True Swadeshi

The cleanest and the most popular form of Swadeshi is to stimulate hand-spinning and hand-weaving and to arrange for a judicious distribution of yarn and cloth so manufactured. With a little talent and a little industry, this thing is easy. Even as each home cooks its own food without difficulty, so may each home weave its own yarn. And just as, in spite of every home having its own kitchen, restaurants continue to flourish, so will mills continue to supply our additional wants. But even as because of our private kitchens we would not starve if every restaurant was through some accident closed, so would we, by reason of domestic spinning, not have to go naked even if every mill, by a blockade from the West, had to stop work. Not long ago, we knew this secret of our own economic independence, and it is possible for us to regain that independence by a little effort, a little organizing agency and a little sacrifice.

Therefore, true Swadeshi consists in introducing the spinning wheel in every household and every household spinning its own yarn. And through we may not supply our own cloth entirely, we shall be saving yearly crores of rupees. In any event, there is no other Swadeshi than increased manufacture by hand-spinning and hand-weaving. Whether we take up hand-spinning and hand-weaving or we do not, it is at least necessary to understand what true Swadeshi is.

- Young India, Sept., 1920.