited no enthusiasm for any
radical agrarian reform. Here, they sacrificed the general interests of national economic advance
to their sectional interests which were opposed to the overturn of Zemindari (see the chapters on
politics and agriculture). Another instance was found in the fact that when the Congress
governments were installed, they showed their pro-capitalist bias by enacting the Bombay Trade
Disputes Act which was an infringement of civil liberties.

203
Living in the epoch of general capitalist decline and sharpening inter-capitalist economic
rivalries, increasingly dependent on British or American finance capital, interlocked with
indigenous landed interests, having a colonial status and without real state power, and further,
confronted with the steadily developing movements of the workers, farmers, and tenants, whose
economic position was deteriorating the national bourgeoisie was, by the very logic of its class
position and interests, becoming increasingly un-progressive and even reactionary. It brought
into the sphere of ideology, religious mysticism, and in politics authoritarian conceptions like
'One leader, one party, one programme, and curtailment of civil liberties (workers' freedom to
strike, etc.). This was the growing tendency of this class.

Twofold Movements in India

So there were two simultaneous movements in the country, both on a national basis and on an
all-India scale. The first movement comprised all separate movements of various social classes
pursuing their own respective interests and aims, such as the industrialists, merchants, workers,
kisans, professional classes, students, women, and others. Each social class or group organized
itself and struggled to satisfy its own interests. Thus, there arose numerous and distinct
movements of various classes to serve their specific interests. The inter-relations of these classes
were determined by every concrete historical situation which determined their episodic alliances
or conflicts.
The other movement was the joint movement of all or a number of classes, episodic or
permanent, against foreign rule. It took the form of the Indian nationalist movement for Home
Rule, Dominion Status, or Complete Independence. This movement was based on the common
interest, namely the removal of political control of India by another nation. Each social class,
however, had its own conception of the form of state and socio-economic structure after the
achievement of power.
The phenomenon of separate class movements on a national scale and a united national
movement for political freedom, economic advance, and cultural progress, was non-existent in
pre-British India. However, as will be seen in subsequent chapters, the growth of the new
consciousness, though increasingly enveloping more and more sections of different social
classes, was still limited and slow in its tempo.
204

References
1. Refer Gadgil, M. N. Roy, and Krishna.
2. Refer Adhikari, and W. C. Smith.
3. Refer O'Malley, Thompson and Garratt.

4. Quoted by Ralph Fox, p. 18.

5. Refer Shelvankar
6. Refer Wadia and Merchant.
7. Refer Palekar.
8. Refer Gadgil and Buchanan.
9. Refer Krishna.
10. Refer Altekar, Mathai and Gadgil.
11. Refer E. Thompson, Chudgar and Butler Commission Report.
12. Refer Baden Powell and R. C. Dutt.
13. Refer N. N. Ghose, p. 117.
14. Edwards and Meryvale p. 289.
15. Montague, pp. 79-80.
16. Krishna, pp. 67-8.
17. Pal, p. 288.
18. Refer Ranga, Jawaharlal Nehru, Brailsford and the Floud Commission Report.
19. Tawney, p. 166.
20. Refer Ranga, Swami Sahajanand and Indulal Yagnik for the whole of the subsequent portion
dealing with the kisan movement.
21. Refer Ranga.
22. Refer Ranga and Swami Sahajanand.
23. Ranga, p. 11.
24. ibid., p. 12.
25. ibid., p. 13.
26. Refer R. P. Dutt.

27. Refer Ranga.

28. Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
29. Refer Tawney, Engels, Meynard, Lenin.
30. Refer Ranga.
31. Refer Gadgil, Krishna, Buch.
32. Krishna, pp. 137-8.
33. ibid., p. 176.
34. ibid., p. 178.
35. Quoted in The Statesman, Calcutta, 2 February, 1931.
205
36. Stalin, p. 15.
37. Krishna, p. 140.
38. Refer Gadgil, Wadia and Joshi, Shah.
39. Joan Beauchamp, p. 53.
40. Refer Ranga and Swami Sahajanand.
41. Refer Gadgil and Buchanan.
42. Purcell and Hallsworth, p. 10.
43. ibid., pp. 8-9.
44. Quoted by R. P. Dutt, pp. 351-2.
45. ibid., p. 355.
46. Refer Buchanan, Wadia and Merchant, Shiva Rao.
47. Shiva Rao, p. 128.
48. ibid., p. 210.

49. Refer Buchanan, p. 426.

50. Quoted by Joan Beauchamp, p. 135.
51. Refer R. K. Das, pp. 36-7.
52. Quoted by Shelvankar, p. 209.
53. Report of the Nineteenth Session of the All-India Trade Union Congress, Cawnpore, 1942, p.
71.
54. Refer Annual Reports of the All-India Trade Union Congress.
206

Twelve The Role of the Press in the

Development of Modern Nationalism
Press, Its Decisive Social Role
IN MODERN times, the Press has become a powerful social institution. This is proved by the
fact that the Press has been glorified as the Fourth Estate. The Press moulds as well as mirrors all
complex processes of modern life. It facilitates the exchange of thought on a mass scale in the
shortest time. By its aid, conferences are mobilized, controversies settled or fought out,
movements organized, institutions built up. The Press is a powerful censor of all actions of those
who occupy the summits of society and hold the destiny of peoples in their hands. It, thereby
helps to establish popular democratic control over them. The Press was a formidable weapon in
the hands of the Europeans in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries; in
integrating themselves as nations, in organizing struggles against feudal disunity maintained by
the feudal nobility, in establishing the modern national state, society, and culture. In France, the
intelligentsia, the harbingers and proclaimers of the new social order and its advanced social
conceptions, found in the Press an effective weapon to expose the moral decadence, cultural
poverty, and reactionary social significance, of the ruling feudal class. Through the Press,
Voltaire, Diderot, Holbach, Helvetius, and others disseminated scientific, social ideas among the
people and kindled indignation among them against the religious superstition and social
oppression under which they lived. They stormed against serfdom and summoned serfs to revolt
against the feudal nobility and its state. They denounced, in thousands of books and brochures,
the undemocratic principles of the privilege through birth on which feudal society was based and
which was made sacrosanct by the catholic superstition. They propagated, in flaming printed
word, equal rights of individuals in opposition to feudal privilege. They carried on
207

the propaganda of a programme of abolition of serfdom and the establishment of a centralized

democratic national state of the French people. The Press became an indispensable weapon for
the rising social forces led by the intelligentsia including political writers such as Mirabeau,
Danton, Robespierre, Marat to stir up the consciousness of the people, to enlighten it with new
ideas and lead them through a great historic struggle for the overthrow of the feudal state and
society and replace them by the modern national state and society. In the hands of the advanced
section of the French people, the Press became a weapon for the creation and development of the
new, historically higher type of society, the bourgeois national democratic society which postRevolutionary France represented. Without the help of the Press, it is extremely doubtful if the
mass mobilization for the anti-feudal struggle, the establishment of a national state and society
after the destruction of the feudal state and social order, and the development of the rich complex
scientific and artistic culture of modern France, would have been possible.1
A similar role was played by the Press in England, Germany, Italy, and other modern European
countries. The advanced section of the population imbued with democratic ideas could spread
those ideas among the vast mass of the people because of the facility provided by the Press. After
the victory over feudal society, with its autocratic state system and obscurantist medieval culture,
the Press further became an instrument to create the modern culture in those countries accessible,
through the printed word, to a vast portion of the people.
"Ideas become a material force when they reach out to the people." The printing press played a
big role, in the history of a number of peoples, in their national awakening, in their imbibing
progressive ideas, and in their being drawn as active forces into great social, political and
cultural movements.

Its Absence in Pre-British India

The printing press did not exist in the pre-British period. Though it was first introduced in India
by the Portuguese Jesuits as early as 1557 to print Christian literature, it became a real social
force influencing the life of the people only in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
Manuscript newspapers were in vogue during the Mogul regimes.
208
Generally the emperor appointed two news-writers, in every provincial centre; a waquia-navis
who prepared a manuscript news gazette embodying information about all important public
activities in the area and a sawanih-navis who prepared a news-sheet which gave news about all
important events that took place there.2
During the pre-British period, wealthy merchants also employed private news-writers who
prepared and sent to their employers newsletters providing commercial and other news.3
All these official and private newspapers and newsletters were handwritten in the absence of the
facility of the printing press. They reached a small section of the population only and were
restricted in the range of information.

Growth of Indian Press, Upto A.D. 1900

The introduction of the printing press in India was an event of revolutionary significance in the
life of the Indian people. The awakening and growth of national consciousness among them gave
rise to the nationalist press.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the founder the nationalist Press in India. Though a few papers had
been started by others before him, his Sambad-Kaumudi in Bengali published in 1821, and
Mirat-Ul-Akbar in Persian published in 1822, were the first publications in India with a distinct
nationalist and democratic progressive orientation. These papers were mainly the organs of the
propaganda of social reform, and a critical discussion of religious and philosophical problems.
Fardoonji Murzban was the pioneer of the vernacular (Gujarati) Press in Bombay. It was as early
as 1822 that he started the Bombay Samachar which, as a daily, is still in existence.
The progressive administrative measures of Lord Bentinck gave a fillip to the growth of Indian
journalism. Bang Dutt (in Bengali), with the effort of progressive Indians like Dwarkanath
Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy was founded in 1830.
In Bombay, the Jam-e-Jamshed (in Gujarati) which, as a daily, is still being published, was
started in 1831 by P. M. Motiwala, another enterprising Parsee. Two more papers in Gujarati,
Rast Goftar and Akhbar-e-Saudagar, were founded in Bombay in 1851. Dadabhai Naoroji, an
outstanding leader of the Indian nationalist movement and a founder leader of the Indian
National Congress, edited Rast Goftar.
209
Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, the famous nationalist and social reformer, started the Shome
Prakash in Bengali in 1858. It was conducted from the nationalist standpoint and maintained a
high standard of political journalism. When disturbances broke out in 1860 in the indigo growing
area in Bengal, it stoutly defended the interests of the farmers.
The enactment of the Indian Council's Act of 1861, which for the first time associated Indians
with the government for legislative work, led to the growth of political awakening among the
upper section of Indian society. This stimulated the expansion of both Indian and non-Indian
Press in the following years. The Times of India was founded in Bombay in 1861, The Pioneer in
Allahabad in 1865, The Madras Mail in 1868, The Statesman in Calcutta in 1875, and The Civil
and Military Gazette in Lahore in 1876. All these papers were English dailies and persisted
during the British period. The Times of India usually supported the policy of the British
government in India. The Pioneer supported landowning and mercantile interests. The Madras
Mail represented the interests of the European commercial community. The Statesman criticized
the government as well as the Indian nationalist groups while The Civil and Military Gazette was
distinctly an organ of British conservative opinion.
The nationalist Press also grew during this period. In Bengal, The Amrit Bazar Patrika was
founded as an Anglo-Bengali weekly as the result of the combined effort of the Ghose brothers,

Hemendrakumar, Shishirkumar, and Motilal, in 1868. To circumvent the Vernacular Press Act of
1878, it was converted wholly into an English weekly. It was turned into an English daily in
1891. The Amrit Bazar Patrika propagated strong nationalist views and had been one of the most
popular of the nationalist newspapers. Due to its strong criticisms of the measures of the
government, the paper was subjected to repression. A number of its editors were imprisoned in
the past.
Sir Surendranath Banerjee, one of the most prominent leaders of the rising Indian nationalism,
edited and owned The Bengali (in English) in 1879. For an article published in The Bengali, he
was convicted for the offence of contempt of court and sentenced to two months imprisonment.
The Bengali propogated the views of the moderate wing of the liberal school of Indian political
thought.
Under the advice of Sir Surendranath Banerjee, Sir Dayal Singh Majeetia started The Tribune of
Lahore, an English daily, in 1877. It
210
was an influential paper in the Punjab with a liberal nationalist hue.
The political discontent, which gathered during the period of Lord Lytton's administration due to
a number of measures which offended the public sentiment, gave impetus to the further growth
of the Press. Virraghavachari and other patriotic Indians founded The Hindu, an English weekly,
in Madras in 1878, which was converted into an English daily in 1889. The Hindu had a liberal
outlook but supported, though critically, the politics of the Indian National Congress.
It was during this period the Bangbasi (weekly) and Basumati (daily/weekly), both in Bengali,
were started. The former was founded by Babu Jogendranath Bose. Both were priced low and
mainly met the growing appetite of the people for news. Both these papers continued to be
published and were organs of orthodox Hinduism in Bengal.
Indian nationalism found an organizational expression on an all-India basis in the rise of the
Indian National Congress in 1885. The national awakening of the upper strata of the Indian
people gathered rapid momentum after this. By the end of the century, a new current of political
thought crystallized.
Alongside and almost contraposed to the leaders of the liberal nationalist school, emerged
leaders of extremist or militant nationalism such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bepin Chandra Pal,
Aurobindo and Barindra Ghose and Lala Lajpat Rai.
The broadening and deepening of the nationalist movement after 1889 was reflected in the
growth of the nationalist Press of various hues. Tilak along with Agarkar started The Kesari, a
Marathi journal, in which he expounded the ideology and methodology of struggle for national
freedom conceived by the new school. Tilak was a journalist of consummate ability and, in his
hands, The Kesari and The Maratha (an English weekly) became effective weapons to instill
militant nationalist sentiments and ideas among the people. The Kesari continued to be published

in Marathi as a bi-weekly. Tilak was sentenced to imprisonment twice for his articles in The
Kesari.
The Juganlar and The Bandemataram were the two influential organs of the Bengal group of
militant nationalists led by the Ghose brothers to spread their views of national freedom and
reconstruction. They were organs of agitation against the Partition of Bengal and of propaganda
of Swadeshi and Boycott.
The national awakening extended to the sphere of social reform also. The Indian Social
Reformer, an English weekly, primarily de211
voted to the propaganda of social reform, was started in Bombay in 1890.
Sachhidananda Sinha founded The Hindustan Review, an English monthly, in 1899. The
magazine had a liberal political and ideological tone.
Its Subsequent Development
In Madras, G. A. Natesan started in 1900 The Indian Review, an English monthly.
In Calcutta, Ramanand Chatterjee started in 1907 The Modern Review, an English monthly, the
most famous ones in India. The magazine was devoted to themes of social, political, historical
and scientific interest. It also gave interesting and useful information about international events.
It usually endorsed the right wing in the Indian National Congress.
After the split in the Indian National Congress in 1907 at Surat between the Moderates and the
extremists, the leaders of the former group such as Sir Pherozshah Mehta, Sir Dinshaw Wacha
and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, acutely felt the necessity of an organ of propaganda for their views
in Bombay.
Sir Pherozshah Mehta started The Bombay Chronicle in 1913 with B. G. Horniman as its first
editor. Under the able and experienced editorship of Horniman, The Bombay Chronicle soon
became popular.
During the First World War (1914-18), while one section of the nationalist leaders (the Liberals
and Gandhi), trusted the pledge of the British government to meet the political demands of the
Indian people and stood for wholehearted support to Britain in war, another section led by Tilak
stood for organizing countrywide agitation for securing self-government without delay. Dr.
Annie Besant, who sympathized with this demand, took over The Madras Standard (in English)
and changed its name to New India which became the propaganda organ of the Home Rule
movement.

The Servants of India Society, in 1918, started its official organ, Servant of India (an English
weekly), under the editorship of Shrinivas Shastri. The paper gave the analysis and solution of
the Indian problem from a liberal nationalist viewpoint. It ceased publication in 1939.
The immediate post-war period witnessed the first wave of nationalist mass movement in India.
It was the result of a profound political
212
and economic crisis and the resultant ferment among the people. The movement was led by
Gandhi, C. R. Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Ali Brothers, Hazarat Mohani, and other leaders of the
Congress and Khilafat organizations. The movement expressed as well as further intensified the
national consciousness of the Indian people. This led to the further growth of the Indian
nationalist press.
In 1919 Gandhi edited Young India, making it the mouthpiece of his political philosophy,
programmes, and policies. Subsequently, he also started Harijan (a weekly published in English,
Hindi and a number of vernaculars), after 1933.
Pandit Motilal Nehru started The Independent (an English daily), in Allahabad in 1919 which
served as the political propaganda organ of the Congress official viewpoint. Shivaprasad Gupta
founded Aj (a daily/weekly) in Hindi. The declared object in starting the Aj was to bring politics
and culture to the masses who did not know English. In subsequent years, a number of political
and literary magazines and newspapers sprang up in the Hindi language.
Sometime after the end of the Non-Co-operation movement, a section of the Indian National
Congress led by Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress,
differing from the other section on the issue of Council Entry. The latter wanted to maintain the
boycott of the councils and stood for exclusively implementing Gandhi's Constructive
Programme. The leader of the Swaraj Party started The Hindustan Times (an English daily) in
Delhi in 1922 under the editorship of K. M. Pannikar to carry on propaganda for its programme.
The People, an English nationalist weekly, was also started during this period in Lahore due to
the efforts of Lala Lajpat Rai.
After 1923, socialist and communist ideas began to spread slowly in India.
Kranti, a Marathi weekly and an official organ of the Workers and Peasants' Party of India, and
Spark and New Spark, both English weeklies respectively edited by M. G. Desai and Lester
Hutchinson, both of whom were involved in the Meerut Conspiracy case, had, as their declared
aim, the spread of Marxism in India and support to the independent political and economic
movements of the workers and peasants and the struggle for national independence.
Between 1930 and 1939, the workers' and peasants' movements gathered further strength and
scope. Socialist and communist ideas

213
penetrated the minds of the Congress youth. Thus there came into existence the Congress
Socialist Party, which published The Congress Socialist, an English weekly, as its main official
organ. The communists had National Front and subsequently Peoples' War, both English
weeklies, as principal organs of their propaganda.
M. N. Roy, differing from the official communists, formed his own group with Independent
India, an English weekly, as its main official organ.
In 1930, The Free Press Journal, an English daily, edited by S. Sadanand, was founded. It was
very cheaply priced. It was a staunch supporter of the Congress demand and struggle for
independence.
With the social, political, and cultural advance of the Indian people, the newspaper Press
expanded. Magazines, dailies, and weeklies were published in all provinces, in all important
towns, in vernaculars, English, Hindi, and Urdu. The journalistic literature embraced all subjects
such as politics, economics, social, educational and cultural problems, and problems of technical
and scientific significance. Only the most important of them have been mentioned above.
Different political parties, cultural and scientific groups, socio-economic groups such as
landlords, industrialists, workers and kisans, and social groups such as students, women and
depressed classes, had their special Press organs to propagate their programmes and views.
Communal organizations, such as the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha, published their
own organs.
About 4,000 printed newspapers and magazines were published in the country, in 1941, in
seventeen languages.4

Indian Press, its Broad Political Trends

These newspapers and periodicals could be divided into a number of categories.
The Statesman, The Times of India, The Civil and Military Gazette, The Pioneer and The
Madras Mail, were prominent organs which generally defended the views and actions of the
British government and administration in India.
Amrita Bazar Patrika, The Bombay Chronicle, The Bombay Sentinel, The Hindustan Times, The
Hindustan Standard, The Free Press Journal, Harijan, National Herald, and National Call, were
prominent nationalists dailies and weeklies in English. The Hindu, The
214
Leader, The Indian Social Reformer, The Modern Review were some of the outstanding journals
reflecting the liberal school of nationalism. Broadly, the nationalist papers supported the Indian

National Congress, its programmes and policies, while liberal papers supported programmes of
the Indian National Congress critically. Dawn represented the views of the Muslim League.
Student organizations in the country published their own organs such as Student and Sathi.
The vernacular Press was also rapidly expanding in India. Jana Shakti, Anand Bazar Patrika,
Bangbasi, in Bengali; Kesari, Lokamanya, Navakal, and Kirloskar, in Marathi; Bombay
Samachar, Janmabhoomi, Hindustan and Praja Mitra, Sandesh, and Vandemataram, in Gujarati;
Matribhumi in Malayalam; Swadeshamitram in Tamil; these and others were some of the
prominent dailies and weeklies in these languages.
Ittihad, Ajmal, Hamdam, Khilafat, Tej and Riyasat were some of the prominent organs published
in Urdu.
Vir Arjun, Aj, Sainik and Vishwamitra were some of the prominent Hindi publications.
Reuters extended to India in 1860, the Associated Press of India founded in 1905, the Free Press
News Service in 1927 and the United Press of India in 1934 were the principal news services in
the country.

Its Slow and Meagre Growth and the Reasons

Though the newspaper Press was steadily expanding in India, the rate of its growth was slow.
Mass illiteracy, great poverty, and repressive Press laws, were considered by the critics as
handicaps to the rapid growth of the newspaper Press in the country. A number of Press Acts,
requiring security from the press and placing other handicaps on its free functioning, constituted
a formidable obstacle in the way of the swift growth of the Indian Press.
Since the Press was a powerful weapon in the development of Indian nationalism and of the
nationalist movement, it was subjected to restrictions by the British" government which was
reluctant to satisfy the aspirations and grant the demands of Indian nationalism. The very fact
that the British government had to enact, during its rule, a series of Press Acts of varying
stringency, eloquently proved the decisive role played by the Press in the development of the
nationalist movement.
215
Indian nationalism, from its very inception, recognized the value of the Press in rousing the
people to national consciousness and put up a tenacious resistance to all attempts to curtail its
freedom. The history of the struggle for the freedom of the Press had, therefore, been an integral
part of the nationalist struggle. The freedom of the Press was one of the basic democratic
liberties which Indian nationalism, in all its stages of evolution, cherished and fought for.
The peculiar situation of India which was governed by a foreign nation, made a free Indian Press
a controversial question even among the British themselves. During the nineteenth century, while

Wellesley, Minto, Adam, Canning and Lytton stood for a drastic restriction of the freedom of the
Press; Hastings, Metcalfe, Macaulay and Ripon, argued in favour of a more or less free Press in
India.5
On the ground that a foreign nation ruled a backward people and that a free Press would
seriously damage the discipline of the army, even liberal British leaders like Sir Thomas Munro
and Lord Elphinstone, favoured strong restrictions to be placed on the Indian Press.6

Repressive Measures against Press, their History

Historically, however, the history of the Indian Press was the history of the increasing diminution
of its liberty, in spite of minor vicissitudes. The history of Indian nationalism proves that, in the
proportion that it grew, the freedom of the Press in India suffered a proportional curtailment.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the pioneer of the Indian nationalist Press, was also the first fighter for
the freedom of the Indian Press. When, during the period of Adam, an attack on the freedom of
the Press was launched, he along with enlightened nationalist Indians such as Chandra Kumar
Tagore, Harchandra Ghose, Dwarkanath Tagore, Gauri Charan Banerji, and Prasanna Kumar
Tagore, drafted a petition to be submitted to the Supreme Court of Calcutta. The petition
condemned the projected attack on the freedom of the Press as undemocratic, inexpedient, and
reactionary. The signatories of this petition were the pioneers of the struggle for the freedom of
the Press in India. Miss Sophia Collet extolled this petition as 'the Areopagitica of Indian
history'. R.
216
C. Dutt described it as the beginning of "that system of constitutional agitation for political rights
which their countrymen have learnt to value so much in the present day."7
It was the Marquess of Wellesley who in 1799 appointed an official censor entrusted with the
duty of passing all matter for publication and framed drastic rules to punish those who infringed
them. Hastings abolished the Press censorship and removed most of the restrictions in 1818. The
atmosphere of relative freedom of the Press, which the measures of Hastings created, stimulated
the emergence of Indian newspapers such as the Bombay Samachar published in 1822.
Adam, the Acting Governor-General in 1823, launched repressive measures against the Press.
This provoked the protest of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his nationalist compeers. Their petition
was, however, rejected by the Supreme Court and the Press remained subjected to the new
restrictions till 1835.
Metcalfe, assisted by the liberal Macaulay, put forward an Act in 1835 repealing the restrictions
on the Press in Bengal and Bombay. The Act also made it no longer necessary to get a licence for
the printing of books and papers.
Till 1857, there was considerable freedom of the Press in the country. The outbreak of the Revolt
prompted Lord Canning to pass the Press Act of 1857 known as the Gagging Act due to its

drastic nature. Under the Act, the government could control the establishment of printing presses
and prevent, if it wished, the circulation of printed books and papers. This Act was, however, to
operate for one year only.
The Press and Registration of Books Act enacted in 1867 restricted the freedom of the printing
and publication of books and newspapers. In 1878, the Vernacular Pres Act imposing serious
restrictions on the freedom of the vernacular Press, which was rapidly growing and becoming the
organ of nationalist views and criticism of the British government, was passed.
Lord Ripon, who had liberal views, repealed the Vernacular Press Act in 1882. Till 1908, the
Indian Press enjoyed considerable freedom. However, due to the phenomenal growth of the
nationalist movement in the previous ten years, the government decided to curtail the freedom of
the Press. The Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act was passed in 1908 and the Indian Press
Act in 1910.
217

Sir Jenkins on Press Act of 1910

The Press Act of 1910 was the most severe measure hitherto adopted by the British government
in India against the Indian Press. It considerably extended the power of the executive over the
Press and its free functioning by empowering it to demand heavy securities which could be
forfeited at will and to confiscate printing plants of offending papers. Though the right of appeal
to the courts was provided, this right was not of much value. Sir Lawrence Jenkins, an English
judge of an Indian Court, remarked: "The provisions of section 4 are very comprehensive, and its
language is as wide as human ingenuity could make it. It is difficult to see to what lengths the
operation of this section might not plausibly be extended by an ingenious mind. They would
certainly extend to writings that many even command approval. ... An attack on that degraded
section of the public which lives in the misery and shame of others would come within this
widespread net; the praise of a class might not be free from risk. Much that is regarded as
standard literature might undoubtedly be caught."8
Section 4 alluded to was a part of the Press Act of 1910. It was subsequently incorporated in the
Acts of both 1931 and 1932.
This comment of an English Judge of an Indian High Court was a strong testimony proving the
repressive nature of the Press Act of 1910.
As a result of country-wide nationalist agitation against the Act as well as the previous Acts, the
Press Law Repeal and Amendment Act of 1922 was passed whereby the Press Act of 1910 and
the Newspaper Act of 1908 were repealed, and the Press and Registration of Books Act and the
Post Office Act were relaxed.

Press Acts of 1931 and 1932, their Significance

The Indian Press enjoyed relative freedom till 1930. The nationalist movement, in its mass form,
had declined and subsided between 1922 and 1929. But again with the rise of the new wave of
the movement in 1929, the government decided to arm itself with powers to curb the Press. The
Indian Press Emergency Powers Act was passed in 1931. The Act was subsequently reinforced
and expanded by the incorporation into it of the Emergency Powers Ordinance of 1932. It was
also amended by sections 14, 15 and 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment
218
Act of 1932. "The amending Act of 1932 (the Ordinance Act) rendered the Press law more
drastic, extended its scope and armed the Executive with greater powers than even the Act of
1931."9
The Press Law of 1931 in its subsequently amended form seriously curtailed the freedom of the
Indian Press. Under it, the Executive had wide powers to demand securities and to forfeit them.
Its scope was so comprehensive that the newspapers of even moderate or liberal types were not
beyond its reach. The Act explicitly described 'the better control of the Press' as its aim. Among
the new offences against which it was directed, were included publications which tended directly
or indirectly, "to bring into hatred or contempt His Majesty or the Government established by
law in British India, or the administration of justice or any class or section of His Majesty's
subjects, or excite disaffection towards His Majesty or the Government". It also penalized
intimidation; interference with the administration or maintenance of law and order, payment of
and revenue, rent of agricultural land, or anything recoverable as arrears of rent or other items;
inducing public servants to resign office; promoting feelings of hatred between different classes
of His Majesty's subjects.10
The Act was thus very comprehensive in its range. "A study of the clauses ... will show the
discretion of magistrate, police officers and the "Local Government" decides what the Press may
or may not do."11
The government itself recognized the drastic nature of the Act. Sir Harry Haig, the Home
Member, remarked in the Central Assembly, "I recognize, Sir, and the Government fully
recognize that the provisions ... are irksome to responsible editors, and there are many such. I am
well aware, Sir, of the difficulties that well conducted papers feel."12
Under the Press Law of 1932, the government frequently prohibited the publication of certain
news items in the papers of one province while those in other provinces published them. It also
interfered with "double-column headlines, display types, even the arrangement and position
given to a news item" and the publication of photographs of certain political leaders. These were
felt as very galling restrictions by Indian journalists and publicists.
The Foreign Relations Act of 1932 penalized publications calculated to interfere "with the
maintenance of friendly relations between His Majesty's Government and the Governments of
certain foreign States". The Indian States (Protection) Act was enacted in 1934 "to protect the
Administrations of States in India which are under the

219
suzerainty of His Majesty from activities which tend to subvert, or to excite disaffection towards,
or to obstruct such Administrations". This Act also penalized all publications which tended "to
bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection towards the Administration established in
any State in India."
These two Acts further diminished the freedom of the Indian Press.

Three News Agencies

There existed by 1941 three main news agencies in the country, namely, Reuters, the Associated
Press, and the Free Press News Service. The government subscribed to the first two and used
them for transmitting government news. The third was an Indian enterprise and selected and
distributed news from the nationalist standpoint.
The practical monopoly of Reuters (which had the support of the government) to supply India
with all foreign news and the outside world with Indian news prevented Indian nationalists from
providing the outside world with information of Indian events selected and interpreted from the
nationalist standpoint.
To suit the policy of the British government, Reuters delayed transmission of certain types of
news to the outside world. "The facts of the Amritsar massacre were withheld from knowledge
for over seven months, and were as little realized by the general public in Britain. ..."13
The government support in various ways was regarded indispensable for establishing a
successful news agency by those Indians who worked for it. "We reached the conclusion that so
long as the Government shows partisanship to certain news organizations, financially and
otherwise, it is impossible for other companies to become established."l4
There existed restrictions also on the importation of certain kinds of foreign literature into India,
primarily of left character. There was a section of the Sea Customs Department to enforce these
restrictions. This ban prevented the Indian people from getting adequate information about some
of the movements and ideologies of other countries.
The Indian nationalist movement always agitated against the various measures of the government
to diminish the freedom of the Press. The struggle for the freedom of the Press was an integral
part of the national movement. Various groups and organizations such as the group of Raja Ram
Mohan Roy and his fellow pioneers of Indian nationalism, the Moderates, the Liberals, the
Extremists, the Besantine
220
Home Rulers, the Indian National Congress under Gandhi, the Socialists, the Communists,
Students' Organizations, Trade Unions, Kisan Sabhas, and the All-India Civil Liberties Union,
criticized the various measures of the government which reduced the liberty of the Press. This

only demonstrated the great importance of the Press for the growth and development of the
nationalist movement. The All-India Civil Liberties Union working for the defence of the
democratic liberties of the Indian people also fought for the liberty of the Press.
There were other organizations such as the All-India Journalists' Association, All-India Editors'
Conference and Progressive Writers' Conference, which also fought for the freedom of the Press.

Indian Press, its Progressive Role

The Press was a powerful factor in building and developing Indian nationalism and the
nationalist movement, social, cultural, political, and economic.
The national movement, on its political side, was possible because of the facility of political
education and propaganda provided by the Press. With its help, the Indian nationalist groups
were able to popularise among the people, the ideas of representative government, liberty,
democratic institutions, Home Rule, Dominion Status, and Independence. Through it, they could
carry on daily criticism of the measures of the British government and administration and
educate the people in the understanding of political problems.
The Press was a weapon, in the hands of the nationalist groups, to popularize among the people
their respective political programmes, policies, and methods of struggle and to form
organizations with a broad popular basis.
Without the Press, the all-India conference of nationalist organizations could not have been
prepared and held and large political movements would not have been organized and directed.
For instance, it was towards the Young India of Gandhi, the leader of the Indian National
Congress, that the Congressmen and Congress supporters looked for directives for their political
activities during the great mass movement of 1930-32.
Since the Press was a powerful weapon of the nationalist struggle, Indian nationalists of all hues
staunchly fought for its freedom throughout the existence of the Indian nationalist movement.
221
The vital role of the Press in the building of Indian nationalism and national movement could be
shown by the fact that, "In India, from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Keshub Chunder Sen, Gokhale,
Tilak, Pherozshah Mehta, Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, C. Y. Chintamani, M. K.
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, there is distinguished line of public men who have used, and are
using the Press as a medium for the dissemination of their ideas of 'more values'."'5
The Press alone made possible the large scale, swift and constant exchange of views among
different social groups inhabiting various parts of the country. The establishment and extension
of the Press in India brought about a closer social and intellectual contact between provincial
populations. It also made possible the daily and extensive discussion of programmes of interprovincial and national collaboration in spheres of social, political and cultural matters and the
holding of national conferencessocial, political and cultural. National committees were

appointed to implement the programmes adopted at these conferences throughout the country.
This led to the building of an increasingly rich, complex, social and cultural, national existence.
The Press also helped the growth of provincial literatures and cultures, which were provincial in
form and national in content. In Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra, Gujarat, Malabar, U.P. and other
provinces, there came into existence rich provincial literatures, poetic, dramatic and in prose.
The Press was an effective weapon in the hands of social reform groups to expose social evils
such as caste fetters, child marriage, ban on remarriage of windows, social, legal, and other
inequalities from which women suffered. It also helped them to organize propaganda on a vast
scale against inhuman institutions such as untouchability. It became a weapon in their hands to
proclaim to the broad mass of the people, principles, programmes and methods of democratic
reconstruction of the Indian society. It was also by means of the Press that social reformers, all
over the country, were able to maintain a permanent discussion about the best programmes of the
solution of social evils and to prepare and hold All-India Social Conferences with a view to
chalking out a common line.
Further, the Press also brought knowledge of the happenings in the international world to the
Indian people. The Press has been one of the principal forces which has helped various nations to
build up a world outlook and shape their own national programmes and policies on the
222
basis of a comprehension of world development as a whole. The Press also became a weapon to
construct solidarity ties between the progressive forces of different countries.
Such was the vital role of the Press in the building up of an increasingly strong national
sentiment and consciousness among the Indian people, in the development and consolidation of
their growing nationalist movement, in the creation of national and provincial literatures and
cultures, and in the forging of bonds of fraternity with other progressive peoples and classes in
the outer world.

Prerequisites of its Sound Development

The following were the chief factors which obstructed the development of a free, extensive, well
ramified and progressive Press in India:
(1) Restrictions imposed on the freedom of the Press by the government.
(2) Widespread poverty of the people which restricted the sale of papers, periodicals, and
publications, even among the literate sections.
(3) Mass illiteracy

(4) Growing tendency of monopoly control of the Press by a few wealthy British and Indian
groups. (The increasing growth of monopoly in the sphere of the Press only reflected the general
growth of monopoly in economy).
Therefore, it logically followed that large scale and free use of the Press as a level of social,
economic, and cultural progress of the mass of the Indian people, was possible only in an
independent India free both from the British rule and from foreign and Indian vested interests.

References
1. Refer Laski, Tawney, Kropotkin.
2. Refer O'Malley, p. 189.
3. ibid., p. 189.
4. ibid., p. 188.
5. Refer O'Malley, Margarita Barns.
6. Refer Margarita Barns, p. 251.
7. R. C. Dutt, quoted in O'Malley.
223
8. Indian Law Reports, No. 41 (Calcutta).
9. Report of the Indian Delegation, p. 286.
10. ibid., pp. 290-1.
11. ibid., p. 292.
12. ibid., p. 292.
13. R. P. dutt, p. 35.
14. Margarita Bams, (2), p. 188.
15. Margarita Barns, p. xv.
224

Thirteen Social and Religious Reform

Movements as the Expression of National
Democratic Awakening
Reform Movements, Expression of Rising Nationalism
THE VARIOUS socio-reform and religio-reform movements which took place in India during
the British rule were the expression of the rising national consciousness and spread of the liberal
ideas of the west among the Indian people. These movements increasingly tended to have a
national scope and programme of reconstruction in the social and religious spheres.
In the social sphere, there were movements of caste reform or caste abolition, equal rights for
women, a campaign against child marriage and a ban on widows remarriage, a crusade against
social and legal inequalities. In the religious sphere, there sprang up movements which combated
religious superstitions and attacked idolatry, polytheism and hereditary priesthood.
These movements, in varying degrees, emphasized and fought for the principles of individual
liberty and social equality and stood for nationalism. The new society which was developing in
India since the advent of the British rule had distinct needs differing from those of the old
society.
The new intelligentsia, which imbibed the Liberal western culture, recognized these needs and
launched movements to reform or revolutionize social institutions, religious outlooks, and ethical
conceptions inherited from the past, since they felt that these were obstacles to national advance.
They were convinced that the new society could politically, culturally and economically develop
only on the basis of liberal principles such as the recognition of individual liberty, freedom of
unfettered expression of human personality and social equality.
The reform movements represented the strife of the conscious and progressive sections of the
Indian people to democratize social institutions
225
and re-model old religious outlooks to suit the new social needs.
It was the grievance of the Indian social reformers that the slow advance of social reform was
due to the insufficient support of the British government, which, they asserted, did not actively
assist them in the work of storming the citadels of social reaction and injustices in the country.
The rate at which the social reform legislation was enacted was too slow and was generally
undertaken beneath the pressure of the advanced opinion in the country. It is true that in the first
half of the nineteenth century, the British rulers themselves initiated such progressive legislation
as the abolition of slavery, suttee, and infanticide. However, their attitude suffered a change later.
In fact, the Age of Consent Act passed in 1891 was the only important social reform legislation

enacted by the government during many decades prior to that date. This only strengthened the
determination of the leaders of the Indian national movement to secure political power so that
they could use it to accelerate the tempo of social and religious reform in India.

Their Democratic Yearnings

Indian nationalism felt democratic yearnings from its birth. The socio-reform and religio-reform
movements embodied these yearnings. In varying degrees, these movements sought to eliminate
privilege from the social and religious fields, to democratize social and religious institutions of
the country, to reform or dissolve such disruptive institutions as caste which were obstacles to
national unity. They sought to establish equal rights for all individuals irrespective of caste or
sex.
The reformers argued that such democratization of institutions and social relations was vitally
necessary to build up a sound national unity to achieve political freedom and social, economic
and cultural advance of the Indian people.
The national democratic awakening found expression in all fields of national life. In politics, it
gave birth to the movement of administrative reform, Self-Government, Home Rule, Dominion
Status and, finally, Independence. In the social and religious spheres, Indian nationalism
proclaimed the principles of individual liberty, equality, and self-determination. It attacked the
undemocratic principle of birth and exclusive privileges based on birth, on which such
institutions as castes
226
were reared. Indian nationalism was thus democratic in essence and, as such, struggled against
both medievalism and foreign rule. The socio-reform and religio-reform movements were the
expressions of the national awakening in India and aimed at a revision of the medieval social
structure and religious outlook on a more or less democratic basis, i.e. on the principle of
individual liberty and human equality.
227

Fourteen Crusade Against Caste System

Caste System, the 'Steel Frame of Hinduism'
THE CASTE system of the Hindus, which divided the Hindu community into a multitude of
almost hermetically sealed groups, hierarchically graded and based on birth, was one of the
principal targets of the socio-reform movement.
The caste system was 'the steel frame of Hinduism'. It was more ancient than the Vedas which
recorded its existence at that time. Originally, the Hindu society seems to have been

differentiated into three or four castes. Subsequently, however, as a result of the operation of
such factors as racial admixture, geographical expansion, and growth of crafts which brought
into existence new vocations, the original castes (varnas) broke up into various smaller castes
and sub-castes (jatis).
While Hinduism made for the cultural unity of all Hindus in the past, the caste system socially
disintegrated them into an ever increasing number of groups and sub-groups. In all vital social
matters such as marriage, vocation and dining, each such group or sub-group was an exclusive
unit.
The caste system was undemocratic and authoritarian in the extreme. The castes constituting the
series were hierarchically graded, each caste being considered inferior to those above it and
superior to those below it. The status of a person born in a particular caste was determined by the
rank of that caste in this hierarchy. Once born in that caste, his status was predetermined and
immutable. Thus birth decided his status which could not be altered by any talent he might show
or wealth he might accumulate.
Similarly, the caste in which a person was born predetermined what vocation he would pursue.
He had no choice. Thus birth decided the occupation of any person.
228
The rule of endogamy governed every caste or sub-caste. A person belonging to one caste could
not marry a person of the other caste. Thus, birth restricted the zone of selection in the matter of
matrimony.
"It (caste) has given an aristocracy of birth not of merit. It has rendered the free adaptation of
individual talent and capacity to particular social work, for which it is best fitted, impossible. It
has stifled initiative, self-confidence and the spirit of enterprise. It prevents the growth of a
nationality and the development of a democratic state. It has created the untouchable problem."1
Since the caste system was hierarchically graded, it was based on social and legal inequalities.
For example, at the apex of this social pyramid stood the caste of Brahmins who had the
monopoly right to officiate as priests with exclusive access to all higher religious and secular
learning and knowledge. At the base swarmed the mass of Shudras together with the
untouchables and even unapproachables whom the scheme of Hindu society, sanctified by the
Hindu religion and enforced by the coercive power of the Hindu state, had assigned the duty of
serving all other castes and constrained to follow, under the threat of severest penalty, such low
vocations as those of scavengers, tanners and others.
The uniqueness of the caste system did not consist in that it was based on differences of
functions. Its specifics lay in the fact that it made birth the basis of social groups. "It implies not
only the negation of equality but the organization of inequality exclusively on the basis of
inheritance. Differences there will be in any imaginable society, differences of functions at all
events. It is not in recognizing their inevitability that caste is peculiar; it is in the method it
adopts to systematize and control them."2

Caste Vs. Classes

Since birth determined the caste of a person, he could not alter it. It is in this that the caste
contrasted with the modern class, the offspring of the capitalist system of society.
"Castes were groups with a well-developed life of their own, the membership whereof, unlike
that of voluntary associations and of classes, was determined not by selection but by birth. The
status of a person depended not on his wealth as in the classes of modern Europe, but on the
traditional importance of the caste in which he had the luck of
229
being born. On the distinction between caste and class, as far only as cleavage into well-marked
groups is concerned, Maclver observes: "Whereas in eastern civilizations the chief determinant
of class and status was birth, in the western civilization of today wealth is a class determinant of
equal or perhaps greater importance, and wealth is a less rigid determinant than birth: it is more
concrete, and thus its claims are more easily challenged; itself a matter of degree, it is less apt to
create distinctions of kind, alienable, acquirable, and transferable, it draws no such permanent
lines of cleavage as does birth."3
"A class has no council, standing or occasional, to regulate the conduct and guide the morals of
its members, apart from the laws of the community as a whole."4
In fact, the caste committees had quasi-legal powers to punish its offending members such as
excommunication, fines and even corporal punishment. A member of a caste owed allegiance
first to his caste and then to the community. This naturally weakened the feeling of community
solidarity in him.
Since each caste had its own conception of the norm of conduct which it forced on its members,
it became culturally separated from other castes which had other conceptions of ethics. Each
caste thus became a separate socio-cultural group.
Further, the caste system was sanctified by the sanction of religion. Its very genesis was
attributed to God Brahman.5 If a member of a caste infringed the caste rules, he did not merely
commit a crime against the caste but perpetrated a sin against religion. Thus, religion fortified
the hold of the caste over its members.
In fact, the basic demand of Hinduism on its follower was that he should gladly accept 'the social
position in which he was born', i.e. his caste since it was divinely ordained and should fulfill
meticulously the duties which that caste assigned to him. This alone would guarantee salvation
(Moksha) for him and make him eligible for higher levels of cosmic existence after his death.
Since caste controlled his life including such vital personal affairs as marriage, vocation and
social intercourse such as eating with others, and since behind the imperatives of the caste stood
the sanction of religion, the coercive power of the Hindu state as well as the penal authority with

which the caste itself was armed, the individual was almost completely shorn of personal liberty.
He could not choose his profession; he could not marry whom he desired; he could not eat with
230
whomever he liked. Further, the rank of the caste in which he was born, in the finely graded
caste hierarchy, determined his social status and position in the eye of the law of the state which
was not uniform but varied according to the caste a person belonged to.
The hierarchic construction of the castes gave rise to inequalities among them. Even in matters of
residence, the lower castes were segregated from the higher ones and were assigned separate
quarters of the village or the town for residence. The untouchables and other 'impure' castes who
formed the nethermost layers of the caste-ridden Hindu society were further debarred from the
right of using the public wells and tanks. The right of temple entry was also denied to them.
Under the aegis of the caste system, social oppression reached even such inhuman limits that
certain sections of the lowest castes were not merely branded as untouchables but even
unapproachables. Their mere sight contaminated and an unapproachable who, wittingly or
unwittingly, happened to come within the ocular vision of the holy Brahmin, was often meted
out most brutal punishment.6

Caste System, its Chief Features

Hierarchic gradation, social and other inequalities, endogamy, restrictions on dining and the lack
of freedom regarding the choice of vocation were the principal features of the caste system.
"To sum up, in each linguistic area, there were about two hundred groups called castes with
distinct names, usually birth on one of which determined the status in society of a given
individual, which were divided into about two thousand smaller unitsgenerally known as subcastesfixing the limits of marriage and effective social life and making for specific cultural
tradition. These major groups were held together by the possession, with few exceptions, of a
common priesthood. ... Complete acceptance of the system in its broadest outlines by the groups
making up that system and their social and economic interdependence in the village not only
prevented the exclusivist organization of the groups from splitting up the system into
independent units, but created a harmony in civic life. Of course, this harmony was not the
harmony of parts that are equally valued, but of units which are rigorously subordinated to one
another."7
The caste system thrived and persisted for many centuries primarily because of the low level of
economic existence of the Indian people.
231
The pre-capitalist economy on which it rested was primarily based on the village autarchy, the
absence of appreciable development of exchange relations and extremely weak and meagre
means of transport. The caste system lost whatever usefulness it might have in the past under the

new social, economic and political conditions ushered in by the British conquest of India and its
far-reaching consequences.

Growing Disintegration of Caste System: Causes

The economic foundations of the caste were shattered by the new economic forces and forms
introduced into India as a result of the British conquest. The destruction of the village autarchy,
the creation of private property in land, the steady industrialization of the country which evolved
new vocations and created modern cities which were the solvents of a number of caste taboos
and restrictions, the spread of a network of railways and buses which made possible, for the first
time in the Indian history, mass travelling, resulting in willing and unwilling mass contact. These
were some of the principal factors which undermined the vocational basis of the castes and
exclusive habits of their members.

Impact of New Property Relations

With the creation of the right to own property in land and manipulate it at will and of the scope
for other professions, industrial, commercial, administrative or liberal such as that of a doctor or
a lawyer, centrifugal tendencies appeared in the joint family in the village. The demand for
partition of property increased among its members who frequently migrated to the town and took
to other vocations.
The new land revenue system together with the technical backwardness of Indian agriculture, the
rising indebtedness of the agriculturists and overpressure on agriculture due to the ruination of
the handicrafts not balanced by any proportionate industrial development in the country, also
forced a section of these farmers to migrate to cities, where they became factory workers or
domestic servants. This also disorganized the vocational basis of caste.
The British government expropriated the caste committees of penal powers to chastise its
members for the infringement of caste rules. This together with economic necessity as well as
new economic opportunities
232
created by the new political and economic situation, led the members of castes to cease following
the hereditary ancestral vocations prescribed to them by the castes. A Brahmin, instead of
pursuing the caste-dictated function of a priest or a teacher, became a doctor, a merchant, a
millowner, a clerk, or an air pilot. "Economic necessity or ambition is leading educated
Brahmins to careers in such industries as the leather trade, which fifty years ago would have
been regarded with horror."8

Impact of Modern Cities

Modern industries brought into being modern cities honeycombed with cosmopolitan hotels,
restaurants, theatres, trams, buses, railways. The demarcation observed by the members of

different castes regarding eating food in proximity to or physical contact with those of other
castes, steadily crumbled. Necessity to associate with the members of other castes and even
communities in vocation or at social functions accelerated the process of this breakdown.
"Intercourse with Europeans and social entertainments associated with political or economic
conferences are bringing together men and women of all castes and no caste."9
A Brahmin mill magnate dined at the Taj with a Shudra fellow-mill magnate. The modest hotels
and restaurants catering for the workers and middle classes became crowded in cities with
persons belonging to all castes and even creeds.
In trains and buses one occasionally rubbed shoulders with members of the depressed classes,
sometimes even with an untouchable. The paraphernalia of modern social existence did not
recognize caste or communal divisions, but was impartially at the disposal of all those who could
pay for its use.
It should not, however, be supposed that caste had vanished. Even in the cities, desperate
attempts were made by the orthodox caste people to scrupulously observe rules of eating as
prescribed by caste. It was the historical tendency towards an increasing breakdown of these
practices that has been pointed out above.

Impact of New Legal System

The British government, by introducing a uniform system of law in the country, dealt a severe
blow to the social and legal inequalities rampant in the Hindu society in the pre-British period.
Formerly, caste
233
status determined the punishment for an offence. The Hindu state and the caste and village
committees dealt out varying punishments for the same offence to delinquents of different castes.
Equality before law, irrespective of caste, was now established.
The expropriation of the caste committees of all penal powers by the British government
deprived caste of a powerful physical weapon to stampede its recalcitrant members into
submission. Castes became only voluntary associations which commanded no sanction of law
when they inflicted on their members fines or such other punishment for infringement of caste
rules. This considerably weakened the power of caste.
Such legislation as the Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850, the Special Marriage Act of 1872
and Special Marriage Amendment Act of 1923 contributed to undermine the edifice of caste.

Impact of New Social Formations

The new economic system brought about a new grouping of the population in the economic
sphere. Caste groupings based on former functional divisions no longer corresponded to new

functional divisions. The Indian people became differentiated into such categories as capitalists,
workers, peasant proprietors, merchants, tenants, land labourers, doctors, lawyers, technicians,
each category being composed of individuals belonging to various castes and communities but
having identical material and political interests. This horizontal division on new class lines
increasingly weakened the old vertical caste lines. Thus there came into existence such
organizations as Millowners' Association, All-India Trade Union Congress, All-India Kisan
Sabha, Landlords' Unions. These groups struggled for their own interests. In the process of these
struggles they developed a new consciousness and outlook and a new solidarity, which slowly
weakened the caste consciousness of their members. The class organizations and united class
actions of these class groups steadily educated the Indian people into new class outlooks and
habits. To that extent, they were steadily undermining the caste.

Impact of Class Struggles

In strike struggles, not only the workers belonging to the upper castes but even those belonging
to the untouchable community fought unitedly for the common purpose of increasing the wage
and improving working
234
conditions. Similarly, the capitalists, no matter Brahmin, Vaishya or Chamar, united together to
defend their interests against the workers. In fact, the class unity embraced even the members of
Muslim or Christian communities, who were of the same class. The historical tendency moved
towards the strengthening of the class tie and weakening of the caste bond, since the class was
based on the contemporary economic reality, on the new economic division of society, on the
identical material interests of the members of a class.
A class was further based on the national economy. Caste, in pre-British India, when it had a
vocational basis, rested on the local town or village economy. There were no common material
interests of all farmers or artisans constituting the castes of farmers and artisans on an all-India
scale since those farmers and artisans were split up into local groups in a multitude of autarchic
villages and towns. Local groups of farmers or artisans had only local interests and were
therefore locally united,10 in contrast to the subsequent unity of different classes such as
farmers, workers, merchants, or millowners on an all-India basis.
Differences of vocations brought about differences in income and resultant divergences of
standard of life. These also engendered differences in psychological habits, outlooks, and
aspirations. Anti-caste urges began to grow. It was only due to the old psychological habits,
inertia and lack of moral courage, that anti-caste moods did not lead to large scale practical
revolt against caste on the part of its members.

Impact of Modern Education

The role of modern education in weakening the regard for caste should not be underestimated.
Education in pre-British India was under the monopolistic guidance of the Brahmin caste and

was completely saturated with religion. Since the caste system was sanctified by the sanction of
the Hindu religion, this education, saturated with the religious spirit of Hinduism, trained people
in accepting the caste system and build up a caste conscience in the individual. The individual
accepted caste as divinely ordained and considered infringement of caste rules as sacrilege. One
of the tasks of the pre-British education was to inculcate in the individual, reverence for the caste
scheme of the Hindu society and make him a willing and enthusiastic adherent of the claims of
caste.
235
The British government secularized education. It made it accessible to anyone, irrespective of
caste or community, who could pay for it. In spite of its distortions and limitations, this
education remained liberal in content. It propagated principles such as the equality of men before
law, equal rights of all citizens of the state, equal freedom to follow any vocation. It was based
on European Liberalism and popularized such ideas as those of representative institutions, the
freedom of association or assembly. It is true that the British rule was that of an alien people over
the Indian nation and therefore, an undemocratic phenomenon. Yet the education organized by
that rule was secular and basically liberal, in contrast to the education in pre-British India which
endorsed caste distinctions of the Hindu society and upheld privilege.
A section of the educated class of the Hindu society, who studied liberal philosophy and
democratic institutions of western countries, became the standard bearer of anti-caste revolt. It
was the group of enlightened Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Debendranath Tagore, Keshub
Chandra Sen, who made the reform of caste as one of the fundamental items of their programme.
As education spread to the lower strata of the Hindu society, it kindled libertarian impulses
among those age-long victims of the Hindu social system. This gave rise to such anti-caste
movements as the movement of the depressed classes under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar,
himself springing from the submerged strata, the Self Respect Movement in South India, and
others.

Impact of Political Movements

The growth of the nationalist movement played a great role in weakening caste consciousness. In
India, the presence of the foreign rule was a permanent stimulus to the Indian people to unite on
a national basis. As the national struggle against the British rule increased in scope and intensity,
the narrow local, provincial, caste, and communal consciousness weakened. Political
organizations such as the Liberal Federation, the Indian National Congress and others, however
different their programmes, strategic principles, and methods of struggle might have been, were
not based on caste or community. They appealed to all Indians to become their members
irrespective of caste or creed. The political structure they visualized for India also did not admit
of any caste privilege.
236

The role of the political movements such as the Non co-oparation Movement of 1921-2, the Civil
Disobedience Movement of 1930-3, and others, in strengthening national consciousness among
the Indian people was tremendous. Whatever their programmes and techniques of struggle, these
movements were an expression of national consciousness and further deepened and extended it
among the people.
Thus the growth of the class and national movements undermined, to some extent, the caste
consciousness of the Indian people.

Caste System, its Reactionary Significance

The caste system became an obstacle to the development of the contemporary economy
established during the British rule in India as also to the national unity so vital for achieving
national freedom. It was necessary to have plenty of labour supply for the growth of industry.
The rigid rule of caste forcing every member to follow hereditary occupation came in the way of
the labour supply necessary for industries. Demanding the foremost fidelity to itself, the caste
came in the way of the paramount need of the people to subordinate every allegiance to the
supreme allegiance to nationalism. The ruination of artisans and impoverishment of farmers
made it economically necessary for them to take to other vocations. The spread of democratic
ideas such as individual liberty kindled urges among the educated Indians to revolt against caste
distinctions and inequalities. Anti-caste movements were born out of this ferment and slowly
gathered strength, though the main pillar of caste, endogamy, remained invulnerable.
The caste system was one of the root causes which obstructed social reform in other fields of
social life also. Lady Vidya Gauri Nilkanth commented, "On our side of the country, I mean in
Gujerat, the greatest hindrance to all social reforms is the caste.""
It was the educated section of the Indian people who launched the attack on caste. It sensed the
anomaly of caste in new India. For national freedom and advancepolitical, social, economic
and cultural the caste structure had to be reformed, or even eliminated. The individual's liberty
had to be recognized, his initiative freed from the stifling constraint of caste. This alone could
guarantee the release of all creative energies of the individuals composing the nation. National
progress demanded the emancipation of the individual from the shackles of caste. Social justice
had to be fulfilled by destroying all caste
237
privileges and disabilities.
The conformation to caste rules was demanded in the name of the individual's salvation after
death. The social reformers propagated national progress as the objective of man.

Movements Against Caste System

The social reformers attacked the very basic ideas of the medieval social system. "These ideas
may be briefly set forth as isolation, submission to outward force or power more than the voice
of the inward conscience, perception of fictitious differences between men and men, due to
heredity and birth ... a general indifference to secular wellbeing, almost bordering on fatalism.
These have been the root ideas of our ancient social system. They have, as their natural result,
led to the existing family arrangements, where the woman is entirely subordinated to the man
and the lower castes to the higher castes, to the length of depriving men of their natural respect
for humanity."12
The social reformers attacked inequality and separatism and stood for equality (in a Liberal
bourgeois sense) and cooperation. They attacked heredity as the basis of distinctions, and the law
of Karma which supplied the religio-philosophic defence of the undemocratic authoritarian caste
institution. They called on the people to work for betterment in the real world in which they lived
rather than strive for salvation after death. They branded the caste system as a powerful obstacle
to the growth of national unity and solidarity.13
There were different angles from which caste was attacked by different social reform groups.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, invoked the authority of Mahanirvana
Tantra, an old religio-sociological work of Hinduism, to support his view that caste should no
longer continue. The Brahmo Samaj opposed the rigid social divisions, which caste implied,
thus: "When will those pernicious distinctions which are sapping the very life blood of our nation
be at an end and India rise as a strong, united nation fit to fulfill the high destiny which
Providence has ordained for her? There cannot be a surer truth than this that high destiny cannot
be fulfilled without the utter destruction of the supreme root of all our social evils, the caste
system."14
Debendranath Tagore and Keshub Chandra Sen, who succeeded Roy as successive leaders of the
Samaj, were more critical of the Hindu
238
scriptures than him. It was Keshub Chandra Sen who, in most unambiguous categorical terms,
repudiated the caste system without invoking any scriptural authority. The spirit of social revolt
which Roy inaugurated reached a climax in the history of the Brahmo Samaj under the guidance
of Keshub Chandra Sen.
The pioneering work of the anti-caste movement first started by the Brahmo Samaj was
continued by other organizations which were subsequently formed in the country. The Bombay
Prarthana Samaj carried on the propaganda of the repudiation of caste practically on the same
lines as the Brahmo Samaj. Both the Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj, under the out and
out democratic cultural influences of the west, denounced the caste as an institution itself. In
contrast to this attitude, the Arya Samaj started by Swami Dayanand preached not the
repudiation of the caste system but the revival of the Hindu society of the Vedic period based
only on four castes. The Arya Samaj, while crusading against the minute dissection of the Hindu
society into countless sub-castes, aimed at reconstructing it on the original four-fold division.
Further, it stood for extending the right to study scriptures even to the lowest caste, the Shudras.

Thus while both the Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj were iconoclastic movements with
regard to caste, the Arya Samaj stood for reforming caste by eliminating all sub-castes.
In addition to the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, and the Arya Samaj, there were other
movements which also carried on a campaign against caste. Telang, Ranade, Phooley who
founded the Satya Shodhak Samaj in 1873, Malabari, Poet Narmad, and others were strenuous
crusaders against the caste system. In the south, the Self Respect Movement, attacking the
humiliating disabilities from which the non-Brahmin communities suffered, was organized.
One of the arguments advanced by the Left leaders of the Indian national movement was that
since the reactionary social institutions rested on the low economic evolution of the Indian
society and since the low economic evolution was due to the absence of political power in the
hands of the Indian people, national freedom was the prime condition for the social
reconstruction of the Indian society. The destruction of caste was thus bound up with the
problem of national independence. "The social and cultural backwardness is the expression and
consequence of the low economic level and political subjection, and not vice versa. ... The root
problem is economical-political."15
239
Convinced that a radical reforming of the Indian society was possible only if the Indian people
got self-government, they struggled with greater energy and spirit for Swaraj. Though Indian
nationalism reached the conclusion that political power was a vital premise for a fundamental
reconstruction of the Indian society on a democratic basis, it did not relax its campaign against
social evils. However, social reform was given auxiliary place in the scheme of its work.

Movements Perpetuating Caste System

The British government was almost universally criticized for not taking active steps to weaken
caste. Some British historians, journalists, and professors, sometimes even recommended the
keeping alive of caste division as a lever to safeguard the British domination. "It may be doubted
if the existence of caste is on the whole unfavourable to the permanence of our rule. It may even
be considered favourable to it, provided we act with prudence and forbearance. Its spirit is
opposed to national union," remarked James Kerr.16
There were other minor causes which also kept alive the consciousness of caste. Middleton, one
of the two Superintendents of Census Operations of 1921, made significant remarks about the
effects of the British administration on caste in the Punjab. He observed:
"I had intended pointing out that there is a very wide revolt against the classification of
occupational castes; that these castes have been largely manufactured and always entirely
preserved as separate castes by the British government. Our land records and official documents
have added iron bonds to the old rigidity of caste. ..." "We pigeon-holed every one by caste and
if we could not find a true caste for them, labelled them with the name of an hereditary
occupation. We deplore the caste system and its effects on social and economic problems, but we
are largely responsible for the system we deplore. Left to themselves such castes as Sonar and

Lohar would rapidly disappear.... Government's passion for labels and pigeon-holes has led to a
crystallization of the caste system."17
The growth and intensification of the national movement and the class struggle between the
employers and the workers as well as the zemindars and the tenants drove a section of the
wealthy classes to support the caste system as the weapon to sabotage the growing national
240
unity of the people and the class unity of the workers and the peasants belonging to the different
castes or communities. As the workers and the peasants or the tenants, no matter what castes they
individually belonged to, came to recognize their common economic and political interests, they
felt increasingly more as members of a class rather than of a caste, united in their class
organizations such as trade unions, kisan sabhas, tenants' organizations, land labourers' unions,
and formed even their class parties such as the socialist and the communist parties. They
organized joint struggles to secure better working and living conditions from employers or
zemindars. Naturally this was not relished by the latter. The most reactionary among them even
used the reactionary institution of caste to disrupt the growing unity of the masses.
"The classification of the Hindu population by castes at each successive census is objected on the
ground that it perpetuates distinctions which should be obliterated. On the other hand, the caste
system has its apologists, who stress its merits as the cement of society, which holds Hinduism
together and enables it to withstand attacks from without. It is, remarked the Maharajadhiraj of
Darbhanga, "the best and surest safeguard against the spirit of unrest, against the growing
bitterness between the classes and the masses, between capital and labour, which is constantly
menacing civilization."18
Caste charity and mutual aid organizations on a caste basis were also factors that retarded the
process of the dissolution of the caste. Animated by the emotion of caste solidarity and perturbed
at the centrifugal tendencies developing within the caste, the conscious members of a caste
organized societies to help its members in a variety of ways. Poor members of the caste were
given financial help. Buildings were constructed to be rented only to the members of the caste
and at cheap rent. Scholarships were awarded for carrying on studies only to the boys and the
girls belonging to that caste. Co-operatives were started for the exclusive benefit of the members
of the caste.
This strengthened caste consciousness and caste allegiance and played an anti-national and antiprogressive role. Formerly, a caste group was an integral part of the town guild or the village
community. In the absence of appreciable economic exchange or transport facilities, it had very
little contact with other groups of the same caste inhabiting other villages and towns. Henceforth
due to the travelling facilities provided by railways and buses, a caste organized itself on a
national scale. It held caste conferences, maintained caste executives to supervise over
241

its members scattered throughout the country. It published magazines and newspapers carrying
on propaganda of caste solidarity. All this only contributed and strengthened caste
consciousness, consolidated the caste on a national scale and conserved it.
As the economic basis of caste increasingly weakened, common economic interests of its
members tended to decline. The caste, composed of the members pursuing identical vocations
and with common material interests and outlook, became unreal. Rather, it turned into an
impediment to the people who were marshalled into real divisions of the new society.

Dual Aspects of Lower Castes' Movements

The movements of the lower castes of the Hindu society suffering from social, religious, and
legal disabilities, as a result of the undemocratic caste system, had two aspects; one a progressive
and the other reactionary and anti-national. When a lower caste organized even on a caste basis
and fought for democratic freedom, its struggle helped the general struggle for the unity of the
Indian people on a democratic basis. Communalism throve on privilege on one side and on
disabilities on the other. When democratic liberties were won and all social and legal inequalities
based on the hierarchic structure of society were abolished, communalism itself would vanish.
No distinctions between the members of different communities would survive. It would be the
democratic merging of all individuals, only to be subsequently classified into social groupings
based on their real role in the existing socio-economic structure and therefore historically valid.
Communalism would end only when the democratic freedoms were extended to the unprivileged
social groups.
But when a lower caste organized itself for securing a specific weight in the constitution of the
country, when it demanded separate electorates, it acted in a reactionary and anti-national
manner. Separate electorates would only perpetuate communalism. It would make permanent the
communal division of society. Lower castes would be right in demanding the removal of special
obstacles put in their way for the manifestation and development of their talent as a result of the
hierarchic structure of society. This would be a progressive democratic demand and would help
to increase the creative vitality of a people. But if a caste asked for special rights, it acted in an
undemocratic and
242
anti-national way. The members of a submerged caste had only common negative interests
inasmuch as they were interested in the removal of disabilities imposed on all of them. But when,
due to the establishment of a new economic system, the vocational basis of every caste was
disorganized, when every caste was composed of individuals pursuing different vocations and
having even conflicting material interests, there could be no common positive interests of all its
members.
Similarly, a non-Brahmin bloc of castes had no common positive interests. These castes were
composed of artisans, land labourers, landlords, factory workers, tenants, and others. The
interests of these groups were widely divergent. Within the same caste of this bloc, too, often
there were groups pursuing different occupations. The non-Brahmin movement was valid and

progressive only so far as it struggled to remove legal and social disabilities. Special
representation aiming at serving common positive interests had no meaning, since there were no
common positive interests of the different castes comprising the non-Brahmin bloc, or even of all
individuals composing one of its castes. In fact, the positive interests, economic and political, of
non-Brahmin millowners would be served by joining the millowners' association, an aggregate of
millowners belonging to all castes and communities. Similarly, the interests of non-Brahmin
workers would be served of workers who belonged to all castes and communities.
Special representation only perpetuated communal divisions just as the democratic movement of
the non-Brahmins for social, legal, and religious equality paved the way for the dissolution of
communal divisions. "Reserved representation is thus not necessary. Nay, it is harmful in so far
as it tends to perpetuate the distinction based on birth. In countries where the nation-community
is strongly built up on the basis of the feeling of unity, no such principle is recognized for the
representation of the different interests, even when they can be parcelled out into groups with
conflicting interests. To harp on the caste differences and to allow special representations is to
set at naught the fundamental condition for the rise of community feeling."19
The role of the nationalist movement in weakening the caste bond should not be underestimated.
It is true that the basic pillar of caste, viz. endogamy, practically remained intact, but increased
collaboration of members of different castes in economic, political, and secular-cultural
movements, steadily grew. The national movement which already secured a mass basis affected
the narrow caste bonds. Again, the national
243
movement was essentially democratic in principle and based its programmes on equal rights of
individuals and groups. As such, it was objectively and indirectly in irreconcilable conflict with
the hierarchically graded caste, conserving inequalities based on birth. The national movement
unified the people while caste kept them divided. The national movement proclaimed the
principles of individual freedom and self-determination as much as national freedom and
national self-determination. So, the growth of the national movement weakened caste. "The
advancing forces of the Indian people are leading the flight against caste, against illiteracy,
against the degradation of the untouchables, against all that holds the people backward. While
learned lectures are being delivered on the antique Hindu civilization and its unchanging
characteristics, the Indian national movement, enjoying the unquestioned support of the
overwhelming majority of the people, has inscribed on its banner a complete democratic
programme of universal equal citizenship, without distinction of caste, creed or sex, abolition of
all special privileges or titles, universal adult suffrage and universal free compulsory education,
state neutrality in relation to religion, and freedom of speech, press, conscience, assembly and
organisation, far in advance of the semi-democracy of Britain."20
Both Indian and world events of great magnitude had an effect on the mind of the Indian people.
They served as a powerful ferment creating urges among the Indian people to break through old
institutions and customs. This process gathered momentum since the war of 1914-18.

"Eighteen years after the Armistice we feel that India can never again return to her old stable
equilibrium unaffected by world forces. ... The conservatism of the British Raj favoured timehonoured abuses. The innovating spirit of democracy, acting through parties competing for
votes, and strong arms to back voting power, is apt to make short work of ancient privileges
supported by neither reason, strength, nor courage. The champions of caste privilege are already
in retreat, and the retreat looks like becoming a rout. ... If untouchability is doomed, can caste
distinction survive? ... No doubt the strength of Hinduism is neither in the legislatures nor in the
temples, but in the home. Yet it is just in the home that the modeling spirit is at work through the
education of women. The Hindu joint family, the chief
244
bulwark of caste, is being undermined by the education of women, and the facilities for travel
and contact with the outer world."21

Future Trend
To sum up. The combined action of the various objective and subjective factors, mentioned
before, considerably affected the caste system. The occupational basis of caste was seriously
disorganized. New parallel political, economic, and cultural organizations sprang up which were
the mustering centres of members belonging to different castes but having identical interests.
These organizations and new forms of consciousness which were growing, slowly diminished
the importance of caste organizations and weakened caste-consciousness itself.
Caste privileges practically vanished in the legal sphere. In the social sphere, they survived
because of custom and force of inertia among the people. Caste rules regarding eating with
others were frequently abrogated and in cities were considerably relaxed in practice. Endogamy,
the formidable pillar which sustained the caste structure, however, remained almost unshaken.
Inter-caste marriages were still exceptions.
The tendency, however, had been towards the progressive dissolution of caste. With the further
economic development, spread of education, and growth of national and class movements for
political freedom and progress, the process of the dissolution of caste was bound to be
accelerated even at a geometrical rate. In society as in Nature, advance or decline does not occur
at a uniform rate. Accumulating anti-caste consciousness of the people was sure to burst into
large-scale practical anti-caste actions even in the matter of marriage. With the disappearance of
endogamy, its last formidable pillar, the edifice of caste would collapse.

References
1. Buch, p. 23.
2. Shelvankar, p. 20.
3. Ghurye, p. 2.

4. Ibid., p. 3.
5. Refer Risley, p. 298.
6. O'Malley, pp. 374-5.
7. Ghurye, p. 27.
245
8. O'Malley, p. 310.
9. Ibid., p. 310.
10. Mathai, p. 65.
11. Lady Vidya Gauri Nilkanth quoted by Ghurye, p. 161.
12. Indian Social Reform, Part II, p. 91.
13. Refer Buch.
14. Philosophy of Brahmaism, p. 330.
15. R. P. Dutt, p. 60.
16. Quoted by Ghurye, p. 164.
17. Quoted by Ghurye, p. 160.
18. O'Malley, p. 373.
19. Ghurye, p. 169.
20. R. P. Dutt, p. 500.
21. Manchester Guardian Weekly, December 1936.
246

Fifteen Crusade Against Untouchability

Untouchability, Inhuman Institution of Hindu Society

THE SOCIAL organization of the Hindus inherited from the pre-British period had many
oppressive and undemocratic features. The segregation of a section of the Hindus as
untouchables, who were precluded from such elementary rights as the right of entry to public
temples or of the use of public wells and tanks, and the feeling that his/her physical touch
contaminated a member of the higher castes, constituted a most inhuman form of social
oppression.
The untouchables were the outcastes of the Hindu society. Though belonging to the Hindu
society, they were its proscribed part. Historically, untouchability was the social fruit of the
Aryan conquest of India. In the process of social interaction, a portion of the indigenous
conquered population was incorporated into the Aryan fold. The most backward and despised
section of this incorporated population, it appears, constituted the hereditary caste of
untouchables.
For centuries, untouchability persisted in the Hindu society. Even extensive and profound
humanitarian and religious reform movements such as started by the Buddha, Ramanuja,
Ramanand, Chaitanya, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Tukaram and others, hardly affected the inhuman and
age-long institution of untouchability. Hallowed with tradition and sanctified by religion, it
continued to exist in all its barbarous vigour for centuries.
History has known hierarchically graded societies of various types in different epochs and
among different peoples. All these societies were based on social privileges and inequalities.
However, no hierarchically graded society can compare with the Hindu society in its extreme
gradation of ranks and inequalities of rights. Hardly any society condemned its section to
physical segregation as the Hindu society did in the case of its untouchables.1 The mere physical
touch of an untouchable was a sin, an abomination.
247
In the Hindu society, the hereditary untouchables were assigned such low functions as those of
scavengers, of removers of dead cattle, and others.2 They were, socially and legally, debarred
from any other profession. The Hindu state enacted draconic laws to punish those untouchables
who rebelled against their intolerable conditions. They had no right to study or enter a temple.
They had to reside in a separate area in the village or town and had no freedom to use public
wells and tanks which the caste Hindus used.3 An untouchable was punished for a crime, by the
law of the Hindu state or the village tribunal composed of the caste Hindus, more drastically than
a caste Hindu who committed the same crime. This social oppression of the untouchables had
religious sanction. As such, it was more firmly entrenched. Under no institution was man so
deeply humiliated and crushed as under that of untouchability. The outraging of human
personality and human dignity reached its high watermark under it.
It was but natural that the elimination of such an atrocious social phenomenon as untouchability
became one of the main planks of the platform of all social reform movements in India.
Though different motives and considerations prompted various groups of social reformers in
their campaign against untouchability, all recognized it as an institution to be destroyed. It is true

that a good proportion of the Hindu community, its numerically strong orthodox section,
tenaciously opposed the abolition of untouchability and general disabilities from which these
depressed masses of the Hindu society suffered. However, the tendency was towards its
increasing elimination.

Depressed Classes, their strength

The census report of 1931 estimated the number of the depressed classes at 50,192,000 in the
whole of India. In the U.P., they constituted 23% of the total population.4 Thus, these socially
submerged classes formed about one-fifth of the whole Hindu population. The problem of their
emancipation, therefore, assumed vital importance in any scheme of national freedom and social
reconstruction of India. Among the depressed classes themselves, there were social gradations.
There were socially superior and socially inferior groups among these
248
victims of social injustice themselves. This made the problem further complicated and difficult.
Again, the extent of untouchability and other disabilities varied from place to place.
In spite of this, the depressed classes were demarcated from the upper caste Hindus by certain
fundamental social oppressions and disabilities common to them.5
The removal of untouchability and all disabilities from which the depressed classes suffered,
formed an important item in the programmes of all socio-reform and religio-reform movements
that sprang up in India during the British rule.

Movements to Ameliorate their Conditions

Indignation at such an inhuman and unjust institution was a part of the general democratic
indignation which developed among the conscious and educated section of the Indian people.
The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Social Reform Conference, even political organizations
like the Indian National Congress led by Gandhi, and the All-India Harijan Sangh, a non-political
body founded by Gandhi, strove by propaganda, education and practical measures to restore
equal social, religious and cultural rights to the untouchables.
There was a stirring among the depressed classes themselves. The spread of education among
them brought forth a group of intellectuals such as Dr. Ambedkar, who became the spokesman of
their sufferings and disabilities and passionate fighter for their elementary human rights. The AllIndia Depressed Classes Association and the All-India Depressed Classes Federation were the
principal organizations of these classes. The latter was founded and led by Dr. Ambedkar. In
addition, there were numerous local and sectional organizations of the various castes comprising
the depressed classes.

By various and different methods and to a varying extent, all these organizations were striving
for the removal of the disabilities of the depressed classes. The most spectacular among these
disabilities were non-admission to temples and public schools, the ban on the use of public wells,
and residential segregation. Dr. Ambedkar, in addition, tried to transform the depressed classes
into a political army and pressed their political claims which were conceded in the Constitution
of 1935 in the form of special representation of these classes. Though
249
the demand of the depressed classes for special representation was anti-national and disruptive of
national unity, still it mirrored the political awakening among these classes.
The Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj, and other religious reform movements of the Hindus had
for their aim a consolidation of the Hindu society on a reconstructed, rational basis. Their leaders
strove in the direction of the democratization of the Hindu social system. They stood against
gross social injustices from which the depressed Hindus were suffering and generally preached
their abolition in the very name of the Hindu Shastras by reinterpreting them.
The non-religious social reform movements condemned untouch-ability and other social
injustices in the name of individual liberty and equality of human rights without trying to secure
any favourable verdict of the Vedas on their side.
Liberals and left politicians in the Indian nationalist movement like Gokhale, Gandhi, and others,
also argued that since their demand for self-government or independence from the British rule
was a democratic demand, the Indians should also practise democracy in the social sphere and
reconstruct social relations between individuals, castes and communities on the basis of
democratic principles, the principles of equal liberty and rights of man.
Further, national freedom was a function of national unity and united national strength. National
unity and strength demanded equal rights and equal freedom of self-development. The abolition
of un-touchability, the removal of disabilities of the millions of depressed classes, would have
contributed to the development both of national unity and vitality.
Even those Hindus who, like Savarkar, stood for the Hindu Raj, advocated the elevation of the
status of the depressed classes, this was due to the fact that they felt alarmed at the numerical
loss which the Hindu community had been experiencing due to the steady conversion of the
untouchables to Islam and Christianity, which guaranteed them more social equality.
Thus a movement to elevate the depressed classes, to improve their miserable economic
conditions, to spread education among them, to extend to them the freedom to use public wells,
schools, and roads. and enter public temples, also to secure for them special political
representation, steadily grew in the country and gathered momentum. The Mahad Satyagraha for
the right of water led by Dr. Ambedkar was
250

one of the outstanding struggles of the untouchables to win equal social rights.
It was a slow process however. The depressed classes formed the most poverty-stricken strata of
the Indian society. Literacy among them was also on a very low level.
Gandhi, the All-India Harijan Sevak Sangh founded by him in 1932, and other bodies, were
doing extensive work of social reform and educational character for the depressed classes. The
Harijan Sevak Sangh started numerous schools for the Harijans including residential vocational
schools. In addition, scavengers' unions cooperative credit societies, and housing societies, were
formed.6
The Congress governments, which functioned for a few years in various provinces, from the year
1937, did useful work for the elevation of the depressed classes. The Congress government of
Bombay passed the Bombay Harijan Temple Worship (Removal of Disabilities) Act permiting
the trustees, if they wished, to admit the Harijans to the temples, even if the current custom or the
instrument of trust debarred them. Free education for the Harijans, from the primary class to the
University degree, was introduced in their provinces by the Central Provinces and Bihar
Congress governments. In other Congress-governed provinces, similar facilities were arranged.
A number of Satyagraha movements of the Harijans also took place wherein they disobeyed the
ban on their temple entry and strove to enter the temples. Those movements, reinforced by
growing popular sympathy for their democratic demands, secured for the untouchables the right
to temple entry in a number of places.
The rulers of states like Travancore, Indore, Aundh and Devas, themselves took the initiative in
opening all state temples by procla-mation.

"Neutrality" Policy of Britain, its Criticism

The Indian nationalists stated that the British government did not energetically and
enthusiastically work for the restoration of the rights of the depressed classes and that it did not
exercise its power to strike at the undemocratic denial of elementary human rights to the
untouchables. Even Dr. Ambedkar, who was not irreconcilably hostile to the British government,
while addressing the untouchables, remarked:
"Before the British, you were in a loathsome condition due to your
251
Untouchability. What has the British Government done to remove your Untouchability? Before
the British, you could not draw water from the village wells. Has the British Government secured
you the right to the wells? Before the British, you could not enter the temple. Can you enter there
now? Before the British you were denied entry into the Police Force. Does the British
Government admit you to the Force?"7

Dr. Ambedkar considered that unless the Indian people secured political power and that power
did not concentrate in the hands of the socially suppressed section of the Indian society, it was
not possible to completely wipe out all social, legal and cultural disabilities, from which that
section suffered. He said:
"Nobody can remove your grievances as well as you can and you cannot remove these unless
you get political power into your hands. ... We must have a government in which men in power
will not be afraid to amend the social and economic code of life which the dictates of justice and
expediency so urgently call for. This role the British Government will never be able to play. It is
only, a government which is of the people, for the people and by the people, in other words, it is
only the Swaraj Government that will make it possible."8
This was a strong stricture on the 'neutrality' policy of the British government in India in social
and religious matters which objectively tended to perpetuate reactionary and oppressive social
customs and institutions. It was true that Hindu orthodoxy resented and resisted all progressive
social measures but, the leaders of Indian nationalism and depressed classes argued that the
British government ought not to have evaded its state duty to stamp out social inequalities and
injustices. It was true that the British government had intervened in social matters and introduced
reforms like the abolition of suttee, equality before law of all citizens, touchables or
untouchables alike and others. Still, the rate at which the reforms were accomplished was too
slow and exhibited too much concern of the government about the feelings of the reactionary
social forces.
Progressive Englishmen like H. N. Brailsford also levelled a similar criticism at the British
government regarding its attitude to the old reactionary and effete social institutions and
practices persisting in India. In his Subject India, Brailsford remarked:
"None the less, our official policy was then, as now, to interfere, as little as possible with Indian
institutions: it tolerated social customs
252
injurious to health, notably child marriage, and accepted even un-touchability as an immutable
fact in an environment it dared not alter. Our courts, as time went on, took to administering
Hindu law with an almost antiquarian fidelity. The result of this attitude was unquestionably to
stereotype the past in a land that never has discarded it with ease."9
The democratic awakening of the depressed classes, their increasing consciousness of their basic
human rights, was a part of the general national democratic awakening which had taken place
among the Indian people during the British rule. During that period, a new economic and
political system was established all over India. This system was based on the principle that all
individuals of society were equal units having equal individual liberty and treatment before law.
It dealt a heavy blow to the ideas of heredity and status on which the precapitalist medieval
Indian society was based. An individual had equal right and freedom to follow what vocation he
linked. He was treated on the whole on par with other fellow-citizens before law. This had
kindled among the socially sub-merged classes the urge to break through all shackles imposed on

their freedom for centuries. The humanitarian activity of the members of the upper castes
reinforcing the rebellious struggles of the submerged sections, constituted the socio-reform
movement in India.

Impact of New Economic Forces

There were a number of objective factors which often imperceptibly led to the diminishing of the
gulf of social inequalities and distinctions. The introduction of railways and buses increasingly
brought both touchables and untouchables physically together. Modern industries established in
India impartially recruited their labour supply in the labour market both from touchables and
untouchables, who further worked at the machines in physical proximity to one another. In
labour strikes, both, touchable and untouchable workers fought together and slowly and steadily
developed a new class consciousness which increasingly began to supplant caste consciousness.
In cities, the restaurants proved powerful solvents of the caste prejudices. How little did the
proprietors of those restaurants know that they were engaged in the practical campaign of
liquidating caste inequalities and caste distinctions!
253

Impact of Modern Education

With the spread of education among the depressed classes, more and more members from among
them took to vocations which were formerly the monopoly of the upper castes. Common
material interests were forged among the followers of the same vocations and, in course of time
when the first prejudices were overcome, they came together and co-operated, irrespective of
whether they belonged to the superior or depressed classes, to advance their common interests.
With the introduction of modern education, the Indians came in contact with the libertarian and
democratic ideologies of the west. This produced a recoil among the best individuals of the
higher castes from the social injustices and gross caste inequalities obtaining in the Hindu
society. It also produced a rebellious attitude among the educated members of the depressed
classes who organized these classes for smashing the chains of social oppression imposed on
them.
The lack of education among the untouchables was one of the factors which restricted them to
low occupations. This bred immense economic and cultural poverty among them. In proportion
they received more and more education, liberal and technical. Not only did their economic
conditions improve but also different sections following different occupations began to merge,
on class basis, with groups of other castes following similar occupations. Thus new bonds based
not on caste but common occupation and class began to be forged. This slowly began to dissolve
the mass of the untouchables into social groups such as factory workers, teachers, clerks,
merchants, mechanics, or manufacturers. New economic bonds between the touchables and the
untouchables following the same economic activity started weakening the prejudice of
untouchability. The tendency was visible in the industrial centres where due to the common
occupation and united struggle against employers to press common material interests such as

wage increase, trade union rights and others, solidarity slowly started growing between touchable
and untouchable workers. Slowly but steadily, the new class feeling began to supplant the old
caste prejudices.
Moreover, when an untouchable was educated and improved his economic position, the attitude
of the higher castes towards him also began to be modified.
Untouchability had basically economic foundations. With the occupational
254
homogeneity of the untouchables having dissolved and with their material and cultural position
elevated, they would dissolve into different groups resting on the modern economic structure.
This would undermine untouchability seriously.

Impact of Nationalist Movement

There was another factor which operated in favour of the anti-untouchability movement. It was
the expanding nationalist movement which aimed at integrating all Indians irrespective of caste
or community to achieve political freedom. The success of the Swaraj struggle demanded the
democratic alliance of all castes and communities in India whose vital interests lay in the
political independence of the country. Such a union was primarily forged in joint struggles of
these groups for the accomplishment of political freedom. Thus the nationalist movement
contributed, though slowly, towards the dissolution of old distinctions. On the other hand, the
social reform movement aiming at eliminating social injustice such as untouchability, in its turn,
contributed towards the building of the national unity of the Indian people on a democratic basis.
The social reformers were thus moved both by humanitarian and national considerations when
they crusaded against purely social evils.
The untouchables were the most poverty-stricken section of the Indian people. They were mostly
land labourers, semi-serfs, or engaged in the worst occupations. They suffered from twofold
evils, economic and social, which were interconnected. Their low social position accentuated
their economic exploitation and their miserable economic conditions tended to stabilize their low
social status.

Prerequisites of Abolishing Untouchability

The problem of the abolition of untouchability was, therefore, bound up with that of a basic
socio-economic reconstruction of the Indian society, with that of the creation of a prosperous
national economy, the change in the existing economic and social relations which would elevate
the material conditions of the people including the untouchables, the expansion of education, and
the enactment of positive legislation which would, regardless of the opposition of orthodox
opinion, sweep away all disabilities that were imposed on them. Purely, the

255
socio-reform movement had a limited productivity only. It generally could not go to the
economic roots of the social evil. As such, it usually yielded partial and unstable results.
The anti-untouchability movement, which came into existence and which subsequently gathered
momentum, was the expression of the growth of larger national and human consciousness among
the Indian people. It was an essential part of the national and democratic movement of the Indian
people.

References
1. Ghurye, p. 142.
2. Rameshwari Nehru, p. 4.
3. ibid., p. 3.
4. ibid., p. 2.
5. Refer Ambedkar, (2) and (3).
6. Refer Report of the Survey of the Conditions of Harijans in Allahabad; report of Harijan
Survey Committee 1933-4, Cawnpore, Report on the Conditions of Harijans, Delhi.
7. Quoted in Report of the Delegation sent to India by the India League in 1932, p. 136.
8. ibid., p. 137.
9. Brailsford, pp. 17-18.
256

Sixteen Movement For the Emancipation of

Women
Women and their low position in pre-British India
THE GENERAL national and democratic awakening that took place in India as a consequence of
the emergence of the new economic environment, the establishment of the new political system,
and the spread of modern western education and ideologies among the people, found expression
in the movement for the liberation of the Indian women from the medieval forms of social
subordination and suppression from which they suffered for countless centuries.

In the pre-British Indian society, with the exception perhaps of the early periods of the Vedic
times, woman was assigned a position subordinate to man. Law and religion did not recognize
the equality and equal rights of man and woman. Society permitted man to have rights and
freedom from which woman was excluded. Different standards were adopted to judge the
individual and social conduct of man and woman.
As in all medieval and ancient societies barring the pre-historic tribal society, the woman in India
was held in subjection to man before the British conquest inaugurated a new economic and legal
system in India and brought her in contact with the modern democratic influences of the
occidental countries.
It is true that in the past, religio-reform movements like Buddhism tried even partially to elevate
the status of the Indian women but it was only during the British period that big movements were
organized to destroy the special and legal injustices from which they suffered for centuries.
It is true that Indian history recorded instances of outstanding women like Gargi, Chandbibi,
Nurjahan, Razya Begum, the Queen of Jhansi, Mirabai and Ahalyabai, who accomplished great
feats in the spheres
257
of literature, art, philosophy, administration and even warfare. But these women sprang from the
governing privileged strata of society and were, therefore, free from conditions of social
subjection in which the Indian women, in the mass, lived and who had, therefore, neither
freedom nor opportunity for the development of self-expression.

New Economic Forces, their Impact on Women's Status

The British conquest of India transformed the social setting in India. It released objective and
subjective forces which kindled democratic urges among the people.
The social reform movement, which arose out of the new conditions of social existence, set itself
the task of removing the social and legal injustices and inequalities from which the Indian
women suffered.
The subjection of the Indian women in the pre-British period was rooted in the social and
economic structure of the society of the period. Birth determined the status of an individual in
that society. The disabilities of a woman arose from the fact that she was born a woman. This
inferior status of woman in society was further made sacrosanct by religious ordinances.
The capitalist economy, which the British conquest inaugurated in India and the legal and
political regime established in the country, was based on the principles of the recognition of
individual equality and contractual freedom of the individual. It did not admit, on principle, all
inequalities based on birth, sex distinction, caste or community.

It is true that the struggle had to be organized to get this principle realized progressively in
different spheres of life. The hesitation of the British government, as well as the reactionary
resistance of the orthodox sections of society, had to be combated before legislation was enacted
such as would increasingly make woman man's equal in matters of civic rights.

Movements to elevate their Status

Though they were the enlightened individuals of the male section who launched initial efforts to
abolish laws and customs which suppressed womanhood, in course of time, the victims of those
injustices bestirred themselves and organized the movement for their emancipation
258
under their own leadership. They built up their women's organizations and created a platform for
agitation for the redress of their disabilities. Among the organizations which worked for the
social, political and educational advance of the Indian women, the All-India Women's
Conference founded in 1926 stood in the forefront.
The removal of the disabilities of the Indian women and their freedom from various forms of
oppression was a long process. Orthodox India and old social and psychological habits were
arrayed against it. However, the movement scored important success and daily gathered more
and more strength.
The Indian women suffered from barbarous customs such as suttee and female infanticide, which
were rampant in the past. The widow had to throw her living body on the pyre with the corpse of
her husband when he died. Parents killed girl babies because the marriage of a girl was too
expensive for poor parents.
Even when the custom of suttee was abolished, widows were prohibited from remarrying. There
were also such evils as purdah and temple prostitution.
Not only the Mahomedans but even sections of the Hindus maintained the purdah, a most
pernicious institution. "There the woman lay condemned to a lifelong prison, her naturally keen
senses dulled through inaction, without light of knowledge illumining her vision, steeped in
ignorance and prejudice, groping in the dark, a martyr to the conventions of the society in which
she had been borne."1
Social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy strove, by propaganda, to put an end to the practice
of suttee and finally it was abolished by Lord Bentinck. Infanticide was also subsequently
declared a crime. With the spread of education and liberal and rational ideas among the people,
the practice of purdah began to diminish.
Examples were set by such aristocratic ladies as Their Highnesses, the Begums of Bhopal. The
detrimental effects of purdah on the body and mind as well as on social progress were expressed
by the leaders of the women's movement. "If women are to take their part in the raising of the

tone of social life, if they are to understand the duties and responsibilities for which their sons
must be trained, the purdah must go."2
Child marriage had been one of the principal evils from which the Indian women, more even
than men, suffered. Due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the Act of 1860 was passed
raising the
259
age of consent for married and unmarried girls to ten. It was also due to the efforts of the same
social reformer that, in 1856, the remarriage of widows was legally permitted.
However, it was only in 1929 that a decisive legal step was taken to strike a blow at the harmful
custom of child marriage. The Child Marriage Restraint Act passed in that year raised the
marriage age for girls to fourteen and for boys to eighteen.
The right of widows to remarriage was zealously advocated by such ardent social reformers as
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Bengal, and Malabari, Poet Narmad, Justice Ranade, and K.
Natarajan in Bombay. Though all social reform groups made widow-remarriage a prominent
item in their programme, the movement did not advance much due to the deep antagonism of the
people to the idea of a widow remarrying. Old psychological habit-patterns persisted although
the legal obstacle had been removed.
The institution of temple prostitution which new India had inherited from the past was analogous
to a similar institution in the ancient Greece. Devadasis formed 'an hereditary caste of women'
who consecrated themselves in early childhood to temple service. "They lately numbered over
two hundred thousand in Madras, and though their skill in dancing and singing ... may have done
something to keep alive those arts, the fact that the devadasis were known to be prostitutes,
actually degraded the arts they practised and made them distasteful to respectable women."1
As a result of the strenuous agitation of Dr. Muthulakshmi Rcddi and other reformers, an Act
was passed in 1925 "which extended to them (devadasis) sections of the Penal Code which made
traffic in minors a criminal offence."

Struggle for Right to Education

In pre-British India, barring a few exceptions, the mass of women were not given education. The
medieval conception assigned only domestic duties to women. There were village and town
schools for boys but women were not provided with education
The destruction of the old society and the emergence of the new, after the British conquest of
India, was paralleled by the growth of a new outlook among the Indian people. Authoritarian
conceptions were increasingly replaced by libertarian ones which affirmed that all individuals
260

should have equal rights and freedom irrespective of sex, caste, race or creed. The hundred and
fifty years of the British rule were years of effort on the part of the progressive section of the
Indian people to realize the democratic principle in politics, religion, education and the social
sphere. It was in the name of this principle that Swaraj was demanded, abolition of caste
distinctions and inequalities was advocated, monopoly rights of hereditary priesthood in the
sphere of religion were attacked, as also equal rights of men and women in economic, political,
social and educational fields were proclaimed.
The movement for the progressive realization of the democratic principle of equal rights of men
in all spheres of social existence were an attack not only on the foreign rule but also on much of
the undemocratic legacy of pre-British India. It was an attack upon the subordination of the
individual to caste laws and taboos, the exclusion of women from rights enjoyed by men and
others.
Equal right of women to education and culture was recognized almost universally. Education
spread rapidly and increasingly among women. The conservative recoil from education of girls
began to disappear. "There was a time when the education of girls had not only no supporters but
open enemies in India. Female education has by now gone through all the stagestotal apathy,
ridicule, criticism and acceptance. It may now be safely stated that anywhere in India, the need
for the education of girls as much as of boys is recognized as a cardinal need, the sine qua non of
national progress."4
The pioneering work of women's education was done by such religio-reform bodies as the
Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Danish, American, German and
British Missionary Societies and also by the small but progressive Parsi community. The Indian
Women's University started by Professor Karve in 1916 was one of the outstanding institutions
imparting education to women.
Among the Muslims, the spread of education among women was slow though Sir Saiyad Ahmad
Khan and other leaders advocated it as far back as the end of the last century. The tendency,
however, was towards a steady increase. The steady growth of women's education was reflected
in the fact that the number of girls attending schools rose from 1,230,000 in 1917 to 2,890,000 in
1937.
Widespread poverty of the majority of the Indian population was one of the fundamental
obstacles to the rapid growth of women's education. Due to their poverty, the labouring strata of
the Indian
261
people, the workers and primarily the peasants, were unable to take advantage of the educational
facilities where they existed. Education did not percolate to those layers because of their inability
to pay for it. The Indian nationalists attributed the poverty of the Indian masses to the political
handicap of the foreign rule on India's economic development such as would assure proper
economic standards for the Indian masses. The problem of the universal spread of education

among the Indian people was bound up with that of their political freedom and resultant
economic advance.

Women's Participation in Politics

One of the most amazing events of contemporary Indian history was the rapid entry of the Indian
women into politics, especially after 1919. In pre-British India, barring a few women of the royal
and aristocratic families such as Sultana Razya Begum, Chandbibi, Nurjahan, Ahalyabai Holkar,
the women in the mass did not participate in politics. Things changed during the British period.
They not only enthusiastically exercised the limited suffrage granted to them but even
participated in mass movements of the type started by the Indian National Congress. "At the very
moment when Congress and Ma-hatma Gandhi were calling on them for a national effort, they
recognized that the prophet and the paramount power had each placed a valuable weapon within
their reach. With one hand they grasped passive resistance and with the other the vote."5
This was unique in the entire history of India, the spectacle of hundreds of women taking part in
political mass movements, picketing of liquor shops, marching in demonstrations, courting jails,
facing lathi charges and bullets. At one stroke, the Indian women broke through their age-long
restrictions. From being subjected as docile domestic servants to their husbands and other male
folk, they rose to the level of citizens, voting political programmes and participating in big
political movements. Some of them like Sarojini Naidu, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya and
Vijayalaxmi Pandit even became leaders of international repute.
A number of Indian women worked as Ministers, Under-Secretaries and Deputy Speakers of
Provincial Legislatures, when Congress governments were formed in 1936. Indian women also
became members of local boards and municipalities.
262
A great awakening thus took place among the Indian women. It is true that, due to immense
poverty, the opportunity of education and participation in civic life were restricted to women
belonging to the upper and middle layers of society. Nevertheless, it was a new and astounding
development not known to the old pre-British India.

Women's Participation in Class Struggles

Even the women of the lower strata, in spite of the handicap of illiteracy and poverty, were
steadily growing conscious of their rights. Thousands of women of the working class and
peasantry took part in strike struggles, street demonstrations, and conferences. They were also
developing political consciousness, became members of national political organizations as also
of trade unions and Kisan Sabhas which had for their objective not only a free India but a free
socialist India.
This awakening of the Indian women was the manifestation of the growth of national sentiment
and democratic urges for national and individual liberty among them.

References
1. Ray, p. 116.
2. H. H. The Maharani of Baroda at the All-India Women's Educational Conference, 1927,
quoted by O'Malley, p. 450.
3. O'Malley, p. 453.
4 . The Rani of Sangli at the All-India Women's Conference, 1927, quoted by O'Malley, p. 450.
5. O'Malley, p. 475.
263

Seventeen Religious Reform Movements

among Hindus and Muslims
Religious Reform Movement, Expression of National
Awakening
THE NATIONAL democratic awakening of the Indian people found expression in the religious
sphere also. The contradiction between the traditional religious outlook, practices and
organization, on the one hand, and the new social and economic reality on the other, gave rise to
various religio-reform movements in the country. These movements represented attempts to
revise the old religion in the spirit of the new principles of nationalism and democracy which
were the conditions for the development of the new society.
The spirit of nationalism was needed to unite the people into a joint effort to solve problems
which had become national due to the political and economic unification of the Indian people,
for the first time in their history, under the British rule. The advancement of the economic and
cultural evolution of the Indian society, which had now become a single whole, and the fight
against restrictions which the British rule put on this evolutionthis constituted the principal
task set to itself by the rising Indian nationalism. It is true that the early pioneers of Indian
nationalism, the early social and religious reformers, had hopes of getting these restrictions
removed under the guidance of British Democracy. Still, they did recognize that the British rule,
in spite of its early progressive character, handicapped the Indian national development.
Democracy was another principle which the reformers, the early pioneer nationalists like Raja
Ram Mohan Roy, Debendra Nath Tagore, Keshubchandra Sen, K. T. Telang, Justice Mahadev
Govind Ranade, Mahatma Jotirao Phooley and the founders of the Arya Samaj, in varying
degrees extended to the sphere, of religion. Modern society established in India by the British

conquest was a capitalist society resting on the principles of individual liberty, freedom of
competition,
264
contract and freedom of the individual to own and manipulate property at will. Individualism
was its key-note in contrast to the pre-capitalist society which was authoritarian in character,
maintained social distinctions based on birth and sex and subordinated the individual to caste and
the joint family system. The new society demanded, as the very condition of its development, the
abolition of privileges based on birth or sex.
The early religious reformers strove to extend the principle of individual liberty to the sphere of
religion. In fact, these religio-reform movements, the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the
Arya Samaj, and others, were in different degrees, endeavours to recast the old religion into a
new form suited to meet the needs of the new society. It is true that some of their leaders
(especially of the Arya Samaj) had the misconception that they were reviving the old pristine
social structure of the Vedic Aryans, that they were returning to the Golden Age. In reality they
were engaged, in varying degrees, in adapting the Hindu religion to the social, political,
economic and cultural needs of the contemporary Indian nation. History records instances where
the consolidators of new societies were imaging that they were returning to the past and reviving
the best social forms existing in the old periods. In fact, the early religio-reform movements in
India were attempting to build a religious outlook which would build up national unity of all
communities, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Parsis and the rest, for solving such common national
tasks as the economic development of India on modern lines, the removal of restrictions put on
the people's free evolution, the establishment of equality between man and woman, the abolition
of caste, the abolition of the Brahmin as the monopolist of classical culture and sole intermediary
between God and the individual. Nevertheless, like the leaders of the European Protestant and
other movements comprising the Religious Reformation, the Indian religious reformers were not
rehabilitating any past period of society but only consolidating the rising new society.
Liberalism is the philosophy of rising capitalism.1 Its two main principles are nationalism and
democracy. The religio-reform movements were attempts to extend the principles of liberalism
to religion.

"Appeal to Past", its Real Significance

There is a profound psycho-philosophical reason behind the illusion
265
which misled some of these reformers (the Arya Samaj) into thinking that they were returning to
the pristine past while in reality they were forging a new society unknown to all past history.
This illusion is the product of the contradiction between the old 'conscious formulations' or
thinking and the new conditions of social being.

"Man himself is composed like society, of current active being and inherited conscious
formulations. ... Thus he feels, right in the heart of him, this tension between being and thinking,
between new being and old thought. ... The incomplete future is dragging at him but because
instinctive components of the psyche are the oldest, he often feels this to be the past dragging at
him. That is why we come upon the paradox that the hero appeals to the past, and urges man to
bring it into being again, in doing so produces the future. The return to the classics dominated the
bourgeois Renaissance. Rome influenced Napoleon and the Revolution. The return to the natural
uncorrupted man was the ideal of eighteenth-century revolutionists. Yet it is the new whose
tension men feel in their minds and hearts at such times...."
"... He may think it is the past he is born to save or re-establish on earth and only when it is done
is it seen that the future has come into being. The reformer "returning" to primitive Christianity
brings bourgeois Protestantism into being. ..."2
Similarly, Gandhi imagined that he was engaged in an effort to reproduce Ram Raj of the Golden
Age of the Hindus while, in reality, he was attempting to evolve a modern democratic capitalist
national state existence for India.
The urge to orient towards the past was further accentuated due to the status of the Indian people
as a subject nation. Along with a healthy desire for national freedom from the foreign rule,
chauvinist dreams of a 'spiritual conquest' of the world through a resurrected Hinduism were
sometimes conceived (e.g. Vivekanand, the outstanding leader of the Ramakrishna Mission
Movement). The claims of the special 'Spiritual genius' of India were proclaimed. The early
religio-reform movements were, however, progressive movements. They were the expression of
the first national awakening of the Indian people.
Such religio-reform movements aiming at the remodelling of the old religion to suit the new
social needs have usually sprung up in the history of every people during the transition from
medievalism to modern capitalism.
266

Medievalism Vs. Liberalism

Medievalism stood for the rule of the aristocracy. Liberalism, the philosophy of capitalism,
preached democracy and government by the people. Medievalism including medieval religion
stood for privilege based on birth. Liberalism attacked all such privilege as unjust and
proclaimed the principles of individual liberty, equal rights, and free competition. Medievalism
demanded faith from the people in the divine origin of kingship, in the sacrosanct character of
the social structure, and in the God-ordained nature of whatever exists. Liberalism substituted
critical reason for faith. Every institution and principle must be subjected to the test of reason.
Medievalism propagated the theory of fall (from the halcyonic Golden to the present 'degenerate'
Kali Yuga). Liberalism basing itself on the scientific history of mankind propounded
passionately the doctrine of progress, from barbarism to slavery, from slavery to feudalism, and
thence to modern capitalism. Medievalism, on the whole, instigated man to take a pessimistic

view of life and concentrate his attention on the other world. Liberalism intensified man's
appetite to live up pointing out the unlimited scope to make pleasure-bringing material things in
this world by means of modern machinery and science.3
The old religion was based on the low level of economic and cultural development of the old
society. It had to be remodelled to meet the needs of the new society. It had to be revised in the
spirit of the principles of nationalism, democracy, an optimistic and positive attitude to life, and
even rationalist philosophy.
On the whole, national progress became the main objective of these reconstructed religions.
When religion itself was not repudiated or reformed, nationalism became identified with religion
(e.g. the religion of Nationalism as propounded by B. C. Pal, Aurobindo Ghose, and others).
Sometimes old gods and goddesses were interpreted in a way suitable for rousing sentiment and
hopes among the people. "This interpretation of the old images of gods and goddesses has
imparted a new meaning to the current ceremonialism of the country, and multitudes, while
worshipping either Jagat Dhatri or Kali or Durga, accost them with devotion ... with the inspiring
cry of "Bande Mataram". All these are the popular objects of worship of the Indian Hindus. ...
And the transfiguration of these symbols is at once the cause and the evidence
267
of the depth and strength of the present movement. This wonderful transfiguration of the old
gods and goddesses is carrying the message of new nationalism to the women and masses of the
country."4
Thus the religio-revival movement, too, like the religio-reform movement, was inspired with a
national ideal.

Religio-reform Movement, its All-embracing Scope

Another characteristic of the religio-reform movements was that their programme was not
restricted to the task of merely reforming religion but extended to that of the reconstruction of
social institutions and social relations. This was due to the fact that in India, religion and social
structure were organically interwoven. Caste hierarchy, sex inequality, untouchability, and social
taboos, flourished because of the sanction of religion. Social reform, consequently, constituted a
part of the platform of all religio-reform movements. While rationalizing religion to a greater or
less degree, these movements also aimed at rationalizing social institutions and relations to a
greater or less degree. Religion dominated and determined the life of the individual in India. His
economic activity, his social life, his marriage, birth and death, his physical movements, all were
strictly and minutely controlled by religion. It was indispensable for the religio-reform
movement to have an all-embracing programme of religious, social, and even political reform.
They fought the caste system and the ban on going to a foreign country as much as polytheism
and idolatry. They attacked caste privilege as much as the monopoly rights of the Brahmin in the
sphere of religion. They attacked all this because they were obstacles to national progress which

required, as its vital pre-condition, national unity based on the principles of equality and liberty
of individuals and groups.
The motif of these movements was national advance. The first national awakening of the Indian
people took predominantly a religious form. This awakening deepened and broadened in
subsequent decades and found increasingly secular forms.

Similar Developments in Europe

In Europe, too, a similar development occurred. Before national movements aiming at
establishing national state and society came into
268
existence, incipient nationalism took religious forms such as Protestantism and Reformation.
This is because medieval religion was not suited to the new society which was growing.
Medieval religion, in Europe (the Universal Roman Church), while uniting Christendom
culturally, supported the feudal economic and state system which was an obstacle to the national
economic unification of the people of a country on the basis of nationally extending exchange
relations of the growing capitalist economy. Further, the Roman Church, by supporting the
feudal state, was preventing the establishment of the national state which was necessary for the
free and rapid development of the new capitalist economy.
The national awakening of the European people therefore first found expression in religious
struggles against the feudal religion. In France, Voltaire, Rousseau, Helvetius, Holbach and
others, led this initial revolt against the Roman Church, the spiritual support of the feudal
economic and state system. This anti-religious revolt preceded the secular national political
revolt against the feudal regime.5
In India, the first national awakening expressed itself in the form of a series of religio-reform
movements. Some of these movements aimed at revising the traditional religion in the spirit of
the principles of Liberalism. Others aimed at restoring it in the pure form in which it existed in
ancient times.
"The multiform world of Hinduism was stirred and awakened to a spiritual revolution in the
nineteenth century much as Europe had been in the sixteenth. ... Like the Reformation, they
reverted to the earliest traditions and attacked the degeneration and superstition of later days."6
In India, the religio-reform movements launched a crusade against medieval religion which
sanctified such institutions as caste which were a powerful obstacle to the national unity of the
Indian people and to the development of the new economy in the country. They attacked
polytheism, the practice of meaningless soul-deadening religious rites, and religious dogmas
which undermined the critical intellectual power of the people. These religio-reform movements
were national in content but religious in form. It was in the later stages of our national existence,
that nationalism found exclusively or predominantly secular forms.

A brief reference may be made to the principal among these religio-reform movements to
illustrate how they embodied the rising upsurge of nationalism and adopted programmes which
were, in varying degrees, attempts to apply Liberalism to religion.
269

Brahmo Samaj Movement

The Brahmo Samaj, the first movement of this kind, was established in 1828 by Raja Ram
Mohan Roy (1772-1833), who can be correctly described as the Father of Indian Nationalism.
Roy was essentially a democrat and a humanist. In his religio-philosophical and social outlook,
he was deeply influenced by the monotheism and anti-idolatry of Islam, Deism of Sufism, the
ethical teachings of Christianity and the liberal and rationalist doctrines of the west. "He tried to
interpret and assimilate into himself the highest elements of Islam, Christianity and modern
Rationalism or Humanism, and transformed them into a single creed which he found in the
ancient Upanishadic philosophy of his own community."7
He attacked the polytheistic degeneration of ancient Hindu monotheism. He attacked the idol
worship of the Hindus as degrading and expounded the conception of 'One God of all religions
and humanity'. His attack on polytheism and idolatry was motivated by national and socioethical considerations as much as by philosophical conviction. "My constant reflections on the ...
injurious rites introduced by the peculiar practice of Hindu idolatry which more than any paganworship destroys the texture of society, together with compassion for my countrymen, have
compelled me to use every possible effort to enable them to contemplate ... the unity and
omnipresence of Nature's God."8
Raja Ram Mohan Roy stood for a rational approach to religion. The individual should study the
scriptures directly, without the priest as the intermediary, and assess the rational character of a
religious doctrine. He must subject religious principles to the test of his own ethical reason and
reject those which contradict the test.
Since Hindu society was dominated and governed by religious conceptions of Hinduism, no
religio-reform movement could avoid a socio-reform section in its programme. According to
Raja Ram Mohan Roy and early religious reformers, religious renovation was the vital condition
for revising the social structure from a decadent to a healthy basis. That is why the socio-reform
programme became part of the total programme of religio-reform movements.
The Brahmo Samaj, under the leadership of Roy, launched an offensive against the caste system
branding it as undemocratic, inhuman, and anti-national. It crusaded against suttee and child
marriage. It stood for the freedom of the widows to remarry and equal rights of
270
man and woman.

The Brahmo Samaj valued modern western culture and organized educational institutions in the
country for its spread among the people. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an admirer of the liberal
democratic culture of the west.
Roy considered the British rule in India as a positive force. He admired it for inaugurating
progressive measures of social reform such as the abolition of suttee and infanticide, for
establishing modern educational institutions and a free press, and others. This was natural since
the British rule in India, during the first half of the nineteenth century, had, historically speaking,
a progressive aspect.
"In the earlier period of British rule, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the British rulers
in the midst of, and actually through all the misery and industrial devastationwere performing
an actively progressive role, were in many spheres actively combating the conservative and
feudal forces of Indian society. ... This was the period of courageous reforms, of such measures
as the abolition of suttee (carried out with the wholehearted co-operation of the progressive
elements of Indian society), the abolition of slavery (a more formal measure in practice), the war
on infanticide and thuggism, the introduction of western education and the freeing of the press.
Rigid in their outlook, unsympathetic to all that was backward in Indian traditions, convinced
that the nineteenth century bourgeois and Christian conception was the norm for humanity, these
early administrators nevertheless carried on a powerful work of innovation representing the spirit
of the early ascendant bourgeoisie of the period; and the best of them like Sir Henry Lawrence,
won the respect and affection of those with whom they had to deal. ... The deepest enemies of the
British were the old reactionary rulers who saw in them their supplanters. The most progressive
elements in Indian society, at that time, represented by Ram Mohan Roy and the reform
movement of the Brahmo Samaj, looked with unconcealed admiration to the British as the
champions of progress, gave unhesitating support to their reforms, and saw in them the vanguard
of a new civilization."9 In spite of his great admiration for the British, Raja Ram Mohan Roy
organized a protest movement against the measure to restrict the freedom of the press. He also
criticized the British government for
271
excluding the Indians from higher posts.
Since the Brahmo Samaj was not merely a religious movement but also included in its
programme items of social and political reform, it was the precursor of the subsequent social
reform movement started by Ranade and others and the political reform movement initiated by
the early Indian National Congress. The religious reform movement thus prepared for purely
secular social and political reform movements in the country. That is the historical significance
of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj he stated. "Raja Ram Mohan Roy inaugurated
the Modern Age in India."10
Debendra Nath Tagore (1817-1905) who succeeded as the leader of the Brahmo Samaj
developed scepticism about the infallibility of the scriptures and finally repudiated it. He
substituted intuition for the authority of the scriptures. By means of intuition he located sections

of Upanishads which served as the religio-ideological basis of the doctrines and programmes of
the Brahmo Samaj.
Keshub Chandra Sen (1838-84) was the next leader of the Brahmo Samaj. Under him, the
doctrine of the Brahmo Samaj was increasingly adapted to the doctrine of pure Christianity. In
later stages, he propounded the doctrine of Adesha, according to which God inspires knowledge
in some individuals whose word must therefore be considered infallible and true. A section of
Brahmos did not accept this doctrine, left the Samaj and started the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.
The Brahmo Samaj was the pioneer of the nationalist movement, which, by the workings of
history, began as a religio-reform movement aiming at liberating the individual from the
deadweight of an authoritarian religion which strangulated their initiative and stultified both the
individual and collective mind.
The Brahmo Samaj inaugurated a new era for the Indian people by proclaiming the principles of
individual freedom, national unity, solidarity and collaboration and the democratization of all
social institutions and social relations. It was the first organized expression of their national
awakening.

Prarthana Samaj
The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 in Bombay by Mahadev Govind Ranade. It had a
programme of religious and social reforms on the same lines as those of the Brahmo Samaj. Its
founder was one of
272
the leaders of the Indian National Congress and the Indian Social Conference which held their
first session in 1885 and 1888 respectively.

Arya Samaj
The Arya Samaj founded in Bombay in 1875 by Dayanand Saraswati, though embodying the
first upsurge of Indian nationalism, was a movement of quite a different type. It had a more
revivalist character. It declared the Vedas infallible and further, an inexhaustible reservoir of all
knowledge, past, present and future. One must know how to understand and interpret the Vedas,
which contain all information, philosophical, technical, and scientific. By making adequate
endeavour, one can discover in the Vedas all modern chemistry, engineering and even military
and non-military sciences.11
Since the Vedas were proclaimed infallible, the word of the Vedas rather than the judgement of
the individual was the final criterion. The Arya Samaj, by postulating the infallibility of the
Vedas, did not and could not permit the individual judgement to override the divine text. Thus
the Arya Samaj, while freeing the individual from the tyranny and tutelage of the Brahmin,

demanded of him implicit faith in the divine Vedas. The authority of the Vedas was maintained
instead of the freedom of the individual judgement.
The repudiation of the authority of the Brahmin, the denouncing of the infinite number of
meaningless rites and the worship of the images of different gods and goddesses which split the
people into numerous belligerent sects, and the crusade against the mass of religious
superstitions which kept, for many centuries, the Hindu mind in a state of mental befogging and
spiritual degradation,these were the progressive elements in the programme of the Arya
Samaj. Its slogan 'Back to Vedas' was inspired with the urge to bring about national unity and to
kindle national pride and consciousness. However, since it retained its narrow Hindu basis, the
national unity it proclaimed could not gather into its fold the non-Hindu communities such as the
Mahomedans and the Christians. It became a semi-rationalized form of Hinduism.
The Arya Samaj had a programme of social reform also. Though opposed to the hereditary caste
system, it stood, however, for the four-caste division of society to be determined by merit and
not by birth. Since the Vedas laid down such a division and since the Vedas could
273
not err, the Arya Samaj could not proclaim the death of the caste system itself.
The Arya Samaj stood for equal rights of man and woman in social and educational matters. This
was a distinct democratic conception. It, however, opposed co-education since in the Vedic
period co-education did not exist.
The Arya Samaj organised a network of schools and colleges, in the country, both for boys and
girls, where education was imparted in the mother-tongue. The Dayanand Anglo-Vedic college
was founded in 1886. The conservative section of the Arya Samaj thought the education
imparted in this college was not sufficiently Vedic in character. Its members led by Munshi Ram,
therefore, started Gurukul at Haradwar, where the education, both in content and method, was
given in the ancient Vedic manner.
In all its activities, the Arya Samaj was generally inspired with the spirit of nationalism and
democracy. It attempted to integrate the Hindus by destroying the sub-castes. It spread education
among the people, proclaimed the principle of equality irrespective of the distinctions of caste,
creed, community, race or sex. It tried to destroy their inferiority complex, the inevitable product
of their status as a subject nation.
The Arya Samaj, in spite of its narrow Hindu basis of its rational declaration that all knowledge
is enshrined in the Vedas, drew to itself hundreds of nationalist Indians. In fact, at one point, the
Arya Samaj was one of the main targets of political repression. It is hardly surprising, therefore,
that when Sir Valentine Chirol visited India on behalf of The Times to investigate the cause of
unrest after 1907, he looked upon the Arya Samaj as 'a serious menace to England and
sovereignty.'12

The Arya Samaj represented a form of the national awakening of the Indian people. Restricted to
a narrow Hindu basis and with a negative attitude to Islam, in course of time, it led the Muslims
to mobilize on a corresponding communal basis. It played a progressive role in the earlier stages
when the national awakening was just sprouting. The Arya Samaj had two aspects, one
progressive, the other reactionary. When it attacked religious superstitions and the sacerdotal
dictatorship of the Brahmin, when it denounced polytheism, and when further it adopted the
programme of mass education of the elimination of sub-castes, of the equality of man and
woman, it played a progressive role. But when it declared the Vedas infallible and a treasure
274
house of all knowledge of the cosmos, past, present, and future, when it stood for the division of
society into four castes though based on merit, it was playing an anti-progressive role. No
knowledge could ever be final in the infinite and eternally evolving social and natural world. So
the Vedas could not be the embodiment of all knowledge. Further, all knowledge is historically
conditioned and is limited by the level of social and economic development of the epoch in
which it is born. As such, subsequent generations have to critically carry over all inherited past
knowledge and subject it to the test of reason and social usefulness. Here comes the role of
individual judgement. Once the Vedas were eulogized as infallible, the individual as well as the
generation he belonged to, were denied the right to exercise their own independent judgement
and pronounce upon the ancient scriptures. This was intellectual enslavement of the individual
and the generation to the scriptures. It was a departure from the principles of Liberalism.
Again, the Arya Samaj could not be a national or cosmopolitan religion since it demanded of its
followers the recognition of the principle of the infallibility and the omniscience of the Vedas.
However, as mentioned above, the Arya Samaj played a progressive role in the earlier stages of
Indian nationalism. However, when the national awakening broadened and deepened, when the
national movement reached greater and greater secular heights, it became a hindrance to the
growth of Indian nationalism by contributing, though unconsciously, to the creation of a
belligerent religio-communal atmosphere.

Ramakrishna Mission Movement

The national awakening of the Indian people found expression in the movement inspired by
Ramakrishna, a great Hindu saint, in direct line to such saints as Chandidas and Chaitanya. It
primarily based itself on the principle of Devotion or Bhakti. Its principal propagandist was
Swami Vivekanand, a disciple of Ramakrishna and an intellectual of a very high calibre who,
after the death of the saint, founded the Ramakrishna Mission to propagate his teaching.
The Ramakrishna Mission aimed at protecting India from 'the materialist' influences of western
civilization. It idealized Hinduism including its practice of idol worship and polytheism. It aimed
at the spiritual conquest of the world for revived Hinduism.13
275

One of the harmful results of the foreign rule in India had been to create a tendency among the
Indians to disorient from the modern western culture, a historically higher form of culture than
the precapitalist culture on which the conscious life of an average Indian was based.
There were other religio-reform movements of smaller magnitude which also expressed the new
awakening. Hinduism began to organize itself on a national scale in revivalist or reformist forms.
These movements spread to various groups comprising Hindu society.
Thus, the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal Society having for its programme the reforming of the
Hindu religion and dissemination of religious and non-religious education among the Hindus was
started in 1902. In 1890, Shri Narayan launched the movement of the Tiyas, a community which
worshipped demons and formed one of the lowest castes of the Hindu society, with the
programme of building of temples and establishing schools for the community.14

Theosophy
Theosophy introduced in India by Madame Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott in 1879 and mainly
popularized by Mrs. Annie Besant was another religio-reform movement started in India under
the impact of the new Indian and international conditions. The uniqueness of this movement
consisted in the fact that it was inaugurated by a non-Indian who was a great admirer of
Hinduism. Theosophy subscribed to the spiritual philosophy of ancient Hinduism and recognized
its doctrine of the transmigration of the soul. It preached universal brotherhood of men
irrespective of distinctions of caste, creed, race or sex. It stood for the development of a national
spirit among the Indians. "The needs of India," Mrs. Besant wrote in 1905, "are, among others,
the development of a national spirit, an education founded on Indian ideals and enriched, not
dominated, by the thought and culture of the West."15
Theosophy stood for making a comparative study of all oriental religions. However, it
considered ancient Hinduism as the not profoundly spiritual religion in the world. Theosophy,
however, failed to strike deep roots in the country.
There were minor religio-reform movements aiming at the readjustment of Hinduism to the
social needs of the contemporary Indian
276
people such as the Deva Samaj and the Radha Swami Satsang. Like their major counterparts,
these movements, too, aimed at integrating the Hindus round the original principles of Hinduism,
democratizing social relations among them, and firing them with a national emotion. They, too,
represented in religious form the new national awakening of the Hindus.

Religious Reforms by Eminent Political Leaders

In addition to these organized national religio-reform and religio-revivalist movements,
individuals of outstanding capacity and political pre-eminence, such as Bepin Chandra Pal,

Aurobindo Ghose, Tilak and Gandhi, without organizing any distinct movements, contributed to
the work of religious reform. Nationalism in Bengal, though becoming increasingly secular, was
for some time religious in character. It was influenced by the Neo-Vedantic movement of Swami
Vivekanand. "Hence the attempt on the part of the Bengalee Nationalists to base the movement
for Swaraj on the ancient Upanishadic ideal of the search for the metaphysical Absolute in one's
own innermost self. Hence the worship of the Motherthe country symbolized as the Goddess
Kali."16
Tilak reinterpreted the Gita and declared Action to be its central teaching. The very kernel of the
philosophy of the Gita, he said, was missed by the Indian people who had, as a result, sunk into
inertia and fatalistic moods. The Indian nation could be roused to dynamic effort only if they
recognized this. Tilak tried to provide nationalism with a dynamic philosophy by drawing from
the ancient Hindu religion.
Thus the national movement aiming at national freedom from the British rule and the
establishment of an Indian society and state on a democratic basis and also on the basis of the
modern economy, became a function of an all-embracing religious movement. Nationalism was
expressed in religious terms and clothed in religio-mystical form. Indian nationalism with its
further development, however, progressively freed itself from the religious element with which it
had been permeated. It became increasingly secular.

Materialism, Its Near-absence in India

One striking peculiarity of the Indian national development was
277
that neither its pioneers nor subsequent leaders evolved or accepted the materialist philosophy.
All leaders of Indian nationalism, in the philosophical, political, or cultural field, such as Raja
Ram Mohan Roy, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Surendra Nath Banerjee, Bipin
Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghose, Lala Lajpat Rai, Rabindranath Tagore, Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad, Mahmud Iqbal, Jagdish Chandra Bose, and others, stood for, in
different ways and varying degrees, a revision of traditional religions. None of them, however,
challenged or repudiated religion or the idea of God on which it is based. None of them
subscribed to the philosophy of materialism.
This was in contrast to the period of rising nationalism in Europe. It is true that preponderently,
almost overwhelmingly, the ideological leaders of European nationalism were idealists (in a
philosophical sense) and God-believers. Even such a redoubtable assailant of Christianity as
Voltaire was a Deist. However, there was a minority current of materialism in the philosophical
movement of the epoch. Some of the French Encyclopaedists such as Holbach and Diderot were
materialists. Further, after national states and societies were established in various European
countries, there sprang up a number of philosophers and scientists who propounded the doctrine
of materialism. Haeckel, Feurbach, and Marx belonged to this group. In addition to
thoroughgoing materialists, Europe of the period of nationalism projected agnostic philosophers
like Kant and Herbert Spencer and sceptical thinkers like Hume.17

In India, however, the history of the nationalist movement does not record the name of a single
outstanding materialist, agnostic or sceptical philosopher.
This may be due to the fact that Indian nationalism developed in a peculiar way. Modern
materialism was an integral though a very small fractional part of the total European culture.
Since this culture happened to be the culture of the British who had conquered and dominated
India, the nationalist leaders felt a conscious or subconscious recoil from it. In the sphere of
philosophy, India must stand on its own legs and must draw from its philosophical, legacy from
the past which was essentially religio-spiritual. This is perhaps, one of the principal reasons why
these leaders shunned modern materialism and even thoroughgoing rationalism. Raja Ram
Mohan Roy, in spite of his rationalist approach, could not overcome his belief in the divinity of
278
the Vedas. His successor, Debendra Nath Tagore, endeavoured to achieve a synthesis of reason
and intuition. Keshab Chandra Sen proclaimed himself as a prophet entrusted with a message
from God to be delivered to humanity. Pal and Aurobindo subscribed to the cult of spiritual
mysticism. Lajpat Rai, the Arya Samajist, divinized the Vedas. Finally, Gandhi, the greatest
leader of Indian Nationalism, invoked 'the inner voice' when he was confronted with a
complicated political or social problem.
The presence of the foreign rule, consciously or unconsciously, prompted even a nationalist of
high intellectual calibre not only to reject the foreign rule but often also to recoil from the culture
of the ruling nation. These were, though incorrectly, identified. The very growth of national
consciousness arising out of the conditions of the foreign rule, which, on the whole, checked free
national development, often urged the nationalist to invoke even the obscurantist and mystical
parts of the nation's past culture and attempt to base the democratic and progressive
contemporary national movement on them. This introduced confusion and mysticism in the
national movement and obstructed the growth of the national unity of various socio-religious
groups. Politics became tainted with religion and was mystified.

Early Religio-Reform Movements, their Progressive

Significance
In the initial stages, when Indian nationalism was immature, just sprouting, it found expression
in such Liberal religio-reform movements as the Brahmo Samaj. The religious form of the
national movement was conditioned by its very immaturity. As such, these religio-reform
movements played a historically progressive role, in spite of their limited rational and religious
form. They were the first nationalist breaches in the fortress of medievalism and the declaration
in religious and social reform language, that the modern Indian nation was born and was
growing. Subsequently, when the national consciousness extended and the national movement
became strong and even militant, such attempts as were made by the Left nationalists as Pal and
Aurobindo to build them on the basis of the religio-mystical philosophy of ancient Hinduism, in
a way, hindered their growth. These leaders did deepen and even made militant, the national

consciousness of a section of the people, but, by associating nationalism with and even basing it
on Hindu mysticism they also retarded the extension of its social basis.
279
One of the many reasons why the national movement did not draw within its orbit wide sections
of the Mahomedan community, was that even under the leadership of Gandhi, it continued to
have a religious tinge. It was surely not the decisive reason but one of the many reasons which
could not be ignored. It is true that the nationalist movement headed by the Indian National
Congress under the leadership of Gandhi had a programme of the national democratic
transformation of India and not of the establishment of any Hindu Raj. It is true that the Indian
National Congress was a national organization, a mustering centre of all conscious nationalist
forces. But Gandhi's declared conception that politics should be spiritualized, be in line with
religio-ethical principles, alienated those who wanted the national movement to remain secular.
Further, it introduced a mystical element in political calculations, often distorting the strategy of
the movement.

Growth of Rationalism and Materialism

Rationalist and materialist philosophical ideas slowly began to spread in India after 1930. This
was due to numerous reasons such as the wider interest of Indian intelligentsia in the political,
sociological, and philosophical literature of the west after the war of 1914-18. The crisis of world
capitalism and the bold claim of socialism that it was the historical successor of capitalism, made
the politically-minded Indian youth study the socialist literature of the west including Marxism
which was based on the philosophy of Dialectical Materialism. A section of the Indian
intellectuals actually accepted Marxism and its number began to expand. The achievements of
the Soviet Union were also helping to win over an increasing number of Indians to Marxist
Materialism. Such political groups in India as the Congress Socialists, the Communists, the
Royists, the Tagorites, and the Trotskyites, accepted Marxism as their philosophy.
In addition to the Marxist materialist current, there was another current increasingly gaining
ground in India, that of Rationalism. The number of Indian rationalists was also growing.
The pioneers and leaders of nationalism were the educated class and the bourgeoisie. They based
themselves on the new capitalist society which, historically a higher type, increasingly replaced
the medieval social system in India. They accepted its economic foundations. They desired the
free development of that society. Liberalism was the philosophy
280
of rising capitalism. It was a body of principles which guaranteed its growth. And just as
capitalism was a higher social system than the pre-capitalist one, Liberalism with its principles of
national unification, individual liberty, democracy, equal rights of men, representative
institutions and rationalism, was a higher philosophy than pre-capitalist philosophies which were
mostly based on religious obscurantism and defended ranks and privileges based on birth.

Logically, the Indian intelligentsia, the pioneers of Indian nationalism, should have adopted the
Liberal philosophy in toto. However, since Liberalism originated in the west and since the Indian
people were ruled by a western power, they rather remobilized old Hinduism, and either revived
it in its ancient pure shape or tried to remodel it in a Liberal spirit to suit the needs of the new
Indian society.

National Awakening among Muslims, Reasons for its Slower

Growth
The national awakening among the Indian Muslims took place at a slower rate than among the
Hindus. There were historical and religious reasons for that.
Though a number of Hindu kingdoms had emerged during the period of the dissolution of the
Mogul Empire after Aurangzeb, the Muslims always felt that they comprised the ruling
community in India. They were particularly hostile to the British whom they accused of
expropriating them of their political power. The British deposed during the Mutiny, Shah Alam,
the de jure if not the de facto Emperor of all India. The anti-Muslim policy of the British
government after the Mutiny intensified the anti-British feeling of the Muslims.
This made the Muslims avoid any contact with the new culture and education which the British
introduced in India. They avoided the influence of that education and stuck with greater tenacity
to orthodox Islam.
The impoverishment of the Muslims during the process of the British conquest of India took
place at a rapid rate. "Many of the finer and more skilled industrial arts of India had been in the
hands of Muslims, and they were ruined by the fiscal policy of the East India Company. The
higher posts in pre-British India, in the army, in the administration and in the learned
professions, had been in Muslim hands. Many of the higher and middle classes were reduced to
beggary ... there is no
281
doubt that the Muslim mind at the beginning of the nineteenth century entertained the deepest
distrust of the British, who had destroyed their power, and of western culture, which was in their
mind associated with the British."18
The Hindus availed themselves of the new education. They projected an educated class, a section
of which assimilated the principles of Liberalism, studied other religions and organized great
reform movements. On the other hand, the Muslims disorientated from the new education.
The pioneers of nationalism in all countries were always the modern intelligentsia and the
bourgeoisie. Rising capitalism made the intelligentsia and the capitalist class which stood for the
development of bourgeois society, the organizers of national movements. It was predominantly
from the Hindu community that the first sections of the Indian intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie
sprang. They became the pioneers of Indian nationalism.

It was only by the end of the nineteenth century that the Muslims began to take to modern
education. Gradually an intelligentsia trained in modern education came into being. A section of
that intelligentsia steadily built up a nationalist outlook. Along with this, a commercial and
industrial bourgeoisie also began to grow among the Muslim community. Nationalism began to
spread among the Muslims.
Another factor which retarded the growth of nationalism among the Indian Muslims was the
basic character of Islam. Islam emphasizes more fanatically than any other religion the unity of
its followers. It preaches a world fraternity of its followers. It is a cosmopolitan union of the
Muslims all over the world. It offers greater resistance to the growth of nationalism which has a
limited national territorial basis. It gives rise either to pan-Islamism or Humanism.
When the country is preponderatingly inhabited by the Muslims (Arabia, Turkey) and where
capitalist economic development has taken place, the Muslims of that country become
nationalists and evolve a national consciousness. While Islam retards, more than any other
medieval religion, the growth of nationalism, such international programmes as socialism spread
more rapidly among the petty bourgeois and poor sections of the Muslim population.
"The writer in her talks found out that the Muslim youth were more inclined to Jawaharlal
Nehru, the socialist leader, than to any other in the political field. ... And it is evident that
Socialism has
282
gained ground among the youth and student organizations. ... The Punjab Socialist Party consists
mostly of Muslims and the Frontier Socialist Party has the largest membership in all India."19
"I think that the Muslim rank and file has more potentially in it, perhaps because of a certain
freedom in social relations, than the Hindu masses, and is likely to go ahead faster in a socialist
direction, once it gets moving."20
Islam arose out of the democratic ferment of the common people of Arabia against the privileged
strata of society. As such it has a democratic ring. Islam preaches the principle of social equality.
This makes the propaganda of international socialism more successful among the Muslim rank
and file.
In spite of this relative inertia of the Muslims, from the point of view of their development on
nationalist lines there sprang up, in course of time, a number of religio-revivalist and even
religio-reform movements among them. These movements were, however, not so powerful as
their counterparts among the Hindus. Besides most of them lacked the national note. There were
four such main movements started by (1) Shah Abdul Aziz of Delhi, (2) Saiyid Ahmad of Bareli,
(3) Shaikh Karamat Ali of Jaunpur and (4) Haji Shariat-ullah of Faridpur.21 These four
movements were more of a revivalist character.

Ahmadiya Movement

The Ahmadiya Movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889 was more or less based on
Liberal principles. It described itself as the standard bearer of Mahomedan Renaissance. It based
itself, like the Brahmo Samaj, on the principles of a universal religion of all humanity. The
founder was greatly influenced by western liberalism, theosophy and religio-reform movements
of the Hindus.
The Ahmadiya Movement opposed Jehad or the sacred war against non-Muslims. It stood for
fraternal relations among all peoples.22
The movement spread western liberal education among the Indian Muslims. It started a network
of schools and colleges for that purpose and published periodicals and books, both in English and
vernaculars. In spite of its liberalism, the Ahmadiya Movement, like Bahaism which flourished
in the West Asiatic countries, suffered from mysticism. It, however, represented an attempt on
the part of Islam to assimilate the principles of western liberalism.
283
As mentioned already, due to historical causes, the Muslim community embarked on a career of
national democratic progress later than the Hindus. "The tragedy of the great revolt in 1857-8
marks the death of the old order, and brought political, economic and cultural disaster to the
Indian Muslims. It made their sullenness, their aloofness, their suppressed hatred for the new
order more marked than ever.
The key to the whole situation was adaptation to the new environment, use of the new forces that
had come into play, acceptance of the new instrument of progress that had been created through
English education."23
This recoil from the new reality could not last for ever. Soon, the Muslims took to education and
created an intelligentsia. They also appeared in the field of commerce and industries. The
progressive elements among these new educated Muslims and Muslim merchants and
industrialists steadily evolved a national outlook and took to the road of nationalism in politics
and democratic reform in social matters.

Aligarh Movement
The first national awakening among the Muslims found expression in a movement which aimed
at making the Indian Muslims politically conscious and spreading modern education among
them. Saiyad Ahmed Khan was the founder of this movement. He had such able collaborators as
the poet Khwaja Altaf Hussain Hali, Maulvi Nazir Ahmad, and Maulvi Shibli Numani.
The liberal social reform and cultural movement founded by Sir Saiyad Ahmed Khan is known
as the Aligarh Movement because it was at Aligarh that the Mahomedan Anglo-Oriental College
was established by it in 1875. This college developed into the Aligarh University in 1890. Along
with it, an all-India Muslim Educational Conference was also organized.

The Aligarh Movement aimed at spreading western education among the Muslim without
weakening their allegiance to Islam. The religious education reinforced the secular education
which was imparted in the educational institutions it started.
The second task it undertook was to introduce social reform in the Muslim society. The Aligarh
Movement aimed at evolving a distinct social and cultural community among the Indian
Muslims more or less
284
on modern lines. It condemned polygamy and the social ban on widow-remarriage which, though
permitted by Islam, had crept in among some sections of the Muslims who were recent converts
from Hinduism
The Aligarh Movement was based on a liberal interpretation of the Quran. It tried to harmonize
Islam with the modern liberal culture. After the starting of the Aligarh Movement, independent
more or less progressive movements sprang up in Bombay, the Punjab, Hyderabad, and other
places.

Sir Mahmud Iqbal

Sir Mahmud Iqbal, the poet of world celebrity, played an important role in the history of the
Indian Muslims. Though he supported the Liberal movement, he asked the Muslim Liberals to be
on guard so that the broad human principle which Islam stood for was not thrown in the
background by emphasis on the nation and the race.24
Iqbal described the European civilization as inhuman, rapacious, predatory and decadent. He
even quoted such writers as Nietzche, Schopenhauer, Spengler and Karl Marx holding
conflicting views to denounce its different aspects. He passionately attacked the European
civilization in poems which are pearls of Persian and Urdu poetry. He was essentially a humanist
and considered Islam as a religion of broadest humanism.25
In the later phase of his life, however, Iqbal exhibited a reactionary tendency. He opposed
democracy as a system and became hostile to the Indian nationalist movement.26 As W. C.
Smith, in his book, Modern Islam in India, remarks, "His opposition to "Westernism" instead of
to capitalism ... left him a prey to anti-liberal reactionaries. ... And thus has the noblest of
visionaries of tomorrow's just and world-wide brotherhood, been turned by it into the champion
of the most retrograde ... sectionalists."

Other Muslim Reform Movements

In course of time, the movement for the emancipation of the Muslim women and for combating
such institutions as purdah, came into existence. Tyabji, an enlightened and progressive Muslim,
was the founder of this movement in Bombay. Shaikh Abdul Halil Sharar

285
(1860-96), an outstanding author and journalist, organized a veritable crusade against purdah in
the United Provinces.
With the spread of liberal ideas among the Muslims, the movement to improve the social
position of the Muslim women and to abolish customs which were detrimental to them, began to
gain strength. Polygamy began to diminish as also child marriage. The All-India Muslim
Conference made a special and regular financial provision for advancing the education of the
Muslim women.
Individual Muslim and Muslim organizations established an increasing number of educational
institutions for the Muslim women all over India. Slowly education began to spread among the
Muslim women.
Thus the religio-reform and socio-reform movements grew and gathered momentum among the
Muslims as well. The rise of Turkish and Arab nationalism and the establishment of a national
secular state in Turkey, had the effect of broadening the outlook of the Indian Muslims.
Modernized Turkey had the effect of modernizing the mind of an increasing number of the
Indian Muslims. The rise and development of the Indian national movement also increasingly
brought the Muslims into the orbit of the Indian nationalism. The independent workers' and
peasants' movements which developed rapidly in India later on and were mostly led by the
communists, the socialists and the Left nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru, had the effect of
making the Muslim masses national-minded and class-conscious. These movements became the
training ground for the masses of both communities and spheres of collaboration to serve
national and common class tasks. The economic structure and the existing foreign rule urged
them to come together and co-operate for common liberation.

Religion-reform Movements, their Reactionary Role in

Subsequent Period
It should be further noted that the religio-reform movements in the earlier phases of Indian
nationalismwhen it was just growing, was immature and restricted to a small sectionwere
the forms in which the national awakening found expression and even further developed for
some time. In the phases, however, when new classes and communities came into existence or
developed national, class or group consciousness, and further, when the national movement
acquired a broader multi-class and multi-communal basis, most of these very
286
religio-reform movements instead of becoming forms of development and expression of the
national consciousness, became fetters on its development. Some of them even became antinational disruptive forces retarding the process of a united national movement for freedom. The
reversal of their role was mainly due to their transformation from national religio-reform
movements into religio-communal movements. This became particularly manifest from 1918

onwards. In the conditions of the phenomenal growth of the progressive nationalist and class
movements in the country since this year, some of the old and other new religio-communal
movements which sprang up became camouflaged instruments of sectional vested interests. They
weakened the steadily growing national unity of the Indian people, and the economic and
political unity of the poor strata of various communities which organized trade unions, peasant
struggles and other movements against those vested interests.
Further, the religio-communal movements subserved the British interests. The introduction of
such devices as communal representation and electorate objectively thwarted the growth of
national unity by perpetuating communal distinctions.
During the recent phase of general capitalist decline admitted by all outstanding economists and
politicians, when progressive national and class movements were steadily gathering strength,
vested interests, foreign and Indian, found in religious mysticism and communalism useful forces
to weaken and confuse these movements to their national advantage.

References
1. Refer Laski and Weisbord.
2. Caudwell, pp. 27-8.
3. Refer Laski.
4. B. C. Pal quoted by Buch (2), p. 184.
5. Refer Tawney, Laski, Hans Kohn, and Weisbord.
6. Kohn, pp. 55-6.
7. Buch, p. 61.
8. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, p. 5.
9. R. P. Dutt, pp. 273-4.
10. Rabindranath Tagore, quoted by Brajendra Nath Seal, p. 95.
11. Refer Max Muller, p. 64.
287
12. Kohn, pp. 67-8.
13. Refer Vivekanand, pp. 193-5.

14. Refer Kohn, p. 73.

15. Annie Besant quoted by Buch (2), p. 174.
16. Buch (2), p. 182.
17. Refer Laski, Tavvney, Langue, Engels, Weisbord.
18. O'Malley, pp. 392-3.
19. Edib., pp. 339-40.
20. Jawaharlal Nehru, p. 577.
21. Refer O'Malley.
22. Refer Kohn, p. 36.
23. O'Malley, p. 398.
24. Refer Sir M. Iqbal, p. 227.
25. Refer O'Malley, p. 406.
26. M. R. Smith, p. 156.
288

Eighteen Rise of Political Movements as the

Expression of Indian Nationalism
Political Nationalism, Outcome of Foreign Domination
THE British conquest of India was prompted and its rule motivated naturally by the
considerations of the British interests. The state power held by Britain in India was, therefore,
basically exercised to safeguard and develop the British interests. This brought Britain into
conflict with the Indian people and the various classes and groups composing it in varying
degree, since the interests of the latter collided with the British interests. Political nationalism
was the outcome of this conflict of interests and gave birth to various political movements in the
country. These movements had for their objective an increasing share in political power and
successively Dominion Status, Home Rule and even complete Independence. The political
movements embodied the striving of the Indian people and its various sections to secure political
power which they could use to serve their respective social, economic and other interests.

The industrial bourgeoisie found in the absolute control of India by Britain an obstacle to carry
through its programme of unfettered industrial development. The educated classes found in the
monopoly of key posts in the state machinery by the British an obstacle to their ambition to
secure jobs. The sons of the soil, the peasantry, found in the new land and revenue systems
introduced by Britain the basic cause of their progressive impoverishment. The proletariat found
in the British rule a foreign undemocratic agency preventing it from developing class struggles
for improving their conditions of life and labour and finally for ending the wage system itself
under which they were exploited.
Further, the Indian people, as a whole, recognized in the British rule an alien rule which barred
their normal social, economic and
289
cultural development. They also wanted political power to end such evils as race discrimination,
the sacrifice of Indian interests in dominions and colonies such as South Africa, Kenya, Malaya,
Ceylon and others. The national sentiment almost spontaneously arises among the people who
are ruled by a foreign nation since this rule imposes basic handicaps on the free development of
the subject nation.1

First Sproutings
Though Indian nationalism as an organized movement developed during the last decade of the
nineteenth century, its first sproutings were visible in the beginning of that century. The rise of
the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 was a religious expression of the rising national awakening of the
advanced Hindu intelligentsia who received modern education introduced by Britain in India and
who came in contact with the western democratic ideologies through that education. Secular
political organizations such as the British India Society established in 1843 and the British Indian
Association, which resulted out of the amalgamation of the few existing political groups in the
country in 1851, also sprang up during this early period.
These early political groups, which embodied the first feeble beginnings of the rise of Indian
political nationalism, were composed of a few individuals and lacked a popular basis. Neither
could they exist on an all-India scale since the whole of India became British territory long after
they were formed. Indian nationalism as an organized and all-India movement (though with a
narrow social basis) came into existence only in the last decades of the second half of the century
when proper historical conditions matured for its birth.
But before tracing the rise and surveying the development of this organized nationalist
movement, we will refer to the revolt of 1857 which was the last powerful attempt of the social
classes of the old society, which were being politically and economically expropriated as a result
of the British conquest, to drive out the British from India and to revert to the pre-British social
and political existence.

Revolt of 1857, its Causes

The revolt of 1857 was the result of the accumulated discontent among the various strata of the
old Indian society who suffered as a
290
result of the British political conquest, of the new economic forces and measures brought into
operation by that conquest, and because of the various social innovations introduced in the
country by the British government.
It would be misunderstanding the revolt of 1857 if it were interpreted as a mere mutiny of the
Indian sepoys. It had a far broader social basis. Dr. Duff remarked:
"Why, if it had been merely a military mutiny, in the midst of an unsympathetic, unaiding
population, a few decisive victories; such as we had, might quash it. ... And it is a fact that it is
not a mere military revolt but a rebelliona revolution. ..."
"From the very outset, it has been gradually assuming more and more the character of a
rebelliona rebellion on the part of the vast multitudes beyond the Sepoy army, against British
supremacy and sovereignty."2
The annexationist policy of the British, especially of Lord Dalhousie, brought about the
liquidation of a number of Indian feudal states; the new land revenue system reduced, by its
heavy pressure, the mass of the Indian peasantry to acute economic misery. There was a largescale ruination of millions of Indian artisans and handicraftsmen as a result of the influx of the
machine-made goods of the British industries in the Indian market. These were the principal
causes of the revolt of 1857 which expressed the profound discontent of sections of these social
layers.
The expropriated feudal chiefs who mainly led the revolt desired to recover their lost territories.
Even the unexpropriated princes felt the menace of expropriation hanging over their head and a
number of them joined the revolt. There was disaffection also among the workers on indigo and
other plantations owned by the British, due to their miserable conditions of life and labour under
their foreign employers. Sections of them, too, developed anti-British moods.
There were other factors which accentuated the anti-British sentiment among the people. The
excessive proselytizing zeal of the European Christian missionary bodies created a suspicion that
the British were conspiring to convert all Indians to Christianity. The pundits and maulvis, whose
authority and power were diminished as a result of the measures introduced by the British
government such as secularization of the legal system, abolition of customs like suttee and
introduction of modern education which generally challenged the views of religion
291
regarding the world and social relations, often deliberately stimulated this suspicion.

Further, in the general atmosphere of distrust and hostility engendered by the violent political
subjugation of the country and ruinous economic consequences of the operation of the new
economic forces to the life of the people, even progressive measures such as the construction of
railways and the establishment of the telegraph system were interpreted as acts of black magic by
which the white wizards schemed to tie India in iron chains. These factors deepened the distrust
and hostility of the people towards the British government. It was the revolt primarily of forces
of the old Indian society threatened with extinction by the British political conquest of India and
the new economic forms introduced in the country.
The revolt was suppressed by the British by ruthless methods.3 There were a number of causes
leading to its failure. There was the lack of unity among the insurgents. They lacked a uniform
military strategic plan. There was no co-ordination. The revolt was also not universal. There was
no effective leadership. There were conflicts of class interests among the ranks of the insurgent
groups such as those between the zemindars and feudal princes on the one hand and the
cultivating farmers on the other.
"The lack of unity in the forces against the British was a factor of which they took full
advantage. The native chiefs soon realized that if they joined too closely with the peasants and
artisans, the control of the movement would gradually slip out of their hands."4
Further, the British divided the united front of the classes in revolt by definite measures.
"The policy of wholesale annexation was discontinued. The peasants were still further
subordinated to the landlords, as the British supported the latter in their demands for compulsory
labour. ... The British also tried to break up the unity of the peasants (1) by granting certain
privileges to the larger peasant farmers; and (2) by enacting laws under which peasant lands
could be bought and sold."5

Character and Significance of the Revolt

The revolt of 1857 cannot be regarded as national in the full modern sense of the word. Though
the sentiment was anti-foreign, there was no positive national content in it. The different sections
of the
292
people who had participated did not feel that they were parts of one single nation living a
common political and economic existence. The political programme of the feudal leadership of
the revolt had only a negative significance the expulsion of the foreigner. They did not and
could not formulate the scheme of a national state for all India or a programme of any
reconstruction of the Indian society. There was no national consciousness among them. In fact,
they were united only in the task of eliminating foreign rule, but in its place, they wanted to
reestablish the same disunited feudal India of the pre-British period, at best a confederacy of
feudal states under the Delhi Emperor.

"The rising of 1857 was in its essential character and dominant leadership the revolt of the old
conservative and feudal forces and dethroned potentates for their rights and privileges which
they saw in process of destruction. The reactionary character of the rising prevented any wide
measure of popular support and doomed it to failure."6
There were noble fighters among the insurgents. They courted the gallows for an ideal. But the
ideal was historically a reactionary one, the ideal of a political India, though free from foreign
control, split up into a congeries of principalities with a feudal social basis and with a feudal
economy.
Though the revolt of 1857 was not motivated by the historically progressive conception of the
national unification of the Indian people on a democratic basis, its bold challenge to the British
rule had been a source of patriotic inspiration, in subsequent years, to a great majority of the
Indian people. It became a symbol of the people's will to throw off the foreign yoke. Its heroic
personalities like the Queen of Jhansi were canonized. Some political groups, terrorists and
extreme left nationalists, even regarded it as a dress rehearsal for the future successful struggle
for freedom. Other political groups, on the other hand, while recognizing it as an inevitable and
heroic reaction of a subjugated and exploited people to the foreign rule, pointed out the
historically reactionary purpose animating the uprising, especially its feudal leadership.7
The revolt of 1857 revealed in action, for the first time in Indian history, that a large-scale
alliance between the Hindus and the Muslims against the British rule was possible.8 It created a
tradition for a united nationalist movement of the Indian people.
293

New Strategy of the British Rule

The end of the 'Mutiny' inaugurated a new stage in the history of the relations of India and
Britain. Not only did the British Crown assume the direct political control of India but also the
policy of the British rule underwent a change.
Till 1857, the aim of the British was to liquidate the native states and convert the whole of India
into a British territory directly governed by the East India Company. In light of the experience of
the revolt of 1857, this aim was relinquished in favour of a decision to perpetuate those states
which were still unannexed. The new policy of Britain aimed at transforming the rulers of these
states into 'allies', so many loyal supporters of the British rule in India.
This was definitely a point of departure in the British political strategy. Till 1857, the British
were engaged in destroying the Indian disunity represented by the existence of a multitude of
feudal states into which India was split up. It is true that the methods adopted were violent and
the political motive, the subjugation of India to her own rule, undemocratic. Still, objectively,
Britain was performing thereby the historically progressive task of integrating India into a single
political whole.

After 1857, to safeguard her rule, Britain abandoned this policy of the annexation of the native
states. She perpetuated these reactionary states and even undertook to defend them against all
attacks from within and without. Thus Britain became not a foe of Indian feudalism but its
defender, not only from external danger but also from the rising progressive forces within these
states.
Thus British capitalism which in its own country overthrew feudalism preserved it in India.
These artificially perpetuated feudal states, barring a few, became strongholds of political, social
and cultural reaction.9
Karl Marx remarked: "... The conditions under which they (the native states) are allowed to
retain their apparent independence are, at the same time, the conditions of a permanent decay and
of an utter inability of improvement. Organic weakness is the constitutional law of their
existence, as of all existences living upon sufference ... the native Princes are the strongholds of
the present abominable English system and the greatest obstacle to Indian progress. ..."10
Inasmuch as Britain based its rule on reactionary feudalism, the
294
limited progressive role of the British conquest of India was proportionately diminished.

Its Consequences
There was a significant consequence of this new policy in the country. When in course of time,
the population of the native states, living under coercive political, social and economic
conditions, became politically conscious and organized struggles against the autocratic princes
for representative government and other democratic demands, they also inevitably came in
conflict with the British government which was committed to protect these princes. Thus the
struggle of the states' people against the princes merged into the struggle of the people in British
India for freedom. It steadily developed as a united national movement of the entire Indian
people against the British government supported by and supporting the princes (excepting in
cases of 'gross maladministration').
Not only did the British government keep alive after the Mutiny, for political strategic reasons,
the enfeebled and pronouncedly reactionary feudal states in colonial India, but adopted a general
policy of aligning itself and supporting non-progressive forces in the country. Lord Lytton
openly declared in 1876 that the "Crown of England should henceforth be identified with the
hopes, the aspirations, the sympathies and the interests of a powerful native aristocracy". Temple
wrote, "towards the end of my time (1848-80) I thought that a native aristocracy based on
antiquity and on the traditions of indigenous rule might be consolidated and developed under
British rule.11
The introduction of a relatively free press during the first half of the nineteenth century was one
of the progressive acts of the British government. After the Mutiny, with a few zigzags, the
general policy of the government was to increasingly curtail the freedom of the press.

While Britain aggressively intervened in the social life of the Indian people during the preMutiny period and campaigned against barbarous social practices like suttee and legislated
against a number of them, it adopted a general policy of neutrality regarding social matters after
1857. Social reform groups like those of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others, which got active
support of the government in the former period in their crusade against reactionary social
institutions and practices, after the Mutiny, had not only to combat the forces of
295
social reaction but also the apathy of the state in achieving their progressive work. Such an
attitude on the part of the government only tended to strengthen the traditionally entrenched
conservative forces of society.
Thus, the policy of Britain regarding India underwent almost a metamorphosis after 1857. Its
former orientation towards and support to the new progressive forces within the Indian society
was replaced by a growing gravitation and support to the conservative forces of that society.

Principal Events between 1857 and 1885

Before tracing the rise of the Indian National Congress which was founded in 1885 by the liberal
Indian intelligentsia supported by a section of the commercial bourgeoisie and which signalized
the first real growth of the Indian national movement on an all-India basis, we will refer to some
of the principal events between 1857 and 1885.
The social forces of the old society were vanquished in their final attempt at rehabilitating their
former power and status in 1857. They were too exhausted and weakened to embark upon a fresh
enterprise in future. The new social forces namely the intelligentsia and the commercial
bourgeoisie, which were to be the pioneers of the first organized nationalist movement, had still
not matured to begin their historic task. It was only after 1870 that, due to the combination of a
number of factors, the country was again permeated with serious political ferment and the new
social forces acquired appreciable political consciousness and economic and numerial strength
and began to be politically articulate. The new development resulted in the formation of the
Indian National Congress in 1885.
The period between 1857 and 1870, however, witnessed two anti-British movements which had
as their declared aim the armed, overthrow of the British government. The first was the
movement of the Wahabis, a militant Muslim sect, whose adherents had participated in the revolt
of 1857 and who, after it was suppressed, continued their activities for some years. The other
was that of a group of Marathas who, undaunted by the defeat of 1857, carried on subsequently,
conspirational activity for the same aim. By 1871, the Wahabi movement, after a series of armed
collisions, was successfully suppressed by the government. The anti-British conspirational
Maratha centre at Poona
296

was unearthed in 1863 and suppressed by the government. These two movements were the last
remnants of the revolt.

Disastrous Famines and Peasant Uprisings

It was, however, after 1870 that large-scale political and economic discontent developed,
culminating in the rise of the premier political organization of the Indian nation, the Indian
National Congress established in 1885. In the post-Mutiny period, the discontent of the agrarian
population began to grow steadily due to their progressive impoverishment under the British
rule. The increasing burden of land revenue and rents was tensely felt by the peasant population.
The crippling of handicraft and artisan industries had reached serious dimensions by 1870
resulting in a disastrous overpressure on agriculture. The agricultural depression of 1870
seriously affected the farmers and led to an alarming growth of indebtedness among them. A
number of disastrous famines broke out between 1867 and 1880. The famine of 1877 was
exceptionally severe affecting an area of "200,000 square miles and population of thirty-six
millions", in Bombay, Madras and other parts of the country.12
"The group of famines which occurred between 1865 and 1880 are important, not only for the
suffering and loss of life involved, but because they happened at a transitional period when India
was gradually changing on to a cash basis ... most ryots were forced to go to their moneylenders,
and the famine following the slump meant the final degradation and enslavement of the
producer.13
The discontent of the peasantry born of the economic distress broke out in the form of a number
of peasant riots, the Deccan Peasant Rising of 1875 being the most serious among them. The
government recognized the gravity of the situation and appointed the Deccan Ryots Commission
in the same year to investigate into the whole agrarian situation. Due to the havoc worked by
frequently occurring famines, it also appointed the Famine Commission of 1878.
The financial burden of the Second Afghan War and the extravagant and spectacular Durbar held
at Delhi in 1877 to proclaim Queen Victoria as the Empress of India while a famine was raging
in the country, intensified the resentment of the people. Further, the vernacular Press Act of 1878
restricting the freedom of the Indian Press and the Arms Act of 1879, both enacted during the
viceroyalty of Lord
297
Lytton, only fanned the fire of rapidly gathering discontent of the people. The situation
threatened to be almost explosive.

Ilbert Bill
There were other factors also which contributed to widen the gulf between the Indian people and
the British. The consciousness of being the members of the ruling white race bred an arrogant

attitude towards the Indians among most of the British, official and non-official.14 This
provoked bitter anti-British feeling among the Indians.
When Lord Ripon projected the Ilbert Bill providing equal treatment of the Indians and
Europeans in the sphere of criminal jurisdiction, the entire European community organized
powerful and fierce agitation against it. A plot was also hatched "to put the Viceroy on board a
steamer at Chandpat Ghat and send him to England via the Cape."15
"It is this consciousness of inherent superiority of the European which has won for us India.
However, well educated and clever a native be, and however brave he may have proved himself,
I believe that no rank which we can bestow upon him would cause him to be considered as an
equal by the British officer.16
The Bill was defeated as a result of the almost rabid opposition of the European community. It
had the effect of accentuating the bitter feelings between the two races. The Indians were
disillusioned about the impartiality of the British administration. The racial discrimination was
also reflected in the fact that all higher posts in the administration were the preserve of the
Europeans. Especially the educated classes of the Indian people resented this.
When the age limit for the Civil Service Examination held in England was reduced in 1877 from
twenty-one to nineteen, Surendra Nath Banerjee organized agitation against it, describing it as a
deliberate attempt by the government to make it difficult for an Indian to get higher posts in the
administration.
The government further removed the import duties on cotton goods in 1882 with a view to aiding
the Lancashire textile industry. This open partisanship of the British economic interests at the
expense of India increased its unpopularity. Increasing discontent grew among different sections
of the Indian people, the agriculturists, the artisans and the intelligentsia.
298

Growing Discontent and New Leadership

The educated middle class intellectuals were also moved by another and a higher motive when
they organized and led the nationalist movement in India. The new education which they had
imbibed in the schools and colleges established by the British, brought them the knowledge of
the democratic thought of modern Europe and also of the nationalist struggles for freedom which
took place in different countries. The educated Indians read about the War of Independence of
the American people, of the Italian struggle for national liberation from the Austrian domination,
of the Irish struggle for freedom. They also studied the works of Thomas Paine, Herbert Spencer,
Edmund Burke, J. S. Mill, Voltaire, Mazzini and other writers who preached the doctrines of
individual and national liberty. These educated Indians became the ideological and political
leaders of the nationalist movement in India.
The leadership provided by the new intelligentsia to the forces of rising Indian nationalism was
historically progressive in contrast to the feudal leadership of the forces of the anti-British Revolt

of 1857. The new intelligentsia was imbued with the ideas of modern nationalism and
democracy. It wanted, in the initial stage with the aid of the British democracy, to evolve an
Indian nation, socially, politically and economically united, free and progressive, in contrast to
the leadership of the revolt of 1857 which aspired, after removing the foreign rule, to restore the
old India based on feudal disunity or at best to construct a federation of independent feudal states
based on absolutism.
The period between 1870 and 1885 witnessed a steady growth of a nationalist press and literature
which reflected the growing discontent among the people. "The Press, the theatre, and the secret
revolutionary societies were especially active in Bengal in forwarding nationalist aims. The lives
of Garibaldi and Mazzini were translated, whilst the goal of national liberation was proclaimed
in such work as the History of India Gained in a Dream." 17 Neel-Darpan, a drama in Bengalee,
portrayed the sufferings and struggles of the workers of European-owned indigo plantations.
The political and economic discontent of the Indian people which had been gathering steadily,
especially after 1870, almost threatened to reach an explosive point by 1883. The anti-popular
measures of Lord Lytton's government seriously accentuated this discontent. "These ill-starred
measures of reaction, combined with Russian methods of police
299
repression, brought India under Lord Lytton within measurable distance of a revolutionary
outbreak, and it was only in time that Mr. Hume and his Indian advisers were inspired to
intervene."18

Hume's Views about a "Safety Valve"

Hume, who subsequently in co-operation with the Liberal Indian intelligentsia founded the
Indian National Congress, recognized that the popular discontent against the British government
threatened to explode into a revolt. Being in the government service till 1882, he "received
possession of the very voluminous secret police reports which revealed the growth of popular
discontent and the spreading of underground conspiratorial organization."19
It was the perspective of a serious revolt in the country that prompted Hume to interview Lord
Dufferin, then the Viceroy of India. Soon after, Hume, in collaboration with outstanding liberal
intellectuals in the country, founded the Indian National Congress in 1885. The Congress could
serve as a focal point for national discontent, especially that of the educated classes, and guide
this discontent in channels of constitutional movements for the Indian political advance. It could
also keep the government informed about the views of the educated classes regarding the
measures of the government.
That the Congress was designed as a safety valve of the revolutionary discontent was made clear
by Hume itself. "A safety valve for the escape of great and growing forces, generated by our own
action, was urgently needed and no more efficacious safety valve, than our Congress Movement
could possibly be devised."20

In his correspondence with Sir Auckland Colvin, Hume remarked that "No choice was left to
those who gave the primary impetus to the movement. The ferment due to the creation of
Western ideas, education, invention and appliances, was at work with a rapidly increasing
intensity, and it became of paramount importance to find for its products an overt and
constitutional channel for discharge, instead of leaving them to fester as they had already
commenced to do, under the surface."21

Other Historians Share the View

"The years just before the Congress were among the most dangerous
300
since 1857. It was Hume, among English officials, who saw the impending disaster and tried to
prevent it. ... He went to Simla in order to make clear to the authorities how almost desperate the
situation had become. ... It is probable that his visit made the new Viceroy, who was a brilliant
man of affairs, realize the gravity of the situation and encouraged Hume to go on with the
formation of the Congress. The time was fully ripe for this All-Indian movement. In place of an
agrarian revolt, which would have sympathy and support of the educated classes, it gave the
rising classes a national platform from which to create a New India."22
There already existed a number of political organizations in various parts of the country before
the Indian National Congress was formed, such as the Indian Association founded by S. N.
Banerjee in Bengal; the Bombay Association started by Dadabhai Naoroji and Jagannath
Sankerseth in Bombay; the Sarvajanik Sabha established by Chiplunkar in Poona and others.
However, there did not as yet exist a national organization on an all-India basis.

Founding of Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress, the premier political organization of the Indian people, held its
first session in Bombay in 1885. It was attended by almost all outstanding leaders of Indian
nationalism.
The Liberal intelligentsia who dominated the Congress from 1885 to 1905 were the leaders of
the Indian nationalist movement in its first phase. There were such distinguished figures among
them as W. C. Bonnerjee, Anand Mohan Bose, Lal Mohan Ghose, A. C. Mazumdar, Rash Bihari
Ghose, Surendra Nath Banerjee and R. C. Dutt from Bengal; Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah
Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, Apte, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, K.T. Telang, Mahadev Govind Ranade,
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Dinshaw E. Wachha, Malabari and Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar from
Bombay; P. R. Naidu, Subramannya Aiyer, Ananda Charlu, and Virraghavachariar from Madras;
also Keshav Pillai, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Pandit Dhar. Liberal Englishmen like
Hume, Wedderburn and Henry Cotton also played a conspicuous role in the development of the
Congress organization and its activities.23

W. C. Bonnerjee, the President of the first session of the Congress, enumerated the principal
objects of the Congress as (1) the development of close relations between national workers, (2)
the dissolution
301
of race, creed, and provincial prejudices among all lovers of the country and further development
and consolidation of the feeling of national unity among them, (3) the recording of the
conclusion on vital Indian problems reached by educated Indians after the earnest discussions of
these problems, and (4) outlining of the programme of work for the next year.
The Congress passed resolutions formulating, for the first time, demands by a national
organization, such as the abolition of the India Council, simultaneous examinations for the I.C.S.
and raising the age of candidates, admission of elected members to existing legislative councils,
and creation of councils in the N.W.F.P., Oudh, and the Punjab.24
Thus, the demands of the first Congress, started and directed by the Liberal politicians, were
modest and restricted to administrative reform and introduction of the elective principle in
legislatures. Further, Hume, on behalf of the Congress, at the close of the session, proposed
cheers for Victoria, the Queen-Empress, thereby stressing the loyalist character of the Congress.

Liberal Leadership, its Principles and Methods

The Indian Liberals had almost unlimited faith in the British democracy. They considered the
British rule in India as providentially brought about and designed to lift India to a high plane of
free, progressive, democratic, national existence. "The rationale of British rule in India is its
capacity and providential purpose of fostering the political education of the country on the
largest scale in civil and public activities," said Justice Ranade.25
The Indian liberals looked to Britain for guiding the Indian people to overcome their social and
cultural backwardness and for training them in the art of representative government.
Surendranath Bannerji said in 1895, "To England we look for inspiration and guidance. ... From
England must come the crowning mandate which will enfranchise our peoples. England is our
political guide ... in the exalted sphere of political duty."26 And further, "We have great
confidence in the justice and generosity of the English people. We have abounding faith in the
liberty-loving instincts of the greatest representative assembly in the world, the British House of
Commons, the Mother of Parliaments, where sits enthroned the newly enfranchised democracy
302
of those islands. ... Wherever the English have raised their flag and have formed their
governments, they have formed them upon the representative model."27
The Indian liberals considered the interests of Britain and India allied rather than antagonistic.
Hence they were loyalists and enthusiastic champions of British connections. S. Bannerjee
declared: "It is not severance that we look forward tobut unification, permanent embodiment

as the integral part of that great Empire that has given the rest of the world the models of free
institutions."28
Dadabhai Naoroji expressed the same liberal view when he said, "Let us speak out like men and
proclaim that we are loyal to the backbone; that we understand the benefits English rule has
conferred upon us."29
The liberal recognized that the Congress did not represent the masses but only interpreted their
grievances. "The Congress was, indeed, not the voice of the masses but it was the duty of their
educated compatriots to interpret their grievances and offer suggestions for the redress."30
The liberals believed in orderly progress, subscribed to the principle of slow evolution and were
opposed to any revolutionary change. "The people of India are not fond of sudden changes and
revolutions. They do not ask for new constitutions, issuing like armed Minervas from the heads
of Legislative Jupiters. ... They desire to strengthen the present government and to bring it more
in touch with the people. They desire to see some Indian members in the Secretary of State's
Council, and in the Viceroy's Executive Council, representing Indian agriculture and industries.
... They wish to represent the interests of the Indian people in the discussion of every important
administrative question."31
"Believing in orderly progress in alliance with and with the aid of the British nation, the liberals
rejected all revolutionary, sudden changes and methods of struggle. To achieve their programme,
they adopted the weapon of constitutional agitation, whereby they, on the one hand, strove to
rouse and educate the Indian people, and, on the other, to convince the British of the justness of
the demands of the Indian people and of their democratic duty to meet them. Constitutional
agitation was agitation by methods which they were entitled to adopt to bring about the changes
they desired through the action of constitutional authorities. ... Three things were excluded:
rebellion, aiding or abetting a foreign invasion, and resort to crime. Roughly speaking,
303
barring these three things, all else was constitutional. No doubt, everything that was
constitutional was not wise or expedient. But that was a different matter. Prayers and appeals to
justice lay at one end. Passive resistance, including even its extreme form of non-payment of
taxes till redress was obtained, lay at the other end."32

The Progressive Role of the Liberal Leadership

In spite of their numerous political misconceptions, the Indian Liberals, who represented the
interests of the development of a modern bourgeois society in India, played a progressive role.
They were the architect of the first all-India political national organization. They infused national
consciousness among sections of the Indian people, disseminated democratic conceptions among
them, and popularized the idea of representative institutions. They exhorted them to feel as
Indians, irrespective of all provincial or communal distinctions. They were passionate supporters
of the spread of the rich democratic and scientific culture of modern Europe in India and
zealously campaigned against the medieval obscurantism and authoritarian social structure

inherited from the pre-British period. They stood for democratization of social relations and
economic advance through industrialization.
The intelligentsia, the upper stratum of the educated classes, and the commercial bourgeoisie (the
industrial bourgeoisie had not still come into existence to any appreciable degree in 1885)
formed the main social basis of the Indian National Congress at its inception. The programme of
the Congress embodying mainly such items as, the Indianization of Services, the removal of
discrimination in trade, and others, reflected the interests of these groups of Indian society.
A number of the political misconceptions of the Liberals were the result of their inability to
comprehend the real nature of the existing relations between Britain and India. They could not
see that India was an economic colony of British capitalism and as such Britain could not permit
the free economic development of the country. The economic development of India had to be
subordinated to the needs of British capital and, therefore, necessarily retarded. The Liberals
could not perceive this objectively existing conflict of interests of Britain and those of India.
Further, since her political rule was a means primarily to safeguard the British interests, Britain
could not part with power or grant administrative reforms of a far-reaching character. The
problem
304
was not ethical but was that of conflicting political and economic interests.
The Congress under the leadership of the Indian Liberals from 1885-1905 fought for
administrative reforms such as the separation of judicial and executive functions, the right of the
Indians to be admitted to public services on equal terms and subsequently for the Indianization of
Services for the rescinding of the Arms Act, against the economic drain which engendered
poverty of the Indian people, and heavy military expenditure. In 1892, the Congress passed the
Resolution of Pandit Malaviya asking the government to help the resuscitation of declining
handicraft industries. The Liberals stood also for Swadeshi which was adopted at the Congress
session at Calcutta in 1906 as a method to accelerate the industrial development of India. They
also fought against the anti-Indian legislation in countries like the Transvaal, the Free State and
the Cape Colony, in 1895.
The Liberals stood for representative institutions and the elective principle. The demanded
legislatures by the people and controlling the executives.

Unfulfilled Demands
The Liberals, through the Indian National Congress and by methods of constitutional agitation,
reinforced with highly emotional appeals to the democratic conscience and traditions of the
British people, endeavoured to secure from the British government the fulfilment of demands
such as administrative reforms, representative institutions, the stoppage of economic drain,
popular and technical education, protection for Indian industries, and repeal of repressive Acts.

However, even as late as 1918, most of the important demands made by the Congress at its
different sessions and embodied in various resolutions remained unsatisfied. Among the
demands (embodied in various Congress Resolutions) which remained unfulfilled even as late as
1918, were those of the abolition of the India Council and simultaneous examinations for the
I.C.S. (1885); separation of judicial from executive function (1886); amendment of the Arms
Acts and Rules (1887); technical and industrial development (1888); reform of land revenue
policy (1889) and that of Currency (1892); abolition of forced labour (1893); repeal of cotton
excise duty (1893); improvement of the conditions of Indians in Colonies (1894); repeal of the
Bengal, Madras
305
and Bombay Regulations of 1818, 1819 and 1827 respectively as well as that of the Sedition Act
(1897); repeal of the Indian Universities Act and Official Secrets Act (1903); advance in local
self-government (1905); repeal of the Criminal Law Amendment and Newspapers Acts (1908);
free and compulsory primary education (1908); repeal of the Seditious Meetings Act and the
Indian Press Act (1910); and free and compulsory primary education embodied in Gokhale's Bill
(1910).33
In spite of its loyalist character, the Indian National Congress incurred the displeasure of the
government soon after its establishment. Annie Besant refers to the instance of a person "who
was called on to give a security of Rs 20,000 to keep the peace" for attending the Congress
session in 1887 "in defiance of his district officer."34 A circular stated that "the presence of
government officials, even as visitors, at such meetings is not advisable and their taking part in
the proceedings of any such meetings is also prohibited."35
Thus the government viewed with disfavour even the constitutional agitation organized by the
Congress for such mild demands as administrative reforms, the freedom of the press, the
stoppage of economic drain, and others.
The government enacted Section 124 (A) and 153 (A) in 1897 to combat the Congress activities.
Secret Press Committees were established in 1898 restricting the freedom of the press. Lord
Curzon wrote in 1900 to the Secretary of State: "The Congress is tottering to its fall, and one of
my great ambitions while in India is to assist it to a peaceful demise."36
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the government added to its armoury a number of
weapons such as the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1908); and Newspapers Act (1908); the
Indian Press Act (1910); and the Seditious Meetings Act (1910). This led to a serious curtailment
of civil liberties such as freedom of the press, platform, and assembly.

Growing Disillusionment
The non-fulfilment of the most important of their demands, even within the system of British
rule, and repression slowly brought about moods of disillusionment among the Indian Liberals
regarding the hope of the co-operation of the British Democracy in introducing representative
institutions in India and in accomplishing social, educational,

306
and economic advance of the Indian people. Surendranath Banerjee remarked that "the history of
the Civil Services is one unbroken record of broken promises."37 Pandit Dhar, in his presidential
address to the Congress in 1911, remarked: "The root cause of most of our misfortunes which, if
not corrected, forebodes serious disasters in the future, is the growth of an unsympathetic and
illiberal spirit in the bureaucracy towards the new-born hopes and ideals of the Indian people."38
Bhupendranath Basu, the president of the Congress in 1914 said: "The government of the
country was still vested in a foreign civil service. ... All the great departments of the state are
under their control. They could be more than human if they did not desire to remain as they
are."39
With the steady disintegration of their faith in the British government, especially after the
experience of Lord Curzon's regime, and due to the pressure of the militant nationalist group
which had emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and was gathering strength in the first
years of the twentieth century, the Indian Liberals expanded their political programme from that
of the demand for mere administrative reform to that of the demand for self-government. In
1906, the Calcutta Congress presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji adopted the new programme of
Swaraj or self-government ("the system of government obtaining in the self-governing British
Colonies"). The Calcutta Congress, further, adopted the programme of the boycott movement,
Swadeshi, and national education, which the Liberals also endorsed.
The Indian Liberals, though they changed their political aim from mere administrative reform to
self-government, did not adopt extra-parliamentary forms of struggle. This was due to their
impregnable faith in the efficacy of the methods of constitutional agitation. Dadabhai even in
1905 had implicit faith in this weapon. "What is wanted for us is to learn the lesson from the
English themselvesto agitate most largely and most perseveringly by petitions, demonstrations
and meetings, all quite peacefully but enthusiastically conducted."40
As a result of the spread of political disillusionment regarding the principles and methods of the
Liberals among the ranks of the Congress, a new group of militant nationalists having a different
political ideology and conception of struggle emerged and crystallized within the Congress. This
group, known as the Extremists, began to grow rapidly at the end of the nineteenth century due
to a number of reasons.
307
A disastrous famine swept over the country at the close of the century resulting in great
economic distress. India was also visited by bubonic plague of a virulent type which took a
heavy toll of life. These events undermined the British rule in the eyes of the people.
Political discontent among the people was further accentuated by the high-handed measures of
Lord Curzon during his career as Viceroy. "His curtailment of the powers of the Calcutta
Corporation, his Official Secrets Act, his officialization of the Universities which made
education costly ... his Tibetan Expedition ... and finally his Partition of Bengal, broke the back
of loyal India and roused a new spirit in the nation. Even more galling to our sense of self-

respect than his speech in Calcutta regarding our untruthfulness, was his sweeping charge that
we Indians were, by our environment, our heritage and our upbringing, "unequal to the
responsibilities of high office under British Rule."41
Unemployment among educated youths had considerably increased in the beginning of the
twentieth century, especially in Bengal. Doctrines such as that of slow and orderly progress
accomplished with the aid of the British government and methods such as mere petitions and
speeches which, by experience, were found ineffectual, made these youths disorient from the
Liberal school and rally round the new school of which Tilak, Bepin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo
and Barindra Ghose, and Lala Lajpat Rai, were the outstanding leaders. In fact, the social support
to the new nationalism came from the middle classes. The social basis of the Indian national
movement, which was hitherto restricted to the upper class intellectuals and sections of the
commercial bourgeoisie, was extended to the lower middle classes from 1905 onwards.
There were other factors which gave impetus to the growth of militant nationalism in India. The
defeat of Czarism by Japan in 1905 and that of Italy at Adowa exploded the belief in the
invincibility of the white race. The Indians began to shed their inferiority complex and feel
confident of removing the British rule.

Emergence of Militant Nationalist Leadership

Refusal to meet the political and economic demands by the government and its repressive
measures against the growing national movement shook the faith of an increasing number of
Indians in the ideology and technique of Liberal nationalism. They began to rally round
308
the group of militant nationalists (the extremists), whose ideology and methods are briefly
described here.
The militant nationalists drew inspiration from India's past, invoked the great episodes in the
history of the Indian people, and tried to infuse national pride and self-respect among them. They
criticized the idealizing of western and specially British culture by the Liberals as cultural
capitulation to the British rulers. The militant nationalists asserted that this would only engender
an inferiority complex among the Indians and suppress their national pride and self-confidence
so vital to the struggle for freedom.
The militant nationalists revived the memories of the Vedic past of the Hindus, the great phase of
the reigns of Ashoka and Chandragupta, the heroic deeds of Rana Pratap and Shivaji, the epic
patriotism of Laxmibai, the Queen of Jhansi and leader of the National Revolt of 1857.
The philosophers of militant nationalism believed in the special genius of India. They
propounded that the Indian people were endowed with a special spiritual consciousness. "The
Hindus constitute a distinct people. The regulative idea in the evolution of Hindu character, the
idea which has given a peculiar shape and colouring to the entire history of the race, is their
innate consciousness of the spiritual and the eternal."42

The Bengal school of militant nationalism led by Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose was
influenced by the neo-Vedantic movement of Swami Vivekanand. "Neo-Vedantism, which
forms the very soul and essence of what may be called Neo-Hinduism, has been seeking to
realize the old spiritual ideals of the race ... by the idealization and the spiritualization of the
concrete contents and actual relations of Life. It demands, consequently, a social, an economic,
and a political reconstruction.... The spiritual note of the present nationalist movement is entirely
derived from this Vedantic thought."43
Thus the nationalist movement, aiming at political freedom from the British rule and at the
establishment of an Indian society and state on a democratic basis and also that of the modern
capitalist economy, became a function of all-embracing religious movement. Nationalism was
expressed in religious terms and clothed in religio-mystical form.
The Maharashtra school of new nationalism led by Tilak, while resuscitating the memory of the
cultural past of India and castigating the Liberals for what it considered their cultural capitulation
to the
309
West, did not clothe the movement for Swaraj in any mystical religious garb. To rouse the
population of Maharashtra to acts of heroism and self-sacrifice, Tilak revived the memory of
Shivaji's struggle against the Mogul Empire for the liberation of Maharashtra. He even revived
and utilized Ganapati festivals for political propaganda. To counteract the inertia and passivity of
the people, he, further declared action as the raison d'etre of the Bhagawat Gita. However, the
new nationalism in Maharashtra was not dressed in a religio-mystical philosophical garb as in
Bengal.
The militant nationalists or the Extremists criticized the Liberals for looking to Britain for the
political salvation of India. The Extremists declared that real interests and not abstract principles
determined political practice. They argued that Britain could not permit the free, unfettered,
development of the Indian industries, a condition for making India prosperous, since it would
militate against the British industries. If the British government Indianized the Services, it would
mean material loss to hundreds of Englishmen. The nationalist movement was itself the product
of the conflict of interests of Britain on the one hand and of India on the other. Mere arguments
and appeals to the democratic conscience and traditions of the British could not remove the fact
of this conflict of interests. Lajpat Rai remarked, "Prayers to Almighty God may be useful in
intensifying your desire for political liberty and political privileges. Prayers to the ruling nation
may be useful to you in proving the uselessness of appealing to the higher sense of man in
matters political where the interests of one nation clash with those of another."44 Tilak aptly
defined the basic difference between the two groups thus: "Political rights will have to be fought
for. The Moderates think that these can be won by persuasion. We think that they can only be got
by strong pressure."45
The militant nationalists infused national consciousness among the Indian people. They declared
the methods of arguments and appeals as futile and gave programmes of action such as the
Boycott in which the mass of the people could participate and its pressure could be felt by the

British ruling nation. Regarding the efficacy of the Boycott of British goods, Lala Lajpat Rai
said, "The logic of losing business is more likely to impress this nation of shopkeepers than any
argument based on the ethics of justice. "46
Since the militant nationalists considered the interests of Britain and of India antagonistic rather
than allied, they did not aim at mere
310
administrative reform or the Indianization of Services, but declared that self-government or
political power alone could help to accomplish basic, social, economic and cultural progress. In
other words, they wanted to end and not to mend the system. The non-fulfilment of their hopes in
the British government had prompted even the Liberals in 1906 to support the demand for selfgovernment.
Regarding constitutional agitation, the Extremists declared that it was not of use in a country
ruled autocratically by a foreign nation. The Indian Constitution, they argued, was the creation of
the Act of the British Parliament which expressed the sovereign will of the British people. It was
not the creation of the Indian people. As such, the Indian government based on this Constitution
was responsible to the British Parliament and not to the Indian people. Constitutional agitation
could be effective only in countries like England where the people elected their Parliament and,
through it, controlled the government.

"Swadeshi and Boycott"

The militant nationalists ardently believed in Swadeshi and zealously propagated it among the
people. Regarding Swadeshi, Lajpat Rai said, "I regard it as the salvation of my country. The
Swadeshi movement ought to make us self-respecting, self-reliant, self-supporting and last, not
least, manly. The Swadeshi movement ought to teach us how to organize our capital, our
resources, our labour, our energies and our talents, to the greatest good of all Indians,
irrespective of creed, colour or caste. It ought to unite us, our religious and denominational
differences notwithstanding. In my opinion, Swadeshi ought to be the common religion of the
United India."47
Swadeshi was, according to the new nationalists, a weapon forged by the people to achieve the
industrial and genera! economic regeneration and advance for India. Its implementing demanded
great sacrifice especially, as Tilak remarked, from the middle classes who were the greatest
consumers of foreign goods. Tilak said that "Self-help determination, and sacrifice are needed"
to fulfil the Swadeshi programme.
The Boycott movement conceived and organized by the militant nationalists was, on the other
hand, openly and aggressively anti-British. It had a comprehensive programme and included not
only the exclusion of British goods but also such items as the renunciation of titles and
government posts and the boycott of councils and schools.
311

The protagonists of the Boycott movement used it as a weapon to complete the government to
rescind the Partition of Bengal and stop repression.
Lala Lajpat Rai explained the significance of the Boycott movement thus: "The meaning of the
boycott is this. ... The primary thing is prestige of the government and the boycott strikes at the
root of that prestige. The illusory thing they call prestige is more powerful and potent than
authority itself and we propose to do this by means of boycott. ... We desire to turn our faces
away from the Government House and turn them to the huts of the people. We desire to stop our
mouth so far as appeal to the government is concerned and open our mouth with a new appeal to
... the masses of our people. This is the psychology, this is the ethics, this is the spiritual
significance of the boycott movement."48 The Boycott was thus primarily meant as a means to
rouse among the people a militant determination to win Swaraj.

Jawaharlal Nehru on Militant Nationalism

The founders of the new nationalism were subsequently criticized for basing the movement of
Swaraj on the Hindu religion and traditions of the Hindu history. The critics averred that this not
only introduced religious obscurantism and mysticism in politics but also led to estrange the
Muslims who comprised about a third of the Indian population. It also weakened the secular
character of the political movement.
"The insistence on orthodox religion as the heart of the national movement, and the proclamation
of the supposed spiritual superiority of the ancient Hindu civilization to modern 'Western'
civilization (what modern psychologists would no doubt term a compensatory delusion),
inevitably retarded and weakened the real advance of the national movement and of political
consciousness, while the emphasis on Hinduism must bear a share of the responsibility for the
alienation of wide sections of Moslem opinion from the national movement."49
The Left nationalism of Bengal under the leadership of B. C. Pal and Aurobindo Ghose, was
based on the religious mysticism of Hinduism. Because of this, many nationalists, who would
otherwise have supported it, disoriented from it and even remained with the Liberals. Jawaharlal
Nehru advanced this as one of the main reasons why Pandit
312
Motilal Nehru abstained from the nationalist movement in 1907. "And then the background of
these movements was a religious nationalism which was alien to his nature. He did not look back
to a revival in India of ancient times. ... Socially speaking, the revival of Indian nationalism in
1907 was definitely reactionary."50
A nationalist movement ought to be based on a programme of the secular interests of the people.
Then alone, the entire nation, irrespective of caste or community, could be brought within its
orbit. "The political, social, and economic programme of the national movement, should and can
unite the masses of the Indian people above, across and apart, from religious affiliations. Such a
strengthened, secularized, modernized, united democratic movement, can be the strongest force
at the present stage to counter communal agitation."51

One of the reasons why the Muslims did not join the nationalist movement in the year 1905 and
the following period was, perhaps, because Indian nationalism was openly based by its leaders
on the Hindu ideology. Pal, Aurobindo, and other leaders "sought to build on a basis of Hindu
religion for their agitation and to identify the national awakening with a revival of Hinduism. By
this act they cut off the Moslem masses from the national movement and opened the way to the
Government's astute counter-move with the formation of the Moslem League in 1906."52
The militant nationalists were distinguished for the great qualities of immense self-sacrifice and
suffering for the cause of freedom. They constituted the first batch of martyrs in the nationalist
movement. Their very programme brought them into conflict with the government. They
experienced imprisonment and deportations and suffered privations. Their unflinching adherence
to their ideal and programme made them idols of the people and household names in the country.
Thousands of youths drew inspiration from them and became steadfast fighters in the struggle for
Swaraj, Tilak, Pal, Aurobindo and Barindra Ghose and Lala Lajpat Rai, were the outstanding
leaders of the new nationalism, all of whom lived lives consecrated to the cause of Swaraj. Tilak,
who suffered most, became the very symbol of political suffering for the ideal of freedom.
The new nationalism gave militancy and independence to the Indian nationalist movement. It
gave it a proud ego and instilled self-reliance into it. It taught the Indian people that Swaraj could
not be achieved without suffering. It further extended the movement to the
313
lower middle classes and even, to some extent, to a section of the masses. The general strike of
the Bombay textile workers as a protest against the arrest of Tilak in 1908 was "the first political
action of the Indian working class" and was hailed by Lenin.

Militant Nationalists, their Chief Activities

We will now briefly review the most important of the activities of the new nationalist group.
Tilak, recognized as the most outstanding among the leaders of the new group due to his
powerful intellect, robust political realism, indomitable will and self-sacrifice, was deeply
influenced in his early days by such stalwart nationalists as Chiplunkar and Agarkar. He received
his baptism in political suffering in 1882 when along with Agarkar, he was sentenced to four
months' imprisonment for publishing objectionable articles.
Tilak was associated with the two educational institutions, the New English School and the
Fergusson College, the members of which were a group of intellectuals animated with deep
patriotism and self-sacrificing spirit. In 1880, he started the Kesari (a Marathi weekly) and the
Maratha (an English weekly) which became powerful organs to spread the principles and
policies of the new nationalism.
Tilak resuscitated the Ganapati celebrations in 1893. These celebrations served as a cover for
organizing extensive nationalist agitation. "Lectures, processions, singing parties, are the
invariable accompaniments of the festival and they not only afford an outlet to the religious zeal

of the people but help in fostering the national sentiment also, and creating interest in the
outstanding questions of the day."53
Tilak, further, revived the Shivaji festival in 1895. The political motif of this revival was to
revive in the people the memory of Shivaji, the liberator of Maharashtra from the domination of
the Moguls, and thereby kindle in them a heroic determination to achieve freedom from the
British rule.
Tilak and his compatriots launched a campaign of "relief during the great famine which broke
out at the end of the nineteenth century. Tilak, further, advised the people, though in guarded
language, to pay government dues only if it was economically possible for them to do so. "Will
you when the Queen desires that none should die, when the Governor declare that all should live
... will you kill yourself by timidity
314
and starvation? If you have money to pay Government dues, pay them by all means. But if you
have not, will you sell your things away only to avoid the supposed wrath of the subordinate
Government officers? Can you not be bold even when in the grip of death?"54
India was hit by bubonic plague during this period. The methods adopted by the government to
combat it kindled considerable resentment among the people. Tilak severely criticized the
official measures in Kesari. Soon after, Rand, the health officer and Lt. Ayerst were shot. The
Chaphekar brothers who were arrested, in this connection, were tried and sentenced to death. The
government thought that the propaganda of Tilak created an atmosphere conducive to terrorist
activity. He was arrested in 1895, on a charge of sedition and after a trial, sentenced to eighteen
months' imprisonment. It was when Tilak was in prison that the government added Section 124
(A) and 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code.
The opening years of the twentieth century were stormy. Political discontent had grown among
the people due to the inability of the government to organize effective relief during the period of
plague and famine. The non-fulfilment of the Congress demands was steadily engendering
scepticism and even disbelief in the minds of the politically conscious intellectuals regarding the
methods and programme of the Liberals. The educated Indians were also extensively studying
the European history, including the history of the French Revolution, the American War of
Independence, the national revolutionary struggles of the Italian people against the Austrian
domination, and the Irish struggle for freedom. They were reading the works of Thomas Paine,
Mazzini, Voltaire, Rousseau and others. They were building a new political outlook and
increasingly gravitating on the one hand to the school of new nationalist thought and on the other
to conspiratorial terrorism.
The political measures during Lord Curzon's rule fanned into flame the gathering discontent of
the people. The Partition of Bengal transformed it into a conflagration.
The Indian politicians of almost all political hues interpreted the Calcutta Corporation Act as an
attempt by Lord Curzon to strike at the local self-government of the people, the Indian

Universities' Act as an endeavour to limit higher education, and the Partition of Bengal as a
measure to disrupt the political unity of the Bengali people. The Hon. Mr. Chaudhari commented
that Partition would "drive a wedge between
315
Hindu and Mahomedan. Lord Curzon apparently took the Vambery view that India could only be
held on the basis of racial animosity. ... that was the reason for the Partition of Bengal ... to set up
in Dacca a rival Mahomedan centre to the Hindu centre of,, Calcutta."55
The Partition was universally resented. It brought about united opposition of all political groups.
Poet Rabindranath Tagore, Sir Gurudas Banerjee, a Judge, and the Maharajas of Mymensingh
and Cosimbazar, joined in the protest.
Slogans of Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott, and National education, emerged during the anti-Partition
campaign. Tilak carried on a vigorous propaganda of this programme and recommended its
adoption at the session of the Congress held at Calcutta in 1906. It was adopted, being supported
by Dadabhai Naoroji and other Liberal leaders. Tilak became a most popular all-India leader of
the nationalist movement from that year.
All nationalist leaders, Tilak, Pal, Aurobindo, Barindra, Lajpat Rai, and others, organized a
country-wide campaign through the press and the platform to popularize the boycott. The
campaign was successful and seriously affected the demand of British goods and gave a fillip to
the Indian industries. The Englishman, an Anglo-Indian paper of Calcutta, wrote, "It is
absolutely true that Calcutta warehouses are full of fabrics that cannot be sold. Many prominent
Marwari firms have been absolutely ruined, and a number of the biggest European import houses
have had either to close down their piecegoods branch, or to put up with a very small business.
In boycott, the enemies of the Raj have found a most effective weapon for injuring British
interests in the country ,.."56
The movement spread rapidly. The British trade was appreciably curtailed. Mass meetings,
demonstrations, and hartals took place. Kesari and Maratha of Tilak in Bombay and Samdhya,
Bande Mataram, and Yugantar in Bengal, educated the people in the new outlook and
programme.
The government launched repression and increasingly intensified it. The Bengal Provincial
Conference was dispersed by an executive order. Arrests and imprisonments of leaders, editors,
propagandists and organizers of the movement took place.
Terrorist groups which sprang up mainly in Bengal, Maharashtra, and the Punjab, also became
active. Political dacoities and assassinations
316
of officials took place. A brief history of the terrorist and revolutionary movements during these
years is narrated later on.

Congress Split in 1907

In 1907 the split in the Congress between the Liberals and the Left nationalists took place. The
cleavage was inevitable since the Liberals, though steadily disillusioned about the British
government, did not accept the ideology and methods of the new nationalists.
After a stormy session for two days, the Surat Congress, 1907, broke up in uproar. The Liberals
immediately organized a convention and fixed the following constitution:
"The Indian National Congress has for its ultimate goal the attainment by India of selfgovernment similar to that enjoyed by other members of the British Empire. It seeks to advance
towards this goal by strictly constitutional means, by bringing about a steady reform of the
existing system of administration."
The Extremists considered the adoption of this constitution by the Liberals as an attempt to keep
them out of the Congress.
The government repression increased after 1907. It passed the Seditious Meetings Act in 1907
and the Indian Press Act in 1910.
In Bengal, Bande Mataram, Yugantar, and a number of other papers were suppressed by the
government. Outstanding leaders of the movement such as Mitra, A. K. Dutt, S. Chakrawarti,
and P. B. Das, were deported. Aurobindo Ghose was arrested in 1908 on a charge of being
connected with a revolutionary conspiracy, but due to lack of evidence, was acquitted. Before he
could be arrested on a fresh charge, he left British India and settled in Pondicherry.
In 1908, Tilak, the indomitable leader of the new nationalism and the author of the cry "Swaraj is
my birthright and I will have it", was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for an article
published in his paper and sent to Mandalay.
In the course of his speech in the court, Tilak said, "There are higher Powers that rule the
destinies of things and it may be the will of Providence, that the cause which I represent should
prosper more by my suffering than by my remaining free."57
In Mandalay jail, Tilak wrote The Arctic Home of the Vedas and Gita Rahasya. The books
revealed his deep philosophical and historical interests and acumen.
317
In the Punjab, agrarian riots took place at Lahore, Lyallpur and Rawalpindi, as a result of the
Canal Colony Bill and other grievances. Lajpat Rai and Ajitsingh were deported from the
province.

Morley-Minto Reforms and After

Since, in spite of repression, the movement was gathering strength, the British government
thought it politically expedient to conciliate the nationalists by a grant of political reforms. It
introduced the Morley-Minto Reforms, providing for a minority of elected members to the
Central and Provincial Legislative Councils. The Councils were only advisory bodies without
any decisive final powers.
While the Extremist section declared the Reforms unsatisfactory, the Moderates hailed them. The
Reforms had the effect of rehabilitating the Moderates' faith to some extent in the British
intentions and pledges which had begun to shake due to the recent measures of the British
government. The abolition of the Partition of Bengal in 1911 further strengthened that faith.
The First World War broke out in 1914.
The Secretary of State announced in the House of Commons that "the goal of the British policy
is progressive realization of responsible government" in India.
To get increased support of the Indian bourgeoisie to the war the government granted 31/2 per
cent import duty on cotton in 1916 which helped the growth of the Indian textile industries.
These measures, however, failed to conciliate the Left nationalist leaders who continued their
agitation for Swaraj during the war. After emerging from prison in 1914, Tilak organized a
campaign of Home Rule for India and founded the Home Rule League in Poona in 1916. Annie
Besant started her All-India Home Rule League in Madras six months later. The two wings of
the Congress, the Moderates and the Extremists, united at the Lucknow Congress in 1916. Unity,
however, proved ephemeral.
Another significant event was the alliance of the Congress and the Muslim League accomplished
in 1916, known as the Lucknow Pact or the Congress-League Scheme. Britain was at war against
Turkey, a Muslim state, and this had aroused strong Muslim sentiment against Britain. The
agreed scheme included reforms such as elected majorities in the councils, increased powers of
the councils, and half the
318
members of the Viceroy's Executive to be Indians.
The political alliance of the Muslim League and the Congress was a significant event. The
League was led by the Rajah of Muhammadabad, Mazar-Ul-Haq, A. Rasul, and M. A. Jinnah.
The repression of the government was directed against the Home Rule movement. Heavy
security was demanded from Besant's New India which was forfeited. In 1917, she was interned
in Ootacamund. Her internment and that of other leaders like Wadia and Arundale made the
Home Rule League popular and Jinnah joined it soon after. Orders of externment were issued
from the Punjab and Delhi against Tilak and Pal in 1917.

In 1918, the Liberals left the Congress and founded the Liberal Federation. It was due to the
difference of opinion regarding the attitude to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which had been
announced. The Liberals stood for working the Constitution under the new Reforms while the
Congress at its 1918 session decided to boycott it.

Rise of Terrorist and Revolutionary Movements

Before proceeding to survey the main events of the next phases of the nationalist movement, it is
necessary to describe briefly the terrorist and revolutionary movements which broke out in the
first decade of the twentieth century.
The disillusionment about the efficacy of the programme and methods of the Liberals together
with the study of the revolutionary movements of European nations for freedom and the methods
of conspiratorial terrorism adopted by the Russian Nihilists and other European underground
groups, influenced a section of the Indians to build up and operate like organizations and
methods in India.
The political measures of the government during Curzon's rule and subsequent repression
directed against the nationalist movement which drove even the Liberals to support the militant
Boycott movement, exasperated this section into adopting the methods of political terrorism.
Their programme was comprised of political assassination, generally of unpopular officials,
hoping thereby to strike terror in the bureaucracy and break its will. They also thought that a
campaign of political assassination, when carried out on a large scale, would even create a
favourable atmosphere for armed insurrection.
319
Another item in their programme was to organize armed dacoities with a view to securing money
from wealthy Indians and the government, which they could use for their work such as the
establishment and operation of secret groups, laboratories to make bombs, factories to forge
arms. There also sprang up revolutionary groups which had a more extensive programme such as
the fomenting of mutinies in the army and agrarian riots.
The main centres of these revolutionary and terrorist activities were Bengal, the Punjab, and
Maharashtra. In Bengal there had developed considerable unemployment among the educated
youth. This factor together with the emotional temperament of the Bengalis might explain why
Bengal was the storm-centre of terrorism. Revolutionaries and terrorists had established centres
outside India also; in London, Paris, and New York.
We will now briefly narrate only the most important episodes and events connected with these
movements.58
The assassination of Rand and Ayerst in Poona in 1897 has already been referred to.

Shyamaji Krishnavarma established the Indian Home Rule Society in London in 1905 and India
House at Highgate soon after. Both were revolutionary centres which prepared and smuggled
revolutionary literature and arms into India. One of the pamphlets smuggled into India was
Bande-Mataram which extolled the murder of Curzon Wyllie, an official of the India Office, by
Dhingra, a member of India House, in 1909 and explained the role of political terrorism thus:
"Terrorize the officials, English and Indian, and the collapse of the whole machinery of
oppression is not very far. ... this campaign of separate assassination is the best conceivable
method of paralysing the bureaucracy and of arousing the people."59
V. D. Savarkar was a close collaborator of Krishnavarma in England.
G. D. or Babarao Savarkar, brother of V. D. Savarkar who was in India, was sentenced to
transportation for life for revolutionary activity. In the same year, Jackson, who had convicted
Savarkar, was shot at Nasik. In the Nasik Conspiracy case in this connection, Kanhere was
sentenced to death and twenty-seven other persons imprisoned. In 1909, an attempt on the life of
Lord Minto, then the Viceroy, was organized.
In Bengal, the movement assumed serious dimensions. According
320
to the Rowlatt Report, Anusilan Samiti, with its two main centres at Calcutta and Dacca and
numerous nuclei throughout the province, was the rallying point of the terrorists. The Samiti
distributed revolutionary literature and built underground groups.
Terrorist organizations were very active during the post-Partition years in Bengal. A number of
police officials, magistrates, approvers, and sometimes even public prosecutors, lost their lives at
the hands of the terrorists whose principal weapons were the bomb and the pistol. In the Alipore
Conspiracy case, Gosain, an approver, as well as the public prosecutor and the superintendent of
police associated with the case, were subsequently killed by the terrorists. There were a number
of such conspiracy cases in the province, indicating thereby the great extent of the activity of
revolutionary groups.
Some of the nationalist leaders like Aurobindo and Barindra Ghose were suspected of connection
with the terrorist and revolutionary movements. Aurobindo was arrested in 1908 on a charge of
conspiracy but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. He subsequently left the British territory
and lived in Pondicherry.
Terrorism continued in Bengal even after the introduction of the Morley-Minto Reforms and the
abolition of the Partition in 1911.
In the Punjab, revolutionary groups were formed in 1907. A good number of revolutionaries
belonged to the Arya Samaj. A group of Muslims joined the movement after 1912. Har Dayal,
who had returned from Europe to India in 1910, organized revolutionary groups in the Punjab.
He was mainly assisted in this work by Rash Behari and Amirchand. In 1911, Amirchand and
others were arrested, tried, and hanged in connection with a bomb explosion in Lahore.

An attempt to assassinate Lord Hardinge, then the Viceroy, was made at Delhi.
After his arrival in America in 1911, Har Dayal built up revolutionary organizations there and
launched a newspaper, Ghadr (Mutiny) in 1913 in San Francisco. The United States government
arrested him in 1914. He was released on bail when, with Barkatulla, he escaped to Switzerland.
After his departure, Ramchandra became the leader of the Ghadr movement.
The Ghadr group was agitating among the Indians in America against the immigration laws. In
1914, the 'Kamagata Maru', with a number of Indian passengers mainly Sikhs and Muslims, left
Hongkong for Vancouver. When the ship reached Vancouver, the Canadian government
321
refused permission to the passengers to land, on the ground that they did not satisfy the
conditions prescribed by the immigration laws of Canada. The ship was forcibly sent out of the
harbour. Instead of Hongkong, the ship was taken to Calcutta where the government had kept a
train ready to remove them directly after their landing to the Punjab. About three hundred Sikhs
refused to proceed to the Punjab. In the police firing that following eighteen were killed.
Subsequently a number of the Sikhs were imprisoned. Those who returned to the Punjab did so
in a spirit of resentment and, soon after, built revolutionary centres and organized revolutionary
agitation among the people.
These revolutionary groups organized extensive revolutionary activities in the Punjab and even
other provinces during 1914 and 1915. These included armed dacoities, killing of police officials
and revolutionary propaganda among army units in the Punjab and military centres like Meerut
and Cawnpore.
The government passed the Defence of India Act in 1915 which armed the authorities with
powers to intern people. The government also appointed Special Tribunals which subsequently
tried and sentenced twenty people to death, transported fifty-eight for life, and imprisoned fiftyeight for short terms.60
The revolutionary movement declined thereafter.
The Ghadr leaders had established a political liaison with the German consuls at New York and
Shanghai. They succeeded in fomenting mutinies of a Baluch regiment in Rangoon and the 5th
Light Infantry stationed at Singapore in 1915, which were put down.

Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
The Montagu-Chelmsford Report was published in 1918. The Reforms Act based on the Report
was passed next year.
The Report introduced the system of 'Dyarchy' under which the subjects dealt by the Provincial
Government were divided into two groups, 'transferred' and 'reserved'. The former was placed

under the control of ministers intended to be responsible to an elected legislature. It included

such subjects as local government, public health, education, etc.
The 'reserved' group including such subjects as finance, land revenue, police and others remained
outside the control of the ministers.
The main criticism of this aspect of the Reforms was that the
322
subjects of most vital import were kept 'reserved' and even regarding 'transferred' subjects real
advance in this sphere needed finance which was-outside the control of the ministers.
The Report did not meet the demands of the Congress and the League embodied in the CongressLeague Scheme such as the application of the principle of self-determination to India and
immediate grant of self-government. The Muslim League rejected the Report and reaffirmed the
Congress-League Scheme in 1918. The Indian National Congress held its session at the end of
1918 when it passed a resolution demanding the recognition of India as "one of the progressive
nations to whom the principle of self-determination should be applied".
The Delhi Congress also passed a resolution demanding complete responsible government in
India. It reaffirmed the Congress-League Scheme.
During and at the end of the war, considerable discontent had grown among the Indian people.
The financial burden of the war, the rise in prices, and profiteering, led to great economic
distress among the mass of the people. The end of the war witnessed the outbreak of a virulent
influenza epidemic which led to an appalling loss of life. The post-war revolutions in Germany,
Austria and Russia, which led to the overthrow of the powerful Hohenzollern, Hapsburg, and
Romanoff dynasties, also had a galvanizing effect on the mind of the people of Asiatic countries.
Widespread political ferment grew among these peoples including the Indians. Further, the
Home Rule agitation of Tilak and others had increased the political consciousness of the people.
The stage was set for a nationalist movement with a mass basis.
Since the Defence of India Act was to lapse after the end of the war, the Government of India
brought the Rowlatt Bills in 1919, which gave the executive wide powers such as the power to
imprison persons without trial and others. The Bills were met with universal opposition of the
people. Gandhi threatened satyagraha if the Bills became law. The Bills were, in spite of popular
opposition, enacted as law in March.
On 6 April, the day fixed by the leaders to express popular protest against the new law, there
were hartals, demonstrations, and strikes, throughout the country.
"One noticeable feature of the general excitement was the unprecedented
323

fraternization between the Hindus and the Moslems. Their union between the leaders, had now
for long been a fixed plan of the nationalist platform. In this time of public excitement even the
lower classes agreed for once to forget their differences. Extraordinary scenes of fraternization
occurred. Hindus publicly accepted water from the hands of Moslems and vice versa. HinduMoslem Unity was the watchword of processions indicated both by cries and by banners. Hindu
leaders had actually been allowed to preach from the pulpit of a mosque" (India, 1919). Satyapal
and Dr. Kitchlew, two leaders of the Congress in the Punjab, were removed to an unknown place
by the authorities at Amritsar. This accentuated popular excitement and led to outbreaks of
popular violence at Amritsar, Gujaranwalla and Kasur.
There were disturbances in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Ahmedabad, and other parts of India. The
government's repression in the form of firing and imprisonment intensified.
Due to the outbreaks, Gandhi withdrew satyagraha.

Jallianwalla Bagh Tragedy

On 13 April, the tragedy of Jallianwalla Bagh took place at Amritsar. In the firing by the troops
under the order of General Dyer at the unarmed people who had gathered at a peaceful meeting
in the Bagh about 400 were killed and 1,200 wounded. This sent a wave of horror among the
people when it became known.
Martial law was promulgated in Lahore, Amritsar and a number of districts in the Punjab on 15
April. Summary courts and Special Tribunals were appointed. Arrests, imprisonment and
execution on a big scale took place. Flogging was adopted as a form of punishment and in one
street at Amritsar, the people, who passed through it, were made to crawl.61
The Partial Law regime continued till 11 June. During the period, the Punjab was strictly isolated
by a rigid censorship. News of the Jallianwalla Bagh reached England after a period of eight
months.
Under the pressure of public demand, the Hunter Committee was appointed by the Government
to inquire into the justification of firing at Jallianwalla Bagh. The Committee published its report
in March 1920. The Report declared Dyer's action only as "a grave error of judgement which
exceeded the reasonable requirements of the case".
324
Montagu, the Secretary of State, supported this view and stated that the general was prompted by
"honesty of purpose and unflinching adherence to duty".
The Report did not satisfy the people who had demanded the punishment of Dyer as well as
other officials who had been putting down the movement in the Punjab with arbitrary
imprisonments, firings, floggings, and such other methods. The Congress had already appointed
a separate committee which in its Report published in March enumerated various repressive
actions of the government.

The year 1919 was marked by a phenomenal growth of the mass movement. Political
demonstrations, hartals and strikes were growing. The nationalist movement was for the first
time acquiring a mass basis. Political discontent was rising among the people.
The Indian National Congress met at Amritsar at the end of 1919. Tilak stood for a policy of
Responsive Co-operation. C. R. Das held the view that the Reforms must be rejected. Gandhi
had described his attitude thus: "The Reforms Act coupled with the proclamation is an earnest of
the intention of the British people to do justice to India and it ought to remove suspicion on that
score. ... Our duty, therefore, is not to subject the Reforms to carping criticism, but to settle down
quietly to work so as to make them a success."62
The compromise resolution passed at the Amritsar Congress said that "The Reforms act is
inadequate, unsatisfactory and disappointing ... that this Congress further urges that Parliament
should take early steps to establish full Responsible Government in India in accordance with the
principle of self-determination. Pending such introduction, this Congress trusts that, so far as
may be possible, the people will so work the Reforms as to secure an early establishment of full
Responsible Government..."
The political tension due to the 'unsatisfactory Reforms Act', the enactment of the Rowlatt Act,
the Martial Law regime in the Punjab, and the general repressive policy of the government, was
further, aggravated in 1920 by what is known as the Khilafat question. The Indian Muslims were
indignant at the terms of the Treaty of Sevres by which Turkey, a Muslim state, was deprived of
its homelands such as Syria, Palestine, Arabia and other Asiatic Zones of the Turkish Empire.
They argued that their holy places were situated in these territories wherefore they should always
by under the rule of the Sultan of Turkey who was also the Khalifa or the religious head of the
Muslims
325
all over the world.
Gandhi and other Congress leaders supported the Khilafat issue and allied with Mahomed All
and Shaukat Ali in organizing a powerful Khilafat agitation in the country.
The terms of the Treaty of Sevres were published in May 1920. At a conference of various
parties held at Allahabad in June, a committee comprised of Gandhi and prominent Muslim
leaders was formed to formulate a programme of action.
The Khilafat issue drew the Muslims into the orbit of the national movement. "The Triveni' of
the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs, and the invisible flow of inadequate Reforms ... enriched both in
volume and content the stream of national discontent. Everything was ripe for Non-Cooperation."63
Tilak was not enthusiastic about the campaign of non-violent non-co-operation. He, however, did
not oppose or 'hinder' it.64

Tilak died on 1 August 1920.

Epoch of Gandhi and Gandhism

The Non-Co-operation movement signalised the beginning of the next phase of the Indian
nationalist movement. Gandhi was the outstanding leader and Gandhism the ruling ideology of
the movement during this phase.
Gandhi dominated the political scene like a titan. His contribution to the nationalist movement
was unique. He was the first national leader who recognized the role of the masses and mass
action in the struggle for national liberation in contrast to earlier leaders, who did not
comprehend their decisive significance for making that struggle more effective.
Gandhi evolved a programme of struggle which would mobilize the masses in the nationalist
movement and such that various sections of the people-workers, peasants, capitalists, students,
lawyers and other professional classes, above all women could actively participate in it. He,
thereby, made, for the first time, the Indian nationalist movement a multi-class and mass
nationalist movement in spite of its limitations, due to his ideology. Under his leadership, the
Indian people became heroic, patriotic and intrepid fighters for national emancipation. They
courted jails and bravely faced firings and brutal lathi charges of the imperialist police and
military. Gandhi, in spite of his compromising
326
stand, instilled into them undying hatred for the 'Satanic' British Government and an
unquenchable thirst for Swaraj.
He provided the peasantry with the programme of the non-payment of land tax to the
government thereby threatening to paralyse the financial basis of the latter. He exhorted the
students to boycott educational institutions, the source of supply of its administrative personnel.
He called on the lawyers to desert the courts so that the judicial machinery of the state would be
deadlocked. He called on the women to picket liquor and foreign cloth shops which they did in
their thousands and, in the process, courted imprisonment. He asked the people as a whole to
deliberately infringe the "lawless laws" framed by the government. Millions of Indians at his call
marched in demonstrations and assembled at illegal rallies under the hailstorm of bullets and
lathi charges.
It was a stirring spectacle, that of tens of thousands of women, who for centuries had been
chained to the narrow domestic life and whom an authoritarian social system had assigned the
position of helots at home, stepping out in the streets and marching with their male fellowpatriots in illegal political demonstrations.
While taking over and utilizing such methods as the boycott and swadeshi from the previous
phase, Gandhi evolved new and far more effective techniques of struggle to exert pressure on the
British government. Satyagraha, Non-Co-operation, Civil Disobedience, both individual and on a
mass scale, non-payment of taxes, open defiance of laws, deliberate courting of jails, mass

demonstrations and marches, and hunger strikesthese were the principal weapons he added to
the armoury of the nationalist struggle.
Gandhi was not only a colossus in the field of politics, but was also an outstanding social
reformer. He was permeated with profound humanism and was a crusader against injustices in all
spheres of social relations. He denounced in words of blazing moral indignation, the barbarous
institution of untouchability, the age long crime of the Hindu society against its most oppressed
section. He passionately struggled for the liquidation of this most inhuman institution and made
it even an integral part of his political programme.
He addressed powerful ethical appeals to the higher classes of the Hindus and endeavoured to
awaken their conscience against this infamy of ages. Gandhi was a classical type of a nationalist
and therefore an anti-communalist par excellence. He considered both Muslim and
327
Hindu communalisms as anti-national and anti-human and combated both these with all his
indefatigable energy. He finally even "offered his life-blood as living oblation to the liquidation
of communalism in the social relations of the Indian people."
Gandhi's interests were encyclopaedic and extended to all aspects of the life of the Indian nation.
They embraced even language and literature. He enriched Gujarati, his own vernacular,
popularized Hindi and left a powerful impress on literatures in various languages in the country.
With a view to implementing mis many-sided national programme, Gandhi himself evolved and
inspired others to evolve numerous centres to train cadres of self-sacrificing professional
workers. He also established a network of institutions, social, political, economic and
educational, where those workers would carry out various programmes elaborated by him on the
basis of the principles of what is popularly known as Gandhism.

N.C.O. Movement
The Calcutta session of the Congress held in September 1920 passed a resolution adopting the
programme of non-violent non-co-operation. Gandhi was entrusted with the leadership of the
campaign because of his past experience of such struggles. The campaign was to be maintained
till the Punjab and Khilafat wrongs were redressed and Swaraj established.
Gandhi based the political Satyagraha movement on moral and spiritual principles. He thus
injected religion into politics which became thereby mystified. The criterion he adopted for
determining the principles and programmes of a political movement was that of the
strengthening of the spiritual stamina of the Indian people. He frequently talked of 'Soul Force',
abstract 'Truth' (without defining what constitutes Truth), and the ethical conversion of the
political opponent. When political programmes, instead of being based on a scientific analysis of
objective forces, are deduced from abstract and even nebulous religious principles, they tend to
lose charity of purpose, definite-ness of objective and rationality of methods.

The people responded to the call of the Congress. A big majority of voters refused to cast their
vote in the elections held in 1920. Educational institutions were seriously affected by the
voluntary
328
withdrawal of the students. The boycott of law courts, however, did not meet with any tangible
success.
It was during this period that educational institutions on independent national lines such as the
National Muslims University of Aligarh, the Gujarat Vidyapith, the Tilak Maharashtra
Vidyapith, the Bengal National University, the Kashi Vidyapith and the Bihar Vidyapith were
organized.
The Congress held its ordinary session at Nagpur in December 1920. The programme was almost
unanimously adopted. It substituted for the former aim of self-government within the Empire to
be attained by constitutional means the new objective of "the attainment of Swaraj by peaceful
and legitimate means."
The non-co-operation Movement, if ineffective, was to be followed up by mass Civil
Disobedience. Regarding the latter, however, there was no clear plan or even definite objective.
"But mass disobedience was the thing that was luring the people. What was it, what would it be?
Gandhi himself never defined it, never elaborated it, never visualized it, even to himself. It must
unfold itself to a discerning vision, to a pure heart, from step to step. ..."65
In addition to the non-co-operation Movement led by the Congress, there broke out other
struggles in the country such as the strike of workers of the Assam-Bengal Railway, the no-tax
campaign of the peasants in the Midnapore district, the Moplah rebellion in Malabar, and the
struggle of the Akalis against their Mahants in the Punjab.
On 5 November 1921, the Working Committee and the all-India Congress Committee met at
Delhi and decided to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement. It empowered every Provincial
Committee to initiate on its own responsibility Civil Disobedience including the non-payment of
taxes according to methods which it thought appropriate for the province. A set of conditions,
however, were laid down, the fulfilment of which would make a person eligible for participation
in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
It was during this period that the British government arranged the visit of the Prince of Wales to
India. The Congress called upon the people to boycott the visit. The arrival of the Prince on 17
November was marked by a country-wide hartal and demonstrations. In a number of places, riots
broke out. In Bombay, the outbreak continued for about four days. There were police firings and
the total loss of life amounted to 53 killed and about 400 wounded. Gandhi was alarmed at the
329

outbreak of popular violence. He declared that Swaraj stank in his nostrils.

It was during this period that the national volunteers movement gathered momentum. Congress
and Khilafat volunteers picketed foreign cloth shops and organized hartals. Even when their
organizations were declared illegal, they maintained their activities and were arrested in large
numbers.
The government had arrested and imprisoned almost all prominent leaders of the movement
including C. R. Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, and the Ali
brothers, before the end of the year. Gandhi, alone, remained free.
The mass movement of the Indian people for Swaraj led by its bourgeois leadership had reached
its climax when the Indian National Congress held its session at Ahmedabad at the end of the
year under the presidentship of Hakim Ajmal Khan in the absence of C. R. Das, the presidentelect who was in prison.
The main resolution passed at the session said:
"... this Congress places on record the forced determination of the Congress to continue the
programme of non-violent non-cooperation with greater vigour than hitherto ... till the Punjab
and the Khilafat wrongs are redressed and Swaraj is established and the control of the
Government of India passes into the hands of the people from that of an irresponsible
corporation. "This Congress trusts that every person of the age of 18 and over will immediately
join the Volunteer Organizations. "This Congress is of opinion that in order to concentrate
attention upon Civil Disobedience, whether mass or individual under proper safeguards ... all
other Congress activities should be suspended whenever and wherever, and to the extent to
which, it may be found necessary.
" ... this Congress ... hereby appoints Mahatma Gandhi as the sole Executive authority of the
Congress."
At the session, Maulana Hazrat Mohani, an outstanding Muslim leader in the Congress, desired
to clarify and fix the political content of term Swaraj. He wanted to interpret Swaraj as 'Complete
Independence free from all foreign control'. Gandhi, however, opposed the suggestion. He
remarked: "The levity with which the proposition has been taken by some of you has grieved me.
It has grieved me because if shows lack of responsibility."66
330
The Ahmedabad Congress omitted any reference to the non-payment of taxes. Lord Reading
interpreted this as a good omen.
"During Christmas week the Congress held its annual meeting at Ahmedabad, Gandhi had been
deeply impressed with the rioting at Bombay ... and the rioting had brought home to him the
dangers of mass civil disobedience; and the resolutions of the Congress gave evidence of this, ...

whilst the organization of civil disobedience when fulfilment of the Delhi conditions had taken
place was urged in them, they omitted any reference to the non-payment of taxes."67
In the middle of January 1922, an All-Parties Conference attended by Jinnah, Jayakar, and
others, and presided over by Sir M. Visvesvarayya was convened. Gandhi also attended it and
explained the stand of the Congress. The conference condemned the repressive policy of the
government. It advised the Congress to put off Civil Disobedience during the period of
negotiations with the Viceroy. It put forth the proposal of a Round Table Conference with power
to solve the problems of the Khilafat the Punjab, and Swaraj.
The Working Committee of the Congress announced on 17 January to put off the Civil
Disobedience till the end of the month. The Viceroy, however, did not accept the suggestions of
the All-Parties Conference, Gandhi consequently informed the Viceroy on 1 February that he had
decided to start Civil Disobedience in the Bardoli district in Gujarat.
On 5 February, an outburst of violence took place at Chauri Chaura in the united provinces. A
crowd, mostly composed of peasants, attacked and set fire to a police station leading to the death
of twenty-two policemen. Gandhi decided to drop the programme of Civil Disobedience. He
convened a meeting of the Working Committee on 12 February at Bardoli, when a resolution
was passed to the effect that due to the "inhuman conduct of the mob at Chauri Chaura" the Civil
Disobedience programme was suspended. The resolution further said: "The Working Committee
advises Congress workers and organizations to inform the peasants that withholding of rent
payment to zemindars is contrary to the Congress resolutions and injurious to the best interests of
the country." It also assured "the zemindars that the Congress movement is in no way intended to
attack their legal rights, and that even where the ryots have grievances, the Committee desires
that redress be sought by mutual consultation and arbitration" revealing thereby the anxiety of
Gandhi and other Congress leaders to protect the basic rights of the landlord classes.
331
The Working Committee adopted 'a constructive programme' of items such as the popularization
of the charkha, the propaganda of temperance, and the establishment of national educational
institutions. The Bardoli decision was intensely disliked by a number of Congress leaders who
were in jail. "To sound the order of retreat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling
point was nothing short of a national calamity. The principal lieutenants of the Mahatma,
Deshbandhu Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru and Lala Lajpat Rai, who were all in prison, shared the
popular resentment. It was with the Deshbandhu at the time, and I could see that he was beside
himself with anger and sorrow."68
Pandit Motilal Nehru and Lala Lajpat Rai wrote to Gandhi from prison disapproving of his
decision. "They took Gandhi to task for punishing the whole country for the sins of a place. Why
should, Panditji asked, a town at the foot of the Himalayas be penalized, if a village at Cape
Comorin failed to observe non-violence?"69
On 13 March, Gandhi himself was arrested on a charge of sedition. He was tried and sentenced
to six years' imprisonment. He was, however, released before the expiry of two yeas of the

period of sentence. The government's view of the situation in India as expressed by the Viceroy
to the Secretary of State for India in Telegraphic Correspondence, regarding the Situation in
India 9 February, Cmd. 1586, 1922, when the movement was withdrawn, is stated below:
"The lower classes in the towns have been seriously affected by the non-co-operation movement.
In certain areas, the peasantry have been affected, particularly in parts of the Assam Valley,
United Provinces, Bihar and Orissa and Bengal. As regards the Punjab, the Akali agitation ... has
penetrated to the rural Sikhs. A large proportion of the Mahomedan population throughout the
country are embittered and sullen ... grave possibilities. ... The Government of India are prepared
for disorder of a more formidable nature than has in the past occurred and do not seek to
minimize in any way the fact that great anxiety is caused by the situation."

Withdrawal of N.C.O. Movement, its Results

The Bardoli decision signalized the end of the Non-Co-operation Movement. The movement was
distinguished from previous movements
332
by its predominantly mass character. With sections of workers and peasants participating in it,
the nationalist movement, which was restricted to the upper and middle classes till 1917, got a
mass basis, for the first time, during the non-co-operation years. The workers and peasants,
however, had not still developed distinct class or group consciousness when they could become
independent political forces, evolve their own class, leadership, programme, and even flag, and
join the national movement. They followed the bourgeois leadership of the Congress during the
Non-Co-operation Movement. This leadership, as the Bardoli resolution revealed, was closely
aligned to the vested interests like the zemindari and was apprehensive of any mass movement
which would jeopardize those interests.
Leaders like Lajpat Rai, Pandit Motilal Nehru and Subhas Bose, attributed the collapse of the
movement, as we saw above, to the faulty strategy of Gandhi.
The programme of the movement did not include, except for the item of land tax, distinct
economic demands of the masses such as increased wage and social legislation for the workers
and reduction of rent and debt for the agrarian population. The leadership did not take note of the
fact that the political discontent of the masses had roots in their economic conditions and not in
any abstract sentiment of nationalism.
The Industrial bourgeoisie, which had gathered economic strength during the years of war as a
result of industrial expansion, largely identified itself with and supported the Non-co-operation
Movement. From this time the industrial bourgeoisie exercised considerable and even decisive
influence over the policies and programmes of the nationalist movement led by the Congress.
The nationalist movement declined after the Bardoli decision. The alliance of the Muslim League
and the Congress was dissolved and the Hindu-Muslim unity built during the movement began to
disintegrate.

Formation of Swaraj Party

The Swaraj Party with the programme of Council Entry was formed in 1923. Deshbandhu Das,
Pandit Motilal Nehru and Vithalbhai Patel, who were already released, were the outstanding
leaders of this party.
The Swaraj Party formulated as its aim the attainment of Dominion Status within the Empire.
The party programme guaranteed the preservation
333
of capitalism and landlordism by declaring that "private and individual property will be
recognized and maintained". It declared that it would save labour from the exploitation of capital
and capital from the unjust demands of labour. "On the one hand, we must find out a way of
organization by which we can prevent exploitation of labour by capitalists or landlords, but, on
the other hand, we must be on our guard to see that these very organizations may not themselves
be the source of oppression by nursing extravagant and unreasonable demands. Labour
undoubtedly requires protection but so do industrial enterprises."70 The Swarajists subscribed to
the doctrines of private property, class harmony, and identity of the interests of capital and
labour.
The Swaraj Party shifted the centre of political activity inside the Councils. The constructive
programme of the Congress did not satisfy it. The Party first declared its Council policy as that
of wrecking legislatures from within. However, it steadily modified the policy. The Swarajists
served on the government Steel Protection Committee in 1924 and on the Skeen Committee in
1925. The original policy of 'wrecking the legislatures from within' was progressively replaced
by that of participation in and utilizing of the legislatures and even of readiness of co-operation
with the government.71
The Swaraj Party voted for the Steel Protection Bill in the Central Legislature in 1924. The Bill
granted a subsidy to the Tata Steel Company without, however, providing safeguards for the
interests of the workers in the industry.
The Swaraj Party reached the climax of its strength in 1925 when the Congress handed over all
its political work to the Party. The Swaraj Party became the constitutionalist party of the Indian
bourgeoisie which, after the tide of the nationalist mass movement had ebbed, desired to utilize
the legislatures generally to press the programme of that class embodying demands such as free
industrial expansion, development of heavy industries, and others.

Growth of Communal Tensions

Before proceeding further, a brief reference should be made to the growth of communal tensions
and conflicts in the years following the non-co-operation Movement. The years of the movement
were the years of the forging of the unity and even large-scale united action of

334
the Hindu and Muslim communities. After the end of the movement, however, a contrary process
set in. The reactionaries within both communities exploited the situation and began to create
feelings of animosity between them. Both the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha took to
belligerent communal propaganda. This had the effect of undermining national unity and
national consciousness.
These two communal bodies were controlled by the landlords and other reactionary vested
interests within the communities. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru remarked: "Hindu and Muslim
communalism is, in neither case, even bona fide communalism, but political and social reaction
binding behind the communal mask."72
There were a series of communal outbreaks during the period following the non-co-operation
Movement. Communal clashes took place at Delhi, Gulbarga, Nagpur, Lucknow, Shahajanpur,
Allahabad, Jubbulpore and Kohat in 1924, and at Delhi, Calcutta, Allahabad, and other places in
1925. In subsequent years, too, communal outbreaks of various dimensions occurred in the
country.

Growth of Socialist and Communist Ideas

The post-non-co-operation period witnessed another development of increasingly great
significance in the history of Indian nationalist movement. It was the growth of socialist and
communist groups and the rise of independent economic and political class organizations of the
working class in the country.
The victory of the socialist revolution and the establishment of a socialist state in Russia had
aroused interest in socialist and communist doctrines among the radical nationalists in India. A
section of these, who were dissatisfied with the Gandhian ideology and Gandhi's constructive
programme as well as the constitutionalism of the Swaraj Party, studied and embraced socialist
ideology and began to evolve rival programmes of Indian Independence from the standpoint of
the new ideology. The first socialist weekly, The Socialist, was started in Bombay by S. A.
Dange in 1923. In 1924, the government arrested Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, and some others on a
charge of conspiracy, and, in the Cawnpore Conspiracy case that followed, the accused were
sentenced to four years' rigorous imprisonment. The growth of socialist ideas, though on a very
small scale, was a new phenomenon in India.
335
Socialist ideas began to spread among the radical youth in subsequent years. Workers' and
Peasants' parties were formed in Bombay, Bengal and the Punjab. The parties popularized the
programme of national independence. They supported the economic and political demands of the
workers and peasants and organized them on class lines for their class demands. Further they
stood for direct action of the workers and of the peasants as the methods of struggle to secure
Independence.

The Workers' and Peasants' parties built up trade unions and organized and led a number of
strikes in the country. The Bombay party built up in 1928 the Girni Kamgar Union with a
membership of 65,000.
The Bombay textile workers' strike, the Bengal-Nagpur. Railway strike, the South Indian
Railway strike, and numerous other strikes which broke out in 1928, were mostly organized and
led by the members of these parties.
It was during these years that the highly developed trade unions and socialist and communist
parties of England sent to India a number of representatives such as Fenner Brockway, Philip
Spratt, Ben Bradley, and others, to assist the growth of the rising working class and nationalist
movements. Spratt and Bradley were subsequently arrested, tried, and sentenced in the Meerut
Conspiracy case, 1929.

From Boycott of Simon Commission to Lahore Congress

Discontent among the nationalist ranks began to rise steadily from 1926. A sense of futility
regarding both the constructive programme of Gandhi and the constitutionalism of the Swaraj
Party was growing.
The economic measures of the government such as the stabilizing the rupee ratio at Is. 6d., the
introduction of preferential rates for British steel in 1927, and others, created a strong feeling of
resentment among the Indian bourgeoisie.
The appointment of the Simon Commission with a complete non-Indian personnel in 1927
accentuated the discontent of all political groups and parties. The Madras Congress of 1927 met
in the atmosphere of growing political discontent in the country. A Left Wing had grown within
the Congress which was not satisfied with the goal of Dominion Status and desired to substitute
Complete Independence for it. It also insisted on a programme of struggle. The Madras Congress
336
was a turning point in the history of the Congress. For the first time, it declared Complete
Independence as the aim of the Congress. It decided upon the boycott of the Simon Commission.
It affiliated itself to the International League against Imperialism.
The Congress also supported the struggle of the Chinese people against the Japanese and other
Imperialist powers. Gandhi disapproved of the passing of the Independence Resolution at
Madras describing it as "hastily conceived and thoughtlessly passed."
Adoption of Independence as the aim of the Congress implied also a reverse for the Swarajists
whose programme amounted to Dominion Status within the Empire. Pandit Motilal Nehru had
remarked just before the Congress met at Madras that "The only result the present action of the
Government is likely to lead to is to strengthen the hands of that growing body of Indians who
are working for complete independence. I am afraid those who are still for full responsible

Government within the Empire will find it difficult to maintain the majority which they
undoubtedly have at present."73
The year 1928-9 was marked by a phenomenal growth of the student and youth movement in the
country, especially in Bombay and Bengal. Simultaneous to this, under the presidentship of
Jawaharlal Nehru, an All-India Independence League with branches in a number of centres was
organized. These organizations supported the Independence demand and had radical programmes
sympathizing with and supporting the demands and struggles of the masses. They generally
stood for a national democratic programme based on independence, the abolition of States and
the zemindari, and the improvement of the conditions of the masses. The student and youth
organizations together with the Independence League and Workers' and Peasants' Parties played
an important role in organizing the Simon Commission Boycott campaign.
The statutory Commission reached India on 3 February 1928. As a protest, an all-India hartal
was observed on that day. There were meetings and demonstrations in a number of places in the
country. Big demonstrations took place in Delhi, Lucknow, Madras, Calcutta, Patna, and other
towns. There were clashes between the police and the demonstrators in a number of places. At
Lahore Lala Lajpat Rai was hurt by a lathi blow when the police tried to break up the gathering.
Many believed that his death after a few months was mainly due to the injury received.
337
In February, an All-Parties Conference composed of the representatives of the right wing of the
Congress such as Pandit Motilal Nehru, and the Liberal leaders like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and
Ali Imam met. In August, the conference published a report known as the Nehru Report in which
it outlined a scheme of a constitution for India. The scheme asked for a constitution based on that
of a self-governing dominion. The Report also recognized "all titles in private and personal
property."
The Socialist and Left nationalists criticized the scheme as abandoning the goal of independence
and conserving zemindari and other reactionary propertied interests. The year 1928-9 witnessed
a series of strikes in the country. There was a general strike in the Bombay textile mills involving
150,000 workers. The strike was led by the Girni Kamgar Union and the Bombay Textile Labour
Union.
The strike was reached its peak in 1929 when 531,059 workers were involved in contrast to
131,655 workers involved in 1927.
The strike movement revealed the increasing class consciousness and militancy of the Indian
working class, Further, the strikes were often (as in Bombay) led by the members of the
Workers' and Peasants' party, whose political influence was felt among the workers. The working
class was beginning to develop into an independent social force.
The workers also exhibited their growing political consciousness by participating in political
processions under their own flag. The workers participated, in large numbers, in the Simon
Commission Boycott.

The Calcutta Congress met in December 1928. It became an arena of the political battle between
the advocates of Dominion Status (as embodied in the Nehru Report) and the protagonists of
immediate independence. Subhas Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru led the latter group. Gandhi
attended the Congress session and brought all his influence to bear on the delegates to vote for a
compromise resolution which asked the Congress to accept Dominion Status if it was granted
within a year and, failing that, to launch a non-violent non-co-operation movement.
The amendment moved by Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru was defeated. The amendment said, "The
Congress adheres to the decision of the Madras Congress declaring Complete Independence to
be the goal of the Indian people and is of opinion that there can be no true freedom till the British
connection is severed."74
The Calcutta Congress revealed the growing strength of the radical
338
forces in the Congress.
The growing political consciousness of the working class was indicated by the fact that 50,000
workers of the Calcutta mills came in a procession, remained in the Congress pandal for about
two hours, and passed a resolution for national independence.
The Workers' and Peasants' Party held its first all-India Conference during this period at
Calcutta. It adopted a programme of complete independence, the abolition of native states and
landlordism, the nationalization of key industries, an eight-hour working day and other items.
In March 1929, the government arrested a number of leaders of the working class and national
movements on a charge of conspiracy. The case, known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case, lasted
for four years at the end of which, while some of the accused were acquitted, others were
sentenced to long terms which, on appeal, were, however, substantially reduced. There were
communists as well as non-communists among the accused who also included three Englishmen,
Spratt, Bradley and Hutchinson. Three of the accused were members of the All-India Congress
Committee.
In the middle of 1929, the Viceroy issued the Public Safety Ordinance, which gave the
Governor-General in Council power "to remove from India British and foreign communist
agents."75
The Trade Dispute Act was passed in the same month which declared sympathetic strikes, strikes
'designed to coerce Government', and 'lightning strikes in public utility services' illegal.
The government took strong measures during the year 1929 against the movements which were
developing. Ramananda Chatterjee, Editor of The Modern Review, was arrested for publishing
India in Bondage. Bhagat Singh and Dutt were arrested and sentenced to transportation for life
for throwing a bomb and propaganda leaflets in the Central Legislative Assembly while it was

holding its session. In Calcutta, Subhas Bose and a number of leading Congressmen were
arrested and tried on a political charge.
Bhagat Singh and Dutt, who were in the Lahore jail and had already been sentenced to
transportation for life, while in jail, were further charged with the murder of Mr. Saunders, the
Superintendent of Police of Lahore. The case was known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case in
which Dutt was acquitted and Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were subsequently sentenced
to death.
339
A number of political prisoners including the Lahore Conspiracy Case prisoners and Jatin Das
went on hunger strike to secure better conditions for political prisoners. Jatin Das died at the end
of 64 days' hunger strike. His death created a profound stir among the people.
In Burma, the Rev. Wisaya, who was in prison on a charge of sedition, went on hunger strike to
secure better treatment. After 164 days of the hunger strike he died. The political atmosphere in
the country was growing increasingly tense.
On 31 October, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, issued a statement in which he said: "I am authorized
on behalf of His Majesty's Government to state clearly that in their judgement, it is implicit in
the declaration of 1917 that the natural issue of India's constitutional process, as there
contemplated, is the attainment of Dominion Status."
The Viceroy's statement created a hope of political settlement among the Congress and nonCongress leaders. They met at Delhi and published a Manifesto (the Delhi Manifesto) in which,
among other things, they said: "We hope to be able to tender our co-operation to His Majesty's
Government in their effort to evolve a scheme of Dominion Status suitable to India's needs." To
create conditions for the success of the proposed Round Table Conference, the Manifesto
suggested that "political prisoners should be granted an amnesty" and that the Indian political
parties must have effective representation at the Conference.
The Manifesto was signed by Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mrs. Besant, Sir T. B.
Sapru, and others. It was considered anomalous for Jawaharlal to have signed the Manifesto
since he stood for independence and no compromise. Subsequently, he declared the Manifesto a
political error.
On 23 December 1929 Gandhi and Motilal Nehru representing the Congress, and Jinnah and
Sapru representing the views of other political groups, met the Viceroy at Delhi. Gandhi asked
for an assurance that the Round Table Conference should start its political labours on the basis of
the recognition of full Dominion Status for India. The Viceroy pleaded his inability to give such
assurance. This led to the breakdown of the negotiations.

Complete Independence, Declared Objective

The Congress met at Lahore in a tense political atmosphere. The

340
Lahore Congress defined Swaraj as Complete Independence. It empowered the All-India
Congress Committee to launch Civil disobedience including the non-payment of taxes when it
considered proper.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in his presidential speech, declared himself a socialist and a republican.
"Independence for us means complete freedom from ...British Imperialism." Further, he
remarked: "The real thing is the conquest of power by whatever name it may be called. I do not
think that any form of Dominion Status applicable to India will give us real power."
The Lahore Congress became a prelude to another nationalist mass movement. The Congress
fixed 26 January of every year as Independence Day. It organized the first Independence Day
celebration on 26 January 1930. There were extensive demonstrations and meetings throughout
the country.
Gandhi published in Young India, on 30 January, Eleven Points which constituted a programme
of demands such as total Prohibition, the reduction of ratio to Is. 4d., the reduction of land
revenue at least by 50 per cent, the abolition of salt tax, protective tariff on foreign cloth, the
passage of Coastal Tariff Reservation Bill, and others. He wrote, " ... let the Viceroy satisfy us
with regard to these very simple but vital needs of India. He will then hear no talk of Civil
Disobedience; and the Congress will heartily participate in any Conference..."
The Eleven Points were criticized by the Left nationalists as a modification and reduction of the
demand for independence to that for some reforms. The government, however, did not respond
to the offer.

Civil Disobedience Movement

The Congress Committee met at Sabarmati in February and invested Gandhi 'and those working
with him' with full authority to lead and direct the Civil Disobedience campaign.
Before launching the movement, Gandhi wanted to have full conviction that it would not directly
or indirectly lead to the slightest violence. He was, however, of opinion that if a non-violent
movement was not started, violent movements would break out in the country due to the
impatience of the people for freedom. He expressed this view in his letter to the Viceroy on 2
March 1930: "The party of violence is gaining ground and making itself felt. ... It is my purpose
to set in motion that force (non-violence) as well against the organized violent
341
force of the British rule as the unorganized violent force of the growing party in violence. To sit
still would be to give rein to both the forces above mentioned." This was Gandhi's estimate of the
existing situation.

Finally, Gandhi decided upon launching the struggle. He declared that, in the first stage, he
would restrict the movement only to himself and seventy-nine carefully selected followers who
would break the Salt Law of the government at Dandi of 6 April.
Gandhi and others who contravened the Salt Law were not arrested. It had, however, the effect of
unleashing the forces in the country and precipitating unauthorized actions.
On 9 April, Gandhi formulated a programme for the movement thus: "Let every village fetch or
manufacture contraband salt, sisters should picket liquor shops, opium dens and foreign cloth
dealers' shops. Young and old should ... spin... Foreign cloth should be burnt. Hindus should
eschew untouchability... Let students leave Government schools and colleges and Government
servants resign their service ... and we shall soon find that Puma Swaraj will come knocking at
our doors."76
The Boycott of foreign cloth and liquor enforced by methods of picketing and propaganda met
with success. Students, in considerable numbers, left educational institutions. The Congress
Committees organized meetings in defiance of police ban and firings and lathi charges were
resorted to by the police to break up the banned rallies.
Movements of other types also broke out in the country. A group of revolutionaries raided the
police armoury at Chitagong in April. In May, in Sholapur, there were mass demonstrations
during which clashes between the crowds and the police took place. A number of government
buildings and liquor shops were destroyed. There were police firings which led to large
casualities. Martial law was promulgated and troops were brought to suppress the outbreak.
Most serious developments, however, took place in Peshawar in April. The city witnessed a
number of mass demonstrations during which clashes occurred between the crowds and the
police. An armoured car was burnt by the demonstrators, and due to the police firing which
ensued, a large number of persons were killed and wounded. One significant incident during the
period was that a group of Indian soldiers belonging to the 18th Royal Garhwali Rifles, when
ordered to fire on the crowd, refused to do so. They were subsequently courtmartialled
342
and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Large forces were requisitioned and the city was
finally brought under control.
On 5 May, the authorities arrested Gandhi. The arrest led to hartals, demonstrations and strikes
all over the country. There were disturbances in a number of places. The events at Sholapur
described before were a sequel to Gandhi's arrest.
The government strengthened its measures. It issued a number of ordinances. In June, it
proscribed the Congress and all its branches. Under the Press Ordinance, 67 newspapers and 55
printing presses had been closed down before the end of July.

Repression was intensifying. The number of political prisoners swelled to 90,000 during this
period, according to the estimate of Pattabhi Sitaramayya, the Congress historian. The
government released Gandhi and other members of the Congress Working Committee in January
1931.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact
In March, after considerable negotiations, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was concluded. Under the terms
of Pact the government agreed to stop repression and release political prisoners excluding those
convicted of violent offences. Gandhi, on his side, consented to withdraw the Civil Disobedience
Movement and stood for the participation of the Congress in the Round Table Conference which
would discuss a scheme for a constitution of India of which "Federation is an essential part. So
also are Indian responsibility and reservations or safeguards in the interests of India, for such
matters as, for instance, Defence, External Affairs, the position of Minorities, the financial credit
of India, and the discharge of obligations."
The Left nationalists criticized the agreement and called it a compromise, a deviation from the
objective of Independence for which the struggle was started.
The Karachi Congress, 1931, approved of the agreement. Though disagreeing, Bose and
Jawaharlal Nehru voted for it to preserve national unity.
The congress at this session also passed an important resolution on Fundamental Rights. It
guaranteed civil liberties to every citizen. It stood for the nationalization of key industries and
transport, better conditions of life and labour for the workers, far-reaching agrarian
343
reforms, free and compulsory primary education, universal adult franchise, and other things.
Gandhi soon after sailed for England and attended the Round Table Conference. He made a
number of statements on the Federation Scheme, on the problem of minorities, the army, and the
safeguards and explained the Congress position. He opposed communal electorates and, due to
divergence of views on this question, the Conference broke up and the delegates returned to
India.
The months during which Gandhi was absent were characterized by great agrarian discontent.
The fall in the prices of agricultural commodities due to the agrarian crisis, a part of the world
economic crisis which had broken out in 1929 and was still persisting, had brought about
considerable economic distress among the Indian farmers. In the latter part of 1931, in some
parts of the United Provinces, Gujarat and Burma, sections of agriculturists had refused to pay
rent and tax. The government accused the Congress of encouraging the farmers, thereby of
breaking the terms of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. The Congress, on the other hand, declared that the
government repression had not ceased in spite of the Pact.

Revival of C. D. Movement
Gandhi, soon after his return to India in December, asked Lord Willingdon, the new Viceroy, for
an interview to discuss matters. The latter, however, declined.
The Congress decided to revive the Civil Disobedience Movement when negotiations between
the Congress and the government finally broke down. Gandhi was arrested on 4 January 1932.
The government immediately issued a number of ordinances such as Emergency Powers
Ordinances, the Unlawful Instigation Ordinance, the Prevention of Molestation and Boycotting
Ordinance and the Unlawful Association Ordinance. The Congress organizations were banned.
Practically all Congress leaders were arrested and the arrest of a large number of civil resisters
took place. The government, under the powers provided by the Ordinances, confiscated the
property of a number of organizations and took action against the section of the Press which
supported the struggle. The number of those arrested had reached, according to the estimate of
the Congress, 120,000 in April 1933.
In addition to the Civil Disobedience developments, the year 1932
344
witnessed two other outbreaks, one in Kashmir and the other in Alwar, both native states ruled
by autocratic princes. The revolt of the peasants in the Alwar state had economic roots, being the
outcome of the exorbitant land revenue.
The revolt reached serious dimensions and was put down only with the aid of British troops.
Macdonald, the Prime Minister, announced in July the Communal Award creating separate
electorates for the depressed classes and other minorities. Gandhi who was opposed to any
separate electorate of the depressed classes went on 'a fast unto death'. It resulted in the Poona
Pact which, while maintaining the joint Hindu electorate, reserved seats for the depressed
classes. The number of the reserved seats exceeded that provided by the Award.
Gandhi embarked on another fast in May 1933. The fast was meant as a lever for the spiritual
strengthening of himself and his co-workers so that they might better consecrate themselves to
the cause of the uplift of the Harijans. The fast objectively played the role of diverting the
attention of the people from the political struggle.
The government soon released Gandhi from prison. The Civil Disobedience Movement was
suspended temporarily by the Congress President in the light of the fast and under the advice of
Gandhi.

Lessons of C. D. Movement
The suspension was commented upon by Subhas Bose and Vithalbhai Patel who were in Europe
at the time, in a joint manifesto they issued, thus: "The latest action of Mr. Gandhi in suspending

Civil Disibedience is a confession of failure. ... We are clearly of the opinion that Mr. Gandhi as
a political leader has failed. The time has come for a radical reorganization of the Congress on a
new principle, with a new method, for which, a new leader is essential."77
The Congress, under Gandhi's advice, finally decided to wind-up mass Civil Disobedience in
July.
The All-India Congress Committee officially wound-up Civil Disobedience, mass or individual,
in May 1934. with the exception of Gandhi who was, however, free, if he chose, to practise it.
The government legalized all Congress organizations in June 1934. A number of youth leagues
and other bodies remained, however, illegal.
Gandhi resigned his membership of the Congress soon as a result of
345
sharpening differences between him and a section of the Congressmen.
Before withdrawing from the Congress organization, Gandhi influenced the Congress in
introducing change in its constitution and organizational structure. This was due to the growing
strength of the Left nationalist and socialist forces within the Congress. The number of members
of the Congress provincial committees was diminished and methods of elections to higher
committees changed to the disadvantage of the minority groups. The revision was rightly
criticized by the Leftists as undemocratic.
The Federal Constitution was passed in Parliament in 1935. It was, however, in 1937 that its
scheme of provincial autonomy was put into operation in India.
The Civil Disobedience Movementthe second nationalist mass struggle in the history of Indian
nationalism, ended in 1934. It had a greater mass basis than the movement of 1920-21. It proved
increased political awakening among the Indian people. The masses including the peasants were
drawn into the nationalist struggle to a greater extent. They had also evolved their own
independent political and economic organizations which was not the case in the first movement.
The direction of the movement lay, however, with the bourgeois leadership of the Congress.
The bourgeois leadership headed by Gandhi, consistent with the Gandhian ideology and its class
affiliation, restricted the scope of the nationalist movement. As a rule, it disapproved of the
independent actions of the workers and peasants such as strikes and the nonpayment of rents, etc.
which they organized under their own class leadership and uncompromising political slogans and
which injected vitality and effectiveness into the movement. The fear that these independent
actions might get out of control and seriously jeopardize the Indian vested interests like the
zemindari constantly haunted the bourgeois leaders and determined their attitude to them.*
Further, Gandhi,
* Gandhi supported the existing economic structure of the Indian society based on capitalist
private property and the zemindari and stood for its perpetuation. He did not think that

exploitation was implicit in the existing social relations of production themselves, and the
increased impoverishment of the masses the result of the inevitable working out of the laws
governing the development of the economic structure. He believed that, given enough moral will
among the capitalists and the zemindars, the economic suffering of the masses could be
eliminated.
346
as the publication of his Eleven Points showed, was always animated by a desire for compromise
and settlement.
"I shall be no party to dispossessing the propertied classes of their property without just cause.
My objective is to reach your hearts and convert you so that you may hold all your private
property in trust for your tenants and use it primarily for their welfare. ... the Ram Rajya of my
dream ensures the rights alike of prince and pauper. You may be sure that I shall throw the whole
weight of my influence in preventing a class war. ... Supposing that there is an attempt unjustly
to deprive you of your property you will find me fighting on your side. ... Our Socialism or
Communism should be based on non-violence, and on the harmonious co-operation of labour
and capital, the landlord and tenant." (Gandhi's statement to the U. P. landlords in July, 1934,
published in Maratha, 12 August 1934.)
The failure of the movement engendered a feeling of despondency in the nationalist ranks. The
Congress membership declined to about half a million at the end of 1936.

Limitations of Gandhi and Gandhism

Indian Nationalism found its highest expression in Gandhi. However, as an editorial of New
Perspective observes: "Due to his social origin and all earlier experiences and influences, though
he developed a progressive nationalist outlook, ideologically he could not transcend the
bourgeois limitations of that outlook.
"Subjectively he incarnated the very spirit of nationalism, its profound hatred of foreign
enslavement and heroic will and determination to end that enslavement. The consciousness of
Gandhi, the nationalist of the classical type, was also completely free from even the faintest trace
of provincial particularism or communalism.
"The texture of Gandhi's consciousness was essentially bourgeois and, therefore, his nationalism
was governed by a bourgeois class outlook. What does this signify? It means that his conceptions
of Imperialism, of struggle against Imperialism, of the methods of that struggle, of national
independence, were determined by that class outlook."
The ideology of Gandhi, its political theory, economic doctrine, and ethical views, arose out of
the historical needs of the national bourgeoisie. Since the national bourgeoisie was in objective
opposition to
347

imperialism which did not permit free industrialization and general economic development of the
Indian society, it played a progressive role. Gandhism had therefore a progressive content too.
But the economic dependence of the national bourgeoisie on imperialism, on foreign finance
capital, and further, its economic interlocking with landed interests, compelled it to compromise
with imperialism and feudalism. There was also the perennial fear of the mass movement which
might also challenge native capitalism. This transformed the national bourgeoisie into an antirevolutionary and yet reformist oppositional social force.
Gandhism met both the needs of the national bourgeoisie viz. that of exerting pressure on
imperialism through mass struggle and, second, that of limiting that struggle, diverting it in those
channels which also would make it harmful for Indian propertied classes.
Gandhi felt convinced that a happy prosperous national existence could be built up on the basis
of a capitalist social system. This was due to the class limitation of his world outlook. Indian
capitalism was not a young capitalism with a prosperous future in front of it. It was a feeble part
of the declining world capitalism. It did not have markets and colonies as sources of superprofits. In competitive struggle with giant capitalism of U.S.A., Britain and others, it had little
prospect of success. It lived a precarious existence. It was denied the privilege of giving decent
standards to the working masses since its revenue was limited.
Gandhi, however, due to class inhibition, was unable to grasp this objective historical fact. He
did not realize that the laws of competitive capitalist economy were objective laws. There is no
free will for capitalists. Their practice in the economic fields is dictated to by the exigencies of
competitive economic struggle under capitalism. Class struggle emerges out of the capitalist
social soil.
Gandhi due to his class inhibition could not transcend the bourgeois outlook and therefore was
unable to see the social roots of wars, exploitation and oppression and attributed them to man's
weak ethical nature. Instead of a radical transformation of the social structure as the solution of
the world's ills, he gave the recipe of the "Change of heart" theory as the panacea of those ills.
Not that the social system should be changed but the human heart must experience a fundamental
moral transformation. Instead of working for a programme of substituting socialist social
relations in place of capitalist social relations, he strove
348
for humanizing capitalist social relations, which had intrinsic exploitative essence and character
and could not, therefore, be humanized. He could not discover in the class structure of society
the origin of social ills but in the ethical degradation of man which the capitalist social system
itself engendered.
The bourgeois consciousness of Gandhi should not, however, be confounded or identified with
the sordid consciousness of an ordinary bourgeois. Gandhi was a bourgeois only in the sense that
he sincerely believed in the validity of the existing society based on capitalist property system,
alternative to which he saw social chaos. Gandhi recognized and denounced in burning words the
barbarities of capitalist exploitation but could not transcend his essential bourbeois outlook.

Gandhi loved the masses but also believed in the bourgeois social system. He indefatigably
worked to alleviate the conditions of the masses within the framework of that system, a task
which could not be accomplished because historically speaking, there was no economic basis for
implementing programmes of humanism or reformism in the era of the general decline of the
world capitalist system, especially in a country like India where no prosperous capitalism could
evolve. "There emerges in such a phase the painful spectacle of a noble humanist engaged in
making ineffectual attempts to alleviate the misery of the masses while becoming, at the same
time, a consistent opponent of all attempts of the masses to change the society since he sincerely
believes in the validity and immutability of that social system. The noble humanist, who is
unable to recognize the reactionary nature of the declining social system, becomes the opponent
of a historically needed social transformation."
Though, as stated before, Gandhi was an anti-communalist par excellence and struggled for
achieving Hindu-Muslim unity, in tragic reality, the Hindu-Muslim antagonism, instead of
decreasing, became accentuated from stage to stage.
This was due to his inability to trace the socio-historical genesis of that antagonism. He
discovered its origin "not in the material life processes of Indian society but in the weak ethical
structure of the people. In fact, historically, the communalism of the Muslim masses was the
distorted ugly expression of their large scale economic discontent born of exploitation by
capitalists, landlords, money-lenders and merchants who, in India, happened to be composed
predominantly of Hindus. The economically weak Muslim upper classes, in their struggle
349
against their powerful rivals who happened to be Hindu, gave a communal turn to this class
discontent of the Muslim masses. This was the origin of Muslim communalism."
When such was the genesis of Muslim communalism, the only decisive method to counteract it
was to unite the Indian masses, both Hindu and Muslim, on the basis of their own common
economic interests and lead them against Indian-vested interests, both Hindu and Muslim. Thus
alone, the Muslim communalists could have been isolated from the Muslim masses. "Gandhi
made heroic endeavours to end communalism, for three decades, by means such as passionate
patriotic appeals, noble soundings of man's human depths, frequent fasts and others.
Communalism grew upgrade."
The nationalist movement led by Gandhi and governed by Gandhian ideology thus became a
peculiar blend of bold advances followed by sudden and capricious halts, challenges succeeded
by unwarranted compromises, resulting in uncertainties, confusion and befogging of perspective
of the masses.
This, paradoxically, strengthened the very reactionary tendencies which Gandhi wanted to
eliminate.

Rise of Radical Organizations

From 1936, the nationalist movement took an upward swing. Jawaharlal Nehru, presiding over
the Lucknow Congress, exhorted the delegates to adopt a programme of the united front of all
forces of national freedom. He recommended the affiliation of trade union and peasant
organizations (kisan sabhas which had already sprung up in the country) to the Congress so that
the mass basis of the nationalist movement led by the Congress might be consolidated. The
proposal for collective affiliation was, however, defeated at the Congress but a Mass Contact
Committee was formed.
A number of radical organizations had sprung by this time. Within the Congress; the Socialist
Party on an all-India basis was formed. Outside the Congress, kisan organizations with a
programme of the abolition of landlordism and immediate demands for the reduction of land tax,
rent and debts, had been organized under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand, Professor N. G.
Ranga and Indulal Yagnik. The influence of these forces was reflected in the decisions of the
Lucknow Congress.
350
The Congress, at its Lucknow session in April 1936, decided to participate in the elections which
were to be held in 1937 under the New Constitution. It held its session again in December of the
same year. The Resolution passed declared "its entire rejection of the Government of India Act
of 1935 and the constitution that has been imposed on India against the declared will of the
people." It further said, "The Congress stands for a genuine democratic state. ... Such a state can
only come into existence through a Constituent Assembly, elected by adult suffrage, and having
the power to determine finally the Constitution of the country. To this end the Congress works in
the country and organizes the masses and this objective must ever be kept in view by the
representatives of the Congress in the legislatures..."
The Election Manifesto of the Congress embodied demands for civil liberties and equal rights of
citizens. It also declared that "it stands for a reform of the system of land tenure and revenue and
rent, and an equitable adjustment of the burden on agricultural land, giving immediate relief to
the smaller peasantry by a substantial reduction of agricultural rent and revenue ... and
exempting uneconomic holdings from payment of rent and revenue". The Manifesto also stood
for an inquiry into peasant debts and their substantial reduction.
For the industrial workers the Manifesto announced a programme of a proper standard of living,
hours and conditions of work, and social legislation. It also stood for "the right of workers to
form unions and to strike for the protection of their interests."
The Manifesto also declared that it stood for the abolition of sex inequalities in social, economic,
and all other spheres. It stood for the abolition of untouchability and the uplift of backward
classes.
The Manifesto promised encouragement to khadi and the village industries and protection to the
large industries without prejudicing the interests of the former.

With this programme and the prestige of the Congress which had inaugurated and led great
national movements in the past, the Election Manifesto had a great appeal. The Congress scored
a big victory in the elections. The Congress secured decisive majorities in Bombay, Madras, the
United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa. It emerged as the most powerful party in
Bengal and Assam in the elections.
351

Congress Ministries in Provinces

In March 1937, the All-India Congress Committee decided that the Congress should accept
offices in the provinces where it commanded a majority in the legislature, "provided that
ministership shall not be accepted unless the leader of the Congress Party in the legislature is
satisfied and able to state publicly that the Governor will not use his special powers of
interference or set aside the office of Ministers in regard to their constitutional activities". There
was a minority opposition from the socialists and some Left nationalists to the resolution of
office acceptance.
For some time, interim ministries composed of the members of other parties functioned in the
provinces where the Congress had majorities in the legislatures. The Viceroy announced on 22
June that Governors would generally act so as "not merely not to provoke conflicts with their
Ministers to whatever party their Ministers belong, but to leave nothing undone to avoid or
resolve such conflicts." In light of this declaration, the Congress decided to form ministries.
Congress ministries were soon after formed in Bombay, Madras, Bihar, United Provinces, Orissa
and the Central Provinces. Later on, a Congress ministry was formed in the North-West Frontier
Province since the Congress, with the aid of a number of non-Congress members who agreed to
abide by the Congress discipline, secured a majority support.
The Congress ministries, soon after they were installed released political prisoners. They
legalized a number of organizations which were prohibited. They cancelled internment and
deportation orders imposed on political workers. They returned securities to a number of
newspapers.
Soon after, however, the Congress governments became targets of criticism Of the Left
nationalists, socialists and leaders of labour and peasant movements, for restricting civil liberties
and adopting repressive measures.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act had always been branded by the Congress as an oppressive
piece of legislation. The critics pointed out that the Congress ministry in Madras, with the
support of Rajagopalachari, had been making use of the Act against anti-Hindu agitation. The
critics resented when Gandhi also supported its use. Gandhi wrote in Harijan: "I have never
studied the Act but I see from
352

Rajaji's public declaration that it contains fair sections which suit the new situation that the
Congress is facing. If such is the case, Rajaji will be foolish if he does not make use of them."
Batliwala, a prominent socialist, was banished from Madras.
In Bombay, the Bombay Trade Disputes Act was enacted under the Congress government in
1938. The Act restricted the freedom of strike and laid down rules for the registration of trade
unions which the labour leaders considered advantageous to the unions sponsored by the
employers. The Bombay Provincial Trade Union Congress organized a protest strike. In the
firing by the police that took place, one person was killed and a number of others were wounded.
The Election Manifesto had guaranteed the workers' right to strike and its curtailment by the
Congress government was criticized as a breach of the promise embodied in the Election
Manifesto. The police firing was also condemned.
The Congress government promulgated section 144 and others in Ahmedabad when the workers
went on strike. In Sholapur, a number of labour leaders were arrested on the 'Release of Political
Prisoners Day' when they organized a demonstration. Some of them were subsequently tried and
imprisoned.
The Congress government of the North-West Frontier Province was also criticized for making
use of the Criminal Law Amendment Act when the peasants launched a struggle against the Raja
of Toru.
Swami Sahajanand, the president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, published a pamphlet The Other
Side of the Shield (A Reply to Babu Rajendra Prasad) in which he strongly criticized the
Congress government in Bihar for not implementing the promises made before the elections and
for using repression against the Kisan Movement.
Dr. Menon, Secretary, Indian Civil Liberties Union, stated in 'Civil Liberties Under Provincial
Autonomy' :
"It must however be asserted that the major repressive laws ... still remain on the Statute Books.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act is one such. ...
"The Punjab Government has been the worst sinner in the use of this Act. In 1937, there were 24
prosecutions under this Act in the Punjab. ... Bengal comes next.
"Both these provinces, however, are beaten in sheer numbers, in the use of this Act by the
Congress government of Madras.
"The Bombay government promulgated the C.L.A. Act at
353

Ahmedabad in connexion with the strike in the textile industry in that city. The Act was used at
Sholapur also."
The ministries could not make and implement big programmes of social legislation due to
insufficient finance. Regarding the agriculturists, the Congress government introduced some
measures which, however, were very inadequate. As the statement prefixed to the Bill said, the
Bombay Tenancy Bill of the Congress government, affected only four per cent of the tenants.
Very little was done for the agricultural labourers. The dissatisfaction of the agriculturists was
revealed in the growth of peasant unions in the country and their strong criticism of Congress
governments as not fulfilling their pledges.
The Congress Ministries were also criticized for working the Provincial Autonomy part of the
new Constitution contrary to what was stated in the Election Manifesto. This criticism came
from the Left wing of the Congress.
Another new development after 1935 was the growing political consciousness among the people
of the Indian states. Prajamandals or peoples' organizations developed in a number of those
states. In course of time, the All-India States' Peoples' Conference was organized which
integrated most of these organizations. The programme of these bodies included demands for
civil liberties, representative institutions, the improvement of the conditions of the peasantry, the
abolition of forced labour and the removal of state monopolies. Leaders of the Indian National
Congress like Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru took great and even active interest in the movements
of the people of the states and their organizations.
The Congress met at Haripura in 1938 and passed a resolution which stated the following:
"The Congress reiterates its condemnation of the proposed Federal scheme and calls upon the
Provincial and Local Congress Committees and the people generally, as well as the Provincial
Governments and Ministries, to prevent its inauguration. In the event of an attempt being made
to impose it despite the declared will of the people, such an attempt must be combated in every
way, and the Provincial Governments and Ministries must refuse to co-operate with it. In case
such a contingency arises, the All-India Congress Committee is authorized and directed to
determine the line of action to be pursued in this regard."
354

Rift between Gandhi and Subhas Bose

The cleavage between the Right and Left wings of the Congress was deepening, especially
during the period of Congress ministries.
Subhas Chandra Bose stood for the Congress presidential election in 1939. He forwarded a
programme of a comprehensive country-wide struggle against Federation. He strongly criticized
the policies and the political practices of the Right wing Congress leadership. Bose had the
support of the Socialist Party, the Communists and the radical section of the Congress.

Gandhi supported the candidature of Pattabhi Sitaramayya, a veteran and outstanding Right wing
leader.
Bose was elected by 1,575 against 1,376 votes as the President of the next Congress to be held at
Tripuri. Bose's success was an indication of the rapid growth of radical forces in the Congress as
also of the dissatisfaction grpwing against the policies of the right wing leadership. As a sequel
to Bose's election, twelve out of fifteen members of the Working Committee resigned.
The Tripuri Congress (1939) passed a resolution on the 'National Demand' rejecting the Federal
Scheme. It declared that the Congress would organize a struggle against it if introduced. Another
resolution expressed confidence in Gandhi's leadership and laid down that the President should
nominate the Working Committee consonant with Gandhi's wishes. This resolution gave Gandhi
supreme power.
Bose and Gandhi could not reach an agreement about the formation of the Working Committee.
As a result, Bose resigned. Rajendra Prasad was elected in his place. Bose subsequently formed
the Forward Block.
The All-India Congress Committee met in May and passed a resolution which made the
Congress constitution more rigid, reduced the powers of Provincial Congress Committees to
exercise control over the Congress ministries and prevented the members of the Congress from
starting direct action without the consent of the Congress Committees. This made it impossible
for Congressmen to organize any struggle against the wishes of the official Congress leadership.
The left groups organized protest action against this decision of the Congress dominated by the
Right wing leadership to stifle their freedom of action. Bose was charged with breaking the
discipline of the Congress for this and had to resign his presidentship of the Bengal Provincial
Congress Committee.
355
The Congress had rejected the Federal Scheme and declared its decision to organize a mass
struggle if it was inaugurated. Radical forces were growing within and outside the Congress. The
movements of the workers and the kisans were steadily developing. The democratic and antifeudal struggle of the people of the states was extending. When the country was witnessing these
developments, the World War II broke out.
Due to the exigencies of space as well as due to the fact that the main object of this book is to
portray the social background and the social-genetic causes of the rise of Indian Nationalism and
not to write a complete history of political nationalism, we will conclude our study here.

References
1. Refer W. Roy Smith.
2. Quoted by Buch (2), pp. 14-5.

3. Refer Kaye and Malleson.

4. Joan Beauchamp, p. 35.
5. ibid., p. 35.
6. R. P. Dutt, p. 274.
7. Refer Kaye and Malleson, Wintringham, Dutt and Krishna.
8. Hans Kohn, p. 359.
9. Refer Jawaharlal Nehru, Brailsford, and Chudgar.
10. Karl Marx, p. 55.
11. Temple, p. 78.
12. Refer Thompson and Garratt, p. 492.
13. ibid., p. 493.
14. Refer John Stuart Mill, Hans Kohn.
15. BucH, p. 151.
16. Sir G. Arthur, p. 177.
17. Hans Kohn, p. 360.
18. Sir William Wedderburn, p. 101.
19. R. P. Dutt, p. 279.
20. Quoted by Sir William Wedderburn, p. 77.
21. Quoted in Buch, p. 170.
22. Andrews and Mookerjee, pp. 128-9.
23. Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya, pp. 26-7.
24. Annie Besant, p.7.
356

25. Quoted by Kellock, p. 120.

26. Surendranath Bannerji, pp. 94-5.
27. ibid., pp. 315-16.
28. Congress Presidential Addresses, First Series, pp. 254-5.
29. Congress Presidential Addresses, First Series, pp. 7-8.
30. Pherozshah Mehta quoted by R. P. Dutt, p. 288.
31. R. C. Dutt, p. xviii.
32. Gokhale, pp. 1005-6.
37 Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya, pp. 94-5.
34. ibid., p. 109.
35. ibid., p. 109.
36. Ronaldshay, Vol. II, p. 151.
37. quoted by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, pp. 112-13.
38. Congress Presidential Addresses, Second Series, p. 12.
39. ibid., p.167.
40. Congress Presidential Addresses, First Series, pp. 738-9.
41. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 11.
42. B. C. Pal quoted by Buch (2), p. 103.
43. B. C. Pal, p. 36.
44. Quoted by Buch (2), p. 144.
45. ibid., p. 45.
46. ibid., pp. 145-6.
47. ibid., pp. 127-8.

48. ibid., p. 146.

49. R. P. Dutt, p. 292.
50. Jawaharlal Nehru, pp. 23-4.
51. R. P. Dutt, p. 418.
52. ibid., p. 416.
53. Tilak quoted by Buch (2), p. 28.
54. ibid., p. 29.
55. ibid., p. 34-4.
56. ibid., p. 49.
57. Quoted by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, pp. 164-5.
58. The whole information is mainly based on the Rowlatt Committee's Report.
59. W. Roy smith, pp. 63-4.
60. Refer W. Roy smith, p. 80.
61. Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 280.
62. Young India, 31 December 1919.
63. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 335.
357
64. ibid., p. 331.
65. ibid., p. 331.
66. quoted by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 384.
67. Lord Reading, Telegraphic Correspondence Regarding the Situation in India, Cmd. 1586,
1922.
68. Subhas Bose, p. 90.
69. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, pp. 399-400.

70. Swarajist Statement quoted by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 462.

71. Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
72. Jawaharlal Nehru, p. 459.
73. Quoted Joan Beauchamp, p. 185.
74. Quoted by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 560.
75. Government of India Report, India 1928-9.
76. Gandhi quoted by R. P. dutt, p. 331.
77. Quoted by R. P. Dutt, p. 342.
358

Nineteen Problem of Nationalities and

Minorities
Problem of Nationalities and Minorities in India
THE PROBLEM of nationalities and minorities was one of the outstanding problems of the
Indian nationalist movement.
With the growing political awakening among such nationality groups as the Andhras, the
Malayalis, the Karnatakis, the Maharashtrians, the Baluchis and others, and such minority groups
as the Indian Muslims, the Sikhs, the depressed classes and others, the problem assumed decisive
significance, both from the standpoint of the united national movement for political
independence as also from that of the character of the future state structure of post-independent
India.
The problem of nationalities and minorities was not a unique problem of Indian nationalism.
Such a problem did emerge and demanded solution in the history of a number of modem people
such as the Austrians, the Hungarians, the Russians, and others.
It is not that every modern people was confronted by their historical development with the
problem of nationalities. For instance, such as the English and the French did not have to
confront such a problem on the road to their consolidation as nations and during their subsequent
triumphant and full-fledged existence as nations. In contrast to this, the people of the East
European countries like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Balkans, and others, had to confront
this problem.1 There are specific historical reasons for this distinction.

Genetic Causes of Rise of Nationalities

A survey of the historical development of modern nations reveals the crucial fact that they are
product of the capitalist development of society. The extending process of the capitalist
economic development
359
overcomes the economic, social, and political disunity of a people, unifies them within a single
political and economic system, and welds them into a cohesive nation.
"The closer connexion between different parts of a country, different sections of the population,
arises with modern capitalism. This is a powerful integrating force breaking down the barriers of
feudalism, concentrating large masses in big industrial centres, connecting the countryside with
the town, producing the middle class which becomes in the beginning the main representative of
the new idea of nationality. Therefore the origin of modern nations is closely connected with the
bourgeois-democratic revolutions, which destroyed feudal seclusion and dispersion and for the
first time united vast popular masses in a common struggle with common ideas. In this way the
British nation arose from the revolution of the seventeenth century, the French nation from the
great Revolution of 1789."2 In countries where the process of economic and resultant linguistic
and cultural consolidation of loosely existing peoples into united and compact nations preceded
the establishment of centralized national states, no appreciable problem of nationalities and
minorities emerged. On the contrary, in countries where, due to historical reasons, a centralized
state came into existence before the loose mass of tribes or peoples, whom it governed, was
transmuted into a well knit nation living a common economic life and feeling a common cultural
impulse as a result of the unifying power of the capitalist economic development, the problem of
nationalities and national minorities did arise in the course of historical development.
This historical fact is succinctly summed up and illustrated by Stalin as follows :
Modern nations are a product of a definite epochthe epoch of rising capitalism. The process of
the abolition of feudalism and the development of capitalism was also the process of formation
of peoples into nations. The British, French, Germans, and Italians formed into nations during
the victorious march of capitalism and its triumph over feudal disunity. "Where the formation of
nations on the whole coincided in time with the formation of centralized states, the nations
became invested in a state integument and developed into independent bourgeois national states.
Such was the case with Great Britain
360
(without Ireland), France and Italy. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the formation of
centralized states, accelerated by the exigencies of self-defence (against the invasions of the
Turks, Mongols and others), took place prior to the break up of feudalism, and therefore prior to
the formation of nations. Here as a result, the nations did not and could not develop into national
states, but formed into several mixed multi-national bourgeois states. ... Such are Austria,
Hungary and Russia."3 As a result of further economic and other developments as well as

political, economic and cultural oppression by the dominant nationality, nationality

consciousness grew among the various peoples in the countries of these multi-national states.4
These suppressed, but now economically consolidated and conscious nationalities, occupying
definite territorial zones, started movements for political freedom and even sovereign state
existence.
Similarly minorities, religious (as the Jews) or ethnic, interspersed over the territory of a state,
when they became conscious, started movements with the demand of proper safeguards for
religious freedom, the free development of their language and culture, etc.

Nation and National Minority, their Differences

A nation is distinguished from the national minority by the fact that its members occupy a
definite territory, usually speak one language, above all live a common economic life, and
further have a common psychological structure expressed through its culture.
"A nation is a historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and
psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture."5
The members of a nation may profess different religions but that will not affect their basic
nationhood, because "Religion is not a lasting factor. Petrified religious rites and fading
psychological relics" are modified by "the living social, economic, and cultural environment,"
that surrounds them."6
Thus, the British, though composed of the protestants and the catholics, not to speak of groups of
materialists, agnostics, or theosophists, constitute a nation.
The members of a national minority, such as the Indian Muslims and the depressed classes, are
interspersed over the entire state territory.
361
They are generally united by a common religion or labour under some common specific social
grievance, when democratic conditions do not prevail. However, they do not constitute separate
distinct nations, since all their members do not inhabit a common territory and do not live a
common economic life. In fact, separate portions of them form parts of various nationality
groups which inhabit various territorial zones, speak diverse languages, and have common
economic and even social and cultural life.

Indian Nationalist Movement, its Peculiarities

The process of the transformation of the physically, socially, economically, politically and
culturally disunited Indian people of the ore-British era into a more or less well-knit modern
nation, did not follow the same route as in the case of the English or the French people. Indian
nationalism grew under the conditions of foreign conquest and colonial rule. It was British

capitalism which, by economic and political means, crippled Indian feudalism. It unified India
economically through the introduction of capitalist economic forms, established modern means
of communications so vital for an all-sided development and consolidation of a loose medieval
people into a modern nation, and further, brought the Indian people under the rule of a single
centralized state.7
However, since this transformation of the Indian society was motivated by the interests of
foreign capitalism, and adjusted in character, extent and depth, to the exigencies of these
interests, it remained incomplete and even distorted. While this transformation provided the
objective basis for the rise of the Indian nation out of an inchoate medieval community, its
incomplete character prevented the forging of the Indian people into as compact a nation as the
English or the French.
The national states which came into existence in those European countries as a result of victory
over feudalism, almost abolished all feudal remnants in the social and economic life of their
nations and further, energetically assisted their free and rapid economic and cultural
development. Whereas the British government in India, as we have seen, perpetuated feudal
relics and generally supported the conservative forces in the Indian society, as a social support to
its rule and, furthur, adopted a policy of political counterpoise by introducing
362
such devices as communal electorates, representation of 'interests' in legislatures, and others,
which tended to perpetuate such distinctions and prevent the national consolidation of the Indian
people. The British government also generally subordinated the interests of the Indian economy
to those of the British metropolis thereby obstructing its swift and unfettered development so
vital to accelerate the process of national consolidation. The development of transport and
commerce, the industrialization and growth of cities, and further, the resultant social cohesion
and cultural advance, became limited and even distorted. The British strategy of supporting
communal and other conservative forces in the country, through a policy of counterpoise and
creation of special communal and other interests, accentuated the tendency of anti-national
division.
These were some of the principal reasons why the national consolidation of the Indian people did
not reach the level attained by the English or the French people during the nineteenth century.
The role played by the communalists and other native reactionary groups, nourished in the
backward colonial environs and in the conditions of a thwarted economic and cultural
development, also contributed to this insufficient consummation.
The growth of Indian nationalism was, in fact, the outcome of the increasingly integrating
conscious struggle of the progressive forces within the new Indian society, which came into
existence during the British period, against the restrictions placed upon their free economic,
social political and cultural development, as also of the Indian society as a whole by the British
government supported by native reactionary forces like the princes, the landlords, the
communalists, and others. Indian nationalism thus came into conflict with the rule of British
capitalism supported by Indian feudal remnants and other reactionary forces. This was in contrast

to the nationalism of the English and the French peoples who, dunng the period of their national
democratic struggles, came into conflict with their own indigenous feudal classes. This was one
of the basic peculiarities of Indian nationalism.
Another important peculiarity of the Indian nationalist movement was that, as a movement of a
colonial people living under the subjection of a foreign capitalist nation, it became a mass
movement since 1920 i.e. during the phase of world capitalist decline and the rise of powerful
socialist world movement. The Indian nationalist movement was directed against the same
system of Imperialism against which the
363
socialist movement was also directed.
A third peculiarity of the Indian nationalist movement lay in the fact that within its ranks, the
bourgeoisie, which, in fact, developed the movement to a mass level in later stages, exhibited
compromising tendencies and desired for a settlement with the ruling Imperialism. This was due
to the fact that the Indian bourgeoisie was interlocked with reactionary landlord and
moneylending classes in the country; was dependent, due to its economic weakness, on British
finance capital and was afraid of the growing dimension of the mass movement interpreting it as
a danger to its class interest. This was but logical from the standpoint of the class interest of the
bourgeoisie. Such a spectacle unfolded the perspective of the Indian nationalist movement
culminating into a non-bourgeois victory of the national forces and of a path of socialist
development in the post-independence phase.
Thus, in contrast to the national democratic movements of the English and French peoples
against feudalism in the period of the rise of capitalism, which culminated in the victory of the
bourgeoisie and the establishment of the modern capitalist society in those countries, and
inaugurated an epoch of world capitalist development, the Indian nationalist movement against
British Imperialism, in the period of world capitalist decline, promised to culminate in a nonbourgeois victory and thereby unfold the perspective of a socialist phase of national existence of
the Indian people simultaneous to the advance of the socialist movement in other parts of the
world.

Awakening of Dormant Nationalities

As mentioned before, the problem of nationalities and minorities was one of the outstanding
problems of the Indian nationalist movement. We will see how this problem emerged and came
in the forefront of Indian nationalist politics.
The growth of nationalism in India was an uneven process, both regarding tempo and time,
among different communities and provinces. As previously seen, nationalism grew in India as a
result of the conditions created by the British conquest and rule and the action of the forces
accompanying this. Since this conquest as well as the penetration of new forces did not take
place throughout the country at the same time, the conditions which lead to the rise of political
and national consciousness matured unevenly among different parts and

364
communities. Some provinces and some communities became politically conscious earlier than
others. Consequently, the development of the nationalist movement of the Indian people was
subsequently paralleled by the growth of independent political movements of such socioreligious categories as the Muslims, the Depressed Classes, the Sikhs, and the non-Brahmins,
and of such provincial social groups speaking the same language and having the same culture as
the Andhras, the Malayalis, the Karnatakis, the Tamils, the Kanarese, and Marathas, the Oriyas,
the Gujaratis, the Punjabis, the Sindhis, the Bengalis, the Biharis, and others.
The political awakening of the 'dormant' nationalities which these provincial social groups
represented, reached such a high level in the thirties of the present century that they felt
themselves as distinct entities, as nationalities. It was brought about by a number of factors.
These factors were the further economic development of these provinces which led to the
appreciable growth of the industrial and commercial classes; the increase in the educated class;
and the impact of the great mass Civil Disobedience movement of 1930-4 which brought
sections of the masses of these nationalities for the first time in the orbit of the national
movement, thereby kindling national consciousness among them. Further, rich provincial
literatures, which grew during these years and were the expression of the nationality
consciousness among the intelligentsia of these provinces, and which further voiced the latent
aspirations of these nationalities to live freely as distinct nationalities, played an important role in
making increasing strata of the population nationality-conscious.
The movements of these nationalities were inspired by the urge of self-determination, by their
will to live and develop their life freely as distinct nationalities. These movements were the
product of the specific pressures felt by them of the British rule.
As group awareness developed among these populations, they felt a yearning for a free corporate
life unhampered by the existing provincial divisions which did not correspond to linguistic
groups but were created mainly for administrative convenience in the course of the extending
conquest of the Indian territory by the British. A number of these nationalities like the Biharis,
the Andhras, and the Karnatakis, speaking their own languages and having their own cultures,
demanded the reconstitution of the existing provinces in such a way as would unite them
territorially. For instance, the Andhras wanted to separate
365
Andhra from Madras, the Karnatakis wanted 'Sanyukta' Karnatak separate from Maharashtra.
Similar demands were made by the Biharis, Oriyas, and others.
These awakened nationalities also developed their own languages, increasingly built up their
own literatures, started their own universities, created their own 'national' theatres, and revived
and enriched their own cultures. The Andhras, the Maharashtrians, the Karnatakis, and some
other nationalities, also established their own chambers of commerce. These indicated the growth
of consciousness of these peoples and their desire for integration.

The desires of these peoples for the reconstruction of their own provinces so that they might be
homes of peoples speaking the same languages, having the same cultures, did not conflict with
the conception of a single Indian state. It was a demand for the redistribution of existing
provinces which were primarily created to meet the needs of British administration.
These awakened peoples did not, however, ask for separate sovereign state existence. They did
not demand a political partition of India.
The Indian National Congress had recognized the new development and had adopted the scheme
of the reconstruction of the provinces on a linguistic basis. It had visualized the Indian state of a
free India as a federal state which, while retaining power and control over matters of such vital
importance and common interests as defence, communications, foreign affairs, and others, would
give 'widest autonomy to the provinces'. It also declared that no territorial unit would be
compelled to remain in the Indian Union and would have the right to secede if it so desired.

Two Contradictory Tendencies at Work

There were, however, two tendencies at work in the growing movement of these awakened
nationalities. One was progressive and another reactionary, anti-national and disruptive.
When these nationalities put forth the demands of their territorial amalgamation, of the free use
and the unfettered development of their languages and cultures, and such others, they only
expressed their national democratic yearning for full self-expression and self-development. This
yearning did not conflict with their urge to unite with other nationalities and the rest of India in a
broad national
366
movement for Indian independence. In fact, the new awakening could only strengthen their urge
to unite, on a national scale, with other groups with a view to bringing the moment of the
accomplishment of Indian independence nearer when they could achieve freedom for
unrestrained development of their life's distinct nationalities and in union with the rest of the
Indian people. In fact, this tendency unfolded the perspective of a free Indian nation composed of
varied Indian nationalities, living and developing a rich, complex and multi-sided social and
cultural existence. This tendency was definitely a progressive tendency.
But when the commercial or industrial groups among the awakened nationalities utilized the
nationality consciousness of the masses of those nationalities to incite hatred against their trade
and industrial rivals belonging to other nationalities and provinces, wrongly giving their
sectional interests a national garb, or, when a section of the professional classes of one
nationality roused animosity among the masses of that nationality against the professional classes
of other nationalities or provinces over a struggle for jobs giving their sectional interests a
national disguise, those professional classes and trading and industrial groups were engaged in
disrupting the broad national unity of the Indian people so vital for realizing the aspirations for
freedom and progress of the Indian people as a whole as also those of the many nationalities
comprising the Indian people for free development as distinct nationalities. The inter-provincial

animosities so roused weakened the urge for national unity and united national movement and
prevented the collaboration of all social groups in the country in progressive social, political and
cultural tasks.

Indian Muslims, A National Minority

In addition to the growing movements of the awakened nationalities, there developed, within the
framework of the Indian nationalist movement, movements of such minorities like the Muslims,
the Depressed Classes, the Sikhs, and others.
Judged by the criteria previously enumerated, these social groups were not so many nationalities
since they did not speak the same language, occupied no definite territory, and lived no common
economic life. Far from being nationalities, they were rather socio-religious categories.
367
The most important of these, the Muslims and the Depressed Classes, were dispersed over the
whole country. Their different sections generally spoke the language of the provinces they
inhabited and participated in the economic life of the provincial social groups of which they
formed integral parts. In Malabar, the Muslims (Moplas) even dressed like the Hindus. It was so
in Bengal and a number of other provinces. Often, even their diet was of the provincial pattern.
The Moplas and the Bengali Muslims predominantly ate rice, the staple food of the populations
of those provinces, determined by geographical, economic and historical reasons, while their
religious brethren of the Punjab flourished on a diet of wheat, the staple food of all Punjabis
whether Hindu or Muslim. Common religion was the only bond between the members of these
religious communities. Their vital and daily exchange, social and economic, was with the rest of
the provincial population of which they formed a part.
There were no common economic interests of all Muslims, who numbered about nine crores and
were interspersed practically all over India. Like the Hindus, they were divided into landlords
and princes (nawabs), professional classes, shopkeepers, money-lenders, peasants, and workers.
Like the Hindu community, the Muslim community had a class structure comprising classes with
divergent and even conflicting interests. In fact the live economic reality conspired to disrupt
these supposed monolithic unities by pressing its separate classes to unite with similar classes of
other communities. Common religion could not abolish the vital fact that identical economic
interests propelled the landlords, the capitalists, the workers, or the peasants of separate
communities to unite and endeavour unitedly with their counterpart groups within other
communities to satisfy their specific class interests. The propaganda of communalism could only
retard the historically progressive process of unification on the lines of class division which were
based on the existing economic structure.
Similarly, in the political sphere, the interests of the Indians of all faiths urged them to unite in a
common national movement against the British rule which impeded the economic, social and
cultural development of the Indian society. Further, prompted by their distinct economic and
other sectional interests, some classes of different faiths formed their own political and economic

organizations like the landlords' unions, workers' trade unions and socialist parties, chambers of
commerce, kisan sabhas, and others.
368
Thus, the Indian Muslims, lacking a common territorial basis, language, and economic life,
neither constituted a nation nor, since divided into classes, represented a monolithic social
structure, with common economic and political interests. The landed and bourgeois interests
which dominated the principal organization of the Muslims, the All-India Muslim League, and
sections of their professional classes which were rivals of the Hindu professional classes in the
struggle for posts in the services or seats in legislatures, endeavoured to canalize the political
awakening of the Muslim masses into communal channels; but that could not remove the
fundamental fact mentioned above. Their activity could only retard the process of the growing
national unity of the Indian people and the class unity of the lower strata of the Indian society
which sprang from the reality of the British rule over India and the class structure of the Indian
society.
It must, however, be recognized that the peoples of such provinces as Sind, Baluchistan, the
North-West Frontier and others, which were preponderantly Muslim, bore the characteristics as
distinct nationalities. Each of them had a community of territory, language, culture and economic
life. They belonged to the category of nationalities like the Andhras, the Malayalis, and others,
with the difference that they happened to belong, in the overwhelming mass, to a single religion.
They were nationalities not because they were predominantly Muslims but because each of them
occupied a common territory, spoke a common language, possessed a common culture and lived
a common economic life. They were not parts of any fictitious Indian Muslim nation but distinct
nationality groups, the overwhelming majority of which happened to subscribe to one religion.

Communalism among Muslims, Reasons

The political awakening of the Muslim masses was canalized into the incorrect channel due to a
number of reasons. The professional classes and the bourgeoisie developed within the Muslim
community later than from the Hindu community. The former found the latter already firmly
established in government services, as also in key positions in trade, industry, and finance. They
needed the support of the mass of their community in their struggle with the Hindu rivals for jobs
and industrial and trade interests. They misdescribed this struggle between the sections of the
same classes, as communal, as those between
369
the Hindu community and the Muslim community. They began to gather the support of the
politically awakened Muslim masses among whom national consciousness increasingly
developed as a result of the growing nationalist movement in the country, as also due to their
poverty under the existing system. The upper elements of the Muslim community, composed of
the landlords and sections of the bourgeoisie and the professional classes, tried to give this
growing national and class awakening of the Muslim masses a deformed communal form, with a

view to securing their support to serve their sectional interests as also to prevent a united mass
movement of the poor strata of all communities against the vested interests.
Further, the British strategy of political counterpoise between various communities to maintain
its paramountcy, carried out through the devices of communal representation, communal
electorate and weightage, and schemes of provincial reorganization to suit the Imperialist
interests, helped to accentuate communalism in the country and retard the growth of the national
movement of the united Indian people for freedom.8 That the policy of counterpoise was meant
to strengthen the British paramountcy was recognized by a number of British statesmen as we
will subsequently see.
Communalism was mainly the result of the peculiar development of the Indian social economy
under the British rule, of the uneven economic and cultural development of different
communities, and of the action of the strategy both of the British government and the vested
interests within those communities.

Late Awakening Among Muslims and its Reasons

Since the Indian Muslims, ninety million strong in a population of four hundred million, formed
the most important minority group in India, we will take a brief survey of their political
development and various political movements which grew up among them.
The Wahabi Movement was the first organized movement of the Indian Muslims. Though it
started as a religio-reform movement, it developed, in subsequent stages, a political, social, and
economic content.9
The movement, as described in the chapter on politics, developed an anti-British character and
even spread to a section of the Muslim peasants in Bengal leading to some peasant revolts which
were quelled. The movement died a few years after the Mutiny.
370
The post-Mutiny period was politically and culturally perhaps the darkest period in the history of
the Indian Muslims. Since the Muslims had taken a more prominent part in the Mutiny than the
Hindus, the British government did not trust the Indian Muslims and adopted a policy of
disfavouring them.10
This was the strategy of political counterpoise which Britain employed throughout the period of
her rule in India to maintain her paramountcy. Lord Ellenborough had stated in 1843, even
before the Mutiny, "I cannot close my eyes to the belief that the race (Mahomedans) is
fundamentally hostile to us and our true policy is to reconciliate the Hindus."" Lord Elphinstone,
soon after the suppression of the rising, remarked, " 'Divide et impera' was the old Roman motto,
and it should be ours."12

The Muslims were mostly kept out of the ranks of the army.13 This had a serious effect on the
economic position of the upper class Muslims who had hitherto mainly taken to the military
profession.
The British government introduced the English education in India for administrative and other
purposes which reduced the importance of the Arabic and the Persian, leading to impoverishment
among the Muslim intelligentsia. Their deep resentment against the new policy of the British
government made them disoriented from the new education while the Hindus were joining the
new educational institutions and evolving a new intelligentsia with the knowledge of English.
This resulted not only in the cultural backwardness of the Muslims but also in their exclusion
from the administrative posts and also the legal, the medical and other professions. With the
assimilation of the new education, the new Hindu educated class imbibed western ideas of
democracy and freedom and became the pioneers and leaders of the Indian nationalist
movement.
There was another reason why the Muslim community as a whole developed advanced political
consciousness later than the Hindus. The major portion of the economically, politically and
culturally dominant section of the Muslim community was concentrated in the Northern India
which came under the political domination and the cultural influence of Britain later than other
parts with a predominantly Hindu population. "In Bengal, Bombay, and Madras, the three port
areas, the centres from which British commerce and culture radiated, the bourgeoisie developed
sooner, naturally; and consequently sooner reached the stage of independence. Now it so
happens that those areas are
371
predominantly Hindu (at least in their middle and upper classes) Bengal has masses of Muslims,
but they are peasants and hence unaffected."14 It was first in these predominantly Hindu areas
that the new economic system was established, modern means of transport spread, industrial
cities grew, and new educational institutions were created. The Hindus, who, even in the preBritish period, controlled most of the trade and mostly staffed the revenue department, adapted
themselves to the new regime and utilized the new conditions. They therefore first evolved a
nationalist and socially progressive intelligentsia.

Sir Syed Ahmad and Muslim Akawening

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-98) was the first Muslim leader to organize a movement for uniting
the Muslims and instilling into them a desire for western education and culture. He worked for
the establishment of good relations between the British government and the Indian Muslims. In
his book The Loyal Muhammadens of India, published in 1860, he tried to establish that the
Muslims were basically loyal, that the British government should abandon their attitude of
political suspicion of them and that the Muslims on their part should participate in the
administration and imbibe the progressive new culture which the British had introduced in India.
Sir Syed formulated an educational scheme on the western model for the Indian Muslims. The
scheme combined the western education with the basic teachings of Islam more or less

rationalistically interpreted. With the financial aid of the Muslim middle classes and the support
of the government, he founded the Mahomedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which was
subsequently transformed into a University.
The Muslim middle classes enthusiastically responded to the Aligarh Movement. The Aligarh
College created a modern Muslim intelligentsia which was imbibed with the spirit of political
loyalty to the British government and enthusiasm for the western culture. The college aimed at
making "the Mussulmans of India worthy and useful subjects of the British Crown."15 The
founders of the institution described the British rule in India as "the most wonderful phenomenon
the world has ever seen."16
Sir Syed opposed the Indian National Congress and dissuaded the Muslims from joining it. "I
have undertaken a heavy task against the
372
so-called National Congress and have formed an Association, 'The Indian United Patriotic
Association'."17 He strongly held the view that the British government would show favour to the
Muslim professional classes. "Government will most certainly attend to it (jobs as colonels and
majors in the army) provided you do not give rise to suspicions of disloyalty."18 Sir Syed was
afraid that the Muslims would be overwhelmed by the Hindus with their superior economic
power and greater education, without the support of the British government to the Muslims. He,
therefore, advised a policy of loyalty to the latter and opposed the Congress which adopted a
policy of Liberal criticism of and opposition to the government.
It was after 1885 when the Indian National Congress was started that Sir Syed came into quite
active opposition to the Indian nationalist movement led by the Liberal intelligentsia.
As a member of the Council, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan supported communal against joint
electorates.
The Aligarh Movement started under the leadership of Sir Syed played a significant role in
bringing about awakening among the Muslims, especially among its middle classes. Chirag Ali,
Sayyid Mahdi AH, Mustafa Khan, Khuda Bukhsh, Poet Hali, Nazir Ahmad and Muhammad
Shibli Numani, were the outstanding leaders and exponents of the ideas of this movement. They
exhorted the Muslims to imbibe the western culture, to interpret Quran in rational terms and in
accordance with the needs of the Muslims in the present period and to revise their social system
on more or less modern and democratic lines.19
As a result of the progressive educational work of the Aligarh Movement, an educated middle
class crystallized within the Muslim community which steadily grew to important dimensions by
the end of the nineteenth century.
The years from 1890 to 1905 witnessed great political ferment in India. The factors making for
this ferment have been enumerated in the chapter on politics. The nationalist movement led by

the Congress, as observed earlier, came increasingly under the influence of Extremists like Tilak,
Pal, Lajpat Rai and the Ghose brothers.
The Hindu ideology into which Pal, Ghose and other leaders clothed nationalism in the new
phase could not appeal to the politically conscious Muslim middle classes. But this was only one
of the reasons why they did not participate in the nationalist movement during 1905
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and subsequent years. There were other reasons also. The main weapon of the Congress was the
economic boycott of the British goods. The successful boycott campaign hit the British
capitalists and benefited the Indian industrialists who were preponderantly Hindu. "By 1905
industrialization ... was no longer negligible in India. Yet most middle class Muslims were still
professionals and clerks, not millowners. They had nothing to gain from the use of Indian rather
than foreign goods; in fact the boycott merely raised the prices of things that they bought."20
The Muslims felt that they would be benefiting the Hindu millowners if they practised Swadeshi.
The Partition of Bengal was defended by Lord Curzon as a measure adopted for the convenience
of the administration. The Liberal leaders of the Indian nationalist movement, however, criticised
it as a device to weaken Indian nationalism. The device, they said, created a split within the
politically advanced Bengal population, by creating a predominantly Muslim East Bengal and
Assam as a counterpoise to a predominantly Hindu West Bengal. The division of Bengal 'on
communal lines' was described by the Indian nationalists as a device to gather support of the
backward Muslim community against the politically advanced Hindus.
However, political consciousness was rapidly gathering momentum among the Muslim educated
middle classes by the end of the Nineteenth century. The inability of the administrative
machinery to absorb them began to create among them moods of criticism of the government,
however mild.

Muslim League, its Communal and Upper Class Character

The Muslim League, the first political organization of the Muslims mainly composed of the top
stratum of the Muslim community and its professional classes, was founded in 1906. It was
formed soon after a Muslim deputation led by H. H. the Aga Khan met Lord Minto, at that time
the Viceroy. The Muslim leaders asked for separate representation to the Muslims in any
electoral scheme that might be introduced. The Viceroy acquiesced in the demand and said,
"The pitch of your address ... is a claim that any system of representation whether it affects a
Municipality or a District Board or a Legislative Council, in which it is proposed to introduce or
increase an electoral organization, the Muslim community should be represented as a
community. You point out that
374
in many cases electoral bodies, as now constituted, cannot be expected to return a Muslim
candidate and if by any chance they did so, it would only be at the sacrifice of such candidate's

views to those of a majority opposed to his community, whom he would in no way represent; and
you justly claim that your proposition should be estimated not on your numerical strength, but in
respect to the political importance of the community and the services it has rendered to the
Empire. I am entirely in accord with you."21
Lord Morley held the view that it was Lord Minto's support to the claims of the Muslim leaders
for separate representation that the latter conceived the idea of and formed the first communal
political organization of the Muslims. He wrote to Lord Minto, "I won't follow you again into
our Mahometan dispute. Only I respectfully remind you once more that it was your early speech
about their extra claims that first started the Moslem hare."22
The formation of the Muslim League was a landmark in the political evolution of the Indian
Muslims. It was the first political organization of the Indian Muslims. The League laid down the
following aims: "(1) To promote among Indian Moslems feelings of loyalty towards the British
Government ... (2) to protect the political and other rights of the Indian Moslems and to place
their needs and aspirations before the Government in temperate language; (3) so far as possible,
without prejudice to objects mentioned under (1) and (2) to promote friendly feelings between
Moslems and other communities of India."23
The demands put forth by the League at its Amritsar session held in 1908 revealed its communal
as well as the upper and middle class character. The resolutions passed at the session asked for
Muslim representation on the local boards and Privy Council and percentage in the services. The
League, thereby, expressed the interests and struggle of the Muslim professional classes for jobs
and posts.

British Strategy of "Communities, Classes and Interests"

The Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 introduced the system of separate electorates and
representation for the Indian Muslims. The British government introduced the communal
principle in the constitutional machinery of the Indian state. The principle was, in a subsequent
375
period, extended and applied in the case of such communities as the Sikhs, the Depressed
Classes, and other minority groups in the country. The Government of India Act of 1935
provided separate electorates for a number of communities.
In addition, the British government also created during its rule separate electorates for such noncommunal groups as the landholders, the Europeans, the merchants and the industrialists. The
general electorate was reinforced by separate electorates for 'communities, classes and interests'.
The Indian nationalists strongly criticized the system of separate electorate and representation as
obstructing the growth of national unity and perpetuating communal distinctions. They even
explained it as a deliberate political strategy of Britain to weaken the national unity of the Indian
people.

A number of British statesmen held the view that the policy of counterpoise or balancing one
class or community against another was absolutely vital for the preservation of the British
paramountcy in India. We have already quoted Lord Ellenborough and Mountstuart Elphinstone.
Lord Olivier wrote in 1926: "No one with a close acquaintance with Indian affairs will be
prepared to deny that, on the whole, there is a predominant bias in British officialdom in India in
favour of the Muslim community, partly on the ground of closer sympathy, but more largely as a
make-weight against Hindu nationalism."24
Lord Minto, in his reply to the deputation of the Muslim leaders in 1906, clarified, as we have
previously seen, that the conceding of communal representation to the Muslims would be largely
a reward to them for their services to the Empire. He further remarked in his speech before the
Legislative Council, "... increased representation of Indian interests and communities would not
weaken but strengthen British administration."25
The maintenance of the British paramountcy had been the dominant urge of Britain in India,
which determined its political strategy during the different phases of its rule. Even Liberal
British ideologues and statesmen visualized only a good and not a free government for India. "A
good government to a people cannot but be a free government. Under imperialism a free
government, as James Mill wrote, is "utterly out of question." A free government begins only
with a break with imperialism. Minto wrote to Morley, 16 May 1907: "We cannot
376
move far in that direction (responsible government) and any move we make is merely a sop to
impossible ambitions"."26
A policy of counterpoise became, therefore, necessary and was adopted to maintain the British
paramountcy in India. After the Mutiny, the princes and the zemindars served as a counterpoise.
Lord Lytton desired to base the British rule on the support of an Indian aristocratic class. Lord
Dufferin considered the liberal intelligentsia which developed in India as a make-weight against
the growing forces of mass revolt and helped them to found the Indian National Congress, a
platform for constitutional agitation. He, however, soon felt the Congress going 'seditious'. Minto
found in the rising Muslim professional classes a counterpoise against the militant nationalist
composed mainly of the Hindu professional classes and the middle classes of the Indian National
Congress.

Its Criticism
As the Depressed Classes, the Sikhs, and other minority groups, developed political
consciousness, in the reform schemes which were formulated they were given special electorates
and representation and other rights and advantages. This led to the conciliation of the newly
arisen politically conscious groups which also therefore could serve as a counterpoise to the
growing nationalist mass movement. K. B. Krishna described this phenomenon thus:

"The British created artificially several classes. The moment these classes came into existence
the struggle between them began. The British gave an impetus and a legal acceleration to the
struggles. Princes, territorial magnates, industrial classes and Moslems were brought into play to
counteract the claims of the lawyers, schoolmasters, students and other middle classes. ... Lord
Lytton and Curzon spoke of a council of notables as a suitable counterpoise to "the claims of the
Baboos, whose organization was the Congress". Both Minto and Morley openly used this idea of
counterpoise in their letters and circulars. Today the new constitution for India rests on a perfect
equipoise of counterpoising policies."27 The same author also remarked:
"The Indian Mutiny provided the basis for a new type of imperialism. By this I mean that the
British policy in India since the Mutiny,
377
has been a combination of liberal and imperialist policies. The policy of counterpoise is one
aspect of such a new imperialism. It is both liberal and imperialist: liberal in that it recognizes
and concedes the claims of the classes as they arise, and imperialist in the sense that what is
conceded is always circumscribed by imperial interests utilizing the rivalries of various classes
and interests."28
And further, "The main theoretical idea of this policy is the "principle of communities, classes
and interests" .... From the beginning, this idea has nothing to do with formal democracy. It is
solely concerned with a balance of interests, classes, and certain religious adherents
(communities), as each interest and class clamoured for power."29 And further,
"(1) The classification adopted by the Government of India is unscientific, full of cross-divisions,
ignoring the real nationalities, or historical communities. ...
"(3) This principle created a school of Indian moderate politics.
"(4) It led to an artificial crop of associations, interests, and classes on purely religious lines.
After the Moslems, the Sikhs, the Indian Christians, the Anglo-Indians, the Untouchables, and so
on, followed....
" ... the real object of communal electorates was to set up a Moslem professional class as a
counterpoise against the Hindu professional class, after creating landed, merchant and
commercial limited electorates which returned their respective classes. Herein lies the origins of
the theory of communal representation."30
The author described the basic British policy in India as "the amalgam of coercion, counterpoise,
concession, and strengthening of para-mountcy."31
Even the concessions which were given were generally made with a view to preserving the
British rule in India ... "However, liberal may be the concessions which have been made, and
which at any future time be made, we have not the slightest intention of abandoning our Indian
possessions, and it is highly improbable that any such intention will be entertained by our

posterity."32 Reforms and concessions granted to specific social groups composing a people
have the tendency to divide them and retard the growth of a united movement. The MorleyMinto Reforms, the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, and the Constitution evolved by the
Government of India Act of 1935, which gave special representation to an increasing number of
minority groups and interests in the country, created dissensions among several of these
378
groups, in spite of the fact that the nationalist movement had been increasingly getting strong as
a result of the political awakening of the lower strata of the Indian society.

Growing Militancy Among Muslims after 1912

Political consciousness steadily grew among the Indian Muslims and from 1912 onwards, it even
began to take a militant form. The Muslim middle classes developed increasing political maturity
in the years immediately preceding the First World War. The national democratic Young Turk
Movement led by Enver Pasha, also greatly influenced the Indian Muslims in the direction of a
programme of self-government for India, which was subsequently adopted by the League in
1913. The Muslims now steadily began to be drawn into the orbit of the nationalist movement.
"What happened in the period beginning just before the First World War, was that the new
middle classes among the Muslims ... who were educated and vocal ... outgrew their dependent
position within the imperial system, and began also to express their dissatisfaction."33
Dr. Ansari, Abdul Kalam Azad, Maulana Mahomed Ali and Hakim Ajmal Khan, were the
outstanding leaders of the Muslims during this new and higher phase of their political
awakening. In 1912, Azad started Al Hilal and Mahomed Ali founded and edited the English
paper Comrade and the Urdu paper Hamdard. These papers deepened the political consciousness
of the Muslims and imbued them with a nationalist spirit. The Muslim League at its Lucknow
session in 1913 adopted the goal of "attainment, under the aegis of the British Crown, of SelfGovernment suited to India."
After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the British government took strong measures
against political leaders and groups among the Muslims whose activities it considered
detrimental to the efficient conduct of the war. They banned Al Hilal, Comrade and Hamdard,
and interned the Muslim leaders like Mahomed Ali, Shaukat Ali, Maulana Azad, and Hazrat
Mohani, in 1915.
Both the League and the Congress held their respective session at Lucknow. The League session
was attended by prominent Congress leaders Pandit Malaviya, Gandhi and others. H. H. the Aga
Khan disapproved of the new nationalist orientation of the League and resigned the office of the
permanent presidentship of the league soon
379
after. This was an indication that the League was being politically radicalized.

In Chapter 18, we have referred to the Lucknow Pact concluded between the League and the
Congress in 1916. This was the first instance of collaboration between the two organizations.
The Pact provided greater weightage with separate electorates to the Muslims in zones where
they constituted a minority and demanded from the British government "that a definite step
should be taken towards Self-Government by granting the Reforms contained in the Scheme"
and further, "that in the reconstruction of the Empire, India shall be lifted from the position of a
dependency to that of an equal partner in the Empire with the Self-Governing Dominions."
The League with the Muslim middle classes as its predominant social basis was steadily
orienting towards nationalist conceptions and aims though on its own communal basis. At its
session held at Delhi in 1918, the League passed a resolution demanding the application of the
principle of self-determination to India.

Khilafat and Hijrat Movements

The genesis and the history of the Khilafat agitation and movement has been narrated in the
chapter on politics. The Khilafat Conference was soon formed by the Muslim leaders with the
active support of Gandhi and other prominent Congress leaders. The Conference decided to start
a struggle against what was described as the Khilafat wrong and adopted the programme of the
Boycott of British goods and Non-Co-operation with the government. Gandhi and the Indian
National Congress enthusiastically supported the Khilafat Conference and the League in their
demands for the restoration of the Holy Lands, Ottoman Thrace, and Smyrna to Turkey.
The ulema or the Muslim Divines formed their organization, Jamiat-ul-Ulema, in 1919. It
declared its support to the demands of the Khilafat Conference. It exhorted the Indian Muslims to
participate in the Non-Co-operation Movement, the first nationalist mass struggle in India which
was started by the Congress with the support of the Khilafat Conference and which had for its
aim the redressing of the injustices of the Treaty of Sevres, the withdrawal of repressive
measures of the government in the Punjab and other parts of the country, and 'the establishment
of Swaraj.'
380
The history of the Non-Co-operation Movement, during its various phases, has been narrated in
Chapter 18. The Muslims in great numbers responded to the call of their leaders and participated
in the movement.
"One noticeable feature of the general excitement was the unprecedented fraternization between
the Hindus and the Moslems."34
Mahomed Ali, Shaukat Ali and a number of other Muslim leaders, were imprisoned in the course
of the movement. Hundreds of Muslim volunteers were imprisoned for refusing to obey the ban
put on their organization by the government. The Muslims participated in the movement in all its
phases.

A section of the Muslims of Sindh and the North-West Frontier organized a Hijrat Movement.
As a protest against the Treaty of Sevres, they decided to leave India and migrate to and domicile
in Afghanistan. The Afghan government, however, refused them admission. The movement
proved abortive. The Mopla Rebellion which broke out in 1921 was considered by the
government as an indirect consequence of the propaganda of the Khilafat leaders who exhorted
the Moplas to join the Non-Co-operation Movement.
The Mopla rebellion illustrates how a predominantly economic struggle between the peasants
and landlords assumes a communal complexion when these classes belong to different religions.
"The Mopla Rebellion was in the main a movement of Moplas against the Hindu moneylenders
and landlords, and against the government. A leaflet issued by the Madras Publicity Bureau
analyses the problem thus: ".... there are two sets of causes predisposing the Mopla to outrage.
The religious motive is the more powerful, but there is also the effect of the economic contrast
between the hard living of the Mopla and the life of the stately houses belonging to the
Nambudri landlords...."35
Maulana Hazrat Mohani, presiding over the session of the Muslim League at Ahmedabad in
1921, said in his presidential speech: "The Musalmans should realize that by establishing the
Republic of India, their gain will be twofold: firstly, as citizens of a democratic Republic they
will enjoy equal rights and receive the same benefits as others, and secondly, by curtailing the
British sphere of influence, they will give the Islamic world the respite needed for the
development of constructive activities."36
When Mohani brought the proposal of replacing the aim of the Indian National Congress of SelfGovernment by that of the establishment
381
of the Indian Republic at the Congress session held at Ahmedabad at the same time, Gandhi who
disagreed sharply rebuked him for his 'levity'. The proposal of Mohani was rejected by the
Congress.
After the Chauri Chaura incident, the Working Committee of the Congress led by Gandhi called
off the Non-Co-operation Movement.
The Non-Co-operation Movement had a great historical significance from the standpoint of the
evolution of the political consciousness of the Indian Muslims. It revealed that the political
consciousness which was formerly restricted to the aristocratic and upper middle strata of the
Muslim community had grown among a section of the Muslim masses also. It is true that the
Khilafat issue was a religious issue, but, linked up with the struggle for Swaraj, it had the effect
of raising the national consciousness of the Muslims. Also, for the first time, large sections of the
Hindus and the Muslims collaborated for a national goal, the goal of Self-Government for India.
They participated in various forms of direct action decided upon by the united leadership of the
Congress and political Muslim organizations. The struggle was also no longer merely over the
distribution of seats in the legislative councils or posts in the public services.

The calling off of the movement by Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee created a
feeling of despondency among the people. The deposition of Mahomed VI as Sultan and Khaliph
and the installing of 'abd al Majid in his place as Khaliph only by the Turkish people in 1922,
accentuated this feeling among the Indian Muslims. History played a cruel joke on the Indian
Muslims. While they had started a struggle, one of the main aims of which was the restoration of
the Holy Lands to the Sultan of Turkey who was also the spiritual head of the world Muslims,
the Turkish people themselves secularized the Turkish state by separating religion from state.
After the end of the Non-Co-operation Movement, the Hindu-Muslim unity, which was
appreciably built up, began to disintegrate. The national unity increasingly began to give way to
communal hostility and division. A series of communal riots broke out in the post-Non-Cooperation period, that in Kohat being the most serious.
Jawaharlal Nehru explained the political demoralization which ensued after 1922 in the
following words: "It is possible that this sudden bottling up of a great movement" (Nehru refers
to the Bardoli decision calling off the Non-Co-operation Movement) "contributed to a tragic
development in the country. The drift to sporadic and futile
382
violence in the political struggle was stopped, but the suppressed violence had to find a way out,
and in the following years this perhaps aggravated the communal trouble."37
Perhaps it is not true that the 'suppressed violence' was the cause of the eruption of the
'communal trouble'. The outbreak of communalism was probably due to the twofold fact that the
national consciousness had not still struck deep roots especially among the backward Muslims
and secondly, the nationalist leaders failed to give an appropriate programme after the end of the
Non-Co-operation Movement. The non-political constructive programme formulated by Gandhi
comprising items like prohibition, spinning and the liquidation of untouchability, could not be
popular with the Muslim masses. The communal propaganda very likely achieved a certain
amount of success due to the failure of the Congress, the leader of the nationalist movement, to
evolve an appropriate political, social and economic programme for the Indian people.
There was another reason why the Muslims increasingly began to disorient themselves from
nationalism and develop a communal outlook.
Though the Indian National Congress had been non-communal secular national organization of
the Indian people having national freedom for its goal, its outstanding leaders like Gandhi
sometimes attempted to inject Hindu religious ideas into the nationalist movement. Gandhi, for
instance, interpreted Swaraj as Ram Raj, a historical memory which could not enthuse the
Muslims. The foisting of some Hindu religious ideas on the secular movement of the Indian
people for political freedom only tended to create a suspicion in the minds of the Muslims that
the nationalist movement started by the Congress was a Hindu movement. As R. P. Dutt
remarks: "The political, social, and economic programme of the national movement should and
can unite the masses of the Indian people above, across and apart from religious affiliations.

Such a strengthened, secularized, modernized, united democratic movement can be the strongest
force at the present stage to counter communal agitation."38

Communalism, its Real Essence

Communalism was only the disguised expression of the struggle between the vested interests
belonging to different faiths who gave a
383
communal form to that struggle. It also was the form within which the struggle of the
professional classes of different communities over posts and seats was carried on. One of the
most effective methods to combat communalism was to unite the lower strata of different
communities in a movement for securing their common economic and other interests.
The masses belonging to the Hindu and Muslims communities had common political and
economic interests. The distribution of seats in the legislative councils or posts in the public
services did not affect them. A programme, based on their common interests, political and
economic, could enthuse and unite them. In proportion that they engaged themselves in the
movement for fulfilling such a programme of common interests, communal appeals lost their
force and the national unity was built up.
"The communal question has no reference to religious issues. They refer to spoils and
percentages, seats and favours. The communal question is in general a question of struggle
between various sections of the professional classes belonging to different faiths.
"The memorandum of the Government of Bombay to the Indian Statutory Commission put it
thus: "Something is also due to the growth of education among Mohammedans ... with the
growth of political consciousness among the Mohammedans and other backward classes came a
realization of their weakness, through, among other causes, the disproportionate share of
appointments held in the public services by the advanced classes and the status and influence that
go with them." Here the Bombay Government recognized in the communal question the struggle
between the backward and advanced classes for posts and emoluments."39 There were other
types of struggles which, though mainly economic in origin, took a communal form. In provinces
like Bengal, due to historical reasons, it happened that the peasantry was predominantly Muslim,
while the landlords were mainly Hindu. Due to the cultural backwardness of the peasantry it was
not difficult for the communalists to misrepresent any real economic conflict between the
Muslim tenants and the Hindu landlords as a communal conflict and subsequently even convert it
into a communal conflict. Similarly, conflicts between moneylenders who were often Hindus and
the Muslim debtors were sometimes misrepresented as the oppression of the Muslims by
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the Hindus and given a communal turn by the communalists. The landlord-tenant and
moneylender-debtor conflicts were misdescribed as communal conflicts. Thus the political and

economic struggle between the classes of different communities were given a communal form by
the communalists.
These various struggles were classified by K. B. Krishna in his book, The Problem of Minorities,
as follows:
" 1. There is the struggle between the professional classes of different faiths and communities.
The Moslem, Sikh, Indian Christian, Anglo-Indian, Untouchable professional classes are unequal
educationally, politically and economically compared with the Hindu professional classes. The
reforms and political ambitions increased this rivalry between these classes. The struggle has
taken the name of the problem of minorities or the problem of communal electorates.
"2. The struggle is spread also to the commercial, industrial and shopkeeping-trading classes of
different faiths and communities. The rivalry between the Hindu and Moslem shopkeepers
always comes into prominence during their respective holidays, and during the Civil
Disobedience Movement. The rivalry between the Hindu moneylender and the Moslem
borrower, between the Hindu landlord and the Moslem tenant, between the Hindu and Moslem
moneylenders and between the Hindu and Moslem landlords comes under this category. "3.
Lastly, there are the struggles between the conservative classes of different faiths arising from
backwardness, illiteracy, sometimes from the machinations of rival politicians, mob frenzy and
all the social contradictions of the society. "These struggles arising from the social economy of
the country, are accelerated in an epoch of the development of Indian capitalism under feudal
conditions, by British imperialism, by its policy of counterpoise."40
The political movement of the Muslim community declined after the end of Non-Co-operation.
The Muslim League became again an organization of the Muslim conservatives. It failed to give
any progressive political lead to that community. The League included a small group of
nationalist Muslims within it.
The appointment of the Simon Commission composed exclusively of the non-Indians created
almost universal resentment among the
385
Indian people. All political parties decided upon its boycott. Even the League which was
practically led by the Muslim conservatives could not be unanimous on the question of cooperation with it. The League consequently split. One section led by Sir Mahommad Shafi,
Malik Firoz Khan Noon, and Sir Mohammad Iqbal, met at Lahore under the presidentship of Sir
Mahommad Shafi. It passed a resolution welcoming the Commission.
The other section of the League held its conference at Calcutta under the presidentship of Jinnah.
It passed a resolution boycotting the Commission.
The Indian National Congress had published the Nehru Committee Report which outlined the
basic features of a constitution of India (see Chapter 18). The Committee recommended a
scheme of joint electorate with reservation of seats, the separation of Sind, and the elevation of

Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province to the status of other provinces. It condemned
the scheme of separate electorates. Further, it decided that the reservation of seats, both in the
Central and Provincial Legislatures, should be determined by the proportion of the Muslims to
the total population.41 The League, through Jinnah, its accredited leader, asked the Congress to
introduce a number of amendments to the Nehru Constitution, one of the amendments being that
one-third of the seats in the Central Legislature be reserved for the Muslim community. The
Congress refused to agree to the proposed amendments and the prospect of an alliance between
the Congress and the League for a joint struggle vanished.

Fourteen Points of Jinnah

Jinnah thereafter in 1929 published his famous Fourteen Points which became the basis of the
propaganda campaign of the League subsequently. The proposals embodied in the Fourteen
Points ran counter to the most important suggestions made in the Nehru Committee Report and
included among others the establishment of a federal state with the residuary powers vested in
the provinces, the Muslim representation in the Central Legislature to be not less than one-third,
separate electorates, and the inclusion of one-third Muslim Ministers in any Central or Provincial
cabinet which might be formed.
Soon after, a split took place between the nationalist Muslims and the conservative section
within the League. The former desired to
386
support the Nehru Report with minor modifications. They formed the Nationalist Muslim Party.
The history of the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-4 has been narrated in Chapter 18. The
nationalist Muslims enthusiastically participated in it. The Aga Khan unofficially represented the
League at the Round Table Conference. In the absence of agreement among the Indian groups at
the Conference over the communal question, Ramsay MacDonald, the British Premier,
announced the Communal Award.
After 1933, the Muslim League began to reorganize and consolidate itself under the leadership of
Jinnah. It elected him as its president and decided upon a programme of intensified political
activity.
The League at its session in Bombay in 1936 condemned and rejected the Federal Scheme
embodied in the Government of India Act, 1935, for not meeting the demand of the selfgovernment of the people.
As a result of its great successes in the elections held in 1937, the Congress was able to form
governments in a number of provinces. Jinnah and other Muslim leaders declared their
dissatisfaction with the Congress Governments. They accused them of being hostile to the
Muslim interests and of favouring the Hindus.

Jinnah's Criticism of Congress Governments

Jinnah, in his presidential address at the Lucknow session of the League held in 1937, remarked:
"The present leadership of the Congress, especially during the last ten years, has been
responsible for alienating the Mussalmans of India more and more by pursuing a policy which is
exclusively Hindu, and since they have formed governments in six provinces where they are in
majority, they have by their words, deeds and programme shown that the Mussalmans cannot
expect any justice or fair play at their hands. On the very threshold of what little power and
responsibility is given, the majority community have clearly shown their hand that Hindustan is
for the Hindus."42
The Congress might have erred in not forming composite Coalition governments in the provinces
comprising both the Congressmen and the Leaguers, thus creating the impression that it aimed at
the monopoly of power. Its Vidya Mandir scheme might have a Hindu flavour. There might even
have been instances of conscious or unconscious
387
favour being shown to some individual Hindus by some Congress ministers. Even the social and
economic programme of the Congress governments might have fallen and did fall short of the
expectation of the Indian masses. They might have, in contravention of their preelection
declaration, even made use of such laws as the Criminal Law Amendment Act, endorsed firing at
the strikers, and even enacted the Bombay Trade Disputes Act limiting the democratic freedom
of the workers to strike. But the League's claim that the Congress governments pursued a
deliberate policy of suppressing the Muslim community and establishing the Hindu hegemony
over it was travesty of fact, a total untruth.
The failure of the Congress governments, reflecting mainly the interests of the Indian
bourgeoisie, to satisfy the economic and other demands of the poor strata of the Indian society, in
spite of minor reforms, helped the communalist League leaders to antagonize sections of the
Muslim masses against the Congress and win them for the League. Since the majority of the
capitalists and zemindars were by religion Hindu, the League leaders could with some success
decoy the poor Muslims into concluding that the Congress leadership which incidentally
happened to be predominantly Hindu deliberately stabilized the exploitation from which they had
been suffering at the hands of the Hindu landlords and industrialists out of a communal motive.
Class economic discontent and resentment of the Muslim masses were, through communal
propaganda, canalized in communal channels and transformed into communal antagonism.
The League intensified its anti-Congress campaign at all its subsequently held sessions. It also
maintained its propaganda against the proposal of the Congress for a Constituent Assembly
elected by universal adult suffrage with separate electorates for the Muslims, on the ground that
such a Constituent Assembly in a preponderantly Hindu India would be dominated by the Hindu
majority.

Muslim League Demands Pakistan

The League was now steadily advancing from its previous demands of separate electorates and
special weightages to the final full-fledged demand for Pakistan or the splitting up of India into a
sovereign Muslim state and a sovereign Hindu state. The political-ideological basis for the latter
demand, which it declared at its Lahore session in
387
1940, was the two-nation theory according to which the Muslimsa socio-religious category
dispersed all over Indiawere a distinct nation. This conception of a nation was different from
others such as the one which defined a nation as a historically evolved community of people
speaking a single language, living a common economic life, occupying a definite territory, and
with a common psychological makeup and culture.
The outbreak of the war in 1939 transformed the Indian political situation. The Indian National
Congress resented Britain's action in committing India to war without the consent of the Indian
people. Under its instruction, the Congress ministries resigned in the Provinces.
The Muslim League expressed its jubilation at the resignation of the Congress ministries by
observing a 'Day of Deliverance'.
The All-India Muslim League held its session at Lahore in 1940. It was at this session that the
resolution embodying the demand of Pakistan or the establishment of sovereign states of the
Muslims on the basis of the two-nation theory, was adopted. The resolution stated as follows:
"Resolved that it is the considered view of this session of the All-India Muslim League that no
constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is
designed on the following basic principle, viz., that geographically contiguous units are
demarcated in regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may
be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the Northwestern and Eastern Zones of India should be grouped to constitute "Independent States" in
which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign. "That adequate, effective and
mandatory- safeguards should be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in these
units and in these regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political,
administrative and other rights and interests in consultation with them; and in other parts of India
where the Mussalmans are in a minority, adequate effective and mandatory safeguards shall be
specifically provided in the constitution for them and other minorities for the protection of the
religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights and interests in
consultation with them.
389
"This session further authorizes the Working Committee to frame a scheme of constitution in
accordance with these basic principles, providing for the assumption finally by the respective
regions of all powers such as defence, external affairs, communications, customs and such other

matters as may be necessary." The League held its session at Madras in 1941 when Jinnah in his
presidential address remarked: "We do not want, under any circumstances, a constitution of an
all-India character with one Government at the Centre. ... We are determined to establish the
status of an independent nation and an independent state in this sub-continent."

Other Muslim Organizations

Before describing the attitude and views of other political groups and organizations in the
country such as the Congress, the Liberals, the Depressed Classes, and others, regarding the
Pakistan scheme of the League, we will briefly refer to some other Muslim political
organizations, which sprang up from 1928 onwards and which embodied the growing political
and national awakening of the Indian Muslims.
Abdul Gaffar Khan founded in 1930 the Khudai Khidmatgars, a nationalist pro-Congress
organization of the politically awakened Muslims of the North-West Frontier Province. It
organized a no-rent campaign of a section of the peasantry of the province during the period of
the Civil Disobedience Movement. The organization stood for national independence to be
achieved by the Gandhian methodology of struggle.
In Baluchistan, the nationalist Muslims were organized in the pro-Congress Watan Party. The
All-India Momin Conference was another political organization of the Indian Muslims, mainly
composed of the Muslim weavers. It generally supported the Indian National Congress and was
anti-League and anti-Pakistan.43
The Ahrar Party was founded in 1930 in the Punjab by a group of Muslim nationalist leaders. For
some time, it won great political influence among the Muslim masses of the province. The
Ahrars participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-34 as also in the Satyagraha
movement launched by the Congress in 1940.
The All-India Shia Political Conference was the political organization of the Indian Shias. The
Conference generally supported the Indian National Congress.
390
In Bengal, the Krishak Praja Party led by Fazlul Huq, an effective demagogue and a 'quickchange' political artist, gathered extensive support among the Muslim peasantry with a
programme of 'agrarian revolution but through parliamentary and constitutional means'. The fact
that in Bengal the zemindars were preponderantly Hindu and the peasantry Muslim, helped the
Party to secure a broad mass basis among the latter. Under the leadership of Huq, the Party
exhibited sometimes communalist and sometimes nationalist tendencies.
The Khaksar Party founded by Allama Mashriqi in 1931 was another important organization of
the Indian Muslims. The Khaksar Movement was based on the religious ideology of early Islam.
The Khaksars considered themselves as militant fighters for the regeneration of modern Islam
and elevation of the moral tone of the Muslim society which had become corrupt. The movement

claimed to represent the poor strata of society. It exhorted its members to live a puritanical life
and devote themselves to social service.
The Khaksar Party was built on the basis of almost military discipline. It demanded from its
members implicit obedience to the leader. The Party sometimes even dreamt of world conquest.
"Our aim is to be once again Kings, Rulers, World Conquerors and Supreme Masters on
earth."44 This gave the Khaksar movement a strong fascist flavour. The movement gained
greatest strength in the Punjab, the United Provinces and Sind. It spread in some centres of South
India also.
The Azad Muslim Conference formed under the presidentship of Allah Bux in 1940 was a
synthetic group evolved out of the nationalist Muslims within the Indian National Congress,
Jamyat-al-ulema, the Ahrar Party, and other nationalist Muslim concentrations. It was opposed to
the Muslim League'.'; demand for Pakistan and supported the Congress demand for the
reconstruction of the existing provinces on a linguistic basis and for granting those provinces
"right of self-determination to the point of secession but in the context of Indian freedom."45

History of Idea of Pakistan

Having referred to the principal Muslim organizations in the country, we will proceed to state the
various views about the scheme of Pakistan adopted by the Muslim League and the theory on
which it was based, namely the theory that the Indian Muslims constituted a
391
separate nation. Common religion was the basic criterion on which the theory was founded.
Jinnah traced the origin of the idea of Pakistan to Iqbal, the great Muslim poet.
"The idea of Pakistan, it is well known, originated in the brain of the late Hazrat Allma Iqbal. He
was the mouthpiece of the highest aspirations of his people."46
Iqbal had said in his presidential address to the Muslim League in 1930 thus: "I would like to see
the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan, amalgamated into a single
state. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of
a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the
Muslims at least the North-West India."47
It was, however, only after the promulgation of the New Constitution and the establishment of
the Congress governments in a number of provinces that the conception of Pakistan drew the
attention of the Muslim political groups.
In his presidential address to the Lahore session of the League in 1940, Jinnah declared that the
Indian Muslims were not merely a religious community but formed a distinct nation. "The
problem in India is not of an inter-communal character, but manifestly of an international one,
and it must be treated as such. So long as this basic and fundamental truth is not realized, any

constitution that may be built will result in disaster. ... If the British government are really in
earnest and sincere to secure peace and happiness of the people of this sub-continent, the only
course open to us all is to allow the major nations separate homelands by dividing India into
'autonomous national states'."48
Jinnah further declared that the Hindus and the Muslims were not and could not be welded into a
single Indian nation. He argued:
"It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of
Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word but are, in fact,
different and distinct social orders and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve
a common nationality. ... The Hindus and Muslims have two different religious philosophies,
social customs, literatures. They neither intermarry, nor interdine together and, indeed, they
belong to two different civilizations
392
which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspects on life and of life are
different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans derive their inspiration from different
sources of history. They have different epics, their heroes are different... very often the hero of
one is a foe of the other and likewise their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two
such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must
lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built for the
government of such a state. ...
"Muslim India cannot accept any constitution which must necessarily result in a Hindu majority
government. Hindus and Muslims brought together under a democratic system forced upon the
minorities can only mean Hindu Raj. Democracy of the kind with which the Congress High
Command is enamoured would mean the complete destruction of what is most precious in Islam.
... "Mussalmans are a nation according to any definition of a nation and they must have their
homelands, their territory and their state. ... We wish our people to develop to the fullest our
spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in
consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people."49
The above comprehensive extract from Jinnah's presidential address at the Lahore session of the
League sums up the basic essence of his argument in favour of Pakistan.
The protagonists of Pakistan rejected the scheme of a federal state for India with a central cabinet
responsible to a central legislature retaining control over such vital matters as defence,
communications, foreign affairs, etc. They declared that a central legislature would be dominated
by a Hindu majority since the Hindus formed the majority of the Indian people.
Though the Muslim League had still not published any authoritative scheme giving a concrete
and detailed idea of the nature of the autonomous sovereign Muslim states and their state and
economic systems, individual Muslim intellectuals had evolved and published their own

schemes. Prominent among these schemes were those of 'Punjabi', Aligarh professors, Dr. Latif,
Sir Sikander Hayat Khan, Rahmat AH, and Sir Abdullah Haroon Committee.
These schemes, though differing from one another, were in agreement
393
regarding their basic premise that the Hindus and the Muslims in India were two distinct nations.
None of these schemes, as mentioned before, had been endorsed and adopted by the League
which, however, had not still evolved any concrete and detailed scheme of Pakistan of its own.

Views of Various Parties and Leaders on Pakistan

We shall proceed to state the views of the important political organizations and groups in the
country on the theory that the Indian Muslims formed a nation and that separate states of the
Muslims in areas where they constituted a majority should be set up.

(a) Leaders of Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress, under the leadership of the Liberals as well as the Militant
Nationalists like Tilak, Pal and Ghose, always held the view that the Indians were a
homogeneous nation. Their propaganda was directed to make them conscious of their being a
nation and take to the road of a united struggle for administrative reforms and Self-Government.
Gandhi and other leaders who succeeded the earlier leaders continued to subscribe to the same
view though recognizing that the interests of the minority communities such as the Muslims, the
Depressed Classes and others should be adequately safeguarded. They held the view that under a
genuinely democratic constitution those interests could always be protected.
The Congress leaders were opposed to the very principle and system of separate communal
electorates and weightages. They considered them as calculated to perpetuate and deepen
communalism. However, in the interests of the Hindu-Muslim unity which they considered at an
indispensable and vital prerequisite for achieving freedom, they conceded the demands of the
Muslims, the Depressed Classes, and other minorities, for separate electorates, weightages, or the
reservation of seats. The Congress-League Pact of 1916 and Gandhi's concession to the
Depressed Classes in the matter of seats in the legislatures in 1933 (the Poona Pact) were two of
the instances of this. However, the Congress had not officially considered the Indian Muslims or
any other minority in India as a separate nation.
The Congress held the view that the Indian people as a whole constituted the Indian nation. It
criticized, however, the existing division
394
of India into various provinces created by the British government as not corresponding to the
different linguistic groups which composed the Indian nation. It evolved a scheme of dividing
India into provinces, each province inhabited by the people speaking the same language.

Recognizing the linguistic and provincial-cultural heterogeneity of the Indian nation, the
Congress stood for a federal state structure for India, which would invest the Federal Centre with
control over matters of common and vital interest leaving the residuary powers to the federating
units (based on the linguistic principle) and 'giving them the largest measure of provincial
autonomy'.
The Working Committee of the Congress passed a resolution at its Delhi session in 1942 in
which it declared that no territorial unit would be coerced into joining the Indian Union against
its will.
Gandhi and other Congress leaders, however, did not accept, in fact, combated the League's
theory that the Indian Muslims formed a nation. They rejected religion as the determinant of a
nation, though recognizing a group with a common religion as a cultural and communal
minority. Arguing against the two-nation theory of the League leaders, Gandhi remarked:
"The "two-nations" theory is an untruth. The vast majority of Muslims of India are converts to
Islam or are descendants of converts. They did not become a nation as soon as they became
converts. A Bengali Muslim speaks the same tongue that a Bengali Hindu does, eats the same
food, has the same amusements as his Hindu neighbour. They dress alike... The same
phenomenon is observable more or less in the South among the poor who constitute the masses
of India... The Hindu law of inheritance governs many Muslim groups... Hindus and Muslims of
India are not two nations. Those whom God has made one, man will never be able to divide."50
Gandhi expressed the same view to Louis Fischer, the well-known American journalist. He said:
"We are not two nations ... We in India have a common culture. In the North, Hindi and Urdu are
understood by both Hindus and Moslems. In Madras, Hindus and Moslems speak Tamil, and in
BengaL they both speak Bengali and neither Hindi or Urdu. When communal riots break out,
they are always provoked by incidents over cows and by religious processions. That means that it
is our superstitions that create the trouble and not our separate nationalities."51
395
Gandhi blamed the British government for the Hindu-Muslim cleavage to a great degree. He
remarked to the same journalist, "As long as the third power, England is here our communal
differences will continue to plague us. Far back, Lord Minto, then Viceroy, declared that the
British had to keep Moslems and Hindus apart in order to facilitate the domination of India."52
However, Gandhi was convinced that if the Indian Muslims became determined to separate, no
power could prevent them from doing so. He said, "I know no non-violent method of compelling
the obedience of nine crores of Muslims to the will of the rest of India, however powerful a
majority the rest may represent. The Muslims must have the same right of self-determination that
the rest of India has. Any member may claim a division."53
And further, "As a man of non-violence I cannot forcibly resist the proposed partition if the
Muslims of India really insist upon it. But I cannot be a willing party to the vivisection. I would

employ every nonviolent means to prevent it... Partition means a patent untruth. My whole soul
rebells against the idea that Hinduism and Islam represent two antagonistic cultures and
doctrines... But that is my belief. I cannot thrust it down the throats of the Muslims who think
that they are a different nation."54
Satyamurti, a prominent Congress leader, described the Muslim leaders' contention that the
Muslim community was economically exploited by the Hindu community as incorrect. He
asserted that none of the two communities was economically homogeneous. The Hindu
community was composed of the class of the capitalists, the landlords, and other rich men on one
hand, and the labourers, the tenants, and other poor men on the other. The composition of the
Muslim community was similar. Just as the economic interests of the poor Muslims were
identical with those of the rich Muslims, those of the poor Hindus were also not identical with
those of the wealthy Hindus. Hence, he said, it was incorrect to say that the Muslim community
was a victim of economic exploitation at the hands of the Hindu community.55
Rajendra Prasad, another prominent leader of the Congress, attributed the growth of
communalism in India to the system of separate electorates and weightages. "It is equally clear
that separate electorates have caused and aroused more communal feeling than anything else, and
that it is not confined to communities which have enjoyed
396
these separate electorates but has also permeated other communities who have fallen a prey to it,
not only as against Muslims but also among different sub-communities or caste interests. This is
a great legacy from our recent past."56
The demand for Pakistan, Rajendra Prasad further remarked, ran counter to the general tendency
in the contemporary world 'in favour of combination of states'. In the present world milieu, it was
extremely difficult for the small states to survive and retain independence. Since a planned
economy alone, in modern conditions, could assure economic advance or prosperity to a nation
and since small states, with limited natural resources, could not undertake schemes of planned
economy, Pakistan, by aiming at splitting India into a number of states, jeopardized the
economic future of the Indian people, Hindu as well as Muslim. Rajendra Prasad, further,
pointed out the increasing practice among the peoples of the Muslim countries outside India "to
base politics and economics more and more on other considerations than religion. Whatever the
Muslim League and the protagonists of Pakistan may say, there is no doubt that the Muslim
states of the world today are becoming... secular states, just like the Christian countries of
Europe. The question is whether Indian Mussalmans will be able to turn the tide of events and
establish and maintain the state on any other basis in India." He further argued that the problem
of minorities would become more acute if India was divided into two zones, Hindustan and
Pakistan.57
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru expressed his views on the scheme of Pakistan in his letter to Dr. S. A.
Latif in 1942. He opposed the scheme on the ground that it would disrupt the economic unity of
India which was vital for the material well-being of the Indian people as well as for the defence
of India since military strength depended on economic strength. The scheme if carried out would

make impossible any programme of planned economy for the country so necessary for increasing
its productive power and thereby liquidating poverty of the Indian people and, further, for
creating civilized standards of material and cultural existence for them. "It is essential today to
have a planned economy for the nation, and for this, as well as for defence, etc. a strong Central
Government is necessary."58 He further remarked that Pakistan, insufficiently equipped with
natural resources, would suffer most, if India was cut up into a number of economies due to
political partition.
397
Pandit Nehru further stated that "the tendency in the world is for larger federation to come into
existence". The scheme of Pakistan was directed against this tendency. If India was split up,
Nehru further argued, into a number of states, these states being small, and therefore relatively
weak, would have no future before them except as satellites of larger nations. He was
consequently opposed to any division of India. He finally explained the Congress stand thus:
"Thus generally speaking, the Congress stands firmly for the unity of India and for a federation
with a great deal of autonomy for the units... Nevertheless, at Delhi, it made it perfectly clear that
if any territorial unit was emphatically and clearly of the opinion that it should break with the
Indian Union, it should not be compelled to act contrary to its wishes. Naturally, this would not
be welcomed by us, and it would inevitably depend on certain geographical and other factors."39

(b) Congress Socialist Party

The Congress Socialist Party, a section of the Indian National Congress, rejected the two-nation
theory of the League and opposed the demand of Pakistan in all its suggested various forms.
Asoka Mehta and Achyut Patwardhan, two prominent leaders of the party, wrote: "We found the
extreme demands of Pakistan to be fraught with incalculable mischief... Partition, far from
solving it, complicates the Hindu-Muslim problem, and postpones the day of India's political
deliverance. It brings no balm for the sores of the body politics but pours upon them acids of
disintegration."60
The socialist leaders considered the technique of transplantation of population to make the
Muslim and the Hindu areas socially homogeneous as impracticable. Criticizing Dr. Latif's
scheme, they remarked: "But the exchange would affect... nearly two-thirds of the total
population of India. It will mean uprooting humanity on a scale unattempted in history. It is
likely to provoke great popular opposition and cause tremendous misery."61
The leaders were further of opinion that since the existing Indian economy was 'a composite
one', the setting up of a number of sovereign states in India would disrupt that economy and be
detrimental to the economic interests of the people both of Pakistan and Hindustan.
There would be 'alien' minorities in both Pakistan and Hindustan. The minority problem, Mehta
and Patwardhan argued, would then
398

take an accentuated form. They wrote: "Even after partition, enclaves of the other communities
will remain in both the Hindu and Muslim states, whose peace and safety will be jeopardized by
the ever present danger of irredentism... the strain of irredentism will be inescapable because,
even after partition, the League hopes to organize and lead the Muslims left in "Hindustan". The
Hindus are sure to counter this demand with a similar claim. Both states will thus be cursed with
a well-knit minority of doubtful loyalty to the state..."62

(c) Indian Liberals

The Indian Liberals had already considered the Indian people composed of various communities
as a nation. Consequently, the Liberal leaders expressed their opposition to the scheme of
Pakistan and the two-nation theory on which it rested. Dr. R. P. Paranjpye remarked: "Then it
must be understood that India of the present day is neither Hindu India nor Muslim India but
India and that, therefore, every force which tends towards increasing Indian solidarity should be
encouraged and any which tends to alienate the two should be consciously discouraged."63
Sir Chimanlal H. Setalvad met the arguments of Jinnah thus: "Mr. Jinnah asserts that Hindus and
Muslims can never form one Indian nation because they neither inter-marry nor dine together
and have two different religious philosophies. Why, among the Hindus there are numerous
different castes and they do not dine together and intermarry... The Jains, the Buddhists, the
Lingayats, the Tamils and Telugus, have different religious philosophies and worship different
gods. The Shias and Sunnis have acute religious differences, resulting in sanguinary riots. Are all
these to be classed and treated as different nations?"64

(d) Hindu Mahasabha

The Hindu Mahasabha was the inveterate opponent of the League's demand for Pakistan. It was
uncompromisingly opposed to the partition of India. V. D. Savarkar, the President of the Hindu
Mahasabha, wrote: "Mother India to us (the Hindus) is one and indivisible. Unity of Hindustan
from the Vedic Age down to the present day was an established fact. That being so, the Hindus
would never tolerate the partition of India into zones, as demanded by the Muslims...."65
Savarkar declared that the Hindus by themselves constituted a nation
399
with the entire India as their national sacred land. He said: "... in India, we Hindus are marked
out as an abiding nation by ourselves. Not only do we own a common Fatherland, a Territorial
unity, but what is scarcely found anywhere else in the world, we have a common Holy land
which is identified with our common Fatherland. This Bharat Bhumi, this Hindustan, India is
both our Pitru Bhu and Punya Bhu... Then we have common affinities, Cultural, Religious,
Historical, Linguistic and Racial, which through the progress of countless centuries of
association, and assimilation moulded us into a homogeneous and organic nation."66
By implication, this conception logically led to that of the Indian Muslims also being a separate
nation. Savarkar admitted this.

While Savarkar thus recognized the Indian Muslims as a nation, he refused to recognize their
demand for the Muslim homelands. He reserved Aryavarta or India as the exclusive homeland of
the Indian Hindus and dreamt of Hindu Raj. This was illogical.

(e) Dr. Ambedkar

Dr Ambedkar propounded his views on the subject of Pakistan in his Thoughts on Pakistan. He
subscribed to the idealist theory of nation as expounded by Renan who wrote: "A nation is a
living soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul, this
spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the common possession of a
rich heritage of memories; the other is the actual consent the desire to live together, the will to
preserve worthily the undivided inheritance which has been handed down."67
Dr Ambedkar remarked that, judged by that criterion, the Hindus and the Muslims did not form a
nation. They were only "two armed battalions warring against each other. Their past is a post of
mutual destructiona past of mutual animosities, both in the political as well as in the religious
fields... The political and religious antagonisms divide the Hindus and Mussalmans far more
deeply than the so-called common things able to bind them together."68
He further remarked that the Muslims were not merely a community but a nation, hence a
constitution of the Indian state which safeguarded the interests of minority communities would
not solve the problem. He described the difference between a community and a nation thus:
400
"The difference comes to this: a community has a right to safeguards, a nation has a right to
demand separation... To my mind the reasons for this difference pertain to questions of ultimate
destiny... In a stake which is composed of a series of communities, one community may be
arrayed against another.... But in the matter of their ultimate destiny they feel they are one. But in
a state which is composed of a series of nations, when one nation rises against the other, the
conflict is one as to differences of ultimate destiny... All that it (a community) wants is a change
in the mode and form of government... A nation has to be accorded the right of disruption
because it will not be satisfied with mere change in the form of Government. Its quarrel is over
the question of ultimate destiny."69
Dr Ambedkar explained the late discovery of the League Muslims that the Indian Muslims were
a nation by the fact that "a group may mistakenly call itself a community even when it has in it
the elements of being a nation."70
Dr Ambedkar held the view that no unity was possible between Pakistan and Hindustan. For
unity to be real and indissoluble, he remarked, it must be founded on a sense of kinship. It must
be spiritual. Since the Muslims were an independent spiritual entity, such a unity was not
possible. Ambedkar stated that opposition to the establishment of one Central Government
exercising its supremacy over India was the very essence of Pakistan. Pakistan meant the
establishment of a separate sovereign state of the Muslims in the Muslim areas.

Dr. Ambedkar held the view that the predominantly Muslim areas could be set up as independent
Muslim states. The areas could be made homogeneous by transference of population. He did not
consider such transference difficult in view of the modern means and resources and declared that
the trouble and expenditure involved would be more than counter-balanced by the advantages of
a permanent and effective solution of the complex and momentous problem.

(f) Communist Party of India

The Communist Party of India recognized the right of the Muslims in the areas where they
preponderated for autonomous state existence and secession. Dr. G. Adhikari, a prominent leader
of the party, wrote: "The demand for Pakistan, if we look at its progressive essence, is in reality
the demand for self-determination and separation of the areas
401
of the Muslim nationalities of the Punjab, Pathans, Sind, Baluchistan and of the eastern
provinces of Bengal."71
The views of the party on the problem of nationalities and the likely state structure of a free India
ere embodied in the following section of its Resolution passed at the Party Congress, 1943.
"(a) Every section of the Indian people which has a contiguous territory as its homeland,
common historical tradition, common language, culture, psychological make-up and common
economic life would be recognized as a distinct nationality with the right to exist as an
autonomous state within the free Indian union or federation and will have the right to secede
from it if it may so desire. This means that the territories which are homelands of such
nationalities and which today are spilt up by the artificial boundaries of the present British
provinces and of the so-called "Indian States" would be reunited and restored to them in free
India. Thus the free India of tomorrow would be a federation or a union of autonomous states of
the various nationalities such as the Pathans, Western Punjabis (dominantly Muslims), Sikhs,
Sindhis, Hindustanis, Rajasthanis, Gujeratis, Bengalis, Assamese, Biharis, Oriyas, Andhras,
Tamils, Karnatakis, Maharashtrians, Keralas etc.
"(b) If there are interspersed minorities in the new states thus formed, their rights regarding their
culture, language, education, etc., would be guaranteed by statute....
"(4) Such a declaration of rights inasmuch as it concedes to every nationality as defined above,
and therefore to nationalities having Muslim faith, the right of autonomous state existence and of
secession, can form the basis for unity between the National Congress and the League. For this
would give to the Muslims wherever they are in an overwhelming majority in a contiguous
territory which is their homeland, the right to form their autonomous states and even to separate
if they so desire.... Such a declaration, therefore, concedes the just essence of the Pakistan
demand.
"(5) But the recognition of the right of separation in this form need not necessarily lead to actual
separation. On the other hand, by dispelling mutual suspicions, it brings about unity of action

today and lays the basis for a greater unity in the free India of tomorrow. National unity forged
on the basis of such a declaration
402
and strengthened in the course of joint struggle in the defence of our motherland is bound to
convince the peoples of all Indian nationalities of the urgent need to stick together and to form a
free Indian Union or Federation in which each National State would be a free and equal member
with right to secede. They will see this as the only path of protecting the freedom and democracy
achieved. ,.."72
Dr. Adhikari attributed the growth of the movements of nationalities in India to the growth of the
spirit of nationalism and spread of the nationalist movement among the Indian masses. He
remarked that the all-India nationalist movement, "is spreading to every nook and corner of India
and bringing the peasant masses of the most backward nationalities and communities into its
vortex. The all-India national movement for the country's emancipation is growing into a rich
pattern of a multi-national movement. The common goal of India's political and economic
emancipation is being seen through the waking eyes of individual consciousness."73
We have now stated the attitudes and views of various political organizations and groups in the
country on the problem of the most important minority in the country, that of the Indian Muslims
with special reference to the system of communal electorate, special representation, and the
scheme of Pakistan put forth by the Muslim League based on the conception that the Indian
Muslims as a whole constituted a nation.
The problem of nationalities and minorities almost occupied the central place in Indian national
politics after 1930. Fierce controversies took place over it and strong political passions were
roused when dealing with it.
A proper comprehension of that problem in the context of the objective historical development of
the Indian society and its developmental tendencies, alone, could help to visualize the specific
socio-historical conditions under which only a progressive solution of the problem could be
achieved.

Problem of Nationalities, Prerequisites of its Progressive Solution

A social problem arises from the social and specific social situation. The problem could be
solved only if the social conditions which gave rise to it were removed.
403
The problem of nationalities had emerged as the result of the political awakening of 'dormant'
nationality groups, living a common economic life, speaking a common language and possessing
a common culture. The movements of those nationalities embodied their urge for adequate
territorial integration and the free development of their economic life, language, and culture,
which was obstructed under the conditions of the British rule.

The first prerequisite for the solution of the problem was, therefore, the removal of the obstacle,
in the form of the British rule, to the free development of these nationalities and further, the grant
of the right of self-determination to the point of secession to them.
We have still to consider whether freedom from the British rule and the acquisition of the right
of self-determination were sufficient for a progressive solution of the problem of nationalities.
A survey of the world history for the last two hundred years shows that mere national
independence for a people is not sufficient for a successful solution of the nationality problem. In
Austria, Hungary, in the countries of the Balkan peninsula, the problem of nationalities agitated
and remained unsolved for the free nations of those countries.
This was due to the fact that a complete solution of the problem of nationalities was not possible
within the framework of the capitalist economic structure of society.
Capitalist society is based on competitive struggle between nation and nation, also between
nationalities within the same country. Further, due to the law of uneven development, capitalist
nations as well as nationalities which are developing on a capitalist economic basis, are of
unequal economic strength. Due to the very capitalist organization of the national and world
economy, these nations and nationalities perennially, struggle for markets, raw materials and
zones of capital investment. This breeds wars, animosities, oppression and enslavement of
peoples.
Powerful capitalist nations, in search for markets and raw materials, build up colonial empires
and subjugate nations. Nationalities within the same country, developing on a capitalist
economic basis, carry on a competitive struggle among themselves, also with the rest of the
world, for capitalist economic ends. These struggles especially sharpen in the epoch of
imperialism, of the general capitalist decline. This does not breed any feeling of solidarity
between the nations of the world but engenders national animosities, imperialist wars and
national
404
independence struggles of the subject people. The world remains a cauldron of fratricidal
struggle between man and man.
Inter-nation and inter-nationality struggles are inherent in the capitalist organization of society.
The struggle can be eliminated if society is reconstructed from a competitive to a co-operative
basis, i.e. on a socialist economic foundation.
Capitalism is based on competition and production for profit. It, therefore, divides humanity into
hostile nations, and nations into belligerent nationality groups and classes. Socialism is based on
co-operation and production for use. Therefore, it helps to integrate humanity into a co-operative
community, establishes fraternal relations between nations as well as among nationalities. Under
socialism, there are no capitalist groups within nations or nationalities, who, driven by the very
iron law of competition and economic necessity, foment international and inter-nationality

animosities among their people, using these animosities to serve their sectional interests such as
the expansion of markets, the acquisition of sources of raw materials. Free nationalities,
organized on a socialist economic basis, enter into a voluntary union for the purpose of fraternal
collaboration.
Thus, socialism not only ends the subjection of one class by another within a nation or a
nationality but also paves way for collaboration between nations and nationalities.
The problem of minorities also can be completely solved only under the conditions of socialist
national existence. A democratic constitution in a free India can guarantee civil liberties and
other rights for minorities. But under the conditions of the capitalist economic development of
backward communities, their bourgeoisies and professional classes would be generally tempted
to utilize the awakening of the masses of their communities in their mutual struggles over trading
and industrial interests, and also jobs and posts. This was bound to generate communalism and
communal hatred and conflicts in the country.
Socialism, which ends the class structure of society, ends sectional struggles among the
bourgeoisie also and paves way for peaceful and co-operative relations between communities as
between nations and nationalities.
National independence for the Indian people, the right of self-determination to nationalities, and
the establishment of a socialist economic system, were the prerequisites for a complete solution
of the problem of nationalities and minorities.
405
"Even if imperialism were overthrown, the problem of over-coming the social forces which give
rise to careerism or communalism has to be faced. It is here that socialism presents itself as the
solution of the problem. Democracy presents itself as inseparable from socialism. It is here that
the struggle against Indian capitalists and feudalists begins. The question of nationality is
inseparable from existence. It is a subsidiary problem of social revolution. It could not be dealt
with in isolation from question of the domination of capital. ,.."74

References
1. Refer Carr and Macartney.
2. Winternitz, p. 6.
3. Stalin, p. 8.
4. Refer Macartney and Carr.
5. Stalin, p. 7.
6. Krishna, p. 18.

7. Refer Carr.
8. Refer Krishna.
9. Refer W. C. Smith, p. 1.
10. Graham, p. 58.
11. Quoted in Parulekar, 'The Future of Islam in India'; Asia, Vol. XXVIII. No. 11 (Nov. 1928),
p. 874.
12. Quoted in R. P. Dutt, p. 389.
13. Hunter, p. 156.
14. W. C. Smith, p. 22.
15. Wilson, p. 188.
16. Graham, p. 178.
17. Quoted by Graham, p. 273.
18. Quoted by Krishna, p. 97.
19. Refer W. C. Smith.
20. ibid., p. 201.
21. Bucan, p. 244.
22. Morley, p. 325.
23. Refer A. Mehta and A. Patwardhan, p. 28.
24. Lord Olivier, letter to The Times, 10 July, 1926.
25. Quoted by Krishna, p. 90.
26. Krishna, p. 314.
27. ibid., p. 85.
406
28. ibid., p. 132.

29. ibid., p. 133.

30. ibid., p. 131.
31. ibid., p. 72.
32. Lord Cromer, p. 126-7.
33. W. C. Smith, p. 225.
34. India in 1919.
35. Krishna, p. 266.
36. Quoted by A. Mehta and A. Patwardhan, p. 38.
37. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, p. 86.
38. R. P. Dutt, p. 418.
39. Krishna, p. 278
40. ibid., p. 296.
41. Refer Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
42. Quoted by A. Mehta and A. Patwardhan, p. 43.
43. Refer Ansari in Tribune, 21 March 1942.
44. Mashriqui quoted by W. C. Smith, p. 278.
45. Allah Bux reported in Tribune, 10 October 1942.
46. India's Problem of Her Future Constitution, p. 103.
47. Iqbal, p. 10.
48. Jinnah, p. 12.
49. ibid., pp. 13-14.
50. Refer Ashraf, pp. 78-9.
51. Refer Fischer, pp. 36-7.

52. ibid., pp. 34-5.

53. Refer Ashraf, p. 75.
54. ibid., pp. 82-3.
55. ibid., pp. 93.
56. Rajendra Prasad, pp. 6-7.
57. Refer Rajendra Prasad, (2), pp. 319-21.
58. Refer Dr. Nazir Yar Jung, p. 211.
59. ibid., p. 119.
60. Refer A. Mehta and A. Patwardhan, p. 211.
61. ibid., p. 213
62. ibid., p. 219.
63. Dr R. P. Paranjpye, quoted by Dr Ashraf, pp. 64-5.
64. Sir C. Setalvad, quoted by Dr Ashraf, p. 61.
65. V. D. Savarkar, quoted by Dr Ashraf, pp. 40-1.
66. V. D. Savarkar, quoted by Dr Ambedkar, p. 135.
407
67. Quoted by Dr Ambedkar, p. 29.
68. Dr Ambedkar, p. 30.
69. ibid., pp. 329-30.
70. ibid., pp. 337-8.
71. Dr G. Adhikari, p. 36.
72. ibid., pp. 15-16.
73. ibid., p. 4.

74. Krishna, pp. 346-7.

408

Epilogue
Nationalism In India, its Chief Phases
WE HAVE narrated the history of the rise of Indian nationalism, and seen how it was the product
of the action and interaction of the numerous objective and subjective social forces and factors
which evolved in the historical process during the British period. We have explained why the
emotion of nationalism did not and could not evolve among the Indian people in the economic
environs and cultural climate of pre-British India. We have delineated the fundamental economic
transformation of Indian society during the British period, which was one of the most important
material prerequisites for welding the disunited Indian people into a single nation. We have also
assessed the specific weight and described the role of other factors like modern transport, new
education, press, and others, in contributing towards the unification of the Indian people and in
engendering a nationalist consciousness among them.
Indian nationalism passed through various phases of development. As it advanced from one
phase to another its social basis broadened, its objective became more clearly defined and bold,
and its forms of expression more varied. As a result of the impact of forces of Indian and world
development, increasing strata of the Indian people evolved a national consciousness and outlook
and were drawn into the orbit of the nationalist movement. This national awakening found
expression in varied spheres of national life, social, political, cultural.
Further, we have seen how the nationalist movement grew and gathered strength as new classes,
offsprings of the new economic structure and living under the same state regime, finding their
free and full development thwarted under the extant social and political conditions, increasingly
organized themselves on a national scale and started various
409
movements to remove the obstacles impeding their growth.

First Phase
In its first phase, Indian nationalism had a very narrow social basis. The intelligentsia were the
product of the modern education imparted in the new educational institutions, established by the
British in India in the first decades of the nineteenth century, and had studied western culture and
greatly assimilated its democratic and nationalist ideas. They formed the first stratum of the
Indian society to develop a national consciousness and aspirations. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and
his group of enlightened Indians were the pioneers of Indian nationalism. They were the
exponents of the concept of the Indian nation which they propagated among the people. They
initiated socio-reform and religio-reform movements which represented endeavours to remould

the Indian society and religion in the spirit of the new principles of democracy, rationalism, and
nationalism. In fact, these movements were the expression of the rising national democratic
consciousness among a section of the Indian people.
These founders and first fighters of Indian nationalism stood up for democratic rights, such as the
freedom of the Press, and put forth demands like the right of the nation to have a voice in the
administration of the country.

Second Phase
The first phase extended till 1885 and culminated in the rise of the Indian National Congress in
that year. The second phase roughly covered the period from 1885 to 1905.
The Liberal intelligentsia who were at the helm of the Congress were the leaders of the Indian
nationalist movement during the second phase. Their ideology and methods determined the
programme and forms of the movement which reflected the interests of the development of the
new bourgeois society in India. The social basis of the movement was extended during this
period to the educated middle class which, by the end of nineteenth century, had appreciably
grown as a result of the expansion of modern education, and to a section of the merchant class
which had developed during this period as a result of the growth of Indian and international
trade. Modern industries also
410
grew steadily during this period as a result of which the class of industrialists emerged and began
to gain strength. They started orienting towards the Congress which adopted the programme of
industrialization of the country and in 1905 actively organized the Swadeshi campaign.
The Indian National Congress, under the leadership of the Liberals, mainly voiced the demands
of the educated classes and the trading bourgeoisie such as the Indianization of Services, the
association of the Indians with the administrative machinery of the state, the stoppage of
economic drain, and others formulated in the resolutions of the Indian National Congress. It also
set forth such democratic demands as those of representative institutions and civil liberties. Its
methods of struggle dominated by Liberal conceptions were principally constitutional agitation,
effective argument, and fervent appeal to the democratic conscience and traditions of the British
people.
Since the British government did not satisfy the most vital demands of the Indian nationalist
movement, disillusionment set in among a section of the nationalists regarding the ideology and
methods of the Liberals. A group, with a new philosophy, political ideology and conception of
the methods of struggle crystallized within the Congress.
Increasing unemployment among the educated middle class youths due to the inability of the
social and state apparatus to incorporate them, and further, economic misery among the people
due to devastating epidemics and famines at the close of the nineteenth century, created
favourable conditions for the growth of the influence of the new group, the Extremists. Various

unpopular measures during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon, such as the Indian Universities Act
and the Partition of Bengal, further estranged the people from the government and made the
politically conscious middle class rally round the Extremists who possessed such capable and
self-sacrificing leaders as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Ghose, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala
Lajpat Rai. By 1905, even some of the Liberals began to lose faith in the British government.
However, they did not renounce their political philosophy and methodology of struggle.
The ideology of the Extremists was, in vital respects, the antithesis of that of the Liberals. While
the Liberals had a profound faith in the mission of Britain to raise the Indian people to a high
level of progressive social, political and cultural existence, the Extremists interpreted
411
the British rule in India as the means of the British to keep the Indian people in a state of
subjection and economically exploit them. Further, while the Liberals glorified the western
culture, the Extremists harked back to India's past, idealized the ancient Hindu culture and
desired to resuscitate it.
Again the Extremists had no faith in the political efficacy of the Liberal method of appealing to
British democracy. Instead, to secure a demand, they stood for organizing extra-parliamentary
pressure on the government such as the Boycott campaign. The Extremists were also not
satisfied merely with the demand of administrative reform but set forth the goal of selfgovernment which was endorsed by the Liberals in 1906.
Political discontent, during the second phase, also expressed itself in the growth of the terrorist
movement. A small section of nationalist youths organized themselves in terrorist bands and
relied upon such methods as assassination of individual officials and sometimes fomenting of
mutinies in the army for achieving political freedom.

Third Phase
The third phase in the development of the nationalist movement extended from 1905 to 1918.
During this phase, the Liberals were supplanted by the Extremists as the leaders of the nationalist
movement.
In spite of the strong government repression, the nationalist movement registered an advance.
The political propaganda of the Extremists instilled a feeling of national self-respect and selfconfidence among the people who, instead of looking to the British for political freedom as
counselled by the Liberals, began to rely on their own strength for achieving it. The movement,
however, suffered from the defect that its leaders attempted to base it on a resurrected Hindu
philosophy. This, to some extent, mystified the movement and weakened its secular character. It
was also one of the reasons why it could not appeal to the Muslims.
During the third phase, the Indian nationalist movement became militant and challenging and
acquired a wider social basis by the inclusion of sections of the lower-middle class. The agitation
for Home Rule during wartime further strengthened the political consciousness of the people.

412
It was during this phase that sections of upper class Muslims developed political consciousness
and founded their all-India political organization in 1906, the Muslim League. Due to a number
of reasons, the rising political consciousness of the Muslim upper and educated middle classes
took a communal form, and resulted in the formation of their organization on a communal basis.

Fourth Phase
The fourth phase in the evolution of the Indian nationalist movement commenced from 1918 and
extended roughly up to the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-4.
One striking development during this phase was that the nationalist movement gained a broad
mass basis and added to its arsenal, the weapon of direct mass action.
The nationalist movement, which was hitherto restricted mainly to upper and middle classes,
further extended, during this phase, to sections of the Indian masses.
There were a number of factors which brought about national awakening among the Indian
masses during the years immediately succeeding the war. The post-war economic crisis, the
disillusionment about the government promises, and the increased repression by the state had
seriously affected the people including the peasantry and the working-class and they were in a
state of great ferment.
The great events in the international world such as a number of democratic revolutions in
European countries and the socialist revolution in Russia had deeply stirred the consciousness of
the Indian people. The Home Rule agitation during wartime also had the effect of intensifying
and extending political consciousness among the Indian people. The Treaty of Sevres had
offended the Indian Muslims thereby also creating the pre-condition for a united nationalist mass
movement.
The Indian capitalists who had become economically stronger during the war as a result of
industrial expansion, also, more actively than before, supported the Indian National Congress
and the N.C.O. Movement started by the latter. The Swadeshi and Boycott slogans of the
Congress objectively served the interests of industrialists who financially supported it. Gandhi's
doctrine of class harmony and social peace and his support to the Swadeshi resolution at the
Calcutta
413
Congress in 1919 made sections of the Indian bourgeoisie support Gandhi, the Congress, and the
nationalist movements organized by the Congress under Gandhi's leadership from this time
onward. It was from 1918 that the Indian industrial bourgeoisie began to exert a powerful
influence in determining the programme, policies, strategies, tactics and forms of struggle of the
Indian nationalist movement led by the Congress of which Gandhi was the leader.

Another development during this phase was the growth of socialist and communist groups in the
country. By 1928, these groups succeeded in initiating independent political and trade union
movements of the working class based on the doctrine of class struggle. They further stood for a
socialist state of India declaring it as the objective of the Indian national movement. While in the
non-co-operation Movement, politically conscious workers, who participated in it, lacked an
independent class programme, after 1926 those who joined movements like the Simon
Commission Boycott, did so with their own slogans and flag, and frequently under their own
leaders. Thus, after 1926, the Indian working class increasingly entered the nationalist movement
as an independent political unit. This was a new phenomenon in the history of the nationalist
movement.
It was during this period that the Congress defined its political objective from the nebulous term
Swaraj to that of Independence. Various Youth and Independence Leagues which sprang up in
the country also adopted Independence as their political goal.
Parallel to these developments, reactionary communal forces also began to organize themselves
during this period. The period witnessed a number of communal riots.
The phase culminated in the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-4) organized by the Congress
under the leadership of Gandhi. It was the second mass movement in the history of Indian
nationalism.
The principal gains to the Indian nationalist movement during this phase were the acquisition of
a mass basis, the definition of its goal as Independence, the entry of a section of the working
class into the movement as an independent political force, the growth of various Youth and
Independence Leagues, and the wider participation of peasants in the movement. The factors
which had a retarding influence on the movement were mainly the combining of religion with
politics by Gandhi, with the result that the national consciousness was befogged and national
movement confused; the increased grip of the capitalists
414
over the Congress organization and the resultant modulation of its programme and policies to
serve their sectional interest at the expense of national advance; and the accentuation of
communal feelings.

Fifth Phase
The next phase covers the period from 1934 to 1939, the year of the outbreak of World War II.
There were a number of new developments during this period. A section of Congressmen lost
their confidence in the ideology, programmes and methods of Gandhi and formed the Congress
Socialist Party which stood for the organization of the workers and peasants on class lines, and
made them the motive force of the nationalist movement. The party, however, remained
heterogeneous, being composed of groups who broke from Gandhism in varying degrees and
having a petti-bourgeois social basis. There also grew up other dissident tendencies from
Gandhism like the Forward Bloc led by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Another development was the steady growth of the movements of the depressed classes. The
Muslim League also, organizationally and politically, grew stronger in the final years of this
period. Further, a number of other Muslim organizations, both of nationalist and communal
political hues, also sprang up.
The rapid growth of the Communist Party increasingly spreading its influence among students,
workers, and kisans, also was another significant development. The rapid growth of the peasant
movement was one of the striking developments during this period. Larger and larger sections of
peasantry developed national and class consciousness. Further, they began to evolve their own
class organizations, class leadership, programmes, slogans and flags. Hitherto, the politically
awakened peasants had followed the Congress leadership; henceforth, a large section of them
followed its own leaders, put forth their own class demands including those of the abolition of
landlordism itself and the repudiation of all debts. The All-India Kisan Sabha, the organization of
the conscious section of the Indian peasantry, formulated for its objective the socialist state of
India. It organized independent struggles of the kisans and joined the nationalist movement as an
independent unit.
Another remarkable development during this phase was the growth of the democratic struggle of
the people of the Indian states with a
415
programme of demands such as the abolition of state monopoly, representative institutions, civil
liberties, and others. The states' peoples' movement was mainly controlled by the merchant class
of these states. The Indian National Congress supported and aided the struggle of the people of
these states.
Another development of importance during this period was the growing awakening among the
nationalities constituting the Indian people. This awakening was reflected in their demands of the
recon-stitution of provinces on a linguistic basis. The movements of such nationalities as the
Andhras, the Oriyas, the Karnatakis, and others, which had awakened to life and which felt and
expressed the urge to be integrated into distinct political administrative zones based on common
language, revealed this new development.
The rise of an independent kisan movement, the growth of socialist forces, the movements of
awakened nationalities, and other developments, however, still represented only minority
tendencies within the nationalist movement. The national movement still remained essentially
determined and dominated by the Gandhian outlook and Gandhi's political philosophy and
leadership. It still, in the main, reflected the interests of the capitalists and others upper classes.
However, the new forces and movements had begun to exert some pressure of the Indian
National Congress as a result of which the latter included in its programme a charter of
fundamental rights guaranteeing civil liberties and alleviatory economic measures to the workers
and peasants. The Indian National Congress, the premier national organization in the country and
the principal leader of the nationalist movement, also recognized the cultural and other
aspirations of awakened nationalities, stood for cultural autonomy and linguistic provinces and

even recognized the right of the populations of the provinces reconstituted on the linguistic basis
to secede from the Indian Federation of the future free India if they so desired.
However, a struggle that was increasingly sharpening, went on among the various social classes
within the nationalist movement for the hegemony of the movement. The political groups
representing workers, kisans and left sections of the middle classes, were striving more and
more, as they gathered more political consciousness and independent organizational strength, to
influence the programme and policies of the Congress which had hitherto been appreciably
controlled by the capitalist class. The awakened nationalities were also increasingly
416
pressing their demands vigorously for the removal of the obstacles which thwarted their free and
full development.

Perspective
The influx of new social forces with increasingly growing consciousness in the nationalist
movement and their pressure on the leadership, however, did not weaken the movement. It
brought more dynamic energy to the movement. Whether in the next stage, the Indian nationalist
movement would be controlled by the capitalist class mainly rejecting its views and interests as it
had hitherto happened or its leadership would pass to the new social classes making the
movement express the interests of these classes as also the cultural and other aspirations of
nationalities and minority groups, would be largely determined by the objective developments
both in the Indian and international worlds and by the relation of forces of these classes and
groups and the level of their consciousness and organizational strength.
In this context, we will finally reproduce the following prognosis which we made during the
intra-war period in the First Edition of the book.
"However, considering that the Indian capitalist class appreciably added to its economic and
social strength during the period of the Present World War II and is led by a group of politicians
who possess great experience and consummate political and strategic talent, in contrast to the
awakened lower layers of the Indian society who are culturally backward, organizationally
weaker and politically less conscious than the bourgeoisie, and further, are led by groups of
persons smaller in political stature and experience, it is very likely that, in its immediate next
stage, the Indian nationalist movement will be dominated by and made to subserve the interests
of the capitalist class.
"The direction of development of Indian history and the nationalist movement, in the next phase
led by and subserving the interests of the capitalist class, can be broadly indicated.
"The first feature of this development will be the working out of the policy of 'Concessions and
Counterpoise' by British Imperialism on a much grander scale in the changed historical situation,
to win over increased sections of the vested interests for its support, and also to stimulate more
bitter rivalries among them to its advantage. This will

417
result in a more intensified struggle among these sections and will accentuate communalism and
interprovincial antagonisms.
"The second feature of the development will consist in that the leaders of the vested interests will
oppose mass movements of the lower strata of the population or will distort and canalize these
movements for gaining concessions from British Imperialism as well as from sectional rivals.
"Constitutionalism, sharpened communalism, accentuated interprovincial rivalries, and
opposition to or increased distortion of growing mass struggles by the leaders of the vested
interests are likely to be the principal characteristics of the next phase of Indian development."
418

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424
HAYES, C. J. H., Essays on Nationality (1928).
HARTOG, SIR P., Some Aspects of Indian Education, Past and Present (1939).
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425
KROPOTKIN, The Great French Revolution (1927).
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LATIF, DR A., The Muslim Problem in India (1939).
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WALCHAND, HIRACHAND, Why Indian Shipping does not Grow (1940).

WALTER, H. A., The Ahmadiya Movement (1918).
WEBB, BEATRICE, My Apprenticeship (1938).
WEDDERBURN, WILLIAM, Allan Octavian Hume (1913).
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426
ZACHARIAS, H. C. E., Renascent India (1933).
SIMMERN, A. E., Nationality and Government (1919).

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Imperial Gazetteers of India, Vols. I-IV.
Indian Statistical Abstract (Annual).
Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918).
Report of the Indian Industrial Commission, 1916-18.
Report of the Sadler Commission, 1917-19.
Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Service (Islington Commission) (1917).
Report of the Rowlett (Sedition) Commission (1918).
Report of the Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India (Lee Commission)
(1924).
Report of the Bombay Riots Enquiry Committee (1925).

Report of the Indian Economic Enquiry Committee (1925).

Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture (1928).
Report of the Butler Committee (1929).
Report of the Hartog Commission (1929).
Report of the Indian Statutory Commission (Simon Commission) (1930).
Report of the Franchise Committee (1931).
Report of the Royal Commission on Labour (1931).
Report of the Indian Central Banking Enquiry Committee (1931).
Report of the Joint Committee (1934).
Report of the Foodgrains Policy Committee (Gregory Committee) (1943).
Report of the Land Revenue Commission (Flouds Commission).
Report of the Famine Commission (Final Report) (1945).
The Moral and Material Progress in India (Annual).
427

Index
Agarkar, 131, 192, 300, 313
agrarian labourer, 56
agrarian population in India, causes of class differentiation in, 56,
causes of class differentiation in different provinces, 55, 56, 61;
hierarchy among, 56;
poverty of, 43,52, 55, 62
agrarian serfdom, 54-55
agrarian tenants, 162, 172-173

Agriculture, Indian, and planning, 65;

colonial character of, 61-65;
deterioration of, 44-46;
during British rule, 43, 61;
effects of British land revenue system on, 48-49;
features of zemindari, 58-60;
national but not prosperous, 43, 64;
over-pressure on, 44-47;
problems of, 43, 65-66;
reconstruction of, 65-67
Ahmadia Movement, 282-283
Ahmed Khan, Sir Syed, 131, 283, 371-372
Akbar, 13, 17, 154
Aligarh University, 131, 371
All-India Depressed Classes Federation, 248
All-India Harijan Sangh, 248
All-India Independence League, 236
All-India Kisan Sabhas, 91, 179
All-India Spinners' Association, 84, 91, 190
All-India Trade Union Congress, 197, 201
All-India Village Industries Association, 87
Ambedkar, Dr. B. R., 184, 235, 248, 250, 399-400
Anglicists, 134-135

Arya Samaj, the, 126, 127, 131, 264, 272-274

Ashoka, 17, 154
Azad, Maulana Abul Kalam, 277, 378
Bana, 17
Bannerji, Surendra Nath, 184, 192, 209, 221, 277, 300, 306
banking in India, domination of British capital over, 104, 105
important institutions, 105
Benares Hindu University, 131
Besant, Annie, 275, 305, 339
Bhagat Singh, 238
Bhoj, 17
Bombay Plan, 112, 113;
capitalist objectives of, 113;
its chief defects, 112, 113
Bose, Subhas Chandra, 332, 337, 342, 344, 354
428
Brahmo-Samaj, 131, 269-271;
and theWestern Liberal Culture, 270;
as the first organised expression of national awakening, 268, 271;
founded in 1828, 269;
its national significance, 271;
its religious tenets, 269;
its socioreform programme, 269;

leaders of, 269-271

British capital investment in India, 105-107
British conquest of India, its consequences on the social classes of India, 24-25;
its double role, 25-26;
its economic consequences, 25-26;
its effect on economy and social anatomy of India, 25-26;
its specific features, 25-26
British policy in India, 375, 377
British rule in India, and feudal states, 293;
changed policy after 1857, 293;
class rule of British capitalism, 288;
consequences of the new policy after 1857, 294-295;
increasing discontent before 1885, 295-298;
its effect on the people, 288-289;
its impact on agriculture, 61-64;
its incidence on different classes, 288, 289;
its policy before 1857, 293
Calcutta Corporation Act, 314
capitalist class in India, 166-167, 186-192;
and Gandhi's doctrines, 189-191;
and mass nationalist movements, 191;
and national movement, 188;
and zemindars, 191;

increasingly becoming unprogressive, 203;

its attitude towards agrarian reforms, 191;
its composition, 186-187;
its economic position in society, 186-187;
its financial support to Gandhian programmes, 190;
its grip over the life of the people, 192;
its growing monopolistic organisational form, 192;
its non-revolutionary and compromising social position, 191-192;
its principal organisations, 186-187;
its peculiar leadership of Indian nationalism, 189-191;
main grievances of the commercial section of, 186-187;
programmes of struggles adopted by, 189-190;
caste system in India, 13;
and British Government, 239, 240;
and national freedom, 238
and the movements of the lower classes, 241, 242;
and the wealthy classes, 239, 240;
as an obstacle to the development of national economy and consciousness, 236;
birth as the determinant in, 227, 228,
breakdown of its economic foundations, 231, 232;
different forms of attack on, 237-239;
endogamythe chief pillar of 244;
effects of different forces in undermining, 243;

greatest obstacle to all social reforms, 237;

hierarchical gradations in, 229, 230;
impact of national movement on, 242-243;
impact of world events on, 243, 244;
in pre-British period, 7;
its contrast with modern classes, 228-230;
its criticism by various organisations, 237, 238;
its description, 227, 228;
its fate after the diappearance of endogamy, 232, 233;
its foundations, 231;
its hold over the individual life of a Hindu, 228-229;
its treatment of the lower strata of society, 228-229;
its undemocratic and authoritarian nature, 228-229;
its unique features, 230;
principal features of, 230;
429
twofold nature of movements of the lower classes against, 241, 242;
used as a force against class struggle, 240, 241;
various factors that caused the decline of, 231-239;
various movements against, 237-239
child marriage, struggles and measures against, 258
Chiplunkar, 131, 300, 313
Civil Disobedience Movement, 178, 240-242;

consequences of the failure of, 244-246

commercialisation of agriculture, 35-38;
its effects on peasantry, 49;
its significance in building national economy, 35-38
Communal Award, 244, 386
communal electorate, the real object in introducing, 375-376
communal representation, 373-376
communal troubles, 333-334; double causes of 383
communalism in India, and British strategy of counterpoise, 369;
and capitalism, 404-405;
and struggles for seats and jobs, 383;
correct strategy to combat, 383;
forces that can counteract genetic causes of its development, 383;
Krishna classifies the various struggles which take the form of, 384;
Muslim, various reasons for its emergence, 368;
Rajendra Prasad on the causes of the growth of, 396;
struggles which assume the form of, 383-384
complete independence, Lahore resolution on, 339, 340;
Madras resolution on, 337
Compulsory Education Acts, 140
communities, classes and interests,
criticism of the principles underlying, 374-376
motives of British rulers in introducing the principle of, 374-376

concessions, a strategy of British Imperialism, 377;

their decisive role in splitting the Indian people, 377
Congress Governments, 351-352;
causes of their failure to win over Muslim masses, 387-388;
criticism of their actions, 352-353
Counterpoise, a critique of the policy of 375-376;
evolution of the British policy of, 373-376
Dadabhai Naoroji, 184, 208, 221, 300, 306, 315
Das, C. R., 184, 197, 212, 324, 329
Dayanand Saraswati, 238, 272
Deccan Education Society, the, 137;
de-industrialisation of India, 45, 101
Delhi Manifesto, 339
democratic awakening basic programmes reflecting the, 259;
fundamental principles underlying the, 259;
its various aspects, 224
devadasis, 259
Dominion Status, and complete independence, 336-340
East India Company, 24, 31, 48, 70-76
education in pre-British India, its basic features, 127-128;
its religious character, 127-128
education, mass, 143-145, 152
modern, and Curzon, 136-137;

and the East India Company, and Indian Nationalism, 146-147;

and Karve, 131;
430
and makers of modern India, 150-151;
and Ram Mohan Roy, 131;
and the rise of nationalist leaders, 145;
basic defects of, 139-145;
British Government's measures to regulate the contents of, 145;
causes of first unhealthy reaction of, 132-134;
causes of its limited growth, 151;
chief landmarks in the growth of, 134-141;
contradictory role of, 146;
controversies over the systems of, 134-136;
downward filtration theory of, 135;
essential core of, 132;
its extent during the British rule, 140, 141;
its social significance, 125-126;
motives of British Government in introducing the, 129-131;
progressive content of, 145;
prominent persons and organisations which tried to spread, 130-131;
secular character of, 145;
statistics of the growth of, 139-140;
three agencies which spread the, 128-132;

Vidya Mandir scheme of, 141, 144;

Wood's dispatch on, 136-137
education, primary, statistics of, 140
educational experiments, by nationalist leaders, 141, 143;
causes of their failure, 143-144
educated middle class, its growth in India, 182-186;
its organisations and problems, 182-186;
its role in the national movements, 182-186
Election Manifesto of Congress, 339
Eleven Points of Gandhi, 340
English language, 147-151
European feudalism, its characteristics, 30
Extremists, 307-310;
basic criticism of the, 311-312;
four basic slogans of the, 315;
ideology and methods of struggle of, 307-310;
important personalities, 307;
most important activities of, 313-314;
their contribution to the national movement, 307-310;
their differences with the liberals, 308-310;
their social following, 306-307
famines, their effects on the peasantry, 50
finance capital in India, controllers of the, 103-104

Forest Laws, 39, 50

Forward Block, formation of, 354
Fourteen points of Jinnah, 385-386
Fundamental Rights, resolution on,342
Gandhi, Mahatma, 87, 88, 135, 144, 176, 178, 189, 190, 191, 212, 220, 248, 249, 265, 276, 277,
278, 324, 330, 334, 336, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 351, 354
Gandhi-Irwin Pact, 342-343
Ghadr Movement, 320
Ghosh, Aurobindo, 138, 184, 210, 266, 276, 277, 308, 311, 316, 320, 372
Ghosh, Rashbehari, 320
Ghokhale, G. K. 131, 137, 151, 184, 211, 249, 277, 300
Hardayal, Lala, 320, 321
Hijrat Movement, 379-380
Hindu Mahasabha, 334, 398-399
Home Rule Movement, 317-318
Hume, Sir A. C, 299, 300
Ilbert Bill, 397
indebtedness of the peasants, 51-52;
and the rise of serfdom, 54-55
431
failure of Government to solve the problem, 52-54;
its causes, 50-51;
its effects, 51-52;
its volume and extent, 51-52;

the false causes given for its rise, 54-55

Independence Day, 340
Indian feudalism, its striking features in pre-British India, 30-31
Indian National Congress, 87,96,108, 123, 174, 176, 180r 184, 208, 212, 214, 220, 235, 261,
279, 295, 296, 299, 300, 332, 335, 336, 337, 339, 342, 344, 349, 350, 351, 354, 365, 371, 376,
380, 382, 385, 387, 388, 389, 393, 397
Indian Universities Act of 1904, 138
Indianisation, of Services, 146
Industrial development in India, absence of heavy industries, 107;
Buchanan on the possibilities of the, 111;
colonial character of the, 107;
during World War II, 101;
its lop-sided nature, 107-108;
Beauchamp on the main handicaps of, 188-189;
rise of trusts, 103-104;
role of industries in, 93, 108; role of managing agency system in, 105-106
industrialisation of India, revolutionary significance, 113
industries, modern Indian, absence of heavy, 98;
and Imperial Preference, 98, 100;
and policy of discriminatory protection, 99;
and rise of new social classes, 93-94;
basic factors reponsible for the rise of, 94;
chief trusts which control the, 103, 104;
few persons who control the, 103, 104;

control of finance capital over, 104, 105;

history of the expansion of, 93-101;
important characteristics of the development of, 101;
Loknathan on, 98-99;
main obstacles to the development of, 96, 97, 105, 106, 108 110, 111;
their significant role in national economy, 93
intelligentsia in India, role of, 150-151, 167-168, 182-186
Iqbal, Sir Mahmud, 284, 385, 391
Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, 323-325
Jamiat-ul-Ulema, 379
Jinnah, M. 318, 339, 385, 386, 391, 392, 398
Joshi, N. M., 197
Kabir, 15, 246
Kalidas, 17
Karve, 131, 141
Khilafat Movement, 224, 379
Kisan Sabhas, their growth and development; 171-179
kisans Indian and Congress policy, 179-180;
causes of the specific psychological traits of, 180-182;
history of their struggles, 175-180;
independent class organisations of, 177-179
Krishnavarma, Shyamji, 319
Kutub Minar, 9

Lahore Conspiracy Case, 338

Lajpat Rai, Lala, 132, 184, 185, 197 210, 277, 278, 307, 309, 310, 312, 315, 329, 372
land labourers, their position, 54-55;
their strength, 54-55
landlordism, absence, 52-53, 55-56;
its political role, 31-32;
three reasons for its reaction, 31;
unprogressive and unproductive character of, 58-61
432
land revenue, its tendency to increase, 48-49
land settlements, new, effects on village economy and social life, 31-32;
far reaching consequences, 30-35;
main features, 31-32
landlords, their composition, 58-59;
their role in agrarian production, 58-59;
their political role, 31, 52, 53
Liberal Federation, 318
Liberalism, and pioneers of Indian nationalism, 279;
cornerstone of western, 135;
its contrast with medievalism, 266-267;
its principles, 279-280
liberals, 108, 301-306, 308, 318;
outstanding personalities among the, 184, 300

Lucknow Pact of, 317, 379

Macaulay, Lord, 126, 130, 134
Mahomed Ali, Maulana, 325, 379, 380
Malaviya, Madan Mohan, 131, 300, 379
managing agency system, its features in India, 105-106
materialist philosophy, groups adhering to the, 277-278, 279-280;
reasons why the national leaders did not evolve, 277-278
Meerut Conspiracy Case, 198, 212 335, 338
Mehta, Sir Pherojshah, 184, 211, 221, 300
merchants, their position in pre-British and British periods, 165-167
minorities in India, capitalism and, 403-404;
characteristics of the important, 366-368;
distinguishing features, 366-368; significance of, 359-360;
socialism and the solution of the problem, 405-406;
where they differ from nationalities, 360-361, 366
Mohani, Maulana Hazrat, 329-378, 380
Moneylender, the, his role in village economy during British rule, 52, 164-165
monopolies in India, in contrast to those of advanced countries, 109-111
Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, 321-323
Moplah Rebellion, the 177, 328
Muslim League, the, 312, 317, 322, 332, 334, 368, 373, 374, 378, 379, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388,
389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 396, 397, 400, 401, 413
Muslim political organisations, their leaders, programmes and activities, 389-390
Muslims, Indian, outstanding leaders after 1921, 378;

political movement and developments among, 378-379;

their development during 1857 and 1905, 368-373
Nanak, 15
nation, 20;
a dominant form of community existence, 20;
and capitalism, 21, 23;
attributes of a, 21; Carr on the characteristics of a, xxvii, xxviii definition of a, 360;
distinguished from a national minority, 360-361;
its characteristics, xxvii
national awakening, reasons for slow development among the Muslims, 380-382
consciousness, comparison with feudal consciousness, xxxi;
433
factors giving rise to, 21; pre-requisites of, 21
nationalism, a product of certain socio-historical conditions, xxviii, xxix; Carr on its recent
growth, xxvii; its growth in England, xxviii
Indian, xxx;
a modern phenomenon, xxx;
a product of numerous forces, 408;
an uneven process, 364;
fundamental tasks of the rising, 263;
its genetic causes, 146-147;
its peculiar growth, 277-278;
its three basic peculiarities, 362-363;
its various striking features, xxix; pioneers of, 281

nationalist movement in India, causes giving rise to fourth phase of, 412-414;
characteristics of the fourth phase of, 412-414;
factors which gave rise to the third phase of, 411;
fifth phase of, 414-415;
first phase of, 409;
fourth phase of, 412-414;
ideology and leaders of the third phase of, 411;
its multi-class basis with diverse objectives, 412;
leadership in the fourth phase of, 413;
leadership in the second phase of, 410;
reactionary developments during fourth phase of, 413;
second phase of, 409-410;
three-fold peculiarities of, 310;
third phase of, 411-412;
various developments during fifth phase of, 414-415;
various phases of the development of, 416-417
Nationalist Muslim Party, 386
nationalities in India, capitalism and the solution of the problem of, 401-402;
factors which caused their awakening, 363-365;
Indian National Congress and the problem of 365;
its significance, 360;
prerequisites for the solution of, 401-402;
social background of, 401;

their aspirations, 364-365;

two tendencies at work in the growing movements of, 365-366
nationalities and minorities, the problem of, a critical problem, 401;
a peculiar historical product, 360;
basic pre-requisites for an effective solution of, 402-403;
how did the problem arise, 358-362
nations, evolution of modern, xxxi;
obstacle of the emergence of, xxxi;
product of capitalist development of society, 358-360;
Stalin on the historical character of the modern, 359-360;
their emergence, a prolonged historical process, xxvii, xxxii
Nava Ratna, 17
Nehru, Jawaharlal, 173, 178, 179, 184, 221, 311, 329, 334, 336, 337, 339, 342, 349, 353, 381,
396
Nehru, Motilal, 177, 184, 212, 311, 329, 331, 336, 339
Nehru, Report, 337, 385, 386
new agrarian relations, characteristics of 33-42; handicaps on the 41
newspapers and periodicals in India, classification according to their politics, 213-214; their
origin and development, 208-213;
various categories of, 211-213
News Services in India, 217-219
Non- Co-operation Movement in India, 327-332
Orientalists, 135
Ottawa Agreements, 100

Pakistan, Ambedkar's views on, 399-400;

434
basic idea underlying the demand of, 390-392;
Communist Party of India on, 400-401;
Congress Socialist Party on, 398-399;
Hindu Mahasabha on, 399-400;
history of the idea of, 390-393;
ideology behind the demand of, 386-387;
Indian Liberals on the scheme of, 398;
Indian National Congress on, 393-397;
Jawaharlal's arguments against, 396;
Jinnah's arguments for 391;
Rajendra Prasad's views on, 395;
Resolution on, 388-389;
two nation theory, underlying the demand of 389;
various schemes of, 393
Pal, Bepin Chandra, 138, 147, 171, 184, 210, 266, 276, 277, 278, 307, 308, 311, 312, 372, 393
Partition of Bengal, 314, 315, 373
peasant proprietors in India, growth of national consciousness among, 173-174;
increased impoverishment of, 174-175;
process of differentiation among, 174-175;
rise of, 163, 164, 174; their classification, 174
planned economy for India, and capitalism, 112-114;

its essential features, 109-111;

objectives of real, 113;
pre-requisites for a real, 112-114
Political-administrative unification of India, defects of, 158-159;
factors which led to, 155-157;
its undemocratic essence, 158-159;
its effects, 38-39;
movements to reform the basis, 158-160;
under British rule, 119
Political movements in India organistions before 1857, 289;
the new leadership after 1857, 398
Poona Pact, 344
Prarthana Samaj Movement, 271
pre-British India, artisan industry in, 3-7;
culture in, 12-18;
lack of national consciousness in, 13-15;
social institutions in, 3-7, 8;
urban economy in, 8-12;
village economy in, 3-7, 30-31
Press in India, and national leaders, 208-211;
and the vested interest, 222;
as a factor in building national consciousness, 206-207; 220-221;
factors retarding the growth of a free, 221-222;

history of its growth, 208-211;

its extent, 213-214;
its importance, 206-207;
causes of the slow rate of growth of, 214-215;
its varied role, 206, 207, 220;
national significance of the, 220-221
Press Acts in India, history of, 215-216;
their effects, 216
Princes, Indian, their role during British period, 169-170
Private property in land, significance of its introduction in India, 31-33
Professional class in India and Indian nationalism, 186-189;
its composition, 164-165;
its demands, 183-184;
its organisation, 183-186;
its social and political role, 183-186
Purshottamdas Thakurdas, Sir, 104
Ramakrishna Mission Movement, 274-275
Ranade, 95, 151, 184, 238, 259, 263, 271, 300
rationalist and materialist ideas, reasons for their slow growth in India, 276-278
religious-communal movements; as tools of vested interests, 286;
435
reasons for their growth in twentieth century, 286
religious-reform movement in Europe, 267-268;

in India and Indian nationalism, 276;

religious revival movements, 267;
among Muslims, 288-285;
chief characteristics, 264-265;
contents of 263-264,
contradictory role in national life, 286;
national in content, 267;
outstanding individuals of, 276;
progressive character of early, 265;
some minor, 275;
their social content, 268;
two principles underlying, 263-264
Revolt of 1857, 289-291
Round Table Conferences, 339, 343
Rowlatt Bills and Acts, 322
Roy, M. N., 213
Roy, Raja Ram Mohan, 133, 135, 208, 215, 221, 235, 237, 258, 263, 270
Savarkar, V. D., 249, 319, 398, 399
self-sufficient village economy and national consciousness, 38-42;
and rise of nationalism, 89-91;
causes of its disruption, 34-38;
historical significance of its disruption, 38-42
Shankerseth, Jagannath, 136, 300

Shaukat All, Maulana, 325, 329

Simon Commission, 335, 384
social classes in India, causes of the rise of new, 162, 163;
contrast of the new with the old, 199-200;
enumeration of new, 163-164;
history of the rise of new, 164-168;
national character of the new, 199-200;
non-national character of the old, 199-200;
specific characteristics of the new, 199-202;
two-fold movements carried on by the new, 203;
uneven process of their development, 163;
varying degree of progressive nature of the new, 202-203
social reform movements among Muslims, 282-285;
an expression of national awakening, 224-226
Socialist movement in India, 334-335
state monopolies in India, their peculiarities, 109-111
sub-division and fragmentation of land, causes, of, 44-45;
its effects, 47-48;
its extent, 44-47
sub-infeudation, 60
Swadeshi movement, 96, 111
Swaraj Party, the, 332-333
Tagore, Rabindranath, 141, 277, 315

tenants, their demands and struggles, 173;

their organisation, 173;
their problems, 173-174;
their rise and growth, 173-175
terrorist movements in India, 318-321
Theosophy, 275
Tilak, B. G., 131, 137, 184, 185, 192, 195, 210, 221, 276, 307, 309, 310,
312,313,314,315,316,317,322, 324, 372, 393
town handicrafts in India, causes of their decline, 70-81;
effects of their decline, 76-79;
history of their decline, 70-81;
progressive significance of their decline, 80-81;
their present position, 76
transport, modern means of, and consolidation of nations, 117-119;
and rise of nationalism, 122-123
system in India, chief reasons for introducing the modern, 117-118;
colonial and lop-sided development of modern, 120-121;
in the British period, 119; its significance in national economy, 118, 119, 122, 123;
progressive role played
436
by the modern, 121-123
trusts, some important in India, 103-104
two-nation theory, and Congress Socialist Party, 397; and Indian Liberals, 397-398;
and Indian National Congress, 393-397;

Gandhi on, 397-398;

Jinnah's exposition of, 391;
Rajendra Prasad on, 395
uneconomic holdings in India, extent of, 44-45;
untouchability, an obstacle to national unity, 248;
and various religious and social reform movements, 248;
basic pre-requisites for its total abolition, 254-255;
British attitude towards, 250-251;
ineffective struggle in the past against, 246;
its basic occupational foundations, 253-254,
limited effectiveness of pure social reform movements to eradicate, 254-255;
objective factors attempting to weaken, 250-252;
various movements to eradicate, 248-250
untouchables, Ambedkar on British attitude towards, 250-251;
and the All-India Harijan Sevak Sangh, 250;
and the British Government, 250;
awakening among them, a part of national awakening, 251-252;
literacy among, 250;
peculiar nature of the oppression suffered by, 246-247;
religious sanction to the oppression of, 247;
social gradations among, 247;
tasks assigned by Hindu society to, 246-247;
their disabilities, 246-247;

their numerical strength, 247;

their Satyagraha Movements, 250;
two-old evils under which they suffer, 253-254;
various movements and organisations, 248-250
Vallabhacharya, 15
Vedas, 126, 127
Vikramaditya, 17
village artisan industries in India, and Gandhi, 86-89;
causes of the failure to revive them, 87-88;
causes of their decline, 84-85;
national and progressive significance of their decline, 89-91;
story of their decline, 84-85;
vain efforts to resuscitate them, 87-88
Vivekanand, Swami, 265, 274, 276, 308
Wahabi Movement, the 295, 369
widow-remarriage, struggles and legislation for, 259
women in India, and child marriage, 258;
and custom of infanticide, 258; education, 259-261;
and institution of suttee, 258;
conditions during British rule, 257;
effects of education on Purdah, 258;
her position in pre-British period, 256-257;
institution of temple prostitution, 258;

mass awakening among lower strata of, 262;

social reform movements and, 258-259;
struggles for the emancipation of, 258-259;
their awakening, 262;
their outstanding organisations, 259-260; their participation in politics, 261-262;
their participation in trade-union and kisan movements, 262
working class, composition of modern, 198-194;
conditions of life and labour of, 194;
defective legislation for, 194;
development of their organisations, 195-199;
factors retarding the self-organisations of, 194-195;
genesis of modern, 192-194;
437
growth of the organised economic and political movements of, 195-199;
its peculiar status in society, 194-195;
its psychological traits, 194-195
workers' and peasants' parties, 197, 334
Zemindari, its extent, 33
Zemindars, factors which gave rise to, 162-164;
their antinational political role, 170-171;
their opposition to social reform, 171;
their principal organisations, 170-171;
their unproductive economic role, 171