1920s: Changing Political Relationships Flashcards
Where did Gandhi acquire much of his political and legal experience?
SA
When did Gandhi return to India?
1914
How did Gandhi help peasant farmers in north Bihar in 1917?
Helped intervene in Bihar where farmers were being forced to grow Indigo on disadvantaged land
Who did Gandhi make links with during WWI?
Nehru
Which important communities did Gandhi make connections with during WWI?
Muslims and Businessmen who would then support his non-coop campaign
What was the Lucknow Pact and when was it agreed?
Muslim-Hindu pact, muslims were promised separate electorates - 1916
Why was the Muslim League originally created?
Anti-Congress body
Why did the ML turn against the Raj
Because they declared war on Turkey
Which moderate members of Congress died in the late 1910s, leading to the re-emergence of more radical members, such as Bal Tilak?
Gokhale + Mehta
What two Home Rule Leagues were created in 1916 to bring the concept of home rule to the Indian people?
Bal Tilak’s home league and Annie Besants group
Which HomeRule League did Jinnah join?
Annie Besant’s
Who was imprisoned in June 1917?
Annie Besant
What is a Chakra?
A spinning Wheel - symbol for Congress
What two words formed the basis of ‘satyagraha’?
Truth and Obstinacy
Why did Gandhi believe in non-violence?
Violence would inhibit their search for the truth
Why did Gandhi not like the term ‘passive resistance’?
Passive resistance means not doing anything and Gandhi advocated for non-violent non-cooperation.
What were Gandhi’s views on western technology?
It had made man slave to the machines and therefore was a failure
What evidence can you provide to show that Gandhi adopted an increasingly peasant lifestyle?
He discarded his western clothing and began wearing a dhoti. He also began eating more frugally, much like that of a peasant and began walking + spinning cotton
Where did Gandhi live?
Rural India
What was Jawaharlal Nehru’s background?
He was an Indian barrister, born to wealthy parents and educated in England
What was appealing about Gandhi’s policies?
Combined politics and spirituality = mass appeal
What shifts led to Gandhi coming to prominence within Congress in the late 1910s/early 1920s?
Gandhi’s reaction to the Amritsar Massacre and Rowlatt Acts + the wide geographical support he had, coupled with a lack of better alternatives.
What did Congress members vote on in its 25th annual meeting in Nagpur in December 1920?
Congress voted for Gandhi’s policy of non-cooperation.
What was the aim of the first satyagraha?
Make the Raj ungovernable + achieve Swaraj in 12m
How did India react during the First Satyagraha?
Some participated with Gandhi in making the Raj ungovernable , but millions were unable/unwilling to understand the satyagraha properly
How many lawyers stopped work during the Satyagraha?
200
What did Indians boycott in Calcutta in 1921?
The visit of the Duke of Connaught
When did violence first break out during the satyagraha?
A hartal designed to coincide with a visit from the Prince of Wales led to 4 days of looting and rioting
Who declared a jihad during the satyagraha?
Muslim Moplahs of Malaba
Where were Muslims forced to ‘purify’ themselves by extremist Hindus? What did this result in?
In the Punjab, Gangetic Plain and other parts of India - resulted in the already fragile Hindu-Muslim relations being put in jeopardy
What triggered the end of the satyagraha?
In Feb 1922 When a mob of Congress supporters torched a police station in Chauri Chaura, burning 22 Indian policemen.
How many died in the Chauri Chaura arson attack on the police station?
22
Who became more in touch with the Indian people after travelling around the country?
Nehru
When was Gandhi released from prison?
1924
What did Congress do whilst Gandhi was in prison?
They decided to exploit local grievances and poverty to further recruit people into believing their message and began participating in local elections made possible by the govt of india act 1919 to get middle class Indians back into the fold.
How many Congress members were there in:
1920
End of 1921
1920 - 100,000
End of 1921 - 2 million
Who left Congress in big numbers in the early 1920’s?
Large number of Muslims
Whats one way in which Congress increased its membership? Groups that weren’t Hindus, Muslims.
Began getting neglected groups interested in politics
What new types of people joined Congress in the 1920s?
Richer peasantry, commercial castes + poorer classes of people e.g railway workers
How did the Congress structure change in the 1920s?
Cooperation with the Raj was to end, AICC was to be expanded and re-allocated on a regional population basis. More emphasis on recruiting women + groups such as trade unions - several hundred more local branches
Membership of the All Indian Congress Committee increased from 161 to what?
161 to 350
What group was responsible for designing Congress policy?
Congress Working Committee
What group had the aim of spreading the word about hand spinning and weaving?
All-India Spinners’ assoc
How did Congress try to improve the lives of people in rural areas?
embarked on campaigns of mass literacy and for improvement of village sanitation
Who were the ‘Young Hooligans’?
3 young radical Congress members, Bose, Narayan and Nehru, who wanted Swaraj now.
They fiercely opposed dominion status and slow negotiations with the Raj
What report was issued in 1928?
Nehru Report -
Who was unhappy with the Nehru report (1928) and why?
Muslims were deeply unhappy as, if realised, the Hindus would have a permanent majority within central government + there were only vague promises of religious safeguarding. Separate electorates would be lost
How did Congress react to the Simon Commission?
They organised a boycott of the parliamentary delegation
What was decided at the Lahore Congress of 1929?
Gandhi would support the young hooligans
Purna Swaraj was now India’s new political demand
What two movements reinforced Muslim values in the 1920s?
Khilafat and Muslim League
What percentage of Congress delegates were Muslim in 1921? What about by 1923?
10.9% in 1921
1923 - 3.6%
Why did Jinnah disapprove of Gandhi’s support of the Khilafat Movement?
Believed it to be an opportunistic move - divided Muslims and put normal progress towards independence in jeopardy
What was there less religious friction in the princely states?
They typically were either majority Muslim or Hindu - they didn’t need to maintain neutrality
What was an anjuman?
A gathering or association for the promotion of Islam - Muslim leaders wanted every town to have one to ensure the survival of Islam
Which Muslim festival led to a flare up in sectarian tensions?
Bakr’ld
Which Hindu festival was noisome and troubling to Muslims?
Holi
What Hindu organisation criticised Islam and sought converts to Hinduism?
Arya Samj
What ‘Society’ brought Hindus into direct conflict with Muslim butchers and tradesmen?
Cow Protection Society
What Hindu fundamentalist party was created in 1906?
Mahasabha
What did the Muslim League offer to Congress in 1927?
League offered to end its support for separate electorates (which Jinnah was not a fan of anyway) in return for the separation of Sind from Bombay to form 1 Muslim dominated province
He also asked for 1/3 of seats in Central Legislative Assembly
What province did ML want created so that it was Muslim-dominated in 1927?
Sind
When did Jinnah issue his 14 points?
1929
What was included in Jinnah’s 14 points?
Effective and adequate representation of minorities in every province
Muslim representation in Central legislature should be 1/3
Full religious liberty
When was the Simon Commission?
1927
Who took part?
Labour’s Clement Attlee who later led the party to victory
7 man delegation with no Indian representation
How did different stakeholders respond to the Simon Commission?
Congress, Hindu leaders, liberal thinkers and large % of ML boycotted the commission and refused to give evidence
Muslims from the provinces where they were a majority decided to help the enquiry and so did a number of Anglo-Indians, Sikhs and Untouchables - they hoped that it would lead to a better future for them
Who was elected in May 1929 in Britain? Who became Prime Minister?
Labour - Ramsay MacDonald
What did the Irwin Declaration of 1929 declare?
Reiterated the Montagu Decl of 1917 and added that the attainment of dominion status would be a natural development
What did the Nehru Report entail?
That India should essentially be promoted to the status of other white colonies.
Princely states would join into British India and there would be no further devolution of power to the provinces
