Revolutionary Nationalism After 1907
By the end of 1907, a new political trend had emerged. Bengal's restless young men chose the path of individual heroism and revolutionary nationalism. This was primarily due to a lack of other options for expressing their patriotism. While the youth of Bengal were outraged by official arrogance and repression, as well as the Congress Moderates' "mendicancy," they were also led to "bomb politics" by the Extremists' failure to provide a positive lead to the people.
Role of extremist:
• The Extremists had delivered a scathing, and on the whole accurate, critique of the Moderates. They had correctly highlighted the importance of the masses' role, as well as the need to go beyond propaganda and agitation.
• They advocated for sustained opposition to the government and proposed a militant programme of passive resistance, including a boycott of foreign clothing, foreigners' courts, and education, among other things.
• They had expected the youth to sacrifice themselves. Direct action had been discussed and written about.
Failure of extremist:
• They had been unable to find forms in which all of these ideas could be put into practise.
• They were unable to form a viable organisation to lead the movement or to define it in a way that was distinct from that of the Moderates.
• They were more militant in their criticism of British rule; they were willing to make greater sacrifices and endure greater suffering, but they lacked the skills to go beyond more strident agitation.
• They were unable to present new forms of political struggle or mass movements to the public. As a result, by the end of 1907, they, too, had reached a political impasse.
• They focused so much of their energy on criticising the Moderates and gaining control of Congress. The Extremists' waffling, predictably, did not impress the youth, who chose to use physical force instead.
Emergence of revolutionary nationalism:
• After the police assault on the peaceful Barisal Conference in April 1906, The Yugantar, a newspaper echoing this discontent, wrote: ‘The thirty crores of people inhabiting India must raise their sixty crores of hands to stop this curse of oppression.' Force must be used to stop force.' But the question was what form this force-based movement would take.
• Organizing a popular mass uprising would be a difficult and time-consuming task. Many considered trying to undermine the army's loyalty, but they knew it would be difficult.
• Revolutionary youth decided to copy the methods of fish nationalists and Russian nihilists and populists for the time being. They decided to organise the assassination of unpopular British officials, in other words.
• These assassinations would terrify the rulers, amuse the people's patriotic instincts, inspire them, and remove their fear of authority from their minds.
• Each assassination, and the subsequent trial of the revolutionaries involved if the assassins were apprehended, would serve as "propaganda by deed."
• All that was required for this type of struggle was a large number of young people willing to give their lives. It inevitably appealed to the youth's idealism; it awoke their latent sense of heroism.
• A growing number of young men have taken up this form of political activism. Once again, the extremist leadership has failed the youth. While it praised their courage and self-sacrifice, it failed to provide a positive outlet for their revolutionary energies and to educate them on the political differences between a revolution based on mass action and a revolution based on individual action, no matter how heroic.
• It also failed to refute the idea that being a revolutionary meant supporting violent action.
• Aurobindo Ghose, in fact, endorsed this idea. Perhaps the Extremist leadership's actions were hampered by a sense that it was inappropriate to criticise the heroic youth who were being condemned and pursued by the authorities. However, failing to oppose the young revolutionaries politically and ideologically was a grave mistake, as it allowed the individualistic and terrorist conception of revolution to take root in Bengal.
REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES:
1. V.D. Sarvarkar founded Abhinav Bharat as a secret revolutionary society in 1904. After 1905, a number of newspapers (and a few leaders) openly advocated revolutionary terrorism. A failed assassination attempt was made on the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in 1907.
2. Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose threw a bomb at a carriage they thought was carrying Kingsford, the unpopular judge at Muzzafarpur, in April 1908. Instead, they assassinated two English ladies.
• Prafulla Chaki committed suicide by shooting himself, while Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged.
• Thousands of people wept as he died, and he and Chaki became popular nationalist heroes about whom folk songs were written and sung across the country.
3. Secret revolutionary societies sprang up all over the country, the most well-known and long-lasting of which were Anushilan Samity and Jugantar. Their activities took two forms: assassinating oppressive officials, as well as informers and traitors from within their own ranks, and dacoits to raise funds for the purchase of arms and other necessities. Swadeshi dacoits became a popular term for the latter.
4. The unsuccessful attempt by Rash Behari Bose and Sachin Sanyal to kill Viceroy Lord Hardinge — who was wounded by a bomb thrown at him while riding an elephant in a state procession.
5. Madan Lal Dhingra's assassination of Curzon-Wylie in London were two of the most spectacular revolutionary terrorist actions of the period.
6. The revolutionary terrorists also set up bases in other countries. Shyamji Krishnavarma, V.D. Savarkar, and Har Dayal in London, and Madame Cama and Ajit Singh in Europe, were the most well-known.
Revolutionary nationalism faded away over time. Individual revolutionaries, organised in small secret groups, could not withstand suppression by the still powerful colonial state because they lacked a mass base. Despite their small numbers and eventual failure, they made a significant contribution to India's rise to nationalism. As one historian put it, "they returned the pride of our manhood to us."