Revolt: A Brief Description
Amongst the Self-respect journals which adopted radical rationalism as their creed, Revolt stands out. For one, it was the first English language weekly to be published by the movement, and edited by Ramasami Periyar. Secondly, given its potentially wider readership, it constituted the Self-respect movement as uniquely internationalist – aligning it, both discursively and historically, with filial movements in the rest of India and with rationalists elsewhere in the world.
The weekly was launched at Erode, the birthplace of Periyar E.V.Ramasami on November 7, 1928, which, in the words of the leader written for its first anniversary number, was “that memorable day in the history of the nations, the day of the anniversary of the immortal Revolution in Russia, the day which is looked upon as the violent explosion of human liberty, the day which is memorialised by millions in Russia for the mighty mixing up of monarchs and the masses”. It was printed and published by Periyar’s wife Nagammal at ‘Unmai Vilakkam Press’ (Truthseekers Press).
The journal was briefly shifted to Madras and then back to Erode before it ceased publication in early 1930. In the declaration filed before the Judicial Magistrate for registering the journal, Nagammal said: “By the word ‘Revolt’, I mean breaking with restrictions. That is, breaking against that constraint which goes against nature and reason – whether in politics, in bureaucracy, capitalism or in gender relations – whichever constraint that violates human welfare (dharma) and human nature” (Kudi Arasu, 22.4.1928) Revolt was thus at once agitational and pedagogic and given to the making of a transformed and new commonsense.
Along with news of political Non-brahminism and the Self-respect movement, of various conferences and addresses, it carried articles on contemporary politics, social reform and ran regular columns on science, religion and atheism. Revolt’s editors and writers responded with alacrity to the anxieties of the hour, to pressing political and social events, such as the Simon boycott (1927) and the release of the Nehru Committee report (1928); the tabling of the Child Marriage Restraint Act and Devadasi Abolition Bill (1927-28). These situations were well-utilized by the paper’s columnists to expound to the non-Tamil world, critical, home-grown ideas of Self-respect, mutuality, progress and justice. Indignant, wickedly funny and expounding a philosophy of social compassion and Freethought, Atheism and Social Radicalism in Colonial Madras 9 comradeship, Revolt provided a much needed antidote to the sanctimonious tenor of political and social debates in Tamil Nadu. Unmindful of criticisms voiced from orthodox quarters and the nationalist press, however vituperative these were, Revolt persisted in its radicalism.
Revolt was initially edited by Periyar, along with S. Ramanathan, Periyar’s peer and comrade in the Self-respect movement. Erudite, brilliant and consistent in his atheism and rationalism, Ramanathan wielded an elegant, ironic pen. Subsequently S. Guruswami, married to the feminist and rationalist, Kunjitham, took over as joint editor. Savage in its satiric intent and mocking in tone, Guruswami’s distinct political humour and incisive prose created enduring vignettes of social hypocrisy, orthodoxy and authority. Most other writers who wrote signed articles in Revolt were associated with the Non-brahmin and Self-respect movements – K. M. Balasubramaniam, P. Chidambaram Pillay, R. Viswanathan, to name some of them. Some, including a few Brahmin contributors, appear curious critics of obscurantism and superstition and it is not clear what their political affiliations were.
Regular contributors to Revolt included those whom we only know through their pseudonyms or initials – ‘Kirk’ (which, if read as comprising Tamil syllables, means ‘madman’),’Fountain Pen’, ‘Ritus’, ‘B.G.’, to name a few. Sometimes we are able to identify the men behind the initials. ‘P.C.P’, for instance, was P. Chidambaram Pillay; ‘Jeejay’, was George Joseph, the intrepid nationalist from Kerala, and ‘Esji’, the inimitable S. Guruswami himself. Typically, editorials and lead articles carried no bylines. There was at least one consistent woman contributor, Miss Gnanam, whose witty and sharply edged criticism of religions is remarkable for its clarity and boldness.
Besides essays and columns by these and other writers, who wrote using pseudonyms, Revolt reproduced, sometimes translated from the Tamil, writings and speeches by Non-brahmin and Self-respect leaders, publicists and intellectuals, including Periyar, R. K. Shanmugam and A. Ramasami Mudaliar. It also extracted articles from like-minded journals published elsewhere in the country that featured the views of the Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore, an anti-caste association, linked to the Arya Samaj; and which reported on Dr Ambedkar and the incipient dalit movement in the Bombay Presidency. Revolt followed anti-caste debates in Kerala, those initiated by Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana 10 (SNDP) Yogam. The magazine also featured regular news and views from the global world of rationalism and atheism.
