Nationalist Movement Phase 2 (1915-1922) - 1

Table of Contents
1. Nagpur Session of the Indian National Congress (December 1920)
2. Roots of the Gandhian Mass Movement (1915-1920)
3. Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (1919) - Immediate Catalysts
4. The Khilafat Movement and Hindu-Muslim Co-operation (1919-1922)
5. Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922)
6. Constructive Programme under Gandhi
7. Withdrawal of Non-Cooperation: Chauri Chaura and Consequences (1922)
8. Political After-effects within the Congress (up to 1922)
9. Swaraj Party - Origins and Context
10. Summary
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Nagpur Session of the Indian National Congress (December 1920)

The Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress in December 1920 was a turning point in the organisational and political life of the Congress. It redefined the party's aims, widened accepted methods of struggle and modernised its structure to enable mass politics under the emerging leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

Objectives and Political Aim

• Swaraj as the objective: The session reaffirmed Swaraj (self-rule) as the goal of the Congress. The aim was given a pragmatic formulation: seek self-government within the Empire if possible and outside it if necessary, emphasising flexibility in tactics while keeping independence as the ultimate objective.
• Broadening of methods: The Congress accepted the use of all peaceful and legitimate methods of struggle in addition to constitutional work. This opened the organisation to mass non-cooperation and constructive work promoted by Gandhi.

Organisational Reforms

• Working Committee: A permanent Working Committee of the Congress was established (fifteen members). It was to act as the chief executive body of the party and to provide continuity in administration and policy between annual sessions.
• All-India Congress Committee (AICC): An enlarged central body (an All-India committee) was created to widen representation and deliberation on important questions affecting the movement. While the Working Committee functioned as the executive authority, the AICC acted as the supreme deliberative body, ensuring wider representation and accountability within the organisation.
• Grassroots strengthening: Congress committees were encouraged at provincial, district, town and village levels to spread the organisation and engage the rural and urban masses.
• Linguistic and provincial reorganisation: Provincial Congress Committees were reorganised on linguistic lines to improve communication with local populations and to expand appeal beyond the English-educated elite. Special emphasis was laid on the promotion of Indian languages, particularly Hindi, to bridge the gap between the English-educated leadership and the masses.
• Mass membership: Membership rules were liberalised to allow wider enrolment of men and women (adult membership on payment of a small subscription of 4 annas per year), opening the party to mass participation.

Leadership and the Gandhian Phase

• Transition in leadership: The death of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in August 1920 removed a major extremist leader, enabling Mahatma Gandhi to emerge as the undisputed leader of the Congress and usher in the Gandhian era of mass, non-violent politics. Gandhi became the dominant moral and political leader in the national movement.
• Modernisation: The organisational changes geared the Congress towards modern, mass-based political mobilisation and more disciplined central coordination, suitable for launching large-scale non-cooperation campaigns and constructive work.

Roots of the Gandhian Mass Movement (1915-1920)

Between Gandhi's return to India in 1915 and the Nagpur session in 1920 a sequence of local campaigns and national developments prepared the ground for mass politics. These developments introduced the techniques of satyagraha and demonstrated Gandhi's ability to combine moral persuasion with mass mobilisation.

• Gandhi's early satyagrahas: Experiments in non-violent civil resistance in places such as Champaran (1917) and Kheda (1918) resolved local grievances of peasants and tenants and popularised the method of satyagraha.
• Industrial and labour actions: Strikes and labour disputes (for example in Ahmedabad textile mills) showed Gandhi's capacity to influence urban working classes and artisans.
• Impact of the First World War and its aftermath: Wartime promises, heavy recruitment, economic strain and high expectations of political reform after 1918 produced popular disillusionment when those expectations were not met.
• Legal and political provocation: Repressive measures introduced by the government aggravated popular feeling and tested new forms of protest which eventually coalesced around national leadership.

Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (1919) - Immediate Catalysts

The period 1919 saw two events that radically changed popular perceptions of British rule and accelerated the shift to mass politics.

• Rowlatt Act (1919): Special emergency repressive legislation that extended wartime restrictions into peacetime, allowing detention without trial and suppression of the press. It generated country-wide protests because it denied basic civil liberties despite the end of the war.
• Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919): A peaceful gathering at Amritsar was fired upon by troops under Brigadier-General Dyer; hundreds were killed or wounded. The massacre produced nationwide outrage, deepened distrust of the colonial government and prompted calls for stronger measures of protest.
• Consequences: The events of 1919 broke the earlier phase of limited constitutional engagement and pushed leadership towards mass mobilisation and non-cooperation as legitimate responses to repression.

The Khilafat Movement and Hindu-Muslim Co-operation (1919-1922)

The Khilafat movement arose from Muslim anxieties about the future of the Ottoman Caliph after the First World War. Between 1919 and 1922 the movement became a major factor in national politics and provided a basis (albeit temporary) for concerted Hindu-Muslim cooperation with Congress.

• Cause: Muslim leaders feared that the Ottoman Caliphate, a symbol of pan-Islamic unity, would be dismantled by the victors of the First World War.
• Leadership: The movement was led by prominent Muslim leaders, and it found sympathetic support from Gandhi and the Congress because Gandhi saw an alliance as useful to forge united opposition to British rule.
• Mass mobilisation: The Khilafat agitation drew many Muslim peasants and urban workers into a political movement and helped broaden the national base of protest.
• Limits: The alliance between Congress and Khilafat leaders was tactical and short-lived; differences in aims and approaches eventually weakened the coalition by the early 1920s.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922)

The Non-Cooperation Movement was the first mass, nationwide campaign of non-violent resistance under Gandhi's leadership. It combined boycott of foreign goods and institutions with constructive work aimed at removing dependence on colonial structures.

Causes

• The repressive Rowlatt Act and the shock of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• Widespread discontent after the First World War and hopes for reforms that remained unfulfilled.
• The Khilafat movement and the alliance between nationalist and certain Muslim leaders.
• Gandhi's appeal to national unity and his programme of non-cooperation and constructive work.

Principal Methods and Instruments

• Boycott of foreign goods: Promotion of khadi and boycott of imported textiles and manufactures.
• Boycott of colonial institutions: Resignation from government jobs, refusal to attend courts, and boycott of legislative councils and honours.
• Non-payment of taxes and strikes: Picketing of foreign cloth shops, voluntary schools and national institutions to replace colonial structures.
• Constructive programme: Emphasis on village uplift, eradication of untouchability, promotion of basic education and co-operative credit institutions.

Social Base and Impact

• Mass participation: Students, peasants, artisans, lawyers and sections of the urban working class took part; many local leaders rose to prominence during the movement.
• Political radicalisation: The movement politicised large sections of society, introduced disciplined mass protest and made political participation accessible beyond the elite.
• Constructive change: Revival of indigenous industries, spread of village industry, emphasis on basic education and social reform measures.

Constructive Programme under Gandhi

Alongside non-cooperation, Gandhi emphasised a constructive programme to build alternatives to colonial institutions. This programme aimed at social regeneration and economic self-reliance.

• Khadi and village industries: Promotion of hand-spinning and weaving to undermine dependence on imported cloth and to provide local employment.
• Basic education: Emphasis on community education that combined literacy with vocational training.
• Social reforms: Eradication of untouchability, temple entry campaigns and measures to promote Hindu-Muslim unity.
• Rural uplift: Co-operative credit societies, cottage industries and measures to reduce rural indebtedness.

Withdrawal of Non-Cooperation: Chauri Chaura and Consequences (1922)

While the Non-Cooperation Movement achieved massive mobilisation, it also witnessed instances of violence in some areas. The incident at Chauri Chaura (4 February 1922) became the immediate reason for Gandhi to suspend the movement.

• Chauri Chaura: A confrontation in a small town in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) where an enraged crowd set fire to a police station, killing policemen. The incident demonstrated the risk of uncontrolled violence.
• Gandhi's response: Gandhi, committed to non-violence as the core value of the movement, called off the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 to prevent further violence and to re-examine tactics.
• Arrest and trial: Gandhi was arrested in 1922 and tried for sedition; he was sentenced to imprisonment. The suspension and arrests caused demoralisation among many volunteers and created a political vacuum that produced factional debates within the Congress.
• Aftermath: The movement's end did not mean the end of national politics; rather it led to new lines of debate on legislative participation, organisational strategy and the balance between mass agitation and constitutional work.

Political After-effects within the Congress (up to 1922)

The suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement created internal strains and stimulated debate on future strategy.

• Debates on participation in councils: A key division emerged between those who favoured continued strict non-participation in colonial legislative institutions and those who argued for entry into councils to obstruct British rule from within.
• Emergence of new political groupings: The difference of opinion over strategy sharpened in the years after 1922 and provided the immediate context for later regroupings and new party formations.
• Organisational consolidation: The structural reforms adopted at Nagpur (Working Committee, mass membership, provincial committees) continued to shape Congress activity even as tactics changed.

Swaraj Party - Origins and Context 

Discussion on the strategy of legislative participation intensified after the suspension of Non-Cooperation in 1922. Differences between leaders who favoured remaining outside colonial institutions and those who argued for tactical entry into legislatures became sharper during 1922. These debates set the stage for later political realignments within the Congress in the immediate post-1922 period. These debates helped fill the political vacuum created after the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation and laid the intellectual groundwork for the formation of the Swaraj Party in 1923.

Summary

Between 1915 and 1922 Indian politics shifted from elite constitutionalism to mass mobilisation. Gandhi's return and early satyagrahas demonstrated the effectiveness of non-violent civil resistance. The repressive measures of 1919 and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre radicalised public opinion. The Khilafat movement created a tactical Hindu-Muslim alliance that helped broaden the national base. The Nagpur session of 1920 reorganised the Congress for mass politics and legitimised a variety of peaceful methods. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) was the first nationwide mass campaign combining boycott with constructive work, but its suspension after Chauri Chaura in 1922 exposed tensions between disciplined non-violence and spontaneous popular action. The period ended with an enlarged political consciousness, strengthened organisational structures and pressing strategic debates that shaped subsequent phases of the national movement.