How had non-cooperation spread in cities ? Explain. Why did it gradually slow down ?
(a) In the towns, middle classes participated in the movement in the following ways : Students left the schools and colleges. Headmasters and teachers resigned. Lawyers gave up their practice. Elections were boycotted except in Madras, where Justice Party, took part in elections because it was a party of non-Brahmans and felt that entering the Council was one way of gaining some power – something that usually only Brahmans had access to. Foreign goods were boycotted. Liquor shops were picketed. Foreign clothes were burnt in huge bonfires. Many traders refused to import foreign cloth or trade in foreign goods. (b) Economic effects of Non-Cooperation Movement were as given below : The import of foreign cloth decreased from ? 102 crore to K 57 crore between 1921 and In many places merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade. People discarded foreign clothes and started wearing only Indian clothes. This led to increased production by the Indian textile mills and handlooms. (c) The movement in the cities gradually slowed down for the reasons as given below : Khadi was often more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it. Similarly the boycott of British institutions failed because to be successful alternative Indian institutions could not be set up in place of the British ones. As a result of it, students and teachers began to go back to government schools. The lawyers too joined back work in government courts.
