Intellectual and Political Worlds of Indian Lascars, c. 1914–39

This paper will examine the Indian lascar network which constituted, especially during the interwar period, one of the key conduits through which proscribed propaganda material, arms and ammunition, and most importantly, ideas and modes of political action made their way to British India. By the end of the First World War, during which they were employed in large numbers, Indian lascars constituted a numerically significant and dynamically mobile labour network that was present in most of the important shipping ports in the world. These ports offered numerous opportunities for political engagement, especially after the turn of the century, as union activity, often quite violent, increased rapidly. With the onset of the Bolshevik revolution and with the activities of the Comintern, a large number of these seamen unions were also suspected of being involved in communist ‘intrigues.’ A number of individuals from this network later went on to become prominent political radicals in British India and, later, in India and Pakistan.

This paper, then, will investigate the engagements and encounters of such individuals who were firmly embedded within the global political and intellectual milieu of the first half of the twentieth century. Like other Indian radicals, these individuals also came into contact with diverse ideas and political projects that shaped their chosen modes of political and social action. Their experiences, then, are important in understanding how emancipatory ideas were mapped, created, negotiated, and contextualized. They also offer an insight into how ideas and modes of political action mutually informed each other. The encounters of these individuals, then, are an important addition to the conventional understandings of transnational intellectual and political networks that held the potential of upholding as well as undermining British imperialism.