The Political Future of India Part 17

Does the road to heaven lie through h.e.l.l? Must we make a wreck of our ship and then try salvage? The civilization of Europe, as we have known it, is dying. It may take decades or perhaps a century or more to die.

But _die it must_. This War has prepared a death bed for it from which it will never rise. Upon its ruins is rising, or will rise, another civilization which will reproduce much of what was valuable and precious in our own with much of what we never had. The question that we want to put to our compatriots is, shall we prepare ourselves for the coming era, or shall we bury ourselves in the debris of the expiring one. We have no right to answer it for others, but our answer is clear and unequivocal. We will not be a party to any scheme which shall add to the powers of the capitalist and the landlord and will introduce and accentuate the evils of the expiring industrial civilization into our beloved country.

We are not unaware that, according to the judgment of some thinkers, amongst them Karl Marx, a country must pa.s.s through the capitalistic mill, before the proletariat comes to its own. We do not believe in the truth of this theory, but even if it be true we will not consciously help in proving it to be true. The existing social order of Europe is vicious and immoral. It is worm eaten. It has the germs of plague, disease, death and dest.i.tution in it. It is in a state of decomposition.

It is based on injustice, tyranny, oppression and cla.s.s rule. Certain phases of it are inherent in our own system. Certain others we are borrowing from our masters in order to make a complete mess. Wisdom and foresight require that we be forewarned. What we want and what we need is not the power to implant in full force and in full vigour the _expiring_ European system, but power to keep out its development on vicious lines, with opportunities of gradually and slowly undoing the evil that has already been done.

The Government of India as at present const.i.tuted is a Government of capitalists and landlords, of both England and India. Under the proposed scheme the power of the former will be reduced and that of the latter increased. The Indo-British a.s.sociation does not like it, not because it loves the ma.s.ses of India for which it hypocritically and insincerely professes solicitude, but because in their judgment it reduces the profits of the British governing cla.s.ses. We doubt if the scheme really does affect even that. But if it does, it is good so far.

The ugly feature of the scheme is not its potentiality in transferring the power into the hands of the Brahmins (the power of the Brahmin as such, is gone for good), but in the possibility of its giving too much power to the "profiteering" cla.s.s, be they the landlords of Bengal and Oudh, or the millionaires of Bombay. The scheme protects the European merchants; it confers special privileges on the small European Community; it provides special representation for the landlords, the Chambers of Commerce, the Mohammedans and the Sikhs. What is left for the general tax-paying public is precious little. The authors of the scheme say that to withhold complete and immediate Home Rule is in the interest of the general ma.s.ses, the poor inarticulate ryot and the workingman. We wish we could believe in it. We wish it were true.

Perhaps they mean it, but our past experience does not justify our accepting it at its face value.

There is, however, one thing we can do. We can ask them for proofs by insisting on and agitating for the immediate legislative relief of the ryot and the middle cla.s.ses. We should adopt the aims of the British Labour Party as our own, start educating our people on those lines and formulate measures which will secure for them _real freedom_ and not the counterfeit coin which pa.s.ses for it. It will require years of education and agitation but it has to be done, no matter whether we are ruled by the British or by our own property holders. We are not opposed to Home Rule. Nay, we press for it. In our judgment the objections urged against giving it at once are flimsy and intangible. The chief obstacles are such as have been created or perpetuated by the British themselves. The caste does not prevent us from having _at least_ as much home rule as is enjoyed by the people of Italy, Hungary, the Balkan States and some of the South American Republics. But if we cannot have it at once and if the British must retain the power of final decision in their hands, we must insist upon something being immediately done not only to educate the ryot but to give him economic relief. So long as the British continue to refuse to do that we must hold them responsible for all the misery that Indian humanity is suffering from.

We want political power in order to raise the intellectual and political status of our ma.s.ses. We do not want to bolster up cla.s.ses. Our goal is real liberty, equality and opportunity for all. We want to avoid, if possible, the evils of the cla.s.s struggle. We will pa.s.s through the mill if we must, but we should like to try to avoid it. For that reason we want freedom to legislate and freedom to determine our fiscal arrangements. That is our main purpose in our demand for Home Rule.

XVIII

THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECT

Thus far we have discussed the Indian question from the internal or national point of view. But it has an international aspect also. It is said, and we hope that it is true, that the world is entering into an era of new internationalism and that the old exclusive chauvinistic nationalism is in its last gasps. This war was the greatest social mix-up known to history. It has brought about the downfall of many monarchs and the destruction of four empires. The armies of the belligerents on both sides contained the greatest a.s.sortment of races and nations, of religions and languages that were ever brought together for mutual destruction. Primarily a fight between the European Christians, it drew into its arena Hindus, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Shintos, Jews and Negroes of Africa and America.

The war has produced a revolution in Russia, the like of which has never been known. It is now said openly that the Russian Revolution had as much influence on the final _debacle_ of the Central Powers as the strength of the Allies and the resources of America. The revolution has spread to Germany and Austria and threatens to engulf the whole of Europe. It has given birth to a new order of society, aglow with the spirit of a new and elevated kind of internationalism. This internationalism must have for its foundation justice and self-determination for all peoples, regardless of race or religion, creed or color. In the new understanding between nations cooperation must be subst.i.tuted for compet.i.tion and mutual trust and helpfulness for distrust and exploitation of the weaker by the stronger. The only alternatives are reaction, with the certainty of even greater war in the near future, and Bolshevism.

Now, n.o.body knows what Bolshevism represents. The Socialists themselves are divided over it. The advanced wing is enthusiastic, the moderates are denouncing it. The Liberals and Radicals are freely recognizing that it has brought into the affairs of men a new spirit which is going to stay and substantially influence the future of the world. The stand-patters denounce it in the strongest possible terms. They calumniate it to their heart's content and move heaven and earth to exterminate it. But we feel that only radical changes in the existing order will stem its tide. The Socialists and Radicals want to make the most of it, while the Imperialist Liberals and Conservatives want to give as little as is compatible with the safety of the existing order in which they are supreme. The struggle will take some time, but that it will end in favor of the new spirit no one doubts.

The only way to meet Bolshevism is to concede rights to the different peoples of the earth now being bled and exploited. Otherwise the discontented and exploited countries of the world will be the best breeding centres for it. India must come into her own soon, else not even the Himalayas can effectually bar the entry of Bolshevism into India. A contented, self-governing India may be proof against it; a discontented, dissatisfied, oppressed India perhaps the most fertile field. We hope the British statesmen are alive to the situation.

But that is not the only way to look at the international importance of India. By its geographical situation it is the connecting link between the Near East and the Far East and the clearing house for the trade of the world. Racially, it holds the balance between the European Aryan and the yellow races. In any military conflict between the white and the yellow races, the people of India will be a decisive factor. In a conflict of peace they will be a harmonising element. Racially they are the kin of the European. By religion and culture they are nearer the Chinese and j.a.panese.

With 70 million Moslems India is the most important centre of Mohammedan sentiment. With Christians as their present rulers, the Hindus and Mohammedans of India are coming to realise that their best interests require a closing up of their ranks. There is no doubt that, come what may, their relations in future will be much more cordial, friendly and mutually sympathetic than they have been in the past. The Hindus will stand by their Mohammedan countrymen in all their efforts to revive the glory of Islam, and to regain political independence for it. There is no fear of a Pan-Islamic movement if the new spirit of internationalism prevails. If, however, it does not, the Pan-Islamic movement might find a sympathetic soul in India. Islam is not dead. It cannot and will not die. The only way to make it a force for harmony and peace is to recognise its potentialities and to respect its susceptibilities. The political independence of Islamic countries is the basic foundation for such a state. We hope that the statesmen of the world will give their most earnest thought to the question and sincerely put into practice the principles they have been enunciating during the war. The case of India will be an acid test.

A happy India will make a valuable contribution to the evolution of a better and more improved humanity. An unhappy India will clog the wheels of progress. It will not be easy for the masters of India to rule it on old lines. If not reconciled it might prove the pivot of the next war. A happy India will be one of the brightest spots in the British Commonwealth. A discontented India will be a cause of standing shame and a source of never ending trouble.

With a republican China in the northeast, a const.i.tutional Persia in the northwest and a Bolshevist Russia in the not remote north, it will be extremely foolish to attempt to rule India despotically. Not even the G.o.ds can do it. It is not possible even if the legislature devotes all its sittings to the drafting and pa.s.sing of one hundred coercion acts.

The peace of the world, international harmony and good-will, the good name of the British Commonwealth, the safety of the Empire as such, demand the peaceful introduction and development of democracy in India.

APPENDIX A

A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSIONERS' REPORT

A bureaucracy has the fatal tendency of perpetuating itself and of making itself indispensable. As a result, we find that the prospects and powers of the bureaucracy become more important than even the purposes for which it exists. It is a commonplace of politics that a state exists for the people comprising it, and that the servants of the state are the servants of the people. They are the tools which the body politic uses for its corporate life. Even in self-governed countries the tendency of glorifying the state and the servants of the state at the cost of the people is not uncommon, though the fact is not, or rarely, if at all, admitted in so many words. In dependencies and countries governed by a foreign bureaucracy, however, this fact is undisguisedly kept before the people and they are openly and frankly told that the powers and prospects of the servants of the government are of greater consequence and importance than the wishes and welfare of the people. This is amply ill.u.s.trated by the extravagant scale on which the government of India pays its European servants and goes on adding to their privileges under all sorts of pretences and excuses. People may live or they may die for want of food, for lack of knowledge of the ordinary laws of hygiene, for lack of employment, but the bureaucrats must enjoy their princely salaries, their hill allowances, their furlough, and travelling and leave perquisites, promotions and pensions. If the cost of living increases, they must get a raise in their salaries, no matter how the increased cost of living affects the general body of the people.

Besides, they must have their pensions, as their children are infinitely more important than those of the tax-payer.

We have already reproduced and discussed the recommendations of the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy, about the European members of the Indian services. The Viceroy has only recently emphasized the importance of a substantial increase in their salaries, although there is a deficit of 20 million dollars in the budget estimates for the next year. That is an old story, however. What we are immediately concerned with are the recommendations of the Indian Industrial Commission, in favor of creating a new branch of public service divided into the inevitable Imperial and Provincial branches, for furthering the industrial development of the country. Our meaning will be clear as we proceed.

The Indian Industrial Commission was appointed by the Government of India "to examine and report upon the possibilities of further industrial development in India and to submit its recommendations with special references to the following questions:--

(_a_) whether new openings for the profitable employment of Indian capital in commerce can be indicated.

(_b_) whether, and if so, in what manner, government can usefully give direct encouragement to industrial development,

1. by rendering technical advice more freely available;

2. by the demonstration of the possibility, on a commercial scale, of particular industries;

3. by affording, directly, or indirectly, financial a.s.sistance to industrial enterprise; or

4. by any other means which are not incompatible with the existing fiscal policy of the government of India."

The tariff question was excluded from the scope of the Commission's inquiries, though it was expressed that the "building up of industries where the capital, control and management should be in the hands of the Indians" was the "special object" which the government had in view. The Government spokesman in the meeting of the Legislative Council at which the appointment of the Commission was announced further emphasized "that it was of immense importance, alike to India herself and to the Empire as a whole, that Indians should take a larger share in the industrial development of their country." He "deprecated the taking of any steps, if it might merely mean that the manufacturer who now competes with you from a distance would transfer his activities to India and compete with you within your boundaries."

The Commission has now submitted its report which has been published as a Parliamentary blue book in a bulky volume of about 500 pages including a separate lengthy note by one of the leading Indian members of the Commission. The note is, in our judgment, very valuable, as it gives the Indian point of view of the industrial problem in such a lucid and exhaustive way as to leave no room for doubt as to what articulate India thinks in the matter. The note does not express only the personal opinion of the author but the considered views of the Indian Nationalist Party.

Both the report and the note have been the source of much personal gratification to us as they corroborate and confirm to an extraordinary extent what the author said in his book "England's Debt to India,"

though the report is by no means free from fallacies and one-sided statements of fact and opinions.

II

In the words of the summary prefixed to the report:

"The first chapters of the report deal with India as an industrial country, her present position, and her potentialities. They show how little the march of modern industry has affected the great bulk of the Indian population, which remains engrossed in agriculture, winning a bare subsistence from the soil by antiquated methods of cultivation.

Such changes as have been wrought in rural areas are the effects of economic rather than of industrial evolution. In certain centers the progress of Western industrial methods is discernible; and a number of these are described in order to present a picture of the conditions under which industries are carried on, attention being drawn to the shortage and to the general inefficiency of Indian labor and to the lack of an indigenous supervising agency. Proposals are made for the better exploitation of the forests and fisheries. In discussing the industrial deficiencies of India, the report shows how unequal the industrial development of our industries has been. Money has been invested in commerce rather than industries, and only those industries have been taken up which appeared to offer safe and easy profits. Previous to the war, too ready reliance was placed on imports from overseas, and this habit was fostered by the Government practice of purchasing stores in England. India produces nearly all the raw materials necessary for the requirements of a modern community; but is unable to manufacture many of the articles and materials necessary alike in times of peace and war.

For instance, her great textile industries are dependent upon supplies of imported machinery and would have to shut down if command of the seas were lost. It is vital, therefore, for the Government to ensure the establishment of those industries in India whose absence exposes us to grave danger in event of war. The report advocates the introduction of modern methods of agriculture and in particular of labor-saving devices.

Greater efficiency in cultivation, and in the preparation of produce for the market would follow; labor now wastefully employed would be set free for industries and the establishment of shops for the manufacture and repair of machinery would lead to the growth of a huge engineering industry."

The summarized statements will be made more clear by the following extracts from Chapter I on rural India.

"Famine connotes not so much a scarcity or entire absence of food as high prices and a lack of employment in the affected areas.... The capital in the hands of the country traders has proved insufficient to finance the ordinary movements of crops and the seasonal calls for accommodations from the main financial centers are constantly increasing. This lack of available capital is one cause of the high rates that the ryot has to pay for the ready money which he needs to buy seed and to meet the expenses of cultivation. On the other hand, money is largely invested in the purchase of landed property, the price of which has risen to very high figures in many parts of the country....

But the no less urgent necessity of relieving the ryot from the enormous load of debt with which he has been burdened by the dearness of agricultural capital, the necessity of meeting periodic demands for rent and his social habits, has. .h.i.therto been met only to a very small extent by co-operative organization. The farmer, owing partly to poverty and partly to the extreme sub-division of the land, is very often a producer on so small a scale that it is practically impossible for him to take his crops to the larger markets where he can sell at current rates to the agents of the bigger firms.... A better market system, co-operative selling, and education are the promising remedies."

Coming to the industrial centers of the country apart from the rural areas, the report says:

"A characteristic feature of organised industry and commerce in all the chief Indian centers is the presence of large agency firms which, except in the case of Bombay, are mainly European. In addition to partic.i.p.ating in the export and import trade, they finance and manage industrial ventures all over the country, and often have several branches in the large towns. The importance of these agency houses may be gauged by the fact that they are in control of the majority of the cotton, jute and other mills as well as of the tea gardens and the coal mines."

The general remarks about the industrial deficiency of the country will be better understood from the following extracts:

"We have already referred to the dependence of India on outside sources of sulphur and the necessity for insisting on the local smelting of her sulphide ores. In the absence of any means for producing from purely Indian sources sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids, and alkalis, our manufactures, actual or prospective, of paper, drugs, matches, oils, explosives, disinfectants, dyes and textiles are dependent upon imports which under war conditions, might be cut off. Sources of raw materials for heavy chemicals are deficient. The output of saltpeter could be raised to 40,000 tons per annum and supplementary supplies of nitrates could be produced, if necessary, from atmospheric nitrogen; but for this again, cheap electric power is needed. Salt occurs in abundance and the establishment of caustic soda manufacture, preferably by an electric process, that would also yield chlorine, is a necessary part of our chemical programme. There are available in the country, in fair quant.i.ty, many other raw materials necessary for heavy chemical manufacture, in addition to those referred to under other heads; among them may be mentioned alum, salts, barytes, borax, gypsum, limestone, magnesia, phosphates of lime and ochres. The installation of plants for the recovery of by-products in c.o.king has recently been undertaken, but for the recovery of tar and ammonia only. The recovery of benzol and related products has so far not been attempted nor has anything been done to utilise the tar by re-distillation or other chemical treatment.

"Although India exported raw rubber valued in 1917-1918 at 162 lakhs, rubber manufacture has not been started in the country and goods to the value of 116 lakhs were imported in 1917-1918. This industry is one of those that are essential in the national interest and should be inaugurated, if necessary, by special measures.

"Though textile industries exist on a large scale, the range of goods produced is still narrow, and we are dependent upon foreign sources for nearly all of our miscellaneous textile requirements. In addition to these, the ordinary demands of Indian consumers necessitate the import of some Rs. 66 crores worth of cotton piece-goods, and interference with this source of supply has caused serious hardship. Flax is not yet grown in appreciable quant.i.ties and the indigenous species of so-called hemp, though abundantly grown, are not at present used in any organized Indian industry.