Agnes Smedley and the Indian anarchists in Weimar Berlin

This article examines the entangled worlds of anti-colonialism and anarchism in Weimar era Berlin. Looking particularly at Agnes Smedley and her partner in Berlin, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, as well as M.P.T. Acharya and others, the article explores the ways in which these figures approached the q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSouth Asian history and culture Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 283 - 296
Main Author Laursen, Ole Birk
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Routledge 28.06.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agnes Smedley
Anarchism
anti-colonialism
Berlin
Colonialism
Communism
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Summary:This article examines the entangled worlds of anti-colonialism and anarchism in Weimar era Berlin. Looking particularly at Agnes Smedley and her partner in Berlin, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, as well as M.P.T. Acharya and others, the article explores the ways in which these figures approached the question of anarchism in relation to Indian anti-colonialism. While recent scholarship has focused on Smedley's- and to some extent Chatto's- communist activities, this article suggests that, in the early 1920s, they were much closer affiliated with anarchism than often admitted. Drawing on extensive correspondence and publications, it demonstrates that Smedley and the Indian anti-colonialists often challenged anarchists to devote more attention to the colonial question and, in fact, often facilitated such contacts.
ISSN:1947-2498
1947-2501
DOI:10.1080/19472498.2024.2371689