Answer the following questions:

1. How was the participation of the different social groups in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

Ans.The participation of various collective groups in the civil disobedience movement was as follows:

Peasants- Rich peasant communities-like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh- were active in the movement. These rich peasants organized their communities, and at times forcing reluctant members, to participate in the boycott programmes. For them the fight for the swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.

On the other hand, poorer peasantry wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted. They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists.

Business Classes and Working Classes- Indian industrialists 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.The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region. But, some workers did participate in the 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. There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. In 1930 thousands of workers in Chhotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns.

2. Mention the participation of women in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Did their increased public role bring any radical change in the way the position of women was visualized?

Ans. Women- Large-scale participation by women in the Civil Disobedience Movement was an important feature of it. During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many women went to jail. Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.

But, this increased public role did not necessarily mean any radical change in the way the position of women was visualized. Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth, be good mothers and good wives. And for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organization. It was keen only on their symbolic presence.