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Unit 8: Peasant Movements

held the same evening at Calicut beach presided over by P. Krishna Pillai, the CSP and later Notes
Communist leader, and resolutions demanding amendments in the Tenancy Act were passed. In
response to popular pressure, T. Prakasam, the Andhra Congress leader who was the Revenue
Minister in the Congress Ministry, in Madras Presidency, toured Malabar in December 1938 to
acquaint himself with the tenant problem. A Tenancy Committee was set up which included three
left-wing members. The Karshaka Sangham units and Congress committees held a series of meetings
to mobilize peasants to present evidence and to submit memoranda to the Committee. But, by the
time the Committee submitted its report in 1940, the Congress Ministries had already resigned
and no immediate progress was possible. But the campaign had successfully mobilized the peasantry
on the tenancy question and created an awareness that ensured that in later years these demands
would inevitably have to be accepted. Meanwhile, the Madras Congress Ministry had passed
legislation for debt relief, and this was welcomed by the Karshaka Sangham.
In coastal Andhra, top, the mobilization of peasants proceeded on an unprecedented scale. The
Andhra Provincial Ryots Association and the Andhra Zamin Ryots Association already had a long
history of successful struggle against the Government and zamindars. In addition, N.G. Ranga had,
since 1933, been running the Indian Peasants’ Institute in his home village of Nidobrolu in Guntur
district which trained peasants to become active workers of the peasant movement. After 1936,
left-wing Congressmen, members of the CSP, many of whom were to latter join the CPI also joined
in the effort to organize the peasants, and the name of P. Sundarayya was the foremost among
them.
The defeat of many zamindar and pro-zamindar candidates in the 1937 elections by Congress
candidates dealt a blow to the zamindars’ prestige and gave confidence to the zamindari ryots.
Struggles were launched against the Bobbili and Mungala zamindaris, and a major struggle erupted
against the Kalipatnam zamindari over cultivation and fishing rights.
In coastal Andhra, the weapon of peasant marches had already been used effectively since 1933.
Peasant marchers would converge on the district or taluqa headquarters and present a list of
demands to the authorities. But in 1938, the Provincial Kisan Conference organized, for the first
time, a march on a massive scale — a true long march in which over 2,000 kisans marched a
distance of over 1,500 miles, starting from Itchapur in the north, covering nine districts and
walking for a total of 130 days. En route, they held hundreds of meetings attended by lakhs of
peasants, and collected over 1,100 petitions; these were then presented to the provincial legislature
in Madras on 27 March 1938. One of their main demands was for debt relief, and this was
incorporated in the legislation passed by the Congress Ministry and was widely appreciated in
Andhra. In response to the peasants’ demands the Ministry had appointed a Zamindari Enquiry
Committee, but the legislation based on its recommendations could not be passed before the
Congress Ministries resigned.
Another notable feature of the movement in Andhra was the organization of Summer Schools of
Economics and Politics for peasant activists. These training camps, held at Kothapatnam,
Mantenavaripalam and other places were addressed by many of the major Left Communist leaders
of the time including P.C. Joshi, Ajoy Ghosh and R.D. Bhardwaj. Lectures were delivered on
Indian history, the history of the national struggle, on Marxism, on the Indian economy and
numerous associated subjects. Money and provisions for running these training camps were
collected from the peasants of Andhra. The celebration of various kisan and other ‘days,’ as well as
the popularization of peasant songs, was another form of mobilization.
Demands of Zamindari Abolition

Bihar was another major area of peasant mobilization in this period. Swami Sahajanand, the
founder of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha and a major leader of the All India Kisan Sabha, was
joined by many other left-wing leaders like Karyanand Sharma, Rahul Sankritayan, Panchanan
Shanna, and Yadunandan Sharma in spreading the kisan sabha organization to the village of Bihar.
The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha effectively used meetings, conferences, rallies, and mass
demonstrations, including a demonstration of one lakh peasants at Patna in 1938, to popularize
the kisan sabha programme. The slogan of zamindari abolition, adopted by the Sabha in 1935, was

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