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Quick recap: Civil Disobedience and the Round Table Conferences on one page

Civil Disobedience and the Round Table Conferences, 1922–1934 · Quick recap · Fact-checked on · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

All three parts of the chapter condensed for quick revision: the Swarajists and No-changers, the Simon Commission and the Nehru Report, Bardoli and the Lahore session, the eleven demands and the Dandi March, the spread and repression of the salt satyagraha, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and Karachi, the three Round Table Conferences, the Communal Award and the Poona Pact, and the end of the movement in 1934.

This chapter covers the twelve years between the end of Non-Cooperation in 1922 and the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1934. Part 1 showed how the Congress kept itself alive without a mass struggle and arrived, by December 1929, at the demand for Purna Swaraj. Part 2 covered the salt satyagraha and the truce of 1931. Part 3 covered the Round Table Conferences, the quarrel over electorates for the depressed classes and the end of the movement. The thread joining them is a national movement learning to combine mass struggle, negotiation and constructive work.

Civil Disobedience and the Round Tables at a glance
EventDateKey fact
Swaraj Party formed1 January 1923C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru; council entry
Simon Commission appointedNovember 1927All seven members British; boycotted
Nehru Report1928Dominion status, joint electorates, fundamental rights
Bardoli satyagraha1928Vallabhbhai Patel; title 'Sardar'
Lahore sessionDecember 1929Jawaharlal Nehru; Purna Swaraj
Dandi March12 March–6 April 1930Sabarmati to Dandi; salt law broken
First Round Table ConferenceNovember 1930–January 1931Congress absent
Gandhi-Irwin Pact5 March 1931Movement suspended; Congress to attend next conference
Karachi sessionMarch 1931Patel; Fundamental Rights and economic programme
Second Round Table ConferenceSeptember–December 1931Gandhi sole Congress representative; failed
Communal Award16 August 1932Ramsay MacDonald; separate electorates for depressed classes
Poona Pact24 September 1932Reserved seats in joint electorates, 71 raised to 148
WithdrawalApril 1934Civil disobedience ends; Congress Socialist Party formed

After Gaya rejected council entry in December 1922, C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party on 1 January 1923; the Delhi special session of 1923 let Congressmen contest, and Vithalbhai Patel became President of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1925. The No-changers built khadi, national schools and work among the depressed classes, and led the Vaikom satyagraha of 1924–25. The all-British Simon Commission, appointed in November 1927, was met with 'Simon go back' from February 1928, and Lajpat Rai died after a lathi charge at Lahore. Indians answered with the Nehru Report of 1928 (dominion status, joint electorates, fundamental rights), which Jinnah's amendments and Fourteen Points challenged. Patel's Bardoli satyagraha of 1928 won its revenue fight.

Irwin's declaration of 31 October 1929 called dominion status the natural goal of India's progress and promised a conference, but it fixed no date and gave no assurance, so the Congress refused to wait. At Lahore in December 1929, under Jawaharlal Nehru, it made Purna Swaraj its goal, authorised civil disobedience and unfurled the flag on the Ravi on 31 December; 26 January 1930 was observed as Independence Day. Gandhi then sent Irwin eleven demands, and when they were not met chose salt, a necessity taxed in every household. The Dandi March left Sabarmati on 12 March 1930, and Gandhi broke the salt law at Dandi on 6 April.

The movement spread fast: Rajagopalachari at Vedaranyam, Kelappan at Payyanur, Sarojini Naidu at Dharasana, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's Khudai Khidmatgar in the Frontier, where Garhwali soldiers refused to fire at Peshawar, the workers of Sholapur and Rani Gaidinliu in the Naga hills. Peasants refused revenue and chowkidari tax, forest laws were defied, and women picketed liquor and foreign-cloth shops. The government replied with ordinances and mass arrests, and the first Round Table Conference (November 1930–January 1931) met without the Congress. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931 freed non-violent prisoners and allowed salt-making for own use; the Congress suspended the movement. The Karachi session under Patel endorsed the pact and adopted the Fundamental Rights resolution.

At the second Round Table Conference (September–December 1931) Gandhi was the Congress's sole representative, but the conference broke down over the minorities' demand for separate electorates. Back home, he was arrested on 4 January 1932 and the movement was crushed by ordinance under Willingdon. The Communal Award of 16 August 1932 gave separate electorates to the depressed classes too. Gandhi fasted in Yerawada from 20 September, and the Poona Pact of 24 September 1932 replaced them with seats reserved within joint electorates, 148 instead of 71 in the provinces. Gandhi then turned to the Harijan campaign. The third conference (November–December 1932) and the White Paper of 1933 led towards the 1935 Act. Civil disobedience was withdrawn in April 1934.

Taken together, the period left three lasting results. Mass politics now reached women, peasants, merchants and the Frontier on a scale Non-Cooperation had not, and Britain had to bargain with the Congress. Indians drafted their own constitutional ideas, from the Nehru Report to the Karachi resolution on rights. And the question of how minorities and the depressed classes should be represented, left open at the Round Tables, was partly settled at Poona and lives on in the reserved seats of Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution. The next chapter, on constitutional development, shows how the Government of India Act, 1935 built on this period.

Exam traps

Recap

Practice questions

Q1. Consider the following statements:
1. The Swaraj Party was formed after the Gaya session of the Congress rejected council entry.
2. The Nehru Report of 1928 demanded complete independence for India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

(a) is correct: Das and Motilal Nehru formed the party on 1 January 1923 after Gaya. Statement 2 is false: the Nehru Report asked for dominion status, so (b) and (c) are wrong. (d) is wrong because statement 1 is true.

Q2. Which one of the following is correctly matched?

  1. Bardoli satyagraha, 1928 : C. Rajagopalachari
  2. Lahore session, 1929 : Vallabhbhai Patel
  3. Vaikom satyagraha : Travancore
  4. Karachi session, 1931 : Jawaharlal Nehru
Show answer

Answer: C. Vaikom satyagraha : Travancore

(c) is correct: Vaikom was in the princely state of Travancore. (a) is wrong: Bardoli was led by Vallabhbhai Patel. (b) is wrong: Jawaharlal Nehru presided at Lahore. (d) is wrong: Patel presided at Karachi.

Q3. The Indian Statutory Commission (Simon Commission) was boycotted mainly because:

  1. it recommended the partition of Bengal
  2. it had no Indian member
  3. it proposed to abolish the provincial legislatures
  4. it was headed by the Viceroy
Show answer

Answer: B. it had no Indian member

(b) is correct: all seven members were British, which Indians saw as an insult. (a) is wrong: the partition of Bengal was in 1905. (c) is wrong: its report proposed responsible government in the provinces, not their abolition. (d) is wrong: it was headed by Sir John Simon, not the Viceroy.

Q4. Arrange the following events in chronological order:
1. The Lahore session's Purna Swaraj resolution
2. The Dandi March
3. The Irwin declaration on dominion status
4. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. 3-1-2-4
  2. 1-3-2-4
  3. 3-2-1-4
  4. 3-1-4-2
Show answer

Answer: A. 3-1-2-4

(a) is correct: Irwin declaration (31 October 1929), Lahore (December 1929), Dandi (March–April 1930), pact (5 March 1931). (b) is wrong because the declaration came before Lahore. (c) is wrong because Lahore came before Dandi. (d) is wrong because the pact came after the Dandi March.

Q5. With reference to the Civil Disobedience Movement, consider the following pairs:
1. Vedaranyam : C. Rajagopalachari
2. Dharasana : Sarojini Naidu
3. Payyanur : Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

  1. 1 only
  2. 1 and 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer

Answer: B. 1 and 2 only

(b) is correct: Rajagopalachari led the Vedaranyam march and Sarojini Naidu the Dharasana raid. Pair 3 is wrong: Payyanur was K. Kelappan's march in Malabar, while Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan led the movement in the Frontier. So (a) misses pair 2, and (c) and (d) wrongly include pair 3.

Q6. Which one of the following was a provision of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931?

  1. Commutation of the death sentence on Bhagat Singh
  2. Making of salt for own use by people in coastal villages
  3. Immediate grant of dominion status
  4. A public inquiry into police excesses
Show answer

Answer: B. Making of salt for own use by people in coastal villages

(b) is correct: salt could be made for own use, not for sale. (a) is wrong: Bhagat Singh was hanged on 23 March 1931. (c) is wrong: the pact did not grant dominion status. (d) is wrong: the government refused an inquiry into police excesses.

Q7. Consider the following statements:
1. The Indian National Congress attended all three Round Table Conferences.
2. B. R. Ambedkar attended all three Round Table Conferences.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: B. 2 only

(b) is correct: Ambedkar attended all three sessions. Statement 1 is false: the Congress attended only the second, so (a) and (c) are wrong. (d) is wrong because statement 2 is true.

Q8. The Poona Pact of 1932 is associated with which one of the following?

  1. Separate electorates for Muslims
  2. Reserved seats for the depressed classes within joint electorates
  3. The merger of the princely states
  4. The end of dyarchy in the provinces
Show answer

Answer: B. Reserved seats for the depressed classes within joint electorates

(b) is correct: the pact replaced the Award's separate electorates for the depressed classes with reserved seats in joint electorates. (a) is wrong: Muslim separate electorates were not its subject and continued. (c) is wrong: the merger of princely states came after 1947. (d) is wrong: dyarchy in the provinces ended under the Government of India Act, 1935.

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