---
title: The Bombay Chronicle reports a foreign-cloth bonfire (1921)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/
description: The Bombay Chronicle reports a public bonfire of foreign cloth during Gandhi's Non-Cooperation campaign, part of a wave of bonfires that turned owning…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![The Bombay Chronicle reports a foreign-cloth bonfire (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921.jpg)

# The Bombay Chronicle reports a foreign-cloth bonfire (1921)

The Bombay Chronicle reports a public bonfire of foreign cloth during Gandhi's Non-Cooperation campaign, part of a wave of bonfires that turned owning foreign-made cloth into a visible test of loyalty to the swaraj movement rather than a private consumer choice.

- **Date:** July 30, 1921
- **Period:** [Interwar](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=interwar)
- **Made by:** Indian National Congress (Non-Cooperation movement)
- **Region:** [South Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=south-asia)
- **Country:** [British India](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=british-india)
- **Medium:** [Newspaper pages](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=newspaper-page)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [British Raj](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=british-raj)
- **Leader:** [Rufus Isaacs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=rufus-isaacs)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Economy and finance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=economy-finance), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information)
- **Event:** [Non Cooperation Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=non-cooperation-movement)
- **Techniques:** [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boycott_of_foreign_clothes.jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (PD-India; PD-US expired) The Bombay Chronicle, 30 July 1921, p. 13

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THE BOMBAY CHRONICLE. SATURDAY. JULY 30. 1921.                                                                    13

BOYCOTT OF FOREIGN CLOTHES

BONFIRE OF FOREIGN CLOTHES

Shall take place at the Maidan near Elphinstone Mills
Opp. Elphinstone Road Station on Sunday, 31st July, 1921.

THE CEREMONY WILL BE PERFORMED BY

MAHATMA GANDHIJI

All are requested to attend in Swadeshi Clothes of Khadi. Those who have not given away their Foreign Clothes are requested to bring them to the Meeting.

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT IS MADE FOR LADIES AND CHILDREN

IN MEMORY OF

LOKMANYA TILAK

PUBLIC MEETING AT CHAUPATI, 1ST AUGUST 1921. AT 6-30 P. M.

[illegible — surrounding newspaper columns, including a separate 'London Letter' article below this notice, are reproduced too small in this scan to transcribe]
```

Transcription covers the masthead line and the boxed Non-Cooperation movement notice that is the subject of this entry's caption. The rest of the page is ordinary newsprint body type at a size this scan cannot resolve, so it was not transcribed rather than guessed.

[← Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) [Kreuzburg O.S. 25-pfennig note: "97% für Deutschland!" (Upper Silesia, 1921) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kreuzburg-97-percent-notgeld-1921/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (1921 · Identity fusion)
- [Ein Volk, ein Führer, ein Ja (One People, One Leader, One Yes)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ein-volk-ein-fuehrer-ein-ja-1933/) (Nov 1933 · Identity fusion)
- [Palazzo Braschi dressed for the 1934 plebiscite: rows of "SI" around the Duce](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/palazzo-braschi-si-1934/) (Mar 1934 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [Oro alla Patria: handing in gold wedding rings in Milan, 1935](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/oro-alla-patria-milan-1935/) (Dec 1935 · Identity fusion, Transfer, Bandwagon)
- ["Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938/) (1938 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938/) (1938 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)
- [Românii basarabeni, Bucovinenii și minoritarii pașnici (leaflet for Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian and Russian sides)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-german-leaflet-bessarabia-1941/) (1941 · Fear appeal, Identity fusion)