Wk. 11 Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress Working Committee Resolution on the War (1939)

Question 1

Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress Working Committee Resolution on the War (1939)

Answer 1

Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress Working Committee Resolution on the War (1939) – Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was, alongside Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party in India. He was an advocate for independence and, when India became independent in 1947, became the first Prime Minister. Writing on behalf of the Congress party, Nehru responded to the outbreak of World War II in this document.

What was his attitude towards the war?

• Believes that it is a war driven by Imperialist hypocrites trying to consolidate their imperialist interests even as they condemn the imperialist efforts of others.

How did he connect the fight against fascism with India’s struggle for independence?

• The victim of Imperialism is virtually indistinguishable from the victim of facism, with the only difference being that the dictatorial rule of a facist country is from a dictator born within, while the dictatorial rule of a country that is a victim of imperialism is from a dictator born outside the nation. So he connected facism and imperialism without much caveat. And he continued to press his point by comparing the struggle of Poland against the Nazis with the struggle of India against the British.

What did he think the war should be about?

• Nehru thought the war should be about the eradication of all imperialism and indeed, it was upon that banner that he pledged his only support from the people of India.
• How is UK imperialism over India any different from Germany’s imperialism over the rest of Europe? Nehru is equating the two and tying them together as one. The UK Imperialism is just like the Nazis with all the countries that they control.
  
  • “This has been done without the consent of the Indian people whose declared wishes in such matters have been deliberately ignored by the British Government.”
  • “The Congress has repeatedly declared its entire disapproval of the ideology and practice of Fascism and Nazism and their glorification of war and violence in the suppression of the human spirit. It has condemned the aggression in which they have repeatedly indulged and their sweeping away of well-established principles and recognized standards of civilized behavior.”
  • “It has seen in Fascism and Nazism the intensification of the principles of Imperialism against which the Indian people have struggled for many years.”
  • India is to the UK as Poland is to the Nazis. “The Working Committee must therefore unhesitatingly condemn the latest aggression of the Nazi Government in Germany against Poland and sympathize with those who resist it.”
• He groups imperialism and fascism together, and really what’s the difference to a victim of imperialism?
  
  • “The true measure of democracy is the ending of imperialism and fascism alike”
• Nehru sees the UK is hypocrites, allowing the wheels of war to gain momentum even as the UK and like countries acted on their own imperialist interests. For example, the UK also criticized, though did not act against, the other imperialist moves in the run-up to World War II, even as they continue their imperial domination of India and other lands.
  
  • “In Manchuria [the Japanese invasion in 1931] the British Government connived at aggression; in Abyssinia they acquiesced in it. In Czechoslovakia and Spain democracy was in peril and it was deliberately betrayed, and the whole system of collective security was sabotaged by the very powers who had previously declared their firm faith in it.”
• Those in the west talk about the ideals of freedom and democracy but when it comes to action, they either act counter to those ideals or differently toward them.
  
  • “democracy is in danger and must be defended, […] The Committee believe that the peoples of the West are moved by this ideal and objective and for these they are prepared to make sacrifices. But again and again the ideals and sentiments of the people and of those who have sacrificed themselves in the struggle have been ignored and faith has not been kept with them.”
• India will support the war effort only if democracy and freedom from imperialism are at its roots.
  
  • “If the war is to defend the status quo, imperialist possessions, colonies, vested interests and privileges, then India can have nothing to do with it. If, however, the issue is democracy and a world order based on democracy, then India is intensely interested in it.”
  • “The true measure of democracy is the ending of imperialism and fascism alike and the aggression that has accompanied them in the past and the present. Only on that basis can a new order be built up. […] But the Committee cannot associate themselves or offer any co-operation in a war which is conducted on imperialist lines and which is meant to consolidate imperialism in India and elsewhere.”
• Democracy means the end of imperialism in freedom for India. India must attain “self-rule “ which is part of Gandhi‘s “Swaraj”.
  
  • “If Great Britain fights for the maintenance and extension of democracy, then she must necessarily end imperialism in her own possessions, establish full democracy in India, and the Indian people must have the right of self-determination by framing their own constitution through a Constituent Assembly without external interference and must guide their own policy.”
• But he also sees this war is a pivot point for humanity that leads down very different paths – either to an imperialist world order or to a world order of democracy and freedom.
  
  • “The crisis that has overtaken Europe is not of Europe only but of humanity and will not pass like other crises or wars leaving the essential structure of the present-day world intact. It is likely to refashion the world for good or ill”
• Sees World War II as stemming directly From World War I – something he further seas as a result of imperialism.
  
  • “This crisis is the inevitable consequence of the social and political conflicts and contradictions which have grown alarmingly since the last Great War, and it will not be finally resolved till these conflicts and contradictions are removed and a new equilibrium established. That equilibrium can only be based on the ending of domination and exploitation of one country by another”
• Nehru sees India as central to everything that is at stake in this war.
  
  • “That equilibrium can only be based on the ending of domination and exploitation of one country by another, and on a reorganization of economic relations on a juster basis for the common good of all. India is the crux of the problem, for India has been the outstanding example of modern imperialism and no refashioning of the world can succeed which ignores this vital problem.”
• India’s reason for taking part in World War II was to end imperialism.
  
  • “They do not look forward to a victory of one people over another or to a dictated peace, but to a victory of real democracy for all the people of all countries and a world freed from the nightmare of violence and imperialist oppression.”

POWERPOINT:

Nehru, Congress Working Committee Resolution on the War

• Dilemma for the Congress Party (first two paragraphs)
  
  • What is the problem with how India got involved in the war?
    
    • Britain committed India to the war without any input or consent from India’s people
  • What does Nehru think about fascism?
    
    • He’s totally against fascism and so he supports the British side in the way
      
      • Fascism is based on the same principles as imperialism
• This a war to defend democracy
  
  • British people believe in democracy is prepared to make sacrifices to support it
  • British gov’t also seems to be willing to overlook aggression against democracy
    
    • The British gov’t is bad, but the British people are good
• Under what conditions will India support the war?
  
  • India will support it if its truly a war to defend democracy
    
    • This means Britain will give up control of India
  • India will not support it if it’s a war to defend Britain’s empire
• So he “invites” the British Government to declare their goals
  
  • To accept/promise that India will be independent
  • That this is a true war for democracy
• The nature and consequences of this war – global crisis of humanity
  
  • This war is going to change everything
    
    • For ill: fascists win, take over the world, and establish global racial hierarchy
    • For good: anti-fascists win, end of imperialism, reorganization of economics (socialism)
  • India will have a vital role either way

On the Verge of Independence

• In the short term, Nehru’s demands didn’t work
  
  • Many Indians supported the war anyway (esp. Muslim League and Sikhs)
    
    • About 2.5 million Indians fought in WWII
  • Congress launched the Quit India Movement in 1942
    
    • British cracked down, arresting the Congress Party leadership
    • The movement was not universally popular in India, even among Hindus
  • Congress no longer speaks for all Indians
• Atlantic Charter (1941) implicitly promises post-war independence
  
  • Proclaims democracy and decolonization as allied war aims
• India gains independence in 1947
  
  • Divided (Partitioned) into two countries: India and Pakistan
  • In two weeks we’ll see how religious/ethnic tensions flared during Partition