Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 101
Hopkinson declared his quarry to be without a doubt the
most dangerous of the Indian agitators he had yet evaluated
in the United States, and warned ominously of the
dangerous impact someone ofHar Dayal's "knowledge and
influence and declared Anarchistic tendencies, is bound to
wield . .. on the young boys at the University."48 The San
Francisco Chronicle reported that as Har Dayal embarked
under escort to the Angel Island immigration center for his
interrogation, two hundred highly demonstrative Indians
flanked him.49
The answers provided in the course of his three-hour
grilling may have been as illuminating as one of the public
lectures haunted by Hopkinson.5o The first line of questioning
picked up on a speech Har Dayal had given on the
Russian Revolution and important lessons to be gained
from it. He considered himself a "disciple" of the movement
and its literature, and felt the revolution had been
"justified essentially and necessary for civilization."5!
The questioner pounced: A disciple ? What did he
mean? Har Dayal responded: "The word discipline has
so many meanings. I am a student of it; I have derived
inspiration from it. I know personally many leaders of
the Russian revolution." Presumably he meant the exiled
Socialists-Revolutionaries in Paris. Pressed more closely on
his endorsement of violence, he claimed that each case had
to be considered in context, and that where violent action
was the only means available for changing an unacceptable
government, and if it would "help the progress of civilization
and freedom;' then he would condone it. The Russian
situation fit his criteria: "That is my opinion as a studenC:'52