The Essential Writings of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

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The popular perception of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is that of a warrior hero and revolutionary leader who led a life of suffering and sacrifice and who during the Second World War waged a great armed struggle for the freedom of India. What is often forgotten is that the warrior paused between battles to reflect on and write about the fundamental political, economic and social issues facing India and the world during his lifetime Despite being immersed in the tumult of the anti-colonial struggle, Bose in his writings delved back into India's long and complex history and looked forward to the socio-economic reconstruction of India once political independence was won The ideas he put forward were the products of a philosophical mind applied to careful analyses of specific historical situations and informed by direct and continuous revolutionary experiences in different parts of the world, of a kind unknown to any other leader of contemporary India.

Distilled out of a twelve volume set of Netaji's Collected Works, this new edition of his Essential Writings is designed to provide a single volume introduction to the thought of this revolutionary leader of India's freedom struggle on the 75th anniversary of India's independence and Netaji's 125th birth anniversary.

This volume is indispensable for all those interested in modern South Asian history and politics as well as nationalism and international relations in the twentieth century.

SISIR KUMAR BOSE (1920-2000) founded the Netaji Research Bureau in 1957 and was its guiding spirit until his death in 2000. A participant in the Indian freedom struggle, he was imprisoned by the British in the Lahore Fort, Red Fort and Lyallpur Jail. A renowned paediatrician in the post-independence period, he played a key role in preserving the best traditions of the anti-colonial movement and making possible the writing of its history.

SUGATA BOSE is the Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University. His books include A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire and His Majesty's Opponent Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire.

Speaking for myself,' Subhas Chandra Bose stated categorically in his Presidential Address at the Maharashtra Provincial Conference in Poona in May 1928, 'I stand for an independent Federal Republic.' Ten years later in his Haripura Address as President of the Indian National Congress, he reiterated, 'Our goal is that of an Independent India and that goal can be attained only through a Federal Republic in which the provinces and the states will be willing partners.' During the tumult of the Second World War in 1942, Netaji spoke of 'a strong Central Government' for free India. 'When the new regime is stabilised," he explained, 'and the state-machinery begins to function smoothly, power will be decentralised and the provincial governments will be given more responsibility.'

On the eve of Netaji's birth centenary, my father Sisir Kumar Bose and I selected what in our considered opinion constituted Netaji's 'essential writings', which we could offer readers as a single volume distillation of the 12-volume set of his Collected Works. We tried to achieve a fine balance between private letters and public speeches, excerpts from his major works and his seminal essays. We gave special emphasis to Netaji's analyses of international affairs and his vision for the social and economic reconstruction of free India once political independence was won. As democracy faces a global crisis on the 75th anniversary of India's freedom, it is worth recalling what Netaji had to say as early as 1928 on this vital subject. 'Some European writers-Lord Ronaldshay for instancego so far as to say that democracy is unsuited to the oriental temperament and political advancement in India should not, therefore, be made in that direction. Ignorance and effrontery could not go further.' Insisting that democracy was not a Western institution but rather a human institution', he wrote, 'Wherever man has attempted to evolve political institutions, he has hit upon this wonderful institution of democracy."

India,' Subhas Chandra Bose wrote to his mother in 1912, when he was only fifteen years old, 'is God's beloved land. He has been born in this great land in every age in the form of the Saviour for the enlightenment of the people, to rid this earth of sin and to establish righteousness and truth in every Indian heart. He has come into being in many countries in human form but not so many times in any other country-that is why I say, India, our motherland, is God's beloved land." Near the end of a life devoted to the service of the motherland Netaji wrote in his last message to Indians on 15 August 1945: ... never for a moment falter in your faith in India's destiny. There is no power on earth that can keep India enslaved. India shall be free and before long." The popular perception of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is that of a warrior-hero and revolutionary leader who led a life of suffering and sacrifice, and, during the Second World War, waged a great armed struggle for the freedom of India. What is often forgotten is that the warrior paused between battles to reflect on and write about the fundamental political, economic and social issues facing India and the world during his lifetime. Despite being immersed in the tumult of the anti-colonial struggle, Subhas Chandra Bose delved back in his writings into India's long and complex history and looked forward to the socio- economic reconstruction of India once political independence was won. The ideas he put forward were not of either a wandering mystic oblivious of the earth or a doctrinaire revolutionist reared on imported copybook maxims. They were the products of a philosophical mind applied to careful analyses of specific historical situations and informed by direct and continuous revolutionary experience in different parts of the world of a kind unknown to any other leader of contemporary India. Distilled out of a twelve-volume set of his Collected Works, his Essential Writings is designed to provide a single-volume introduction to the thought of India's foremost militant nationalist.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages