Brief summary of Gandhi’s major campaigns

IN SOUTH AFRICA

1906.Ordinance against Indian immigrants. Gandhi held a meeting in Johannesburg to protest proposed ordinance against Indian immigrants in Transvaal.

1907.The Black Act. Gandhi organized a satyagraha against “The Black Act": compulsory registration of Asians. For this he was imprisoned in January of 1908.

1908 . Registration certificates. After two months in prison, Gandhi reached a compromise with General Smuts and is released. After Smuts broke the agreement, Gandhi began another satyagraha campaign with a bonfire of registration certificates.

1913 . Nullification of marriages and tax on ex-indentured servants. Gandhi helped campaign against nullification of marriages not celebrated according to Christian rites as well as against a tax on ex-indentured servants. Kasturba and other women were sentenced for crossing the Transvaal border without permits. Sporadic strikes culminated in "great march" of over 2,000 Indian miners from Newcastle across Transvaal border in Natal. Gandhi is arrested.

1914 . Indian Relief Act. With assistance of C.F. Andrews, a settlement is reached and the Indian Relief Act is passed. Gandhi ends the satyagraha, and leaves South Africa.

IN INDIA

1917 . Champaran peasants. Gandhi led a successful satyagraha campaign for rights of impoverished peasants and indentured laborers on indigo plantations in Champaran. They had been kept in poverty by British landlords and colonial agricultural policy, and during a famine the government raised taxes. Gandhi was arrested but released when hundreds of thousands protested. He then led the people in protests and strikes that eventually won greater control of and compensation for farming as well a cancellation of revenue hikes.

1918 . Millworkers at Ahmedabad. Gandhi led a strike of millworkers. Gandhi began a fast, and after three days the millowner agreed to arbitration.

1918 . Kheda peasants. Gandhi helped lead a satyagraha campaign for peasants in Kheda, where his close associate Patel organized a tax revolt. The peasants there were facing famine and an increased tax. When the peasants refused to pay their tax, the government sent thugs to confiscate property, and peasant ownership of land was forfeited and put up for sale. The peasants continued to resist nonviolently. The campaign was so successful that the government eventually cancelled taxes for the current and following year and returned confiscated property, and most of the land was returned to the original owners. His campaigns in Champaran and Kheda were called the greatest victory against the British Empire since the American Revolution, and it showed the power of nonviolent resistance and made Gandhi a national hero. Gandhi kept both campaigns separate from the national campaign for independence.

1919. Stike against the Rowlatt Acts. Gandhi led a satyagraha against the Rowlatt Acts. They were repressive legislations that dismissed many of what limited civil rights the Indians had and they allowed police and the army to search and seize property as well as arrest any Indian without any need for evidence. The rules were implemented on April 6, 1919. Gandhi called on Indians to respond on April 6 with a nation-wide hartal, a national strike in which Indians would not report to factories, offices, schools, and office of government. He also insisted that any actions taken be nonviolent, despite violence by the British. The action was dramatically successful, and helped give Indians a sense of their power, and strengthened the independence movement.

1919 . Amritsar Massacre (Jallianwala Bagh Massacre). On April 13, 1919, after days of violent unrest and the declaration of martial law in Amristar in Punjab, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire on a large group of Indians without any warning or opportunity to disperse. They were unarmed Sikhs, including women and children, who had come to Amristar for a religious observance. They were congretating in a park enclosed by high walls, with the only exit being where the troops were. The exact number of casualties is uncertain, though probably over 1,000 were killed and thousands more wounded. 120 drowned when they jumped into a well. Most (though not all) British condemned the atrocity, but it helped galvanize the independence movement.

1922 . Chauri Chaura. On February 1922, an angry mob in the town of Chauri Chaura witnessed police beating protestors. They burned the police station and killed 22 policemen (all Indian). The British declared martial law and violence between British and Indians increased. Gandhi recoiled in horror at the violence of the mob and he concluded that his campaign had not yet developed the necessary discipline of nonviolence (ahimsa). He called for an end to the non-cooperation campaign and went on a fast to the death unless it ceased. Many leaders, including Nehru, argued that it would be a colossal mistake to stop the campaign because it would halt the momentum the movement had built. Some important leaders split from Gandhi because of it. But he persisted and over a period of 21 days, Indians slowly gave up the campaign. Despite Gandhi’s role in ending the campaign, he was arrested on March 10, convicted of sedition on account of his writings, and sentenced to six years of imprisonment by an admiring Judge Broomfield.

1930 . Declaration of Independence. Gandhi calls January 26 to be a day declaring independence from the British Empire. The declaration stated that "it was a crime against man and God to submit to British rule."

1930 . Salt Satyagraha. The British had established a highly profitable monopoly on salt. It was illegal for Indians to make salt. Gandhi decided to challenge the policy by walking 241 miles from his ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi on the Arabian sea and gathering salt. The “Great Salt March” began on March 12 with 78 followers, and by the time he arrived at the sea on April 6, there were 100,000. The action was covered by world-wide press. At first the British did not respond, but as Indians across the country started making salt, they arrested Gandhi on May 5, and over 50,000 other Indians.

1930 . Salt works. In order to be “more aggressive” in his campaign, he decided to take possession of the British salt works at Dharasana. After his arrest, 2,500 followers went to the salt works. Standing in a line, a few protesters at a time walked a peacefully towards the entrance. They were bludgeoned over the head and body. American UPI correspondent Webb Miller (identified as Vince Walker in the film) related the atrocity and the moral force of the protesters to the world.

1930s . Untouchability. Gandhi engaged in various actions, including fasts, in his continuing work against untouchability.

1940 . Free Speech against the war. Gandhi launches a satyagraha against the government’s prohibition against Indians speaking their views about World War II. During the year, 23,000 people are arrested.

1942 . The Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement for complete independence of India. It was launched in August of 1942 as part of Gandhi’s call for the British to leave India immediately. However, Gandhi and almost all of the National Indian Congress leadership we arrested within a day of Gandhi's speech. Most of them remained in prison until the end of the war in 1945.

1945-48. Gandhi worked to quell outbreaks of violence between Hindus and Muslims, including a successful prolonged fast in 1947 as Hindus and Muslims were slaughtering each other after partition.

Gandhi spent 2338 days (6.4 years) in jail during his life time.

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