Chapter Notes

The Right to Vote

Many rights we have today, like the weekend holiday or an eight-hour workday, are the result of long struggles by social movements. These movements have fundamentally shaped the world we live in.

One of the most important rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution is universal adult franchise, which means every adult has the right to vote. This allows citizens to elect the people who govern them. This was a major change from the colonial era, when people had to follow the orders of British officers.

However, gaining this right was not simple, even in Britain.

• Initially, voting rights were only for men who owned property.
• A social movement called Chartism emerged in England to demand parliamentary representation for more people. In 1839, over 1.25 million people signed the People's Charter, asking for voting rights for all men and the right to stand for elections without owning property.
• Despite gathering over 3.25 million signatures by 1842, it was only after World War I, in 1918, that all men over 21 and some categories of women over 30 got the right to vote.
• The suffragettes (women activists) who fought for the right of all adult women to vote faced intense opposition and their movement was violently suppressed.

Features of a Social Movement

A social movement is not just a random, disorganized protest. It has specific features:

• Sustained Collective Action: It involves people working together over a long period.
• Organization: It requires some level of structure, including leadership and a way to make decisions.
• Shared Objectives and Ideologies: Participants share common goals and a general approach to bring about (or prevent) change.
• Directed Against the State: Often, a movement's goal is to demand changes in government policy or practices.

Social movements frequently arise to address public issues, like protecting the rights of tribal populations to use forests or ensuring displaced people receive compensation.

However, when a social movement tries to bring change, it often faces opposition. Sometimes, a counter movement arises to defend the existing system (status quo).

Changing society is difficult because movements challenge established interests and values. This leads to resistance, but over time, they can bring about significant change.

Social movements use various methods to achieve their goals:

• Protest: This is the most visible form of action, including processions with candles or torches, using black cloth, street theatre, songs, and poetry.
• Mobilization: Activists hold meetings to gather support and build a shared understanding of their goals.
• Campaigning: This includes lobbying with the government, media, and other influential figures to shape public opinion.

Mahatma Gandhi famously used innovative methods like ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (truth-force). He transformed everyday items into powerful symbols of resistance.

Distinguishing Social Change and Social Movements

It's important to understand the difference between social change and a social movement.

• Social Change: This is a continuous, broad, and ongoing process. It is the sum of countless individual and collective actions over time. For example, sanskritisation and westernisation are forms of social change.
• Social Movement: This is a deliberate, organized, and sustained effort by a group of people to achieve specific goals. The efforts of 19th-century social reformers to change society are an example of a social movement.

Sociology and Social Movements

Sociology has always been interested in social movements because they are powerful forces of change.

• Early sociologists like Emile Durkheim viewed social movements with anxiety. He saw the protests and riots during the French and Industrial Revolutions as a threat to social order and integration. For him, social movements were forces that could lead to disorder.
• In contrast, scholars influenced by Karl Marx had a different perspective. Historians like E. P. Thompson argued that protestors were not just "mobs" of hooligans. They had a ‘moral economy’—a shared understanding of right and wrong. Their research showed that poor people protested for good reasons, often because it was the only way to express their anger against deprivation.

Types of Social Movements

Social movements can be classified into different types based on their goals:

• Redemptive (or Transformatory) Movements: These aim to change the personal consciousness and actions of individuals. [!example] The movement led by Narayana Guru among the Ezhava community in Kerala encouraged people to change their own social practices.

• Reformist Movements: These work to change existing social and political systems through gradual steps. [!example] The movement in the 1960s to reorganize Indian states based on language, and the recent Right to Information campaign, are reformist movements.

• Revolutionary Movements: These aim to radically transform society, often by seizing state power. [!example] The Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which overthrew the Tsar to create a communist state, and the Naxalite movement in India, which seeks to remove oppressive landlords, are revolutionary movements.

Distinguishing the new social movement from the old social MOVEMENTS

Sociologists often distinguish between "old" and "new" social movements.

Old Social Movements:

• Goal: Focused on the reorganization of power relations and economic inequality (e.g., better wages, social security).
• Structure: Functioned within the framework of political parties. The Indian National Congress led the Indian National Movement.
• Basis: Primarily class-based, led by trade unions and workers' parties.

New Social Movements:

• Goal: Focused on "quality-of-life" issues like a clean environment, as well as identity politics and cultural anxieties.
• Structure: Often operate outside of political parties, through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), women's groups, and environmental groups. The broader term civil society is used to describe these formations.
• Basis: Not organized only along class lines. They often unite people across different classes. For instance, the women's movement includes both middle-class feminists and poor peasant women.
• Scope: Many new social movements are international, addressing global issues like environmental risks or the impact of globalization. The World Social Forum is an example of an alliance that brings old and new movements together.

Ecological Movements

Modern development has often led to the unchecked use of natural resources, displacing communities and causing pollution. Ecological movements have emerged to challenge this model.

The Chipko Movement: The Chipko Movement in the Himalayan foothills is a prime example of an ecological movement with interconnected issues.

• The Action: When government contractors arrived to cut down forests, villagers, including many women, hugged the trees (Chipko means "to hug") to prevent them from being felled.
• Economic Conflict: At its core was a conflict between the livelihood needs of villagers, who depended on the forest for firewood and fodder, and the government's desire to earn revenue from selling timber. It was a struggle of a subsistence economy against an economy of profit.
• Ecological Sustainability: The movement also raised the issue of environmental destruction. Deforestation had led to devastating floods and landslides in the region.
• Political Representation: It expressed the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government that seemed indifferent to their concerns.

Class Based Movements

Peasant Movements

Agrarian struggles have a long history in India, from pre-colonial times.

• Colonial Period (1858-1914): Early movements were often localized, such as the Bengal revolt of 1859-62 against indigo plantations and the ‘Deccan riots’ of 1857 against moneylenders.
• Under Gandhi's Leadership: Some struggles became part of the national independence movement, like the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), a "no-tax" campaign, and the Champaran Satyagraha (1917-18) against indigo plantations.
• Rise of Peasant Organisations (1920-1940): The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929) and the All India Kisan Sabha (1936) were formed to demand freedom from economic exploitation.
• Post-Independence Movements: Two classic examples are the Tebhaga movement (1946-47), where sharecroppers in Bengal demanded a larger share of their produce, and the Telangana movement (1946-51) against feudal conditions in Hyderabad.

New Farmer's Movements: Starting in the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu, a new type of movement emerged.

• Participants: They involved farmers (who are market-involved producers and consumers) rather than peasants (subsistence cultivators).
• Ideology: They were non-party, regionally organized, and strongly anti-state and anti-urban.
• Demands: The focus was on "price and related issues," such as better prices for crops, lower costs for agricultural inputs, and non-repayment of loans.
• Methods: They used novel agitation methods like blocking roads and railways.
• Evolution: Over time, these movements have broadened their agenda to include environmental and women's issues, linking them to the worldwide "new social movements."

Workers' Movements

Factory production in India began in the 1860s, primarily in port cities like Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.

• Early Conditions: Labour was cheap, and the colonial government did not regulate wages or working conditions.
• Early Protests: Before formal unions, workers held spontaneous strikes. In 1917, there were waves of strikes in Bombay's textile mills, Calcutta's jute mills, and Madras's Binny's Mills, all demanding higher wages.
• Formation of Trade Unions:
  1. The first trade union was established in Madras in April 1918 by B.P. Wadia.
  2. Mahatma Gandhi founded the Textile Labour Association (TLA) in the same year.
  3. In 1920, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed in Bombay, bringing together diverse ideologies including communists (S.A. Dange), moderates (V.V. Giri), and nationalists (Lala Lajpat Rai, Jawaharlal Nehru).
• Splits and Politics:
  • The communists gained control over the AITUC in the later years of British rule.
  • In 1947, the Indian National Congress formed a rival union, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC).
  • This led to further splits, with many national and regional political parties forming their own trade unions.
• Post-Independence: The workers' movement continued to be active, with a major railway workers' strike in 1974. These struggles were often part of a wider fight for civil liberties.

Caste Based Movements

The Dalit Movement

The Dalit movement is unique because it is not just about economic exploitation or political oppression, but a struggle for recognition, self-confidence, and the abolition of the stigma of untouchability.

• The term "Dalit": Meaning "the poor and oppressed," it was adopted by followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar in the 1970s. The word itself denies the concepts of pollution and a justified caste hierarchy.
• Diversity and Unity: There is no single, unified Dalit movement. Different movements focus on different issues. However, they all share a common quest for equality, self-dignity, and an end to untouchability. [!example] Historical examples include the Satnami Movement in Chhattisgarh, the Adi Dharma Movement in Punjab, and the Mahar Movement in Maharashtra.
• Dalit Literature: A significant body of literature has emerged, using unique expressions rooted in Dalit experiences to give a call for social and cultural revolt.
• Nature of the Movement: Sociologists see Dalit movements as having redemptive, reformist, and revolutionary elements. While they have achieved real but limited gains, especially for educated Dalits, the movement as a whole is considered reformist because it has not yet managed to destroy caste or lift the general mass out of poverty.

Backward Class Castes Movements

The political identity of backward castes/classes emerged in both colonial and post-colonial India.

• Colonial Influence: The colonial state often distributed benefits based on caste, which encouraged people to organize politically along caste lines. This process made caste more of a secular tool for political mobilization rather than just a ritual concept.
• History: The term ‘Backward Classes’ has been used since the late 19th century. By the 1920s, organizations like the All-India Backward Classes Federation sprang up across the country. By 1954, there were 88 such organizations.

The Tribal Movements

Tribal movements across India share common issues, especially the alienation from forest lands, but they are also very distinct.

Jharkhand

The state of Jharkhand, carved out of south Bihar in 2000, is the result of over a century of tribal resistance.

• Historical Roots: The movement's iconic leader is Birsa Munda, an adivasi who led a major uprising against the British. His memory is kept alive in stories and songs.
• Creating a Shared Identity: Christian missionaries helped spread literacy, which allowed literate adivasis to research and write about their history and culture. This helped create a unified Jharkhandi identity.
• Leadership: A middle-class adivasi intellectual leadership emerged, which formulated the demand for a separate state.
• The "Dikus": Adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus—migrant traders and moneylenders who had settled in the region and exploited its resources, leaving the original inhabitants impoverished.
• Key Issues: The movement agitated against land acquisition for big projects, unfair rent and loan collection, and the nationalization of forest produce.

The North East

After independence, the process of incorporating the hill districts of the North East into the administrative machinery of Assam caused unrest.

• Distinct Identity: The tribes were conscious of their unique identities and traditional autonomy and were wary of being absorbed into a powerful external system.
• Shift in Goals: While early movements in the region tended towards secessionism (demanding to break away from India), this trend has largely been replaced by a search for autonomy within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
• Central Issues: Like in Jharkhand, the alienation of tribals from forest lands is a key issue, connecting ecological concerns with cultural identity and economic inequality.

The Women's Movement

The 19th Century Social Reform Movements and Early Women's Organisations

The roots of the women's movement can be traced to the 19th-century social reform movements that raised issues concerning women.

• Growth of Organisations: In the early 20th century, several women's organizations were formed at the national and local levels. Key among them were the Women's India Association (WIA) (1917), the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) (1926), and the National Council for Women in India (NCWI) (1925).
• Evolving Focus: These organizations initially focused on "women's welfare" and saw it as separate from politics. However, their scope widened over time. The AIWC, for instance, later acknowledged that women could not be free if India itself was not free, linking women's rights to national freedom.

Agrarian Struggles and Revolts

It is a misconception that only middle-class educated women participate in social movements. Women have a long history of participating alongside men in rural and tribal struggles.

Post 1947

After India's independence in 1947, there was a lull in the women's movement. This is often attributed to women activists getting involved in nation-building tasks or the trauma of Partition.

• The Second Phase: In the mid-1970s, the women's movement was renewed. This "second phase" had new strategies and ideologies, though many concerns remained the same.
• New Issues: A key new focus was on violence against women. Campaigns were launched against sexual harassment and dowry, and for land rights and employment.
• Legal Changes: The movement was successful in bringing about important legal changes. For example, school application forms now require both the father's and mother's names, which was not always the case.
• Recognizing Diversity: There was a growing recognition that not all women face the same kind of discrimination. The concerns of an educated, middle-class woman are different from those of a peasant woman or a Dalit woman.
• A Gender-Just Society: The movement has also recognized that both men and women are constrained by patriarchal gender roles. A gender-just society, where injustices of all kinds are ended, would allow both men and women to be free. Government programs like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana are important steps toward this goal.