Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 149
revolutionaries have been called anarchist to make them
unpopular." He pointed out that if anarchism was defined
as the absence of any form of government, there were also
Indian philosophical equivalents to the concept: "I think
in India the idea of universal brotherhood, the Sanskrit
sentence vasudev kutumbakam etc., have the same meaning:'
Singh offered a brief introduction to the Western
tradition: "The first man to explicitly propagate the theory
of Anarchism was Proudhon and that is why he is called
the founder of Anarchism. After him a Russian, Bakunin
worked hard to spread the doctrine. He was followed by
Prince Kropotkin etc." He then explained his attraction
to the philosophy: "The ultimate goal of Anarchism is
complete independence, according to which no one will
be obsessed with God or religion, nor will anybody be
crazy for money or otherworldly desires. There will be no
chains on his body or control by the state. 1his means that
they want to eliminate: the Church, God and Religion;
the state; private property."S3 His essay culminated in a
reference to Auguste Vaillant's bomb attack on the French
Chamber of Deputies on December 9, 1893; just before
Vaillant was executed for this act, he proclaimed, "Death to
the bourgeoisie! Long live anarchy!" -the same words that
Singh would use a few years later after his own act in the
Legislative Assembly.
Singh also served briefly as the editor of Kirti's Urdu
edition, but went underground after three months. 54 The
two editorial styles and distinct political leanings of Singh
and Josh reveal two strands coexisting within the movement.
Singh's faction met at a house in Lahore, which Josh