Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

The Romantic Countermodernists
The hegemonic political discourse during the latter
decades of the freedom struggle and early decades of
independence, including Nehru's Fabian-influenced socialism
and Ambedkar's Buddhist-influenced rationalism,
tied the achievement of substantive liberation to a model
of industrial development based in centralized state planning-meaning
liberation not just from foreign rule but
also from an oppressive past, the flaws in which had led to
being colonized in the first place.
Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were both culture
heroes of the Indian freedom struggle, beloved as spiritual as
well as political figures. They were also outspoken critics of
modern industrial society, with deep misgivings about nationalism
and the state. Both were radical pacifists, designers
of utopian communities, and liberation philosophers whose
closest counterparts were Tolstoy and Kropotkin.
The traditional Left, in its passionate devotion to
economic materialism, secularism, and modernization, rejected
Gandhian thought as reactionary. Their deep anxiety