Boycotts Homespun Movement One of India s

Boycotts

Homespun Movement • One of India’s most famous boycotts was Gandhi’s “homespun” movement. – British plantations used Indian people and land to grow cotton but then made clothes in England – They Brought the clothes back to sell to Indians at inflated prices – It was illegal for Indian companies to manufacture and sell clothing that was not made from British cloth! – Gandhi called for a boycott of all British made cloth!

Boycotts • Gandhi urged Indians to stop buying British products • Making homespun cloth became the symbol of his movement

1920 Gandhi became President of the All-India Home Rule League (AIHRL), which worked towards independence from the British Empire. Soon the AIHRL begins to boycott British-made cloth, spinning their own cloth instead.

Gandhi started a boycott of machine made European clothing, as it caused large scale unemployment in India. He started making hand-made cloth called Khadi that was inexpensive and suitable for poor Indians. Most importantly, it showed Indians how to be self-reliant. Gandhi worked on his spinning wheel till his last days.

The British would have cotton grown in India, then have it picked by Indians, put on ships, shipped to England, where it would be spun into thread, woven into cloth, shipped back to India and sold to the Indian people for a higher price. In fact, Britain had laws that forced the Indians to buy only this cloth. Gandhi thought “Why should we have to buy back our own cotton cloth? Let’s spin it ourselves!” So he learned how to spin and weave cotton into cloth. He and his followers taught this old fashioned way of spinning and weaving to thousands of others.

This made big news all over the world. People around the world soon began to think that this wasn’t fair either. Even the workers in the cloth factories back in England thought this was not fair. These were the people whose jobs were being lost because of Gandhi and his supporters making their own cloth. Finally the laws about the cloth were changed and Indians were permitted by the British to make their own cloth.

Soon the British weren’t making money off the Indians buying their cloth anymore. The English said they had to buy the English cloth. But Gandhi and his followers refused. Gandhi and hundreds of others were thrown in jail. He would be let out of jail but he would keep spinning and weaving and keep breaking the law and get thrown in jail again and again.

Salt March

Salt Acts 1930 • These laws required that Indians buy salt only from the British government (without refrigeration, salt was crucial to keeping food from spoiling) • Required Indians to pay a sales tax to British on salt as well

Salt March 1930 • The Raj imposed strict controls on salt production and a stiff tax on its sale • Indians were arrested for making or selling salt • This tax on a basic necessity of life was really hard on the poor. • To Gandhi, the salt tax was a symbol of the tyranny of the British rule---like the tea tax on the American colonists • To oppose the British salt tax that was strangling the Indian economy, he organized the Salt March

Salt March, 1930 Making Salt

The 1930 Salt March • According to law, the British had a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt. • Indians were arrested if they tried to make salt. • Gandhi directly defied British law and marched to the ocean to collect salt.

Salt March • Began on March 12, 1930 • Tens of thousands of people cheered as Gandhi walked 390 km from his ashram to Dandi Beach • After morning prayers, Gandhi collected salt on the seashore and proclaimed: “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire. ” • Hearing this, people all across India freely collected and sold salt • Ten of thousands of Indians were brutally arrested by the British police, including 18, 000 Indian women • The march was closely covered by the international press making Gandhi famous in Europe and America

Salt March 1930 • In protest Gandhi and his followers walked 240 miles to the coast to make their own salt • demonstrators marched to a British salt processing plant to protest • made salt by evaporating sea water

Salt March 1930 British police attacked protestors with steel clubs • British arrested 60, 000 peaceful protestors (including Gandhi) • Protestors refused to defend themselves: marching peacefully • • International newspapers covered the event: won worldwide support for Gandhi’s movement

Salt March Monument

Gandhi picks up a grain of salt in defiance of British law.

On the beach at Dandi, the end of the Salt March

Impact of the Salt March • Six weeks later, hundreds of marchers attempted to take over the Dharasana Salt Works outside of Bombay • The international press reported on the clash • “Police charged the marchers, swinging their clubs and belaboring the raiders on all sides. The volunteers made no resistance. As the police swung hastily with their sticks, the natives simply dropped in their tracks. Less than 100 yards away I could hear the dull impact of clubs against bodies. The watching crowds gasped, or sometimes cheered, as the volunteers crumpled before the police without even raising their arms to ward off the blows. ”

Impact of the Salt March • Professor Richard Johnson wrote, “It is widely believed that the Salt Campaign turned the tide in India. All the violence was committed by the British and their Indian soldiers. The legitimacy of the Raj was never reestablished for the majority of Indians and an ever increasing number of British subjects. ” • The independence struggle had become a mass movement

Quit India Campaign

Quit India Campaign • • Quit India Movement - The Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Gandhi’s call for immediate independence. The All India Congress Committee proclaimed a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called "an orderly British withdrawal" from India. The call for determined, but passive resistance appears in his call to Do or Die, issued on 9 th August at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai in the year 1942. Hubli - Hubli, also called Hubballi, is a major city in the state of Karnataka, India. The name Hubballi literally means "flowering creeper" in Kannada. The twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad, collectively referred to as "Hubli-Dharwad", is the second-largest in Karnataka after Bengaluru. The city of Hubli, situated about 20 km south-east of Dharwad, is the commercial centre and business hub of the North Karnataka region.

“Quit India” Campaign • At the end of WWII, Britain saw that it could still control India, but only by force. • In response, Gandhi began another satyagraha campaign. • He said there must be mass civil disobedience across India in order to push the British out • Gandhi announced the “Quit India” Campaign in August 1942 • He said: “ I want freedom immediately, this very night, before dawn, if it can be had. Congress must win freedom or be wiped out in the effort. We shall either free India or die in the attempt. ”

Quit India Campaign • Indians were boiling with rage against the British rule and the tyranny of the British and the Quit India movement fuelled those feelings very strongly. • The entire city of Hubli was filled with people participating in the Quit India movement and placards, posters could be seen everywhere depicting this. • Thousands of people had gathered in Durgadbail, the city square echoing the call of Quit India.

Quit India Campaign • On 7 to 8 August 1942, the All India Congress Committee met in Bombay and ratified the 'Quit India' resolution. Gandhi called for 'Do or Die'. • The next day, on 9 August 1942, Gandhi, members of the Congress Working Committee and other Congress leaders were arrested by the British Government under the Defence of India Rules.

Quit India Campaign • The Working Committee, the All India Congress Committee and the four Provincial Congress Committees were declared unlawful associations under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908. • The assembly of public meetings were prohibited under rule 56 of the Defence of India Rules. • The arrest of Gandhi and the Congress leaders led to mass demonstrations throughout India. Thousands were killed and injured in the wake of the 'Quit India' movement.

Quit India Campaign • Strikes were called in many places. • The British swiftly suppressed many of these demonstrations by mass detentions; more than 100, 000 people were imprisoned. • The 'Quit India' movement, more than anything, united the Indian people against British rule. Although most demonstrations had been suppressed by 1944, upon his release in 1944 Gandhi continued his resistance and went on a 21 day fast.

Impact of the “Quit India” Campaign • The next day, Gandhi, Nehru, and other top leaders of the INC were placed in jail and most held until 1944 • The INC was declared illegal and all its funds were frozen. • The INC offices were raided and documents seized. • These actions caused uproar and there were demonstrations all over India.

Impact of the “Quit India” Campaign • The demonstrations turned into riots and violence ensued. • Key targets were police offices, government buildings, railway lines, and communication posts • The disruptions slowed down the supplies reaching the British army fighting the Japanese in Burma • More than 1000 were killed and 3000 injured in the riots

Impact of the “Quit India” Campaign • To restore order, the British had to divert 35, 000 troops to support the police • Because the British did this, the campaign began to die off by November, and by the end of the year, it was clear that it had failed • By the end of the Second World War, Britain's place in the world had changed dramatically and the demand for independence could no longer be ignored.

• Reporter: “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilization? ” • Gandhi: “I think it would be a very good idea. ”

As Gandhi’s movement grew, British officials were forced to meet with him.

Hindus versus Muslims: Partition

______ = (Christians, Buddhists, etc. ) ______ = 255 Million ______ = 95 Million

PROBLEM INDEPENDENT INDIA CANNOT BE RULED BY ALL HINDUS!!!

1946 -1947 This time period was filled with violence between the Hindus and the Muslims. The result: 20 000 people either dead or wounded.

Mahatma Gandhi • “Gandhi believed so much in loving tolerance that he hoped it could keep a newly independent India free of religious battles”(Molloy, 112). • Unfortunately, fear and tension are quite common between religious faiths. • Muslim leaders feared oppression from the Hindu majority. • Worked to create the new separate Muslim state of Pakistan. • As a result of this, some Hindu militants wished for revenge.

Hindu- Muslim Conflict • Hindus and Muslims had cooperated in the nationalist movement • G. B. encouraged their divisions to weaken their grip over the region • The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, asked for a separate Muslim state • Religious differences caused a clash between the Muslims and Hindus • Also, some Muslims feared for their rights to be dominated by a Hindu majority • Gandhi thought the groups could live together, if they respected each other and treated each other as family • Hindus distrusted the Muslims and looked at them as foreign conquerors • Economic and political differences also increased the tension

August 15, 1947 Gandhi realized his long soughtafter goal, which was the independence of India from Great Britain. It was a bittersweet victory for Gandhi because along with India's independence came the partitioning of the country into two separate states: Muslimbased Pakistan and Hindu-based India. He thoroughly opposed this partition. Gandhi did not take part in the celebration of India's independence.

The Subcontinent Divided • 1946: Rioting breaks out between Hindus and Muslims • 1947: the British Parliament tried to prevent civil war by passing the Indian Independence Act • This act partitioned the Indian subcontinent into two independent nations • Pakistan- Muslim ruled by Governor General Jinnah • India – Hindu ruled by Prime Minister Nehru Jinnah

One Slight Problem… ►As people move to their new homes, violence erupts

Partition • The division led to increased violence • Both governments on each side stressed a policy of religious toleration, however distrust was deeply rooted • 500, 000 people would die as a result • To escape death on both sides, roughly 15 million people migrated to their religious majority country • Gandhi refused to celebrate the independence and in prayer services he recited from the Koran, the Bible, and the Bhagavad -Gita • A Hindu extremist assassinated Gandhi because he believed he betrayed his own people

Although independence from Britain was a joyous occasion, it was marred by violence. Widespread rioting between Hindus and Muslims detracted from what should have been a celebration for India. The majority of Muslims moved to the newly formed Pakistan and most Hindus stayed in India, creating an everwidening cultural gap. Gandhi began another fast until peace is made between India's Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi’s reaction to the independence and partition of India

Gandhi’s Assassination

► Hunger strike “unto death”…or until peace resumes ► January 30, 1948: Gandhi is assassinated by a disgruntled Hindu upset about the partition of India

Gandhi's assassin, Nathuram Godse, was described as a nationalist and right-wing Hindu who blamed Gandhi for the partitioning of India. The assassin had been standing beside the garden path, his hands folded, palms together, before him in the Hindu gesture of greeting. But between his palms he had concealed a small-calibre pistol. After pumping three bullets into Gandhi at a range of a few feet, he fired a fourth shot in an attempt at suicide, but the bullet merely creased his scalp. He was executed in November 1949.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Death • The assassination took place on January 30 th 1948. • In point blank range, Nathuram Godse shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi as he was walking to his prayer meeting. • Many people were unhappy of the division of India and Pakistan including Mahatma Gandhi but some blamed Gandhi for the division. • In the movie, it shows that there was a group of Hindu extremists who did not like Mahatma Gandhi because Nathuram Godse was a Hindu fanatic and believed that Gandhi was more lenient to the Muslims then Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, was to the Hindus.

Nathuram’s Views of Gandhi Nathuram Godse did not like Gandhi’s philosophy of unity among all religions, especially not with the Muslims. Jinnah wanted all Hindus to leave Pakistan, whereas, Gandhi welcomed the Muslims to stay in India. Nathuram Godse said that Gandhi was a “political and ethical impostor”, and the “curse of India, a force of evil”. Nathuram Godse tried to rationalize his wrong doing because he was against Gandhi’s belief that Muslims and Hindus should be united and that there should be an end to the caste system.

Legacy of Gandhi

Influences of Gandhi • Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to truth and nonviolence had influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. • The great scientist Albert Einstein said of Gandhi: “Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood. ” • Gandhi’s beliefs continue to be studied analyzed today.

The Legacy • The legacy of Gandhi lives on. • He has influenced such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. • Both of these leaders have used his principles of civil disobedience as a way to enact change.

• Jawaharlal Nehru radio address: • “Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country. ” • Why was Gandhi's death a terrible blow to India? India Grieves

• Commenting on ongoing conflicts between Pakistan and India • Commenting on terrorist actions by religious extremists in India

Gandhi Quotes

The things that will destroy us are: Politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice”. - Mahatma Gandhi

There is more to life than just increasing its speed.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

In a gentle way you can shake the world.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. ” • “

For the rest on Gandhi: • We will be watching an Biography on Gandhi. • You will add to the provided teacher notes with additional notes and thoughts on the movie on the left side.

Review

Rise of Indian Nationalism • Despite helping Britain in WWI, Indians were once again treated as 2 nd class citizens after the war • Groups like the Indian National Congress (Hindu) and Muslim League (Islam) began a campaign for Indian independence • Many Indian radicals began to violently protest British rule • 1919: British pass the Rowlatt bills, which jailed people w/o a trial • Mohandas Gandhi protests unfair laws • Gandhi believed in an approach called nonviolent resistance & non-cooperation • Gandhi organized peaceful marches and “An eye for public refusal to obey unfair British laws an eye makes the whole world blind” “Victory attained by violence is actually defeat”

The Indian Independence movement, 1905 -1947 The Land the People § Classes and Languages – growth created pressures, less land § Peasants (majority) – over taxed, Maharajahs (ruling princes) – protected § English = common language of western educated § Religion – Hindu center with Muslim sides British Rule and Indian Nationalism § Viceroy & Indian Civil Service § Indian National Congress – founded in 1885 § 1905 – British divide Bengal Province in two, putting Hindu at disadvantage in east § 1906 – All-India Muslim League – Muhammad Ali Jinnah § 1911 – Brits moved capital – Calcutta to Delhi (Mughal capital) = wake-up call § Indian Steel Industry – symbolic hope for independence § WWI left promises of self-rule, upon return, outbreaks of violence § 1919 – Rowlatt Act = denial of habeas corpus, no public protests allowed § 1919 – Amritsar Massacre – Brits open fire on peaceful protestors killing 1, 200

• However, Rowlatt Bills ban public gatherings • 4/13/1919: Hindu & Muslim Indians gather in Amritsar to protest • A British Commander felt Indians were openly defying the ban and ordered his troops to open fire on the crowd • 400 people were killed and 1, 200 wounded in the Amritsar Massacre • Despite British violence, Gandhi urges followers to continue nonviolence • Gandhi begins to organize a boycott of British goods & taxes • The boycott on cloth is successful & British are losing money! • Gandhi organizes the Salt March 1930 • Police officers beat the marchers. American media reports the event • Independence is gained in 1947 but British partition country based on religion (India, East & West Pakistan)

The Indian Independence movement, 1905 -1947…continued 1905 -1947 Mahatma Gandhi and Militant Nonviolence § Mahatma = Great Soul, western educated lawyer, cut his teeth in South Africa § Ahimsa (nonviolence) + Satyagraha (search for the truth) = nonviolent civil disobedience § Wore homespun, brought independence ideas to the peasant (majority) § Salt March to protest British tax on salt § When jailed = protested via fasting. Every arrest made him more popular. India moves toward independence § Jawaharlal Nehru – Indian National Congress, working toward creating industrial India § Viceroy of India declares war (WWII) without consulting Indians § WWII a dividing time amongst Indians, who to support, who to protest Partition and Independence (post WWII) § Muhammad Ali Jinnah – demands separate state of Pakistan (E&W) for Muslims § 1947 – two states established, mass relocation causes riots and deaths § Kashmir – Hindu maharajah, Muslim people – still a hotspot today