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The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...
to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The mission was headed by a senior minister
Stafford Cripps Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. A wealthy lawyer by background, he first entered Parliament at a by-election in 1931, and was one of a handful of La ...
. Cripps belonged to the left-wing Labour Party, which was traditionally sympathetic to Indian self-rule, but he was also a member of the coalition War Cabinet led by British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, who had long been the leader of the movement to block Indian independence. Cripps was sent to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
leaders (including
Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
), and
Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
and the
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
, who claimed to represent the Muslim population of the subcontinent. Cripps worked to keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of elections and full self-government ( Dominion status) once the war was over. Cripps discussed the proposals, which he had drafted himself with the Indian leaders, and published them. The Congress rejected his proposals and knew that the British were negotiating from a weaker position. In August 1942, the Congress working committee, taking advantage of the government's weakness, made a call that unless the 'Quit India' call was conceded, the Congress would resort to civil disobedience and call the people to resist and violate government authority. In reaction, British imprisoned practically the entire Congress leadership for the duration of the war. Jinnah, to whom Cripps had offered the right to opt out of a future union with India, supported the war effort with his fellow Muslims and gained in status in British eyes. Jinnah was “surprised” to see that the right to opt out of a future union was undertaken.


Background

The
Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act, 1935 was an Act adapted from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act of (British) Parliament ever enacted until the Greater London Authority ...
, building on the Round Table Conferences,
Simon Commission The Indian Statutory Commission also known as Simon Commission, was a group of seven Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in India in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain's largest a ...
and the previous
Government of India Act of 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...
, required the establishment of an All-India Federation, which would allow Indians to take a larger share of governance at the highest level. However, deep differences between the princely states and the Congress, as well as between the Muslim League and Congress, had delayed progress. Instead, only the provincial portion of the Act was carried out. After Britain's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939, Viceroy
Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
responded by declaring India a belligerent state on the side of Britain without consulting Indian political leaders or the elected provincial representatives, sharply underlining the failure of progress to self-rule. That caused considerable resentment in the
Congress Party The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
, producing demands for an immediate transfer of power. The resulting standoff led to the en masse resignation of Congress Provincial Governments, giving rise to the prospect of public revolt and political disorder in India. The
All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...
, the
Hindu Mahasabha The Hindu Mahasabha (officially Akhil Bhārat Hindū Mahāsabhā, ) is a Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating the interests of orthodox Hindus before the ...
and regional parties gave their support to Britain and the war effort in exchange for various concessions. Negotiations continued between the Viceroy, Congress and Muslim League, but their failure led to a political stalemate. The Japanese declaration of war on the Dutch and the British Empires as well as the United States in December 1941 altered the political situation. Confidence in Britain was particularly low after the
fall of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire ...
on 15 February 1942, Britain's greatest single defeat in the war, as well as the retreat from Rangoon, with large numbers of
Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...
troops captured. The threat of an invasion of India was real, and there was anxiety about 'fifth columnists', particularly Congress radicals working with Japan. The British War Cabinet, a coalition government of national unity, was divided on the question of compromise with the Congress. The Labour Party ministers and moderate Conservatives were keen to advance Indian progress to self-government in a way that would not endanger the war effort. Churchill was deeply opposed to any dismantling of the British Empire and regarded its non-white subjects as incapable of self-rule. In fact, the stridency of his views and his opposition to the Conservative leader
Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
's agreement to work with parties such as the Indian National Congress towards self-rule had contributed to his isolation within the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
for a decade. He was supported in his views by the Conservative
Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...
, Leo Amery. However, the United States, Britain's principal ally, saw things in even more urgent terms. The chief American strategic objective was aiding Chiang Kai Shek's physically-isolated Nationalist China against the expanding
Japanese Empire The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...
. The Japanese conquest of China's coastal areas meant that the Americans needed India to serve as a major logistical hub to funnel aid to China and needed Indian military manpower to secure routes for supplies through
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. American and Chinese leadership was convinced that would not be possible without the full support of a mobilised Indian population, which required a breakthrough with the Indian National Congress. In addition, the
Franklin Roosevelt administration Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
was busy formulating its vision for the post-war world order and saw the decolonisation of Asia as a matter of US national interest for both ideological and commercial reasons. Despite the conflicts of interests, Britain's reliance on the United States for
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
supplies for the war effort meant that US President
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's pressure had to at least appear to be taken seriously, especially in light of the military disasters in South East Asia. As a result, the British cabinet by 9 March 1942 had agreed to despatch a mission to India to discuss its offer, and Cripps' plane landed in Delhi on 22 March. By then, the British were willing to grant Indian independence at the conclusion of the war. Incidentally, the next day was the second anniversary of the Lahore Resolution of 1940 and so Cripps saw Muslims marching in the streets with green flags. Cripps stated that while he had been closer to the Congress, he was open to other perspectives. Jinnah waited to find out what the proposals were and stated that the League would reject them if they were not in the interests of Muslims.


Debate over co-operation or protest

The Congress was divided upon its response to India's entry into World War II. Angry over the decision made by the Viceroy, some Congress leaders favoured launching a revolt against the British despite the gravity of the war in Europe, which threatened Britain's own freedom. Others, such as Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, advocated offering an olive branch to the British and supporting them in that crucial time in the hope that the gesture would be reciprocated with independence after the war. Congress' major leader,
Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, was opposed to Indian involvement in the war, as he would not morally endorse a war, suspected British intentions and believed that the British were not sincere about Indian aspirations for independence. However, Rajagopalachari, backed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
Maulana Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following Ind ...
and
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...
, held talks with Cripps and offered full support in return for immediate self-government, and eventual independence. The British anxiously tried to gain Muslim support during the war and so included a clause that no province would be compelled to join the post war India. Jinnah, the leader of the
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
, supported the war effort and condemned the Congress policy. Insisting on
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, a separate Muslim state, he resisted Congress' calls for pan-Indian cooperation and immediate independence.


Cripps in India

Upon his arrival in India, Cripps held talks with Indian leaders and attempted to satisfy all communities through his proposals. He was a friend of Nehru and did his utmost to arrange an agreement. However, the distrust was too high and many people of influence did not want a settlement to be reached. There is some confusion over what Cripps had been authorized to offer India's nationalist politicians by Churchill and Leo Amery, the
Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...
, and Cripps faced hostility also from Viceroy Linlithgow. Cripps began by offering India full
dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
status at the end of the war, with the chance to secede from the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
and to go for total independence. Privately, Cripps also promised to get rid of Linlithgow and grant India dominion status with immediate effect and insisted only for the Indian Defence Ministry to be reserved for the British. However, in public, Cripps failed to present any concrete proposals for greater self-government in the short term other than a vague commitment to increase the number of Indian members of the
Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...
. Cripps spent much of his time in encouraging Congress leaders and Jinnah to come to a common, public arrangement in support of the war and the government. There was little trust between the British and Congress by that stage, and both sides felt that the other was concealing its true plans. The Congress stopped talks with Cripps, and guided by Gandhi, its national leadership demanded immediate self-government in return for war support. Gandhi said that Cripps' offer of Dominion Status after the war was a "post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank".


Muslim League reception

Jinnah argued that the proposals were merely a draft declaration, did not meet his demands and preferred a scheme of united India. At a press conference on April, he argued that there was no clear concession for Pakistan in the proposals, and he further expressed concern that the Muslim right to self-determination had been ignored. He also expressed criticism for the exclusion of the Muslim League from the later stage of negotiations.


Quit India Movement

When the British remained unresponsive, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress began planning a major public revolt, the
Quit India movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
, which demanded immediate British withdrawal from India. As the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...
advanced closer to India with the conquest of
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, Indians perceived an inability upon the part of the British to defend Indian soil. The invasion force contained elements of the
Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...
, which hade been founded and led by
Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...
to end British control of India. It was composed of Indians, most of whom were prisoners captured with the fall of Singapore in early 1942. Jinnah's Muslim League condemned the Quit India movement and participated in provincial governments andthe legislative councils of the Raj. He encouraged Muslims to participate in the war. With that cooperation, the British continued to administer India for the duration of the war by using officials and military personnel if Indian politicians could not be found. That would not prove to be feasible in the long term, however.


Causes of failure

There are three main reasons behind the causes of the failure of the Cripps' mission. They are listed as follows: * All of the promises offered were to be fulfilled after the war. * The behind-the-scenes efforts of Linlithgow, Amery and Nehru to sabotage the mission. Gupta concludes that documents released in 1970 support a third interpretation. Messages between Linlithgow and Amery reveal that both of them opposed the Cripps Mission and deliberately undercut Cripps. The British government used the Cripps Mission as evidence of its liberal colonial policy, but personal and private correspondence reveals contempt for the mission and elation over its failure.


Long-term impact

The long-term significance of the Cripps Mission really became apparent only in the aftermath of the war, as troops were demobilised and sent back home. Even Churchill recognised that there could be no retraction of the offer of independence that Cripps had made, but by the end of the war, Churchill was out of power and could do nothing but watch as the new Labour government, led by
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
, gave India independence. That confidence that the British would soon leave was reflected in the readiness with which Congress politicians stood in the elections of 1945–1946 and formed provincial governments.Judith Brown ''Modern India. The making of an Asian Democracy'' (2nd ed. 1999) pp. 328–30.


References


Sources

* Clarke, Peter. ''The Cripps Version: The Life of Sir Stafford Cripps 1889-1952'' (2003) pp 276–370. * Clymer, Kenton J. "Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louis Johnson, India, and Anticolonialism: Another Look," ''Pacific Historical Review,'' (Aug 1988), 57#3 pp 261–28
in JSTOR
* Gandhi, Rajmohan, ''Patel: A Life'' (2008) * Moore, R. J. ''Churchill, Cripps and India'' (Oxford) 1979 chapters 3-5 * Moore, R. J. "The mystery of the Cripps mission," ''Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies'' Volume 11, Issue 3, 1973, pages 195-21
online
* Owen, Nicholas. "The Cripps mission of 1942: A reinterpretation." ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 30.1 (2002): 61-98.


Primary sources

* Winston S. Churchill, ''
The Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
'': Volume IV, ''The Hinge of Fate'', (1950) Book One, Chapter 12, "India—The Cripps Mission"
limited preview of the whole chapter at Google Books
* Mansergh, Nicholas, ed., ''Constitutional Relations between Britain and India: The Transfer of Power.' Vol. 1: 'The Cripps Mission January–April 1942'' (1970).
review in JSTOR


External links







* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081211145641/http://www.houseofdavid.ca/in_a_off.htm August Offer regarding India’s constitution, of His Majesty's Government 8 August 1940 {{Pakistan Movement 1942 in India 1942 in British India 1942 in politics March 1942 events Indian independence movement Pakistan Movement India in World War II