Question

Analyse how Indian merchants and industrialists associated themselves with the Civil Disobedience Movement, highlighting the forms of support they extended and the reasons for their participation.

Hint:

Give reasons, then forms of support, then the later change in attitude.

Answer 1

Step 1: Reasons for their participation:
During the First World War Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and had become powerful. They wanted to grow their business further.
They were against colonial policies that restricted business activity. They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.

Step 2: Organising business interests:
To protect their interests they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
Prominent industrialists such as Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla led them. They attacked colonial control over the Indian economy.

Step 3: Forms of support:
These industrialists supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched.
They gave financial help to the movement. They also refused to buy or sell imported goods.

Step 4: Their idea of swaraj:
Most businessmen began to see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist. Trade and industry would then grow without constraints.

Step 5: Change of attitude later:
After the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic.
They feared the spread of militant activities. They were worried about prolonged disruption of business, and about the growing influence of socialism among younger members of the Congress.

Final Answer:
Indian business groups joined the movement to end colonial limits on trade, helped with money and boycott, but became cautious when the movement turned militant. \[\boxed{\text{Business support for Civil Disobedience and its limits}}\]