How did civil disobedience begin? How did different section of indian people react differently to civil disobedience movement?
Answer this question with reference to muslims, industrial working class, Peasant and businessmen?

MUSLIMS:

(i) Muslim response was lukewarm to the Civil Disobedience Movement.

(ii) After the non-cooperation Khilafat movement declined, relations between the Hindus and Muslims worsened as each community organised religious processions, provoking Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots.

(iii) The important differences were over the question of representation in the future assemblies that were to be elected.

(iv) When the Civil Disobedience Movement started, there was an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust between communities.

PEASANTS:
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1.  In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement.

2.  Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices.

3.  As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.

4.  And the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread resentment.

5.  These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement, organizing their communities, and at times forcing reluctant members, to participate in the boycott programmes. For them the fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.

BUSINESSMEN:
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1.  Keen on expanding their business, they now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities.

2.  They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.

3.  To organize business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.

4.  Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement.

5.  They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods.

6.  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.

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS:
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1.  The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.

2.  Some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.

3.  There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932.

4.  In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns.

Gandhiji started the civil Disobedience Movement on 12 March 1930 with his famous Dandi March. Along with seventy eight followers Gandhi marched from Sabaramati to Dandi and made salt in violation of the salt laws. He declared, the British rule in India has brought about moral, material, cultural and spiritual ruination of this great country. I regard this rule as a curse. I am out to destroy this system of Government". The people responded enormously to the call of Gandhiji. The movement spread all over the country rapidly.

The British Government wanted to negotiate an agreement with the congress so that it would attend the Round Table conference. Lord Irwin made a pact with Gandhi in March 1931 and Gandhi went to London in September 1931 to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Inspite of his powerful advocacy, the British Government refused to concede the basic nationalist demand for freedom on the basis of the immediate grant of Dominion status. Gandhi returned being disappointed and the civil Disobedience Movement was resumed. Gandhiji suspended the movement in May 1933 and finally withdrew it in 1934.

The Salt Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience Movement created greater enthusiasm among the people to overthrow the foreign rule. Gandhi remained the unchallenged leader of the national movement.

On 31 January 1930, he sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands. Some of these were of general interest; others were specific demands of different classes, from industrialists to peasants. 

If the demands were not fulfilled by 11 March, the letter stated, the Congress would launch a civil disobedience campaign. Irwin was unwilling to negotiate.

So Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers.

The march was over 240 miles, from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi.

The volunteers walked for 24 days, about 10 miles a day.

 On 6 April he reached Dandi, and ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water.

This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

MUSLIMS

Some of the Muslim political organisations in India were also lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience Movement.

After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress.

the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.

As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each community organised religious processions with militant fervour, provoking Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in various cities. Every riot deepened the distance between the two communities.

The Congress and the Muslim League made efforts to renegotiate an alliance,

The important differences were over the question of representation in the future assemblies that were to be elected.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, one of the leaders of the Muslim League, was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates, if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in the Muslim-dominated provinces (Bengal and Punjab).

Negotiations over the question of representation continued but all hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference in 1928 disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at compromise.

When the Civil Disobedience Movement started there was thus an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust between communities.

industrial workers

The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.

As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof.

But some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.

There were strikes by railway workers  and dockworkers

In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns

business men

During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and become powerful .

Keen on expanding their business, they now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities.

They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.

To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.

Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched.

They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell 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

rich peasants

In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement.

Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices.

As their cash income disappeared, 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.

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. For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues

 poor peasants

Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords.

As the Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, the small tenants found it difficult to pay their rent.

They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted.

They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists.