No one in India today remembers the name of Terence MacSwiney, but in his own day his name reverberated throughout the country. He was such a legend that, when the Bengali revolutionary Jatin Das, a key figure in the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army and a comrade of Bhagat Singh, died from a prolonged hunger-strike in September 1929, he was canonized as ‘India’s own Terence MacSwiney’.
Terence MacSwiney died this day, October 25th, in 1920. Ireland, in the common imagination, is a land of poetry, anguished lovers, political rebels, verdant greenery—and drunkards. All of this may be true; one can certainly spend far too many evenings in an Irish pub, downing a pint of Guinness or Harp. MacSwiney was a poet, playwright, pamphleteer, and a political revolutionary who got himself elected as Lord Mayor of Cork, in south-west Ireland, during the Irish War of Independence. Indian nationalists followed events in Ireland closely, for though people of Irish extraction may have played an outsized role in the brutalization of India during the British Raj, the Irish themselves were dehumanized by the English and waged a heroic anti-colonial resistance. In India, the Irish were called upon to suppress such resistance. One has only to call to mind Reginald Dyer, the perpetrator of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, who though born in Murree (now in Pakistan) was educated at Middleton College in County Cork and subsequently at Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons, and Michael O’Dwyer, the Limerick-born Irishman who as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab gave Dyer a free hand and even valorized the mass murder of Indians as a ‘military necessity’.
England did little in India that they had not previously done in Ireland, pauperizing the country and treating the Irish as a sub-human species. The Irish were ridiculed as gullible Catholics who gave their allegiance to the Pope. They were no better, from the English standpoint, than the superstitious Hindus. MacSwiney, born in 1879, came to political activism in his late 20s, and by 1913-14 he had assumed a position of some importance both in the Irish Volunteers, an organization founded ‘to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland’, and the Sinn Fein, a political party that advocated for the independence of the Irish. He was active during the ill-fated Easter Rebellion of April 1916, an armed insurrection that lasted all of six days before the British Army suppressed it with artillery and a massive military force. Much of Dublin was reduced to rubble. It is unlikely that the uprising would have disappeared into the mists of history, but in any case William Butler Yeats was there to immortalize ‘Easter 1916’: ‘All changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born.’ For the following four years, MacSwiney was in and out of British prisons, interned as a political detainee.
It is, however, the hunger-strike that MacSwiney undertook in August 1920 that would bring him to the attention of India and the rest of the world. He was arrested on August 12 on charges of being in possession of ‘seditious articles and documents’—an all too familiar scenario in present-day India—and was within days convicted by a court that sentenced him to a two-year sentence to be served out at Brixton Prison in England. MacSwiney declared before the tribunal, ‘I have decided the term of my imprisonment. Whatever your government may do, I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month.’ He at once started on a hunger-strike, protesting that the military court which had tried him had no jurisdiction over him, and eleven other Republican prisoners joined him. It was one thing for the large Irish diasporic population in the United States, whose predilection for Irish Republicanism was pronounced, to support him; but far more arresting was the fact that from Madrid to Rome, from Buenos Aires to New York and beyond to South Australia, the demand for MacSwiney’s release was voiced not only by the working class, but by political figures as different as Mussolini and the black nationalist Marcus Garvey. The days stretched on, and his supporters pleaded with him to give up his hunger-strike; meanwhile, in prison, the British attempted to force-feed him. On October 20, MacSwiney fell into a coma; seventy-four days into his hunger-strike, on October 25, he succumbed.
In India, MacSwiney’s travails had similarly taken the country by storm. It is assumed by many, as a matter of course, that Gandhi was greatly ‘influenced’ by MacSwiney, but though he was doubtless moved by his resolve, patriotism, and endurance, Gandhi distinguished between the ‘fast’ and the ‘hunger-strike’. Nevertheless, MacSwiney was a hero to armed revolutionaries—and to Jawaharlal Nehru. Writing some years after MacSwiney’s death to his daughter Indira, Nehru noted that the Irishman’s hunger-strike ‘thrilled Ireland’ and indeed the world: ‘When put in gaol he declared that he would come out, alive or dead, and gave up taking food. After he had fasted for seventy-five days his dead body was carried out of the gaol.’ It is unquestionably MacSwiney’s example, rather than that of Gandhi, that Bhagat Singh, Bhatukeshwar Dutt, and others implicated in the Lahore Conspiracy Case had in mind when in mid-1929 they commenced a hunger-strike to be recognized as ‘political prisoners’. That hunger-strike was joined by the Bengali political activist and bomb-maker, Jatindranath Das, in protest against the deplorable conditions in jail and in defence of the rights of political prisoners. Jatin died after 63 days on 13 September 1929. The nation grieved: as Nehru would record in his autobiography, ‘Jatin Das’s death created a sensation all over the country.’ Das would receive virtually a state funeral in Calcutta and Subhas Bose was among the pallbearers.
Though Gandhi was the master of the fast, the modern history of hunger-striking begins with Terence MacSwiney. It is quite likely that Gandhi recognized, more particularly after MacSwiney’s martyrdom, how the hunger-strike as a form of political theatre could galvanize not just a nation but world opinion. However, the life story of MacSwiney should resonate in India for many other reasons besides the singularity of MacSwiney’s admirable defence of the rights of his own people. As I have suggested, England under-developed Ireland before laying India to waste, and Ireland was in many respects as much a laboratory as India for British policies with regard to land settlement, taxation, famine relief, the suppression of dissent, and much else. It is equally a highly disconcerting fact that the story of the Irish in India suggests that those who have been brutalized will in turn brutalize others. The precise role of the Irish in the colonization of India requires much further study. On the other hand, the legend of Terence MacSwiney points to the exhilarating if complicated history, which in recent years has begun to be explored by some scholars, of the solidarity of the Irish and the Indians. Indians have long been familiar, for instance, with the figure of the Irishwoman Annie Beasant, but transnational expressions of such solidarity took many forms. At a time when the world seems convulsed by insularity and xenophobic nationalism, the story of MacSwiney points to the critical importance of sympathy across borders.
Georgian translation by Ana Mirilashvili available here.
Lal Salaam: A Blog by Vinay Lal 
I really enjoy the comparison of the British’s treatment of the Irish and Indians. I think there is a tendency in the US to think about colonialism as the white man oppressing people of color and we don’t really consider other groups. It is also fascinating to me that the British considered the Irish’s Catholicism as something so inferior in the way they saw Hinduism. That is so crazy to me because most of my previous education addressed the power of the Catholics in history not the other way around.
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I found this article to be quite an interesting read. The phrase “practice makes perfect” can be applied rather darkly to Britain’s rehearsal of overseas colonization through its treatment of the Irish. Since both the Irish and the people of India suffered under the same oppressor, it only makes sense that ideas for resistance in India would be drawn from methods employed in Ireland. The specific example of statement hunger strikes illustrates how the commonality of the fragile human condition, so easily extinguishable from simply not eating, is a uniting force between people across the planet. It was an incredibly effective attention grab to bring eyes across the globe to anti-colonialist resistance, so it only makes sense that Indian revolutionaries would want to employ the same techniques as the famed irishman Terence MacSwiney. The mention of Irish brutality in India also drew my notice since it reminded me a bit of the Capos in Nazi camps: prisoners under an opressive power themselves who take out their lack of power over their own lives on those even more opressed. I can’t say I’ve ever seen the Irish and Indian colonial histories compared before now, but I can see there are many similarities to be drawn.
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Ireland has been under constant British suppression for long time. However it was the failed rebellion of 1798 that Ireland no longer had the strength to continue and officially joined the British empire in 1801 under the Act of Union. The conditions imposed on the Irish were harsh as it was a rare case of white-on-white racism. This was quite ironical as the British had condemned the caste system followed in India ( This was, undoubtedly, a good thing.I just wanted to point out hypocrisy of the Brits.). A modern case would be the Us sending troops to Vietnam to protect them (Vietnamese) when they couldn’t protect their fellow black citizens ( clearly highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr. in his speech).
I also quite like the way you brought out a connection between Terence and Gandhi. Gandhi, had weaponised hunger- strikes to fight against the colonial forces. It is a powerful tool and is used even now by political leaders in India to display their dissatisfaction on certain topics. It is true that deaths due to starvation is among the most painful deaths there are present. As your body constantly urges you to eat, it strips itself of its fats and muscles. Like a drying tree, the body withers while the pangs drive you to insanity. One can even eat mud or tree barks in this stage. The person clearly feels himself dying and there is nothing scarier than actually seeing yourself approaching death in seemingly eternal steps. Yet through sheer will, people like Terence and Jatin Das not only maintained their sanity but also follow through their words is something which strikes a chord within all people regardless of their standing. Such incidents often make me question that the strongest attribute of humanity may not be its intelligence but its diligence.
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“Ireland, in the common imagination, is a land of poetry, anguished lovers, political rebels, verdant greenery—and drunkards.” There’s nothing like a spot of stereotyping of nationalities is there? ‘Drunkards’ is just a little harsh and certainly un-informed. Otherwise, a thought provoking and interesting article.
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Hello Ruairi,
I hope you detected the irony in my remarks. I was well aware of the stereotypes, which is why I noted “in the common imagination”;
and, moreover, I used the emdash to mark off “drunkards”. It’s not my view that the Irish are drunkards, though some hold the view; and I might say that even Yeats played around the idea, if you know his poetry. Cheers, Vinay
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I found it a very effective comparison of Indian and Irish colonization by the English to showcase the devastating effects it had on the social and economic composition of daily life. When looking to revolt against colonial powers, nations often draw from other examples to guide their forms of protests. In this case, the Irish provided that example for Indians and helped to inspire Gandhi, something I was not aware of before reading this essay. We learned about Gandhi’s strategies towards nonviolence and the many forms of protest that nonviolence can include.
Much like other types of strikes I knew of the hunger-strike as a form of political protest, and learned that Terence MacSwiney was responsible for creating that precedent. It follows the form of many other nonviolent political protests that we have learned about such as Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha. These similarities of nonviolent protests creates a sort of nationality amongst the oppressed. Both the Irish and Indians were oppressed by British colonial rule, and found a rallying force in each other. Therefore, I believe the fundamental principle of nonviolent political forms of protests is to have a sense of solidarity. Where there is a connection among the oppressed, there is a greater force that results from it. That is the power of nonviolence in that it rallies individuals in a peaceful manner through methods that attack the source of the issues within a nation.
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This essay brings up a lot of great points. Foremost, I’m intrigued by how, despite being colonized themselves, Ireland became a perpetrator of violence within India. I wonder what caused that, potentially a scramble to have that power for their own. After years of being treated as nothing, a desire to hold the power that has been used against them must be in human nature. However, as the end of the essay states, sympathy is what is needed instead. Having nothing to lose as a result of colonialism, should not mean a scramble to gain anything, but rather a fresh start at building a new world with the empathy gained. It reminds me of Dostoyevsky’s book Notes from the Underground, I remember reading one part about how in the past bloodshed was seen as needed for justice, but less occurred, now as bloodshed is criticized and seen as unjust, more if it occurs. While it seems negative, I wonder why we tend to go against our morals and what we understand of the world. It is if we are driving against tire popping spikes, knowing the direction to go yet moving backwards and causing harm anyway. Secondly, I hold great respect for Terence McSwiney and how he used a hunger strike to show the power of absence and the power in taking care of your own fate despite being held under the control of colonizers. There is such an important role for both singular figures to bring inspiration to a movement, and for mass action to be of a result to create change.
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The blog post brought up an interesting idea, that “England did little in India that they had not previously done in Ireland.” This comment was striking to me, as it highlighted the parallels between Ireland and India, especially in the time of Terence MacSwiney. One of the points that was brought up was the idea of religion, and the viewpoint of the citizens based on their religious background. The Irish were regarded as being gullible Catholics and the Indian population were regarded as superstitious Hindus. This not only belittles and confines the population to this trait, which may not be true for everyone, also connects the two nations. It, in a way, makes them appear similar, or on a similar playing field to outside countries.
This is an important aspect for countries such as England. When a country, such as England is given the ability to terrorize or diminish a population, such as their start with Ireland, they will not stop there. They will draw parallels, and justifications, in order to find the next population that they can control or diminish, such as India in this case. This may be true to those in power because if India is similar to that of Irish, in their view, such as the parallel of religion, then if they can have power over one, they can gain power over another. This is not limited to just England, however, as this pattern can be seen among many countries that are in places of power, including the United States.
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This essay was a fascinating read. While I remember your discussion of Irish colonialism as “practice” for the British colonization of India, it was valuable to get some insight as to how both the methods of oppression and resistance were similar. At the same time, if Ireland was truly practice for India, I am curious why the British did not develop a more effective way of repressing nonviolent resistance in India if they encountered it first in Ireland, at least to a degree. Was Britain simply unprepared to deal with the scale of the Indian demonstrations? Is it simply impossible to develop effective repression strategies when it comes to nonviolent resistance?
I also found it interesting how MacSwiney’s hunger strike inspired such a wide range of political figures from fascists like Mussolini to revolutionaries like Marcus Garvey. In my opinion, this speaks to the power of nonviolent resistance and, more generally, to the power of the body as a political tool. The fact that someone like Mussolini demanded MacSwiney’s release also counters the claim often put forth by skeptics of nonviolent resistance that it is a futile act of self-sacrifice. Clearly, there was enough power in MacSwiney’s actions to move even a fascist.
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I agree with the overall assertion from Lal that this generation has been somewhat spiraling downwards with the rise of climate change, aggression by Russia as well as an overall step away from democracy, and that this is concerning. I however do not believe that this generation has done the “worst woes”, while there are still many problems in the world and nothing is perfect, people are not equal and there still exists racism and issues the world we have today seems much more stable and less violent than the one we had seventy-five to a hundred years ago. So while there is “malaise” that is happening, there are also a lot of reasons to be appreciative of what has been managed to be achieved by the UN, by individual countries in the strive towards democracy and the independence of middle eastern and Africa countries. However, to the existing problems and problems being newly created by today’s societies, I think that an intellectual meeting is something that should be helpful in this case. Gathering the greatest minds can help us get out of the current problems we face and that you describe. In addition an increase in intellectuals in government I think is crucially necessary and important. I feel as though uninformed people who fill a position that needs to be filled but know nothing about basic science, history, or literature are making the most important decision regarding legislation and advances in our society. Gathering of intellectuals I think is very important for this reason, as this could be useful in informing the public, and people in positions of power for better decisions to be made that can help lead us towards a more ideal world.
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I like this essay because discussions about colonialism in the context of the United States frequently center on the oppression of native populations and the repercussions of slavery but we must extend our perspective and take into account the various dynamics that existed inside colonial power structures. Examining how the British treated Indians and Irish people side by side provides insightful information on the many facets of colonialism. When we look at how the British treated the Irish, we see a complicated interplay between cultural and religious elements.The British attempted to repress Irish traditions and practices because they saw Irish Catholicism as inferior. I think his comparison emphasizes how colonialism incorporates religious, and cultural aspects in addition to issues of race. Since Hinduism and Irish Catholicism were treated similarly, it helps us better understand the larger patterns of colonial power and the ways that religious communities were persecuted and suppressed. It calls into question the widespread belief that colonialism was only a conflict between white people and people of color, leading us to reflect on the complexity and complicated aspects of colonial authority. Truly, the comparison between how the British treated Indians and Irish people is fascinating and surprising.
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Dear Professor Lal,
I found this essay very fascinating, firstly because as in many other groups, the subjugation of others tends to be portrayed as powerless people accepting their fate. I had never heard of any resistance or revolutionary leaders in Ireland and thought it was really interesting to see the influence that MacSwiney had on the entire world with his hunger strike. I believe it should definitely be known more by others, as this was Britain’s first colony, and not only the tactics used to strip off its power were then applied to India, but it seems like the responses of the people were also applied in India. I think it is just fascinating to see how one may think that an act of resistance will only impact yourself or your people when it can truly transcend borders and help liberate someone else. However, it is very sad but unsurprising to see that despite the outrage of the world, he did not get out of jail alive, but not in vain as it influenced future leaders. I also find it very interesting to see that despite the Irish being known for their spirit of never stopping fighting their colonizers, they still participated in the brutalization of India. Are there any books you would recommend on how the brutalized will in turn brutalize others?
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This article intrigued me because the comparison of how the English treated the Irish compared to the Indians stood out to me. The Irish and Indians were oppressed by British colonization. This colonization took time to evolve but as soon as it flourished, it had long lasting effects of the lives of many. Thus, affecting the lives of the government, the political standings, religion, and the economic standing of such citizens. Religion was a strong point of this blog post because the Indian population were referred to as “superstitious Hindus” and the Irish were known as the “gullible Catholics” I found it particularly interesting that you compared Terence and Gandhi because I took notice of the fact that they both had similar ways of showcasing their nonviolent resistance. Additionally, both Gandhi and Terence displayed their protests by declaring their hunger strikes which became a powerful symbol for resistance against colonialism. It was a powerful symbol because dying of starvation is one of the most painful ways to die. I overall enjoyed the comparison between these two historical figures/leaders and the comparison between the Irish and the Indian populations.
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I found the comparison between British Colonialism in India and Ireland. Specifically, I found it fascinating how while England used similar social and political methods to colonize Ireland and India, both used similar methods to protest English colonization.
While I was aware of hunger strikes and other methods of nonviolent protest during the Indian Independence Movement, I wasn’t aware of how it was inspired by the Irish Independence movement. The impact that MacSwiney’s hunger strike had and the fact that news of it reached far outside Ireland shows how many believed that they could learn from the protests of the past in different areas of the world and apply those ideas to their own situation to achieve a goal of decolonization. This also reminded me of how the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the tenets held by Martin Luther King Jr., was influenced by Gandhi’s form of nonviolent resistance. It serves as an example of how revolutionaries and activists can inspire protests and change in completely different parts of the world. The situation also reminded me of the Bandung Conference– the commonalities in the situations of the oppressed, as well as the desire to overthrow colonizers and establish independence creates could be seen in many of the nations, at the time colonies, at the conference. Their shared goal to overthrow their oppressors and achieve decolonization fostered a sense of comradery. Overall, I found it most interesting how methods of protests, specifically nonviolence spread to several areas of the world as movements took inspiration from the ones that came before them– illustrating the saying “history repeats itself.”
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Professor Lal,
This was a very interesting read. In another course I am taking this quarter we are discussing British settler colonialism in Ireland. It is an important step in the history of colonialism and imperialism that is often overlooked. I believe it demonstrates the fluidity and formation of race and imagined inferiority by the dominating power, i.e. the British. When thinking about the US and racial slavery, from my education, I understand that, in short, the elites phased out white indentured servitude in order to form solidarity around race versus class. I wonder if the Irish’s willingness to participate in the violence against and dehumanization of Indians has something to do with a British creation of race-based solidarity. You discuss the Indian and global support of MacSwiney. I am curious to know if there were any active protests, or the like, in support of Indian independence in Ireland?
Thank you,
Lauren Davies
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Hi Lauren,
You are absolutely right that there was white indentured servitude in the US alongside the enslavement of black people. It is certainly a plausible argument that white indentured servitude was phased out, as you say, in the interest of “race solidarity”. But there were economic reasons, too, and similarly there were psychological and moral reasons for doing so. For instance, some white elites wrote that it was was not desirable that people should see some white people in a position of servitude. The story of the Irish in India is a complicated one: they were both colonizers and (back home) the colonized. Here, again, there are other elements to the story, beyond the question of racial solidarity. Those who have been brutalized are more likely to brutalize others. Your points, however, are well-taken.
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Professor Lal,
I found the connection between British colonialism in Ireland and British colonialism in India fascinating – specifically the reference to Ireland as a “laboratory.” The notion of British imperialists first using knowledge taken from campaigns of oppression against the Irish, and applying such tactics to other colonial enterprises, remains integral to understanding the origins of certain forms of state-sponsored violence. In a course I am taking about the history of the police force and the evolution of modern police violence in the United States, the tactics used by early police systems trace their roots to Ireland and discrimination against Irish people. In fact the London Metropolitan Police (arguably considered the first modern police force) of the early 1800s identified the “Irish Problem” as critical to the formation of internal armed forces. The overlap between British and American police as well as Irish activists (like MacSwiney) and Indian revolutionaries fighting against the common foe of the British empire, further demonstrates the interconnected histories of domination across the globe.
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You’re quite right. The story is in fact even more complicated, because India was also a laboratory for the English. The London Metropolitan Police force shaped to a considerable extent by the experience of policing Indians in India, and methods of crowd control used by the British in India were then exported to to the motherland. Fingerprinting was first developed in India by the colonial police (though Indian sub-inspectors played the critical if unacknowledged role) before it began to be used in Britain.
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