M.P.T. Acharya was born on 15th April 1887 in Chennai into a Bhramin family. From
early years he was involved in the nationalist struggle. He edited a nationalistmagazine for his uncle. When the periodical was suppressed by the colonialauthorities Acharya had to escape to French controlled Pondicherry. Sensing hewas not safe there he left India and landed in France. He soon moved to Londonand joined the Indian House with V.D Savarkar, Madan Lal Dhingra and other Indiannationalists. When in 1909 Dhingra assassinated Sir William Hutt Curzon Wylliethe Indian House soon disintegrated.In 1909, together with another Indian revolutionary by the name of SukhsagarDutt, they reached the Riff region in Morocco, with the aim to join the armedrebellion against Spanish colonialism. But this adventure failed, as the Riffanrebels were not willing to recruit the two Indians for suspicion of being spies.In next few years he visited Berlin, Munich and in November 1911 was inConstantinople to gain Muslim support against the British. In 1912 he moved toNew York and in 1914 to San Fransisco, where he edited the Tamil edition of GadarParty's periodical. Gadar Party was set up a year ago, with help of his friendand IWW member Har Dayal. Har Dayal had spent time with Emma Goldman and when in1914 Dayal was deported for being "an anarchist" Emma protested and wrote aboutit in Mother Earth.It was during this time Acharya saw the real face of Western Democracies andstood against the notion of nation states. "Is it to make large cities withmiserable people, barely eking their existence that we want to have ‘Swaraj'?[1]"He asked."I consoled myself by answering that the misery was due to foreign Government,but under Indian Government, it would all vanish, because our countrymen will befriends of the poor when they come to rule. Late on, however, when i went toEurope and saw misery there, my illusions about "National" rule were shattered."Acharya spent the World War period in Middle East and in 1917, with Virendranath"Chatto" Chattopadhyaya, attended a socialist peace conference in Stockholm.Where he met prominent Bolshevik leaders and in 1919 met Lenin. In 1920 Acharyahelped form and became Chairman of the Communist Party in exile, with M.N.Roy asSecratary. Acharya was kicked out in 1921 for his criticism of the direction CPIwas taking under the Comintern and Roy's autocratic behavior. He attended theKropotkine's funeral in Moscow on 13th of February, 1921.MPT Acharya (second from left) and some Indian independence fighters, includingV.D.Savarkar, in a group photo.Acharya's involvement in international anarchist movement was set-off by hisdisillusionment with the USSR and the whole edifice of Marxist priesthood. He wrote:"We are Anarchists, because we do not want authoritarianism outside or inside,because to us anti-Marxists, life and society must be, immanently - oneindivisible whole impossible of mechanical separation - as the Marxistsinorganically think and believe." "Communism can come only through and beyondAnarchism not before and behind it, as Lenin predicted and died broken-heartedand mad."In late December 1922, Acharya and a group of Indians attended the foundingmeeting of the revived anarcho-syndicalist AIT-IWA, with Rudolf Rocker, AugustinSouchy, and Alexander Schapiro as secretaries[2]..Among the other delegates at the founding meeting was the Japanese anarchistYamaga Taiji, with whom Acharya remained in touch throughout his life.[3]The Indians' first "success," the secretariat noted sarcastically, was to get IWAliterature banned from import into India.At the suggestion of the AIT-IWA secretariat, a committee of Indians in Europewas subsequently set up with the aim to send anarchist literature to India. Whileworking in complete accordance with the AIT-IWA, the committee was not formallyattached to the AIT-IWA. A report in the AIT-IWA magazine "the International" of1925 expains: "According to the Indian comrades who were in Berlin, an Indiancommittee was formed to make propaganda of revolutionary unionism in India. TheAIT-IWA secretariat supported this committee and tried everything to achieverevolutionary syndicalism in India, and also succeeded in making connections. TheAIT-IWA press service was specially edited for India in English and was sent toIndia and its content was printed in organs of the Indian workers' organizations.The first «success» we had in India was that the Indian government banned allAIT-IWA communications to India. ..."[4]Indeed, under the Sea Customs Act of 1878, the Government of India prohibited"the bringing by sea or by land into British India of any publications issued bythe International Workers Association (Internationale Arbeiter Assoziation),Berlin, in whatever language they may be printed."[5]Shortly after the meeting, writing under his middle name Bhayankar, Acharyaoffered a scathing critique of Roy's "Program for the Indian National Congress"from December 1922 (Chapter 1). A few months later, Acharya wrote to Chittaranjan"C. R." Das, editor of the radical Bengali paper Forward, that his politicalbelief was now "anarchism, pure and simple." During this transition period fromcommunism to anarchism, he contributed to Sylvia Pankhurst's The Workers'Dreadnought, and the Berlin-based Russian anarcho-syndicalist AIT-IWA paperRabochii put' (The Worker's voice), edited by Grigori Maximoff and Schapiro, andsent his articles to India.‘Die Lage in Indien' (17 July 1923): Acharya reported on the non-cooperationmovement, terrorist activities, strikes, and the first May Day celebrations inIndia for the AIT-IWA Press service (here the german version, IAA Pressedienst)Thanks to Ole Birk Laursen for his inspiring works, which have helped dig up andbring back to light M.P.T. Acharya's life and ideas!Souces:Anarchism, Pure and SimpleMPT Acharya, We Are Anarchists, Essays on Anarchism, Pacifism, and the IndianIndependence Movement, 1923-1953 de Ole Birk Laursenhttps://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mpt-acharya-we-are-anarchists[1] Swaraj can generally mean «self-government» or «autonomy» (swa-«mine», raj«the ruler») but the word usually refers to Mahatma Gandhi's concept for Indianindependence from foreign domination. Swaraj stresses governance not byhierarchical government, but by self-governance through individuals and communitybuilding. The focus is on political decentralization. Since this is againstBritain's followed political and social systems, Gandhi's concept of Swarajapplied to India, dismisses British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal,military and educational institutions.[2]Wayne Thorpe, The Workers Themselves: Revolutionary Syndicalism andInternational Labour, 1913-1923 (Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic andInternational Institute of Social History, 1989), 267.[3]Victor Garcia, Three Japanese Anarchists: Kotoku, Osugi, and Yamaga (London:Kate Sharpley Library, 2000), 23.[4]«Indien», Die Internationale,no.5, Juni 1925[5]"Prohibition of the bringing by sea or by land into British India of any copyof any publication issued by the International Working Men's Association Berlin,"PR_000000192248, file 22-23, NAI.http://cnt-ait.info/2022/12/07/acharya-ait-en/#respond_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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