Indian Peasant Movements (1857–1947)

Indian Peasant Movements (1857–1947) is an important topic in Modern Indian History that highlights the struggles of peasants against British exploitation and oppressive land revenue systems. Various farmer movements and agrarian revolts played a significant role in awakening political consciousness and strengthening India’s freedom movement.

Peasant Movements (1857–1947)

Indigo Revolt (1859–60)

• Background
  • Occurred in Bengal
  • Indigo planters:
  • Mostly Europeans
    • Forced peasants to grow indigo instead of food crops
• Leadership: From Nadia district
  • Digambar Biswas
  • Bishnu Biswas
• Role of Bengali Intelligentsia
  • Newspaper campaigns Nil darpan by Dinabandhu mitra . 
• Government Response
  • Appointment of Indigo Commission
  • Notification (November 1860):
    • Ryots not to be forced to grow indigo
    • Disputes to be settled legally
    • Indigo cultivation wiped out in Bengal by end of 1860

Pabna Agrarian Leagues (1870s–1880s)

• Located in Eastern Bengal
• Movement
  • Origin:
    • Yusufshahi Pargana, Pabna district
  • Results
    • Many peasants secured occupancy rights
    • Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885
  • Supporters
    • Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
    • R.C. Dutt
    • Indian Association (Surendranath Banerjea)
• Peasant’s slogan – we want to be her majesty’s subjects.

Deccan Riots

• Background
  • Region: Western India
  • Ryotwari system with heavy land revenue
• Aggravating Factors
  • Cotton price crash after American Civil War (1864)
  • 50% increase in land revenue (1867)
• Outcome
  • Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879
  • Supported by Maharashtra nationalist intelligentsia
  • Changed Nature of Peasant Movements After 1857
• Features of Peasants Revolts – 
  • Movements focused on economic demands.
  • Colonialism not direct target
  • No aim to overthrow exploitative system
  • Strong assertion of legal rights

20th Century Peasant Movements –

Kisan Sabha Movement (UP)

• UP Kisan Sabha (Feb 1918)
  • Founders:
    • Gauri Shankar Mishra
    • Indra Narayan Dwivedi
• Supported by Madan Mohan Malaviya
• Leaders:
  • Jhinguri Singh
  • Durgapal Singh
  • Baba Ramchandra
• Nehru’s village visits (1920)

Awadh Kisan Sabha (Oct 1920)

• Radical Phase (1921)
• Looting of bazaars and granaries
• Clashes with police
• Decline
• Awadh Rent (Amendment) Act

Eka Movement (1921–22)

• Areas
  • Hardoi
  • Bahraich
  • Sitapur (UP)
• Leadership
  • Madari Pasi
  • Low-caste leaders
  • Small zamindars
• Causes – 
  • High Land Revenue Demands: 
  • Exploitative Tenancy Practices: 
  • Economic Hardship:
    • Influence of the Non-Cooperation Movement: 
    • Ineffectiveness of the Oudh Rent (Amendment) Act 1921:
      • This act aimed to regulate rents and protect tenants but needed to be better enforced. Landlords frequently ignored it, leading to more frustration among peasants and contributing to the Eka Movement.
• Outcome – 
  • Partial Success: The Eka Movement Achieved some goals, like rent reductions and removal of illegal fees, but left many grievances unresolved without complete agrarian reform.
  • Impact on Oudh Rent (Amendment) Act 1921: The movement pressured the colonial government to enforce the act more effectively and address landlord violations.

Mappila Revolt (1921)

• Background
  • Region: Malabar
  • Muslim tenants (Mappilas)
  • Hindu landlords (Jenmis)
  • Connection with National Movement
  • Linked with Khilafat–Non-Cooperation Movement
  • Leaders addressed meetings:
    • Gandhi
    • Shaukat Ali
    • Maulana Azad
• Course
  • Trigger:
    • Arrest of Ali Musaliar (August 1921)
    • Movement became communal. Isolation from national movement

Bardoli Satyagraha (1926–28)

• Background
  • Location: Bardoli taluqa, Surat district
  • Revenue hike of 22%
• Leadership
  • Vallabhbhai Patel
  • Title: Sardar (given by women)
• Organisation
  • Bardoli Satyagraha Patrika
  • Intelligence wing
  • Social boycott, Women’s participation
  • Resignations from Bombay legislative assembly –
    • K.M. Munshi
    • Lalji Naranji
• Outcome
  • Revenue hike reduced to 6.03%
  • Maxwell-Broomfield Commission was set up, leading to a reduction in the tax hike and the return of confiscated lands to the farmers.
  • The Bardoli Satyagraha gained international attention, exposing British colonial oppression and earning global sympathy.
  • The UK Parliament even debated the issues raised, highlighting India’s struggle.

Peasant Movements in the 1930s

• Influenced by:
  • Great Depression
  • Civil Disobedience Movement
  • Post-1932:
    • New political activists organised peasants
    • Expansion of peasant organisations

1. All India Kisan Congress / All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)

• Foundation
  • Founded in April 1936
  • Place: Lucknow
  • President: Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
  • General Secretary: N.G. Ranga
• Activities
  • Issued a Kisan Manifesto
  • Started a periodical under Indulal Yagnik
  • AIKS and Congress sessions held at Faizpur (1936)

2. Peasant Movements Under Congress Ministries (1937–39)

• General Features
  • Period considered high watermark of peasant movements
  • Main methods:
    • Kisan conferences
    • Public meetings
    • Village-level mobilisation campaigns
  • Demands articulated through resolutions

3. Peasant Activity in Provinces

• Kerala (Malabar Region)
  • Mobilised mainly by Congress Socialist Party (CSP) activists
  • Formation of Karshak Sanghams (peasants’ organisations)
  • Popular method:
    • Jatha marches to landlords
    • Major campaign:
      • Amendment of Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929 (1938)
• Andhra
  • Decline in prestige of zamindars after Congress electoral victories
  • India Peasants’ Institute set up by N.G. Ranga (1933)
  • Activities:
    • Summer schools of economics and politics
  • Leaders addressing schools:
    • P.C. Joshi
    • Ajoy Ghosh
    • R.D. Bhardwaj
• Punjab
  • Background
    • Earlier mobilisation by:
      • Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha
      • Kirti Kisan Party
      • Congress
      • Akalis
  • Issues
    • Land revenue resettlement in Amritsar and Lahore
    • Increase in water rates in canal colonies Multan and Montgomery
• Bihar
  • Leadership:
    • Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
    • Karyanand Sharma
    • Yadunandan Sharma
    • Rahul Sankritayan
    • Panchanan Sharma
    • Jamun Karjiti
  • Provincial Kisan Conference (1935):
    • Adopted anti-zamindari slogan
  • Rift with Congress:
    • Issue of bakasht land
  • Government resolution unfavourable to peasants
    • Movement declined by August 1939

Note – During the Second World War Communist Party adopted pro-War line Split in AIKS into communist and non-communist factions

• Leaders who left AIKS:
  • Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
  • Indulal Yagnik
  • N.G. Ranga

4. Tebhaga Movement (1946)

• Launched by Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha
• Demand
  • Implementation of Flood Commission recommendations:
  • Tebhaga (two-thirds share) for bargardars (Sharecroppers)
• Earlier share: one-half
• Organisation
  • Led by Communist cadres
  • Central slogan:
    • “Nij khamare dhan tolo”
    • Paddy to be taken to sharecropper’s own threshing floor
• Areas  – 
  • North Bengal
    • Major participants:
      • Rajbanshis (low-caste tribal origin)
      • Muslims
• By mid-1947, the movement declined due to government repression, internal divisions, and political changes from India’s impending independence.

5. Telangana Movement (1946–48) –

• Largest peasant guerrilla war in modern Indian history.
• Background
  • Princely state of Hyderabad under Asaf Jahi Nizams
• Features:
  • Urdu-speaking Muslim elite
  • Hindu-Telugu, Marathi, Kannada-speaking population
  • No civil or political liberties
• Exploitation by:
  • Deshmukhs
  • Jagirdars
  • Doras
• Forms of exploitation:
  • Vethi (forced labour)
  • Illegal exactions
• Organisation
  • Communist-led guerrillas
  • Andhra Mahasabha as base
• Issues:
  • Wartime exactions
  • Abuse of rationing
  • Excessive rent
  • Vethi
• Course of Movement
  • Peak phase:
    • August 1947 – September 1948
• Defeated:
  • Razaqars (Nizam’s militia)
• End
  • Indian Army intervention in Hyderabad
  • Movement gradually fizzled out

Consequences Peasant Movements

• Created groundwork for post-independence agrarian reforms
• Facilitated abolition of zamindari

Movement of the Working Class in India

Early Labour Initiatives – 

• 1870 –
  • Sasipada Banerjea:
  • Started a workingmen’s club
  • Published Bharat Shramjeevi
• 1878 – 
  • Sorabjee Shapoorji Bengalee:
  • Attempted labour reform bill in Bombay Legislative Council
• 1880 – 
  • Narayan Meghajee Lokhande:
  • Started Deenbandhu
  • Founded Bombay Mill and Millhands Association
• 1899 – 
  • First major railway strike:
  • Great Indian Peninsular Railways
  • Supported by Tilak’s Kesari and Maharatta
  • Support from Nationalists
    • Bipin Chandra Pal
    • G. Subramania Aiyar

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) – 

• Foundation

• Founded on 31 October 1920
• First President: Lala Lajpat Rai
• First General Secretary: Dewan Chaman Lal
• Formation of All India Trade Union Federation 
  • Ideological Contribution by N.M. Joshi in 1931. 
  • Lajpat Rai:
    • Linked capitalism with imperialism
    • “Imperialism and militarism are the twin children of capitalism”.
• Congress–AITUC Relationship –
  • C.R. Das presided over 3rd and 4th AITUC sessions
  • Congress Gaya Session (1922):
    • Welcomed AITUC
  • C.R. Das advocated integration of workers and peasants in Swaraj struggle
  • Leaders Associated
    • Jawaharlal Nehru
    • Subhas Chandra Bose
    • C.F. Andrews
    • J.M. Sengupta
    • Satyamurthy
    • V.V. Giri
    • Sarojini Naidu
• Gandhi’s Contribution – 
  • Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association
    • 1918
  • Secured:
    • 27.5% wage hike ( Ahmedabad Strike)
    • Later arbitration awarded 35%
  • 1928:
    • Six-month Bombay Textile Mills strike
    • Led by Girni Kamgar Union
• Growth of communist leaders:
  • S.A. Dange
  • Muzaffar Ahmed
  • P.C. Joshi
  • Sohan Singh Joshi
• Purushottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla (on Gandhiji’s advice) founded FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) in 1927.
• Govt Repressive Moves – 
  • Trade Union Act, 1926
    • Legalised trade unions
    • Provided:
      • Registration framework
      • Regulation of activities
    • Imposed limits on political activities
  • Public Safety Ordinance, 1929 – 
    • Curbed extremist activities
  • Trade Disputes Act, 1929 – 
    • Mandatory Courts of Inquiry
    • Restrictions on strikes:
      • Especially in public utility services
      • One-month advance notice compulsory
    • Banned:
      • Political strikes
• Important Conspiracy Cases – 
  • Peshawar case (1922-1927)
  • Kanpur case (1924) 
    • M.N. ROY 
    • S.A.DANGE 
  • Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) – 
    • Convictions included:
      • Muzaffar Ahmed
      • S.A. Dange
      • Philip Spratt
      • Ben Bradley
      • Shaukat Usmani

During and After Second World War –

During War – 

• Initial opposition by workers
• Post-1941 – 
  • Communists supported war
  • Termed it “People’s War”
  • Communists dissociated from Quit India Movement
  • Policy of industrial peace promoted.