Swadeshi Movement

Swadeshi Movement, anti-colonial agitation in British India, formally launched in 1905, and the first organized mass collective action in the Indian Independence Movement. It emphasized self-sufficiency (swadeshi: “of one’s own country”) through a binary resistance that was both active (promotion of indigenous goods and institutions) and passive (boycott of British products and establishments). The movement synthesized economic ideology with an immediate political objective—to reverse the partition of Bengal, implemented in 1905 by the British raj. While the partition was annulled in 1911, the Swadeshi Movement had declined by 1908 without decisively confronting colonialism. However, swadeshi ideals influenced subsequent political activities by independence activists and formed the basis of Mahatma Gandhi’s campaigns of noncooperation and nonviolent resistance.

Background

Socioeconomic and political conditions in 19th-century India facilitated the mass awakening of nationalist sentiment that was triggered by the partition of Bengal, which divided the eastern province of Bengal into a Hindu-majority west and a Muslim-majority east. Famines and epidemics had aggravated deprivation rooted in the British raj’s exploitative economic policies. These had impoverished India, which had been reduced to functioning as a supplier of raw materials to England and a consumer of the imported end product. The “drain of wealth” by ruinous taxation, depletion of domestic resources, and transfer of income to England were detailed in the writings of Indian National Congress (Congress Party) leaders such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Romesh Chunder Dutt, and Dinshaw Wacha. However, while the Congress Party had been able to construct a damaging economic critique of imperialism, its political methods of meetings, petitions, and press campaigns were widely seen as inadequate and led to rising disenchantment.

By the 1890s divisions had emerged within the Congress Party between the moderates (the old guard of leaders such as Naoroji and Gopal Krishna Gokhale) and the extremists, led by Lal Bal Pal (a collective name for the leaders Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal). Rejecting the moderate goal of constitutional reforms within the imperialist framework, the extremists originated the demand for swaraj, or self-government. They also favored a more assertive approach toward anti-colonial resistance. Later, radical leaders such as Aurobindo Ghose evolved a militant nationalism predicated on the use of violent means to achieve freedom. Ghose became affiliated with revolutionary groups, such as Anushilan Samiti, which emerged during the Swadeshi Movement and were involved in plots to assassinate British officials.

The partition of Bengal was the immediate trigger for the movement. Territorial reorganization was the British solution to the administrative difficulties in the vast and unwieldy Bengal region, However, the geographical split is regarded by historians as an example of divide and rule (a colonial strategy of governance), by which the colonial authorities aimed to foster religious divides and weaken nationalist sentiments. Proposals for the partition of Bengal began to be considered by Lord Curzon (viceroy of India from 1898 to 1905) in 1903, igniting a collective consciousness that was already simmering with political disaffection. Protests erupted on an unprecedented scale: meetings were held, petitions were signed, and speeches were made. However, the need for direct action gradually became evident. The Congress Party passed the Swadeshi Movement resolution at its 1905 session in Banaras (now Varanasi), with Lal Bal Pal urging that it be expanded beyond Bengal.

Launch of the movement and swadeshi enterprises

The Swadeshi Movement was formally launched and a boycott resolution passed at the Town Hall in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on August 7, 1905. Despite opposition, Bengal was partitioned on October 16, a day marked by protests and mourning. Bengal inevitably became the epicenter of the movement, which spread concurrently to other parts of the country, notably Maharashtra and Punjab, which were the home regions of Tilak and Rai. Swadeshi schemes were shaped by the notion of atmashakti (atma: self and shakti: power). Corps of volunteers were organized into samitis (associations), which propagated the swadeshi message. In Muslim-majority Barisal, eastern Bengal, volunteer activity was especially successful under the leadership of Ashwini Kumar Dutt, who set up more than 150 branches of his Swadesh Bandhab Samiti (bandhab: friend).

British goods were publicly consigned to bonfires, shops selling foreign products were picketed, and strikes were organized in British-run industries. To enable the buying of swadeshi goods, two strands of production were formed—the revival of traditional crafts and the establishment of new industries. Indigenous manufacturing had already begun to develop in the years leading up to the movement. Examples of early industrialization were Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd., a pharmaceutical company incorporated in 1901, and textile mills established by Jamsetji Tata in 1874 and 1886.

The swadeshi impulse was largely centered on indigenous weaving—particularly of cotton cloth although the weaving of silk also increased during this period—which would provide consumers an alternative to cloth manufactured in Manchester and Lancashire. Several enterprises were established to this end, such as the Banga Lakshmi Cotton Mills, which began production in 1906 and turned a profit the next year. The surge of industrialization included the Tata Iron and Steel Company, which was established in 1907, and Godrej Industries, which started manufacturing locks in 1897. V.O. Chidambaram Pillai founded an indigeneously run shipping concern, Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, in 1906 (it operated until 1910). Homegrown establishments also included soap and match factories, tanneries, banks, and insurance companies. Stores retailing indigenous products were set up, and swadeshi goods were also sold at exhibitions organized both locally and by the Congress Party at its annual sessions.

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The concept of swadeshi extended to institutions as well as products and led to the formation of Indian-led educational institutions, which used vernacular mediums and countered existing schools and colleges that taught in English. The Bengal National College was established in 1906, followed by the Bengal Technical Institute in the same year. The two were merged in 1910 and formed the precursor of the contemporary Jadavpur University in Kolkata. A National Council of Education was also formed in 1906. Several schools were established across the country.

The Swadeshi Movement corresponded with a revival of Hinduism, which was used as a means to appeal to the masses. The movement relied heavily on Hindu symbolism and notions, such as the concept of a traditional samaj, or society, invoked and popularized by Rabindranath Tagore in the early 1900s. Tilak had already popularized festivals in honor of the Maratha leader Shivaji and the Hindu deity Ganesha in Maharashtra. Cultural output during this period also had a definite religious context. The devotional poem “Vande Mataram,” an ode to the goddess Durga, was set to music and became a rallying cry in the independence movement. The artwork Bharat Mata (painted by Abanindranath Tagore in 1905) became iconic for its depiction of India as a Hindu goddess. However, the predominance of Hindu elements in public life ultimately alienated the Muslim population, leading to the rise of Muslim nationalism.

Key figures

• Lal Bal Pal: The principles of swadeshi were refined and popularized by Rai, Tilak (who also initiated the boycott program), and Pal. All three were arrested during the course of the movement, and Rai and Tilak were deported to Mandalay, Burma (now Myanmar).
• Rabindranath Tagore: The poet had been a dominant figure in the anti-partition agitation and greatly influenced the Swadeshi Movement. He had established a school at Shantiniketan and a Swadeshi Bhandar (bhandar: store) in 1897, which were precursors to the educational institutions and emporia set up during the movement. In 1904 he had written an essay titled “Swadeshi Samaj,” which he also delivered as a speech. During the movement he composed several inspirational songs. These included “Ekla Cholo Re” (“Walk Alone”), “Banglar Maati, Banglar Jol” (“Soil of Bengal, Water of Bengal”; adopted as the state anthem of West Bengal in 2023), and “Amar Sonar Bangla” (“My Golden Bengal”; adopted as the national anthem of Bangladesh in 1971). His novel Ghare Baire (published in 1916; “The Home and the World”) is set during the movement.
• Surendranath Banerjea: The moderate leader had been at the forefront of the anti-partition agitation and was one of the moving forces behind the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal. He embraced the extremist strategy and called for the boycott of Manchester cotton and Liverpool salt.
• Aurobindo Ghose: He was the first principal of the Bengal National College and delivered speeches encouraging swadeshi activities and the development of national education. As editor of Pal’s newspaper Bande Mataram, he was arrested on charges of sedition in 1907.

Decline and impact

Despite its initial national impetus, the Swadeshi Movement had spent itself by 1908. There was limited impact on the import and consumption of British goods. Although the movement was remarkable for the participation of women, it was largely unsuccessful in expanding its social base and failed to mobilize the rural population, especially the Muslim population (with exceptions such as Dutt’s achievements in Barisal). Political activity was concentrated in urban centers and limited to the educated elite. The British authorities’ efforts at suppression helped diminish the movement—meetings were banned or forcibly dispersed, and leaders were arrested. The rift in the Congress Party culminated in an acrimonious split at the 1907 session in Surat (now in Gujarat), delivering the final blow.

However, while political activity declined, swadeshi enterprises and ideals endured. There was a revival in handloom and traditional crafts. Several companies formed during this period survived—Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. exists as a public sector enterprise, and the Tata and Godrej conglomerates are industry leaders. Indigenous economic activity flourished in the decades following the decline of the movement. Manufacturing increased steadily, and some operations founded during this period are still in business. These include Bengal Waterproof (founded in 1920, renamed Duckback [the name by which the company’s products were known] in 2014), G.D. Pharmaceuticals (founded in 1929, manufacturers of the popular antiseptic cream Boroline), and Sulekha Ink (founded in 1934).

The principle of self-reliance later informed Gandhi’s economic approach toward the goal of self-determination. The Salt Satyagraha (1930), for instance, protested the British monopoly on salt production and the high salt tax levied on Indians. Gandhi also became associated with the charkha, or spinning wheel, on which he produced a coarse cotton fabric known as khadi.