The Three Upsurges of Winter 1945-46

At a Glance

• First 21 November 1945, Calcutta, over the ina-trials/" class="maargx-auto-link" data-preview="At a Glance Release of leaders June 1945 New British government Labour under Attlee, July 1945 First INA trial Red Fort, Delhi,…">INA trials
• Second 11 February 1946, Calcutta, against Rashid Ali’s seven-year sentence
• Third 18 February 1946, Bombay; strike by Royal Indian Navy ratings
• End of navy revolt Ratings surrendered on 23 February 1946
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Post-War Scenario, Cabinet Mission and Communalism

Where Does It Fit?

This is the second topic of the category on the post-war scenario, the Cabinet Mission and communalism. The previous topic covered the post-war upsurge and the INA trials. This topic covers the three upsurges of the winter of 1945-46. The next topic covers the elections of 1945-46. Previous topic: Post-War Upsurge and the INA Trials.

What Were the Three Upsurges?

The nationalist sentiment that reached a crescendo around the INA trials developed into violent confrontations with authority in the winter of 1945-46. There were three major upsurges: on 21 November 1945 in Calcutta over the INA trials; on 11 February 1946 in Calcutta against the seven-year sentence given to the INA officer Rashid Ali; and on 18 February 1946 in Bombay, the strike by Royal Indian Navy ratings. The trials are in Post-War Upsurge and the INA Trials.

What Was Stage One, When a Group Defies Authority and Is Repressed?

On 21 November 1945, a student procession of some Forward Bloc sympathisers, activists of the Student Federation of India and Islamia College students, joined by League and Congress supporters, tied flags as a sign of anti-imperialist unity and marched to Dalhousie Square, the seat of government in Calcutta. The protesters refused to disperse and were lathi-charged, and retaliated with stones and brickbats. The police fired and two persons died.

On 11 February 1946 the protest was led by Muslim League students, with some Congress and communist student bodies joining. Some arrests provoked students to defy Section 144, and further arrests and lathi-charges followed.

On 18 February 1946 about 1,100 Royal Indian Navy ratings of HMIS Talwar went on strike.

The rebel ratings hoisted the tricolour, the crescent and the hammer and sickle flags on the mast of the rebel fleet. Other ratings soon joined and went about Bombay in lorries holding Congress flags, threatening Europeans and policemen. Crowds brought food to them and shopkeepers invited them to take what they needed.

What Were Stages Two and Three?

In Stage Two the city people joined in. This phase had a strong anti-British mood that virtually paralysed Calcutta and Bombay, with meetings, processions, strikes and hartals and attacks on Europeans, police stations, shops, tram depots, railway stations and banks, and rail and road traffic stopped by squatting on tracks and barricading streets.

In Stage Three, people elsewhere expressed sympathy and solidarity. Students boycotted classes and held hartals and processions, and there were sympathetic strikes in military establishments in Karachi, Madras, Visakhapatnam, Calcutta, Delhi, Cochin, Jamnagar, the Andamans, Bahrain and Aden, and strikes by the Royal Indian Air Force in Bombay, Poona, Calcutta, Jessore and Ambala. Patel and Jinnah persuaded the ratings to surrender on 23 February with an assurance that the national parties would prevent victimisation.

What Was the Impact of the Upsurges?

• Fearless action by the masses expressed militancy in the popular mind.
• The revolt in the armed forces had a great liberating effect on people’s minds.
• The Royal Indian Navy revolt was seen as an event marking the end of British rule.
• The upsurges prompted the British to make concessions.

The Cabinet Mission is in Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946.

What Were the Limits of the Upsurges?

The upsurges were direct and violent conflicts with authority, which had obvious limits, as only the more militant sections could take part. They were short-lived and confined to a few urban centres, while the general INA agitation had reached the remotest villages. The communal unity seen was more organisational than a unity among the people: Muslim ratings went to the League for advice and the others to the Congress and the Socialists. And despite the erosion of the bureaucracy’s morale, the British machinery of repression was intact and soon controlled the situation; it was a Maratha battalion in Bombay that rounded up the ratings and returned them to barracks.

What Was the Congress Strategy?

Leftists claim that the Congress was indifferent to the revolutionary situation for two reasons: it feared losing control, and a disciplined armed force was vital in a free India. They claim that a different path to independence would have emerged if the Congress had not surrendered to power play. The standard account holds that the upsurges extended earlier nationalist activity fostered by the Congress through its election campaign, its advocacy of the INA cause and its highlighting of the excesses of 1942, but differed in form, as violent challenges to authority against the earlier peaceful demonstrations. The Congress did not officially support them because of their tactics and timing. Negotiation had been an integral part of its strategy, to be explored before a mass movement, especially when the British seemed about to leave. Gandhi’s opinion was that the mutiny was badly advised: if the ratings mutinied for India’s freedom they were doubly wrong, and if they had grievances they should have waited for the leaders’ guidance. As an analytical point, the Congress was balancing two risks: that a violent movement would pass out of its control and that the armed forces would become politicised before independence, which shows how its leaders saw the transfer of power as a negotiation. The earlier mass movements are in Spread of the Quit India Movement and Government Repression.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Royal Indian Navy revolt A standard Prelims fact with dates and demands
• Three-stage pattern A distinctive analytical framework
• Congress response Debates over whether the moment was revolutionary

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the elections of 1945-46 and their results. Next topic: Elections of 1945-46.

Key People and Terms

• HMIS Talwar Ship where the ratings’ strike began
• Dalhousie Square Calcutta’s seat of government, the target of the first march
• Rashid Ali INA officer given a seven-year sentence
• Student Federation of India A student organisation active in the protest
• Section 144 Law banning assembly
• Victimisation Punishment of those who took part

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the nature and impact of the upsurges. These points add depth.

• Pattern Defiance, city joining and solidarity
• Impact Concessions and an end-of-rule feeling
• Limits Short-lived and urban