Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 203
Although the Left parties criticizedJP harshlyfor
the sins of romanticism, utopianism, and escapism
from politics-in his own mind he was faithful to the
Communist ideal. His anti-Communism referred to actually
existing Communist parties in India, China, and the
USSR, which he saw as damaging oppressors that were not
promoting the goals of true socialism. For him, Sarvodaya
was "a higher form" and fuller expression of socialism's ultimate
principles, and a better road to its goals.6o But the
parties each equated their own institutional identity with
the universal ideal, seeing any opposition as tantamount to
a betrayal of socialism itself Moreover, since JP was identified
with the Gandhian tradition, he was tarred with the
same reactionary brush. But his propositions were not reactionary,
if that meant clinging to the old against modern
change. His proposals were new ones, simply calling fo r a
different kind of transformation.
On Reaction and Progress
It can't be overlooked that when Gandhi, Tagore, Lotvala, or
Mookerji connected anarchist principles to a refurbished "indigenous"
tradition, they cast this tradition in Hindu terms.
The hackles this raises for modern progressives in the face of
a still-powerful Hindutva are therefore unsurprising.69 Even
when done by default as reflective of a majority, without
hostile intent or ideological commitment, this was a risk.
But no outcome can be projected backward as inevitable.
Moreover not all criticisms of modernity are