Revolutionary Organisations in Modern India

The revolutionary movement for Indian independence developed as an aggressive stream of national resistance alongside the constitutional and mass movements. Emerging in two distinct phases—the first from the late 1890s to the end of World War I, and the second during the 1920s and 1930s—revolutionary organizations sought to overthrow British colonial rule through armed insurrections, assassinations of oppressive officials, military mutinies, and political dacoities. Operating through secret societies in India and international networks abroad, these groups mobilized youth, raised funds, procured firearms, and published radical literature to challenge colonial authority.

Phase I Revolutionary Organisations (1890s–1918)

The initial phase of revolutionary activity was triggered by the Partition of Bengal in 1905, the suppression of the Swadeshi Movement, and the plague administration policies in Maharashtra. Secret societies formed in Maharashtra, Bengal, and Punjab to organize armed resistance.

Western India (Maharashtra)

• Ramosi Peasant Force (1879): Founded by Vasudev Balwant Phadke, often regarded as the father of Indian armed rebellion. He organized Ramosi youth to carry out political dacoities to fund an armed revolt against the British.
• Chapekar Club / Sanmitra Samaj (1897): Formed by the Chapekar brothers (Damodar, Balkrishna, and Vasudev) in Pune. They assassinated the Poona Plague Commissioner W. C. Rand and Lieutenant Ayerst on June 22, 1897.
• Mitra Mela (1899) and Abhinav Bharat Society (1904): Established in Nashik by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Savarkar. Abhinav Bharat operated as a secret society inspired by Giuseppe Mazzini’s Young Italy. Anant Lakshman Kanhere, a member of this society, assassinated Nashik District Magistrate A. M. T. Jackson in December 1909.

Bengal

• Anushilan Samiti (1902): Established in Calcutta by Pramathanath Mitra, Jatindranath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami), and Satish Chandra Basu. A prominent branch was opened in Dhaka by Pulin Behari Das in 1906.
• Yugantar Group (1906): Formed within the Anushilan Samiti by Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Abhinash Bhattacharya, and Bhupendranath Datta. They published the revolutionary weekly Yugantar.
• Alipore Conspiracy Case / Manicktolla Bomb Conspiracy (1908): Triggered after Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attempted to assassinate Magistrate Douglas Kingsford at Muzaffarpur, accidentally killing two British women. Subsequent police raids on the Manicktolla bomb factory led to the arrest of Arvind Ghosh and Barindra Kumar Ghosh.
• Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy Case (1910): Led by Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), who organized the western Bengal secret network into an effective striking force.

Punjab and Delhi

• Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan (1907): Founded in Lahore by Ajit Singh (uncle of Bhagat Singh) and Sufi Amba Prasad. They published the journal Bharat Mata to protest against the Punjab Canal Colony Bill.
• Delhi Conspiracy Case / Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy (1912): Organized by Rash Behari Bose and Sachindra Nath Sanyal. Basanta Kumar Biswas threw a bomb at Viceroy Lord Hardinge II during a state procession in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.

International Revolutionary Networks

Indian revolutionaries established international centers to secure weapons, publish propaganda, and recruit overseas Indians.

Prominent Overseas Organizations

• India House (London, 1905): Founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma, who also published the journal The Indian Sociologist. Key figures associated with India House included V. D. Savarkar, Lala Hardayal, and Madan Lal Dhingra, who assassinated Curzon Wyllie in London in 1909.
• Paris Indian Society (1905): Established by Madam Bhikaji Cama, S. S. Rana, and M. P. T. Acharya. Madam Cama unfurled an early version of the Indian national flag at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907 and edited the paper Bande Mataram.
• Pacific Coast Hindustan Association / Ghadar Party (1913): Formed in Astoria, Oregon, and headquartered at Yugantar Ashram in San Francisco. Founded by Sohan Singh Bhakna (President) and Lala Hardayal (General Secretary), the party published the weekly paper The Ghadar and planned the nationwide armed insurrection of February 21, 1915.
• Berlin Committee for Indian Independence (1914): Created under the Zimmermann Plan by Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Bhupendranath Datta, and Lala Hardayal with help from the German Foreign Office to supply arms to Indian insurgents.
• Provisional Government of Free India (Kabul, 1915): Set up as a government-in-exile by Raja Mahendra Pratap (President) and Maulavi Barkatullah (Prime Minister).

Phase II Revolutionary Organisations (1920s–1930s)

The sudden withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 by Mahatma Gandhi disillusioned young nationalists, giving rise to a second phase of revolutionary activity that adopted socialist principles.

Northern India

• Hindustan Republican Association / HRA (1924): Founded in Kanpur by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Ram Prasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, and Chandrashekhar Azad. The HRA issued a manifesto titled The Revolutionary and executed the Kakori Train Action on August 9, 1925, to seize government funds.
• Hindustan Socialist Republican Association / HSRA (1928): Reorganized at Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, Shivaram Rajguru, and Bhagwati Charan Vohra. The addition of “Socialist” marked a ideologically defined shift toward a classless society.
• Saunders Murder (1928): Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Azad killed Assistant Superintendent of Police J. P. Saunders in Lahore to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
• Central Legislative Assembly Bomb Case (1929): Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw non-lethal smoke bombs inside the Central Assembly in New Delhi on April 8, 1929, to protest against the Trade Disputes Bill and the Public Safety Bill.
• Naujawan Bharat Sabha (1926): Founded in Lahore by Bhagat Singh, Chhabil Das, and Yashpal to foster secularism and political consciousness among youth and workers.

Bengal Phase II

• Chittagong Armoury Raid (1930): Conducted on April 18, 1930, by the Indian Republican Army (Chittagong Branch) under the leadership of Surya Sen (Master Da), along with Ananta Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, and Kalpana Datta. They captured the imperial armories and declared a Provisional Revolutionary Government.
• Writers’ Building Attack (1930): Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta (Benoy-Badal-Dinesh) stormed the Bengal Secretariat building in Calcutta and assassinated Inspector General of Prisons N. S. Simpson.
• Assassinations by Women Revolutionaries: Pritilata Wadedar led an attack on the Pahartali European Club in Chittagong in 1932. Bina Das shot Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson at the Calcutta University convocation in 1932. Santi Ghosh and Suniti Chaudhary shot dead Comilla District Magistrate C. G. B. Stevens in 1931.

Comparative Overview of Key Revolutionary Groups

Key Facts for Quick Revision

• Vasudev Balwant Phadke created the Ramosi Peasant Force in 1879 to wage an armed struggle against the British.
• The Chapekar brothers executed Poona Plague Commissioner W. C. Rand on June 22, 1897.
• V. D. Savarkar translated the autobiography of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini into Marathi.
• The publication Bandi Jiwan, written by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, served as a foundational text for Indian revolutionaries in the 1920s.
• The Philosophy of the Bomb was written by Bhagwati Charan Vohra to explain the ideological stance of the HSRA.
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were executed in the Lahore Conspiracy Case on March 23, 1931.
• Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Lahiri were hanged in 1927 following the Kakori Train Action trial.
• Surya Sen was popularly known as “Master Da” and was hanged on January 12, 1934.
• Madam Bhikaji Cama edited the journal Bande Mataram from Paris.
• Raja Mahendra Pratap established the Provisional Government of Free India in Kabul on December 1, 1915, with support from the Ottoman Empire and Germany.