Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

102 I Ramnath
And India? While reiterating his conviction that "the
British Empire is sucking the life blood of millions of people
in Ireland, India, and Egypt;' he stated that he didn't
think violence was the most constructive option currently
available in the Indian context. The revolutionary nationalist
movement was still "in a stage of infancy and should
devote all its energy to propaganda.">' In a country such as
India, rendered "backward" by despotism, he predicted that
the preparatory phase of education and propaganda would
need to be lengthy.
What about the United States ? He stated fo r the
record that he did not "believe [in 1 or advocate the overthrow
by force or violence" of the U.S. government, or of
any government and form oflaw. He refrained from categorically
disavowing the assassination of public officials,
repeating that it depended on the specific situation, but
that a mass uprising was generally preferable. He made a
distinction between collective movements and individual
acts of "terrorism;' or "direct action;' 99 percent of which
he dismissed as unproductive or even retrogressive, though
he would not concier11.n those '.vho acted in the integrity of
their conscience.54
A related line of questioning pursued Har Dayal's
thoughts on U.S. labor militance. Commenting on labor
leaders accused of illegally transporting dynamite, he
opined that "no person should be heavily punished for the
social phenomena in which we are involved;' and suggested
that the steel trust officials bore culpability for the "horrible
conditions" in their mills, so destructive of "the lives and
health and manhood of American citizens." As for his views