The revolutionary nationalist movement in Bengal, or the terrorist movement as it was more popularly known till the term became embroiled in nasty controversies arising out of contemporary political developments, has fired the imagination of generations of Indians, and especially Bengalis. In the early twentieth century, the heroic actions of young men and women who selflessly sacrificed their lives in the service of the motherland touched a chord amongst a people who had grown steadily more restive under the patronizing tutelage of foreign rulers. Similarly, the narratives which detailed these actions of the men and women found deep emotional resonance among later generations who read their own frustrations and longings into a movement that seemed to echo their own idealism while at the same time appearing to aspire to utterly unattainable ends.

This book explores an aspect of the early revolutionary nationalist movement in Bengal that has been quite neglected in historical literature – that is, revolutionary propaganda. Revolutionary propaganda was mainly carried out through the medium of the underground pamphlet press. The pamphlet press has received considerably less attention than the newspaper press in the study of Bengal politics, perhaps because of its avowedly ephemeral character. Yet, historians working in pamphlet journalism have amply demonstrated the importance of the pamphlet press in furthering our understanding of the history of journalism.