Skip to main content

The Futurism of Young Asia: and Other Essays on the Relations Between the East and the West: A British History of Revolutionary India (1905-1919).1

The Futurism of Young Asia: and Other Essays on the Relations Between the East and the West
A British History of Revolutionary India (1905-1919).1
    • Notifications
    • Privacy
  • Project HomeThe Futurism of Young Asia,
  • Projects
  • Learn more about Manifold

Notes

Show the following:

  • Annotations
  • Resources
Search within:

Adjust appearance:

  • font
    Font style
  • color scheme
  • Margins
table of contents
  1. Front Matter
    1. Title Page
    2. Table of Contents
  2. Preface
  3. Part I. The Futurism of Young Asia
    1. 1. A Critique of Social Philosophy
    2. 2. The Doctrine of Superior Races.
    3. 3. The Logic of the Occident.
    4. 4. The Alleged Pessimism of the Orient.
    5. 5. The So-called Opening of China.
    6. 6. The Real Cycles of Cathay.
    7. 7. The Comparative Method.
    8. 8. The Age of Modernism.
    9. 9. The Event of 1905.
    10. 10. The Demand of Young Asia.
    11. Notes
  4. Part II. Asia and Eur-America.
    1. Leavings of the Great War (1914-1918)
      1. 1. The War and Asia.
      2. 2. Revolution vs. Reaction.
      3. 3. Evacuation of Asia.
      4. 4. Bolsheviks and the British Empire.
      5. 5. A Monopoly in World Control.
      6. 6. Achievements of the War.
      7. 7. The Fallacies of Neo-liberalism.
      8. 8. Bulwark of World Peace.
      9. 9. The New Germany and Young Asia.
      10. Notes
    2. Persia and the Persian Gulf (1906-1919).
      1. 1. Reconstruction in the Persian Gulf.
      2. 2. The New Persia in Realpolitik.
      3. Notes
    3. Asia in Americanization.
      1. 1. The Race-Problem of the New World.
      2. 2. America's Ultimatum to Asia.
      3. 3. The Oriental Factor in the Immigrant Population.
      4. 4. The Basis of Discrimination.
      5. 5. Asians vs. Latins and Slavs.
      6. 6. Persecution of Asians in America.
      7. 7. Anti-Chinese "Pogroms" of the United States (1855-1905).
      8. 8. The Crime of Colour.
      9. 9. Americanism in the New Asia.
      10. 10. New Asian States and America.
      11. 11. India in the United States.
      12. Notes
    4. A View of France
      1. 1. Prevalent Notions about France.
      2. 2. The Atmosphere of Paris.
      3. 3. French Discoveries and Inventions.
      4. 4. Knowing France.
      5. 5. The Challenge to Young India.
      6. 6. A Call to Comradeship.
      7. 7. French Economics and India.
      8. 8. India in French Communism.
    5. Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity1
      1. 1. Method of Approach.
      2. 2. Christ-lore in History.
      3. 3. Confucianism and Buddhism Analyzed.
      4. 4. The Doctrine of Avatâra. (Deification of Man.)
      5. 5. Rapprochement in Religious Psychology.
      6. 6. The Ethical postulates of China, India, and Christendom.
      7. Notes
    6. The World's Great Classics.
      1. 1. Eur-American Methodology
      2. 2. The New Criticism.
      3. 3. Classicism and Christ-lore.
      4. 4. From the Mediaeval to the Romantic.
      5. 5. Folk-Imagination.
      6. 6. Inductive Generalization.
      7. Notes
    7. View-Points in Aesthetics.
      1. 1. Two Specimens of Art-Appreciation.
      2. 2. The Current Standard of Aesthetic Appraisal.
      3. 3. The Boycott of Western Culture.
      4. 4. Achievements of the Modern Mind.
      5. 5. The Alleged Indian Point of View.
      6. 6. Race-Ideals in Fine Arts.
      7. 7. Aesthetic Revolution.
      8. 8. Historical Art-Criticism.
      9. 9. Philosophical Art-Criticism.
      10. 10. The Themes of Art.
      11. 11. Swarâj in Shilpa.
      12. 12. The Art-In-Itself or Pure Art.
      13. 13. The Alphabet of Beauty.
      14. 14. Structural Composition or Morphology of Art.
      15. 15. The Idiom of Painting.
      16. 16. Form and Volume in Colour.
      17. 17. The Geometry of Sculpture.
      18. 18. The Mechanism of Colour-Construction.
      19. Notes
    8. Old India in the New West.
      1. 1. Naval Architecture.
      2. 2. The So-Called Bell-Lancasterian Pedagogics.
      3. 3. Shakuntalâ and the Romantic Movement.
      4. 4. The Gitâ in Europe and America.
      5. 5. Manu as the Inspirer of Nietzsche.
      6. 6. India in the Universities and Movies.
      7. 7. Sanskritic Culture and the "Comparative" Sciences.
      8. Notes
    9. Oriental Culture in Modern Pedagogics.
      1. 1. Asia in Liberal Culture.
      2. 2. Chinese Poetry.
      3. 3. China's Paintings.
      4. 4. A Modern Superstition.
      5. 5. The Pluralistic Universe.
      6. 6. Hindu Synthesis.
      7. 7. The India of Colonialists and Orientalists.
      8. 8. The Ideas of 1905.
      9. 9. Human Interests of Oriental Achievements.
      10. 10. Expansion of the Mind.
      11. 11. A Call to Cosmopolitanism.
      12. 12. The Message of Equality.
      13. Notes
  5. Part III. Revolutions in China
    1. The Beginnings of the Republic in China.
      1. 1. The Revolutionist Manifesto.
      2. 2. Despotism and Mal-administration.
      3. 3. East and West.
      4. Notes
    2. Political Tendencies in Chinese Culture.
      1. 1. Revolutions in Chinese History.
      2. 2. The Logic of the Fish.
      3. 3. Achievements and Failures of the Manchus.
      4. 4. The Chinese Herodotus on the Law of Revolutions.
      5. Notes
    3. Young China's Experiments in Education and Swarâj.
      1. 1. Swarâj before Education.
      2. 2. China's Educational Endeavours.
      3. 3. Embryology of Democracy.
      4. 4. "Absolute" Revolutions.
      5. Notes
    4. The Democratic Background of Chinese Culture.
      1. 1. Local and Gild Liberties.
      2. 2. Centralizing Agencies.
      3. 3. Chinese Political Philosophy.
      4. Notes
    5. The Fortunes of the Chinese Republic (1912-1919).
      1. 1. Revolutions and Reactions.
      2. 2. North and South in Chinese Politics.
      3. 3. Min Kuo (Republic) Triumphant.
      4. 4. Constitutional Agitation under the Manchus.
      5. 5. The Struggle over the Constitution in Republican China.
    6. The International Fetters of Young China.
      1. 1. Foreign Possessions in China.
      2. 2. China's Sovereignty in Realpolitik.
      3. 3. Bolshevik Renunciations.
      4. 4. The Demands of Young China.
      5. 5. The "Never-Ending Wrongs" of the Chinese People.
        1. I. Sphere of Influence.
        2. II. Extra-territoriality.
        3. III. Treaty-ports.
        4. IV. Financial Vassalage.
        5. V. Turiff Restrictions and Boxer Indemnity.
        6. VI. Industrial Tutelage.
        7. VII. Servitude of the Mind.
      6. 6. The Psychology of the Semi-Slave.
      7. Notes
  6. Part IV. Tendencies in Hindu Culture
    1. Fallacies regarding India.
      1. 1. Injustice to the Orient.
      2. 2. Secular Literature of the Hindus.
      3. 3. Humanity and Hindu Culture.
      4. 4. Greater India.
      5. 5. Epochs of Hindu Culture.
      6. 6. Hindu Institutional Life.
    2. International India.
      1. 1. Intercourse with the Egyptians.
      2. 2. With the Aegeans.
      3. 3. With the Semitic Empires of Mesopotamia.
      4. 4. With the Hebrews.
      5. 5. With the Zoroastrians of Persia.
      6. 6. With the Hellenistic Kingdoms.
      7. 7. With the Roman Empire.
      8. 8. With the Chinese.
      9. 9. With the Saracens.
      10. 10. With Europe during the Later-Middle Ages.
      11. 11. With Europe since the Renaissance.
      12. 12. The only "Dark Age" of India.
      13. Notes
    3. Humanism in Hindu Poetry
      1. 1. The Here and the Now.
      2. 2. Yearning after Fire.
      3. 3. Idealism.
      4. 4. Love and War.
      5. 5. Bhartrihari's Synthesis.
      6. 6. Mother-Cult.
      7. 7. Vishvanâtha, the Critic.
      8. Notes
    4. The Joy of Life in Hindu Social Philosophy.
      1. 1. Occidental Pessimism.
      2. 2. Hindu Militarism.
      3. 3. Buddhism in Hindu Culture.
      4. 4. Western Mysticism.
      5. REFORMAT
      6. 5. Hindu Materialism.
      7. 6. Hindu Achievements in Organization.10
      8. Notes
    5. An English History of India.1
      1. 1. Comparative History.
      2. 2. Smith's Fallacies.
      3. 3. Islam in India.
      4. 4. Hindu Period.
      5. 5. Modern India.
      6. Notes
  7. Part V. Young India (1905-1921)
    1. The Methodology of Young India.
      1. 1. Pluralism in Politics.
      2. 2. Protestants in Science.
      3. 3. Revolt against Orientalists.
      4. 4. Varieties of Intellectual Experience.
      5. 5. The Novel Urges of Life.
      6. 6. A New Creed.
      7. 7. The Doctrine of Satyâgraha.
      8. 8. The Gospel of Shakti-Yoga.
      9. Notes
    2. World-Culture in Young India.
      1. Notes
    3. Currents in the Literature of Young India.
      1. 1. Recent Bengali Thought.
      2. 2. The Songs of Young Bengal.
      3. FORMAT ALL POEMS IN THIS CHAPTER
      4. 3. Dutt and Sen.
      5. 4. Romanticism in Fiction.
      6. 5. Gujarati Prose and Poetry.
      7. 6. Songs of the Marathas.
      8. 7. Marathi Drama.
      9. 8. Hari Narayan Apte.
      10. 9. Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak.
      11. 10. Themes of Literature.
      12. 11. The Wealth of Urdu.
      13. 12. "National" Education.
      14. Notes
    4. Science and Learning in Young India.
      1. 1. Criterion of Intellectual Advance.
      2. 2. Extra-Indian Data.
      3. 3. Three Sciences Demanding Cultivation.
      4. 4. The Ideas of 1905.
      5. Notes
    5. A British History of Revolutionary India (1905-1919).1
      1. Notes
    6. Viewpoints on Contemporary India (1918-1919).1
      1. 1. An Antiquarian on Modern India.
      2. 2. A British Socialist on Young India.
      3. 3. India and the British Empire.
      4. 4. The Proletariat and Nationalism.
      5. 5. An Indian Interpreter.
      6. 6. Map-Making as a Function of Revolutions.
      7. 7. Two Indias.
      8. 8. An Attempt at Theorizing.
      9. 9. Why not a Pluralistic but Free India?
      10. 10. Comparative Politics.
      11. Notes
    7. India's Struggle for Swarâj (1919-1921).
      1. 1. The Roll of Honour.
      2. 2. All-round Boycott.
      3. 3. National Organization.
      4. 4. Ideas of 1905.
      5. 5. Social Service and Solidarity.
      6. 6. Proletarianism and Class-Struggle.
      7. Notes
    8. The Foreign Policy of Young India (1921).
      1. 1. India's Responses to the World.
      2. 2. Greater India.
      3. 3. The World-Test.
      4. 4. Young India in the International Balance.
      5. 5. The Foreign Affiliations of Indian Politics.
      6. 6. The Foreign Services of Young India.
      7. 7. Indian Embassies and Consulates.
  8. Appendix
    1. Notes

A British History of Revolutionary India (1905-1919).1

Those students of international politics who care for facts will find in the present volume a well-compiled digest from year to year of the military achievements of Young India in its steady war against Great Britain. The story has all the authority of a firsthand study, since the author was one of those English members of the Indian civil service who were engaged by the British government to prepare the official history of Indian sedition, conspiracy. and revolutionary propaganda, published in 1918. Another of his significant qualifications for the present task is his praticipation in the framing of the Rowlatt Act of 1919, the Nationalist reaction to which has served to add Amritsar and Ahmedabad to the list of the world's massacres.

To the author the "vital issue of the present" is: "Will the constitutional changes" effected by the new Government of India Bill "be such as adequately to maintain British supremacy" (page 254)? Notwithstanding his verbose solicitude for the well-being of India, he seems to share the opinion formerly expressed by Lord Crewe, whose words he quotes: "Is it conceivable that at any time an Indian Empire could exist, on the lines, say, of Australia and New Zealand, with no British officials and no tie of creed and blood, which takes the place of these material bonds? To me that is a world as imaginary as any Atlantis ... that was ever thought of by the ingenious brain of any imaginary writer" (page 89). Such being his point of view, it is strange that the author should so often be surprised to find that "the preaching of racial hate" is a prominent feature of Indian nationalism.

The author, however, has no illusions. He knows that there is no difference in aims and ideals between the "Moderates" and the "Extremists", the Home Rulers and the Liberators, the two camps into which Indian political parties are conventionally grouped. In regard to the "Moderate leaders" we are told that "when the riots began [1919], they blamed the rioters, but devoted their main energies to censuring the measures of suppression adopted by the government" (page 220). Instead of siding with the government these so-called Home Rulers advocated the abrogation of martial law, the repeal of the Rowlatt Act and a policy of surrender to the people's will. Common sense is thus left to make no distinction between the two parties but rather to designate both as belonging to one and the same group of "patriots", who are to be sharply distinguished from those who in common parlance are known as loyalists or traitors, depending upon the points of view. Indeed, at the National Congress of 1916 "absolute political independence had become the professed ideal of Moderate and Extremist politicians alike" (page 119).

The position of those who do not belong to the group of patriots is brought into relief by the picture given by the author of success in terrorism which revolutionary India has been able to establish (pages 94, 188, 190). "The fair trial of a person accused of revolutionary crime has been rendered practically impossible by the murders of approvers, witnesses, police officers and law-abiding citizens suspected by revolutionaries of having given information to, or otherwise assisted, the police in the detection of revolutionary crime". (pp 94, 188, 190). Evidently there is a moral tug-of-war between the party of freedom and the forces harnessed to subjection and slavery.

In the background of all this the reader has to visualize a thoroughly disarmed India. And since her patriots have accepted the challenge of the British Empire their methods of work are naturally twofold. In the first place, they try by hook or by crook to equip themselves with arms. Secondly, they seek to improvise ways and means of acquiring a training in military manœuvres. For the purchase of firearms they loot the non-patriots and the government treasuries. These tactics are akin to the Bolshevik economics of expropriation. Military discipline is achieved not only in this very process of financing the movement, but also in organized attempts to kill off persons in the British service undesirable to them, as well as their secret agents (pages 105, 115). Militaristic enterprises occasionally assume the form of outbreaks and riots, which, whether political in origin or not, are exploited by the leaders of secret societies for the purpose of paralyzing the government and demonstrating to the masses that "British rule is gone" (pages 98, 150). For instance, it was found out in the Punjab "rebellion" of 1919 that there were "clever men behind the lawless deeds and they showed concerted actions" (page 216).

These attempts at military preparedness, however crude, have shown cumulative progress since the first bomb attack in Bengal (1907), which was an aftermath of the events of 1905 (pages 73, 85), in which Young India may be said to have been born. Its philosophy is traced by the author back to Tilak's message in the Kesari, a Marathi journal, in 1897 (page 51): "Do not circumscribe your vision like a frog in a well. Get out of the Penal Code, enter into the extremely high atmosphere of the Bhagavat Gita (The Bible of Mystical Militarism) and then consider the actions of great men." Nay, the beginnings of this militant attitude are to be read in the journalism of the 70's. According to the British officer in charge of the Act (1878) designed to gag the Indian press, the journalists of the time used to incite the people to "upset the British Raj by denunciations, sometimes open and sometimes covert, of the alleged weakness and timidity of the English and their inability to maintain their present position in India".

From a reading of the book one rises with the conviction. that a state of war exists in India between the people who are its natural leaders, and the foreigners who have managed to get possession of the country. This belligerency, chronic and old as it is, is not recognized as such in international law, because the rebels have not yet been able to smuggle, purchase or steal enough arms and ammunition for one or two dramatic military demonstrations. But India's efforts to attain political emancipation in the teeth of the formidable opposition of the enemy are patent to all who study warfare and the "halfway houses' to war. The present book is a record of this struggle, especially of the crisis that is coming to a head, from the other side of the shield.

Notes

  1. A History of the Indian Nationalist Movement. By Sir Verney Lovett. New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920. — xiv, 285 pp. Cf. Freiheitskampf der indischen Nationalisten (Berlin, 1920).↩

Annotate

Next Chapter
Viewpoints on Contemporary India (1918-1919).1
PreviousNext
Powered by Manifold Scholarship. Learn more at
Opens in new tab or windowmanifoldapp.org