Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 115
Mukerji's individualist anarchist friends were generally
quite contemptuous of his ilk), who scoffed, "Bah! Oriental
stories. You many convince an Easterner like Mukerji . ...
But I want logic."
Jerry retorted, "Mythology is the logic of the imaginative
races, as logic is the mythology of the dull races:'
After which the socialist "left us, furious." Jerry and the
others had cast their friend as the mystical Oriental even as
Mukerji pushed them on rationalist modernity.
Mukerji's next discussion with "the boys" addressed the
question, "What is the relation of man to society?"
Jerry: "The basis of the relation of man to society is fear."
Leo: "The basis of the relation is ignorance. The more
you know, the more unsocial you are."
Mukerji then reflected that in actuality, neither of
them had any idea about people's rclation to society-or
at least, neither had any experience of the delicate negotiations
required by the economic imperatives and behavioral
restraints of that relation when one was a dark-skinned
recent immigrant trying to make ends meet. For example,
later that night Mukerji was threatened with violence by
the drunken son of his employer ("You damned heathen,
I'll smash your head!") and quit the job after his boss dismissed
his concerns. Thus, Mukerji recalled, "began the
most difficult part of my life."
Mukerji worked a series of odd jobs-boardinghouses
during the school year and picking crops during the summer-and
still soapboxed with Jerry and Leo, whose harangues
invariably concluded with the tagline, "Now my
Hindu comrade will pass the hat." They shared beds on a