Political Upsurges In Post-war India (1945-46)

POLITICAL UPSURGES IN POST-WAR INDIA (1945-46) POLITICAL UPSURGES IN POST-WAR INDIA (194S-46) Keka Dutta Ray Intellectual Publishing House 23, Daryaganj, Ansari Road NEW DELHI 1.10002 Sole Distributors INTELLECTUAL BOOK CORNER PVf LTD. 23, Daryaganj, Ansari Road NEW DELHI- 110002 First Edition: 1992 © Keka Dutta Ray ISBN No. 81 7076 050 Price: Rs. 150.00 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or any means without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in India. Published by D.R. Chopra for Intellectual Publishing House Laser typeset by Printlab, 0-69, Gulmohar Park, NeW Delhi - 49 Printed at: Gayatri Offset Press, Noida Dedicated To My Parents La~e Keshab Lal & Bithika Bose CONTENTS Preface be The Post-War Situation (1945-46) 1. 2. 3. 4. Students and the Anti Imperialist Mass Upheaval: Their Participation in the INA Release Campaign (November 1945 to February 1,946) 1 A Case Study of the Participation of Students and Workers·in Mass Movements (February 1946) as an aftermath of the RIN Mutiny 22 Labour Unrest and Trade Union Movements (1945-46) 37 Peasant Movements of the Post-War Period (1945-46) 89 5. The Impact 136 6. Conclusion 142 Abbreviations Used 148 Select Bibliography 150 LIST OF PICTURES After Page A Newspaper extract on the INA trial 10 Courtesy: Nehm Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi Civil disturbances on Ra.'Ihid Ali day February, 1946 12 Courtesy: The Statesman The Naval Strikers Out in the Streets of Bombay, February, 1946 28 Courtesy: Nehru Memorial and Library, New Delhi Labour Unrest: Chittopra.'Iad Bhattacharya 42 Courtesy: Art Heritage Bengal Famine 1943 96 Courtesy: Art Heritage The Tebhaga Movement in Bengal :Somnath Hor 98 Courtesy: The Artist Thra.'Ihing in a Wodi Village (Mabarashtra) : Chittoprasad Bhattacharya Courtes)' : Art Heritage 132 Preface The dictionary meaning of the word 'upsurge' denotes a tumultuous movement in a forward direction. Inthis case, the term 'political upsurges' refers to the violent agitations projected for a definite cause which occurred in India during the period 1945-46 in which different sections of the Indian population such as the students, workers, peasants and other people actively participated. The brunt of the movement was of course directed against the colonial authorities. There is a tendency among historians to study the top-level negotiations between the British, Congress and Muslim League politicians which culminated in the freedom and partition of the country. It is, therefore, relatively easy to get engrossed in the world of evidence concerning the Simla Conference, Cabinet Mission, Interim Government and Mountbatten Award but a second major trend of the post-war years of 1945-46 was the development of popular mass movements which were militant and sporadic but united and voluntary in character. These included movements for the release of the INA prisoners, the RIN Mutiny and Civil disturbances connected with it, the working class and peasant movements, etc., but there is hardly any systematic historical research on this field in an exhaustive manner. There are few private accounts by participants and certain aspects of this topic have been investigated which may be accounted for as individual isolated cases as fou:nd in secondary works on Trade-union and working·class movements, peasant movements, etc. However, recent release of n