Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/163

 exhibitions were held to popularize the work of the new industries. The Paisa fund, originally started by a Mr. Kale, became under Mr. Tilak's guidance the most popular means of collecting funds for starting suitable industries. Spinning and weaving industries began to thrive. Education and Temperance received a great impetus. In short, the movement was on the right lines and promised brilliant results.

But it is the misfortune of every infant democracy to be called upon to do constructive work with one hand while with the other it is engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the powers that be.

The moral force which the movement roused was simply astonishing. We have seen, how under the reactionary regime of Lord Curzon, disappointment and a sense of humiliation hung like a pall over the country. The swadeshi-hoycott movement dispelled all these clouds. It created hope and enthusiasm in the minds of Indians. "Self-reliance, no mendicancy" became the watchword of the people. The National self-respect was fully awakened. People refused to take insults lying down. They refused to allow the foreign Bureaucrats to be arbiters of our destinies. They were willing to suffer for their convictions. They came forward in their hundreds to go to gaol. Young men worked as pickets or volunteers and received sound elementary training in public life. A hopelessly disorganized nation seriously began to organise itself. The land of disunity was slowly closing up its ranks. Even the "depressed" classes joined, heart and soul, the movement and on two occassions, Mr. Tilak was the recipient of their pan-supari. A spirit of unity and