From Cripps’s Failure to the Failure of the Congress Party’s “Quit India” Movement, April–October 1942

Abstract

Abstract Cripps mistakenly believed that his mission, “despite failure,” had definitely improved the attitude of India toward the war and made the National Congress Party more sympathetic toward the Raj’s struggles against the Japanese. On the eve of his departure, he wrote Churchill that he believed there was “a chance” the Congress Party might soon see the wisdom of their cabinet’s offer just as Jinnah’s Muslim League and most of the Sikhs did. Cripps felt “sad,” though “not depressed,” ending his message on a note that sounded more like one Churchill might have sent to him: “Now we must get on with the job of defending India.”