UNIT Period of Radicalism in 5 Anti-imperialist Struggles

Learning Objectives

To Acquire Knowledge about „„The Kanpur Conspiracy Case „„Meerut Trial „„Bhagat Singh– Kalpana Dutt „„The Karachi Session of Indian National Congress „„The Great Depression and its impact on India „„Industrial development in India

Conspiracy case in (1924) and the most famous, Introduction the Meerut Conspiracy case (1929). Meanwhile, The influence of the Left-wing in the the CPI was formally founded on Indian soil in Indian National Congress and consequently 1925 in Bombay. on the struggle for independence was felt in Various revolutionary groups were a significant manner from the late 1920s. The functioning then in British India, adopting Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed, socialist ideas but were not communist by M.N. Roy, Abani Mukherji, M.P.T. Acharya, parties. Two revolutionaries – Bhagat Singh Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Shafiq, in of the Hindustan Revolutionary Socialist Tashkent, Uzbekistan then in the Soviet Union Association and Kalpana Dutt of the Indian in October 1920. This opened a new radical era Republican Army that organised repeated raids in the anti-imperialist struggles in India. on the Chittagong Armoury in Bengal will Even though there were many radical be the focus of the next section. The Karachi groups functioning in India earlier the presence Session of the INC and its famous resolutions of a Communist state in the form of USSR greatly especially on Fundamental Rights and Duties alarmed the British in India. The first batch of is dealt with next. The last two topics are radicals reached Peshawar on 3 June 1921. They about the world-wide economic depression were arrested immediately under the charges of popularly known as Great Depression and its being Bolshevik (Russian communist agents) impact on India and Tamil Society and the comeing to India to create troubles. A series Industrial Development registered in India in of five conspiracy cases were instituted against its aftermath. The Great Depression dealt a them between the years 1922 and 1927. The severe blow to the labour force and peasants first of these was the Peshawar Conspiracy case. and consequently influenced the struggle for This was followed by the Kanpur (Bolshevik) independence in a significant way.

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 61 24-03-2020 09:58:17 5.1 Kanpur Conspiracy 13 persons were originally Case, 1924 accused in the Kanpur case: (1) M.N. Roy, (2) Muzaffar Ahmad, (3) Shaukat Usmani, (4) Ghulam Hussain, (5) S.A. Dange, (6) M. Singaravelar, M.N. Roy (7) R.L. Sharma, (8) Nalini Gupta, (9) Shamuddin Hassan, (10) M.R.S Velayudhun, (11) Doctor Manilal, Kanpur Conspiracy Case Prisoners (12) Sampurnananda, (13) Satyabhakta. 8 persons were charge-sheeted: M.N. Roy, The colonial administrators did not take the Muzaffar Ahmad, S.A. Dange, Nalini Gupta, spread of communist ideas lightly. Radicalism Ghulam Hussain, Singaravelar, Shaukat spread across the British Provinces – Bombay, Usmani, and R.L. Sharma. Ghulam Hussain Calcutta and Madras - and industrial centres like turned an approver. M.N. Roy and R.L. Kanpur in United Province (UP) and cities like Sharma were charged in absentia as they Lahore where factories had come up quite early. were in Germany and Pondicherry (a French As a result, trade unions emerged in the jute and Territory) respectively. Singaravelar was cotton textile industries, the railway companies released on bail due to his ill health. Finally across the country and among workers in the the list got reduced to four. various municipal bodies. In order to curb the radicalisation of politics, especially to check what was then called Bolshevism, repressive measures M. Singaravelar (18 were adopted by the British administration. The February 1860 – 11 Kanpur Conspiracy case of 1924 was one such February 1946), was born move. Those charged with the conspiracy were in Madras. He was an early communists and trade unionists. Buddhist, and like many The accused were arrested spread over a other communist leaders, M. Singaravelar period of six months. Eight of them were charged he was also associated with Indian under Section 121-A of the Indian Penal Code – National Congress initially. However, ‘to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty after sometime he chose a radical path. of British India, by complete separation of India Along with Thiru. V. Kalyanasundaram, from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution’, he organised many trade unions in South and sent to various jails. The case came before India. On 1 May 1923, he organised the Sessions Judge H.E. Holmes who had earned first ever celebration of May Day in the notoriety while serving as Sessions Judge of country. He was one of the main organisers Gorakhpur for awarding death sentence to 172 of the strike in South Indian Railways peasants for their involvement in the Chauri (Golden Rock, Tiruchirappalli) in 1928 Chaura case. and was prosecuted for that. In the Kanpur Conspiracy case, Muzaffar Ahmed, Shaukat Usmani, Nalini Gupta and S. A. to raise funds and engage lawyers for the defence Dange were sent to jail, for four years of rigorous of the accused. Apart from these, the native imprisonment. The trial and the imprisonment, press in India reported the court proceedings meanwhile, led to some awareness about the extensively. communist activities in India. A Communist The trial in the conspiracy case and Defence Committee was formed in British India the imprisonment of some of the leaders,

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 62 24-03-2020 09:58:17 rather than kill the spirit of the radicals gave a Determined to wipe out the radical fillip to communist activities. In December 1925, movement, the government resorted to several a Communist Conference of different communist repressive measures. They arrested 32 leading groups, from all over India, was held.Singaravelar activists of the Communist Party, from different from Tamil Nadu took part in this conference. parts of British India like Bombay, Calcutta, It was from there that the Communist Party of Punjab, Poona and United Provinces. Most of India was established, formally, with Bombay as them were trade union activists though not all its Headquarters. of them were members of the Communist Party of India. At least eight of them belonged to the 5.2 Meerut Conspiracy Indian National Congress. The arrested also included three British communists-Philip Spratt, Case, 1929 Ban Bradley and Lester Hutchinson – who had been sent by the Communist Party of Great Communist Activities Britain to help build the party in India. Like those The Meerut Conspiracy Case of 1929, arrested in the Kanpur Conspiracy Case they was, perhaps, the most famous of all the were charged under Section 121A of the Indian communist conspiracy cases instituted by the Penal Code. All the 32 leaders arrested were British Government. The late 1920s witnessed brought to Meerut (in United Province then) and a number of labour upsurges and this period jailed. A good deal of documents that the colonial of unrest extended into the decade of the Great administration described as ‘subversive material,’ like books, letters, and pamphlets were seized Depression (1929–1939). Trade unionism spread and produced as evidence against the accused. over to many urban centres and organised labour strikes. The communists played a prominent role in organising the working class throughout this The British government conceived of period. The Kharagpur Railway workshop strikes conducting the trial in Meerut (and not, for in February and September 1927, the Liluah instance in Bombay from where a large chunk Rail workshop strike between January and July of the accused hailed) so that they could get away with the obligations of a jury trial. They 1928, the Calcutta scavengers’ strike in 1928, feared a jury trial could create sympathy for the several strikes in the jute mills in Bengal the accused. during July-August 1929, the strike at the Golden Rock workshop of the South Indian Railway, Tiruchirappalli, in July 1928, the textile workers’ Trial and Punishment strike in Bombay in April 1928 are some of the Meanwhile, a National Meerut Prisoners’ strikes that deserve mention. Defence Committee was formed to coordinate defence in the case. Famous Indian lawyers like Government Repression K.F. Nariman and M.C. Chagla appeared in the Alarmed by this wave of strikes and the court on behalf of the accused. Even national spread of communist activities, the British Government brought two draconian Acts - the Trade Disputes Act, 1928 and the Public Safety Bill, 1928. These Acts armed the government with powers to curtail civil liberties in general and suppress the trade union activities in particular. The government was worried about the strong communist influence among the workers and peasants. K.F. Nariman M.C. Chagla

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 63 24-03-2020 09:58:18 leaders like Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru visited Bhagat Singh was born to Kishan Singh the accused in jail. All these show the importance (father) and Vidyavati Kaur (mother) on 28 of the case in the history of our freedom struggle. September 1907 in Jaranwala, Lyallpur district, The Sessions Court in Meerut awarded Punjab, now a part of Pakistan. His father stringent sentences on 16 January 1933, four years was a liberal and his family was a family of after the arrests in 1929. 27 were convicted and freedom fighters. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre sentenced to various duration of transportation. happened when Bhagat Singh was 14 years. During the trial, the Communists made use of Early in his youth, he was associated with the their defence as a platform for propaganda by Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the Hindustan making political statements. These were reported Republican Association. The latter organisation widely in the newspapers and thus lakhs of was founded by Sachin Sanyal and Jogesh people came to know about the communist Chatterji. It was reorganised subsequently ideology and the communist activities in India. in September 1928 as the Hindustan Socialist There were agitations against the conviction. Republican Association (H.S.R.A) by Bhagat That three British nationals were also accused in Singh and his comrades. Socialist ideals and the the case, the case became known internationally October Revolution in Russia of 1917 were large too. Most importantly, even Romain Rolland influences on these revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh and Albert Einstein raised their voice in support was one of the leaders of the H.S.R.A along with of the convicted. Chandrashekhar Azad, Shivaram Rajguru and Under the national and international Sukhdev Thapar. pressure, on appeal, the sentences were Bhagat Singh’s Bomb Throwing considerably reduced in July 1933. The image that comes to our mind at the very 5.3 Bhagat Singh and mention of Bhagat Singh’s name is that of the bomb he threw in the Central Legislative Assembly on Kalpana Dutt April 8, 1929. The bombs did not kill anybody. It was intended as a demonstrative action, an act of Bhagat Singh’s Background protest against the draconian laws of the British. Bhagat Singh represented a distinct They chose the day on which the Trade Disputes strand of nationalism. His radical strand Bill, an anti-labour legislation was introduced in complemented, in a unique way, to the overall the assembly. ideals of the freedom movement. Lahore Conspiracy Case Bhagat Singh “I began to study. My previous faith and along with Rajguru, convictions underwent a remarkable Sukhdev, Jatindra Nath modification. The romance of the violent Das and 21 others were methods alone which was so prominent arrested and tried for among our predecessors was replaced by the murder of Saunders serious ideas. No more mysticism, no more (the case was known blind faith. Realism became our cult. Use of as the Second Lahore force justifiable when resorted to as a matter Conspiracy Case). of terrible necessity: non-violence as a policy Jatindra Nath Das died indispensable for all mass movements. So in the jail after 64 days of Jatindra Nath Das much about methods. The most important hunger strike against the thing was the clear conception of the ideal discriminatory practices and poor conditions for which we were to fight….. from Bhagat in jail. The verdict in the bomb throwing case Singh’s “Why I am an Atheist”. had been suspended until the trial of Lahore

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 64 24-03-2020 09:58:18 Conspiracy trials was over. It was in this case that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were The H.S.R.A was a renewed chapter of the Hindustan Republican Association. Its aim was sentenced to death on 7 October 1930. the overthrow of the capitalist and imperialist A letter from them to the Governor of government and establish a socialist society Punjab shows their courage and their optimism through a revolution. The H.S.R.A involved over the future of India even while facing death a number of actions such as the murder of for the cause of freedom of their country. It Saunders in Lahore. In that, Saunders was says, ‘the days of capitalism and imperialism are mistaken for the Superintendent of Police, numbered. The war neither began with us nor is Lahore, James A. Scott who was responsible for going to end with our lives… According to the seriously assaulting Lajpat Rai, in December verdict of your court we had waged a war and 1928, and Rai’s subsequent death. They also we are therefore war prisoners. And we claim to made an attempt to blow up the train in which be treated as such i.e., we claim to be shot dead Lord Irwin (Governor General and Viceroy of instead of being hanged.” India, 1926-1931) was travelling, in December Some narratives describe Bhagat Singh 1929, and a large number of such actions in Punjab and UP in 1930. and his fellow patriots as terrorists. This is a misconception. The legendary Bhagat Singh clarified how his group is different from the To understand the terrorists. He said, during his trial, that revolution heroism of Kalpana is not just the cult of bomb and pistol…Revolution Dutt, you should is the inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is understand the the imperishable birth-right of all. The labourer revolutionary strand is the real sustainer of society.. To the altar of this of nationalism that revolution we have brought our youth as incense, attracted women like for no sacrifice is too great for so magnificent a her to these ideals. You cause.’ Symbolically, they also shouted Inquilab Kalpana Dutt have already learnt Zindabad after this defence statement of his in that there existed many revolutionary groups in British India. the court. The character of these organisations gradually Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were changed from being ones that practiced hanged early in the morning of March 23, 1931 individual annihilation to organising collective in the Lahore Jail. They faced the gallows with actions aimed at larger changes in the system. courage, shouting Inquilab Zindabad and Down As Surya Sen, the revolutionary leader of with British Imperialism until their last breath. Chittagong armoury raid, told Ananda Gupta, The history of freedom struggle is incomplete ‘a dedicated band of youth must show the without the revolutionary strand of nationalism path of organised armed struggle in place of and the ultimate sacrifice of these revolutionaries. individual action. Most of us will have to die One more name in the list of such fighters is in the process but our sacrifice for such noble Kalpana Dutt. cause will not go in vain.’ When revolutionary groups like the Yugantar and the Anushilan Kalpana Dutt (1913–1995) Samiti began stagnating in the mid-1920s, In the late 1920s a young woman, Kalpana new groups sprang out of them. Among them, Dutt (known as Kalpana Joshi after her marriage the most important group was the one led to the communist leader P.C. Joshi), fired the by Surya Sen, a school teacher by profession, patriotic imagination of young people by her in Bengal. He had actively participated in daring raid of the Chittagong armoury. the Non-cooperation movement and wore

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 65 24-03-2020 09:58:18 Khadi. His group was closely working with to the revolutionaries and suffered greatly at the the Chittagong unit of the Indian National hands of police for this. Due to the continuous Congress. nature of the actions, there was an Armoury Raid Supplementary Trial too. It took three Chittagong Armoury Raid years to arrest Surya Sen, in February 1933, Surya Sen’s revolutionary group, the and eleven months before he was sent to the Indian Republican Army, was named after gallows on 12 January 1934. Kalpana Dutt was the Irish Republican Army. They planned a among those who participated in the raids. rebellion to occupy Chittagong in a guerrilla- style operation. The Chittagong armouries Women in Action were raided on the While Bhagat Singh represented young night of 18 April men who dedicated their lives to the freedom 1930. Simultaneous of the country, Kalpana Dutt represented attacks were launched the young women who defied the existing on telegraph offices, patriarchal set up and took to arms for the the armoury and the liberation of their motherland. Not only did police barracks to cut they act as messengers (as elsewhere) but they off all communication also participated in direct actions, fought along Surya Sen networks including with men, carrying guns. the railways to isolate Kalpana Dutt’s active participation in the the region. It was aimed at challenging the colonial administration directly. revolutionary Chittagong movement led to her arrest. Tried along with Surya Sen, Kalpana was The revolutionaries hoisted the national sentenced to transportation for life. The charge flag and symbolically shouted slogans such as was “waging war against the King Emperor.” Bande Matram and Inquilab Zindabad. The As all their activities started with the raid on raids and the resistance continued for the next the Armoury, the trial came to be known as the three years. Often, they operated from the Chittagong Armoury Raid Trial. villages and the villagers, gave food and shelter Kalpana Dutt recalls in her book Chittagong Armoury Raiders Reminiscences the On 13 June 1932 in a face-to-face battle revolutionary youth of Chittagong wanted “to against government forces, two of the inspire self-confidence by demonstrating that absconders of the Armoury Raid were even without outside help it was possible to fight killed, while they in turn killed Capt. the Government. Cameron, Commander of the government forces in the village of Dhalghat in the house of a poor Brahmin widow, Savitri 5.4 Karachi Session of Debi. After the incident the widow was the Indian National arrested together with her children. Congress, 1931 Despite many offers and temptations, not a word could the police get out of the The Indian National Congress, in contrast widow. They were uneducated and poor, to the violent actions of revolutionaries, yet they resisted all the temptation offers mobilised the masses for non-violent struggles. of gold and unflinchingly could bear all the The Congress under the leadership of Gandhi tortures that were inflicted upon them. gave priority to the problems of peasants. In the —From Kalpana Dutt’s autobiography context of great agrarian distress, deepened by Chittagong Armoury Raiders’ Reminiscences. world-wide economic depression, the Congress mobilised the peasantry. The Congress adopted a

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 66 24-03-2020 09:58:18 no-rent and no-tax campaign as a part of its civil caste system and the practice untouchability, disobedience programme. Under the pressure were also challenged with a promise to ensure of Great Depression, socio-economic demands equal access to public places and institutions. were sharply articulated in its Karachi Session of The Fundamental Rights, in fact, found a the Indian National Congress. place in the Part III of the Constitution of India– Fundamental Rights - and some of them went into Part IV, the Directive Principles of the State policy. You will study more on these in unit 13 of the second volume in the discussion on the Constitution of India.

5.5 The Great Depression and its Impact on India

Karachi Session The freedom struggle was taking a new shape. Peasants organised themselves into Kisan Sabhas and industrial workers were organized by the trade unions, made their presence felt in a big way in the freedom struggle. The Indian National Congress had become a mass party during the 1930s. The Congress leadership, which was now taking a left turn under Nehru’s leadership, began to talk about an egalitarian society based on social and economic justice. Stock Market Crash in US Wall Street The Karachi session held in March 1931, The Great Depression was a severe and presided over by Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, prolonged economic crisis which lasted for adopted a resolution on Fundamental Rights about a decade from 1929. The slowdown of and Duties and provided an insight into what the economic activities, especially industrial the economic policy of an independent India. production, led to crises like lockouts, wage In some ways, it was the manifesto of the cut, unemployment and starvation. It began in Indian National Congress for independent North America and affected Europe and all the India. These rights and the social and economic industrial centres in the world. As the world was programmes were derived from a firm integrated by the colonial order in its economic conviction that political freedom and economic sphere, developments in one part of the world freedom were inseparable. affected other parts as well. Even a cursory look at the fundamental rights resolution will tell you that all the basic The crash in the Wall Street (where the rights that the British denied to the Indians American Stock Exchange was located) triggered found a prominent place in the Resolution. an economic depression of great magnitude. The The colonial government curtailed civil Depression hit India too. British colonialism liberties and freedom by passing draconian aggravated the situation in India. Depression acts and ordinances. Gandhian ideals and affected both industrial and agrarian sectors. Nehru’s socialist vision also found a place Labour unrest broke out in industrial centres in the list of rights that the Indian National such as Bombay, Calcutta, Kanpur, United Congress promised to ensure in free India. Province and Madras against wage cuts, lay-offs The existing social relations, especially the and for the betterment of living conditions. In

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 67 24-03-2020 09:58:18 the agriculture sector, prices of the agricultural America, Indian cotton cultivators came to products, which depended on export markets like grief. But Europeans started textile mills in jute and raw cotton fell steeply. The depression India, taking advantage of the cheapness of brought down the value of Indian exports from cotton available. Ahmedabad textiles mills were Rs. 311 crores in 1929–1930 to Rs 132 crores in established by Indian entrepreneurs and both 1932–33. Therefore, the 1930s witnessed the Ahmedabad and Bombay became prominent emergence of the Kisan Sabhas which fought for centres of cotton mills. By 1914, there were 129 rent reduction, relief from debt traps and even spinning, weaving and other cotton mills within for the abolition of Zamindari. Bombay presidency. Between 1875–76 and 1913- Dwarakanath Tagore The only positive impact was on the Indian 14, the number of cotton textile mills in India industrial sector that could use the availability of increased from 47 to 271. land at reduced prices and labour at cheap wage rates. The weakening ties with Britain and other capitalist countries created a condition where growth was recorded in some of the Indian industries. Yet only the industries which fed the local consumption thrived.

5.6 Industrial Development in India The British trade policy took a heavy toll An important landmark in the on the indigenous industry. Industrialization of establishment of industries in India was the India was not part of British policy. Like other expansion of the railways system in India. The colonies, India was treated as a raw material first passenger train ran in 1853, connecting procurement area and a market for their finished Bombay with Thane. By the first decade of the goods. twentieth century, railways was the biggest Despite this, industrial expansion took place engineering industry in India. This British- in India, because of certain unforeseen managed industry, run by railway companies, circumstances, first during the course of the First employed 98,723 persons in 1911. The advent World War and then during the Great Depression. of railways and other means of transport and The first Indian to communication facilities helped the start a cotton mill was development of various industries. Cowasjee Nanabhoy Jute was yet another industry that picked Davar (1815–73), up in India in the late nineteenth and early a Parsi, in Bombay twentieth century. The first jute mill in in 1854. This was Calcutta was founded in 1855. The growth known as the Bombay of jute industry was so rapid and by 1914, Spinning and Weaving there were 64 mills in Calcutta Presidency. Company. The city’s However, unlike the Bombay textile industry, leading traders, mostly these mills were owned by Europeans. Parsis, contributed to Cowasjee Nanabhoy Though the industrial development in the this endeavour. The Davar nineteenth century was mainly confined to American Civil War (1861–65) was a boon very limited sectors like cotton, jute, etc., to the cotton farmers. But after the Civil War efforts were made to diversify the sectors. For when Britain continued to import cotton from example, the Bengal Coal Company was set

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 68 24-03-2020 09:58:18 America, Indian cotton cultivators came to up in 1843 in Raiganj grief. But Europeans started textile mills in by Dwarakanath Jamsetji Nusserwanji India, taking advantage of the cheapness of Tagore (1794–1847), Tata, popularly known cotton available. Ahmedabad textiles mills were grandfather of as J. N. Tata (1839– established by Indian entrepreneurs and both Rabindranath Tagore. 1904), came from a Ahmedabad and Bombay became prominent The coal industry Parsi (Zoroastrian) centres of cotton mills. By 1914, there were 129 picked up after 1892 business family in Navsari, Baroda. The spinning, weaving and other cotton mills within and its growth peaked J. N. Tata Bombay presidency. Between 1875–76 and 1913- during First World first successful Indian Dwarakanath Tagore 14, the number of cotton textile mills in India War years. entrepreneur, he is called the father of the Indian increased from 47 to 271. modern industry. In order to help his father’s It was in the early twentieth century, business, he travelled all over the world and this industries in India began to diversify. The exposure helped him in his future endeavours. first major steel industry – Tata Iron and Steel His trading company, established in 1868, Company (TISCO) – was set up by the Tatas evolved into the Tata Group. A nationalist, he in 1907 as a part of swadeshi effort in Sakchi, called one of the mills established in Kurla, Bihar. Prior to this, a group of Europeans had Bombay “Swadeshi”. His children Dorabji Tata attempted in 1875 to found the Bengal Iron and Ratanji Tata followed his dream and it was Company. Following this, the Bengal Iron and Dorabji Tata who finally realised the long term Steel Company was set up in 1889. However, dream of his father to establish an iron and steel TISCO made a huge headway than the other company in 1907. His enthusiasm was such endeavourers in this sector. Its production that he spent two years in US to learn from the increased from 31,000 tons in 1912–13 to American Iron Industrialists. His yet another An important landmark in the 1,81,000 tons in 1917–18. dream to set up a hydroelectric company did establishment of industries in India was the The First World War gave a landmark break not materialize during his life time. However, expansion of the railways system in India. The to the industrialisation of the country. For the the first major Hydroelectric project – Tata first passenger train ran in 1853, connecting first time, Britain’s strategic position in the East Hydroelectric Company–was set up in 1910. Bombay with Thane. By the first decade of the was challenged by Japan. The traditional trade With great foresight the Tatas founded the twentieth century, railways was the biggest routes were vulnerable to attack. To meet the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. engineering industry in India. This British- requirements, development of industries in managed industry, run by railway companies, India became necessary. Hence, Britain the first time, an industrial commission was employed 98,723 persons in 1911. The advent loosened its grip and granted some concessions appointed in 1916. During the war-period, the of railways and other means of transport and to the Indian capitalists. Comparative relaxation cotton and jute industries showed much growth. communication facilities helped the of control by the British government and the Steel industry was yet another sector marked by development of various industries. expansion of domestic market due to the War, substantial growth. Jute was yet another industry that picked facilitated the process of industrialisation. For Other industries up in India in the late nineteenth and early showing progress were twentieth century. The first jute mill in paper, chemicals, cement, Calcutta was founded in 1855. The growth fertilisers, tanning, etc. The of jute industry was so rapid and by 1914, first Indian owned paper mill there were 64 mills in Calcutta Presidency. – Couper Paper Mill – was However, unlike the Bombay textile industry, set up in 1882 in Lucknow. these mills were owned by Europeans. Following this, Itaghur Paper Mill and Bengal Though the industrial development in the Paper Mill, both owned by Europeans, were nineteenth century was mainly confined to established. Cement manufacturing began in very limited sectors like cotton, jute, etc., 1904 in Madras with the establishment of South efforts were made to diversify the sectors. For Indian Industries Ltd. Tanning industry began example, the Bengal Coal Company was set Tata Iron and Steel Company

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 69 24-03-2020 09:58:18 in the late nineteenth century and a government leather factory was set up in 1860 in Kanpur. The first Indian-owned National Tannery was established in 1905 in Calcutta. The gold mining in Kolar also started in the late nineteenth century in the Kolar mining field, Mysore. The inter-war period registered growth in manufacturing industries. Interestingly the growth rate was far better than Britain and even better than the world average. After a short slug in 1923–24, the output of textile industry began to pick up. During the interwar period, Coimbatore Stanes Mill the number of looms and spindles increased considerably. In 1929–30, 44 per cent of the total in the state. The number of sugar factories in the amount of cotton piece goods consumed in province rose from two to eleven between 1931 India came from outside, but by 1933–34, and 1936. There were also proliferation of rice after the Great Depression, the proportion mills, oil mills and cinema enterprise during this had fallen to 20.5 percent. Other two period. industries which registered impressive Summary growth were sugar and cement. The Interwar years saw a growth in the shipping industry „„The 1920s and 30’s witnessed a surge of too. The Scindia Steam Navigation Company radicalism, a totally different strand of Limited (1919) was the pioneer. In 1939, they nationalism. even took over the Bombay Steam Navigation „„Communist Party of India was founded Company Ltd., a British concern. Eight Indian and the communist activities ended concerns were operational in this sector. in Kanpur Conspiracy and Meerut A new phase of production began with the Conspiracy Cases Second World War, which led to the extension „„Young women also participated in the of manufacturing industries to machineries, revolutionary movements and Kalpna aircrafts, locomotives, and so on Dutta was one among them Industrial Development in „„Great revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Tamilnadu during the Depression Rajguru, Sukdev and Surya Sen attained The industrial growth in the Madras martyrdom for the cause of Indian Presidency was substantial. In Coimbatore, after independence. Stanes Mill (Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving „„1930s was a period of Great Depression Mills) was established in 1896, no other mill could which had impacted globally. India as come up. The objective conditions created by the a colony of Great Britain was worst hit. Depression like fall in prices of land, cheapness of India’s industrial development from the labour and low interest rates led to the expansion second half of the nineteenth century to of textile industry in Coimbatore. Twenty nine the end of the inter-war years was without mills and ginning factories were floated in the any prompting from the British and was Coimbatore area during 1929-37. A cement mainly due to the conditions created first factory started at Madukkarai in Coimbatore by the First World War and later by the district in 1932 gave fillip to the cement industry Great Depression.

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 70 24-03-2020 09:58:18 II. Kalpana Dutt fought carrying guns for the EXERCISE liberation of her mother land. III. She was charged with ‘waging war against I Choose the correct the King Emperor’. (a) Only I (b) I and II answer (c) II and III (d) all the above 1. Communist Party of India 8. The first passenger train ran in 1853 between was formed in the year (a) Madras – Arakkonam (a) 1920 (b) 1925 (b) Bombay – Pune (c) 1930 (d) 1935 (c) Bombay – Thane 2. Kalpana Dutt was associated with (d) Kolkata – Hoogly (a) Hindustan Socialist Republican 9. The first Jute Mill in Calcutta was founded in Association (a) 1855 (b) 1866 (b) Bengal Association (c) 1877 (d) 1888 (c) Indian Republican Army 10. Who among the following was arrested in (d) None of the above the Kanpur Conspiracy Case? 3. Match the following (a) M.N. Roy (b) Baghat Singh (A) Kanpur Conspiracy Case - 1. Fundamental (c) S.A. Dange (d) Ram Prasad Bismil rights 11. Which of the following statements about the (B) Meerut Conspiracy Case - 2. Surya Sen Kanpur conspiracy case are true? (C) Chittagong Armoury Ride - 3. 1929 (i) Trade unions emerged in the jute and (D) Karachi Session of cotton textile industries. Indian National Congress - 4. 1924 (ii) The Communists and trade unionists (a) 1, 2, 3, 4 (b) 2, 3, 4, 1 were charged (c) 3, 4, 1, 2 (d) 4, 3, 2, 1 (iii) The case came before session Judge H.E. 4. Who died in jail after 64 days of hunger strike? Holmes (a) Pulin Das (b) Sachin Sanyal (iv) The trial and the imprisonment led to (c) Jatindra Nath Das (d) Preet Waddadar some awareness of the Congress activities 5. Which of the following about Great in India Depression are true? Codes (i) It started in North America (a) i, ii and iii (b) i, iii and iv (ii) The crash in the Wall Street triggered the (c) ii, iii and iv (d) i, ii and iv Depression II. Write brief answers (iii) Depression hit only the rich (iv) Labourers enjoyed better living conditions 1. Name the three British communists sent by during the Depression because of fall in the Communist Party of Great Britain to help prices. build the party in India. (a) i and ii (b) i, ii and iii 2. Identify the persons who appeared and (c) i and iv (d) i, iii and iv defended the accused in the Meerut 6. The First Cotton Mill in Bombay was started in Conspiracy Case. (a) 1852 (b) 1854 3. What do you know of the notorious Sessions (c) 1861 (d) 1865 Judge of Gorakhpur H.E. Holmes? 7. Find out which of the following statements are correct with the help of the code given 4. Which incident was known as the Second below. Lahore Conspiracy Case? I. Chittagong Armoury Raiders’ Reminiscences 5. Why is J.N. Tata called the father of Indian was written by Kalpana Dutt. modern industry?

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12th_History_EM_Unit_5.indd 71 24-03-2020 09:58:19 III. Write short answers REFERENCES 1. Explain how Surya Sen organised the Chitagong Armoury Raid. 1. Bipan Chandra, etal., India’s Struggle for 2. Write a short note on TISCO. Independence, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 3. Write about the contribution of Singaravelar to 2016. the promotion of trade unionism in South India. 2. K.A. Manikumar, A Colonial Economy in IV. Answer the following in detail the Great Depression: Madras, 1929-37, Orient Longman, 2002. 1. Discuss Bhagat Singh’s radical strand of 3. Irfan Habib, Indian Economy 1858-1914, A nationalism, and his revolutionary activitsm People’s History of India, Tulika Books, New that led to his hanging. Delhi. 2016. 2. Write an account of the industrial development 4. Bhagat Singh, Why I am an Atheist, National in colonial India during 1919- 1939. Book Trust, New Delhi, 2006 3. Examine the importance of Karachi session 5. Cambridge Economic History of India, of India National Congress in articulating the Vol-2. socio-economic political aspirations, under 6. Kalpana Dutt, Chittagong Armoury Raiders the pressure of Great Depression. Reminiscences, People’s Publishing House V. Activity Bombay, 1940. 1.  A group project exploring the role played by 7. Documents of the Communist Movement in women in India’s struggle for independence. India, vol. II, Meerut conspiracy case (1929), 2. Also an assignment to each student be given National Book Agency Calcutta in the class to attempt an account of the role played by prominent women activists in Tamilnadu during the Gandhian Era.

GLOSSARY

a political and economic system in which there is no private ownership of property or Communism ப�ொ鏁ퟁடைமை埍 industry and people of all social classes are க�ொள்க treated equally. வ쮿மை뾿ꟍ a member of the majority faction of the Russian 믂ல믍 உடன羿யாக Bolshevik Communist Party, which seized power in the அ鎿காரத்鏈埍 October Revolution of 1917. கைப்ற㞱 வே迍翁믍 என㞱 க쏁த鏁டையவ쏍 fundamental civil liberties of the people. Rights அ羿ப்டை உ쎿மைகள Great a deep and prolonged economic crisis. ப�ொ쏁ளாதார Depression பெ쏁மந்믍 social or political movements that aim at radicalism ꯁர翍殿கர தே殿யவாத fundamental change in the structure of society. க�ோட்ப翁

draconian severe. க翁மையான personal freedom which cannot be denied civil liberties without due process of law. 殿ힿ쯍 உ쎿மைகள

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