Peasant Movements During 1930-40


In the 1930s, Indian peasants experienced a new and nationwide awakening to their own strength and capacity to organise for the betterment of their living conditions. This awakening was largely the result of a confluence of economic and political events: the Great Depression, which hit India in 1929-30, and the Indian National Congress's new phase of mass struggle, which began in 1930. 
 

Rise of peasant movement:

•    The Depression, which saw agricultural prices plummet to half or less of their previous levels, dealt a severe blow to the already impoverished peasants who were already burdened by high taxes and rents. 
 
•    The government was adamant in its refusal to lower its own tax rates or to ask zamindars to lower their rents. 
UPSC Prelims 2024 dynamic test series
 
•    The prices of manufactured goods did not fall by the same amount. 
 
•    Overall, peasants were put in a situation where they had to continue paying pre-Depression rates for taxes, rents, and debts while their incomes continued to plummet. 
 
In this atmosphere of discontent, the Civil Disobedience Movement was founded in 1930, and in many parts of the country, it quickly evolved into a no-tax and no-rent campaign. 
a.    Peasants joined the protest in large numbers, buoyed by the recent success of the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928). 
 
b.    In Andhra Pradesh, for example, the political movement quickly became entangled with a campaign against re-settlement, which posed a threat to land revenue. 
 
c.    Gandhiji issued a manifesto to the U.P. kisans, requesting that they pay only half of the legal rent and receive receipts for the full amount. 
 
d.    To avoid government repression, peasants in Gujarat, particularly in Surat and Kheda, refused to pay their taxes and fled to neighbouring Baroda territory. Their land and personal belongings were seized. 
 
e.    Powerful movements were launched in Bihar and Bengal against the despised chowkidari tax, which forced villagers to pay for the upkeep of their own oppressors.
 
f.    A no-revenue campaign in Punjab was accompanied by the formation of kisan sabhas, which demanded a reduction in land revenue and water rates, as well as the reduction of debts. 
 
g.    Forest satyagrahas were popular in Maharashtra, Bihar, and the Central Provinces, where peasants, including tribals, defied forest laws prohibiting them from using the forests. 
 
h.    Anti-zamindari struggles erupted in Andhra Pradesh, with the Venkatagiri zamindari in Nellore district serving as the first target.
 
Another significant contribution of the Civil Disobedience Movement to the emerging peasant movement was the birth of a new generation of young militant political cadres from its womb. 
 
This new generation of political workers was increasingly influenced by the Left ideology propagated by Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, the Communists, and other Marxist and Left individuals and groups, who received their baptism of fire in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
 
With the Civil Disobedience Movement's demise, these men and women began to look for a way to channel their political energies, and many of them found it in organising peasants. 
 
In addition, with the formation of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) in 1934, the process of bringing together the Left forces received a significant boost. Communists, too, gained the opportunity to work in an open and legal manner by joining the CSP. This left-wing consolidation aided the formation of an all-India body to coordinate the kisan movement, a process that had already begun thanks to the efforts of N.G. Ranga and other kisan leaders. 
 
Peasant Movements During 1930-40

All India Kisan Sabha:

•    The All-India Kisan Congress, which later changed its name to the All-India Kisan Sabha, was founded in Lucknow in April 1936 as the culmination of the movement. 
 
•    Swami Sahajanand, the militant founder of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929), was elected President, and N.G. Ranga, a pioneer of the kisan movement in Andhra Pradesh and a renowned agrarian problem scholar, was elected General Secretary. 
 
•    Jawaharlal Nehru personally welcomed the first session. Ram Manohar Lohia, Sohan Singh Josh, Indulal Yagnik, Jayaprakash Narayan, Mohanlal Gautam, Kamal Sarkar, Sudhin Pramanik, and Ahmed Din were among the other participants. 
 
•    At the All-India Kisan Committee meeting in Bombay, a Kisan Manifesto was finalised and formally presented to the Congress Working Committee to be incorporated into the party's forthcoming manifesto for the 1937 elections.
 
•    The Kisan Manifesto had a significant impact on the Congress's agrarian programme, which included demands for a 50% reduction in land revenue and rent, a debt moratorium, the abolition of feudal levies, security of tenure for tenants, a living wage for agricultural labourers, and the recognition of peasant unions at its Faizpur session.
 
•    Along with the Congress session, the second session of the All India Kisan Congress, presided over by N.G. Ranga, was held in Faizpur, Maharashtra. 
 
•    Over 200 miles were marched by 500 Kisans from Manmad to Faizpur, educating people along the way about the Kisan Congress's goals. 
 
•    Jawaharlal Nehru, Shankar Rao Deo, M.N. Roy, Narendra Dev, S.A. Dange, M.R. Masani, Yusuf Meherally, Bankim Mukherji, and many other Kisan and Congress leaders greeted them in Faizpur.
 

PEASANT MOVEMENT IN PROVINCE:

In early 1937, the formation of Congress Ministries in the majority of provinces signalled the start of a new phase in the peasant movement's development. 
 
•    Increased civil liberties, a new sense of freedom born of the belief that "our own people are in power," and heightened expectations that the ministries would implement pro-people measures all combined to make the years 1937-39 the pinnacle of the peasant movement. 
 
•    The various Ministries also introduced various types of agrarian legislation — for debt relief, restoration of lands lost during the Depression, and tenant security of tenure — which provided an impetus for peasantry mobilisation, either in support of proposed legislation or to request changes in its content.
 
•    The most common method of mobilisation was to hold kisan conferences or meetings at the thana, taluqa, district, and provincial levels, where peasants' demands were discussed and resolutions passed. 
 
•    Local, provincial, and national leaders would speak at these conferences. These were usually preceded by a village-level mobilisation campaign in which kisan workers would tour the villages, hold meetings, enrol Congress and kisan Sabha members, collect monetary and in-kind subscriptions, and exhort the peasants to attend the conferences in large numbers. 
 
•    At these conferences, cultural shows would be organised to convey the movement's message to the peasants in an appealing manner. The impact on the surrounding areas was significant, and peasants left these gatherings with a renewed sense of self-confidence and a better understanding of their own circumstances. 
 

Peasant movement in Malabar

Karshaka sangham: In Malabar, Kerala, a powerful peasant movement arose as a result of the efforts primarily of CSP activists, who had been touring villages and establishing Karshaka Sanghams since 1934. (Peasant associations). 
 
•    The main demands that brought the movement together were the abolition of feudal levies (akramapirivukal), renewal fees (policceluthu), advance rent, and the prohibition of landlords evicting tenants on the basis of personal cultivation. 
 
•    Peasants also demanded a reduction in tax, rent, and debt burdens, as well as the use of proper measures by landlords when calculating grain rent, and an end to the landlords' managers' corrupt practises. 
 
•    The formation of village units of the Karshaka Sanghams, conferences, and meetings were the main forms of mobilisation and agitation. 
 
•    However, a popular and effective method was for jat has or large groups of peasants to march to the houses of big jenmies or landlords, presenting their demands and securing immediate redress. The abolition of feudal levies such as vasi, nuri, and others was the main demand of these jathas. 
 
•    The Karshaka Sanghams also organised a powerful campaign to amend the Malabar Tenancy Act of 1929, which was passed in 1929. 
 
•    The Malabar Tenancy Act Amendment Day was observed on November 6, 1938, and meetings across the district unanimously passed a resolution supporting the demand. 
 
•    The All Malabar Karshaka Sangham appointed a committee headed by R. Ramachandra Nedumgadi to investigate the tenurial problem, and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee endorsed its recommendations on November 20, 1938. 
 
•    In December, two jathas of 500 people each set out from Karivallur in north Malabar and Kanjikode in the south, and converged at Chevayur near Calicut, where the All Malabar Karshaka Sangham was holding its conference. 
 
•    The same evening, P. Krishna Pillai, the CSP and later Communist leader, presided over a public meeting at Calicut beach, where resolutions demanding changes to the Tenancy Act were passed. 
 
•    T. Prakasam, an Andhra Congress leader who was the Revenue Minister in the Congress Ministry in Madras Presidency at the time, toured Malabar in December 1938 to familiarise himself with the tenant problem in response to public pressure. Three left-wing members were appointed to the Tenancy Committee.
 
•    A series of meetings were held by Karshaka Sangham units and Congress committees to mobilise peasants to present evidence and submit memoranda to the Committee. 
 
•    The Congress Ministries had already resigned by the time the Committee submitted its report in 1940, so no immediate progress could be made. However, the campaign had successfully mobilised the peasantry on the issue of tenancy and raised awareness, ensuring that these demands would inevitably have to be met in the future. 
 
•    Meanwhile, the Madras Congress Ministry had passed debt relief legislation, which the Karshaka Sangham applauded. 
 
Peasant movement in andhra
•    Peasant mobilisation took place on an unprecedented scale in coastal Andhra as well. The Andhra Provincial Ryots Association and the Andhra Zamin Ryots Association had already fought the government and zamindars successfully in the past. 
 
•    N.G. Ranga also ran the Indian Peasants' Institute in his home village of Nidobrolu in Guntur district, which trained peasants to be active workers in the peasant movement, since 1933. After 1936, left-wing Congressmen, many of whom later joined the CPI, joined the effort to organise the peasants, with P. Sundarayya being one of the most prominent among them.
 
Madras kisan conference 
•    Since 1933, peasant marches have been used effectively in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Peasant marchers would assemble at the district or taluqa headquarters and present the authorities with a list of demands. However, in 1938, the Provincial Kisan Conference organised a massive march — a true long march — in which over 2.000 kisans marched a distance of over 1,500 miles, covering nine districts and walking for a total of 130 days, starting from Itchapur in the north. 
 
•    They held hundreds of meetings along the way, attended by lakhs of peasants, and collected over 1,100 petitions, which they presented to the Madras provincial legislature on March 27, 1938. 
 
•    One of their main demands was debt relief, which was included in the Congress Ministry's legislation and was well received in Andhra Pradesh. The Ministry had appointed a Zamindari Enquiry Committee in response to the peasants' demands, but the legislation based on its recommendations could not be passed before the Congress Ministries resigned.
 
Summer Schools of Economics and Politics 
•    It organizes for peasant activists which was another notable feature of the Andhra Pradesh movement. 
 
•    Many of the major Left Communist leaders of the time, including P.C. Joshi, Ajoy Ghosh, and R.D. Bhardwaj, spoke at these training camps, which were held in Kothapatnam, Mantenavaripalarn, and other locations. 
 
•    Lectures on Indian history, the history of the national struggle, Marxism, the Indian economy, and a variety of other topics were given. 
 
•    The peasants of Andhra were asked to contribute money and supplies to run these training camps. 
 
Another form of mobilisation was the celebration of various kisan and other ‘days,' as well as the popularisation of peasant songs
 

Peasant movement in Bihar Province:

•    During this time, Bihar was another major centre of peasant mobilisation. Swami Sahajanand, the founder of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha and a major leader of the All India Kisan Sabha, was joined in spreading the kisan sabha organisation to Bihar's villages by many other left-wing leaders such as Karyanand Sharma, Rahul Sankritayan, Panchanan Sharma, and Yadunandan Sharma. 
 
•    The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha successfully popularised the kisan Sabha programme through meetings, conferences, rallies, and mass demonstrations, including a one-thousand-strong demonstration in Patna in 1938. 
 
•    Through resolutions passed at these gatherings, the Sabha's slogan of zamindari abolition, which was adopted in 1935, became popular among the peasants. Stopping illegal levies, preventing tenant evictions, and returning Bakasht lands were among the other demands. 
 
•    The peasants won a major victory at Reora, Gaya district, when the District Magistrate gave an award restoring 850 of the disputed 1,000 bighas to the tenants, led by Yadunandan Sharma. This gave a big boost to the movement in other places. 
 
•    Movements arose in Padri, Raghopore, Dekuli, and Pandoul in Darbhanga. Jamuna Karjee led the movement in Saran, while Rahul Sankritayan led the movement in Annawari. 
 
•    The movements used Satyagraha tactics, such as forcible sowing and harvesting of crops. The zamindars retaliated by breaking up meetings and terrorising the peasants with lathials. 
 
•    Clashes with zamindars' men became the norm, and the police frequently intervened to arrest activists and leaders. The government and other Congress leaders intervened in some cases to bring about a compromise.
 

Issue of Bakasht Land:

•    The Congress Ministry had proposed legislation for rent reduction and Bakasht land restoration. Bakasht lands were those that occupancy tenants had lost to zamindars due to nonpayment of rent, mostly during the Depression years, and which they continued to cultivate as share-croppers. 
 
•    However, the formula that was eventually incorporated into the legislation as a result of an agreement with the zamindars did not satisfy the kisan Sabha's radical leaders. 
 
•    The legislation returned a portion of the lands to the tenants on the condition that they pay half of the land's auction price. Furthermore, certain types of land had been exempted from the law's application.
 
•    Between the Kisan Sabha and the Congress Ministry, the Bakasht lands issue became a major point of contention. 
 
•    The Bakasht movement peaked in late 1938 and early 1939, but by August 1939, the peasants had been quieted by a combination of concessions, legislation, and the arrest of about 600 activists. 
 
Peasant movement in Punjab province:
•    Another hotbed of kisan activity was Punjab. The kisan sabhas that had emerged in the early 1930s, thanks to Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Kirti Kisan, were also present. 
 
•    The Punjab Kisan Committee, formed in 1937, gave Congress and Akali activists a new sense of direction and cohesion. Kisan workers toured villages, enrolling kisan Sabha and Congress members, organising meetings, and mobilising people for tehsils, district, and provincial level conferences (which were held with increasing frequency and attended by an array of national stars). 
 
•    The most important demands were for lower taxes and a debt moratorium. The Unionist Ministry, which was dominated by the Western Punjab's big landlords, was the target of the attack. The resettlement of land revenue in the Amritsar and Lahore districts, as well as an increase in the canal tax or water-rate, was the two issues that sparked immediate conflict. 
 
•    Massive demonstrations were held after Jathas marched to the district headquarters. The Lahore Kisan Morcha in 1939 was the pinnacle of the movement, with hundreds of kisans from across the province facing arrest. 
 
•    In the Multan and Montgomery canal colony areas, a different kind of struggle erupted. Large private companies that had leased this newly colonised land from the government, as well as some large landlords, insisted on collecting a variety of feudal levies from the share-croppers who worked the land. 
 
•    Tenants were organised by Kisan leaders to resist these exactions, which had recently been declared illegal by a government notification, and cultivators went on strike in some areas, refusing to pick cotton or harvest the crops. As a result, many concessions were made. 
 
•    The tenants' struggle, which had been put on hold due to the war, was resumed in 1946-47. The peasant movement in Punjab was primarily concentrated in the Central districts, with Jullundur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Lyalipur, and Sheikhupura being the most active. 
 
•    The largely self-cultivating Sikh peasantry that had already been mobilised into the national struggle via the Gurdwara Reform Movement in the early 1920s and the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930-32 lived in these districts. 
 
•    The Kisan Movement largely ignored the Muslim tenants-at-will of Western Punjab, the province's most backward region, as well as the Hindu peasants of South-eastern Punjab (modern-day Haryana). 
 
•    Peasant discontent was also widespread in the princely states of Punjab. The most powerful movement arose in Patiala, and it was founded on the demand for the restoration of lands that had been illegally seized by a landlord-official alliance through deception and intimidation. The muzaras (tenants) refused to pay their biswedars (landlords) the batai (share rent), and were led by Leftists such as Bhagwan Singh Longowalia and Jagir Singh Joga, and later by Teja Singh Swatantar. This struggle raged on intermittently until 1953, when legislation was passed allowing tenants to become landowners.
 
Peasant movement in bengal:
•    Peasant mobilisation around demands for security of tenure, abolition of feudal levies, tax reductions, and debt relief made significant progress in other parts of the country as well. 
 
•    Under the leadership of Bankim Mukherji, the peasants of Burdwan protested the increase in the Damodar canal's canal tax and won significant concessions. 
 
•    In April 1938, Kisans from the 24-Parganas marched to Calcutta to press their demands. In Assam's Surma Valley, a six-month no-rent struggle against zamindari oppression continued, and Karuna Sindhu Roy led a major campaign to amend the tenancy law. 
 
Peasant Movements During 1930-40
The tebhaga struggle in Bengal:
•    In late 1946, Bengali share-croppers began to assert that they would no longer pay the jotedars a half share of their crop, but only a third, and that the crop would be stored in their khamars (godowns) rather than the jotedars. 
 
•    They were probably buoyed by the fact that the Bengal Land Revenue Commission, also known as the Floud Commission, had already recommended this in its report to the government. At the same time, the Hajong tribals demanded that their kind rents be converted to cash rents.
 
•    The tebhaga movement, which was led by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha, quickly devolved into a battle between jotedars and bargadars, with the bargadars insisting on storing the crop in their own khamars.
 
•    The Muslim League Ministry led by Suhrawardy published the Bengal Bargadars Temporary Regulation Bill in the Calcutta Gazette on 22 January 1947, giving the movement a huge boost. 
 
•    Peasants in previously unaffected villages and areas joined the struggle, encouraged by the fact that the demand for tebhaga could no longer be described as illegal. In many places, peasants attempted to take paddy from the jotedars' khamars and store it in their own, resulting in numerous clashes.
 
•    The jotedars petitioned the government, and the police were dispatched to put down the peasants. 
 
Peasant movement in Orissa:
•    In Orissa, the Utkal Provincial Kisan Sabha, founded by Malati Chowdhury and others in 1935, was successful in having the kisan manifesto accepted as part of the PCC's election manifesto, and the Ministry that followed passed significant agrarian legislation. 
 
•    In the Orissa States, a powerful movement was led on the issues of forced labour, forest rights, and rent reduction, with tribals as participants. Dhenkanal saw major clashes, and thousands fled the state to avoid repression. 
 
Peasant movement in OTHER PROVINCE:
•    The kisans of Ghalla Dhir state in the North-West Frontier Province staged a protest against their Nawab's evictions and feudal extortions. 
 
•    The main demand in Gujarat was for the abolition of the hail (bonded labour) system, which was met with great success. 
 
•    The Central Provinces Kisan Sabha led a march to Nagpur, demanding that the malguzari system be abolished, taxes be reduced, and debts be suspended.

Any suggestions or correction in this article - please click here ([email protected])

Related Posts: