Unit 4 – PART- PEASANTS MOVEMENTS.

EXPECTED QUESTION-
➢ How did peasant movements contribute to India’s freedom struggle and
enhanced the dynamics of nationalism?
➢ What are the major components and objectives of these movements? How
they had helped to evolve the idea of nationalism.
➢ What were the major peasant revolts?
ANSWER:
WHO ARE Peasants:
In India, the term ‘peasant’ is ambiguous and used differently by different
authors, broadly represent a vast mass of landless agricultural labourers,
sharecroppers, tenants, poor artisans and small and marginal cultivators.
Includes socially deprived, such as the scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, other
backward classes and women.
“outcastes” of the Varna hierarchy form the core of the peasantry in rural India
In the localised vocabulary, peasants are called by terms like “kisan”, “krishak”,
“majur”, “collie”, “krishi” “shramik”
On the one hand, it is used for those agriculturists who are homogeneous, with
small holdings operated mainly by family labour
on the other hand, it includes all those who depend on land including landless
labourers, as well as supervisory agriculturists
Politically they are found to occupy an ‘underdog position and are subjected to
the domination by outsiders
In economic terms, they are identified to be small producers for their own
consumption
Historically, peasants have always borne the brunt of the extreme forms of
subordination and oppression in society.
THEY ARE socially and economically marginalised, culturally subjugated
and politically dis-empowered social groups who are attached to land
Peasant Movements in Indian Context
peasant movements are a distinct variant of social movements according to
scholars
peasant movement -conceptualised by SinghaRoy (1992)
as an organised and collective effort of the peasantry (small producers, tenants,
sharecroppers and agricultural labourers etc)
to bring about change in the pattern of ownership, control and use of land,
share of agricultural produce, wage structure, credit and in other aspects of
socio- economic life.
REASONS FOR THE UPRISE OF PESANT STRUGGLES:
The Indian peasantry it may be argued rose for the first time in protest during
the 1857 revolt, tired and exhausted with the high land revenue taxes imposed
by the British which was breaking their back.
Scholars attribute this to the traditional social structure prevalent in Indian
villages that was organized through caste system
Changes in the mode of production in agriculture disturbed the traditional
agrarian relationships
led to peasant unrest
Under British rule, land became a marketable commodity and commercialised
agriculture developed during the late nineteenth century (IMPORTANCE OF
LAND)

The impoverishment of the Indian peasantry was a result of the

transformation of the agrarian structure during the colonial period due to:
a) Colonial economic policies
b) Ruin of the handicrafts leading to overcrowding of land
c) The new land revenue system
d) Colonial administrative and judicial system
The peasants suffered from
1.high rents
2.illegal levies
3.arbitrary evictions
4.unpaid labour in Zamindari areas.
5.In Ryotwari areas, the Government itself levied heavy land revenue.
6.The overburdened farmer, approached the local moneylender who exploited
the farmer even more by extracting high rates of interests on the money lent.
7. In large areas the actual cultivators were reduced to the status of tenants-at-
will, share croppers and landless labourers.
RESULT:
The peasants often resisted the exploitation, and soon they realized that their
real enemy was the colonial state.
The periodic recurrence of famines, economic depression during the last
decades of the 19th century further aggravated the situation in rural areas and
consequently led to numerous peasant revolts.
Q. Radical and Reformative Movements (two types of peasant’s
movements)
Radical movements:
use non-institutional mass mobilisation
guided by an ideology of rapid change in the social structure
are usually short-lived
may be spread over a large geographical area.
Reformative peasant movement:
uses institutionalised mass mobilisation
guided by an ideology of gradual social change
exhibit a longer life span.
PHASES OF PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA:

1) The initial phase (1857-1921):

Characterized by growth of peasant movements in the absence of proper
leadership.
main reason for a series of spontaneous peasant uprisings-
was high handedness of zamindars/landlords
and excessive rates of land revenue.
Notable peasant movements of this phase are:
The Santhal rebellion of 1855
The Maratha uprising of 1875
The Bengal tenants struggles 1870-85
The Oudh Insurrection
The Punjab Kisan struggles in the last phase of the 19th century
2) led by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma
Gandhi:
 Champaran Satyagraha (1917-18)
The Kheda satyagraha(1918)

2) The second phase (1923-1946):

emergence of the class conscious peasant organizations.
restricted to seeking relief against the excessive rates of land revenue
kisan organizations came into existence
The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Swami
Sahajanand Saraswati
He formed- Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS-1929)
to mobilize peasant grievances against the Zamindari attacks on their occupancy
rights
Andhra Pradesh-launched anti-settlement agitation against Zamindari zulum
(1927)
a powerful struggle initiated against the oppressive forest laws in South India in
1927
Similar movements were led in Uttar Pradesh against the tyranny of zamindars

RESULT- All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the
formation of the
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)
a became an organisation of the poor peasants, tenants, sharecroppers and
landless agricultural labourers
supported by:
Congress Socialist Party, Communist party of India(CPI)also
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati - first president of AIKS

ROLE OF CPI
major force that mobilised the peasants
started serious engagement with the peasantry
Increased its membership in the peasant front
The Tebhaga movement in Bengal (1946-47)
and the Telengana movement (1946-51),Hyderabad
were led by the Communists

3) Post – independence phase:

uninterrupted continuity of the agrarian movements due to the failure of the
ruling party to resolve any of the basic problems of the working masses of rural
India
Left parties-main organisers of the peasants in this phase
Mobilisation issues like :
increase in agricultural wages
land to the tiller, etc.
Principal target-rural rich on whose mercy the landless labourers and the
marginal peasants depend
Government failed to provide relief to the vast bulk of deficit farmers
led to a series of peasant struggles
Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha (BPKS) -active in many of the districts of Bihar and
Jharkhand
Non Communist Praja Socialist Party (PSP) -involved in several movements
related to peasants in UP, MP, Bihar, Rajasthan
The Republication Party of India- combined the cause of the agrarian workers
and led their struggle at an all India level.
In South India there were agitations known as tenants agitation
ex. Kagodu Satyagraha in Karnataka.
Tamilnadu Vyavasigal Sangam (TNVS) 1966- under the leadership of Narayana
Swamy carried out important agitations

IMPORTANT RADICAL PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

The Santhal Rebellion – 1855

took place at present day Jharkhand and part of West Bengal
rebellion against
British colonial authority
zamindars
against heavy rents.
moneylenders

Santhals were getting evicted from their land and settlements due to their failure
to pay taxes and debts
Thousands of Santhals assembled at Bhogandih village and declared themselves
free.
led by two brothers namely Sidhu and Kanhu
claimed: they received messages from supernatural powers to put an end to the
‘zhulum’
attacked zamindars and moneylenders
Triggered a series of conflicts between the English East India Company’s army
and the Santhals.
Santhals fought bravely with their traditional weapons, such as, bows, arrows
but they didn’t stand a chance against the sophisticated firearms used by the
East India Company
rebellion was brutally suppressed

The Maratha Uprising - 1875

The typical conditions in the Ryotwari area

caused an the agrarian uprising in the Poona and Ahmednagar districts
EIC wanted a large revenue, so, it imposed:
excessive taxes on peasant’s for land
had to be paid in cash and without any regard to fluctuations in crop production
due to famines or any other reason.
Farmers started borrowing money from outsiders, mainly moneylenders, to pay
taxes and prevent their land from being taken by the government.
The government gave the land to moneylenders if the farmers couldn't repay.
This created a harmful cycle where the moneylender took advantage
farmers got trapped

growing tension between the moneylenders and the peasants resulted in a social
boycott
The farmers (ryots) stopped buying from certain shops and refused to work in
their fields.
Even service providers like barbers and shoemakers didn't help them.
This refusal to interact quickly spread to villages (in Poona, Ahmednagar,
Sholapur)
turned into riots with organized attacks on the houses and shops of
moneylenders
The farmers took and burned debt papers as a protest.
The government, supporting moneylenders, acted against the protesting farmers,
using force
Unable to bear the harsh treatment, the farmers had to stop their protests.
Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act was passed in 1879.
 Champaran Satyagraha (1917-18)

Indigo (Neel) - yields dye for bluing cotton cloths

Demand for the dye indigo was quite high in the textile industry in Great Britain
EIC forced farmers to grow Indigo under a system of oppression in:
three twentieth part of a bigha of their holding, The 'Teen Kathia' Systummm
Planters made farmers grow indigo on the best land but paid them very little.
British administration ignored the mistreatment and exploitation of farmers.
planters found new ways to exploit farmers when
synthetic indigo hit the indigo market in 1897
They either forced poor peasants to bear the losses or
made them stop growing indigo by charging higher rents for the land.
Gandhiji came to know about this issue in early 1917.
He was joined by prominent personalities ex. J.B. Kripalani, Babu Brajkishore
Prasad and Babu Rajendra Prasad
His method of peaceful satyagraha and civil disobedience were unique but
effective
The government had to relent
Teen Kathia system was abolished
However, the recommendation did not resolve the problem of excessive rent +
low wages

Moplah Rebellion in Malabar (1921)

among the peasants of Malabar district in Kerala

Moplah tenants were Muslims and they agitated against the Hindu landlords
Moplah masses were the tenants of Hindu landlords

The main problems faced by Moplah tenants were:

1. Insecurity: worried about losing their land suddenly because of the
unfavorable land tenure system.
2. High Renewal Fees: The fees they had to pay to renew their leases were too
high
3. Discriminatory Rent: Moplah tenants had to pay higher rent compared to
Hindu tenants
The movement began when the Malabar District Congress Committee met in
Manjeri (1920). They asked for laws to manage landlord-tenant relationships
In response, Moplah tenants created an association with branches throughout
Kerala, uniting them.
At the same time, Khilafat movement, where Moplahs participated but
eventually turned their focus to protesting against landlords.
The British government issued prohibitory orders against the Khilafat meetings
The trouble started when the police raided a mosque in Tirurangadi to arrest a
Khilafat leader and a respected priest. The police, without warning, fired on the
unarmed crowd and killed many people.
this led to clashes, and the rebellion
Moplahs targeted unpopular landowners, police stations, treasuries, offices, and
British planters.
December 1921, all resistance had ceased. The toll was heavy, with about 2400
people losing their lives.

Tebhaga Movement in Bengal (1946-47)

Tebhaga means three shares of harvests.
movement was started for the reduction in the share of the produce from one-
half to one-third
arose in North Bengal included many districts.
organised by the Kisan Sabha
grew against the backdrop of the deteriorating economic conditions of the
sharecroppers
Permanent Settlement introduced in Bengal added intermediaries(jotedars)
between the Zamindars (landowners) and the peasants

jotedars, would sublet the land to sharecroppers (bargardars)

bargardars only had temporary rights to the land, for about five years

rural economy suffered from exploitation by moneylenders who lent money to

jotedars and peasant owners (middle peasants) at high interest rates.

Peasant owners often lost their land, became bargardars on their own plots when
they couldn't repay their debts.

A Revenue Commission was appointed in 1940, suggested:

that all bargadars should be considered as tenants, their legally recoverable
share of crops should be one-third instead of half
government didn't act quickly to implement these recommendations.

delay led the All India Kisan Sabha to make its agrarian program more radical.

a resolution was passed in Calcutta advocating for 'Tebhaga,' - meant giving

two-thirds of the produced crops to sharecroppers and land to the tiller.

North Bengal, especially the Dinajpur district became centre of the Bengal
Kisan Sabha activity
Poor peasantry- SC,ST responded spontaneously to the movement

A local jotedar filed FIR against the bargardars.

Police entered the village, arrested a few bargardars.
The news spread like wildfire all over the village, and an alarm was raised by
the beating of drums, blowing conch shells and beating of gongs and utensils by
the peasant women

a huge mass of sharecroppers and poor peasants, with conventional weapons,

from Khanpur and its neighbuoring villages assembled and demanded release of
the arrested sharecroppers.
But the police fired and killed 22 protestors, 100’s injured

This episode of Khanpur triggered off the Tebhaga movement

The colonial rulers used all possible repressive measures to crash this
movement by introducing a reign of terror in the rural areas and the movement
eventually collapsed

the movement was successful to an extent as an estimated 40 percent of the

sharecroppers were granted Tebhaga rights

Telangana Movement (1946-52)

fight against the feudal oppression of the rulers and local landowners of Andhra
Pradesh
launched by CPI through its peasant wing, the Kisan Sabha
The agrarian social structure of Hyderabad state under Nizams was very
oppressive
movement aimed to address the harsh agrarian conditions in the 1920s.

The feudal system had two main land tenure systems – Khalsa or Diwani and
Jagirdari. Khalsa peasants had registered ownership, but the actual owners were
shikmidars.
Jagirdari system, crown lands were granted to the Nizam's noblemen in
exchange for certain services.
The movement sought to challenge this oppressive social structure.
In rural areas, the jagirdars and deshmukhs (doras) held significant power. They
were intermediary landowners, moneylenders, and village officials, often from
upper-caste or influential Muslim backgrounds.
had eco and pol privilege
they could force the poor peasantry into extra-economic coercion, like forced
labor known as – vetti

The Communist-led movement in 1946 began in Nalgonda and spread across

Telangana, aiming to challenge the rural feudal aristocracy. The demands
included canceling peasants' debts.

In 1948, the movement took a revolutionary turn as peasants formed an army,

engaging in guerrilla warfare.
The Razakars- private militia supporting the Nizam, brutally crushed the armed
revolts. armed resistance continued until 1950 when the Indian army quashed it.
movement ended in 1951, but it came at a heavy cost –
around 4,000 communists and peasant militants were killed
over 10,000 were detained for several years.

Naxalite Movement in West Bengal (1967-71)

The Naxalbari peasant uprising- May 1967 in West Bengal

significant post-colonial rebellion.
emerged against the eviction of sharecroppers by landowners (jotedars),
worsening the condition of poor peasants. The government's failure to
effectively implement Land Reform Laws also fueled the discontent.
Despite laws like the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act (1953) and the West
Bengal Land Reform Act (1955), which aimed to abolish zamindari and protect
sharecroppers,
ineffective implementation led to continued evictions. This resulted in economic
insecurity
unemployment,
decline in the proportion of sharecroppers.

The Left political parties mobilized peasants in Naxalbari since the early 1960s
due to large-scale evictions.
The revolt intensified in April 1967, with leaders like:
Kanu Sanyal and Charu Mazumdar, who later formed CPI(M-L).

In May 1967:
forceful occupations,
looting, and assaults took place.
The movement paused when the West Bengal police, under central government
pressure, entered the region.

Kanu Sanyal outlined tasks for the rebellion

including redistributing land to peasants
burning legal documents
voiding unequal agreements
seizing hoarded rice.
The movement spread to other states, giving rise to the Naxalite movement.
CHANGING PATTERN OF AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT
MOVEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

The roots of peasant movements in India can be traced back to British economic
policies that disrupted traditional agrarian systems.
British colonial expansion impacted Indian peasants, leading to periodic revolts.
Changes in agricultural production, including the commercialization of
agriculture between 1860 and 1920, contributed to unrest as traditional bonds
eroded.
These peasant movements influenced post-independence agrarian reforms, such
as: abolition of the Zamindari system
weakening the power of the landed class.

Since the 1960s, agriculture has become more market-oriented, blurring the
rural-urban divide and transforming peasant society. Agricultural laboures are
now more dependent on wage labor, losing the traditional relations with their
employers.

With the green revolution

market economy penetration

with globalization
new farmer organizations like Shetkari Sangathana, Bhartiya Kisan Union, and
Khedut Samaj have emerged
demanding:
fair prices, subsidies
and a shift to agricultural development.

Rich peasants invest surplus in industries, further blurring rural-urban

distinctions.

In the post-economic reform era, there have been protests against the acquisition
of fertile land for industrial and developmental projects.

Examples include movements in:

Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal (2006)
Mann in Maharashtra (2005)
Sompeta in Andhra Pradesh (2010).
These movements often receive support from NGOs and gain widespread
attention due to advancements in the IT sector.