Beyond Non-Cooperation: New Political Currents in the 1920s Independence Movement

Swarajists, Socialist Ideas, Revolutionary Activities and New Forces (1922–1931)

The withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement (February 1922) and Gandhi's subsequent arrest (March 1922) left India's nationalist movement in a state of disorientation. There was no active programme, no clear direction, and the question of what to do in the interim period divided the Congress sharply. Simultaneously, the 1920s became a crucible of new political forces — socialist and communist ideas, a radicalised youth, a resurgent trade union movement, peasant agitations, caste movements, and a revolutionism that was rapidly evolving from romantic violence toward Marxist mass politics.

Understanding this chapter requires tracking three parallel narratives: (1) the Swarajist vs. No-Changer debate within Congress, (2) the emergence of new social and political forces, and (3) the ideological transformation of the revolutionary movement from individual heroic action to socialist mass politics.

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The Debate

After Gandhi's arrest, a fundamental question divided Congressmen: what to do during the passive phase when civil disobedience was suspended?

Swarajists (led by C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Ajmal Khan): Argued for ending the boycott of legislative councils. Nationalists should enter the councils to expose their hollowness and use them as an arena of struggle — to "end or mend" them. If the government refused nationalist demands, the Swarajists would obstruct the working of the councils and create deadlocks on every measure.

No-Changers (led by C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, M.A. Ansari): Opposed council entry. Advocated concentration on constructive work — spinning khadi, building national schools, working among the poor — and quiet preparation for resuming civil disobedience.

Swarajists' Arguments

• Council entry was not a negation of non-cooperation — it opened a new front in the same struggle.
• In a time of political vacuum, council work would keep mass morale alive and prevent the government from filling councils with undesirable elements who would legitimise colonial rule.
• The councils were to be used as an arena of political struggle, not as organs for gradual constitutional transformation.

No-Changers' Arguments

• Parliamentary work would lead to neglect of constructive work, erosion of revolutionary zeal, and eventual political corruption.
• Constructive work was essential to prepare the ground for the next phase of civil disobedience.

The Gaya Session and Formation of the Swarajist Party (December 1922)

At the Gaya session of the Congress (December 1922), the Swarajists' proposal was defeated. C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru resigned from their Congress positions and announced the formation of the Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party (simply: Swarajist Party), with C.R. Das as president and Motilal Nehru as one of the secretaries.

Both sides sought to avoid a repeat of the 1907-type split. They kept Gandhi informed (he was in jail) and both accepted the necessity of a united nationalist front under Gandhi's leadership.

Compromise (September 1923)

At a Delhi meeting in September 1923, the two sides reached an agreement: Swarajists would contest elections as a group within the Congress — accepting the Congress programme with the sole exception of joining legislative councils. Elections to the Central Legislative Assembly and provincial assemblies were scheduled for November 1923.

The Swarajist Manifesto (October 1923)

The manifesto took a strongly anti-imperialist line:

• British governance of India was motivated entirely by selfish British interests.
• The "reforms" were a pretence — the real objective was to perpetuate exploitation while giving the appearance of responsible government.
• The Swarajists would present nationalist demands for self-government in the councils.
• If rejected, they would adopt "uniform, continuous and consistent obstruction" to make governance through councils impossible — wrecking the councils from within.

Gandhi's Evolving Attitude

Gandhi was initially opposed to council entry. After his release from prison on health grounds in February 1924, he gradually reconciled with the Swarajists because:

• Public opposition to council entry would be counterproductive.
• In the November 1923 elections, Swarajists had won 42 out of 141 elected seats and a clear majority in the Central Provinces provincial assembly.
• Their courageous and uncompromising conduct in the legislature convinced Gandhi they would not become instruments of colonial administration.
• A government crackdown on Swarajists in late 1924 angered Gandhi, who expressed solidarity by yielding to their wishes.

At the Belgaum session of the Congress (December 1924) — the only session over which Gandhi presided — it was agreed that the Swarajists would work in the councils as an integral part of the Congress.

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Achievements

• They repeatedly out-voted the government in coalition with Liberals and independents (including Jinnah and Malaviya), even on budgetary matters, and passed adjournment motions.
• They used powerful speeches to raise issues of self-government, civil liberties, and industrialisation.
• Vithalbhai Patel (elder brother of Vallabhbhai) was elected Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1925 — a landmark nationalist achievement.
• Defeat of the Public Safety Bill (1928): This bill sought to empower the government to deport "undesirable and subversive" foreigners — a move aimed at suppressing socialist and communist ideas and the foreign activists allegedly sent by the Comintern. Its defeat was a major achievement.
• They filled the political vacuum at a time when the national movement was recouping its strength and demonstrated that councils could be used creatively.
• They exposed the hollowness of the Montford scheme from within.

Decline

The Swarajist position weakened due to:

• Communal riots: Widespread Hindu-Muslim tensions eroded the coalition's cohesion.
• Internal split: The party split on communal lines and on the Responsivist vs. Non-responsivist divide.
  • Responsivists (Lala Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malaviya, N.C. Kelkar): Advocated cooperation with the government, holding office where possible, and protecting "Hindu interests" — aligning with communal politics.
  • Non-responsivists (Motilal Nehru): Refused to join government and maintained the obstructionist line.
• Loss of Muslim support: Swarajists failed to support Muslim tenants against zamindars in Bengal, alienating Muslim members.
• Death of C.R. Das (1925): The most powerful and unifying Swarajist leader died; his loss was a body blow.
• By March 1926, the main Swarajist leadership withdrew from the legislatures and reiterated faith in mass civil disobedience.
• In the 1926 elections, Swarajists contested in disarray — won 40 seats at the Centre and some seats in Madras, but were routed in UP, Central Provinces, and Punjab.
• In 1930, Swarajists finally walked out following the Lahore Congress resolution on Purna Swaraj and the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Drawbacks

• No strategy to coordinate legislative militancy with mass struggle outside.
• Obstructionist strategy had inherent limitations — it could not sustain indefinitely.
• Coalition partners had conflicting interests that limited effectiveness.
• Some Swarajist leaders succumbed to the perks and privileges of power.
• Failure to support the peasant cause in Bengal lost them Muslim support.

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• Ashrams were established where young men and women worked among tribals and lower castes (especially in Kheda and Bardoli areas of Gujarat), popularising charkha and khadi.
• National schools and colleges were set up with a non-colonial ideological framework.
• Significant work was done for Hindu-Muslim unity, removal of untouchability, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, and flood relief.
• These constructive workers became the organisational backbone of later civil disobedience movements.

Critique: National education benefited primarily urban lower-middle classes and rich peasants. In the absence of mass excitement, students returned to official institutions for degrees and jobs. Khadi was costlier than imported cloth. Untouchability work focused on social stigma but neglected the economic grievances of landless labourers.

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The 1920s were a watershed in Indian political history — not only did the masses enter the national movement, but the major political currents crystallised and diversified. Six new forces emerged.

1. Spread of Marxist and Socialist Ideas

Inspired by Marx and the Russian Revolution, socialist and communist groups proliferated. A left wing emerged within the Congress, represented most prominently by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. These younger nationalists:

• Criticised both Swarajists and No-Changers as insufficiently radical.
• Advocated Purna Swarajya (complete independence) as the explicit goal — not dominion status.
• Stressed combining nationalism with social justice: challenging internal class oppression by capitalists and landlords alongside foreign imperialism.

Communist Party of India (CPI):

• Founded in 1920 in Tashkent (now capital of Uzbekistan) by M.N. Roy, Abani Mukherji and others, after the Second Congress of the Comintern.
• M.N. Roy was the first Indian elected to the leadership of the Comintern.
• Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case (1924): S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, Shaukat Usmani, and Nalini Gupta were jailed.
• Indian Communist Conference at Kanpur (1925): Formalised the foundation of the CPI.
• Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929): Government arrested and tried 31 leading communists, trade unionists, and left-wing leaders — a major crackdown on the communist movement.

Workers' and peasants' parties propagated Marxist ideas across the country, while remaining integrated into the larger nationalist movement.

2. Activism of Indian Youth

Students' leagues and conferences mushroomed. In 1928, Jawaharlal Nehru presided over the All Bengal Students' Conference.

3. Peasants' Agitations

Peasant agitations in the United Provinces demanded revision of tenancy laws, lower rents, protection from eviction, and relief from indebtedness. Similar agitations occurred in the Rampa region of Andhra, Rajasthan, and ryotwari areas of Bombay and Madras. In Gujarat, the famous Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) was led by Vallabhbhai Patel, earning him the title "Sardar."

4. Growth of Trade Unionism

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920.

• First president: Lala Lajpat Rai
• General secretary: Dewan Chaman Lal
• Tilak was also one of the moving spirits.
• First May Day in India celebrated in 1923 in Madras.
• Major strikes of the 1920s included those in Kharagpur Railway Workshops, Tata Iron and Steel Works (Jamshedpur), Bombay Textile Mills (1,50,000 workers; 5 months long), and Buckingham Carnatic Mills.
• In 1928 alone, strikes involved 5 lakh (500,000) workers.

5. Caste Movements

Caste associations and movements expressed the social contradictions of Indian society, ranging from conservative to potentially radical:

• Justice Party (Madras)
• Self-Respect Movement (1925): Under "Periyar" E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Madras) — a radical anti-Brahmin, rationalist movement
• Satyashodhak activists in Satara (Maharashtra) and Bhaskar Rao Jadhav
• Mahars under Ambedkar (Maharashtra)
• Radical Ezhavas under K. Aiyappan and C. Kesavan (Kerala)
• Yadavs in Bihar asserting social status
• Unionist Party under Fazl-i-Hussain (Punjab)

6. Revolutionary Activity with a Socialist Turn

Dissatisfied with non-violent nationalism, two strands of revolutionary activity emerged:

• Punjab-UP-Bihar: Hindustan Republican Association / HSRA
• Bengal: Yugantar, Anushilan groups, and later the Chittagong Revolt Group under Surya Sen

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Why Revolutionary Activity Revived

Many revolutionary groups had suspended activities during the Non-Cooperation Movement at Gandhi's and C.R. Das's persuasion. The sudden withdrawal of the movement in 1922 left them disillusioned — they questioned non-violence and the basic nationalist strategy. Finding no attraction in parliamentary Swarajism or patient constructive work, they returned to the belief that only violent methods would free India.

Key individuals: Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Surya Sen, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azad, Shiv Verma, Bhagwaticharan Vohra, Jaidev Kapur, Jatin Das.

Major influences on the revolutionaries:

• Post-war upsurge of trade unionism — they wanted to harness the proletariat for nationalist revolution.
• Russian Revolution (1917) and the consolidation of the Soviet state.
• Nascent communist groups emphasising Marxism and the proletariat.
• Journals like Atmasakti, Sarathi, and Bijoli publishing revolutionary memoirs and articles.
• Books: Bandi Jiwan (Sachin Sanyal) and Pather Dabi (Sharatchandra Chatterjee — a government ban only increased its popularity).

Hindustan Republican Association (HRA)

Founded: October 1924, Kanpur, by Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and Sachin Sanyal.

Goal: Organise an armed revolution to overthrow colonial rule and establish a Federal Republic of United States of India based on adult franchise.

Kakori Robbery (August 1925)

The HRA held up the 8-Down train at Kakori (near Lucknow) and looted the official railway cash. The government crackdown was severe: 17 were jailed, 4 transported for life, and 4 were hanged — Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Lahiri. Kakori was a major setback for the HRA.

Reorganisation into HSRA (September 1928)

Determined to overcome the Kakori setback, younger revolutionaries met at the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi (September 1928) under the leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad and changed the HRA's name to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), adopting socialism as the official goal and committing to collective leadership.

Participants included Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwaticharan Vohra (Punjab), and Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma, Jaidev Kapur (UP).

Saunders' Murder, Lahore (December 1928)

The death of Lala Lajpat Rai from lathi blows received during a lathicharge on an anti-Simon Commission procession (October 1928) — the Simon Commission had arrived to review India's constitutional structure without any Indian members — enraged the revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh, Azad, and Rajguru shot dead Saunders, the police officer responsible for ordering the lathicharge in Lahore.

Justification given: "The murder of a leader respected by millions at the unworthy hands of an ordinary police officer was an insult to the nation. It was the bounden duty of young men of India to efface it."

Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly (April 8, 1929)

To protest the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill (both aimed at curtailing civil liberties of citizens and workers), Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw deliberately harmless bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly. The objective was to "make the deaf hear" — and, crucially, to get arrested and use the trial as a forum for revolutionary propaganda and mass education.

As Bhagat Singh said: the goal was not assassination but agitprop.

The Trial and Martyrdom

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. In jail, revolutionaries protested conditions through fasting. Jatin Das became the first martyr, dying on the 64th day of his fast. Congress leaders organised their defence. Bhagat Singh became a household name and a mass hero.

• Azad died in a police encounter at Alfred Park, Allahabad, February 1931.
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were hanged on March 23, 1931.
• Azad had also been involved in a bid to blow up Viceroy Irwin's train near Delhi in December 1929.

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During the 1920s, several underground revolutionary groups reorganised in Bengal, many cooperating with C.R. Das's Swarajist work. After Das's death in 1925, the Bengal Congress split:

• One faction led by J.M. Sengupta (backed by Anushilan group)
• Another led by Subhash Bose (backed by Yugantar group)

1924: Gopinath Saha attempted to assassinate Calcutta Police Commissioner Charles Tegart — another man named Day was killed instead. Saha was hanged. Many revolutionaries, including Subhash Bose, were arrested under a new repressive ordinance.

Chittagong Armoury Raid (April 1930)

Surya Sen ("Masterda") had participated in Non-Cooperation, became a teacher at the national school in Chittagong, and served as secretary of the Chittagong District Congress Committee. After imprisonment (1926–28), he continued working through Congress.

He organised an armed rebellion with associates Anant Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, and Lokenath Baul — 65 activists under the banner of the Indian Republican Army — Chittagong Branch. The plan:

• Occupy two main armouries in Chittagong
• Seize arms for revolutionaries
• Destroy telephone, telegraph lines
• Dislocate Chittagong's railway link with Bengal

The raid (April 1930) was largely successful. Surya Sen hoisted the national flag, took the salute, and proclaimed a provisional revolutionary government. Activists then dispersed into neighbouring villages and continued raiding government targets.

Surya Sen was arrested in February 1933 and hanged in January 1934.

Notable Aspects of the Bengal Revolutionary Phase

• Large-scale participation of women: Women provided shelter, carried messages, and fought with arms. Key figures included:
  • Pritilata Waddedar: died conducting a raid.
  • Kalpana Dutt: arrested and tried with Surya Sen; given life sentence.
  • Santi Ghosh and Suniti Choudhuri: school girls of Comilla who shot dead the district magistrate (December 1931).
  • Bina Das: fired point-blank at the Governor while receiving her degree at a convocation (February 1932).
• Shift from individual to group action aimed at organs of the colonial state — to set an example for youth and demoralise the bureaucracy.
• Reduced Hindu religiosity: No more oath-taking rituals; this facilitated Muslim participation. Surya Sen's group included Muslims — Satar, Mir Ahmed, Fakir Ahmed Mian, and Tunu Mian.

Drawbacks: The movement retained some conservative social elements, failed to develop broader socio-economic goals, and those working with Swarajists failed to support Muslim peasants against zamindars.

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This is the most significant intellectual contribution of the revolutionary movement — a fundamental reorientation of what "revolution" meant.

Evolution of the HRA/HSRA Ideology

The HRA Manifesto (1925) had already declared that HRA "stood for abolition of all systems which made exploitation of man by man possible." The HRA proposed nationalisation of railways, transport, and heavy industries, and planned to organise labour and peasant organisations.

Ramprasad Bismil, in his last days, appealed to youth to give up pistols and revolvers, stop working in secret conspiracies, strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity, and work in the open movement under Congress leadership. He affirmed faith in communism.

Bhagat Singh made the most radical intellectual journey:

• Even before his arrest, he had moved from individual heroic action to Marxism.
• He established the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha (1926) as an open wing of revolutionaries for political work among youth, peasants, and workers, with village branches.
• He and Sukhdev organised the Lahore Students' Union for open legal work among students.
• He concluded: "Real revolutionary armies are in villages and factories."

Why Individual Heroic Action Still (Temporarily)?

Bhagat Singh's answer: (i) acquiring a new ideology is a prolonged historical process, but rapid change was urgently needed; (ii) individual heroic action served as propaganda by deed — it recruited people and familiarised them with the movement. Using courts as a forum for revolutionary propaganda extended this logic.

Redefining Revolution

The famous statement of the revolutionary position is contained in Bhagwaticharan Vohra's The Philosophy of the Bomb.

Bhagat Singh said in court: "Revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife, nor is there a place in it for personal vendetta. It is not the cult of bomb and pistol. By revolution we mean the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change."

Class analysis: "Peasants have to free themselves not only from the foreign yoke, but also from the yoke of landlords and capitalists." And: "The struggle in India will continue so long as a handful of exploiters continue to exploit labour of common people... It matters little whether these exploiters are British capitalists, British and Indian capitalists in alliance, or even purely Indians."

Bhagat Singh defined socialism as the abolition of capitalism and class domination.

Secular commitment: Two of the six rules of the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha stated that members would have nothing to do with communal bodies and would propagate religious tolerance — treating religion as a personal matter. "To be a revolutionary, one required immense moral strength, but also criticism and independent thinking."

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• GS Paper I — Modern History: Swarajists represent the first systematic use of legislative bodies as sites of nationalist struggle — a precursor to later debates on "constructive engagement vs. boycott" that recur throughout the freedom struggle.
• Ideological diversity in nationalism: The 1920s show that nationalism was not a monolithic ideology — it contained liberals (Swarajists), Gandhian constructivists (No-Changers), socialists (Nehru, Bose), communists (CPI), and revolutionary Marxists (HSRA). This pluralism shaped post-independence Indian politics.
• Women in the national movement: The Bengal revolutionary phase represents a qualitative advance in women's participation — from support roles to armed action. Connects with the broader theme of women and nationalism.
• Caste and nationalism: The Self-Respect Movement (Periyar, 1925) and Ambedkar's Mahar movement show that social liberation and political independence were separate (sometimes conflicting) agendas. This tension is central to understanding post-independence India.
• Labour and nationalism: The AITUC (1920) and the major strikes of the 1920s show the intersection of class politics and anti-colonial nationalism — a linkage that becomes central in the debates over socialism in the 1930s–40s.
• Continuity and change: The HSRA's ideological evolution — from romantic individual violence to Marxist mass politics — illustrates how political movements learn and adapt under pressure. Bhagat Singh's mature position closely anticipates the socialist politics of the 1930s Congress.

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• HRA founding: October 1924, Kanpur — by Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and Sachin Sanyal. Not 1920, not Delhi, not Bhagat Singh (he joined later).
• HSRA reorganisation: September 1928, ruins of Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi — NOT Kanpur, not Lahore.
• Kakori robbery: August 1925 — NOT 1924 or 1926. Four were hanged: Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri. Frequently tested as a four-name recall.
• Saunders' murder: December 1928, Lahore — in retaliation for Lala Lajpat Rai's death (lathicharge during anti-Simon Commission protest, October 1928). Do NOT confuse Saunders (murdered 1928) with the Assembly bomb (April 1929).
• Assembly bomb: April 8, 1929 — Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt (NOT Rajguru or Sukhdev). The bombs were deliberately harmless.
• Jatin Das: First martyr in jail; died on the 64th day of fast — NOT Bhagat Singh.
• Azad's death: Police encounter, Alfred Park, Allahabad, February 1931 (NOT Lahore, not Delhi).
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru: Hanged March 23, 1931 — the Lahore Conspiracy Case (NOT the Assembly bomb case).
• CPI founding: 1920, Tashkent (by M.N. Roy and Abani Mukherji) — the Kanpur Communist Conference of 1925 formalised its foundation in India. Do NOT mix up these two events.

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• Gaya Congress session: December 1922 — Swarajists defeated; Das and Nehru resign; Swarajist Party formed.
• Swarajist Party: Das (president), Motilal Nehru (secretary).
• Delhi compromise: September 1923 — Swarajists contest as group within Congress.
• November 1923 elections: Swarajists win 42/141 seats; majority in Central Provinces.
• Belgaum session: December 1924 — Gandhi's only Congress presidentship; formal reconciliation.
• Vithalbhai Patel: Speaker of CLA, 1925.
• Public Safety Bill defeated: 1928 — major Swarajist achievement.
• Swarajists withdrew from councils: March 1926.
• CPI: Founded 1920, Tashkent (M.N. Roy); formalised India, 1925 (Kanpur).
• Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case: 1924 — Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, Shaukat Usmani, Nalini Gupta.
• Meerut Conspiracy Case: 1929 — 31 communists/trade unionists arrested.
• AITUC: 1920; Lajpat Rai (president); Dewan Chaman Lal (secretary); First May Day 1923, Madras.
• Bardoli Satyagraha: 1928, Vallabhbhai Patel → title "Sardar."
• HRA: October 1924, Kanpur — Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjee, Sachin Sanyal.
• Kakori: August 1925; 4 hanged — Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri.
• HSRA: September 1928, Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi — socialism adopted; collective leadership.
• Saunders murder: December 1928, Lahore — by Bhagat Singh, Azad, Rajguru.
• Assembly bomb: April 8, 1929 — Bhagat Singh + Batukeshwar Dutt.
• Jatin Das: 64th day of fast — first martyr in jail.
• Azad: February 1931, Alfred Park, Allahabad — police encounter.
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru: Hanged March 23, 1931.
• Chittagong raid: April 1930 — 65 activists; Surya Sen hanged January 1934.
• Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha: 1926 — Bhagat Singh (open mass wing of revolutionaries).
• Philosophy of the Bomb: written by Bhagwaticharan Vohra.
• Periyar's Self-Respect Movement: 1925, Madras.