Question

Analyse the role of peasant communities in the 'Civil Disobedience Movement'.

Accepted Answer

(i) In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement. (ii) Being producers of commercial crops, their cash income disappeared due to trade depression and falling price. (iii) They found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand and the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread resentment. (iv) These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement, organising their communities, and at times forcing reluctant members, to participate in the boycott programmes. (v) For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues. But they were deeply disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without the revenue rates being revised. (vi) The poorer peasantry was not just interested in the lowering of the revenue demand but many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords. (vii) As the Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, the small tenants found it difficult to pay their rent. (viii) They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted. (ix) They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists. (x) Apprehensive of raising issues that might upset the rich peasants and landlords, the Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaigns in most places. (xi) The relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.

Analyse the role of peasant communities in the 'Civil Disobedience Movement'.

Marking-scheme solution

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