India. An American View. By Kate L. Mitchell. (The Bodley
Head. sos. 6d.) Subject India. By H. N. Brailsford. (Victor Gollancz. 6s.)
India Arms for Victory. By Geoffrey Tyson, C.I.E. (Kitabistan, Allahabad. 7s. 6d.)
MISS MITCHELL'S book is a survey of the Indian situation as it presents itself to an American student of politics. To an English reader it would appear that she is more intent on pointing out defects than suggesting remedies ; we might at least be given credit for good intentions, however imperfectly` we may have fulfilled them. After all, the communal problem and the Indian States were not invented by the British as a pretext for withholding Home Rule. It seems scarcely fair to assert that we Indianised the public services in order to enlist Indian support for British rule ; what would America have said if we had kept them as a preserve for our public schools? This statement is on a par with Miss Mitchell's singular contention- that the British Government is responsible the present political situation because they have so often strengthen Gandhi's power for their own ends! One may fairly point out we have failed to grapple with the problem of Indian poverty, b it would only be just to add that one of the main reasons of non-success has been the political ferment that has distracted administration ever since the last war. And it might be also sta that some of the worst slums are connected with mills run Indian supporters of the Indian National Congress.
Miss Mitchell's survey ends with the failure of the Cripps' missi This is a pity, for subsequent events have -proved that if th Viceroy's Executive Council_had been replaced by a "National (i.e., Congress) Cabinet, only a token resistance would haire b offered to Japan. And what kind of freedom would India hav enjoyed, with the Japanese in occupation of Burma? The n armies now being raised by General Wavell are described as a "British officered machine, in no way representative of the Indian people." Actually they constitute a truly national force, raised from all classes and largely officered by young Indians ; recruits are flock ing to the colours faster than they can be equipped or trained. The writer practically ignores the Indian Navy and Air Force (the latter one hundred per cent. Indian) and our other efforts to render India independent of England as regards defence, as a natural corollary of self-government.
Mr. Brailsford's book is of a much higher order, and should be studied by all who are anxious to appreciate the Socialist case for India. The author knows the country ,and the people, and his criticisms, though often severe, are never unfair. His book has the merit of being constructive, and his proposals for ending the present deadlock are by far the best that have so far appeared. Briefly, they are as follows. Both the Viceroy and the Congress are to call a truce. Pakistan must be conceded, and the Princes must give their subjects full political and civil rights. The Viceroy will th call upon a leading statesman, a Moslem by choice, to form a National Government whose chief task will be to prepare a draft constitution for the Indian Union. The Indian Union thus form will have Dominion status and will decide whether the coun shall remain within the Empire • it will also fix by treaty India' relations with the British Commonwealth. This is a thorough( practical suggestion, but there should be a clause guaranteeing tha India will not make a separate peace, and will continue the struggle until Japanese power is broken for good and all. Unless this is done, Gandhi will always be a danger. Mr. Brailsford does not venture to look far into the future, but he emphasises the closeness of the parallel between Russia and India. India, like Russia after the revolution, is faced with the problem of a vast poverty-stricken country, an illiterate agricultural population, and a bewildering multitude of languages and races. Stalin had solved it for Russia, but will the Indian temperament produce a man of the toughness of Stalin?
Mr. Tyson's informing work serves as an antidote to this gloomy picture. It deals with the endeavours made by the Government of India to develop the vast natural resources of the country for w purposes, and is a story of the happy results of Anglo-Indian co- operation. The Department of Supply was formed just before the outbreak of hostilities, and in February, 1941, the Eastern Supply Group came into being. Its Council consisted of Indian, South African, Australian and New Zealand representatives, who had the duty of examining and allocating to their proper sources demands for war supplies of every type. Their task became infinitely more complicated with the loss of the Netherlands East Indies, Burma and Malaya, and, what was more, of control of .the sea ; -India has now to depend almost solely upon herself for the equipment of her new armies. Mr. Tyson describes in detail the vast " steel towns " which have sprung up at Jamshedpur, Khumardhubi and other localities the mills at Cawnpore, which turn out millions of yards of khaki cloth, and numerous other subsidiary industries. Who pays for all this? The answer is—Britain. Great Britain's contri- bution to Indian defence has risen from £4o millions in 040-1 to £290 millions in 1942-3, to say nothing of a free gift of aeroplane engines and weapons of the value of £45 millions. The effect on Indian prosperity has been very marked ' . her sterling debt has been paid off, and perhaps here we may see the solution of the poverty problem. The seeds sown in war-time will bear fruit after the peace, and India in due course may well become a great manufacturing country, making what she formerly imported. The Indian publishers are to be congratulated on this book, which is well illustrated, but
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