How did the Civil Disobedience Movement become a mass movement ? Explain with examples.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-15 06:56 · grounding rag
Model Answer
The Civil Disobedience Movement became a mass movement because various social groups joined it with their own grievances and aspirations:
- Rich peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP) joined because falling prices and the refusal to reduce revenue demands caused hardship. For them, swaraj meant an end to high revenues.
- Poor peasants/small tenants wanted unpaid rents remitted. They joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists.
- Business classes like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla gave financial support and boycotted foreign goods, seeing swaraj as freedom from colonial economic restrictions.
- Industrial workers in Nagpur region participated; railway workers (1930) and dock workers (1932) went on strike; Chotanagpur tin mine workers wore Gandhi caps.
- Women participated in huge numbers — they marched, manufactured salt, picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops, and went to jail, seeing service to the nation as a sacred duty.
Thus, diverse groups with varied aspirations united against colonial rule, making it a true mass movement.
Source: Chapter 2, Section 3.2 — How Participants saw the Movement
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Explanation
Examiners expect five distinct social groups with a specific example or reason for each. The key is to show why each group joined (their specific grievance) and how they participated. Avoid writing generically — name specific groups like Patidars, Jats, FICCI, and mention concrete examples like Nagpur workers or women picketing shops. End with a linking conclusion sentence to show it became a mass movement. Do not exceed ~120 words.