Answer: The Swadeshi Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition movement (1905) which started to oppose the British’s decision to partition Bengal. With the start of the Swadeshi movement at the turn of the century, the Indian National movement took a major leap forward. Popular mass character of the movement:

• Wide participation from various sections: Women, students, and a large section of the urban and rural population not only from Bengal but also from other parts of India became actively involved in politics for the first time.
• Emergence of major political trends of the Indian National movement: From conservative moderation to political extremism, from revolutionary terrorism to incipient socialism, from petitioning and public speeches to passive resistance and boycott, all had their origins in the movement.

However, by mid-1908, the movement fizzled out owing to various reasons:

• Government repression: Repression took the form of controls and bans on public meetings, processions and the press. Participants were expelled from government schools and colleges, debarred from government service, fined, and at times beaten up by the police. For instance, during the 1906 Barisal Conference, the police forcibly dispersed the Conference and brutally beat up a large number of the participants.
• Internal squabbles: There was dissonance within the Congress regarding the direction of the movement. Further, the Surat split, of 1907, weakened the movement.
• Limited impact: Although the Swadeshi Movement had spread outside Bengal, the rest of the country was not fully prepared to adopt the new style and stage of politics.
• Lack of leaders: Between 1907 and 1908, major leaders of Bengal including Ashwini Kumar Dutt and Krishna Kumar Mitra were deported, Tilak was given a sentence of six years’ imprisonment and Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh retired from active politics. Thus, the entire movement was rendered leaderless.
• Lack of effective organization: Though the techniques of passive resistance, non-violence and non-cooperation etc. were used, their implementation was not centralized, disciplined, and focused.
• Lifetime of mass movements: They cannot be sustained endlessly at the same pitch of aggressiveness and self-sacrifice, especially when faced with severe repression. There arises the need to pause and to consolidate the forces for yet another struggle.

However, it would be wrong to see the Swadeshi Movement as a failure. The movement made a major contribution in the development of the idea of nationalism and taking it to hitherto untouched masses.