The movement of Non-Cooperation started with middle class participation in cities and gathered momentum in a very big way. However, this movement in the cities gradually slowed down for a variety of reasons. The few reasons are :
(i) Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill clothes and poor people could not afford to buy it.
(ii) Boycott of British institutions posed a problem as alternative Indian Institutions were not available.
(iii) Students and teachers began trickling back to colonised government schools and lawyers also joined back work in government courts.