Mahatma Gandhi’s Recurring Settlement: Two Major Movements Compared
The Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920-22 and the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-31 stand among the most significant mass campaigns associated with Gandhi's leadership of India's independence movement. Nearly a decade separates them, and their immediate circumstances were different. Yet examining the two together raises important historical questions about political objectives, mass pressure, leadership decisions, negotiations, and the outcomes experienced by participants. The Non-Cooperation Movement began in 1920 with Swaraj within one year as its stated objective. Gandhi publicly committed to this goal at the Calcutta special session of the Congress in September 1920. During 1920 and 1921, the movement expanded across urban and rural areas and generated increasing pressure on the British administration. By November 1921, British authorities were recording serious concern. Viceroy Reading's despatches to Montagu described the movement as threatening the basic ope...