First Phase of Revolutionary Activities (1907–1917)

Revolutionary activity was not a sudden development — it was the logical radicalization of militant nationalism when all peaceful avenues were sealed. After the decline of the open Swadeshi Movement, young nationalists who had participated found it impossible to retreat into private life. They looked for forms of struggle to express their patriotic energy, but were disillusioned when even the Extremist leaders — who called upon youth to make sacrifices — failed to create effective organisations or new forms of political work. With government repression making peaceful protest impossible, a segment concluded that the British could only be expelled by physical force.

The revolutionaries followed the model of Russian nihilists and Irish nationalists — individual heroic actions rather than mass revolution. They considered but rejected two alternatives as impractical at that stage: creating a violent mass revolution throughout the country or subverting the loyalties of the Army.

Methods of the revolutionaries:

• Assassinations of unpopular officials and informers within their own ranks
• 'Swadeshi dacoities' to raise funds
• Military conspiracies with help from Britain's enemies (especially during WWI)
• Publishing revolutionary literature abroad to evade Press Acts

Core idea: Strike terror in rulers' hearts, arouse people, remove fear of authority, and inspire patriotic youth to drive the British out.

Key limitation: The Extremist leaders failed to ideologically distinguish between a mass-based revolution and individual violent activity, allowing the latter to take root without organisational depth.

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Bengal

Bengal was the epicentre of the first phase of revolutionary activity.

1870s–1890s: Calcutta's student community was honeycombed with secret societies, but these were largely inactive.

1902: First organised revolutionary groups formed:

• Midnapore — group under Jnanendranath Basu
• Calcutta — Anushilan Samiti founded by Promotha Mitter, with members including Jatindranath Banerjee, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, and others. Initial activities limited to physical and moral training.

April 1906: Inner circle within Anushilan (Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Bhupendranath Dutta) launched the weekly Yugantar. After severe police brutalities at the Barisal Conference (April 1906), Yugantar wrote: "Force must be stopped by force."

Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal organised a secret society covering Punjab, Delhi, and the United Provinces. Hemachandra Kanungo went abroad for military and political training.

Key revolutionary newspapers: Sandhya and Yugantar (Bengal); Kal (Maharashtra).

Timeline of Key Events in Bengal:

Alipore Conspiracy Case: Also called Manicktolla bomb conspiracy or Muraripukur conspiracy (Barindra Ghosh's house was on Muraripukur Road in the Manicktolla suburb of Calcutta). Chittaranjan Das defended Aurobindo Ghosh.

Bagha Jatin's call: "We shall die to awaken the nation."

Limitations of Bengal revolutionary movement: Overemphasis on Hindu religion kept Muslims aloof; encouraged quixotic heroism; no mass involvement envisaged; narrow upper-caste social base; failed to withstand state repression.

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Maharashtra

1879: Vasudev Balwant Phadke organised the Ramosi Peasant Force — aimed to rid India of the British by instigating an armed revolt, disrupting communications, and funding activities through dacoities. Suppressed prematurely.

1890s: Bal Gangadhar Tilak propagated militant nationalism through Ganapati and Shivaji festivals and his journals Kesari and Maharatta. Two disciples — Chapekar brothers (Damodar and Balkrishna) — murdered the Plague Commissioner of Poona, Rand, and Lt. Ayerst in 1897.

1899: Savarkar and his brother organised the Mitra Mela (a secret society).

1904: Mitra Mela merged with Abhinav Bharat (named after Mazzini's 'Young Italy'). Nasik, Poona, and Bombay emerged as centres of bomb manufacture.

1909: A.M.T. Jackson, Collector of Nasik and a well-known indologist, was killed by Anant Lakshman Kanhere, a member of Abhinav Bharat. Thirty-eight people arrested. Savarkar was identified as the brain, leader, and moving spirit of the conspiracy — sentenced to transportation for life and forfeiture of all property.

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Punjab

Punjab extremism was fuelled by frequent famines, rise in land revenue and irrigation tax, practice of 'begar' by zamindars, and events in Bengal.

Key figures:

• Lala Lajpat Rai — brought out Punjabee (motto: 'self-help at any cost')
• Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh's uncle) — organised the Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan in Lahore with journal Bharat Mata. Before turning to extremism, was active in urging non-payment of revenue and water rates among Chenab colonists and Bari Doab peasants.
• Others: Aga Haidar, Syed Haider Raza, Bhai Parmanand, radical Urdu poet Lalchand 'Falak'

May 1907: Government struck — ban on political meetings; deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh. Extremism in Punjab died down quickly. After this, Ajit Singh and associates — Sufi Ambaprasad, Lalchand, Bhai Parmanand, Lala Hardayal — developed into full-scale revolutionaries.

During WWI, Rashbehari Bose was a leading figure in the Ghadr Revolution, working in cooperation with Bagha Jatin to extend the Bengal plan to Punjab. When the plan failed, Rashbehari Bose escaped to Japan in 1915 — where he later played an important role in founding the Indian National Army.

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The need for shelter, access to publish literature free from Press Acts, and quest for arms took Indian revolutionaries abroad.

India House, London (1905)

Shyamji Krishnavarma started in London in 1905:

• Indian Home Rule Society — 'India House' — a centre for Indian students
• A scholarship scheme to bring radical youth from India
• Journal: The Indian Sociologist

Revolutionaries such as Savarkar and Hardayal became members of India House.

1909: Madanlal Dhingra (from India House circle) assassinated the India Office bureaucrat Curzon-Wyllie in London.

1910: Savarkar extradited and transported for life in the Nasik conspiracy case. London became too dangerous; new centres emerged.

Paris, Geneva, Berlin

• Madam Bhikaji Cama — Parsi revolutionary; developed contacts with French socialists; operated from Paris and Geneva; published Bande Mataram
• Ajit Singh also operated from these centres
• After 1909, when Anglo-German relations deteriorated, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya chose Berlin as his base

Berlin Committee for Indian Independence (1915)

Established by Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Bhupendranath Dutta, Lala Hardayal, and others — with help of the German foreign office under the 'Zimmermann Plan'.

Objectives: Mobilise Indian settlers abroad; send volunteers and arms to India; incite rebellion among Indian troops; organise armed invasion of British India.

Missions sent to Baghdad, Persia, Turkey, and Kabul — one mission under Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, Barkatullah, and Obaidullah Sindhi went to Kabul to organise a 'provisional Indian government' there with help of crown prince Amanullah.

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Formation and Context

The Ghadr Party was a revolutionary group organised around a weekly newspaper The Ghadr, with headquarters at San Francisco and branches along the US coast and in the Far East.

Composition: Mainly ex-soldiers and peasants who had migrated from Punjab to the USA and Canada seeking better employment. Based in western (Pacific) coast cities of the US and Canada.

Pre-Ghadr activity: Ramdas Puri, G.D. Kumar, Taraknath Das, Sohan Singh Bhakna, and Lala Hardayal (arrived 1911) set up 'Swadesh Sevak Home' at Vancouver and 'United India House' at Seattle.

Ghadr formally established in 1913.

Key Figures

Lala Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhagwan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah, Bhai Parmanand were the moving spirits.

Ghadr Programme

• Organise assassinations of officials
• Publish revolutionary and anti-imperialist literature
• Work among Indian troops stationed abroad
• Procure arms
• Bring about a simultaneous revolt in all British colonies

Triggers for Action: Two Events of 1914

1. Komagata Maru Incident (1914) A ship carrying 370 passengers — mainly Sikh and Punjabi Muslim would-be immigrants — from Singapore to Vancouver. They were turned back by Canadian authorities (believed to be influenced by the British government) after two months of privation. The ship finally anchored at Calcutta in September 1914. The inmates refused to board the Punjab-bound train. In the ensuing conflict with police at Budge Budge near Calcutta, 22 persons died. This created an explosive situation in Punjab.

2. Outbreak of the First World War (1914) The Ghadr leaders decided to launch a violent attack on British rule in India.

Course of the Ghadr Uprising

• Kartar Singh Saraba and Raghubar Dayal Gupta left for India
• Bengal revolutionaries contacted; Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal asked to lead the movement
• Political dacoities committed to raise funds (Punjab dacoities of January–February 1915 targeted moneylenders and debt records — giving the movement a social content)
• February 21, 1915 fixed as date for armed revolt in Ferozepur, Lahore, and Rawalpindi garrisons
• Plan foiled at the last moment due to treachery
• Government used Defence of India Rules, 1915: rebellious regiments disbanded; leaders arrested; 45 hanged
• Rashbehari Bose fled to Japan; Sachin Sanyal transported for life

Government Response

The British used the most intensive repressive measures since 1857:

• Defence of India Act, March 1915 — passed primarily to smash the Ghadr movement
• Large-scale detentions without trial
• Special courts with extremely severe sentences
• Numerous court-martials of armymen
• Pan-Islamists also interned: Ali brothers, Maulana Azad, Hasrat Mohani

Mutiny in Singapore (February 15, 1915)

Most notable among scattered mutinies of the period. Punjabi Muslim 5th Light Infantry and 36th Sikh battalion under Jamadar Chisti Khan, Jamadar Abdul Gani, and Subedar Daud Khan. Crushed after a fierce battle. 37 persons executed; 41 transported for life.

Evaluation of Ghadr

Achievement: Preached militant nationalism with a completely secular approach — ideologically significant.

Failures:

• Lacked organised and sustained leadership
• Underestimated the extent of preparation required at every level — organisational, ideological, financial, tactical-strategic
• Lala Hardayal was perhaps unsuited for the role of organiser
• Politically and militarily achieved little

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Revolutionary activity experienced a temporary respite after WWI because:

1. Release of prisoners held under Defence of India Rules cooled passions
2. Atmosphere of conciliation following Montagu's August 1917 statement and talk of constitutional reforms
3. Coming of Gandhi with the programme of non-violent non-cooperation — offered new hope

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Achievements:

• Kept the flame of nationalism alive during the most repressive period
• Demonstrated courage and sacrifice, inspiring future generations
• The Ghadr movement's secular approach was ideologically progressive
• Revolutionary legacy of Swadeshi Bengal had impact on educated youth for a generation

Limitations:

• Based on individual heroic action, not mass participation
• Narrow upper-caste social base in Bengal; overemphasis on Hindu symbols alienated Muslims
• No effective organisation or party structure created
• Failed to link with peasant and working-class grievances (with partial exception of Punjab Ghadr dacoities)
• Could not withstand sustained state repression
• The two phases (open Swadeshi movement and underground revolutionary activity) failed to coordinate

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• Revolutionary Phase I (1907–17) ↔ Swadeshi Movement (its direct offspring)
• Ghadr Movement ↔ INA (Rashbehari Bose connected both)
• Defence of India Act 1915 ↔ Rowlatt Act 1919 (continuity of repressive legislation)
• Revolutionary terrorism ↔ Gandhian non-violence (competing visions of the path to independence)
• Komagata Maru ↔ Racial discrimination in British colonies ↔ Indian diaspora politics
• Berlin Committee ↔ Enemy-of-my-enemy strategy ↔ Subhas Chandra Bose's WWII approach (later)

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• GS Paper I: Revolutionary movements are directly examined — key organisations, personalities, events, and their geographical spread.
• Nationalism and Colonialism: The revolutionary phase represents the most radical form of anti-colonial nationalism — ideologically distinct from both Moderate petitioning and Gandhian non-violence.
• Diaspora and Nationalism: The Ghadr Party is India's first significant diaspora-based revolutionary movement — relevant to understanding the Indian diaspora's relationship with the homeland and political activism.
• Civil Liberties and State Repression: The Defence of India Act 1915, and the pattern of detention without trial, press censorship, and court-martial, prefigure debates about emergency powers and civil liberties in independent India.
• Secular Nationalism: The Ghadr movement's explicit secularism (in contrast to Bengal's Hindu-inflected revolutionary culture) is relevant to questions on the nature of Indian nationalism.

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1. Anushilan Samiti founded by Promotha Mitter — not by Barindra Ghosh or Aurobindo Ghosh. Barindra was a member; Aurobindo was a broader associate tried in the Alipore case.
2. Muzaffarpur bomb (1908): Target was judge Kingsford — two British ladies were killed instead (not Kingsford). Prafulla Chaki shot himself; Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged. Don't confuse their fates.
3. Alipore Conspiracy Case: Also called Manicktolla bomb conspiracy or Muraripukur conspiracy. Aurobindo was acquitted; Barindra Ghosh was sentenced to death (commuted to life). Defender of Aurobindo: Chittaranjan Das.
4. Narendra Gosain (the approver/Crown witness) was shot dead in jail by Satyendranath Bose and Kanailal Dutta — not by the Ghosh brothers.
5. Viceroy Hardinge bomb attack (December 1912) was in Chandni Chowk, Delhi (entry into the new capital). Hardinge was injured but survived. The plotters behind it were Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal (not Bagha Jatin).
6. Delhi Conspiracy Trial: Those executed were Basant Kumar Biswas, Amir Chand, and Avadh Behari — not Rashbehari Bose (he escaped).
7. Bagha Jatin (Jatindranath Mukherjee) died in Balasore (Orissa coast) in September 1915 in a gunfight — not hanged or imprisoned. He led the Jugantar/Yugantar party.

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• Revolutionary activity = byproduct of militant nationalism; fallout of Swadeshi decline; model: Russian nihilists + Irish nationalists.
• Bengal: Anushilan Samiti (1902, Promotha Mitter) → Yugantar (1906) → Khudiram Bose (1908) → Alipore case → Bagha Jatin + German Plot → Balasore (1915).
• Maharashtra: Ramosi Peasant Force (1879, Phadke) → Chapekar brothers (1897) → Mitra Mela (1899) → Abhinav Bharat (1904) → Jackson killing (1909) → Savarkar transported for life.
• Punjab: Lajpat Rai, Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh's uncle), Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan; deported May 1907.
• Abroad: India House/Shyamji Krishnavarma (London, 1905); Madanlal Dhingra kills Curzon-Wyllie (1909); Madam Bhikaji Cama (Paris/Geneva, Bande Mataram); Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (Berlin); Berlin Committee (1915, Zimmermann Plan).
• Ghadr: Founded 1913 (San Francisco); Lala Hardayal + others; Komagata Maru (Sept 1914, 22 dead at Budge Budge); revolt planned Feb 21, 1915; foiled by treachery; Defence of India Act March 1915; 45 hanged; Rashbehari Bose fled to Japan.
• Singapore Mutiny: Feb 15, 1915; 37 executed, 41 transported.
• Provisional government Kabul: Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh + Barkatullah + Obaidullah Sindhi; crown prince Amanullah.
• Decline: Post-WWI prisoner release + Montagu's August 1917 statement + Gandhi's arrival.