The formal proclamation of the Swadeshi movement was made on August 7, 1905 with the passing of the ‘Boycott’ resolution in a meeting at the Calcutta town hall which brought about the unification of the hitherto dispersed leadership. On the day the partition was put into effect i.e. October 16, 1905, a hartal was called in Calcutta and a day of mourning was declared. People fasted and no fire was lit in the cooking hearth.

People paraded the streets singing Bande Mataram. The people of Bengal tied rakhis on each others’ wrist as a symbol of solidarity.This peculiar form of mass protest of ‘swadeshi and boycott’ attained popularity among the new members of the Congress, who were more impatient than the moderates to see a positive response to their efforts.

Swadeshi Movement (1905-1911)

  1. This was a comprehensive movement that lasted 6 years.
  2. The swadeshi movement assumed its radical and mass form after 1905 following the contested spatial partition of Bengal.
  3. In 1907, swadeshi was officially incorporated within the conceptual and ideological framework of the Indian National Congress in the avowed objective of swadeshi swaraj.
  4. Although this was regarded as a cultural movement celebrating the rich harvest of history – the rich traditions like folk music, paintings, the culture of Bengal was highlighted. But very soon, it got integrated with the political upheavals that followed after the partition of Bengal. Krishna Kumar Mitra, in his newspaper, ‘Sanjivani’ highlighted the prospects of national education and ‘Economic Swadeshi’.
  5. Very soon, this movement started gaining momentum with the help of the entire Bengali middle-class intelligentsia.
  6. After the partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi movement got a big boost, because of the integration of the boycott movement with the Swadeshi movement.
  7. Tilak called this movement “Bahishkar Yoga“ and most of the Bengali intelligentsia that was initially not in favour of the boycott movement got integrated with the Swadeshi movement.
  8. This was primary learning for the national movement. According to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Lala Lajpat Rai, it was training in ‘self-determination’, ‘self-help’, and ‘self-reliance’.
  9. Initially the idea of swadeshi figured in the writings of early nationalists such as Dadabhai Nauroji, M.G.Ranade and Bipin Chandra Pal, who came in defence of the national economy against the colonial economy.
  10. In fact, the Swadeshi movement can be called as a nursery of the further course that the Indian National Movement was to take. The programmes and ideas that were practised during the Swadeshi movement became the hallmark of the Gandhian movement as well.
  11. Surendranath Bannerjee said that it is a ‘protectionist movement’. And that it ‘generates the material prosperity of the masses’.
  12. Very soon, the Swadeshi movement spread to different parts of India, like Bihar, U.P., C.P., Bombay and Madras.
  13. Radicalism also became a part of the Swadeshi movement after the partition of Bengal. After the partition of Bengal, industrial strikes became the hallmark of the Swadeshi movement.
  14. There were strikes carried out in various cotton and jute factories of Bengal. Railway workers also went on strike. The Burnpur mill also went on strike.
  15. But, the context of the anti-partition movement made it a very aggressive movement.