Historian David Hardiman’s new book gives detailed historical account of non-cooperation movement

After a book on the history of non-violent resistance in the Indian nationalist movement, historian David Hardiman’s latest work takes his study forward to examine the culmination of the first surge of struggle — from its launch in 1920 to its end with Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest two years later.

The book, “Non-Cooperation in India: Non-Violent Strategy and Protest”, was released on June 26, 2023. It is published by Westland Books.

The non-cooperation movement by the Indian National Congress (INC), organized and led by Gandhi, was the first mass movement organized nationwide during India’s struggle for freedom.

Its aims were to force further concessions from the British government by organizing the boycotting of the legislative councils, courts and schools, and other symbolic acts.

“Although the Noncooperation Movement of 1920-22 was one of the greatest mass movements of modern times, hardly any overall accounts of it exist. “I was inspired to carry out this task through a combination of my interest in Indian nationalism, Gandhi, subaltern history, and the theory and practice of nonviolent resistance. I am delighted that Westland Books is now publishing this Indian edition,” said Hardiman, founding member of the ‘Subaltern Studies Group’, in a statement.

The non-violent movement, inspired by Gandhi’s satyagraha campaign, degenerated into violence and was called off by Gandhi himself in February 1922 after the murder of a number of policemen by a mob at Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces.

According to the publishers, the book, comprising seven chapters, is a detailed account of India’s first mass movement organized as a part of India’s freedom struggle.

“It looks at fractious all-India debates over strategy, the major grievances that drove local-level campaigns, the ways leaders braided together these streams of protest within a nationalist agenda, and the distinctive features of popular non-violence for a righteous cause,” they added.

Currently an emeritus professor of the Department of History at the University of Warwick, Hardiman’s previous books include “Gandhi in His Time and Ours: The Global Legacy of His Ideas” and “Peasant Resistance in India”.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, dated 26.6.2023