The Shift in the Character of Peasant Uprisings in the Post-1857 Period | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

In post-1857 India, the tribal and peasant movements continued as forms of protest against colonial oppression, but with new features:

• Increased awareness: There was a heightened awareness among the peasantry, both tribal and non-tribal, regarding colonial policies, laws, institutions. Some even embraced these institutions, like law courts, as legitimate spaces to express grievances and seek justice.
• Legal assertions: Peasants asserted their legal rights both in and outside of courts. When their rights were threatened through illegal means or legal manipulation, they responded with their own extra-legal measures. They often believed that the legally constituted authority (sarkar) supported their actions.
• Role of the educated middle class: The involvement of the educated middle-class intelligentsia as spokespersons for the aggrieved peasantry was a significant feature. This added new dimensions to peasant protests and connected them to broader agitations against colonial rule.
• Ravinder Kumar: He argued that middle-class leaders acted as effective channels of communication between rural society and the administration when traditional methods had failed.
• Ranajit Guha: He described the middle-class attitude towards peasants as a mix of Indian paternalism and Western humanism, highlighting the futility of liberalism against tyranny. Regardless of the nature of middle-class mediation, it was a new aspect of peasant movements in the late nineteenth century.

Other shifts in the nature of peasant movements after 1857:

• With the princes, chiefs, landlords either defeated or absorbed, peasants became the primary force in agrarian movements.
• Peasants now fought directly for their own economic demands against foreign planters and local zamindars and moneylenders.
• Their struggles were focused on specific objectives and the resolution of particular grievances rather than a broad critique of colonialism.
• These movements did not aim to overturn the system of exploitation but targeted immediate issues like eviction and rent increases.
• Their reach was limited to specific localities with little interconnection between different movements.
• There was a lack of continuity or long-term organization; once a specific goal was achieved, the movement often disbanded.
• Examples like the Indigo strike and the Pabna agrarian leagues did not leave behind successors.
• These movements did not pose a significant threat to British authority but were spontaneous responses to social conditions.
• Peasants acted when they felt unable to continue under the existing arrangements, guided by a sense of legitimacy.
• They protested against evictions, unfair rent increases, fraudulent practices by moneylenders, rather than against the system itself.
• Despite the challenges, Indian peasants demonstrated courage, organizational skill, solidarity across religious and caste lines.
• They were able to extract significant concessions from the colonial state, which, while not directly challenged, was willing to ease some of the agrarian system's harshness.
• The colonial regime's response to post-1857 peasant rebels was different from its treatment of those involved in civil rebellions, the Revolt of 1857, tribal uprisings, which directly threatened colonial political power.

Weaknesses:

• There was a lack of understanding regarding colonialism and the social framework of the movements themselves.
• The movements did not have a new ideology or a social, economic, political program based on an analysis of the newly formed colonial society.
• Despite their militant struggles, these efforts were confined within the framework of the old societal order.
• There was a lack of a positive vision for an alternative society.
• This weakness was not a reflection of the peasantry's character, as they were unable to grasp the complex nature of colonialism on their own. It required the efforts of a modern intelligentsia, which was just beginning to emerge.
• Most of these weaknesses were addressed in the 20th century when peasant discontent was integrated with broader anti-imperialist sentiments, their political activities became part of the larger anti-imperialist movement.