Revolutionary movements

1. Origins, character and historical setting

Revolutionary nationalism developed from dissatisfaction with colonial rule and the limited results of constitutional petitioning. Economic exploitation, racial discrimination, restrictions on political expression and coercive administrative measures encouraged some young nationalists to consider armed resistance. The Partition of Bengal in 1905 and repression of the Swadeshi movement gave a particularly strong stimulus to underground organisation. Earlier resistance, including Vasudev Balwant Phadke’s activities in western India in 1879, provided precedents but should not be treated as one continuous organisation.

Revolutionaries sought to end foreign domination through secret societies, selective attacks on colonial officials, collection of weapons, political dacoities to obtain funds and the circulation of nationalist literature. Some believed exemplary sacrifice would awaken the people; others planned insurrection by mobilising Indian soldiers. Their inspiration included Indian historical and religious traditions, Italian nationalism, Irish resistance and Russian revolutionary movements. After 1917, socialism and the Russian Revolution increasingly influenced a younger generation.

Revolutionary nationalism must be distinguished from the Congress Extremists, such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai. Extremists advocated swadeshi, boycott, national education and assertive political action, but were not identical with underground armed organisations. Nor were all revolutionaries ideologically alike: their outlook evolved from patriotic militancy towards republicanism, secularism and, in some organisations, socialism.

• Major centres included Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and the United Provinces, alongside expatriate bases in Europe, North America and East Asia.
• Colonial sources frequently used the label revolutionary terrorism; historical analysis should distinguish the groups’ varied objectives, methods and changing ideas.

2. Early organisations in India: Maharashtra and Bengal

In Maharashtra, the Chapekar brothers’ attack on Rand in 1897 was linked to resentment against intrusive plague-control measures in Poona. V. D. Savarkar and his associates developed Mitra Mela into Abhinav Bharat in 1904. Secret organisation, nationalist education and the acquisition of arms characterised this network. In 1909, Anant Lakshman Kanhere assassinated A. M. T. Jackson, the district magistrate of Nasik, leading to the Nasik Conspiracy Case.

In Bengal, Anushilan Samiti emerged in the early twentieth century, combining physical training with nationalist mobilisation. Its Calcutta and Dacca networks became important centres of revolutionary activity; Pulin Behari Das was prominent in Dacca. Jugantar, launched as a newspaper in 1906, was associated with a revolutionary current involving Barindra Kumar Ghosh and others. These networks were decentralised and overlapping rather than a single, stable hierarchy.

On 30 April 1908, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attacked a carriage at Muzaffarpur, intending to kill magistrate Douglas Kingsford. Instead, two British women were killed. Chaki died by suicide while evading arrest, and Bose was executed. The subsequent Alipore Bomb Case brought numerous Bengal revolutionaries to trial. Aurobindo Ghose was acquitted after a defence led by Chittaranjan Das; Barindra Kumar Ghosh received a death sentence that was commuted to transportation for life.

Revolutionary activity also spread beyond these centres. Vanchinathan killed Collector Robert Ashe at Maniyachi in 1911. In December 1912, a bomb was thrown at Viceroy Hardinge’s procession in Delhi; Rash Behari Bose and Sachindranath Sanyal were associated with the conspiracy. Such actions demonstrated geographical reach but also exposed underground groups to surveillance, arrests and severe punishment.

3. Overseas networks, Ghadar and the First World War

Indian expatriates created platforms for revolutionary propaganda beyond the immediate reach of colonial censorship. Shyamji Krishna Varma established India House in London in 1905 and published The Indian Sociologist. Savarkar became closely associated with India House. In 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra assassinated Curzon Wyllie in London. Bhikaji Cama publicised Indian independence abroad and unfurled an early nationalist flag at the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in 1907.

The Ghadar movement arose in 1913 among Indian emigrants, especially Punjabi workers and former soldiers, on the Pacific coast of North America. Sohan Singh Bhakna was its founding president, while Lala Har Dayal was a leading organiser and intellectual influence. Its headquarters, the Yugantar Ashram, was in San Francisco. The newspaper Ghadar openly called for overthrowing British rule. The movement promoted solidarity across religious divisions and linked migrants’ experiences of racial discrimination with India’s colonial subordination.

The First World War appeared to offer an opportunity because Britain was engaged in a major international conflict. Ghadar activists returned to India and sought to organise a military uprising in 1915, working with revolutionaries including Rash Behari Bose. Informers, weak coordination and preventive arrests defeated the plans. Kartar Singh Sarabha was among those executed following the Lahore conspiracy proceedings.

Other wartime initiatives included the Berlin Committee, which sought German assistance, and the Provisional Government of India proclaimed at Kabul in December 1915 under Mahendra Pratap, with Barkatullah as prime minister. In Bengal, Jatindranath Mukherjee, known as Bagha Jatin, pursued plans connected with German arms supplies and died after a clash with police near Balasore in September 1915. These attempts internationalised the struggle but depended heavily on uncertain external support.

4. Republicanism, socialism and revolutionary action in the 1920s–1930s

The withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 disappointed some politically active young people and contributed to renewed revolutionary organisation. The Hindustan Republican Association, formed in 1924, included Sachindranath Sanyal, Ram Prasad Bismil and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee among its principal figures. It envisaged a republican political order rather than merely replacing individual British officials. On 9 August 1925, its members seized government money carried on a train near Kakori to finance their activities.

The Kakori trials severely weakened the organisation. Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan Singh were executed in 1927. Chandrashekhar Azad remained underground and helped rebuild the network. In September 1928, revolutionaries meeting at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi reorganised it as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and their comrades increasingly connected national liberation with opposition to economic exploitation.

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot police officer J. P. Saunders at Lahore, with Azad assisting the operation. They had intended to target James Scott, whom they held responsible for the lathi charge on Lala Lajpat Rai. On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly and remained to be arrested. The action was presented as a protest against repressive legislation, intended to publicise revolutionary ideas rather than cause deaths.

Trials, statements and hunger strikes became instruments of political mobilisation. Jatin Das died in September 1929 after a prolonged hunger strike over prison conditions. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were executed on 23 March 1931 in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bhagat Singh’s writings emphasised reason, secular politics and socialist transformation, showing that his conception of revolution extended beyond armed action.

5. Chittagong, women’s participation and historical assessment

Surya Sen’s Indian Republican Army, Chittagong Branch, raided armouries and disrupted communications on 18 April 1930. The objective was to isolate Chittagong and challenge colonial authority through a coordinated uprising. The revolutionaries subsequently fought British forces at Jalalabad. Surya Sen was captured in 1933 and executed in January 1934. Pritilata Waddedar led an attack on the Pahartali European Club in 1932, while Kalpana Datta participated in the Chittagong network.

Women were not merely supporters: they sheltered fugitives, transported weapons, organised networks and undertook armed actions. Durga Devi Vohra helped Bhagat Singh escape from Lahore after Saunders’s killing. Bina Das attempted to shoot Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson in 1932. Such participation challenged conventional gender expectations, although revolutionary organisations remained predominantly male.

These movements undermined the image of unquestionable colonial power and made courage, sacrifice and political imprisonment central to nationalist culture. However, secrecy, limited resources, infiltration and inadequate links with peasants and workers constrained their capacity to overthrow British rule. Their significance lies not in replacing mass politics but in widening the struggle’s ideological range and strengthening republican, secular and socialist aspirations.

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