The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 3, 1925, Page 7

caceramemnpureesinananeae es “The idea becomes power when it pene- SATURDAY, OCT, 3, 1925, - British Imperialism in India SPEECH IN THE.HOUSE OF COMMONS -- That was used as the basis. of .the charges on which he, was ; . barred from entering the United States: to- attend the sessions |’ 33 eee SHAPURJI SAKLATVALA. In the House of Commons on Thursday, July..9th, Mr. S. Saklatvala, M. P., speaking in the Committee of Supply .on the Vote for the Indian Office: ‘ '“That a sum, not exceeding £76,000, be granted His Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1926, for a contribution towards the Cost of the Department of His Majesty’s Secretary of State for India in Council, including a Grant,” said: : I am thankful to the Noble Lord that towards the close of his speech he told the Committee that I am bound to take a different view from both Front Benches, who are more or less alike in their policy and their outlook on Indian affairs. I would not take the Noble Lord’s certificate that both Front Benches are identically and absolutely alike, but he is entitled to believe that:there “is a. general agreement on certain main questions. What I say here is not in any mood of anger or hatred, but posi- tively with a view to speaking the truth, when sometimes truth, though unpleasant, ‘is ultimately better than diplomatic states- manship and political thought. I pay homage to the British spirit of hypocritical statesmanship. It-is a wonderful sight to- day. Weare talking of the Indian Empire just in the same strain » Of the Interparliamentary. Union,at Washington. © of common agreement, with that very placid attitude of mind and phraseology of speech as if we were discussing some matters " relating to the renewal of the furniture of the library or the —|° cooking utensils in the kitchen of the House of Commons. I assure the Committee that my whole object taking the line I do is to place before the committee, as well as before the country, not only the Communist party point of view, but the general in- ternational point of view, the overlooking of which in the near future is going to bring serious calamity of many European countries, and especially to Great Britain. We are debating here as if the Bengal ordinances were never promulgated as if the shooting of Bombay operatives during the cotton strike had never taken place, as if a great strike of thousands: of railway workers is not even now going on in the Punjab, with men starv- ing and the Government, the controller of those railways, taking - up a hard-faced attitude, as if all thesé things had not happened, as if a great controversy is not raging, not only with the people of India, but with the people all over'the world, whether British Imperialism, whatever its’ past history, is at all permissible to exist now for the benefit of the citizens of Great Britain herself. There are great problems pertaining to India and Britain which ought to have been discussed. on an afternoon like this. I agree that the commonness of parties and the commonness of policy between the last Government and the present Government has tabooed all these important questions from being uttered in the House. The main question is of Imperialism. and the existence of the British Empire in its present form. India’s Place In the Empire. It is rather unfortunate that from the earliest time you have : called this agglomeration of different peoplés and different races the British Empire. I wish you had from the first designated it. as the Indo-British Empire, so that what we may say about the_ Indian subjects in the Empire may not be taken as a reflection _ by our Colonial friends in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. The . conditions are entirely different. Rules and regulations, form- _ ulae, political remedies and experiences which apply to that part of the British Empire which is composed of Great Britain and | her white Colonies are not at all applicable to the other portions of the Empire, such as India and certain portions of China and Africa. I disagree even with those of my own Indian friends and compatriots who would take a sentimental view of British Imperialism as it exists today. I take it for granted that if it is admitted that the Imperialist relationship of one dominant nation guiding the destinies of another bigger and vaster, nation, directing all her social, economic and political—forces in chan- nels of her own choosing, to suit her own convenience—if that . tie is to be taken as a justifiable tie my Indian friends have no right to come and dictate to the British nation how to hold on to that tie. If for diplomatic purposes, or if once India herself or the Socialist friends of India undertake to keep up the posi- tion of one dominating nation in an Empire controlling the des- tinies of another nation, then it becomes a contract, and I be- lieve that Great Britain as the contractor should be the best : SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT “inn | THE DAILY WORKER. a ry SAKLATVALA’S CRIME SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday im The Daiiy Worker. AER 20 judge as to how. to carry out the contract. .I do not take the view that there-are progressive ways of self-government, of Dominion‘Home Rule, of Indianjzation of the Army and all those - thingsjust as possible as there are cettain progressive measures . for.cultivating apples in Canada, cattle markets in Australia and bringing the fruit and meat to this country from the distant parts of the Empire. I take the view of the reality of life, that if genuine self-rule is in the hands of the Indians and if there exists a genuine In- dianization of the Indian Army, no Indian will be so despicable, just as to say that they would hold that country and that army for the benefit of sonie people other than their own. I do not want to deceive myself on that point. The talk of the Consti- tution, and the alteration of the Constitution, of a 10-yéar limit or a 15-year limit, are nothing but little details in the ofeate iy erning another nation by a sort of hypnotization.. I am - terested in such problems. I tell my Indian friends a¥"fitell ‘to my British friends, that the same principles of life are in every European or Asiatic nation. I put that to the Committee and to the Noble Lord and his party quite seriously. Take the problem as a human problem. India is a large country with over 300,000,000 people. You talk of 10 per cent of the people being educated today. That 10 per cent in that large country represents 30,000,000 people and you admit that those 30,000,000 people—which means a much larger population than many otMer smaller European countries—are educated and as fit as other similarly educated persons in several parts of Europe. Then you style yourselves the trustees of the whole of India, and as trustees you, take jolly good care to'see that the other 280,- 090,000 of people remain ignoranf, illiterate, uneducated, with no freedom to call-their souls their own. You tell those 30,000,- 000 people that although they may be educated, and although ‘ they may be: fitand in a short time those 30;000,000 will be- come 40,000,000 or 45,000,000; as big.a_ population As whole’ of Great: Britain—bécause Great Britain, to suit. her pose treats those 280,000,000 persons as so many ahithals or» beasts of burden, these 40,000,000 or 50,000,000 of educated people will have to lead an unnatural life and will have to be- lieve one thing and practice another. Is there a single British man or woman today, is there a person in any country in Europe, in any of the backward coun- tries, in the Balkan States, in any of the small nations which are not yet so fully developed as Great Britain who should tolerate for one day a. power.so despotic and arbitrary as the Crown, under the Imperial system, is insisting upon enjoying in India? There would not be man.or woman ‘who tomorrow would not rise and fight to-the bitter end to claim their rights of monarchy . Claimed one-tenth ofvthe privileges which.in the name of the Crown are. exercised over the people of India. Because you keep the other 280,000,000 ‘people back, you are asking the 30 or 40 millions of educated people there also to swallow such an in- dignity and such an impossibility in public life ~ aad , 4 Monarchy in the East. ~ me \ It may be said, indeed it is said, for it is a Western idéa, that the Asiatic people always allow a good deal of latitude to their monarchs. . That is Western ignorance. Eastern people have never tolerated. anti-democratic rights and privileges in their monarchs, You seein the 20th century the Chinese people have overthrown their monarchy, which was 3,000 years old, because the monarchy did not square in with the democratic opinions of the people: The Persians have overthrown com- pletely one‘monarchy after another and have put their monarchs under lock and key \for not obeying the people’s wishes. You see the samé:thing in Turkey. No Eastern country would tol- erate as the British people have tolerated the humbug and non- sense from the governing classes; they have overthrown them . and established the people, the peasants in power. It is an un- truthful statement to say that the people of the Hast are tolerat- ing high privileges in monarchy and in their ruling castes and classes. It is a false any It is the Western conceit; it is the Westerner admiring himself, as though the Westerners have the highest consciousness of human life, : How does the Committee reconcile the idea of telling 30,- 000,000 people that they are British, that they have British cul- ture, that they have received British education and yet they must put up with the privileges and rights that have been claimed un- der the British Grown by their rulers in India and which the peo- ple in this country would fight to the bitter end rather than they would accept. Human feeling, the human heart and the human mind are just the same in India as'here or elsewhere. You call the Indians séditious when they protest against these things, but when you rise in revolt in this country against the ruling classes it is called the spirit of democracy. In India it is sedition, conspiracy, subversive propaganda. | Is it the intention (Continued on Page 4) ee |