Description
Book SynopsisPamphlets have usually been regarded as ephemeral literature with little permanent impact. This work demonstrates the historical value of this genre of political literature. The propaganda pamphlets help historians place a finger on the pulse of an extraordinarily important historical period when new ideas concerning the nation-state, the rights of the governed and forms of political protest complicated the political scene and opened up new fronts of conflict between the colonial state and the colonized subjects. This study devises innovative approaches to reading these pamphlets and generates new insights into the world of the pamphleteers thus providing the readers with a more nuanced understanding of the politics and political culture of early twentieth-century Bengal. In the process, the book makes an important contribution to the historical controversies that the politics of this period has generated among scholars of Indian nationalism.
Trade Review'The book made me wonder about the ways the revolutionaries may have innovated for decentralising production and expanding their circulation network in times of the steam engine … [It] notably foregrounds how the revolutionaries used the pamphlets to displace the 'anarchist' label on to the colonial masters in the ideological tussle between the two sides.' Economic and Political Weekly
Table of ContentsAbbreviations; Glossary; Preface; Introduction; 1. The origins of an idea, 1905–18; 2. The signs of the times: constructing a nation; 3. Legitimizing violence; 4. The battle for domination: state repression of revolutionary pamphlets; 5. Summing up: an identity forged in battle; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
