Why did the different social groups join the Civil Disobedience Movement ?
The different social groups joined the Civil Disobedience Movement for the reasons as mentioned below : (1) Rich peasant communities : The reasons for the rich peasant communities for taking part ire the movement were as given below : The rich communities like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh were producers of commercial crops. They were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices. They were not in a position to pay revenue to the government. They joined the movement in order to get the revenue reduced. They even forced reluctant members to participate in the boycott programmes. For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues. The refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand had led to widespread resentment among the rich peasants. (2) Poor peasantry : Poor peasantry joined the movement in the hope that their unpaid rent to the landlord would be remitted because due to depression they were not in a position to pay the rent. Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords. Their cash income had dwindled due to depression. The Congress was apprehensive of raising isshes because that might upset the rich peasants and landlords. So, Congress did not support ‘no rent’ campaigns. Thus, the relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain. (3) Business classes : They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports. They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927. Prominent industrialists Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla attacked the colonial control over the Indian economy and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement. They refused to sell or buy imported goods. Most businessmen came to see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade and industry would flourish without constraints. But after the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic. They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities. They were also worried about prolonged disruption of business, as well as of the growing influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress. (4) Industrial working class : They did not participate in the movement in large numbers except in the Nagpur region. As the industrialists came closer to Congress, the workers stayed aloof. Some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement selectively as mentioned below : (a) Boycott of foreign goods as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions. (b) There were strikes by railway workers in 1930. (c) Dockworkers’ strike in 1932. (d) In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur in mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaign.It may be mentioned that the Congress was reluctant to include workers’ demands because that would alienate industrialists and divide anti-imperial forces.
