The Making of a Revolutionary
In 1918, a young man joined the revolutionary terrorist movement in colonial India, marking the beginning of a decade-long journey of sacrifice. On his wedding day, his revolutionary mentor stood witness—yet, from that moment until his death in 1928, he never spent a single day with his wife. This was the iron discipline of revolutionaries: to stay away from women, to remain wholly devoted to the cause.
His story reflects a broader ideological current among anti-colonial fighters in British India. He often spoke of how India could achieve freedom by emulating Ireland’s struggle, a belief that led him to read Dan Breen’s My Fight for Irish Freedom. Inspired by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he named his own group the “Chittagong Branch of the Indian Republican Army.”
The Corrosive Culture of Colonial Rule
Colonial officials had a peculiar trait: they not only tolerated but actively encouraged corruption and bribery in the territories they ruled. This systemic rot served as a tool of control over restless and often dissenting populations. For those seeking legal victories, government contracts, royal honors, or public employment, the path to success lay in bribing those in power.
Yet the “bribes” were not always monetary—such crude transactions were often beneath the dignity of European officials in India. Instead, favors took subtler forms: social connections, displays of respect, lavish hospitality, or generous donations to “noble causes.” But the most valued currency was loyalty to British rule.
The Global Context of Anti-Colonial Struggle
The 19th century saw a handful of North Atlantic nations effortlessly dominate much of the non-European world. Rather than direct occupation, they established political and economic systems that reinforced their supremacy. Capitalism and bourgeois society reshaped—and ruled—the world, becoming the only model for progress until the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution introduced an alternative: Soviet communism.
For colonized nations, the 20th century was defined by their relationship with these imperial powers. The elites of these societies, though deeply influenced by Western education, often found themselves torn between modernization and preserving indigenous traditions.
The Rise of Revolutionary Nationalism
By the early 20th century, anti-colonial movements in India began gaining momentum. The 1905–1910 period marked the first major wave of nationalist agitation, often framed in nativist terms—defending Hindu traditions like cow protection and child marriage against Western influence.
Figures like Bal Gangadhar Tilak tapped into mass sentiment by championing Hindu cultural superiority. Yet it was Mahatma Gandhi who truly mobilized millions, blending Hindu symbolism with nonviolent resistance. His approach sought to bridge the gap between traditionalists and modernizers, though he later lamented his failure to fully reconcile these forces.
The Legacy of Sacrifice
The revolutionary whose story opens this article died in 1928, a decade after dedicating his life to India’s freedom. His personal sacrifices—abandoning marital life, embracing militant discipline—mirrored the broader struggles of anti-colonial fighters.
His vision of an Ireland-inspired armed struggle contrasted with Gandhi’s mass nonviolence, yet both approaches emerged from the same crucible of colonial oppression. The tension between armed resistance and peaceful protest, between tradition and modernization, would continue shaping India’s path to independence—and its post-colonial identity.
Today, as India reckons with its revolutionary past, stories like his serve as reminders of the extreme personal costs of fighting empire. The ideological battles of that era—between armed struggle and civil disobedience, between Western models and indigenous traditions—still echo in contemporary debates over India’s identity and future.
The revolutionary decade of 1918–1928 was but one chapter in the long struggle against colonialism, yet its lessons on sacrifice, ideology, and the price of freedom remain profoundly relevant.