Revolutionary Movement
Revolutionary Movement
Revolutionary nationalism ran alongside the Congress from about 1897 to 1934, in two main phases - the first during and after the Swadeshi movement, and the second in the late 1920s. Its methods were individual assassination, bomb attacks, dacoities for funds, and attempts to subvert the army, and its purpose was to inspire rather than to defeat the British militarily.
First phase, 1897-1917
| Event or group | Details |
|---|---|
| Chapekar brothers | Damodar and Balkrishna Chapekar assassinated Rand, the Plague Commissioner of Pune, in 1897 - the first political assassination of the era |
| Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar | Bengal secret societies; Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Bhupendranath Datta; the journal Jugantar |
| Alipore Bomb Case 1908 | Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attacked the carriage they believed carried Kingsford at Muzaffarpur; Khudiram was hanged, Aurobindo tried and acquitted |
| Abhinav Bharat | Founded by V. D. Savarkar and Ganesh Savarkar in 1904; Savarkar wrote The Indian War of Independence 1857 |
| India House, London | Shyamji Krishna Varma; Madan Lal Dhingra assassinated Curzon Wyllie in 1909 |
| Ghadar Party 1913 | Founded at San Francisco by Sohan Singh Bhakna and Lala Har Dayal; planned a mutiny in February 1915 that was betrayed; Kartar Singh Sarabha executed |
| Delhi Conspiracy 1912 | Rash Behari Bose and Basanta Kumar Biswas threw a bomb at Viceroy Hardinge |
क्रांतिकारी आंदोलन का उद्देश्य सैन्य विजय नहीं, प्रेरणा और भय पैदा करना था | परीक्षा में प्रायः घटना, संगठन और व्यक्ति की जोड़ी पूछी जाती है - इसलिए नाम और वर्ष साथ याद करो |
Second phase, 1922-1934
After the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation in 1922 many young activists turned to revolutionary action. The Hindustan Republican Association was formed in 1924 by Sachindranath Sanyal, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee and Ramprasad Bismil, and carried out the Kakori conspiracy of August 1925, for which Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri were hanged.
| Event | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Renaming as HSRA | 1928 | Hindustan Socialist Republican Army at Feroz Shah Kotla, adding a socialist objective under Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad |
| Saunders killing | 1928 | In retaliation for the lathi charge that killed Lala Lajpat Rai during the Simon Commission protest |
| Central Assembly bomb | 8 April 1929 | Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb and courted arrest to 'make the deaf hear' |
| Chittagong armoury raid | 1930 | Surya Sen with Kalpana Datta and Pritilata Waddedar |
| Execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev | 23 March 1931 | In the Lahore Conspiracy Case; observed as Shaheed Diwas |
| Chandrashekhar Azad | 1931 | Died fighting at Alfred Park, Allahabad |
HRA 1924 → Kakori 1925 → HSRA 1928 → Assembly bomb 1929 → 1931 executions
- Bhagat Singh's essay Why I am an Atheist and the Naujawan Bharat Sabha of 1926 show the ideological shift towards socialism
- Women revolutionaries included Kalpana Datta, Pritilata Waddedar, Bina Das and Santi Ghose
- The Indian Republican Army in Chittagong briefly declared a provisional government
- Revolutionary activity abroad also included the Berlin Committee and Raja Mahendra Pratap's provisional government of India at Kabul in 1915
✗ Bhagat Singh's group aimed only at assassination | ✓ The HSRA had a declared socialist programme; the Assembly bomb was deliberately non-lethal and aimed at publicity for their ideas
Assessment
Revolutionary nationalism never had the numbers to challenge the colonial state directly, and Gandhi criticised its methods. But it kept the idea of complete independence alive when the Congress still spoke of dominion status, it produced a generation of iconic figures, and in its second phase it introduced socialism and the question of economic equality into the national movement. The Congress resolution on Fundamental Rights at Karachi in 1931 reflects that influence.
Linkage: this topic runs parallel to the Gandhian era topic and should be revised alongside it. Bhagat Singh's socialism connects to the Congress Socialist Party and to the Karachi resolution, and the Ghadar movement links to the First World War context and to the INA later.
Exam pointer: one question in most years, usually matching a person with an event or organisation. High-yield: Kakori 1925, HSRA 1928, Assembly bomb 1929, Chittagong 1930, and 23 March 1931. Traps: confusing HRA with HSRA, attributing the Chittagong raid to Bengal's Anushilan Samiti, and mixing up Khudiram Bose with Prafulla Chaki. Note that Ashfaqullah Khan and Ramprasad Bismil belong to Kakori, not to the Lahore conspiracy.
FAQ
What was the Kakori conspiracy?
The robbery of a train carrying government money near Kakori in Uttar Pradesh in August 1925 by members of the Hindustan Republican Association, to fund revolutionary activity. Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri were hanged for it.
Why did Bhagat Singh throw a bomb in the Central Assembly?
To protest against the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill and to publicise revolutionary ideas. The bomb was deliberately harmless, thrown at an empty part of the chamber, and he and B. K. Dutt stayed to be arrested so that the trial would give them a platform.
How did the second phase differ from the first?
The first phase was largely nationalist and drew on religious symbolism. The second phase, especially under the HSRA, adopted an explicit socialist programme, spoke of the emancipation of workers and peasants, and used trials as a public platform for political argument.
60-second recap
- Chapekar brothers 1897; Anushilan and Jugantar in Bengal; Alipore Bomb Case 1908.
- Abhinav Bharat by Savarkar; India House in London; Ghadar Party 1913 at San Francisco.
- HRA 1924; Kakori conspiracy 1925; Bismil and Ashfaqullah hanged.
- HSRA 1928 under Bhagat Singh and Azad; Saunders killed the same year.
- Central Assembly bomb 8 April 1929; Chittagong armoury raid 1930 under Surya Sen.
- Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev executed on 23 March 1931.