The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation In the years after , we see the national movement spreading to new areas, incorporating new social groups, and developing new modes of struggle. How do we understand these developments? What implications did they have? First of all, the war created a new economic and political situation.
It led to a huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes: customs duties were raised and income tax introduced. Through the war years prices increased – doubling between and – leading to extreme hardship for the common people. Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and the forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger. Then in - and - , crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute shortages of food.
This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic. According to the census of , to million people perished as a result of famines and the epidemic. People hoped that their hardships would end after the war was over. But that did not happen.
At this stage a new leader appeared and suggested a new mode of struggle. . The Idea of Satyagraha Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January . As you know, he had come from South Africa where he had successfully fought New words Forced recruitment – A process by which the colonial state forced people to join the army Fig.
– Indian workers in South Africa march through Volksrust, November . Mahatma Gandhi was leading the workers from Newcastle to Transvaal. When the marchers were stopped and Gandhiji arrested, thousands of more workers joined the satyagraha against racist laws that denied rights to non-whites. the racist regime with a novel method of mass agitation, which he called satyagraha.
The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor. Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi