‘The bomb plot of Zurich’: Indian nationalism, Italian anarchism and the First World War1

Abstract

This essay explores the so-called ‘Bomb Plot of Zürich’, in which the Indian nationalists Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and Abdul Hafiz of the Indian Independence Committee collaborated with the German Foreign Office and a band of Swiss-based Italian anarchists led by Arcangelo Cavadini and Luigi Bertoni to smuggle German-manufactured bombs, weapons and poison into Switzerland and Italy in the summer of 1915. This was a prime example of the solidarities and overlaps between, in principle, conflicting ideologies of Indian nationalism, German imperialism and Italian anarchism. The essay draws primarily on proceedings from the Swiss Federal Court and aims to situate the event within both the histories of the Indian nationalist movement abroad as well as the Italian anarchist movement. It argues that, during the geo-political context of the First World War, the Indian nationalists forged strategic alliances with strange bedfellows to overthrow the British Empire.

Refracting Eurocentrism, operationalizing complicity: The SwissSonderfallas a vantage point

“…As the Indian Revolutionarily Shyamji Krishnavarma writes, Switzerland sought to Government is most anxious to maintain its neutrality towards all the contending parties." (cited in Bru¨ckenhaus, 2017: 23) Eventually, Swiss authorities proceeded to take legal actions, which restricted the work of activists and led to waves of expulsions (Laursen, 2017). Swiss neutrality implied a lack of commitment to one side.…”

“…However, the advent of the First World War and the importance of maintaining good relations with colonial powers led the Swiss to alter their refuge regime. As the Indian Revolutionarily Shyamji Krishnavarma writes, Switzerland sought to“positively discourage” any “expression of opinion likely to wound the feelings and susceptibilities of any of the countries involved in the war … for the simple reason that the Swiss Government is most anxious to maintain its neutrality towards all the contending parties.” (cited in Brückenhaus, 2017: 23)Eventually, Swiss authorities proceeded to take legal actions, which restricted the work of activists and led to waves of expulsions (Laursen, 2017). Swiss neutrality implied a lack of commitment to one side.…”

Introduction. Anarchism and the national question—historical, theoretical and contemporary perspectives

“…The transnational character of the movement and its internationalist commitments (Anderson, 2007; Bantman & Altena, 2015; Van der Walt & Hirsch, 2010) help explain the detachment of anarchism from nationalism studies. Yet just as the transnational turn has shone a light on the particularities and, in some cases, insularity of anarchist movements—their enduring ‘national’ character (Bantman, 2013; di Paola, 2013)—the re‐examination of the anarchist critique of, and engagement with republicanism, has reignited debates about anarchist conceptions of domination in the context of Empire, imperialism, colonialism and class exploitation (Laursen, 2017; Ramnath, 2011). This re‐examination, challenging the tendency to treat anarchism as the ‘poor cousin’ of Marxism (Kinna & Prichard, 2019; Levy, 2004), has significantly reframed and recontextualised the anarchist approaches to the national question.…”

Anarchism and the First World War

“…54 The collaboration between a group of Indian anti-colonial activists, Italian anarchists, and the German government in 1915, similarly points to the awkward strategic options presented to aspirant revolutionaries in these years. 55 From a different perspective, Malatesta's commitment to maintaining the revolutionary momentum by replacing international war with class war and forming a new, truly internationalist, international amounted to 'mobilising [the] counter-dynamics of imperialism and militarism to craft insurrectionary alliances'. 56 Malatesta remained convinced that the special circumstances of the era did not legitimise acting in tandem with nation states -as his debate with the 'pro-government anarchists' made clear -but it remained in his view a period ripe for novel tactical fusions to occur.…”