Gandhi first employed non-violent
civil disobedience
while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian
community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in
1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers
concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming
leadership of the
Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end
untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve
Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the
Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi)
Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later he campaigned against the British to
Quit India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.
