The Revolutionary Movement in India

In 1899, Lord Curzon was appointed Viceroy of India. He represented the extreme reactionaries of Jingoists among the British. Curzon pursued a policy aimed at all-out suppression of the Indian national movement and one of undisguised racial discrimination. Curzon's administration gave active support to British entrepreneurs and openly obstructed the works of Indian industrialists. In 1903, he introduced a special law designed to facilitate in all possible ways, the efforts of the British monopolies to prospect and utilize India's natural wealth.

Curzon nursed a particular hatred for the Indian intelligentsia. He reduced the minimum taxable income limit in order to hit a wide section of the urban middle class. He also introduced state secret laws directed against the Indian National Press. He reformed the University Laws and raised tuition fees drastically and all the works of the universities were placed under the control of the British colonial bureaucracy. Through this measure, he barred access to many Indian middle class students to higher education.

In respect of his attitude to the Indian National Congress, Curzon stated that he intended to help it along to a peaceful death. He made no secret of his contempt for Indian culture. In one of his speeches, he openly mocked the country's great cultural heritage. While pursing this reactionary policy, Curzon was actively preparing for new military adventures in Asia. Sums allocated for military expenditure were greatly increased and new railways of strategic importance were built to give the army access to many distant areas.

However, Curzon's repressive policies merely served to strengthen the anti-colonialist attitudes and added to the revolutionary ferment. The left wing of the national movement became more active. The police was unable to enforce a total ban on the semi-legal sports and youth societies in which the national minded sections of youth were preparing themselves for active struggle against the colonial oppressors in the days to come.

Some men became universally acknowledged as leading the left wing of the national movement, spreading their influence far and wide. Many semi-legal organizations and associations of left nationalists sprang up at the turn of the century. Their members were highly critical of the moderate opposition voice made by the leaders of the National Congress and they agitated in favor of overthrowing the Colonial regime in India.

The mass cultural festivals held to honor the god Ganesha in the east and west regions of the country developed into large-scale patriotic demonstrations symbolizing the solidarity of the people in the national liberation movement. In 1902, a secret society was set up in Calcutta whose avowed aim was to prepare an armed uprising. Gradually, leaders of the left nationalists started gaining fame. By this time, the left nationalists, as distinguished from the moderates had come to be referred to as "extremists."