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History · Spectrum Books A Brief History of Modern India

Chapter 19 : Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences

Table of contents59 sections
  1. 1.Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences
  2. 2.The Run-Up to Civil Disobedience Movement
  3. 3.Calcutta Session of Congress (1928)
  4. 4.Political Activity during 1929
  5. 5.Irwin's Declaration (October 31, 1929)
  6. 6.Delhi Manifesto
  7. 7.Lahore Congress Session and Purna Swaraj
  8. 8.Key Terms
  9. 9.📌 Exam Tidbits
  10. 10.Civil Disobedience Movement-the Salt Satyagraha and Other Upsurges
  11. 11.Gandhi's Eleven Demands
  12. 12.Why Salt was Chosen as the Important Theme
  13. 13.Dandi March (March 12-April 6, 1930)
  14. 14.Spread of Salt Law Disobedience
  15. 15.Satyagraha at Different Places
  16. 16.Forms of Mobilisation
  17. 17.Impact of Agitation
  18. 18.Extent of Mass Participation
  19. 19.Key Terms
  20. 20.📌 Exam Tidbits
  21. 21.Government Response─Efforts for Truce
  22. 22.Gandhi-Irwin/Delhi Pact
  23. 23.Evaluation of Civil Disobedience Movement
  24. 24.Key Terms
  25. 25.📌 Exam Tidbits
  26. 26.Karachi Congress Session (1931)
  27. 27.Congress Resolutions at Karachi
  28. 28.Adoption of Flag
  29. 29.Key Terms
  30. 30.📌 Exam Tidbits
  31. 31.Round Table Conferences
  32. 32.First Round Table Conference
  33. 33.Second Round Table Conference
  34. 34.Third Round Table Conference
  35. 35.Key Terms
  36. 36.📌 Exam Tidbits
  37. 37.Civil Disobedience Resumed
  38. 38.During Truce Period (March-December 1931)
  39. 39.Changed Government Attitude after Second RTC
  40. 40.Government Action
  41. 41.Popular Response
  42. 42.Key Terms
  43. 43.📌 Exam Tidbits
  44. 44.Communal Award and Poona Pact
  45. 45.Main Provisions of the Communal Award
  46. 46.Congress' Stand
  47. 47.Gandhi's Response
  48. 48.Poona Pact
  49. 49.Impact of the Poona Pact on Dalits
  50. 50.Joint Electorates and its Impact on Depressed Classes
  51. 51.Key Terms
  52. 52.📌 Exam Tidbits
  53. 53.Gandhi's Harijan Campaign and Thoughts on Caste
  54. 54.Key Terms
  55. 55.📌 Exam Tidbits
  56. 56.Ideological Differences and Similarities between Gandhi and Ambedkar
  57. 57.Key Terms
  58. 58.📌 Exam Tidbits
  59. 59.Quick-Recall Box

Chapter preview

The Run-Up to Civil Disobedience Movement

Calcutta Session of Congress (1928)

  • Held in December 1928; the Nehru Report was approved.
  • Younger elements led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Satyamurthy expressed dissatisfaction with dominion status as the goal, demanding purna swaraj (complete independence).
  • Older leaders like Gandhi and Motilal Nehru wished not to drop the dominion status demand in haste, suggesting a two-year grace period for the government.
  • Under pressure from younger elements, the grace period was reduced to one year.
  • Ultimatum: If the government did not accept a constitution based on dominion status by the end of the year, the Congress would demand complete independence and launch a civil disobedience movement.

Political Activity during 1929

  • Gandhi travelled incessantly, preparing youth for political action, organising village constructive work, and redressing specific grievances (on the lines of the Bardoli agitation of 1928).
  • The Congress Working Committee (CWC) organised a Foreign Cloth Boycott Committee to propagate aggressive boycotting and public burning of foreign cloth.
  • March 1929: Gandhi initiated the campaign in Calcutta and was arrested, followed by bonfires of foreign cloth nationwide.
  • Other key developments in 1929:
  • March: Meerut Conspiracy Case.
  • April: Bomb explosion in the Central Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt.
  • May: Minority Labour government led by Ramsay MacDonald came to power in England.
  • June: Wedgewood Benn became the Secretary of State for India.

Irwin's Declaration (October 31, 1929)

  • Made before the Simon Commission report came out.
  • A combined effort of the Labour government (sympathetic to Indian aspirations) and Conservative viceroy Lord Irwin.
  • Purpose: To "restore faith in the ultimate purpose of British policy".
  • Declaration (Official communique in the Indian Gazette): Stated that in view of doubts regarding the intentions of the British government in enacting the statute of 1919, it is implicit in the Declaration of 1917 that the natural issue of India's constitutional progress is the attainment of Dominion status.
  • Limitations: There was no time scale; dominion status would not be available for a long time. There was nothing new or revolutionary in it.
  • Lord…
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Chapter 20 : Debates on the Future Strategy after Civil Disobedience Movement