Review of ReseaRch

PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN COLONIAL INDIA: A

Sonal Ann D’souza1 and Sunit Arora2

ABSTRACT:
This paper attempts to carry out a comparative
analysis of the agrarian conditions prevalent in Punjab and
Bengal in the mid 20th century- the similarities they shared
and the differences they exhibited. This is a useful exercise to
understand the nature and programmes of the various
peasant movements which developed in these regions, since
these movements grew out of or at least were greatly
influenced by the prevailing conditions and agrarian relations
within the two provinces. There is often a tendency to argue
that Punjab showed signs of development of the capitalist
mode of production in agriculture from the colonial period
itself, while eastern India (mainly Bengal and Bihar), it’s supposed antithesis remained gripped by semi-
feudal and pre-capitalist agrarian relations. However, this paper argues that the agrarian situation in
both Punjab and Bengal, in fact, remained by and large similar, that is, semi-feudal and pre-capitalist in
character. This was mainly a product of India’s colonial subjugation and integration with the metropolitan
economy as a peripheral colonial one.

KEYWORDS: Peasant Movements. experience of 1857 showed that the agitation. It was built on
success of an armed rebellion was the notions of popular
INTRODUCTION : highly unlikely in the face of consent and of it being
Peasant protests and agitations superior might of British inherently just and fair,
formed an integral part of the administrative and military notions which had been
broader anti-colonial movement in machinery. A varying cross section meticulously inculcated.
India. In fact for the success of of the Indian people understood that But if a movement became
national movement it was violence could not be an effective violent it could be easily
imperative to secure the support strategy for confronting the colonial crushed by the superior
and active participation of the rule and alternate avenues of armed might of the
peasantry who formed the vast struggle had to be explored. colonial state.1 In this
mass of Indian population and Understanding Gramsci’s concept of sense the revolt of 1857
voice their specific concerns and hegemony therefore becomes marked a major break and
demands through its programmes. important in this respect. The many agitations in the late
The political discourse in India colonial state in India was a semi 19th and 20th centuries
underwent a major change hegemonic one allowing space for directed against colonial
following the revolt of 1857. The peaceful political propaganda and rule operated with this
understanding. One of the

1
Mukherjee, Mridula, ‘Peasant Resistance and Peasant Consciousness in Colonial India: Subalterns and Beyond’,
Economic and Political Weekly, Oct. 8 & Oct. 15, 1988
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PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN COLONIAL INDIA: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY volUme - 8 | issUe - 8 | may - 2019
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earliest in this series of movements was the struggle of the peasants of Pabna in Bengal. Launched in
1873 the main aim of the Pabna peasant struggle was the defence of rights of the occupancy tenants
from infringement by landlords.2 This movement became especially remarkable because in spite of
various attempts by the landlord supported press to present this movement as a threat to law and order
in the district it remained non violent to a great extent. The peasants mostly remained disciplined and
did not resort to violence instead they chose to confront the landlords through legal battles. Sengupta
notes that “...the legalistic passive character of tenant resistance was one of the novel features of this
important agrarian movement.”3
Instead of individually examining each and every peasant movement which developed in Punjab
and Bengal from the 1920s to the 1940s I will out of the constraints of space limit myself in this paper
to a comparative analysis of the agrarian conditions prevalent in Punjab and Bengal in the mid 20th
century- the similarities they shared and the differences they exhibited. This I think will be a useful
exercise to understand the nature and programmes of the various peasant movements which developed
in these regions, since these movements grew out of or at least were greatly influenced by the
prevailing conditions and agrarian relations within the two provinces. There is often a tendency to
argue that Punjab showed signs of development of the capitalist mode of production in agriculture from
the colonial period itself, while eastern India (mainly Bengal and Bihar), its supposed antithesis
remained gripped by semi-feudal and pre-capitalist agrarian relations. However, my attempt in this
paper will be to challenge this widely prevalent misnomer and to argue that the agrarian situation in
both Punjab and Bengal, in fact, remained by and large similar, that is, semi-feudal and pre-capitalist in
character. This was mainly a product of India’s colonial subjugation and integration with the
metropolitan economy as a peripheral colonial one.4
The extent to which conditions in the two provinces diverged depended mainly on varying
geographic and climatic features and two key political factors which need to be emphasised. Firstly, in
Punjab, the revenue settlement was temporary, and could be increased periodically, while in Bengal, it
was permanent and remained fixed. Bose shows how agrarian relations though structured in diverse
ways in different parts of Bengal were greatly influenced by the vagaries of the world market during the
colonial period. He notes how the regional economy of Bengal suffered from the twin effects of
“fluctuations in the world market” and “colonial government’s financial policies”. The shift from
cultivation of food crops to cash crops such as Jute in order to meet growing rent demand and the
increasing dependence on market for subsistence is but one example of the impact of colonialism on
agrarian relations within the province.5 This dependence for subsistence on market proved especially
catastrophic for poor peasants when grain prices escalated in the early 1940s as a result of the British
policy of war financing.
Secondly, Punjab served as a major recruiting ground for the colonial army and this affected the
economy and society of the province in diverse ways. A possible alternate source of income always
existed there, an avenue which remained absent in Bengal. However, the recruitment of a major chunk
of colonial army from Punjab was the reason why any signs of discontent and agitation in the Punjab

2
In the 20th century, these relatively well to do occupancy tenants or Jotedars themselves became exploiters of
sharecroppers in Bengal and a major movement of the sharecroppers called the Tebhaga movement was
launched in 1946 to challenge their domination. For further reference see Sen, Sunil, ‘The Agrarian System:
Structural Change’, Agrarian Struggle in Bengal 1946-47, People’s Publishing House, 1972
3
Sengupta, Kalyan Kumar, ‘Peasant Struggle in Pabna, 1873: Its Legalistic Character’ in A.R. Desai ed. Peasant
Struggles in India, Oxford University Press, 1979, p180
4
In this link, the metropolitan economy is almost always accorded primacy. The interests of the colonial economy
remain subordinate to those of the metropolis. For further reference, see Mukherjee, Aditya, “Return of the
Colonial In Indian Economic History: The Last Phase of Colonialism in India”, Presidential Address, Modern India,
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, New Delhi, 2007
5
Bose, Sugata, Agrarian Bengal: Economic, Social Structure and Politics, 1919-1947, Cambridge University Press ,
1986, p 275
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PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN COLONIAL INDIA: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY volUme - 8 | issUe - 8 | may - 2019
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countryside were dealt with extreme severity and completely suppressed. But at the same time the
demands of the army made it imperative for the colonial rulers to secure a high degree of loyalty of the
Punjab peasantry and this they sought to do by passing the Land Alienation Act in 1900 and offering
handsome monetary rewards to the soldiers who had served in the First World War.6
Both Punjab and Bengal experienced an ever-growing demand of surplus from land. In Bengal
where the revenue settlement was permanent, it was a result of increasing rent rates and the perpetual
desire of zamindars and jotedars to extract a higher proportion of the surplus.7 In Punjab, where the
settlement was periodically revised, this increase in demand was triggered by frequently shooting up
revenue rates, and at a later stage, even the rent rates. This pressure, in turn, led to growing
indebtedness and a switch to cultivation of cash-crops (cotton in Punjab and jute in Bengal) for which
there was a higher demand in the world market. The cultivation of cash crops was accompanied by
export of higher quality food grains (rice in Bengal and wheat in Punjab) to outside markets and import
of cheaper substitutes for subsistence.8
In colonial Punjab, only certain castes and tribes were given the right to own land under the
Land Alienation Act of 1900. This measure was dictated by the colonial government’s need to appease
the dominant groups in Punjab and prevent growth of discontentment among them in order to ensure
continued recruitment to the army. By this act the traditional trading and money-lending castes such as
Khatris, Aroras and Banias were prohibited from purchasing agricultural land. Thus, “...under the
protective umbrella of the provisions of the Land Alienation Act, the Agriculturist mortgagee elbowed
the professional moneylender out in many areas of the province.” Such a measure was further made
possible by the fact that the traditional landowning castes were numerically far greater in Punjab in
comparison to those traditionally involved in trading and money-lending.9 However it was claimed that
this step would ensure the development of agrarian capitalism in Punjab, a claim which has been taken
by many scholars on its face value without subjecting it to critical scrutiny.
The agricultural castes and tribes designated under the Land Alienation Act came to monopolise
money lending in Punjab and became the chief creditors by taking land on mortgage. In addition these
dominant landed groups in rural areas organised themselves into a political front called the Punjab
National Unionist Party to safeguard their own interests. In eastern India as well, agriculturalist money
lenders contrary to popular assumption became quite dominant in the credit market towards the close
of the 19th century. The agriculturist moneylenders in Punjab as well as in Bengal increasingly tended to
take the land on mortgage and gradually reduce the landholding peasant to the status of an unprotected
tenant or sharecropper. Growing indebtedness, a result of increasing demand for surplus in the form of
rent, revenue or both increasingly pushed the small peasant into this trap.10 The economic depression
of the late 1920s and early 1930s further aggravated the situation. Bose notes that reeling under the

6
Josh, Bhagwan, ‘Economic and Social Background’, Communist Movement in Punjab 1926-47, Anupama
Publications Delhi, 1979, p21
7
The jotedars were occupancy tenants who sublet their land to sharecroppers (adhiars or bargadars) for
cultivation and extracted 50% of the produce. A large section of jotedars was drawn from the bhadralok. These
were either officers employed by colonial state, lawyers and other professionals or men looking for a lucrative
source of income in the absence of alternate sources of employment. This group vehemently opposed the
introduction of any tenancy legislation. For further reference see Sen, Sunil, ‘The Agrarian System: Structural
Change’, Agrarian Struggle in Bengal 1946-47(1972), p-4
8
Mukherjee, Mridula, ‘Punjab and Eastern Inda: Polar Opposites or Treading the Same Path?’, Colonizing
Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism, Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2005, p173
9
Josh, Bhagwan, ‘Economic and Social Background’, Communist Movement in Punjab 1926-47, Anupama
Publications Delhi, 1979, p 34
10
Mukherjee, Mridula, ‘Punjab and Eastern Inda: Polar Opposites or Treading the Same Path?’, Colonizing
Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism, Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2005, p174
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impact of depression many peasants in Bengal lost their lands and became sharecroppers or bargadars
increasingly reduced to a status of dependency.11
In both the provinces agriculturalist money lenders increasingly came to acquire substantial
proportions of land by alienating small peasant holders. These alienated peasants who were the actual
cultivators were thus transformed into sharecroppers largely left at the mercy of rich or middle level
land owners. With the increasing domination of agriculturist money lenders the condition of the
peasants worsened and many independent land holders were reduced to the status of unprotected
tenants expected to bear all the expense of cultivation and enjoying no security of tenure.12 Land was
increasingly being leased out to sharecroppers in the form of batai or bhag cultivation. Under the
system the produce was shared half and half between the land owner and the actual cultivator.13 Thus
the assumption that the domination of agriculturist money lenders promoted the development of
Punjab agriculture along capitalist lines falls flat. No attempts were made to improve agriculture and
undertake direct cultivation.14
The two provinces were similar in another respect as well. In Punjab as well as in Bengal,
economic demands of peasants were often given a communal colour by reactionary politicians.
Communal and class loyalties often vied with each other to acquire primacy in the peasantry’s
consciousness and the degree to which communal mobilisation became successful is indeed
unfortunate. Consequently, peasants often found themselves confronting the landlords not on specific
economic grievances, but along communal lines. Mukherjee has illustrated this fact for Punjab, while
Bose has shown communal politics at work in case of Bengal peasantry. This was in fact the sad reality
not only of Punjab and Bengal but of many other parts of India.
In the final analysis it can be safely concluded that in Punjab as well as in Bengal, the
accumulated surplus was invested not in modernizing agriculture and affecting any fundamental break
with the system by introducing new modes of production, but in usury, purchasing more land for
renting and leasing out and thereby perpetuating the prevailing agrarian relations within an
overarching colonial structure. During colonial rule various forms of surplus appropriation thus served
to reinforce semi feudal and pre capitalist agrarian relations. This was a story not only of Punjab and
Bengal but one common to most parts of India. New development models in agriculture as well as in
other spheres (whether political, cultural or economic) could be successfully implemented only after
affecting a structural break from colonialism. In fact the overthrow of colonial rule was a pre condition
for embarking India on the path of independent self reliant development.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Aditya Mukherjee, Return of the Colonial In Indian Economic History: The Last Phase of Colonialism
in India”, Presidential Address, Modern India, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, New
Delhi (2007).
2. A.R. Desai ed. Peasant Struggles in India, Oxford University Press (1979).
3. Bhagwan Josh, Communist Movement in Punjab 1926-47, Anupama Publications Delhi (1979).
4. Mridula Mukherjee, Colonizing Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism, Sage Publications
India Pvt. Ltd. (2005).
5. Mridula Mukherjee, Peasant Resistance and Peasant Consciousness in Colonial India: Subalterns and
Beyond, Economic and Political Weekly, Oct. 8 & Oct. 15, 1988.

11
Bose, Sugata, Agrarian Bengal: Economic, Social Structure and Politics, 1919-1947, Cambridge University Press ,
1986, P 277
12
Mukherjee, Mridula, ‘Punjab and Eastern Inda: Polar Opposites or Treading the Same Path?’, Colonizing Agricul
ture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism, Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2005, p175
13
Sen, Sunil, ‘The Agrarian System: Structural Change’, Agrarian Struggle in Bengal 1946-47, People’s Publishing
House, 1972, p-15
14
Mukherjee, Mridula, ‘Punjab and Eastern Inda: Polar Opposites or Treading the Same Path?’, Colonizing
Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism, Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2005, P176
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PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN COLONIAL INDIA: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY volUme - 8 | issUe - 8 | may - 2019
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6. Sunil Sen, Peasant Movements in India: Mid 19th and 20th Centuries, P.Bagchi & Co. (1982)
7. Sunil Sen, Agrarian Struggle in Bengal 1946-47, People’s Publishing House (1972).
8. Sugata Bose, Agrarian Bengal: Economic, Social Structure and Politics, 1919-1947, Cambridge
University Press (1986).

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