smash-pacifism-zine

As the movement was set to begin, however, the British
declared the INC illegal and arrested its leaders. Gandhi
was also arrested, and would not be released until May
1944. Despite the arrest of the leadership, the campaign
began.
The country erupted in rioting and widespread
sabotage. Some 332 railway stations and nearly 1,000
postal and telegraph stations were destroyed, 208 police
stations damaged or destroyed, 2,000 police wounded and
63 killed. Some areas in northern India were taken over as
liberated zones by armed movements.
“The arrests of the national leaders resulted in mass
demonstrations which the government attempted to
suppress rigorously. Soon a Quit India revolt flared up that
the imprisoned leaders were powerless to control. The
programme of nonviolent cooperation was never carried
out... the rank and file of Congress were left to act on their
own initiative and resources. Mobs gathered in cities and
rural areas and attacked... symbols of British rule and
power. They set fire to railroad stations, signal boxes and
post offices. Police stations and other government buildings
were also attacked. Soon a powerful underground
movement sprang into existence and its leaders and workers
moved secretly across the land, fomenting rebellion. The
rebels cut telephone and telegraph wires, blew up bridges
and tore up railroads. The campaign was short but sharp...”
(Gandhi: A Life, p. 384)
In response, the British deployed massive military
force, opening fire on protesters and killing over 1,000 in a
number of violent incidents. Some 92,000 were arrested. It
was the largest deployment and use of British military force
since the 1919 massacre in Amritsar. By the end of
September 1942, the rebellion had been largely suppressed.
By 1944, the Indian National Army (INA), an
armed military force organized by Bose over the previous
two years in Asia, had entered India. It numbered some
20,000 and was largely comprised of Indians serving in the
British Army who had been captured by the Japanese in
Hong Kong, Malaya, and Burma.
After some fighting in India, the INA was defeated
by British and Indian soldiers in May 1945. Those
elements that did not disperse were captured, and many
later convicted and given long jail terms, including three
officers—one Hindu, one Sikh, and one Muslim.
The INA and subsequent trials attracted widespread
support and sympathy among Indians, including among
Indian troops in the British Army. These troops were
beginning to grow mutinous over the severe punishments
given to convicted members of the INA, as well as their
own conditions serving under British officers. Due to the
growing opposition, the British released several of the
prisoners:
“The Commander-in-Chief, the chief authority of
the army, acted in accordance with the wishes of the army.
Nearly 80 percent independent votes of the army were in
favour of their release...
“The mutinies that followed made it even
clearer...”
(History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement, p.
239)
“In February 1946, the Royal Indian Navy
mutinied in Bombay, where some three thousand naval
ratings rose in violent protest against their treatment and
living conditions... Naval establishments in Karachi,
Calcutta and Madras were also affected... The mutiny
inflamed the public mood and brought huge crowds into the
streets, sparking off serious riots, arson, and looting in
several of the big cities. Appeals to the public to remain
calm went unheeded. Both the military and the police
opened fire on several occasions. In six days of
disturbances about two hundred people were killed and
over one thousand injured.”
(Gandhi: A Life, p. 408)
Post-War Apocalypse
At the end of WW2, in 1945, the British began
negotiating the terms of its withdrawal from India. Faced
with the destruction and resulting instability of the war, as
well as anti-colonial resistance throughout the Empire, the
British had decided to withdraw from India rather than
engage in a hopeless counter-insurgency effort, now
compounded by a mutinous army. They would instead
focus on winning in smaller colonial battlefields such as
Malaya, Kenya, etc.
During negotiations, the Muslim League had
pressed for the creation of Pakistan as a separate and
independent state for over a decade. The Muslims at this
time comprised some one-quarter of India's population. The
region proposed for Pakistan were several northern
provinces with majority Muslim populations. Partition was
strongly opposed by Hindu nationalists, including Gandhi.
Offering the basic Hindu rationale for opposing the
partition of India, Gandhi stated:
“The 'two-nation' theory is an untruth... The vast
majority of Muslims of India are converts to Islam or are
the descendents of converts. They did not become a
separate nation as soon as they became converts.”
(Gandhi: A Life, p. 368)
This logic angered many Muslims, who asserted
that they had a very different culture, religion, and way of
life. This, some claimed, was the basis for establishing a
separate independent Muslim state. To create political
pressure during the negotiations, the Muslim League called
for a Day of Action, in August 1946. Three days of rioting
and murder occurred, with thousands killed in 'communal'
clashes between Muslims and Hindus. In Calcutta alone, an
estimated 4,000 people, primarily Hindus, were killed and
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