The Civil Disobedience or the Salt Movement was launched under the following circumstances:
(i) Failure of the Simon Commission : Set up in response to the nationalist movement, the commission was to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and suggest changes. The commission did not have any single Indian member. Therefore, it failed to satisfy the Indian people and the leaders.
(ii) The demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’: In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘Puma Swaraj’ or complete Independence of India. It was declared that 26th January 1930 would be celebrated as the Independence Day, when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence. But, the celebrations attracted very little attention. So, Mahatma Gandhi had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.
(iii) Gandhiji’s Eleven Demands: On 31st January 1930, Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Lord Irwin stating his eleven demands. The idea was to make the demands wide-ranging, so that all classes within Indian society could identify with them and everyone could be brought together in a united campaign. The most stirring of all was the demand to abolish the salt tax.
It was an ultimatum to the British. If the demands were not fulfilled by 11th March, the letter stated, the Congress would launch a Civil Disobedience Campaign. Irwin was unwilling to negotiate. So, Gandhiji started his famous Salt March, accompanied by 78 of his volunteers. On 6th April, he reached Dandi and ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water.
(iv) Economic Causes: The Great Depression of 1929 had a deep impact on the Indian economy, especially on agriculture. Agricultural prices began to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. As the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue. The government refused to lower the taxes.
