Discuss the hopes and struggles of …

2. 

Gandhiji decided to withdraw the ‘Non-Cooperation Movement’ in February 1922 because of the following reasons :

• In 1922, at Chauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful mob turned violent and clashed with the police resulting in the deaths of several policemen.
• Gandhiji felt that the movement was turning violent and satyagrahis needed proper training before they were ready for a mass struggle.

Various social groups which joined the movement were

(i) Middle class people in the towns

(ii) Plantation workers

(iii) Peasants in rural areas

(iv) Tribal people

(v) Business class people

Middle Class People in the Towns

In towns, middle class people who consisted of students, teachers and lawyers responded to the clarion call of non-cooperation and boycott. They saw the movement as a passport to freedom from the foreign yoke.

Peasants and Tribals

In various places peasants and tribal also participated in the movement. The movement was launched against the talukdars and landlords. For them Swaraj meant they would not be required to pay land dues i.e., land revenue, and the land they were cultivating would be distributed among them.

Plantation Workers

They participated in the movement with the hope that they would be free to move out of the confined space in which they had been enclosed. They hoped that Gandhi Raj had come and they would get land when they went back home.

1. 

The different social groups that joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921 were the urban middle class comprising lawyers, teachers and headmasters, students, peasants, tribals and workers.

• Peasants, tribals and workers joined the movement with hopes of self-emancipation. Peasants hoped that they would be saved from the oppressive landlords, high taxes taken by the colonial government.
• Plantation workers, on the other hand, desired freedom to move about and get land in their own villages.
• The middle class joined the movement because the boycott of foreign goods would make the sale of their textiles and handlooms go up.