"THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENTS" 13?

When constituencies marked out on the basis of an attenuated
franchise returned members to the legislatures, the Swaraj Party's
interest shifted inevitably, so to speak, from the masses to the classes.
In abstract principle, of course, the party referred generally in its
programme to the need of workers' and peasants' organisation ; C. R.
D-as, who presided over the All India Trada Union Congress in 1924,
demanded, in a famous speech, "Swaraj for the 93 percent". But
in practice it was the party of the patriotic and progressive sections of
the upper and middle bourgeoisie. Many joined it with a view only to
an easy election ; the prosperous predominated, for fighting elections
meant considerable expense. There was, thus, a basic clause in the
party's programme of aims which said that "private and individual
property will be recognised and maintained, and the growth of
individual wealth, both movable and immovable, will be permitted."
Expressions of concern for the psas^nt \vsre expiated by an assurance
to the zemindar: "True it is that the Party stands for justice to
the tenant, but poor indeed will be the quality of that justice if it
involves any injustice to the landlord."7 It was the reflection of the
ebb of the tide of mass struggle. There was nothing to be wondered
at when, in Bengal after C. R. Das's death, the Swarajists in the legis-
lature eared more for the interests of the landlord than for those of
the tenant during discussions on the Bengal Tenancy Amendment Act
(1927). This was one of the primary reasons for accentuated anta-
gonism between Hindus (most of the landlords belonged to this cate-
gory) and Muslims (who were mostly peasants) in East Bengal, illus-
trated, most tragically of all, in the Kishoreganj riots a few years
later. In the Central Assembly, the party under Motilal Nehru's
leadership did a great deal more for the Tata Iron & Steel Company
owners than for the workers at Jamshedpur. The Swaraj party had
roused a new enthusiasm when things looked moribund, but the
masses hardly figured, really and truly, on its canvas.

"Uniform, consistent and continuous obstruction" was the
Swaraj party's original slogan, a slogan which captured enthusiastic
votes, but in Bengal, its leader. C. R. Das offered, on terms, co-opera-
tion in running the government. " His party had come there to offer
their co-operation," Das told the Bengal Governor. "If the Govern-
ment would receive their co-operation, they would find that the
Swarajists were their men." In May 1925, a month before his death,
C, R. Das was declaring in his famous Faridpur address delivered in

7 B. P. Dutt, of. cit.t pp. 319-20,
9