Why India was divided after independence. Mahatma Gandhi - the struggle for Indian independence
The national liberation struggle in India was fought by a wide range of political organizations and movements, which were united by the common goal of ending British colonial rule.
The first organized movements for the liberation of India appeared in Bengal. Initially, they advocated the use of military force to gain independence, but later moved on to political struggle, the main milestone in the development of which was the formation of the Indian National Congress.
During the last stage of the struggle for independence, which began in the 1920s, the Indian National Congress adopted the policy of non-violence promoted by Mahatma Gandhi.
For over 30 years, Mahatma Gandhi was the inspiration and organizer of the Indian national liberation movement. His selfless service to the Motherland and the selfless efforts of many and many followers crowned the heroic struggle of the Indian people for national and political freedom with a historic victory. Mahatma Gandhi also had a chance to see the first results of those social transformations to which he devoted his life.
At the same time, the great ascetic realized with heartache that political independence from external control does not automatically resolve the interreligious, interethnic or social problems of India. The jubilation of the Indians on the night of August 14-15, 1947, when the tricolor flag of independent India was solemnly hoisted over the Red Fort in the center of Delhi, was only the beginning of the difficult and thorny path of building an independent strong state. The spiritual leader of the country, Gandhi, felt it like no other.
For all mankind, Mahatma Gandhi has forever remained the "apostle of non-violence." The personality of the Mahatma and his teaching had a tremendous influence on many national leaders who led the liberation movement in the East. Gandhi's social and political methods of struggle were widespread both on the African continent and in Latin America. In the US, movements against racial and national discrimination are also based on the ideals and principles proclaimed by Gandhi. Here's how Martin Luther King put it: “Love was for Gandhi a powerful tool for social change. It is in the meaning that Gandhi places on love and non-violence that I found the method of social reform that I have been looking for for many months. I realized that this is the only morally and practically correct method available to the oppressed people in the struggle for liberation. "
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) - one of the leaders and ideologists of the movement for Indian independence from Great Britain. Having actively devoted himself to the national liberation movement, Gandhi formulated the philosophy of non-violent struggle - satyagraha - which became the spiritual, moral and socio-political foundation of the supporters of peaceful transformations.
Gandhi's goals and methods of struggle were close to some utopian trends and Tolstoyism. Gandhi himself noted: “Three contemporaries had a strong influence on me: Raychandbai with his direct communication with me, Tolstoy with his book“ The Kingdom of God is within you ”and Ruskin with his book“ At the last line ”. Thus, in the life of one person, the views of Hinduism, Christianity and socialism were surprisingly intertwined.
A fundamental feature of the national liberation struggle of Mahatma Gandhi was that he rejected any form of violence. Preaching his philosophy for more than three decades, the great ascetic contributed to the moral renewal of Indian society. His lofty ideals and principles, changing social stereotypes, greatly influenced the balance of political forces in the country. Thanks to the broad popular front of nonviolent resistance, as well as the reasonable activity of the political core at a decisive moment, in 1947 India peacefully gained independence from Britain.
“In this small, physically weak person, there was something hard, like steel, indestructible, like a rock, something that could not be controlled by any physical strength, no matter how great it was ... He possessed some- then with regal grandeur, which inspired those around him involuntarily respect ... He always spoke simply and to the point, without wasting words. The listeners were influenced by the absolute sincerity of this man, his very personality; it seemed that inexhaustible sources of inner strength were hidden in it ... Having found inner peace, he radiated it to those around him and walked along the winding paths of life fearlessly, with a firm step ", - wrote Jawaharlal Nehru.
As a child, Mahatma Gandhi was called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born on October 2, 1869 in the Gujarat principality of Porbandar. Gandhi's ancestors belonged to the Vaishyas (merchant class) - the third caste-varna of Hinduism. Gandhi's father served as minister in a number of principalities on the Kathiyavar Peninsula. Gandhi's worldview was formed under the influence of the Hindu religion, in the family her customs were strictly observed.
At the age of 19, Gandhi was sent to England to study law. After graduating 3 years later, in 1891 Gandhi returned to his homeland, having received a law practice in Bombay. But already in 1893, Gandhi was sent to serve as a legal adviser for a Gujarati trading firm in South Africa.
Faced with harassment against Indians, Gandhi leads the fight against racial discrimination and organizes peaceful demonstrations and petitions to the government. This first experience of nonviolent resistance has brought real successes: some discriminatory laws against South African Indians have been lifted.
Gandhi called the tactics of nonviolent struggle developed in South Africa satyagraha. In two wars, the Anglo-Boer (1899-1902) and the Anglo-Zulu (1906), Gandhi creates medical detachments from among the Indians who help the British soldiers. By his actions, he wanted to demonstrate the loyalty of the Indians to Great Britain, although he considered the struggle of the Boers and Zulu (by his own admission) fair. According to Gandhi, these actions were supposed to convince the British to abandon the colonization of India and give it self-government.
In the South African period, Gandhi gets acquainted with the works of L. N. Tolstoy, enters into correspondence with him. This had a great influence on him. Subsequently, Gandhi repeatedly stressed that he considered Leo Tolstoy to be his teacher and spiritual mentor.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to his homeland. Here he became close to the Indian National Congress (INC) party and soon took the position of one of the key leaders of the national liberation movement in India - he became the moral inspirer and ideological leader of the INC.
World War I 1914-1918 in a special way affected the life of Indian society. The contradictions between the local population and the colonialists sharply escalated. And after the Great October Socialist Revolution, a massive anti-imperialist movement began in India. This helped Gandhi realize that in the fight against the colonialists for any social and political concessions, it is necessary to rely on the broad strata of society, that only the support of the masses will allow the national liberation movement to achieve the country's independence.
From that time on, Gandhi and his followers began to travel throughout the country, speaking at crowded rallies calling for resistance against British rule over India. At the same time, Gandhi's supporters condemned the class approach and revolutionary calls to fight the colonialists. They preached the resolution of social conflicts by peaceful judicial means.
These methods of nonviolent resistance seemed quite reasonable to the Indian bourgeoisie. And therefore, created at the end of the 19th century. Hindu bourgeois and intellectuals of the INC accepted and supported Gandhi. Under the leadership of Gandhi, the INC for the period from 1919 to 1947 turned into a serious social movement, becoming a massive and influential national anti-imperialist organization - this is one of the main historical merits of Gandhi, as it happened thanks to the unconditional trust of a huge number of people to the personality and ideas of Gandhi himself. It is no coincidence that Gandhi received the high name Mahatma - "Great Soul".
The first Mohandas Karamchand was named by Gandhi as Mahatma Rabindranath Tagore. And this appreciation of Gandhi as a great writer accurately expressed the attitude of the Indian people towards their great son.
The philosophy and educational activities of Gandhi marked a new stage in the development of spiritual and religious humanism of the twentieth century. His ideas of achieving peace, goodness, a happy life for people were equally significant for most peoples.
From childhood, Gandhi learned to behave according to the rule expressed in the Indian aphorism "There is nothing higher than the truth." He also learned that not doing harm and violence is the highest virtue (ahinsa paramo dharma). Although the principle of "Ahinsa" is well known in the Hindu parts of India, it was most strictly applied by the Vaishnavists and especially by the Jains (whose influence turned Gandhi's homeland, Gujarat, into a country of the strictest vegetarianism).
In London, Gandhi diligently studied all that great and valuable that the West created: the works of French and English philosophers, the books of the Old and New Testaments. Gandhi writes: “The New Testament makes a peculiar impression, especially the Sermon on the Mount, which won my heart. I compared her to the Gita. "And I tell you, do not resist (do not resist) evil: but if someone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other to him ..." My unsophisticated mind tried to combine the teachings of the Gita, the "Light of Asia" and the Sermon on the Mount. This self-denial was for me the highest form of religion that attracted me the most. "
By the time he left London for India, in 1891, all the basic principles of his life were firmly established; accordingly, habits took shape. He becomes a supporter of the path in life, which, in his opinion, is the best, contributing to the development of the world under the leadership of great people, and on which the East and West can come closer. The subsequent years of Gandhi's life in India, South Africa and finally India again should be viewed in the light of the practical application of his original beliefs and their development in all aspects of his life.
During this period, Gandhi studied the interpretation of Christianity made by Tolstoy and Ruskin, and its application in individual and social life. Tolstoy's book "The Kingdom of God is within us" pushed Gandhi to comprehend the practical application of the principle of non-resistance. Gandhi was also influenced by the American moral reformer and writer Henry David Thoreau, whose essay Civil Disobedience he read with admiration. It is interesting to note that both Thoreau himself and his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson were heavily influenced by the Bhagavat Gita and the Upanishads.
Discriminatory legislation drafted by British rulers effectively deprived Indians of civil rights. Gandhi decided that it was possible to change this reality by using the principle overcoming evil through love. For this, he developed and applied the practice of passive civil resistance: it was suggested to ignore immoral laws in spite of prosecution, threats of imprisonment and all kinds of suffering, but not to feel the desires of retribution, hidden hatred or anger. Gandhi hoped that in this case even the most brutal rulers would eventually soften, realize their mistakes and correct them. Gandhi had very high hopes for his method, for he had a deep faith in the kindness of the British people, which he thought could be developed through morality - by showing in an effective form the authenticity of grievances and the rightness of his cause.
As we know, this method of nonviolent struggle ultimately led to success. However, this success was not determined by the kindness of the British. Success was preceded by a long training of Gandhi himself, training companions by his personal example, a willingness to make any sacrifices and adherence in matters of truth and justice.
Gandhi believed that since he wholeheartedly, devotedly serves society and teaches the same followers, then he should give up money and pleasures, lead a simple and restrained life and teach others such a life by his personal example. Gandhi put these beliefs into practice, in large social experiments. In South Africa, he founded a farm in a village and attracted followers of different nationalities, religions, different skin colors to organize a commune based on the principles of simple life and high ideology.
This commune was a large international family with a common table and common property and lived on the labor of each member in accordance with his (or her) abilities. In South Africa, Gandhi has tried as many professions as you can imagine possible for one person in one lifetime. He has worked as a teacher, accountant, publisher, gardener, hairdresser, tailor, shoemaker, nanny, midwife, therapist, etc.
Several times during the wars of Great Britain, Gandhi used his influence among the Indian people to organize a corps of field hospitals, he himself led it, he himself picked up the wounded and looked after them. Selfless work enriched his heart, deepened his convictions, increased the number of his followers and supporters, and his silent self-denial won the admiration of the peoples of the whole world. People began to become convinced that the highest ideals of religion and morality can be applied even in political life.
During these years, Gandhi formulated for himself the basic life principle, which he tried to adhere to throughout his life: "Never demand from a person what you do not do yourself."
This is how, in thought and experience, the basic principles of Gandhi's philosophy were formed (given below).
First, a person is the highest value. That is, a person must be treated with respect, without making any exceptions. The Indian thinker considered mankind as a whole, and not as an aggregate of different peoples or religions. In his opinion, all people are equal and everyone has the right to be respected. Therefore, Gandhi waged an irreconcilable struggle against caste inequality and did everything possible to improve the lives of the "untouchables."
Secondly, every person has a conscience and, therefore, everyone is ready to recognize in themselves the desire for the best, for personal development, for the fight against violence and bad phenomena in everyday life. But it should be done without showing any reciprocal evil.
Thirdly, it is not enough to simply realize the desire for growth in oneself. There should be regular self-improvement and the manifestation of the principles of non-violence in life, in practice.
Gandhi argued that a person's reaction to injustice has three forms: reciprocal aggression, passivity, active non-violence. Responding anger is contrary to the principle of respect for a person. Passivity is the same, since inert submission to evil only makes it stronger. But active non-violence allows you to destroy fear, insist on your own life position, and not move away from it, and ultimately achieve results.
Here are 10 quotes from the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiving is more courageous than punishing. The weak cannot forgive. Forgiving is the property of the strong.
Overcome hate with love, lie with truth, violence with patience.
An eye for an eye principle will make the whole world blind.
The only tyrant I accept in this world is a quiet inner voice.
Happiness is when what you think, say and do is in harmony.
Live as if you will die tomorrow; learn as if you live forever.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops in the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
One ounce of practice is worth a ton of sermons.
What is the difference for the dead, orphans and homeless people, in the name of which arbitrariness and destruction are created - in the name of totalitarianism or in the name of democracy and liberalism?
Your beliefs will become your thoughts. Your thoughts will become your words. Your words will become your actions. Your actions will become your habits. Your habits will become your values. Your values \u200b\u200bwill become your destiny.
The moral principles developed by Gandhi in many years of social struggle served as the foundation of his philosophical teaching. For Gandhi, the idea of \u200b\u200bmass non-violent resistance to social arbitrariness for the first time takes the form of a political struggle. Gandhi took a long time to choose a name for this movement and stopped at the term "satyagraha", which means "firmness in the truth."
In My Life, Gandhi recalled: “No matter how hard I fought, I still could not find a suitable term. Then I announced a competition among the readers of the Indian Opignon for the best proposal in this sense. Maganlal Gandhi [youngest son of Gandhi. - N. Kh.] Composed the word "satagraha" (sat - truth, agraha - firmness) and received an award. In an effort to make the word easier to understand, I changed it to satyagraha, and this Gujarati term has since become a designation for our struggle. " Satyagraha is a word that combines strength, sincerity, determination and conviction, like no other accurately expressed the essence of the concept of resistance. This is not yielding passivity, not subservience of the weak to the strong, but also not a hostile "tit for tat" principle. The strength of the spirit and the inner conviction of one's righteousness are opposed to treachery and violence.
The basic principles of Satyagraha were formed during the period of Gandhi's political struggle in the Republic of South Africa. Historically, events developed as follows.
The draft law on the registration of all persons of Indian nationality (from the age of 8), published on August 22, 1906 by the government of the Transvaal, caused deep indignation of Gandhi. According to this law, the entire Indian population, under threat of arrest and deportation, had to leave fingerprints at the police registry and receive special documents. Police officers under this law were endowed with special powers: they received the right to invade the homes of Indians and even enter the traditionally inviolable female half to check documents. After reviewing the draft law, Gandhi said: "Better to die than agree to such a law."
The indignation of the Indians knew no bounds; many threatened that they would shoot anyone who dared to break into their house. Gandhi suggested another way of resistance: “We will not appeal to world public opinion, the Indians are able to stand up for themselves. Let everyone who swears not to obey the shameful law decide for himself whether he will have enough firmness, in spite of any persecution and even death, to keep this oath. The struggle will continue for a long time, perhaps years, but I boldly and with full confidence declare that if even a small part of people remain true to their word, our struggle can end with only one thing - victory. "
Despite Gandhi's warning that if the law was passed, many Indians would declare satyagraha, the government passed the discriminatory law.
In response, on January 1, 1908, the Indians went to a rally in Johannesburg. At the rally, summons to the police for registration were defiantly burned. Gandhi, as the organizer of the satyagraha and the rally, was arrested and thrown into prison. Many participants of the rally were arrested together with him. But the confrontation only flared up: the repressions did not stop the popular outrage.
When Gandhi is released from prison, he decides to start satyagraha all over South Africa. In 1913 he managed to organize a strike of Natal miners. After that, the waves of strikes spread throughout the country. The government used weapons against the miners; many of the workers were shot for refusing to work during the strike. Mass arrests began. Thousands of people, including women and adolescents, ended up in dungeons. Their conditions of detention were unbearable, many died. Gandhi was again arrested and, while in prison, tried to encourage people and alleviate the suffering of sick prisoners. But the protest movement could no longer be stopped, and the authorities had to release Gandhi.
Leaving prison, Gandhi announces the famous "peaceful protest march" from Natal to the Transvaal. On November 6, 1913, a column of many thousands began its journey. The campaign itself was already a demonstrative violation of the law, since the Indians were forbidden to move from one province to another, and the campaign could end for them with prison and expulsion. But the courage and determination of Gandhi, who walked in front of the stream of many thousands, inspired and strengthened the participants in the campaign, whose number grew every day. The troops, aimed at suppressing the campaign, did not dare to shoot, but tried to disperse the column, running over the people with horses. When the participants lay down on the ground, the military were confused because the horses did not follow the people lying on the ground.
News of the unrest in South Africa quickly spread throughout the world and blew up public opinion not only in Europe, but also in America. Many prominent politicians have supported the Indians. A. Einstein, B. Shaw, B. Russell spoke with indignant letters in print. The suppression of the Indian protest created too wide a negative resonance for the South African government. The authorities had to make concessions. On June 30, 1914, all the most offensive laws for Indians were repealed. It was a major political victory - Gandhi showed the effectiveness of the principle of nonviolent resistance.
This is how the new tactics of the non-violent struggle for independence crystallized historically at the beginning of the 20th century. This method of peaceful resistance to colonial rule was expressed in two forms: non-cooperation and civil disobedience. The main idea of \u200b\u200bGandhi was the desire to psychologically influence the enemy through the refusal of violence (ahinsa) and the willingness to endure pain and suffering.
The meaning and purpose of the socio-psychological technology of satyagraha is the transformation of an opponent into an ally and friend. Gandhi argued that conscience is more effective than threats and violence. He stressed that violence sooner or later leads to an increase in violence, while nonviolence interrupts the spiral of evil and makes it possible for the enemy to become a like-minded person. At the same time, Gandhi pointed out that satyagraha is not a weapon of the weak, but on the contrary, a weapon of the strongest in spirit, since it requires will and readiness for difficult trials from those who make decisions.
Here is how A. Sukharev describes one of the most important episodes of Satyagraha initiated by Gandhi: “The symbol of the new satyagraha is the charkha, the traditional Indian spinning wheel.<...> At the appeal of the Mahatma, the whole country goes over to self-sufficiency, refusing to buy English goods, including expensive fabrics. The Mahatma himself sits down at the spinning wheel and makes his own clothes and shoes. Indians do not break laws, they simply do not cooperate with the authorities. They buy only Indian goods (even if they are of inferior quality!), Burn English fabrics that they once bought ... For the whole nation, this became a spiritual breakthrough, an inner discovery. It turns out that their political and economic dependence on England is the result of their cooperation with the colonialists!
At first, the British showered Gandhi with ridicule, but soon they begin to feel shock - they are not noticed, their traditions are not honored, their trading companies are suffering colossal losses. It comes to the point that the Indians do not notice the Crown Prince of Wales, who comes to India. The streets of cities die out when the distinguished guest is shown there, the embodiment of the sacred royal power. ".
The principle of civil disobedience implies the deliberate violation of laws that are contrary to morality. The main type of civil disobedience is tax evasion. Consciously evoking punishment (arrest and imprisonment) in a non-violent way of resistance, the satyagraha participant prepares to patiently endure suffering. At the same time, it is assumed that politeness and friendliness are simultaneously manifested in relation to the guardians of law and order, they are in no way provoked to aggression.
The principle of non-cooperation means the rejection of any agreements and contacts with unjustly working power structures. At the same time, non-cooperation is not addressed to the authorities themselves, but to their unworthy and unfair actions. Satyagraha supporters can cooperate with the authorities in what they consider to be just and lawful, and thus persuade the authorities to abandon bad deeds. At the same time, Gandhi emphasizes that a satyagraha fighter must have an unlimited ability to endure suffering without the desire to avenge it.
Avoiding buying and using English goods has become one of the most effective methods of non-cooperation. After him, it was already supposed to move on to the refusal to pay taxes by the population.
However, tax evasion goes beyond the non-cooperation movement. This, according to Gandhi, is already a transition to the principle of disobedience to tax legislation. Gandhi understood that this was a much more dangerous step, and warned against switching to this method of resistance. In December 1920, Gandhi stated: “I affirm that the masses are not ready to stop paying taxes. They don't have enough self-control yet. If I could be sure of non-violence on their part, today I would ask them to stop paying and not waste the free moments of the people's time. "
In this regard, Gandhi emphasized that participation in nonviolent resistance requires high moral qualities from his supporters. And he formulated a system of vows that an adherent of satyagraha must give, stipulating that only a person with spiritual strength can take a vow. Gandhi wrote that the main principle here is “Do what needs to be done at all costs. Anyone who justifies himself that he can do something "as much as possible" shows moral weakness. If it is planned to do “as much as possible” in advance, it means a willingness to succumb to the first temptation. You can not adhere to the installation "as much as possible".
According to Gandhi, a Satyagraha devotee makes vows, which are the foundation for the development of his spiritual strength. The first four vows: truth, non-violence or love, chastity, relinquishment of property. Other vows: courage, bravery; moderation (including in food); do not steal; required work; equality of religions; anti-contact; self-discipline.
So, in the complex political struggle of civil disobedience and passive resistance, Gandhi's philosophical concept took shape. Satyagraha is a peaceful, but irreconcilable fight without anger and gunshots. In this struggle, the supporters of the resistance have no other weapon than their own lives. Nonviolent resistance begins when people cannot do otherwise, because they are deprived of their honor and the right to a dignified life.
The struggle for Indian independence began to take on a massive character with the return of Mahatma Gandhi to his homeland in 1915. He became a national hero. His political victories in South Africa not only gave the Indians a model for the success of the strategy of nonviolent resistance, but also made Gandhi the "spiritual father" of India and the leader of the struggle against the colonial regime.
And this struggle with the end of the First World War intensified, especially because the British authorities canceled all the political "indulgences" that were given to the Indians during the war years, when India sent 985 thousand soldiers to the British army. It was this brutal step on the part of Britain that gave impetus to the development of that program of nonviolent struggle, which in Gandhi grew into the philosophy of nonviolence - satyagraha.
The outstanding role of Mahatma Gandhi in organizing mass non-violent campaigns of resistance in the 1920s and 1940s brought him universal love and respect in India. During this period, Gandhi not only became the ideological leader of the INC, but also launched an insistent campaign of religious reconciliation of the Hindus, Muslims and Christians of the country in the name of a united and free India. Largely thanks to the influence and perseverance of Gandhi, a broad and active, and precisely the nationwide, anti-colonial front was formed and strengthened in the country.
The formation of this front was largely determined by the fact that India at that time was an almost entirely peasant and deeply religious country. The peasants not only constituted the overwhelming part of its population, but also the working class that was forming in this era, and most of the artisans, and a significant part of the urban and rural bourgeoisie - many of them were recent peasants and retained strong peasant roots. Gandhi, with his deep understanding of the traditions, beliefs and psychology of the lower classes, with a brilliant knowledge of the texts of sacred books and the poetics of the country's religious and cultural heritage, with precise addresses to this heritage rooted in the masses, always knew how to find the right words to express his ideas that affect hearts.
Sometimes they try to denounce Gandhi in a certain “primitiveness” of his socio-philosophical constructions. These charges are clearly unfair. Gandhi became a Mahatma precisely because he fully used in his philosophy and political agitation the deep layers of ancient Indian culture rooted in the minds of the masses and was able to combine the religious, moral, ethical and socio-political content of this culture in his teaching on Satyagraha. The principles of nonviolent resistance declared by Gandhi were deeply in tune with popular religious, moral and social ideals. Including those historical utopias of the social system of justice and general prosperity, which were described in the canonical sacred texts.
Gandhi found the necessary images and words, because he drew them from the cultural, historical and religious tradition. Therefore, his ideas and appeals turned out to be understandable and close to both the peasant and the artisan, and the worker, and the merchant. They were passed from mouth to mouth, became "new folklore" and quickly spread throughout the country.
Let us emphasize that Gandhi's philosophy not only declared nonviolence as the core of the liberation process, but also resolutely denied the class struggle, considering it the most dangerous mechanism for destroying anti-colonial national unity. It was this feature of Gandhism that determined the active participation in the movement not only of the lower classes, but also of broad strata of the bourgeoisie and a significant part of the Indian aristocracy, acutely interested in the peaceful elimination of British colonial rule.
Political opponents often reproached Gandhi for compromising with the British authorities and failing to fully exploit the possibilities of mass nonviolent resistance that were opening up. However, Gandhi very accurately sensed the mood of the masses and understood when there was a threat of overwhelming protest into a violent register. And in these cases, with his authority, he resolutely suspended the protest, realizing how the movement was capable of discrediting and destroying itself if it began to develop into bloody excesses.
History has shown that these fears of Mahatma Gandhi were not in vain - the violation of the principle of non-violence became a tragedy of the movement. In 1947, the British policy of provoking conflicts between Hindus and Muslims led to an increase in inter-religious clashes, and then actually escalated into an interfaith civil war that claimed millions of lives. The result of this war was the division of the country along religious lines into two states: India and Pakistan. Gandhi himself became a victim of this war: in January 1948, shortly after the independence of India, he was killed by a religious Hindu fanatic.
Returning to India from South Africa in 1915, 54-year-old Gandhi became the ideological and moral leader of the liberation movement.
On May 25, 1915, Gandhi founded a satyagrahi ashram called Kochrab near Ahmedabad. In April 1917, he organizes the first satyagraha campaign in Champaran. In 1919 he publishes the first issue of the newspaper Young India.
Note that this is the era of the Great October Revolution, the echo of which quickly reached India and caused an intensification of the anti-colonial struggle in the country. The Indian national press with obvious enthusiasm described the revolutionary upsurge throughout the world, addressing the prospects for the national liberation struggle. So, for example, the Allahabad newspaper "Abhyudaya" wrote on March 24, 1917: "The Russian revolution convinces us that there is no force in the world that could not be overcome by life-giving nationalism.".
Of course, this could not but alarm the British colonial administration. The Viceroy of India, Chelmsford, has announced the need for policy changes in India in the British government. In particular, a law was passed through parliament expanding the electorate in the central and provincial assemblies, as well as granting Indians a quota of seats on the executive councils under the viceroy and provincial governors. In a number of provinces, Indians have become heads of education and health departments, and also took up posts in other departments.
Against this background, Gandhi's political activity could not remain unnoticed. His two successful satyagrahi campaigns in India and his involvement in organizing a labor union in Ahmedabad made Gandhi one of the most prominent figures in the Indian anti-colonial resistance. Gandhi's influence in the Indian National Congress grew, with which the Mahatma increasingly collaborated. Gandhi published a lot in the Indian press, often spoke at rallies.
At the same time, Gandhi never lost sight of his main goal - to raise the broad masses of the people to active non-violent resistance, which he considered the main mechanism for the country's progress towards independence. However, he was convinced that such progress was possible only when all the political forces of society were united under a single national leadership. Therefore, Gandhi was an opponent of the class struggle and a resolute supporter of maintaining civil peace and always advocated a compromise peaceful settlement of constantly emerging economic, social, ethnic, and religious conflicts.
And there were enough conflicts, which was facilitated by the deep religious and caste disunity of Indian society. And therefore, Gandhi paid special attention to the establishment in the country of the mass ideology of patriotic unity of Hindus and Muslims, ethno-national and caste groups. One of the practical political forms of the formation and demonstration of such national unity was the "hartals" (in Hindi - "closure"), that is, the campaign of simultaneous, widespread closure of shops and workshops for prayer and fasting. The hartals, held in many cities of the country in April 1919, marked the start of a new stage in the development of revolutionary events in India. The transition from the economic strikes of workers in 1918 to mass demonstrations of broad strata of the urban population, which in some places spilled over into armed uprisings, was marked.
The intensity of the strike struggle grew: in 1920–21, 400–600 thousand people went on strike in India. The workers were increasingly holding solidarity strikes. In Bombay, Jamshedpur, and other industrial centers, oppressed sections of Indian society marched out in protest. New trade union organizations sprang up in some places. Objectively, conditions were created for the organization of an all-Indian trade union center.
At the turn of 1920, a new stage in the national liberation movement began in India. This stage is primarily associated with the activities of the Indian National Congress (INC), which began to turn into a mass party. Gandhi became the ideological inspirer and leader of the Congress. The INC, in its struggle against the colonialists, adopted broad campaigns of "non-violent non-cooperation" with the authorities and "civil disobedience" - satyagraha.
The INC Charter, adopted in 1920, proclaimed the goal of the INC's activity to achieve "swaraj" (partial independence of India in the status of British dominion) "by peaceful and legal means." At the same time, a group of "swarajists" in Congress began to use the political struggle in the country's parliament to achieve this goal.
In 1927, the INC put forward the slogan of a struggle for the complete independence of India from Britain, which marked a new upsurge in the national liberation struggle in the country, and in 1931 adopted a program of bourgeois democratic reforms. During this period, the left-nationalist faction, headed by Ch. Bos and J. Nehru, grew stronger in the INC.
In 1934, the Congress Socialist Party emerged within the INC, which developed a program of radical transformations, including those of a socialist nature. The struggle of the INC against the reactionary constitution of 1935 drawn up by the colonialists was actively supported by the communists, who understood the need to strengthen a united anti-imperialist front in the country.
At the same time, satyagraha remained the main method of struggle. Gandhi emphasized that its participants do not impose their goals on opponents, but encourage the enemy to reconsider their views and renounce injustice. In this Gandhi saw the fundamental advantages of his concept of nonviolent struggle: a decision taken voluntarily and deliberately is firm; the parties to the conflict are not tempted to reconsider it soon. Another advantage of satyagraha was that it did not require weapons or large material resources; it thus gives everyone the opportunity to take part in the struggle for justice.
Of course, the ideal Satyagraha scheme based on nonviolent self-sacrifice was far from the practice of a mass movement. Not all of its participants had such a fervent faith in the principles of nonviolence to give up their lives for them. But still, few and few people had to sacrifice their lives. And the Satyagraha campaigns have increasingly proved to be politically effective.
That is, Mahatma Gandhi offered the people of India a fundamentally new way to revive the country. He rejected both the path of armed uprising and the path of petitions to the colonialists as hopeless, proclaiming the "third way" of Ahinsa, non-violence. Gandhi repeated that Ahinsa means an internal decision of a person, which is based on the recognition of the highest value of life to love for a person and all living things. Gandhi called out: “In the world there is not a struggle between good and bad people, but a struggle between Life and Death, Good and Evil in the soul of every person. Everyone is able to refuse to support Evil, and Evil is powerless against this decision. At the same time, refusal to participate in the deeds of Evil leads a person to the Path of Building a new world - the World of Good ”.
The practice of satyagraha, however, was far from easy. One of the main difficulties was the need to maintain a framework of nonviolence, but at the same time increase the intensity of the struggle. And here from Gandhi was required not only consistency, but also ingenuity. One of the main directions of satyagraha was the expanding campaign of boycotting the actions and state institutions of the colonial administration. This included a boycott of elections, and a boycott of official receptions, and a boycott of English courts, English schools and colleges, and a boycott of English goods, and refusals to do business with the British, serve in their administration and enroll in the army, and refuse honorary titles, posts and British government awards. Gandhi himself defiantly returned the British awards received for service in South Africa.
One of the most striking episodes of the policy of "non-cooperation" was the refusal of the Indians to participate in the meeting of the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales, who arrived on a visit to India on November 17, 1921. When the Prince of Wales landed in Bombay, Gandhi declared hartal - "a day of prayer and fasting." And then in all the cities where the prince came, on the day of his meeting, the streets and bazaars were empty, shops and workshops were closed - everywhere there was fasting and prayer. This publicly and tacitly "expressed" disrespect for the Prince's arrival was an unheard of insult to the British. And the Indians, apparently for the first time, were allowed to fully realize the power and impact of their "non-violent non-cooperation." And it was especially important that the non-cooperation protests - both at this moment and later - were jointly led by the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
At the same time, Gandhi always strictly warned his comrades-in-arms about the danger of the movement of disobedience growing into an uncontrollable violent phase. But on February 4, 1922, an incident occurred that brought the mass actions of Satyagraha to the brink of collapse. After the execution of the peasants by the protest police, the indignant peasant crowd burned several of the policemen driven into the premises. Gandhi strongly condemned this act of lynching and announced the end of the campaign of civil non-cooperation. The confidence in the authority of the Mahatma was so great that the passions of the rebels immediately cooled down.
The effectiveness and massive support of the non-violent non-cooperation movement gave Gandhi the opportunity to present rather tough political demands to the British government. At the turn of 1930, the INC put forward a demand to grant the country dominion status (a self-governing territory of the British Empire). January 26, 1930 was declared Independence Day.
From The Independence Day Oath:
“We consider the inalienable right of the Indian people, like any other people, the right to freedom, the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor and the right to the necessary means of living. The people need these rights so that they have all the opportunities for their development. We also believe that if a government deprives the people of these rights and oppresses them, the people have the right to change such a government or abolish it. The British government in India not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom, but bases its policy on the exploitation of the masses, undermining the economic, political, cultural and spiritual life of India. We therefore believe that India should break the ties that bind it with England and achieve Purna Swaraj, that is, complete independence.<...>
We recognize, however, that the most effective path to our freedom is not through violence. Therefore, we must prepare for the fight by ending, as far as possible, all types of voluntary cooperation with the British government, and we must prepare for a movement of civil disobedience, including tax evasion. We are convinced that as soon as we stop voluntary assistance and payment of taxes, without resorting to violence, even in cases of provocation, this inhuman regime will be doomed. "
In the same 1930, Gandhi put forward demands to the British administration: to reduce the land tax, reduce the salaries of British officials, abolish the government monopoly on salt, and release all political prisoners. And after the authorities refused to satisfy these demands, Gandhi began a new, largest satyagraha - the so-called salt campaign.
In the spring of 1930, Gandhi walked along the roads of India at the head of a column of companions that grew every day. On the seashore, the participants of the campaign evaporated salt in an ancient artisanal way, that is, they directly violated the law on the salt monopoly and proved that they could do without English goods.
At first, the colonial authorities did not take this action seriously. But when millions of Indians began to evaporate salt along the entire coast of India, the situation very quickly took on a serious turn. The trade in English goods was almost completely paralyzed. Government orders were openly sabotaged.
And then, in the Dharshan district, the satyagraha participants, led by Gandhi's son Manidal, made an attempt to occupy the salt barns. The column of protesters was met by a detachment of police armed with thick sticks with iron tips. But the demonstrators followed the line of policemen and fell under their blows. Other people rose to the places of the wounded and killed and, without resisting, again went under the blows.
Authorities arrested Gandhi and tens of thousands of movement activists. But this did not stop satyagraha. In response to a campaign of violence from the authorities, an all-Indian hartal began. The factories, railways, post office, educational institutions, trade stopped working. The British administration had to free Gandhi and other leaders of the INC and - for the first time in Indian history - begin negotiations.
In March 1931, the Viceroy of India, Lord Irving and Mahatma Gandhi signed an agreement that provided for an end to the campaign of civil disobedience on the terms of an amnesty for all political prisoners, the abolition of the government monopoly on salt, permission to propagandize India's independence from England, and the recognition of the INC as an official political party. The authorities have fulfilled almost all of these requirements. And only after that Mahatma Gandhi announced the suspension of satyagraha. It was a very important political victory for the national liberation movement.
In 1932, Mahatma Gandhi is again in prison. And hence sharply opposes the adoption of the drafted by the colonial authorities electoral law, which divides the caste of the untouchables and the rest of the Hindus. Gandhi goes on an indefinite hunger strike to protest against this law. Almost no one believed that this action by Gandhi would be crowned with success in a country where the tradition of the caste division of society is three thousand years old. But love and trust in Mahatma Gandhi, as well as fears for his health, turned out to be stronger than tradition. Millions of people went to the homes of the untouchables, dined with them, fraternized with the untouchables, bombarded the prison recluse with letters and telegrams of support. And London yielded by changing the electoral law. Only after that did Gandhi end his hunger strike.
In August 1935, the British Parliament adopted a program of political reform in India. The reform included expanding the participation of Indian citizens in elections to 12% of the population by reducing property and other qualifications, as well as providing fairly broad rights to local legislative bodies. Other changes in the Constitution, which the INC sought, were not adopted. However, the campaigns of nonviolent resistance that had passed by that time had already significantly undermined the colonial regime.
In the elections to the central and provincial legislatures under the new electoral system, held in 1937, the INC won the majority of the elective seats in 8 of the 11 provinces of India and formed local governments in them. This not only provided the INC with the opportunity to acquire and accumulate experience in parliamentary political struggle, but also became a major step for the party to seize power in the country.
In the late 30s and early 40s, Mahatma Gandhi leads an individual satyagraha. He calls in public speeches for the need for India's independence from England, declares hunger strikes and writes letters calling for peace and freedom. For this, Gandhi spends a lot of time in prison.
With the outbreak of World War II, the national liberation struggle in India continued under new, significantly changed conditions. Gandhi, although he does not hold any official posts in the INC, is still the national leader and main inspirer of this struggle. He, like no one else, understands and feels that this struggle for a new free India is entering a final and decisive stage. Gandhi writes: "With the beginning of the war, the time came for the complete separation of India from England," and puts forward the slogan "Get out of India!" The INC supported this slogan and demanded the immediate granting of independence to India.
Welcoming the party's decision to uncompromisingly fight for the liberation of India, Gandhi uttered his famous words, "Do or Die."
The name Gandhi remained a symbol of selflessness and sacrifice in the name of independence. However, his ideas of non-violence, as well as his views on the foundations of statehood (the ideal of complete equality of citizens within the framework of autonomous self-sustaining communities) were assessed by most of the INC allies and even by many associates with increasing criticism. Against the backdrop of the war and the growth of protest movements, the leaders of the INC lost faith in the effectiveness of non-violence and its future prospects, and Gandhi gradually lost control over the protest masses.
The new leaders of the anti-colonial protest - J. Nehru, C. Bose and others, who were ready to use harsh methods of national liberation, actively occupied the political proscenium of India. Towards the end of the war, the revolutionary struggle in India less and less often retained the framework of Gandhi's non-violence. Nevertheless, Gandhi tried to return the struggle to the mainstream of his satyagraha, hoping that after the war England would voluntarily grant India dominion status, and that this would ensure free elections and the adoption of a new constitution.
However, these hopes of Mahatma Gandhi did not come true. There was no dominion status, the national liberation struggle escalated against the backdrop of massive protests against the use of Indian troops to suppress the liberation movement in Indochina and Indonesia. The leaders of the INC demanded an end to the British intervention in Southeast Asia. Another factor aggravating the political situation in India was the fate of the Indian National Army (INA), which was created in Burma during the Japanese occupation by one of the leaders of the INC, Chandra Bose, with the support of the Japanese command for the war against the British.
In 1945, British troops took the INA numbering 20 thousand people. captured in full force. The authorities could not leave unpunished the fact of the INA's action against Great Britain. But the British did not dare to judge this entire army, realizing the risk of consequences. As a result, the colonial administration decided to bring only three senior INA officers from the country's three main religious communities - Hindu, Muslim and Sikh - to trial by a military tribunal.
This united all three denominations in the struggle against the British. Instead of a purely military court, the tribunal became a major political event. For the Indian masses, the defendants became living heroes who challenged the enslavers of India on the battlefield. Even Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, expressed his admiration for them. The leaders of the INC came up with an initiative to create a special committee to protect the defendants. It includes 17 lawyers, including J. Nehru. Nehru defined the nature of the trial as follows: "The people will be the chief judge and arbiter in this case." The verdict was very lenient. The INA officers were found guilty, but their punishment consisted only in demotion and dismissal from the army, as well as in deprivation of the right to receive various state benefits.
The trial over the command of the INA united almost all the political forces of the liberation movement. Even the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Jinnah, supported the defense of the defendants by the INC, despite the fact that the league was in sharp conflict with the INC because of its project to separate a separate Muslim state from a free India - Pakistan. Supported the defense of the commanders of the INA and other all-Indian parties: the Socialist Party, Akali Dal, Hindu Mahasabha. As a result, the communists, who condemned Bose for collaborating with the Japanese allies of the Nazis, found themselves in India in complete political isolation.
Trying to ease the political tension in the country, the British announced at the end of 1945 that they would hold elections to the central and provincial legislatures. And they succeeded in politically splitting anti-imperialist forces. The largest of these forces, the INC and the Muslim League, entered the polls with mutually exclusive political agendas.
The wave of outrage against British colonial rule reached its climax in 1946. At this point, the army begins to join the anti-imperialist movement. In India, there were about one million soldiers of Indian origin. The British in the army were half as many as the Indian soldiers.
The climax was the uprising of the navy sailors. In February 1946, disturbances began on the ship Talvar. Gandhi supported the rebellious sailors, although he tried to keep them from violent actions. The troops called by the authorities, consisting of Indian soldiers, refused to shoot at the rebels. And then sailors from Calcutta, Madras, Karachi, Vizagapatama joined the uprising. In Bombay, the rebels were supported by military pilots, and at the same time a general strike of workers began in the city. Barricade battles unfolded on the streets of Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi, Madras.
The position of Great Britain in India turned out to be very serious. The colonial authorities turned to the leaders of the national liberation movement - Gandhi, Patel, Jinnah for help. As a result, the INC and the Muslim League invited the rebels to lay down their arms, with Gandhi acting as one of the mediators in the negotiations between the rebels and the Anglo-Indian authorities.
The uprising in the army and the active actions of the Indian people against colonialism forced the British Prime Minister Attlee to come out with a declaration of Britain's readiness to grant India dominion rights and to create a commission to grant India independence. In May 1946, a draft constitutional reform was prepared, according to which India was declared the single dominion of Britain, albeit with significantly limited political powers.
In June of that year, legislative elections were held. INK received 70% of the mandates in them, the Muslim League - 30%. In August, J. Nehru was offered to create a provisional government, which, in addition to the Hindus, included representatives of Sikhs, Christians and Parsis. The Muslim League refused to join the government, claiming that it did not reflect the interests of Muslims, and therefore it will continue to fight to create Pakistan.
The announcement by the Muslim League of a "direct fight" for Pakistan has dramatically complicated Hindu-Muslim relations. And the proclamation of August 16 as a day of struggle for the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan - opened a series of bloody conflicts between Hindus and Muslims throughout the country. In Calcutta, three thousand people were killed, ten thousand were wounded. The unrest spread to eastern Bengal, then to Bihar. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims took on a particularly strong scale in Bombay and Punjab in early 1947.
On February 20, 1947, British Prime Minister Atley issued a "declaration on India," which contained plans to transfer power into "Indian hands." At the same time, Great Britain proposed a plan for the division of India (Mountbatten's plan), according to which two dominions were created on the territory of India - the Indian Union and Pakistan. The 563 principalities that made up India, according to this plan, received the right to choose which of the created dominions they wanted to join.
The leaders of the INC, despite Gandhi's disagreements and warnings, accepted the British proposals to partition India. After the Vice-King of India L. Mountbatten proclaimed the partition of British India and the creation of two independent states - India and Pakistan on June 3, 1947, a massacre on religious grounds broke out in the country and huge crowds of refugees appeared. On the roads of the country in opposite directions were endless columns of people expelled from their places. In Punjab alone, the number of pogrom victims reached half a million people. According to official figures, about 700,000 people died during this forced resettlement.
The last years of his life, Mahatma Gandhi devoted to the struggle for the unity of the country and the prevention of its split. He was one of the few leaders of the liberation movement who until the end tried to resist the course of dismembering India along religious lines. The partition of the country meant for Gandhi the complete and final collapse of his idea of \u200b\u200bHindu-Muslim unity. Nevertheless, at the session of the All India Committee of the Congress, Gandhi joined the majority in voting in favor of Mountbatten's plan to transfer power to two independent states. However, Gandhi took this as his own personal tragedy.
The independence of India was proclaimed on August 15, 1947, it received the status of a dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. With the direct support of Gandhi, the first government of India was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. The formation of the basic structures and institutions of Indian statehood began. But it took place in the context of the incessant Hindu-Muslim massacre. Pogroms and expulsion of the population took place in the principalities of Jammu and Kashmir, in Bengal, and in other territories.
Gandhi did everything in his power to stop and prevent communal-religious clashes. On the day of India's independence, he was in Calcutta, where Hindu-Muslim pogroms took place more than once. To achieve intercommunal peace, Gandhi went on another - the fifteenth in his life - hunger strike. This hunger strike ended only when representatives of all the communities of the city vowed at the bedside of Gandhi, weakened by hunger, not to allow inter-religious excesses in Bengal.
Gandhi went on another hunger strike in Delhi, trying to prevent clashes between political parties and communities across the country. But his influence on the Indian masses was already clearly insufficient. Religious-ethnic clashes in India continued.
Perhaps despair forced Gandhi to go alone on foot across the country, passing hundreds of villages, addressing fellow citizens with calls for peace, prudence and mutual tolerance. At the same time, Gandhi demanded the creation of normal living conditions in India for Muslims. For this reason, radical Hindu organizations accused Gandhi of betraying the interests of the Hindus and going over to the Muslim side. On January 30, 1948, during the beginning of evening prayer, he was shot three times by a Hindu fanatic, a former member of the Hindu Mahasabha party.
In India, during his lifetime, Gandhi was called the "father of the nation » who "embodied the ancient spirit" of India.
Gandhi's teachings formed an integral part of the political culture of independent India. After India gained independence and adopted a constitution, the slogans of general prosperity (sarvodaya) and non-violence (ahinsa) formulated by Gandhi formed the basis of J. Nehru's socially oriented state policy. Since then, the leaders of the INC insist that it is the Indian National Congress that is the main heir to Gandhi's teachings on non-violence.
Throughout his life, Mahatma Gandhi tried to prove that the doctrine of non-violence was born not by weakness, but by strength, not by cowardice before the colonialists, but by the courage and dedication of the fighters for independence. The idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal responsibility to oneself and others, personal responsibility for everything that happens in the country, for the fate of India - was the main one in the political struggle of the outstanding thinker and Indian patriot.
Gandhi was born in a colonial country awakening to the struggle for self-affirmation. The era when his consciousness was forming broke traditions. Spiritual law must manifest itself in politics - that is Gandhi's innovation. The proclamation of political activity as a duty to God, which implies the absolute necessity of observing religious principles in politics - love, truth, non-violence - is the fundamental difference between Gandhi's views and most religious systems.
For Gandhi, nonviolence is not only a method of resistance, tactics of struggle, but also the main principle of a holistic worldview, a doctrine about the meaning of individual and social life, the basis of a social and political ideal. By making nonviolence a principle of not only personal but also social behavior, Gandhi gave it an offensive character. From non-resistance to evil by violence, he goes over to non-violent resistance. To define this type of socio-political behavior, the concept of "satyagraha" was found, meaning "steadfastness in truth", "combination of truth and firmness."
For the satyagraha participant, nonviolence is an unshakable principle. Violence is not allowed not only in actions, but also in words and even in thoughts and desires. Condemnation of sin is combined with love for the sinner. Social contradictions are resolved in the same way as family disagreements - by persuasion, concessions, or, in extreme cases, recourse to nonviolent resistance.
However, Gandhi's love for the enemy is combined with a keen rejection of injustice. Participation in nonviolent resistance is passively unacceptable. Satyagraha involves the open proclamation of demands and their effective support in a non-violent way. Participants in the movement deliberately go to suffering, up to death, in the name of justice. Followers of Satyagraha strive by their behavior to actively influence other people, not to force them by force, but to induce them to renounce evil. The means of influence is inflicting moral defeat on the enemy.
Many Indians perceived Gandhi as God who came down from heaven to liberate India. Gandhi's ability to convince people, to help them change for the better, seems supernatural. It is not by chance that he was called Mahatma - the Great Soul. A small, very thin man, in any weather wrapped in only a piece of homespun canvas, with a childish smile and large protruding ears - he amazed with his inner strength, wisdom and infinite kindness.
Rabindranath Tagore, a great contemporary and friend of Gandhi, defined Mahatma Gandhi's ability to influence people as follows: “He stood at the doorstep of the huts of thousands of disadvantaged people, dressed like them. He spoke to them in their language, there was finally a living truth, not quotations from books ... In response to Gandhi's call, India reopened to great deeds, just as it had in the early days when Buddha proclaimed the truth of empathy and compassion among all living. "
It was these human and spiritual qualities that made Mahatma Gandhi what he became: the leader and banner of India's national liberation.
The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, managed to unite the country, which consisted of 562 semi-sovereign principalities, and determined the direction of the country's development for many years to come. India was building a democratic society, trying to maintain political neutrality in the international arena, and at the same time actively developing relations with the USSR and other countries. Before gaining independence, the country's economy existed mainly due to the agricultural sector, but, with the help of the USSR, India began to actively develop industry. The USSR also provided military aid to India (while the United States helped Pakistan).
India was in dire need of military assistance. Immediately after the division of the country, an ongoing dispute with Pakistan over the border territories began. Periodically, this dispute escalated into full-scale hostilities: in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. In addition to Pakistan, India has had border conflicts with China (1962) and Bangladesh (2001). The latest conflict involving India and Pakistan attracted the attention of the entire world community, since there was a real threat of the use of nuclear weapons (India and Pakistan have nuclear charges and long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons).
60-70 years of the 20th century were very difficult for India. In addition to military conflicts, after some economic recovery in the mid-60s, the country was going through an economic and political crisis. In 1975, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was forced to introduce a state of emergency in the country, introducing censorship and de facto taking power completely into her own hands. Her decisive action helped boost the Indian economy and tackle corruption, but also gave rise to accusations of trampling on democratic foundations of society. For three years, Indira Gandhi and the National Congress Party she led were removed from power, but when the new government once again plunged the country into an abyss of economic collapse and inflation, Indira Gandhi was again elected Prime Minister (in 1980) and was able to continue so important economic and political reforms for India.
The methods used by Indira Gandhi are still receiving controversial assessment from historians and ordinary people in India. One of the most controversial episodes of her reign was the operation to liberate the religious shrine of Sikhism - the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar (Punjab) - from the Sikh extremists who seized it, who advocated the separation of Punjab from India and the creation of a Sikh state. During the operation, which took place under the direct control of Indira Gandhi in 1984, troops and heavy weapons, including tanks, were used. This resulted in numerous civilian casualties and significant damage to the Sikh shrine. Indira Gandhi's actions provoked a protest among the Sikh population of India and became fatal for her. On October 31, 1984, she was killed by bullets from two Sikh bodyguards in the garden of her residence in Delhi.
By the beginning of the 21st century, India had become one of the most dynamically developing countries in the world. This became possible largely thanks to a series of fundamental reforms undertaken by the Indian government in the 90s of the 20th century and aimed at developing small and medium-sized businesses, as well as attracting large foreign investment to the Indian economy. The reforms also affected the education system, medicine and other vital areas of public life.
Today India is a country whose economy is growing faster than the United States and the European Union. Large companies are gazing at India, attracted not only by cheap labor (as in China), but also by a high level of training, especially in the field of information technology. Indian scientists are actively participating in international projects of the first magnitude, launching satellites into space and preparing to land on the moon. The tourism industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom (India is one of the most visited countries in the world) ... This list of successes can be continued for a long time. India is gradually turning from a backward third world country into a superpower, with which the G8 countries are forced to reckon.
But there are still quite a few fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey. Next to the skyscrapers of Mumbai ascending into the heavens, entire areas of slums stretch for kilometers, black rivers of waste flow from cities and industrial centers, Hindus and Muslims constantly cannot share something among themselves, illiterate children and women drag bricks for pennies on the racks of the same skyscrapers ... Unfortunately, this list, like the list of successes, can also be continued for a very long time.
But, whatever the successes and failures of India on the way to a brighter future, this country has always been and will be a magnet that attracts tourists, travelers, explorers, seekers and just curious people from all over the world who dream of getting in touch with its amazing history.
Http://www.indostan.ru/indiya/79_1880_0.html
The Indian subcontinent has experienced the rise of charismatic leaders and successful independence - despite intra-social conflicts.
Discontent and nationalism
Despite India's initial loyalty to Great Britain, with the outbreak of the First World War, the hardships that India had to endure as a direct consequence of the conflict led to a constant increase in discontent in the country. In the 1920s and 1930s. the Indian struggle for independence from England intensified, and nationalist sentiments reawakened. Moreover, although a number of concessions were made by the British - for example, in the form of the Indian Constitutional Act of 1919 ("Government o India Act"), which allowed Indians to be part of the provincial governments - Britain firmly refused to completely remove from itself control, leading to riots among the Indian population. Some took the form of peaceful protest, but sometimes violent clashes occurred. With the increase in the influx of nationalist ideas, sharp differences between the Hindu Party (Indian National Congress, INC) and the All India Muslim League (All India Muslim League) were again revealed - differences that were unsuccessfully used by the British to partition Bengal before the war and which were temporarily settled in the military. years.
Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi was a middle-class Indian. He received his legal education in England, after which he defended the rights of Indians in South Africa for more than 20 years, where he himself was subjected to discrimination and opposed it. In 1915 he returned to India, at the end of the First World War, he reorganized the Congress and undertook to support national ideas, organizing actions of nonviolent resistance - strikes, boycotts and tax refusals. In response, the British arrested thousands of Indians, including members of the INC, and Gandhi himself went to jail for 2 years. After his release, Gandhi turned his attention to the most oppressed sections of the Hindu population and worked with the lower caste - the untouchables; Gandhi encouraged people to return to a simple life.
Above: Lord Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burmese (left), the last Viceroy of India to divide India into India and Pakistan, with his wife and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the All India Muslim League, after negotiations in New Delhi, India in 1947.
The politically motivated middle class supported him as the Mahatma made the INC into an institution for the people, and was followed by the peasants, who worshiped him as a saint as he advocated social reform. Thus, Gandhi managed to rally the Hindus Indians to strive for a common goal - independence. He also tried to achieve unanimity between Hindus and Muslims; however, since 1930 the call for the formation of a Muslim state of its own in northern India has become louder.
The road to independence
In 1928, at all-round negotiations, India and the meetings of the INC put forward a demand to ensure its dominion status (the status of an independent society and equal membership in the Commonwealth of Nations), and otherwise threatened to return to mass actions of civil disobedience. After the meeting of the INC in December 1929, at which shortly before the elected President Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru demanded full independence, similar actions again resumed throughout India. January 26, 1930 was declared the Day of gaining full independence ("purna swaraj"), and from March to April Gandhi led the famous "Salt campaign". Together with several companions, in protest against the British increase in salt taxes, he walked 400 km from his ashram near Ahmedabad to the village of Dundee to collect small crystals of salt on the coast - which was prohibited, since he thereby violated the British monopoly on salt. As a result, Gandhi was arrested again. At the same time, the First Round Table Conference was held in London to address the "Indian Question". However, the INC refused to participate in the conference until Gandhi and other spokesmen for the views of the Indian people were released from prison.
In 1931, when he was released, Gandhi agreed to end actions of civil disobedience, and as a return service, according to the Gandhi-Irving pact, all political prisoners were released. Gandhi went to the Second Round Table Conference as a spokesman for the National Congress.
However, he remained disappointed with the results of the first round of negotiations and in 1932 decided to reopen the non-cooperation movement. Until 1935, negotiations between the Congress party and the British government managed to completely stop, and under Viceroy Lord Willington, a new Constitution for India was issued that same year - a major step towards the independence of the subcontinent.
After the elections, eleven self-governing provinces were founded, the INC won a significant majority in eight provinces, and in the remaining three it had to organize coalitions with the Muslim League. However, this did not satisfy Gandhi, Nehru and many of their other associates: only complete independence could fulfill their demands. Meanwhile, many Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, feared that the outnumbered Hindus would soon suppress them, so there was a growing desire among them to gain independence, not only from Britain, but also from India, which was dominated by Hindus.
World War II and India
In 1939, when World War II broke out, Viceroy Lord Linlithgow announced India's participation without consulting the provincial governments - which forced the INC minister to resign and refuse to provide any support. However, when the Japanese began to approach the borders of India, Britain decided to offer India full independence in exchange for support in the war. As a result, numerous Indian soldiers were mobilized to aid Britain and fought alongside the Allies.
During the war, Jinn's demand to establish a separate Islamic state of Pakistan gained more weight, as the British not only agreed to post-war independence, but also approved a clause allowing provinces to withdraw from the federation. Gandhi and Nehru were opposed to these plans: in 1942 they attempted a Leave India campaign to summon Britain to new meetings. And again, mass protests of civil disobedience unfolded, Gandhi and Nehru, along with other INC deputies, were arrested. The British were confident that the Japanese would soon invade and help the Congress party to power.
Independence - partition of the country
However, the Japanese never came to India; their surrender followed a few days after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the end of the Second World War. I In 1945, the British government, led by Clement Attlee, decided to give India independence - however, on condition that India retains the federation structure, while the INC wanted to see a united India with a centralized government. The All India Muslim League has followed closely its plan to create an autonomous Pakistan. After the 1945 elections, the political situation in India reached an impasse, leading to widespread uprisings and violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims. The British tried to resolve the conflict by military intervention, but a civil war was already inevitable. India gained its independence on August 15. Nehru became prime minister, while West and East Pakistan (from 1971 - Bangladesh) emerged. Three provinces opposed any integration: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir. The first two were quickly absorbed by India, while the situation in Kashmir looked more problematic. Both Muslim and Hindu influences split the country and led to conflicts that lasted until 1949. As millions of Hindus and Muslims fled across new borders and settled in either predominantly Hindu India or Islamic Pakistan, violent conflicts everywhere erupted again and again. on both sides; many of those who remained in their original places faced death - as it was in India and Pakistan. Gandhi, who returned to his community service in Bengal, decided to end the violence by going on a hunger strike, vowing to starve to death if the persecution of Muslims in India did not stop. This protest bore fruit - however, shortly thereafter, in January 1948, he was killed by a brahmana who saw a traitor in Gandhi.
October 28, 1950; Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (left) at a water lily pond in his garden in New Delhi with his daughter Indira Gandhi (right) and her son Rajiv; both served as prime minister after Nehru.
India after gaining independence
After independence, India's history has been characterized by sporadic uprisings. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru successfully ruled as prime minister for the rest of his days (1964) and led his nation through a time of relative calm and stability. His daughter Indira Gandhi became the successor. She was also a strong ruling personality, but was charged with corruption and in 1978 was briefly arrested. The following year, she was again elected to the post of prime minister, but in 1984 she was killed by fanatic Sikhs. The INC remained the dominant political party in India, except for brief periods in the late 1970s, and also in the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. During these years, the Hindu Nationalist Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) strengthened its position, showing a new political force that sought to lead the country; in 1996, she won the elections by a powerful margin.
India has a long history of its democracy, but that history has always been characterized by tensions between various ethnic and political forces, especially between Hindus and Muslims. This is evidenced by the mistrust that exists to this day in relations between India and Pakistan.
Topic: India after gaining independence.
Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 3-7
Chapter 1. The main directions in the formation of Indian statehood ……………………………………………… .................... 8-21
1.1. Administrative and territorial reforms and the emergence of the Kashmir problem ……………………………………………………. 8-17
1.2. The first steps towards the formation of Indian statehood. Elaboration and adoption of the Constitution ……………………………………… 18-21
Chapter 2. Socio-economic and political changes in India ………………………………………………………………………… 22-67
2.1. The confrontation of political associations ......................................................................... 22-46
2.2. Jawaharlal Nehru's concept of socialism ………………… 47-58
2.3. India's foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century ......... 58-67
Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 68-70
List of used literature …………………………… 71-73
Introduction
In the centuries-old history of India in the XX century. there was a period of the liberation struggle of the Indian people against colonial rule, for the independence of the country - a time of overcoming the past heritage and building a new state, solving gigantic social and economic problems.
In the second half of the 20th century, the Indian National Congress and other political organizations laid the foundation for the Indian national liberation movement.
Along with the desire for independence, tensions also developed over the years between the Hindu and Muslim populations. Muslims, who have always been a minority, were afraid of being ruled by the Hindu government and were wary of the idea of \u200b\u200bindependence.
In 1915, Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian national liberation movement and called on both sides to unite. The immense influence that Gandhi had on India in its struggle for independence through a non-violent mass popular movement, which made him one of the most remarkable leaders in world history. The Indians called him Mahatma, which means "great soul" in Sanskrit. Since 1920, Mahatma Gandhi launched a massive campaign against the British colonial government. A revolutionary movement against British rule began across the Indian subcontinent.
The first step towards Indian independence and the establishment of Western-style democracy was the appointment of Indian advisers to the British Viceroy's administration.
The Second World War brought about fundamental changes in the international situation and in the internal situation in India. Prolonged colonial oppression led to poverty and the ruin of the broad masses. The contradiction between the tendency towards independent development of India and the colonial rule of England sharply escalated, which caused the rise of a powerful anti-imperialist movement in the summer of 1945. It united the main strata of the population, and due to historical circumstances, the national bourgeoisie, whose interests were represented by the Indian National Congress ( INC). Despite his desire to limit performances to the framework of "non-violent struggle", a movement of protest against the sending of Indian troops to Indochina and Indonesia, a campaign to protect the Indian National Army, unfolded in the country. At the beginning of 1946, this movement captured the army and navy, the state apparatus. It manifested the unity of religious communities, nationalities and political trends.
In early 1946 in India, with the consent of the colonial authorities, elections were held for the legislative assembly. The majority was won by the INC, which formed the country's provisional government. At the same time, those provinces and principalities of India, where the Muslim population predominated, refused to recognize the power of the INC. The Muslim League, representing them, announced the beginning of the struggle for the creation of an Islamic state on the territory of the former British India.
In 1947, the colonial administration announced the granting of independence to India. A single colony before was divided into two states on religious grounds - Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan, which received the status of dominions. The principalities and provinces (states) of British India had to decide which of the states they would enter.
Due to the division of Punjab and Bengal, bloody clashes broke out between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, as a result of which more than 500,000 people died. The division of India also led to one of the largest population migrations in the modern history of the world - about 12 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims settled in the newly created states of India and Pakistan. The leader of the liberation movement M. Gandhi fell victim to an attempt on the life of a fanatic Islamist. In the fall of 1947, troops of the Pashtun tribe invaded the territory of the principalities of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India from Pakistan. Indian troops came to the aid of the principalities that expressed a desire to become part of India. The Indo-Pakistani war of 1947-1949 began, which ended after the UN intervened on the basis of a compromise - the division of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
The final step towards gaining independence was the adoption of the 1950 constitution, and the INC became the ruling party, which held power until 1977. Its leader until his death in 1964 was J. Nehru, who was replaced by his daughter, Indira Gandhi. In turn, her decisive action helped boost the Indian economy and tackle corruption.
Relevance The work is that at present India is one of the most dynamically developing countries in the world, which became possible largely thanks to a series of cardinal reforms undertaken by the Indian government in the 50s - 80s of the twentieth century, after gaining independence.
The purpose work is to study the problems of state and legal development of India after independence.
To achieve this goal, it was necessary to solve the following tasks:
Identify the main directions and problems in the formation of the statehood of India;
Analyze the problems of state and legal development of India after gaining independence;
Consider India's foreign policy and foreign economic relations from the moment of independence until 1984.
The final qualifying work consists of an introduction, two chapters, divided into paragraphs, a conclusion and a list of used sources and literature.
Degree of knowledge (Historiography): Indian policy in the twentieth century is increasingly covering various spheres of society and more and more actively influencing social processes. This can be considered in the work of K.A. Antonov, G.M. Bongaru-Levin, GG Kotovsky "Economic, social and political development of India (1947-1987)", which reveals the main stages and features of the internal political situation in India. Particular attention is paid to internal differentiation and contradictions in society. In the work of Alaev L.B. "India: National Liberation Movement in India" examines in detail the interaction of the ethnic factor and the political system in India in historical development. In the work of A.M. Dyakov's "India in the period and after the Second World War" analyzes the conflict situations in Punjab, Assam and other regions and their impact on changes in the political superstructure, as well as the process of economic development of India after the Second World War.
I also used the works of Soviet scientists like E.N. Komarov. "Trends in the political development of modern India", Chicherov A.I, works of Yurlova F.N. "Indira Gandhi: the path to power", "The social position of women and the women's movement in India", Rastyannikova V.G. Land Reform in India. India today "and others.
Chapter 1. The main directions in the formation of Indian statehood.
Plan.
China at the present stage.
By the end of the Second World War, there were actually two China: territories controlled by the Kuomintang and liberated regions controlled by the CPC (1/4 of the country's territory). Despite the negotiations (August 1945 - January 1946), hostilities between them continued, which created the threat of an all-Chinese civil war. Decisions on the formation of a provisional coalition government (January 1946) could become the basis for the peaceful unification and democratization of China, however, they were thwarted by the leaders of the Kuomintang, which began an offensive in Northeast China in the spring of 1946.
In the course of the civil war, the crisis of the Kuomintang regime deepened, its anti-national character manifested itself, and the discontent of the masses and the national bourgeoisie grew. The liberated areas were fortified. The CPC's agrarian reform secured the support of the peasants, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) grew and became stronger. These factors led to a turn in the course of the war in favor of the revolutionary forces. Amid the military successes of the CPC in 1947-1948, the Central Committee of the party put forward the task of completing the people's democratic revolution, overthrowing the Kuomintang dictatorship and creating a democratic coalition government. The CCP supported the formation of a united People's Democratic Front of various classes.
As a result of three major battles in northeastern, northern and eastern China (autumn 1948 - January 1949), the Kuomintang regime faced collapse. He lost over one and a half million soldiers and officers and vast territories. In April 1949, PLA troops resumed their offensive, crossed the Yangtze River and liberated South and Southwest China. The proclamation of the People's Republic of China (October 1, 1949) was a victory for the people's democratic revolution. It created the preconditions for strengthening the country's independence and completing the bourgeois democratic reforms. The question of power was resolved in favor of a united front led by the CPC.
Under the new conditions (1949-1957), the struggle within the CPC intensified over the development of the country after the seizure of power. The political position of Mao Zedong had changed - he believed that the time had come for the implementation of the goals of the communist movement, for the implementation of an essentially communist barracks utopia. However, many party leaders (Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and others) spoke in favor of using the concept of "new democracy", designed to renew China for quite a long time.
At this time, the revolutionary forces were solving tasks: completing the rout of the Kuomintang troops, establishing power in the southern and western regions and on the islands, fighting counter-revolutionary gangs and creating an apparatus for a new state power. By the middle of 1950, almost the entire territory of China was liberated; in 1951, the PLA entered Tibet. The remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's troops fled to the island of Taiwan.
The restoration of the economy of the PRC took place in line with market (albeit limited) processes, in a multi-structured economy. Small-scale production prevailed, the property of the national bourgeoisie was preserved, and as a result of the nationalization of the property of big capital and the Japanese imperialists, the state sector was formed. The CPC's policy was to simultaneously with the restoration of the economy, relying on the economic assistance of the USSR (the slogan "Learn from the USSR"), to strengthen the public sector, capable of ensuring the transition to the construction of socialism. Thus, by 1952, the restructuring of the economy began (the production of means of production was 40%). The policy towards the national bourgeoisie was to use private capital to restore the economy and increase control over it. As a result of the agrarian reform (1950 - 1953), landlord ownership was abolished, the influence of the kulaks was undermined, and the development of cooperatives began.
The successes in restoring the national economy were used by Mao to impose on the party his leftist, adventurous views on the accelerated modernization of China. In 1953, Mao spoke for the first time in favor of an immediate transition to the socialist revolution. His opponents continued to defend the sustained general line for a long transition to socialism (1953-1967), gradually completing the transformation of agriculture, industry and trade.
Mao's ideological and political victory in the internal party struggle led to fundamental changes in the social and economic policy of the CPC, and above all in the agrarian sphere: a grain monopoly and a rationing system were introduced. China abruptly turned to the path of command-administrative functioning of the national economy and did it in the shortest possible time. In 1955, the CPC moved to cooperating in the countryside, its pace was sharply increased and the transition to higher-type cooperatives was carried out. The CPC persistently sought ways of social and political control over the peasantry.
By the end of 1956, 96.3% of farms were involved in cooperatives (according to the plan - 33%), including 88% of the higher type. This major social event provoked resistance from the peasants. In 1956, a complete transformation of industry and trade into state capitalist ones was launched, and in fact, private enterprises were nationalized for ransom. By the end of 1956, the share of private capital in retail trade was only 3%. Thus, radical socio-economic changes took place throughout the country - private property was liquidated and market relations were sharply limited.
Carrying out reforms in the first half of the 1950s revealed such features in the CPC's policy as the idea of \u200b\u200bthe decisive role of political and ideological campaigns, military-administrative methods, the acceleration of the pace of reforms and the violation of gradualism, lack of experience and personnel, unpreparedness to rule a huge country the nature of the measures, the lack of a technical base to increase labor productivity. A feature of the entire political development of the PRC was the ever-growing implantation of the ideas and cult of personality of Mao Zedong. A system of ideological control and political manipulation is taking shape in society, campaigns for the re-education of the intelligentsia are being carried out, and ideas about the aggravation of the class struggle are imposed. Within the CCP, the clash of two ideological and political tendencies continued - the moderately pragmatic and the radical utopian.
The focus on friendship with the USSR has become the main feature of China's foreign policy. In 1950, an agreement on friendship, alliance and mutual assistance was signed, an agreement on the gratuitous transfer of the USSR's rights to manage the CER. The assistance of the USSR played an important role in the construction of the new state and in the restoration of the national economy.
In the late 1950s, the country became the arena of Mao's risky experiments for the accelerated development of socialist processes. The first of these was the “Great Leap Forward in Industry and Agriculture” (1958), during which Mao sought to oppose the new course of the CPSU (after the 20th Congress) with his own political line. Its essence is to be ahead of time and overtake the USSR in building a new life. Unable to create a developed economic base in the country in a short time, Mao decided to reduce the leap into the future to the reform of human relationships, to stimulating labor enthusiasm in conditions of an egalitarian life, barracks forms of existence and with an extreme degree of officialization of life. The "people's communes" combined industry, agriculture, trade, education and military affairs, socialized labor and the main means of production, all property of the peasants, introduced an equal distribution of income, eliminated the principle of material interest and distribution according to work. The enthusiasm of the working people was fueled by the slogan "Three years of hard work - ten thousand years of happiness."
The results showed up quickly. Already at the end of 1956 and even more acutely in 1959, the country began to experience hunger. The labor activity of the peasants deprived of land and all property declined. Production was disorganized, not only in the countryside, but also in the city. The principle of planning in industry has been violated, imbalances in the economy have been formed, equipment has been destroyed, and people's enthusiasm has been wasted.
Changes have also taken place in the foreign policy course. The PRC announced its claims to a special role in Asia and around the world. In 1959, incidents began on the Sino-Indian border, shelling of islands in the Taiwan Strait. The PRC renounced friendship with the USSR (Soviet specialists were recalled in 1960), the slogan "self-reliance" was promoted, which meant the intention to sever ties with the socialist countries, opposing the policy of peaceful coexistence and the possibility of preventing a world war.
At the turn of the 1960s, another CPC grouping ("pragmatists") managed to somewhat rectify the situation in the country. But the conflict between Mao and her leaders (Peng Dehuai, Deng Xiaoping) did not stop. In the first half of the 1960s, a struggle for the army unfolded, and army methods of work were introduced everywhere.
By 1965, disagreements in the CPC leadership had become very acute. They concerned the methods, goals and prospects of the PRC's development, its domestic and foreign policy. The conflict led to a new grandiose social experiment - the "cultural revolution", under the banner of which a decade passed - the last in Mao's life (1966-1976). It was a struggle for elusive power. Its meaning was reduced to the desire to reckon with the party that prevented him and questioned his actions, which led to the pogroms of the party organs, the power apparatus and the entire intelligentsia by detachments of the Red Guards - the red guards (“red guards”). The latter firmly believed in the leader they deified and faithfully followed his instructions. Instead of democracy in the country, a military-bureaucratic dictatorship was being established with reliance on the army, the Maoist "model of communism" was being established, and the real threat of civil war was growing. The regime of Mao's personal and unlimited power was taking shape, the traditions of "Eastern despotism" were openly reviving. The cultural revolution cost the country dearly and led the PRC's economy to a deep crisis.
China's internal development determined the nature of its foreign policy. From the 60s to the early 80s, tensions with the USSR remained, their struggle on a global scale. The number of incidents on the border increased (1967, 1969), claims were put forward for Soviet territory and the thesis of a "threat from the North." The great-power, nationalistic character of China's policy was manifested. A serious conflict erupted with India (1962), tensions arose on the Burmese border, and relations with Vietnam deteriorated sharply (1978). By the beginning of the 70s, the USSR was declared enemy number 1, preparation for war became the main goal of economic construction. China moved towards rapprochement with the United States (1976), put forward a goal - the creation of a "broad international front" against the USSR.
Mao's experiments demonstrated that a Stalinist model was created in China with hard power of the classical oriental type with the restriction of individual rights and freedoms and the omnipotence of a bureaucratic administration based on powerful ideological pressure. This was facilitated by: the habit of the Chinese to respect a strong personality and stable administration, the habitually disdainful attitude towards merchants and owners, private owners, a high level of social discipline, a willingness to honor the elders and the wise. An important role was played by the strength and authority of the authorities, the style of the internal party struggle in the CPC - the fear of a split in the party dictated a tendency to compromise, disagreements did not become open. However, this model did not give the desired results; on the contrary, it turned out to be destructive.
In 1976-1978, Mao's successors faced an acute problem: how to get out of the impasse? A sharp political and ideological struggle between factions unfolded in the party. The radical Quartet of supporters of Mao's continuation were defeated and arrested. “Pragmatists” were strengthened in leading positions. The failure of the economic measures of these years convinced them of the need for deep structural reforms for China. A powerful campaign began under the slogan - "Practice is the only criterion of truth." The Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC (December 1978) was a complete victory for Deng's supporters, he authorized reforms.
In the early 1980s, the "pragmatists" went on the offensive: they condemned the "cultural revolution", began to rehabilitate the victims, raised the question of Mao's personal responsibility, and began the process of de-maoization of society. The new leadership of the CPC and the PRC pragmatically approached the task of transforming China into a rich power, de-ideologized their policies and brought to the fore only the patriotic ideas of building a rich China. These profound political changes created the preconditions for a new economic policy.
The essence of economic reforms was simple: the way was opened for the return of the worker's interest in the fruits of his labor, for which the communes were liquidated, and the land was given to the peasants. Tens of thousands of markets have sprung up, and commerce has been officially legalized. Since 1984, the reform has embraced the city: the role of the State Planning Commission and central regulation is severely limited, opportunities have been created for the development of the cooperative-collective and individual sectors. The directors of state-owned enterprises were given broad rights and opportunities. The reforms were radical and carried out quickly and decisively, the first three years (1979-1981) were declared years of reconstruction, and the planning targets were canceled. Allocations for military needs have been sharply reduced, the army has been reduced, and the military industry has been made to contribute to the restructuring of the economy. The powers of administrative bodies, including party committees, are significantly limited.
The results of the reforms showed themselves so quickly that it surprised the whole world. Food production rose sharply: by 1984 the country had reached the level of 400 million tons of grain per year, which is quite enough to provide its population (1 billion 300 million) with the necessary minimum of nutrition. The average living standard of the peasantry has increased 2-3 times. There appeared layers of wealthy peasants and townspeople working for the market. The industry turned to face the domestic market. The general standard of behavior of people has also changed: they have become freer, personal tastes, preferences, changes in clothing (the uniform of Mao's time disappeared), behavior, way of thinking, striving for the foundations of the rule of law.
But there were also obstacles in the way of reforms. The party apparatus accustomed to power resisted. Negative phenomena caused by the market economy (abuse of power, corruption, smuggling, inflation, social tension between the poor and the rich, especially in the countryside) appeared. However, against the backdrop of successes and high average growth rates (since 1979, economic growth rates have been 12-18% per year), they were officially recognized only as annoying development costs. The CPC congresses fully and unconditionally supported the reform course taken by Deng Xiaoping and largely successfully implemented thanks to his leadership. Ideologically, it was substantiated by the official recognition that China is a backward developing country and that it is too early to talk about the serious construction of socialism. So far, China is at the initial stage of building socialism, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. It was believed that the chosen development model with a significant inclusion of elements of the market economy, the essential role of the privatized sector working for the free market, corresponds to this. By the end of the 1980s, the reforms had brought the country to high achievements.
But the rapid pace of economic reform has led to unexpected problems of a socio-political and ideological nature. In 1987, they first started talking about the restructuring of the political system (they introduced the principle of replacement and rejuvenation of leaders). A balanced attitude towards Mao remains, although his cult was first recognized and condemned in 1981. In an attempt to solve problems, the country's leadership at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s began to back away. The implementation of the reform meant the collapse of the Maoist regime. However, the communists could not actively support the formation of private capital. Since 1989, they have clearly seen the example of the USSR, embarking on the path of restructuring and rapidly acquiring a state of instability. In addition, they felt that any relaxation in the socio-political and ideological sphere would mean a course not only towards destabilization, but also a rapid collapse of the country. They did not forget about the responsibility that each of those involved in the government after that would have to bear.
Thus, the authoritarian regime and command-administrative forms of control over the country had to leave the political scene for the sake of economic development along the market path. The unusualness of China is that the economic mechanism had started up by the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, and the communist leaders associated with the old regime did not want to deepen democratic transformations. The result is the effect of an overheated boiler.
“Overheating of the economy” began to be felt in the mid-1980s. In the late 1980s, demands for democratization and the withdrawal of the CPC leadership from power became louder, and influential persons in the leadership (CPC General Secretary Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang) listened to them. However, the General Secretary of the CPC did not have all the power - real power continued to remain in the hands of Deng Xiaoping, the reform architect, who formally departed from it. Dan hesitated for a long time, as he understood that the demand for political reform was reasonable and fair. But he also realized something else - agreeing to radical political reforms (following the example of the USSR and Eastern Europe) would lead the regime to collapse with unpredictable consequences. The choice was made in favor of the lesser evil. The democratic student movement that spilled into the streets and squares of Beijing in the summer of 1989 was crushed in Tiananmen Square by tanks. Students were sent to universities for ideological re-education. The communist reactionaries raised their heads again. The democrats were reproached for being supporters of bourgeois liberalism, which was true (in the early 90s, this term even became an ideological stigma). The defeat of the democratic movement for a long time removed the question of carrying out political reforms and democratizing the political structure.
After 1989, the economy continued to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace. The demand for the preservation and improvement of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" was established. After the collapse of the USSR, the communist leaders congratulated each other on the choice of 1989. Today, there are two groups in the CCP on the implementation of this concept - radicals (supporters of leaps and bounds) and conservatives (evolutionary path). Essentially, the Chinese concept is
this is a common path for the entire developing world. Emphasizing your identity is camouflage in order to gain time and prevent a social explosion. China is following the path of bourgeois liberalism, but the leadership on which this primarily depends, wants this to happen as slowly and smoothly as possible. To accelerate the pace, the departure of a generation of veterans of wars and revolutions is needed.
In the 90s, after the first successes of the “settlement” policy (1989-1991), the following directions of economic reform were outlined: restructuring of state-owned enterprises, introduction of joint-stock ownership, price reform, privatization of housing, creation of a system of social protection. The congresses of the CPC (1992, 1997) made a decisive turn towards the market, for which all ideological barriers have been removed (the task of creating a "socialist market economy" was approved instead of the contradictory term "planned commodity economy"). In 1999, the Constitution was amended to recognize the important role of the private sector in the socialist market economy of the PRC. The 90s were seen as a breakthrough opportunity. The expansion of the policy of openness to the outside world (free and specialized, border open zones, development and free trade zones) is emphasized. In the 80s - 90s, China became one of the most important pillars of the economic structure of East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, an important manufacturer of finished products for the markets of industrial and developing countries. The country came out on top in the world for the production of cereals, meat, cotton, coal, cement, cotton fabrics. Electronics, mechanical engineering, production of electricity, oil and chemical products are developing successfully. Exports are increasing annually by 25%. Particular emphasis is placed on infrastructure development. Having stepped over the turn of the century, China has confidently entered a new stage of modernization - GDP amounted to 8.3% (2000), the average per capita income of city dwellers - $ 760, peasants - 273. The task was set to double GDP by 2010 by restructuring the national economy in accordance with with market demands and reforming public sector enterprises.
In domestic politics, the parliamentary multi-party system and the existence of independent political parties claiming the role of political opposition, political pluralism are rejected, the leading role of public property, the concept of the continuation of the class struggle in certain spheres of society. The CCP did not return to the 1987 decision to carry out political reform. She spoke out only for the reform of the administrative apparatus, the adaptation of the political system to the needs of economic development. The authority of the authorities is high, and it is no coincidence that reforms are taking place here without too radical complications. Social tension is removed with the help of ideology. It is evolving today towards patriotism. Therefore, reforms are accompanied not by a crisis, but by stabilization and even prosperity. But the logic of modern economic development requires an inevitable reform of the political system, the development of elements of civil society that are increasingly incompatible with the totalitarian political mechanism.
In the 90s, power passed to the third generation of leaders - mostly civilians (Jiang Zemin is the CPC general secretary and head of state, the "heir" of Deng after his death in February 1997). Now the CPC leadership has all the pragmatists who advocate reforms. They are separated only by the questions - for whom the reforms and at what pace? In political transformations, a stake is placed on stability and continuity in politics, smoothing out sharp corners, and ideological control in culture. Freedom of speech, human rights and the realization of political freedoms, corruption in the highest echelons of power and the state apparatus, its reduction, hidden and open unemployment (4%), and the growth of social differentiation remain problems. Since 1995, the problem of reforming state-owned enterprises has become aggravated (the share of unprofitable ones in the public sector has grown to 40-50%, while it accounts for 40% in the economy).
In the early 1980s, there was talk in China about a peaceful international situation, which was required for the implementation of economic reforms. In the 80-90s, China was guided by the principle: "There are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, but there are only permanent interests!" They began to assess Soviet foreign policy more calmly, to demonstrate commonness with developing countries, and intensified criticism of US policy in the world. The main goal was declared to be a struggle against any hegemonism, a course was taken to develop relations with the maximum possible number of states, statements appeared that a world war could and should be prevented. Since the mid-1980s, China has proclaimed peace and development in a multipolar world as its goal, and has put forward the principle of de-ideologization and the concept of an independent foreign policy. Since 1988, Soviet-Chinese relations have been completely normalized, their equilibration with the United States has begun, Western Europe is seen as a new source of advanced technology and finance. In the first half of the 1990s, the activity of Chinese diplomacy increased: relations with India, Vietnam, Cuba were normalized, they have a "special character" with Japan and South Korea, contacts with Israel and South Africa expanded. Since 1991, China has joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. On the whole, the successes of Chinese diplomacy gave rise to calling our century "the century of Chinese diplomacy."
The relations with the USSR and Russia are based on universal principles: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression and non-interference, equality and mutual benefit. The settlement of the border issue was completed, a zone of confidence was created with the states of Central Asia, and a joint declaration on strategic partnership in the 21st century was adopted. (spring 1997). The trade turnover with Russia is planned to increase by 4 times by 2010. In 1992, diplomatic relations were established with the Republic of Belarus, which served as the basis for trade and economic cooperation. In 1997, the unification of Hong Kong and China according to the formula “one state - two systems” was completed, and a high degree of interdependence of the two economies was achieved. In 1999, Macau (Macau) returned to China. Tensions remain with Taiwan over different approaches to reunification.
Tasks to the topic:
1. Name the years of the civil war in China after World War II, the main political forces. What are its results?
2. What options for China's development existed after the end of the Civil War?
3. What role did Mao Zedong's victory in the internal political struggle play in the development of China? (economic, political and foreign policy spheres).
4. Expand the concept of "Great Leap Forward Policy" (when, essence, results).
5. Expand the concept of "cultural revolution" (years, essence, results).
6. How did China's relations with the USSR change in the late 1950s? What is the reason for this? Describe the Soviet-Chinese relations in the 60-80s?
7. Results of the reign of Mao Zedong in China (by areas).
8. What are the ways to overcome the consequences of M. Dzedun's policy?
9. Make a thesis plan "Development of China in the 1990-2000s."
Topic 15: "India in the second half of the XX century."