Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 65
both a former "brilliant" officer in the Russian army, and
enrolled in l'Ecole des Langues Orientales."'!
Another student was Miss Perin Naoroji, granddaughter
of the renowned parliamentarian Dadabhai Naoroji,
best known fo r his book on the economic drain theory
of British colonial rule. The "Grand Old Man" had her
educated in Europe along with her three sisters. Since
Perin's boardinghouse was on Cama's street, the Boulevard
Montparnasse, intelligence surmised the girl had "learned
politics from her." Crossing the English Channel to visit
one of her sisters in London, she was with 5avarkar at the
time of his arrest. She followed his case with interest, visiting
him in jail and then returning to Paris after it was
over. Ihereafter she could be found "working hard in the
Extremist ranks;' and within a few months she was reportedly
being tutored in bomb making by W. Bromjevski,
described as "a young Polish engineer, believed to be an
anarchist, who visited her and her sister constantly at their
flat for months." The sisters returned to India at the end of
the year, yet remained in communication with Cama, "with
whom [Perin] had arranged a simple but effective cipher
before she left Paris."45
What of the local French anarchists ? Soon after arriving
in Paris, Kanungo had been introduced to Albert
(Joseph) Libertad, founder of the journal L'anarchie, as
someone who might be able to provide expertise in explosives
and clandestine organization. According to Kanungo's
memoir, when Libertad invited him to attend anarchist
meetings, Kanungo went, under the impression that "anarchism
was just another word for revolution."46 But once