What is Civil Disobedience ?
Civil disobedience is the
active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a
government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic
or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a
whole.
A variety of criticisms has been directed
against the philosophy and practice of civil disobedience. The radical critique
of the philosophy of civil disobedience condemns its acceptance of the existing
political structure; conservative schools of thought, on the other hand, see
the logical extension of civil disobedience as anarchy and the right of the
individual to break any law he chooses, at any time.
The philosophical roots of civil disobedience lie deep in Western
thought: Cicero, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry
David Thoreau all sought to justify conduct by virtue of its harmony with some
antecedent superhuman moral law.
The principle of civil disobedience has achieved some standing in international
law through the war crime trials at Nürnberg after World War II, which affirmed
the principle that an individual may, under certain circumstances, be held
accountable for failure to break the laws of his country.
The
man who most clearly formulated the concept of civil disobedience for the
modern world was Mohandas Gandhi. Drawing from Eastern and Western thought,
Gandhi developed the philosophy of satyāgraha . First in the Transvaal of South
Africa in 1906 and later in India, Gandhi led his people in satyagrahas to obtain equal rights and freedom.
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CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT in INDIA
Factors Leading to the Civil Disobedience Movement
The prevalent
political and social circumstances played a vital role in the launching of the
Civil Disobedience Movement. The Simon Commission was formed by
the British Government that included solely the members of the British
Parliament, in November 1927, to draft and formalize a constitution for India. The chairmanship of the commission rested with Sir John
Simon, who was a well known lawyer and an English statesman.
- Accused of being an 'All-White Commission', the Simon Commission was rejected by all political and social segments of the country. In Bengal, the opposition to the Simon Commission assumed a massive scale, with a hartal being observed in all corners of the province on February 3rd, 1928. On the occasion of Simon's arrival in the city, demonstrations were conducted in Calcutta.
- In the wake of the boycott of the recommendations proposed by Simon Commission, an All-Party Conference was organized in Bombay in May of 1928. Dr MA Ansari was the president of the conference. Motilal Nehru was given the responsibility to preside over the drafting committee, appointed at the conference to prepare a constitution for India.
- Barring the Indian Muslims, The Nehru Report was endorsed by all segments of the Indian society. The Indian National Congress pressurized the British government to accept all the parts the Nehru Report, in December 1928. At the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress held in December, 1928, the British government was warned that if India was not granted the status of a dominion, a Civil Disobedience Movement would be initiated in the entire country. Lord Irwin, the Governor General, after a few months, declared that the final objective of the constitutional reforms was to grant the status of a dominion to India. Following this declaration, Gandhi along with other national leaders requested the Governor General to adopt a more liberal attitude in solving the constitutional crisis. A demand was made for the release of the political prisoners and for holding the suggested Round Table Conference for reflecting on the problems regarding the constitution of the country.
- None of the efforts made by the Congress received any favorable response from the British government. The patience of the Indian masses were wearing out. The political intelligentsia of the country was sure that the technique of persuasion would not be effective with the British government. The Congress had no other recourse but to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement. In Bardoli, the peasants had already taken to satyagraha under the guidance of Sardar Patel in the year 1928. Their non tax agitations were partially successful. The Congress took the decision to use the non violent weapon of satyagraha on a nation wide scale against the government.
The Launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement
'Like the historic march of
Ram Chandra to Lanka, the march of Dandi would be memorable' exclaimed Motilal
Nehru in a message.
P.C. Ray called it the
'exodus of Israelites under Moses.'
Jawaharlal Nehru called
Gandhi, '.... the pilgrim on his quest of truth, quiet, peaceful, determined
and fearless who would continue that quiet pilgrimage regardless of
consequences.'
The satyagrahis were to
face a fatiguing journey through heat and dust of the Kheda villages. Thousands
of men, women and children accompanied the marching column for a few miles and
thousands lined the route and showered flowers, coins, currency notes and kum
kum at the satyagrahis.
MK Gandhi was urged by the
Congress to render his much needed leadership to the Civil Disobedience
Movement. On the historic day of
12th March 1930, Gandhi inaugurated The Civil Disobedience Movement by conducting the historic Dandi Salt March, where he broke
the Salt Laws imposed by the British Government.
On 12 March 1930 at 6-10 A.M. Gandhi
came out of his room, calm and composed, accompanied by Prabhashankar Patani, Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal, his
secretary. He offered prayers, looked at his watch
and exactly at 6.30 A.M. commenced his march with seventy-eight volunteers.With
his usual gentle smile, betokening his unifying faith in the justice of the
cause he was pursuing and in the success of the great campaign he had embarked
upon, he headed the procession with quick and unfaltering steps..
Dandi Salt March had an immense impact on the entire nation.
Dandi Salt March had an immense impact on the entire nation.
13 March, Gandhi and his satyagrahis reached
a small village, Aslali, where they were received well by the villagers. Gandhi
emphasised the importance of salt and criticised the salt tax levied by the
government. He stated, 'The poor destitute villagers do not have the strength
to get this tax repealed. We want to develop this strength... We should make a
resolve that we shall prepare salt, eat it, sell it to the people and, while
doing so, court imprisonment, if necessary. If, out of Gujarat's Population of
90 lakhs, we leave out women and children, and the remaining 30 lakhs get ready
to violate the salt tax, the Government does not have enough accommodation in
jails to house so many people.
The second halt of the Dandi marchers
was at Bareja, a village with a Population of 2,500. He
emphasised the importance of khadi, its production and use by the villagers.
'Khadi is the foundation of our freedom struggle.... I request you to renounce
luxuries and buy khadi from this heap before you'.
As the march proceeded, so the
pressure of publicity and social boycott was built up and
resignations began to occur in large numbers. By 22 March, approximate number
of resignations were four from Ahmedabad district: twenty-seven from Kaira (of
whom sixteen were from Borsad taluka) seventeen from Broach, and two from
Surat. But Surat soon became the most affected district by 5 April. One hundred
and forty headmen had resigned and ten clays later, the figure had risen to two
hundred and twenty seven.Gandhi warned them, 'It will be regarded as cowardice to
hand in one's resignation and then to withdraw it. There is no compulsion to
resign. It is advisable to give up the post of Headman, looking upon it as
something base, dirty and filthy.'
Each and every corner of the country
was gripped in a unique fervor of nationalism. Soon this act of violation of
the Salt Laws assumed an all India character. The entire nation amalgamated
under the call of a single man, Mahatma Gandhi. There were reports of
satyagrahas and instances of law violation from Bombay, Central and United
Provinces, Bengal and Gujarat. The program of the Civil Disobedience Movement
incorporated besides the breaking of the Salt Laws, picketing of shops selling
foreign goods and liquor, bonfire of cloth, refusal to pay taxes and avoidance
of offices by the public officers and schools by the students. Even the women
joined forces against the British. Those from orthodox families did not
hesitate to respond to the call of the Mahatma. They took active part in the
picketing exercises. Perturbed by the growing popularity of the movement, the
British government imprisoned Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, in a bid to
thwart it. Thus, the second struggle for attaining Swaraj launched by the
Congress, under the able guidance of Mahatma, served the critical function of
mobilizing the masses on a large scale against the British.
The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi's principles of
nonviolent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely translated
as "truth-force.”In early 1930 the Indian National Congress chose
satyagraha as their main tactic for winning Indian independence from British
rule and appointed Gandhi to organize the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882
British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha. The Salt March to Dandi, and
the beating by British police of hundreds of nonviolent protesters in
Dharasana, which received worldwide news coverage, demonstrated the effective
use of civil disobedience as a technique for fighting social and political
injustice
May 4-5 midnight…Gandhiji was arrested !
Dharasana Satyagraha
The Dharasana Satyagraha went ahead as
planned, with Abbas Tyabji, a seventy-six year old retired judge, leading the
march with Gandhi's wife Kasturba at his side. Both were arrested
before reaching Dharasana and sentenced to three months in prison. After their arrests, the march continued under the leadership of Sarojini Naidu, a woman poet and freedom fighter, who warned the satyagrahis,
"You must not use any violence under any circumstances. You will be
beaten, but you must not resist: you must not even raise a hand to ward off
blows." Soldiers began clubbing the satyagrahis with steel tipped lathis in an incident that
attracted international attention.
Gandhi-Irwin Pact
1. What were the salient features of Gandhi-Irwin Pact? (1997/15)
This pact was signed between
Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5 March 1931.
Salient features
of this act were as following:
1. The Congress would
participate in the Round Table Conference.
2. The Congress would
discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement.
3. The Government would
withdraw all ordinances issued to curb the Congress.
4. The Government would
withdraw all prosecutions relating to offenses other than violent one.The
Government would release all persons undergoing sentences of imprisonment for
their activities in the civil disobedience movement.
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Salt Satyagraha succeeded in drawing the attention
of the world. Millions saw the newsreels showing the march. Time magazine declared Gandhi its 1930 Man of the Year,
comparing Gandhi's march to the sea "to defy Britain's salt tax as some
New Englanders once defied a British tea tax." Civil disobedience continued until early 1931,
when Gandhi was finally released from prison to hold talks with Irwin. It was
the first time the two held talks on equal terms, and resulted in the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. The talks would lead to the
Second Round Table Conference at the end of 1931.In the March of 1930, Gandhi met with the Viceroy, Lord Irwin and signed an agreement known
as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. The two main clauses of the pact entailed; Congress
participation in the Round Table Conference and cessation of The Civil
Disobedience Movement. The Government of India released all satyagrahis from
prison.
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Detailed Timeline
November 1927
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The Simon Commission was formed by
the British Government that included solely the members of the British
Parliament to draft and formalize a constitution for India.
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February
3rd, 1928
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In Bengal, the opposition to the Simon Commission
assumed a massive scale, with a hartal being observed in all corners of the
province
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1st of
March, 1928
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meetings were held simultaneously in all 32 wards of the city
Calcutta, spurring people to restore the movement for boycott of British
goods.
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May,1928
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All-Party Conference was organized in Bombay in May of 1928.
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December 1928
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The Indian National Congress pressurized the British government
to accept all the parts the Nehru Report
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1928
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In Bardoli, the peasants had already taken to satyagraha under
the guidance of Sardar Patel in the year 1928.
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8th of
April,1929
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members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association exploded two bombs and fired revolvers in the assembly chamber of
the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi. In response, Lord Irwin published
a Public Safety Bill which addressed the menace of the Communist Party by
deporting the Englishmen involved and taking legal action against the Indian
membership.
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31st of
October,1929
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Lord Irwin announced on behalf of the British Government that
the natural constitutional progress of India was the attainment of Dominion
Status.
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23rd of
December 1929
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Indian
nationalists failed in an attempt to blow up Irwin`s train. Lord Irwin met
with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mohammad Ali
Jinnah and Tel Bahadur Sapru in New Delhi. Erwin however, could not arrive at
an agreement for framing a constitution under `Dominion Status`. Indian
National Congress also refused to attend the London Round Table Conference
due to communal division and the lack of British support for Indian freedom.
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December 31,
1929
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The Indian National Congress raised the tricolour flag of
India on the banks of the Ravi at Lahore.
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January 26,
1930
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The Indian National Congress, led by Gandhi and
Jawaharlal Nehru, publicly issued the Declaration of Independence, or Purna
Swaraj .First Independence Day observed.
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Feb 14 ,1930
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The Working Committee of the INC meets at Sabarmati and passes
the Civil Disobedience resolution
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12th March
1930
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Gandhi inaugurated The Civil Disobedience Movement by
conducting the historic Dandi Salt March. First Phase of Civil Disobedience Movement: March 12,
1930 to March 5, 1931
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13 March 1930
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The Viceroy informed the Secretary of State 'Most of my
thought at the moment is concentrated upon Gandhi. I wish I felt sure what
the right way to deal with him is.'
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13 March 1930
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Gandhi and his satyagrahis reached a small village,
Aslali, where they were received well by the villagers.
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6th April
1930
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Gandhi with the accompaniment of seventy nine
satyagrahis, violated the Salt Law by picking up a fistful of salt lying on
the sea shore. They manually made salt on the shores of Dandi.
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May 4–5, 1930
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Gandhi
was arrested on the midnight
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Nov 30,
1930
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First Round Table Conference begins in London to consider the
report of the Simon Commission
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March 5,1931
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Gandhi -Irwin Talks
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March
23,1931
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Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Rajguru executed
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Sept 7,1931
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Chronology: Indian National Movement ~ UPSC EXAMS
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Dec 28,1931
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Mahatma Gandhi returns from London after the deadlock in
Second Round Table Conference. Launches Civil Disobedience Movement. Indian
National Congress (INC) declared illegal
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January 1932
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Gandhi resumed the movement and appealed to the
entire nation to join in it
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Jan 4,
1932
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Mahatma Gandhi arrested and imprisoned without trial
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16 August 1932
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Macdonald Ramsay
announced Communal Award
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Sept 20,1932
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Mahatma Gandhi begins his epic "Fast unto
Death" in jail against the Communal Award and ends the fast on Sept 26
after the Poona Pact
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Sept. 24, 1932
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Nov 17,1932
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The Third Round Table Conference begins in London
(Nov 17 to Dec 24)
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July 14th
1933.
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Mahatma Gandhi released from prison as he begins fast for
self-purification. Mahatma
Gandi withdrew mass satyagraha . INC suspends Civil Disobedience Movement but
authorises Satyagraha by individuals
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April 7th
1934
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The movement ceased completely.
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1934
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Mahatma Gandhi withdraws from active politics and devotes
himself to "Constructive Programmes" (1934-39)
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Aug 4,1935
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The Government of India Act, 1935 passed
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