Self-Respect Movement

The Self-Respect Movement (Suyamariyadhai Iyakkam), launched in 1925 by E.V. Ramasamy (popularly known as Periyar) in the Madras Presidency, represents a radical phase of the social justice struggle in modern Indian history. Born out of disillusionment with the upper-caste hegemony within the Indian National Congress, the movement sought to achieve Suyamariyadhai (self-respect) for the non-Brahmin masses, Adi-Dravidas (Dalits), and women. Between the 1920s and 1940s, the movement dynamically intersected with Autonomous Caste politics, Marxist-Socialist economics, and confrontational cultural resistance, redefining subaltern mobilization in South India.

The Core Foundation: Radical Caste Politics and Social Justice

The Self-Respect Movement approached the caste question not through standard piece-meal reforms or sanskritization, but through a total ideological destruction of the religious and social structures that sanctioned untouchability and hierarchy.

Separation from the Congress

Periyar abandoned the Indian National Congress after the Cheranmahadevi Gurukulam incident (1925), where a school funded by the Congress practiced caste-based segregation in dining halls. Periyar realized that mainstream nationalism prioritized political freedom from the British over social liberation from Brahminical hegemony.

The Anti-Scriptural Crusade

Unlike contemporary socio-religious reform movements that sought to reform Hinduism from within, the Self-Respect Movement adopted absolute rationalism and atheism.

• Critique of Puranas: The movement targeted ancient scriptures, epic texts, and codes like the Manusmriti, holding them responsible for institutionalizing the low social status of non-Brahmins and women.
• Rejection of Priestly Monopoly: Periyar urged non-Brahmins to boycott religious rituals conducted by Brahmin priests.

Radical Gender and Family Reforms

The Self-Respect Movement placed gender equality at the forefront of its anti-caste struggle, recognizing patriarchy as a key mechanism for maintaining caste purity.

• Self-Respect Marriages (Suyamariyadhai Kalyanam): The movement pioneered marriages conducted without religious rites, holy threads, or Brahmin priests. These weddings were finalized simply through the exchange of garlands and a mutual declaration of equality, often emphasizing inter-caste alliances and widow remarriages.
• Bodily Autonomy: Through the journal Kudi Arasu, the movement advocated for women’s property rights, divorce rights, and artificial family planning decades before these concepts entered mainstream national legislation.

The Socialist Intersection: The Erode Programme and Labor Alliances

During the early 1930s, the Self-Respect Movement underwent a significant ideological evolution as it engaged directly with international socialist ideas and Marxist class analysis.

Periyar’s European Tour (1929–1932)

Periyar traveled extensively through Western Europe and spent several months in the Soviet Union (USSR). Impressed by the Soviet model of a casteless, classless society and its state-enforced rationalism, he returned to India determined to infuse a socialist economic agenda into the anti-caste framework.

Collaboration with Singaravelu Chettiar

Upon his return, Periyar closely collaborated with M. Singaravelu Chettiar, one of the founding fathers of the communist movement in India. Singaravelu argued that social oppression (caste) and economic exploitation (capitalism) were twins that had to be fought simultaneously.

The Erode Programme (1932)

In 1932, at a historic conference in Erode, the Self-Respect League formally adopted a socialist manifesto drafted by Periyar and Singaravelu.

• Core Tenets: The programme called for the nationalization of land, transport, and heavy industries; the cancellation of debts accumulated by poor peasants to private moneylenders; and the establishment of cooperative societies.
• The Colonial Backlash: The synthesis of anti-caste radicalism and Marxist-Leninist thought alarmed the British government, which threatened to ban the movement’s literature and arrest its cadres. To insulate the social movement from absolute suppression, Periyar strategically recalibrated, though the youth cadres continued to champion socialist unionism.

Revolutionary Politics: Cultural Insurgency and Anti-Hindi Agitations

While the Self-Respect Movement did not advocate for secret underground societies or armed violence like northern revolutionary groups (such as the HSRA), it pioneered a form of mass cultural insurgency and confrontational agitations that challenged both British and nationalist state authority.

The Anti-Hindi Agitation (1937–1939)

The introduction of compulsory Hindi education in the Madras Presidency by the C. Rajagopalachari-led Congress ministry in 1937 was viewed by the Self-Respect Movement as an ideological attempt to impose northern Aryan/Sanskrit culture over Dravidian society.

• The Tamilar Padai (Tamil Army): A highly organized, disciplined cadre of youth volunteers marched on foot from Trichinopoly (Trichy) to Madras, holding anti-imperialist and anti-Brahminical rallies across villages.
• Political Martyrdom: The agitation introduced political martyrdom to the region when two young volunteers, Thalamuthu and Natarajan, died in colonial custody. Their deaths transformed a language protest into a mass radical movement, forcing the British Governor to eventually revoke the compulsory Hindi order in 1940.

Transformation into the Dravidar Kazhagam (1944)

At the Salem Conference in 1944, Periyar merged the Self-Respect Movement with the elite Justice Party to form a unified, militant social organization: the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

• The Radical Mandate: The DK renounced electoral participation under British colonial rules, demanded the creation of an independent, egalitarian socialist republic of Dravida Nadu, and required its cadres to wear black shirts as a symbol of mourning for the ongoing degradation of the subaltern classes.

Ideological Anchors and Publications

The movement relied heavily on a robust network of radical print media to disseminate its socio-political critiques and engage with alternative ideologies.

Key Historical Facts for UPSC Prelims

• The Title ‘Periyar’: E.V. Ramasamy was conferred the title “Periyar” (The Great One) in 1938 by the Tamil Nadu Women’s Conference held in Madras, in recognition of his radical work for women’s emancipation.
• The Kudi Arasu Ban: The colonial government banned several editions of Kudi Arasu in the early 1930s, arresting Periyar and his sister, Kannammal, on charges of sedition for publishing communist-leaning editorials.
• The First Self-Respect Conference: Held in Chengalpattu in 1929, it was presided over by W.P.A. Soundarapandian Nadar. The conference passed historic resolutions completely banning the use of caste surnames and titles among its members.
• The Connection with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Periyar shared a close political friendship with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. In 1936, when Ambedkar’s historic speech Annihilation of Caste was banned by the reformist Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal in Lahore, Periyar immediately got the entire text translated into Tamil and published it in Kudi Arasu.