“Ruin of India by British Rule”
– written by Hyndman, a British Socialist, in 1907

 

The British Empire in India is the most striking example in the history of the world of the domination of a vast territory and population by a small foreign  minority on a native majority. Both the conquest and the administration of the country have been exceptional, and although the work has been carried on, save in a few directions, wholly in the interest of the conquerors, we English have persistently contended that we have been acting really in the interests of the subdued peoples. As a matter of fact, India is, and will probably remain, the classic instance of the ruinous effect of unrestrained corporatism in Colonial Affairs. It is very important, therefore, that the international social-democrats should thoroughly understand what has been done, and how utterly painful the temporary success of a foreign brutality enforced by a set of Anglo Islanders, whose Little Home and head-quarters are thousands of miles away from their conquered territory, has been to a Population at least Hundreds of Millions of Human Beings.

To begin with, India was conquered for the British Empire not by the Englishmen, but shockingly, by Indian Sepoys themselves, who work under English Leadership, and that English Leadership was taking advantage of Indian disputes.

When the English, following upon the Portuguese, first landed in India for the purpose of commerce, they were almost overwhelmed by the wealth and magnificence of the potentates whose friendship they asked for and whose protection they craved. At the time their connection with this part of Asia began, India was a great and rich country whose trade had been sought after for centuries by the peoples of the West.

If civilisation is to be gauged by the standard attained in science, art, architecture, agriculture, industry, medicine, laws, philosophy and religion, then the Great States of India at that period were well worthy of comparison with the most cultured parts of Europe and it would be hard to name any European Finance Minister who are equal to skill and intelligence as the Hindoo Finance Ministers such as Toder Mal, and No European King could be called greater than Great Indian Kings such as Sivaji;

We still scarcely know how far we ourselves have been influenced in many departments by the Ancient Math and the way of thought of which definitely spread west-ward from the Great Indian Peninsula, and that Ancient Math came from the Indian Peninsula only, that I am sure of.

Even when full account also is taken of that “anarchy” of which nowadays we hear so much from Anglo-Indian bureaucrats, as having everywhere prevailed prior to English rule, we discover that there is little basis for all this hatred towards the Past Traditions and Old Culture of this country, beyond the eagerness to show off, however dishonestly, the “superiority” of European Methods, which is false.

It is safe to say that the condition of India is not any more anarchical than that of France, Germany, and Italy during a great portion of the Middle Ages or Dark Ages of Europe. Thugs and dacoits were not more dangerous than the Bands of Robbers who roamed at will in those days through some of the finest regions of Europe.

The exactions of the Feudal Nobles and Chieftains of Europe were in many cases much worse than the heaviest demands made by any Rajahs;
The Forceful Extraction of Peasants’ Money to The Church was certainly much worse than the Little Donations happily given to Brahmins, without any forcing.

Progress was going on all the time, and we can now see that what has often been called anarchy was but the commencement of a new and more vigorous life.
It may be that Foreign Interference checked a similar development in India since the gradual break-up of the Mogul Empire of Delhi.
At any rate, Foreigners have no right to claim that they have “benefited” the country in any way, if not it were that proper and hard evidence has been given that the mass of The People are really better off than they were, or than they are, under native rule. That is the test of the merit of all governments, home or foreign – Do they, or do they not, secure increased welfare for the body of “The People”, who are being governed?

Englishmen of all Western peoples are perhaps the least qualified to enter into and fully comprehend the national life and development of a number of Asiatic nations, bound together for a comparatively short time under our Alien Rule; but whose growth for thousands of years has gone on in conditions so entirely dissimilar that it requires an effort of the mind to reach back to the period when the two civilisations had a common starting-point.

What was true in those days of rumors, is still true now. The pernicious nonsense supplied by mentally colonized Indian Pensioners to the Press or Media in both India and in England – concerning absolute False Reports of Indian ignorance, slavishness, cowardice, incapacity etc. and this negative bias towards Indians is written and shown wholly and solely with the object of upholding a nefarious “Mental Authority” through giving an “inferiority complex”, a nefarious type of Authoritarianism; which, though less openly brutal, is actually even more insidiously Harmful and more of a tyranny than even that of Soviet Russia.

The numerous races and peoples of India are still capable of great work in every field of human endeavour. Wherever they are allowed a free outlet they display the highest faculties; and it is absurd to contend that great States which managed their own business capably for thousands of years, which outlived and recovered from invasions and disasters that might have crushed less vigorous countries, would be “unable” to control their own affairs successfully if a handful of stupid Foreigners were withdrawn, or driven out, from their midst.

Previous invaders and conquerors of Hindostan mostly settled in the conquered territory and invariably employed the natives in the highest posts, civil and military. The brave people were thus not crushed down even by successive waves of invaders, and that was due to their customs and way of living.

But under English Rule, the Old System of India has been completely changed and destroyed.

The result of the great battles of Plassey, Assaye, Wandiwash and Gugerat has been to deprive Millions of Indians of all control over the policy and administration of their own country and to put even the great Native States, which still retain a nominal independence, increasingly at the mercy of the same despotic power. Up to the time of the mutiny, even to half-a-century ago, this system of complete domination was not so fully worked out as it has been since; and the rule of the famous East India Company which lasted till 1858 was far more considerate of the interests of the population, and much more respectful to the traditions, than has been this New Government of the British Crown (after 1858).

Not a single one of the solemn pledges given by the late Queen are in favour of justice to Indians, has ever been fulfilled, and the Indians find themselves to-day, after more than 150 years of British domination, in a far worse position, in regard to having any control over their own affairs, than they have ever yet been. Here and there an Indian is allowed to creep into the Civil Service on sufferance, or specially servile persons are rewarded by the Government with seats on the Legislative Councils, where they have no authority whatsoever; these, however, are but exceptions which prove the rule.

Such is the Alien Civil Administration, that the military is like unto it. As the last resort, the English hold India by the sword. It is claimed by the supporters of European domination that this army, though admittedly entailing heavy charges, is cheaply purchased; seeing that, by its presence, peace is ensured from one end of Hindostan to the other.

But the Horrors of Peace are often worse than the horrors of war, and in India this is unfortunately still more apparent.

The vigour and intelligence of one-fifth of the entire human race is being kept down and restrained by this “Dictatorship of Peace”.

Beautiful arts are falling into decay,
Native culture and old tradition is being crushed out,
Agriculture is steadily deteriorating,
Anything in the shape of patriotism or national feeling is discouraged, and its advocates are persecuted, mocked or in severe cases, imprisoned.

Denunciation of the wrongs of British Rule is treason and legitimate combination to resist tyranny is a pernicious plot. Peace is not worth having at such a price, even if accompanied by increasing wealth. But when such peace goes hand in hand with growing impoverishment for the mass of the people, then clearly we are face to face with an utterly ruinous and self-hating system.

It is true that India is inhabited by many races and peoples; true that there exist between them many racial and religious causes of quarrel; But, even so, there are more terrible fates in the world than to die fighting, and the slow starvation of millions of human beings is far worse than any slaughter on the battlefield yet heard of. The marvel is that India, overborne as she is by excessive, costly and unsympathetic administration in every direction, is able to hold her own at all, and that Indians under existing conditions ever show that high distinction in so many branches of human thought and learning that they unquestionably display.

But it may be urged: “Look at the great results of European-style Management as applied to India’s great cities like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Agra, Delhi and that gives an impression of wealth and magnificence worthy to be ranked with anything that can be seen in the West. Fine railways admirably built and handsomely equipped conduct the traveller from one end of the Empire to the other; affording not only the best convenience for passengers but enabling transport of goods to be conducted with ease, cheapness, and rapidity!!”

Had they recognised that what was needed for improvement was not Complete “Europeanisation”, but rather, Sympathetic Cooperation of really capable western men, who are thoroughly versed in Indian Habits and Customs, and divorced from life among Europeans, and only interested with the Indian Culture themselves; had they in short regarded India’s issues from the Indian Standpoint, from the Indian Point of View, for once, then Great Benefit might have resulted to the Country and it’s people.

But, all this notwithstanding, had the economic relations remained the same, India would still have been as desperately impoverished as she is to-day. The reason for this continuous depletion of wealth and destruction of well-being is not far to seek. And this reason applies to the entire population under British control. All the Native People of India are subjected to the terrible disadvantage of the drainage of produce and crops away from India’s Soil onto English Land, without any commercial return. This drainage, or economic tribute, from which most conquered dependencies suffer, is specially severe in the case of India.

It means that India, naturally a country with the greatest possibilities for wealth-production in every department, is being steadily bled to death, in order to pay pensions, interest, home charges, dividends and remittances in Britain to the capitalist and landlord classes with their hangers-on. Wherever it is possible to throw a charge upon the Indian revenues this is at once done and, as the Indians are wholly unrepresented either in India or in Britain, they are unable to complain effectively and tell their side of the story as well, in any way whatever.

There are Two Indias :-

1. Angloid India – People with fine quarters, and luxurious arrangements, and a “Colonized Mentality”, laughing upon the wholesale impoverishment of the country.

2. India Proper – The native people with native culture and old traditions, who are undergoing extreme misery such as has never been seen on the same scale elsewhere, under Modern Capitalism.

India is only the most conspicuous instance of the ruinous effect of European Capitalism upon subject races. Other nations, so far as their opportunities permitted, have been as injurious in their dealing with the less-developed peoples as the British. European Nations, and now the United States, have carried on the same system, but on a much smaller scale than the British. It is for the international social-democrats of the World, representing the classes that gain nothing from the tyranny these people are suffering under, to organise and assist any efforts that may be made to destroy for ever the pernicious domination of Colonialism in all its forms, and to bring about the emancipation of all man-kind.

May 1st, 1907,
H.M. Hyndman.

This was the “Ruin of India by British Rule” written by Hyndman – Even though this was written by the British Socialist back in 1907, which is more than over a 100 years ago, but it still holds true till this day, especially when we see the State of the “Colonial Mentality” in our country.

 

 

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.