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Swadeshi Analyse the main trends the Swadeshi Mov. Do you agree with the view that in an anti Analyze the basic trends in the Swadeshi Mov. Do you agree with the it ended in a sense of richness and promise but also a feeling of Swadeshi Movement which was highly significant in the Indian had its roo...

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Swadeshi movement 2004Q8- Analyse the main trends the Swadeshi Mov. Do you agree with the view that it ended in an anti climax? 2006- Q8- Analyze the basic trends in the Swadeshi Mov. Do you agree with the statement that it ended in a sense of richness and promise but also a feeling of disappointment? INTRODUCTION : •

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The Swadeshi Movement (1905-1908) which was highly significant in the Indian national struggle had its roots in the anti-partition movement (1903-1905). It began in Bengal in opposition to the proposals regarding the Partition of Bengal in 1903 which was finally carried out on 16th October 1905. Bengal was no doubt an administratively unwieldy province extending from the Sutlej to Burma. Assam had been separated in 1874, yet the 1901 census that recorded Bengal’s population at 78.5 million, which caused urgency for Partition. Historians say that till 1903- administrative concerns governed proposals behind Partition. Sumit Sarkar shows that secret official minutes and public speeches of Lord Curzon reveal that post 1903 the Partition was guided by the sole aim of crushing the rising nationalist tide amongst the politically active Bengalis as Bengal was a Congress stronghold.

Partition of Bengal – •

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The Partition plan announced on 16th July, 1905 made this amply clear as Curzon rejected the linguistic division of Bengal in favour of dividing it on communal lines and linguistic lines - by creating a province of East Bengal and Assam- containing 31 million people-18 million Muslims and 12 million Hindus and Bengal containing 54 million people42 million Hindus and 9 million Muslims. Bengal was also divided on linguistic lines with majority Oriya and Hindi speaking population. Curzon’s Home Secretary HH Risley clearly spelt it-“Bengal united is a power. Bengal divided will pull in different ways.”

Anti Partition Agitation: • •

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The announcement of the plan in 1903 sparked off a huge antipartition movement carried out by the Moderates till 1905, as the Government had expected. Bipan Chandra says Moderates aimed to turn public opinion abroad and in India against the Partition using their traditional methods like – holding protest meetings, petitions, publishing a detailed critique of Partition through a press campaign in The Bengalee, Hitabandi and large protest meetings at the Calcutta Town Hall twice (1904 and 1905) calling for Boycott of British goods and Institutions. However the government remained unnerved.

Swadeshi: (1905-1908): •

In July 1905 when the date for partition was announced as 16th October, the Moderate anti partition movement changed character and now emerged as the Swadeshi movement- led by the new leaders the “Extremists” with novel methods.

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This surprised the British and now spread beyond Bengal to Punjab, Maharashtra and Madras.

Other Factors – Sumit Sarkar and S. Bandhopadhyay trace the origins of the Swadeshi movement in Bengal to factors apart from the initial spark-Partition of Bengal. They say – •

There was escalating Bengali unity –fostered by new cultural developments- like emergence of modern Bengali literature under Rabindranath Tagore etc., Calcutta was now a metropolis and united students/professionals from all districts, early English education and Hindu revivalism fostered self confidence.

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Secondly political disappointment with Moderate methods and achievements spurred Swadeshi in order to try new methods.

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Economic grievances like overcrowding in liberal professions, famines, epidemics (1890s) and rising prices.

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International events like British defeats in Boer War and Russo Japanese War1904-5 boosted the movement.

MAIN TRENDS: Sumit Sarkar identified four main trends in Bengal Swadeshi-(1) the Moderate Trend,(2)Constructive Swadeshi, (3)Political Extremism and (4)Revolutionary Terrorism. All trends more or less overlapped between 1905-08, yet one does see a movement from one to the other. (1)The Moderate trend – • •

It began in 1903 with the announcement of Partition proposals. Moderates initially employed their usual methods of opposition-prayers, petitions and public meetings but failed to change the Government’s proposals.

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With Partition announcement in July 1905, Moderates methods changed for first time, marking the start of a wider Swadeshi movement. Moderate, Surendranath Banerjea gave a first time call for Boycott of British goods and institutions at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7th August 1905.

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British crackdown on student picketers with the Carlyle Circular (October 22, 1905) led to Boycott of educational institutions and organization of national schools.

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For the first time Moderates tried to mobilise non-literate population and thus helped in labour strikes and national education.

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However Moderates aims remained limited-to the annulment of Partition and they only saw Boycott a step in that direction.

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Moderates reverted to limited policies and called off the educational boycott by Nov 1905, in hope for British reforms as liberal Morely(Sec of State) came to power.

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Yet Boycott and frustration with Moderates led to the growth of-(a) Non-political Constructive Swadeshi and (b) Political Extremism alongside continuation of Moderate politics.

(2)Constructive Swadeshi-

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It rejected the self demeaning Moderate politics, in favour of self reliance or atmashakti atmashakti-through the setting up of Swadeshi industries, National schools and village level constructive programmes.

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Initially Bengal Extremists propounded non-political constructive Swadeshi, thus Swadeshi industries like- The Bengal Chemical factory were set up by Prafullachandra Roy(1893), soap factories, textile mills etc.

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Within National education Satishchandra Mukherji’s journal Dawn and Dawn Society (1902) played a seminal role and so did Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan Ashram. In terms of village programmes, Rabindranath Tagore the main ideologue of constructive Swadeshi (1904) planned for constructive work in villages through the revival of the traditional Hindu ‘samaj’ samaj’ or community. In 1907 a 1000 village Samitis or national volunteer organizations were reported in Bengal. Such non-political Constructive programmes often used Hindu revivalism as a tool of unity- as seen in Rabindranath Tagore’s Hi Hinn d u S a ma j proposal, though Tagore rejected Hindu revivalism after 1906. However Hindu revivalism was used in a bigger way under political Extremism by some leader.

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(3)Political Extremism •

Emerged around 1906 as young political extremists like Aurobin ddoo Gh os oshh , Bipin Ch a n d ra Pa l a n d Br Braa h moba n d h a b Upa d h ya y were unhappy with the slow peaceful unostentatious development advocated by Constructive Swadeshi.

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They argued that freedom was essential to national regeneration and thus called for a struggle for Swaraj, in their journals like Ba n d e Ma tera m m, Yu Yuga ga n ta r and Sa n d h yya. a.

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The main difference was in new political methods they advocated like- organised boycott that extended beyond British goods to British education, justice and executive administration and ultimately civil disobedience of unjust laws, social boycott of loyalists and recourse to armed struggle if British repression escalated.

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Older methods like modern industries, national school etc were meant to continue also. Thus Sarkar says that they anticipated future political programme of Gandhianism minus the dogma of non violence. One of their main aims was mass political mobilization. In their efforts they set up a huge chain of Samitis and gave novel political leadership to labour unrest. Sarkar says one notes another trend in the Swadeshi movement that cut across all differences in political methods- that is Hindu Revivalism. While some leaders embraced this in a major way as a short cut to political mass mobilization others rejected it out right recognizing its divisive nature. Moderate proponents included Surendranath Banerjea advocating Swadeshi vows in temples, national education plan with revivalist content etc, Extremists like Aurodhindo Ghosh, Bipin Pal etc insisted on Sh iivaj vaj vajii Utsav taking the cue from Tila k in Maharashtra. Yet others like Brahmo edited journals like Sa n j iva n ii, post 1907 Radindranath Tagore and Krishnakumar Mitra’s Anti Circular Society etc denounced such religious patriotism as devisive.

(4) Revolutionary Terrorism •

Sarkar says by 1907 the mass movement aim of the Political Extremists was being challenged from within their ranks, by men who called for elite action terrorism or Revolutionary Terrorism.

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He says that by 1908 the methods of Political extremists - Gandhian constructive work and mass Sa tya gra h a proved very short lived. One saw a return to Moderate politics and the growth of Revolutionary Terrorism.

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A common explanation for this decline in the Swadeshi movement post 1908 has been British repression. However the total number of people tried during Swadeshi movement till 1909 were a minute-115, with short sentences of 6months-2yrs and two cases of firing on non Swadeshi demonstrators.

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Thus he analyses the achievements main methods/trends of the movement and each one’s internal limitation that resulted in its decline/ anticlimax.

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These methods were not exclusive to one group-Moderates, constructive Swadeshi men or political extremists though revolutionary terrorism was used mainly by radical political extremists.

MAIN COMPONENTS OF THE MOVEMENT + INTERNAL LIMITATIONS – Boycott and Swadeshi – •

The movement saw great success initially as the Calcutta Customs Collector in September 1905 reported a 22% fall in imported cotton goods, 44% in cotton yarn, 55% in cigarettes, 68% in shoes as compared to August 1905, due to a boycott of such goods. The sharpest decline interestingly was in ‘cigarettes and shoes’ – middle class Indian gentlemanly products reflecting the social base of this movement.

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Sarkar says that this decline in imports was not just due to boycott but more due to a disagreement on trade terms between Calcutta Marwari dealers and British Merchants and imports picked up once this dispute was settled. Bombay Mill owners despite Bengali pleas still hiked up their prices in this period.

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Swadeshi was successful as indigenous industries like Handloom, silk weaving etc were revived. Modern Indian industries were promoted- e.g. Ba n ggaa La ksh kshmi mi Cott Cotton on mil mills ls (1906) Ca lcutta Pottery W Works orks (1906) along with matches, cigarettes and soap factories etc. Patrons included few big zamindars but mainly professional intelligentsia.

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The main limitation of Swadeshi enterprise was the lack of capital and role of the Indian business community which found it easier to make money from trade than investment in industry. It was an intelligentsia movement with bourgeoisie aspirations but no bourgeois support.

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Thus in the long term, Swadeshi never seriously threatened British economic interests in Bengal.

National Education •

National education was promoted during the Swadeshi movement to foster self reliance and saw varied educational institutions being set up.

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These included the Bengal Technical Institute for technical education, the Bengal National College, with Aurobindo Ghosh as principal and scores of national schools across the country.

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In 1906 the National Council of Education was established to organize education on “national lines” with the advocacy of vernacular education in most institutions. According to Sarkar the main limitations of national education were – 1) its negligible job prospects which failed to attract students 2) little focus on village level education.

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Ultimately what survived were the Bengal National College, Bengal Technical Institute and a dozen national schools in West Bengal. The largest number of national schools was in East Bengal which aimed to extend education to villages although in later years they became centres for Revolutionary activity.

Samitis – •

Samitis or National Volunteer organizations were one of Swadeshi’s biggest achievements.

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Till 1908 Samitis were engaged in varied activities like-physical and moral training, social work during famines, preaching the Swadeshi message by organizing craft manufacture, schools, arbitration courts. Bipan Chandra says that Samitis were used for mass mobilization.

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The most prominent Samiti was Ashwini Kumar Dutt’s Swadesh Bhandav Samiti in Barisal(East Bengal). It had 175 branches in the district and unparalleled mass following amongst mainly Muslim peasants. The Samiti movement was strongest in East Bengal. Samitis were varied in their social base and activities- 1) the Ca lcutt lcuttaa An ush iila la n Sa Samiti miti had a secular social base 2) The Ba ris risaa l S w a d eesh sh Bh a nndd a v had a mass base through humanitarian work, 3) the Dacca Anushilan samiti emphasised physical training of cadres and used Hindu revivalism.

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Post the summer of 1908 in the face of repression many Samitis disappeared while some turned into revolutionary outfits-eg Da cca An us ushh il ilaa m S amiti. Another reason for their decline was that many village samitis didn’t develop peasant membership but consisted mostly village bhadralok bhadralok.

Labour Unrest – •

This was due to rising prices during the Swadeshi period, especially in white collar enterprises, which found the support of Swadeshi leaders.

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Extremist newspapers supported these strikes and some financial aid was also given. In Sept 1905, 247 Bengali Clerks of Burn Company-Howrah went on strike and were lauded by the public. The main achievement was that the first Labour Union was founded- the Prin ttee rs Un ion (1905).

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In 1906 with a strike of Eastern Railways clerks the Railwaymen’s Union was founded and Swadeshi leaders Bipin Chandrapal, Liakat Hussain etc, addressed coolies to draw them in.

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Jute strikes peaked between 1905-8 and in 1906 the labour movement was formidable. Yet the main limitation of labour movement Sarkar says was that there were no real political strikes as plantation and mine labourers didn’t participate and Swadeshi contacts were mainly with white collar clerks or at best jute workers.

Revolutionary groups •

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Sumit Sarkar says that revolutionary groups began developing as early as 1902 in Midnapur(Midnapur Society) and Calcutta(e.g.Anushilan Samiti founded Satishchandra Basu, Sarla Ghoshal founded a gymnasium and the Atmonnoti Samiti were founded). Initially their activities were confined to physical and moral training and were insignificant till 1907-08.

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In early years 1905-6 Aurobindo Ghosh’s brother started the newspaper Yuga n ta tarr which expressed revolutionary ideas and planned a few attacks – like an attack on East Bengal Lt. Gov Fuller which failed.

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Henchandra Kaunungo went abroad to get revolutionary training from Russian émigré in Paris and returned in 1908 to set up a religious school and bomb factory in Maniktala, Calcutta.

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With the decline of the Swadeshi movement by mid 1908, Sarkar says revolutionary terrorism emerged as a new trend and was to constitute the main legacy of the Swadeshi movement as it continued even in other parts of India.

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Revolutionary activities took two shapesSwadeshi dacoitites to raise funds for the movement (e.g.Pulin Das’s Dacca Anushilan Samiti organized the Barrah dacoity-1908) Later attempts to assassinate oppressive Government Officials – 1) in 1908 Kh ud ira m Bose and Pra ffulla ulla Ch a ki threw a bomb on the carriage of the Magistrate Kingsford, yet failed to kill him and led to the arrest of the Maniktala revolutionaries including Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindranath. Chakki shot himself and Khudiram was tried and hung-with thousands mourning this. 2) R a sh Be h a rrii Gh os oshh and Sa ch in Sa Sann ya l also tried to kill Viceroy Hardinge only managing to wound him. 3) Even abroad officials were targeted by Revolutionary centres set up by Swadeshi leaders like VD Sa va ka rr,, Aj iitt Sin gh , Ma d a m Ca m maa .

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Sarkar and Chandra say Revolutionary Terrorist activity outlived the period of Swadeshi, contributing greatly to the nationalist struggle as it frightened British officials and led to worldwide arms and ideological training contacts.

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However Sarkar cites its main limitations as follows- 1) British administration never saw it as a major danger and the emphasis on religious doctrines like Gita doctrine of Nishkama to justify terrorist activities, stimulated a cult of martyrdom rather than a effective planned struggle making these actions spontaneous and futile . 2) Elite terrorist action postponed efforts at a mass political struggle that was sustainable. 3) Social limitations of Revolutionary terrorism were clear as very few men joined such terrorist activity.

Development of Swadeshi Movement across the Country – One also saw Swadeshi movement develop in other parts of India especially amongst educated Indians as Curzon’s repressive measures aroused anger. The shape of the movement differed in various regions•

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Punjab- Swadeshi took the form of Constructive Swadeshi- in banking, education, insurance and some effort at boycott of foreign cloth led by The college Faction of the Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj. Among Aryas Swadeshi got mixed with hindu revivalism Between 1904-7 Political Extremism developed under the likes of Lala lajpat Rai, but this was shortlived and milder than Bengal. Ajit singh was another political extremist who later became a revolutionary terrorist. Yet by 1907 May in the face of govt repression and some political concessions Swadeshi died down in Punjab. In Maharashtra- Political Extremism with a dominant Hindu revivalist streak was led by BG Tilak he preached Swaraj, boycott and passive resistance. Two main initiatives of Tilak were mass picketing of liquor shops and development of contacts with Marathi working class-thus one saw huge militant labour strikes especially when Tilak was put on triale.g.Mujli Jatha Market hartal. Police and army fried on labour strikes. Post Tilak’s

imprisonment Extremism changed to revolutionary terrorism with Abhinav Bharat Society, Nav Bharat Society etc coming up yet terrorism was never as formidable as in Bengal. •

Madras Presidency- Political Extremism emerged for a short period in the Andhra deltaM Krisna Rao invited Bipin Chandra Pal, which excited students and led to start of national schools and one saw cultural developments-new intrest in telagu lang and history. In Tirunelveli dist- Ch id a mbra m Pilla i was the main leader and one saw capitalist funding Swadeshi ventures which were unique.. S Siva preached swaraj and botcott. But after the imprisonment of these leaders Swadeshi declined.

REASONS FOR DECLINE/ANTI CLIMAX AND ACHIEVEMENTSThe Swadeshi Movement peaked around 1906 yet by 1908 most historians agree that it petered out especially in its mass mobilization, Boycott and Swade...