Swarajists, No-Changers & Socialist Ideas

Swarajists and No-Changers

Genesis of Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party

• After Gandhi’s arrest (March 1922) passive phase of the movement.
• C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Ajmal Khan wanted an end to the boycott of legislative councils.
• Use these councils as an arena of political struggle to arouse popular enthusiasm, end or mend.
• Government did not respond they obstruct the working of these councils
• Those advocating entry into legislative councils came to be known as the ‘Swarajists
• No-Changers - C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Ansari. Opposed council entry, advocated concentration on constructive work, and continuation of boycott and non-cooperation, and quiet preparation for resumption of the suspended civil disobedience programme.
• Defeat of the Swarajists’ proposal of ‘ending or mending’ at the Gaya session of the Congress (December 1922)
• C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru resigned from the presidentship and secretaryship, formation of Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party or simply Swarajist Party.

Swarajists’ Arguments

• Entering the councils would not negate the non-cooperation programme, carrying on the movement through other means.
• Entry of nationalists would deter the government from stuffing the councils.
• Councils could be used as an arena of political struggle, no intention to use the councils as organs for gradual transformation of colonial rule.

No-Changers’ Arguments

• parliamentary work would lead to neglect of constructive work, loss of revolutionary zeal and to political corruption.

Agree to Disagree

• Both sides, however, wanted to avoid a 1907-type split and kept in touch with Gandhi who was in jail.
• United front to get a mass movement to force the government to introduce reforms, both sides accepted the necessity of Gandhi’s leadership of a united nationalist front.
• Compromise was reached at a meeting in Delhi in September 1923.
• Swarajists accepted the Congress programme with only one difference-that they would join legislative councils.

Swarajist Manifesto for Elections

Strong anti-imperialist line.

• Guiding motive of the British in governing India lay in selfish interests of their own country.
• So-called reforms were only a blind to further the said interests under the pretence of granting a responsible government, the real objective being to continue exploitation of the unlimited resources of the country by keeping Indians permanently in a subservient position to Britain.
• Swarajists would present the nationalist demand of self-government in councils.
• Demand was rejected, they would adopt a policy of uniform.
• Creating deadlocks on every measure.

Gandhi’s Attitude

Gandhi was initially opposed to the Swarajist proposal of council entry, but later February 1924, gradually moved towards a reconciliation with the Swarajists.

• Felt public opposition to the programme of council entry would be counter-productive.
• November 1923 elections, Swarajists win 42 out of 141 elected in provincial assembly of Central Provinces, Legislature won a majority.
• Government crackdown on revolutionary terrorists and the Swarajists towards the end of 1924.
• Both sides came to an agreement in 1924 at Belgaum session of the Congress, Gandhi - the only time - presided over the Congress session.
• Swarajists would work in the councils as an integral part of the Congress.

Swarajist Activity in Councils

• Swarajist position had weakened because of communal riots.
• Government strategy of dividing the Swarajists, Hindus from the Muslims is Successful.
• Swarajists lost the support of many Muslims. Communal interests also entered the party. Death of C.R. Das in 1925 weakened it further.
• Responsivists among Swarajists—Lala Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malaviya and N.C. Kelkar, protect the so-called Hindu interests.
• Communal elements accused leader like Motilal Nehru, being anti-Hindu even as Muslim communalists.
• Main leadership of the Swarajist Party reiterated faith in mass civil disobedience and withdrew from legislatures in March 1926.
• Another section, 1926 elections as a party in disarray, won 40 seats in the Centre and some seats in Madras.
• 1930, the Swarajists finally walked out as a result of the Lahore Congress resolution on purna swaraj and the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Achievements

• Out-voted the government several times.
• Agitated through powerful speeches on self-government, civil liberties and industrialisation.
• Vithalbhai Patel was elected speaker of Central Legislative Assembly in 1925.
• Defeat of Public Safety Bill in 1928.
• National movement was recouping its strength.
• Exposed the hollowness of the Montford scheme
• Demonstrated that the councils could be used creatively.

Drawnbacks

• Lacked a policy to coordinate their militancy inside legislatures with the mass struggle outside.
• Obstructionist strategy had its limitations.
• Not carry on with their coalition partners.
• Failed to resist the perks and privileges of power and office.
• Failed to support the peasants’ cause in Bengal, lost support among Muslim.

Constructive Work by No-Changers

Connected them to the different sections of the masses

• Ashrams sprang up where young men and women & popularised the use of charkha and khad.
• National schools and colleges - trained in a non-colonial ideological framework.
• Hindu-Muslim unity, removing untouchability, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, and for flood relief.
• Backbone of civil disobedience as active organisers.

A Critique of Constructive Work

• National education benefited the urban lower middle classes and the rich peasants only.
• Popularisation of khadi costlier than the imported cloth.
• Campaigning about the social aspect of untouchability, no emphasis was laid on the economic grievances.

Emergence of New Forces:

• Socialistic Ideas, Youth Power, Trade Unionism.
• One hand, Entry of Indian masses into the national movement.
• Other hand, basic crystallisation of the main political currents on the national scene.
• Coming on the scene of the Gandhian philosophy of satyagraha based on truth and non-violence, as they embodied a positive or negative reaction to it.

Spread of Marxist and Socialist Ideas

• Ideas of Marx and Socialist thinkers inspired many groups to come into existence as socialists and communists, rise of a left wing within Congress, represented by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose
• young nationalists dissatisfied with Gandhian ideas, advocating radical solutions for economic, political and social ills.
• Critical of both Swarajists and No-Changers;
• Advocate more consistent anti-imperialist line in slogan for purna swarajya.
• Influenced by an awareness.
• Combine nationalism and anti-imperialism with social justice, question of internal class oppression.
• Communist Party of India (CPI) formed in 1920 in Tashkent by by M.N. Roy, Abani Mukherji.
• 1924, Many communists jailed in Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case.
• 1925, Indian Communist Conference at Kanpur formalised the foundation of the CPI.
• 1929, government crackdown on communists, arrest and trial of 31 leading communists, trade unionists and left-wing leaders in famous Meerut conspiracy case.
• Workers’ and peasants’ parties propagated Marxist and communist ideas.
• All these communist groups and workers’ and peasants’ parties remained an integral part of the national movement and worked along with the Congress.

Activism of Indian Youth

• Students’ leagues & students’ conferences.
• 1928, Jawaharlal Nehru presided over the All Bengal Students.

Peasants’ Agitations

• Agitations were for revision of tenancy laws, lower rents, protection against eviction and relief from indebtedness.
• Gujarat, the Bardoli Satyagraha was led by Vallabhbhai Patel (1928).

Growth of Trade Unionism

• 1920, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
• Lala Lajpat Rai-First President.
• Major strikes - Kharagpur Railway Workshops,Tata Iron and Steel Works (Jamshedpur), Bombay Textile Mills & Buckingham Carnatic Mills.

Caste Movements

Movements could be divisive, conservative and at times potentially radica.

• Justice Party (Madras)
• Self-respect movement (1925) under “Periyar” - E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker (Madras)
• Satyashodhak activists in Satara (Maharashtra)
• Bhaskar Rao Jadhav (Maharashtra)
• Mahars under Ambedkar (Maharashtra)
• Radical Ezhavas under K. Aiyappan and C. Kesavan in Kerala
• Yadavs in Bihar for improvement in social status
• Unionist Party under Fazl-i-Hussain (Punjab).

Revolutionary Activity with a Turn towards Socialism

• Hindustan Republican Association (H.R.A.) - in Punjab-UP-Bihar.
• Yugantar, Anushilan groups and later Chittagong Revolt Group under Surya Sen - in Bengal.

Revolutionary Activity During the 1920s

• Under the persuasion of Gandhi and C.R. Das, many revolutionary groups either agreed to join the non-cooperation programme or suspended their activities to give the non-violent Non-Cooperation Movement a chance.
• sudden withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation, left many of them disillusioned.
• Younger nationalists were not attracted to the parliamentary work of the Swarajists or to the patient, undramatic, constructive work of the No-changers.
• Major leaders of revolutionary policies been enthusiastic participants - Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Surya Sen, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azad, Shiv Verma, Bhagwaticharan Vohra, Jaidev Kapur and Jatin Das
• Two separate strands of revolutionary groups emerged during thi period
• Punjab-UP-Bihar
• Bengal

Major Influences

• Upsurge of working class
• Russian Revolution (1917)
• Newly sprouting communist groups
• Journals publishing memoirs - Atmasakti, Sarathi and Bijoli.
• Novels & Books - Bandi Jiwan by SachinSanyal & Pather Dabi by Sharatchandra Chatterjee

In Punjab-United Provinces-Bihar

• Hindustan Republican Association/Army or HRA (later renamed Hindustan Socialist Republican Association or HSRA.
• 1924 October in Kanpur by Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee and Sachin Sanyal.
• Aim to organise an armed revolution to overthrow the colonial government and establish in its place the Federal Republic of United States of India, principle would be adult franchise.

Kakori Robbery (August 1925)

• Looted its official railway cash, Kakori robbery led to arrests of many.
• Kakori proved to be a setback.

The HSRA

• Inspired by socialist ideas - leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad, the name of HRA was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
• Include Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwaticharan Vohra from Punjab and Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma and Jaidev Kapur from the United Provinces

Saunders’ Murder (Lahore, December 1928)

• Move away from individual heroic action.
• Death of Sher-i-Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai due to a lathi- charge on an anti-Simon Commission procession (October 1928).
• Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru shot dead Saunders, the police official responsible for the lathicharge in Lahore.

Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly (April 1929)

• Need for a revolution by the masses.
• Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 to protest against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill.
• Bombs had been deliberately made harmless and were aimed at making ‘the deaf hear’.
• Get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda their movement and ideology

Action against the Revolutionaries

• Revolutionaries protested against the horrible conditions through fasting, and demanded honourable and decent treatment as political prisoners.
• Azad was involved in a bid to blow up Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929.
• Series of violent actions in Punjab and towns of United Provinces.
• Azad died in a police encounter in a park in Allahabad in February 1931. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on March 23, 1931.

In Bengal

• Many revolutionary groups reorganised their underground activities, many continued working under the Congress.
• After Das’s death (1925) - Bengal Congress broke up into two factions
• J.M. Sengupta (Anushilan group joined forces with him)
• Subhash Bose (Yugantar group backed him).
• 1924, Calcutta Police Commissioner, Charles Tegart (another man named Day got killed) by Gopinath Saha.
• Government, armed with a new ordinance, came down heavily on revolutionaries, Subhash Bose were arrested. Gopinath Saha was hanged.
• Revolutionary activity suffered a setback, but soon many of revolutionaries started regrouping.

Chittagong Armoury Raid (April 1930)

• Surya Sen, Secretary of the Chittagong District Congress Committee, say "Humanism is a special virtue of a revolutionary"
• Armed rebellion along with his associates, Chittagong to seize and supply arms.
• Destroy telephone and telegraph lines and to dislocate the railway link of Chittagong with the rest of Bengal, raid was quite successful
• Indian Republican Army - Chittagong Branch.
• Later, dispersed into neighbouring villages and raided government targets.

Aspects of the New Phase of Revolutionary Movement in Bengal

• Large-scale participation of young women especially under Surya Sen.
• Include Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutt, & Santi Ghosh and Suniti Chandheri, school girls of Comilla, Bina Das.
• Emphasis on group action aimed at organs of the colonial State, instead of individual action.
• Earlier tendency towards Hindu religiosity, facilitated participation by Muslims.
• Drawbacks
• Retained some conservative elements.
• Failed to evolve broader socio-economic goals.
• Working with Swarajists failed to support the cause of Muslim peasantry against zamindars in Bengal.
• Official Reaction
• Panic at first and then severe government repression Armed with 20 repressive Acts.
• 1933, Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested for sedition, he condemned imperialism and praised the heroism of the revolutionaries.

Ideological Rethinking

• Real breakthrough was made by Bhagat Singh
• HRA Manifesto (1925) declared - “HRA stood for abolition of all systems which made exploitation of man by man possible.
• HRA had also decided to start labour and peasant organisations and work for an "organised and armed revolution".
• Last days (late 1920s), individual heroic action and violence towards mass politics.
• Bismil, give up pistols and revolvers, instead work in an open movement. He urged the youth to strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity, unite all political groups under the leadership of the Congress.
• "every human being has equal rights over the products of nature".
• Even before his arrest, Bhagat Singh moved away from a belief in violent and individual heroic action, belief that a popular broad-based movement.
• 1926, Bhagat Singh helped establish the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha.
• Bhagat and Sukhdev also organised the Lahore Students’ Union for open, legal work among students.
• Bhagat and his comrades also realised that a revolution meant organisation and development of a mass movement of the exploited and the suppressed sections by the revolutionary intelligentsia. says, "real revolutionary armies are in village and factories".

Redefining Revolution

• Revolution was no longer equated with militancy and violence.
• Ending "exploitation of man by man"
• Bhagat Singh said in the court "Revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife, nor is there a place in it for personal vendetta. It is not the cult of bomb and pistol. By revolution we mean the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change."
• Bhagat fully accepted Marxism and the class approach to society.
• He defined socialism scientifically as abolition of capitalism and class domination.
• He was fully and consciously secular.
• Nothing to do with communal bodies and that they would propagate a general feeling of tolerance among people, considering religion to be a matter of personal belief
• Bhagat say importance freeing people from the mental bondage of religion and superstition.
• "to be a revolutionary, one required immense moral strength, but one also required criticism and independent thinking".