Part 17 (1/2)
Does the road to heaven lie through h.e.l.l? Must we make a wreck of our s.h.i.+p 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, s.h.i.+ntos, 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:--