Concepts

Non-Cooperation Movement

CAPF wiki1 min read6 sections
At a glance
SubjectHistory

Definition

The first nationwide mass movement led by Mahatma Gandhi (1920 to 1922), based on the non-violent withdrawal of cooperation from British rule.

Key points

  • Launched in 1920 (approved at the Nagpur session of the Congress, December 1920); combined with the Khilafat movement over the treatment of the Ottoman Caliph.
  • Methods: boycott of British schools, courts, councils, and foreign goods; surrender of titles and honours; promotion of swadeshi, khadi, and national schools.
  • Gandhi promised "swaraj within a year"; it drew mass participation across regions and communities.
  • Called off by Gandhi in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident (Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh), where a mob burned a police station and killed policemen.
  • Gandhi was arrested in 1922 and sentenced; the movement marked the shift from moderate petitions to mass non-violent action.

Why it matters for CAPF

The Khilafat link, the methods (boycott, swadeshi), the Chauri Chaura trigger for its withdrawal, and the dates are high-frequency freedom-struggle facts.

Common confusion

Non-Cooperation (1920 to 1922, boycott and withdrawal) is distinct from Civil Disobedience (1930, active breaking of laws like the salt law); Chauri Chaura caused its suspension.

One-line recall

Gandhi's first mass movement (1920 to 1922) of boycott and withdrawal; called off after Chauri Chaura.

Parent note

gandhian era and mass movements

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