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Unit 8: Peasant Movements

Multan districts mobilized by the kisan leaders were also mostly emigrants from Central Punjab, Notes
Baba Sohan Singh, Teja Singh Swatantar, Baba Rur Singh, Master Hari Singh, Bhagat Singh Bilga,
and Wadhawa Ram were some of the important peasant leaders.
The princely states in Punjab also witnessed a major outbreak of peasant discontent. The most
powerful movement emerged in Patiala and was based on the demand for restoration of lands
illegally seized by a landlord-official combine through various forms of deceit and intimidation.
The muzaras (tenants) refused to pay the batai (share rent) to their biswedars (landlords) and in this
they were led by Left leaders like Bhagwan Singh Longowalia and Jagir Singh Joga and in later
years by Teja Singh Swatantar. This struggle continued intermittently till 1953 when legislation
enabling the tenants to become owners of their land was passed.
In other parts of the country as well, the mobilization of peasants around the demands for security
of tenure, abolition of feudal levies, reduction of taxes and debt relief, made major headway. In
Bengal, under the leadership of Bankim Mukherji, the peasants of Burdwan agitated against the
enhancement of the canal tax on the Damodar canal and secured major concessions. Kisans of the
24-Parganas pressed their demands by a march to Calcutta in April 1938. In Surma Valley, in
Assam, a no-rent struggle continued for six months against zamindari oppression and Karuna
Sindhu Roy conducted a major campaign for amendment of the tenancy law.
In Orissa, the Utkal Provincial Kisan Sabha, organized by Malati Chowdhury and others in 1935,
succeeded in getting the kisan manifesto accepted by the PCC as part of its election manifesto, and
the Ministry that followed introduced significant agrarian legislation. In the Orissa States, a powerful
movement in which tribals also participated was led on the question of forced labour, rights in
forests, and the reduction of rent. Major clashes occurred in Dhenkanal and thousands fled the
state to escape repression. The kisans of Ghalla Dhir state in the North-West Frontier Province
protested against evictions and feudal exactions by their Nawab. In Gujarat the main demand was
for the abolition of the system of hali (bonded labour) and a significant success was registered. The
Central Provinces Kisan Sabha led a march to Nagpur demanding the abolition of the malguzari
system, reduction of taxes and moratorium on debts.
Effects of Second World War
The rising tide of peasant awakening was checked by the outbreak of World War II which brought
about the resignation of the Congress Ministries and the launching of severe repression against
left-wing and kisan sabha leaders and workers because of their strong anti-War stance. The adoption
by the CPI of the Peoples’ War line in December 1941 following Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union
created dissensions between the Communist and non-Communist members of the kisan sabha.
These dissensions came to a head with the Quit India Movement, in which Congress Socialist
members played a leading role. The CPI because of its pro-War People’s War line asked its cadres
to stay away, and though many local level workers did join the Quit India Movement, the party
line sealed the rift in the kisan sabha ranks, resulting in a split in 1943. In these years three major
leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha, N.G. Ranga, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and Indulal Yagnik,
left the organization.
Nevertheless, during the War years the kisan sabha continued to play an important role in various
kinds of relief work, as for example in the Bengal Famine of 1943, and helped to lessen the rigour
of shortages of essential: goods, rationing and the like. It also continued its organizational work,
despite being severely handicapped by its taking the unpopular pro-War stance which alienated
it from various sections of the peasantry.
The end of the War, followed by the negotiations for the transfer of power and the anticipation of
freedom, marked a qualitatively new stage in the development of the peasant movement. A new
spirit was evident and the certainty of approaching freedom with the promise of a new social order
encouraged peasants, among other social groups, to assert their rights and claims with a new vigour.
Many struggles that had been left off in 1939 were renewed. The demand for zamindari abolition
was pressed with a greater sense of urgency. The organization of agricultural workers in Andhra
which had begun a few years earlier took on the form of a struggle for higher wages and use of
standard measures for payment of wages in kind.

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