ABSTRACT

The severe dislocations wrought by World War I in India’s economy and society set the stage for the mass nationalist movements of the early 1920s. Some of the old axioms underlying the organization of the colonial state and political economy since 1857 had to be abandoned due to the exigencies of war. It is important, therefore, to get a clear understanding of the impact of World War I on the structure of the colonial state and the economic relationship between metropolis and colony. Apart from addressing this theme, the present chapter also draws a broad analytical framework which takes into account continuities and changes in the state and political economy, enabling us to contextualize the mass politics of the 1920s, the economic and political crises of the Depression decade, and upheavals around and during World War II.