Different social groups participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement due to the following reasons:
(i) Rich peasant communities: In the countryside, rich peasant communitieslike the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh - were active in the movement. Being producers of commercial crops, they were hardly hit by the trade depression and falling prices. As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to fulfil the government's revenue demand. Moreover, the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread resentment.
(ii) Rich Indian business classes: During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and become powerful. They were keen on expanding their business; they now protested against colonial policies that restricted business activities. They demanded protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.
(iii) The poorer peasantry: The poorer peasantry were not just interested in the lowering of the revenue demand. Many of them were small tenants, cultivating land they had rented from landlords. As the Great Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, small tenants found it difficult to pay rent. They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted.