The
Sanskrit roots of the word swadeshi mean something close to "make it
ourselves." To M.K. Gandhi this was two things: first, the development of Indian-owned
businesses, particularly in manufacturing; second, the replacement of British products with
those Indian-made ones. It wasn't anti-mercantilism but reverse-mercantilism. The
Swadeshi movement began as a boycott of British textiles which grew quickly
into a general strike against all things British. Indian merchants found not to be cooperating
were publicly shamed and included in the boycott. Students, service workers, and even
professionals inched the boundaries of this enforced social transformation into the law,
medicine, accountancy and of course politics. It's not just that those people participated in
the boycott or its enforcement. Rather, they tried to come up with Indian jurisprudence, Indian
medicine, Indian rules of business. In those intangible subjects, they mostly failed, but in the
case of things which the British forced on Indian markets which could be substituted with
swadeshi products, they were very successful.
The
exception, and probably the most successful swadeshi effort, was politics. Gandhi's living
advocacy of self-actualization and non-violent protest was the epitome of
swadeshi. It was also universally available to those with the courage to
think for themselves and act accordingly. The speed with which his following grew, and the wave
of passive resistance which came with it, testify to this.
Out of
swadeshi grew the idea of swaraj,
"self-rule." It was natural for people who made things themselves, who were
self-sufficient, to rule themselves, said Gandhi. He realized this vision in
1947.
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