M. P. T. Acharya

M.P.T. Acharya was born on 15 April 1887 in Madras to a family of Aiyangar brahmins. His father, M.P. Narasimha Aiyangar, was an employee in the Madras Public Works Department whose family had originally migrated from the state of Mysore. Young M.P.T. was exposed to nationalism from childhood, with his family playing a prominent role in the rise of Indian nationalism in South India. Subramania Bharaty, along with S.N.T. Acharya (owner of the India magazine) and the latter's cousin, were forced to flee to Europe. Although some French officials did indeed harbour sympathies for the Indian revolutionaries, the latter also faced some resistance among the local Francophile and Europeanised Indians who saw the "new immigrants" somewhat contemptuously. The refugee cause was, however, taken up by a number of sympathetic French lawyers. Acharya found assistance from this group to help fight against his expulsion from Pondicherry. ==England==

Faced with the threat of persecution, M.P.T. Acharya made up his mind to leave India. He left for Britain. Acharya visited his ailing father at Shiyali and, although an orthodox Brahmin, shaved off his long hair (Juttoo). At this time, Acharya was still unable to decide whether he wished to move to somewhere in Asia or to Europe, In Paris, he established contact with Professor Moniers Vinson and a few Indian expatriates. He was able to support himself with help from this circle for some time. In his reminiscences, Acharya mentions an unnamed Parisian Indian acquaintance who, having invited him home one afternoon and being told by a penniless Acharya that he would have to walk to his house, handed him the money for his train fare. Iyer responded promptly, inviting Acharya to London. It was here in London that Acharya was introduced to the nationalism of India House. However, India House, by this time, was considered "The most dangerous organisation outside India" It was at India House that Acharya was introduced to V.D. Savarkar. Acharya was quick to realise that the residents of India House were shadowed by detectives from Scotland Yard. With Savarkar Through his prolonged stay in India House, however, Acharya gradually became deeply involved in its activities. Scotland Yard had at one point been able to infiltrate the organisation with an Indian student by the name of Kritikar, who had arrived at the organisation with a story similar to that of Acharya, and had for some time been able to report to Scotland Yard about its activities before he was uncovered and forced by Savarkar to confess at gunpoint. After this, Kirtikar's reports are believed to have been regularly screened by Savarkar before they were passed on to Scotland Yard. For some time, Acharya himself had been under suspicion of being a Scotland Yard mole before he was able to convince his fellow residents of his integrity and commitment to the nationalist cause. It is believed that Acharya was instructed by V.V.S. Iyer and V.D. Savarkar to set himself up as an informer to Scotland Yard, which they reasoned would allow them to carefully feed information to the police and also help them provide a corroboration to the version of reports that were being sent by Kritikar. For his reports, Acharya took five pounds (later doubled) which also eased from his fellow house-mates the financial strain of supporting him. The project received support from Indian nationalists in Britain including the likes of Madame Cama, Iyer, as well as Indian students who had dare not show their support or sympathy for India House openly. Clandestinely, the residents also trained for organising revolutions in India. However, Acharya remained in London for sometime, lodging at Bipin Pal's boarding house. He attended along with Savarkar, Iyer and other ex-residents of the house a meeting of Indians called by the Aga Khan to demonstrate their loyalty to the empire and offer condolences to the Wyllie family, where they opposed the unanimous acceptance of a resolution of condemnation against Dhingra. In a scuffle that ensued between Savarkar and a London barrister by the name of Palmer, Acharya is known to have come to Savarkar's aid, hitting Palmer with a stick and apparently not shooting Palmer with his revolver only under indications from Savarkar not to do so. Interviewed repeatedly in the investigations following the Wyillie murder, it became clear to Acharya that staying in Britain was not safe for him. Neither could he return to India, for he was sure to be picked up by Indian police. He did not wish to waste the experiences he had gained studying and training for revolution at the India House. He also wanted first-hand experiences of the battlefield. Indian revolutionaries in Europe at this time used to send recruits to work with Irish, Egyptian and Turkish groups for training and experience. Acharya's attention was turned towards the Spanish-Moroccan war, where he believed the Rifian people fighting the white imperialist Spain would welcome him and allow exposure to guerrilla warfare. After consulting with V.V.S. Iyer, Acharya and another Indian revolutionary by the name of Sukhsagar Dutt were selected to be sent to train with the Rifians. Guns, uniforms and funds were obtained by the remnants of the India House, and the two were given a hearty farewell from Savarkar and Iyer. The Moroccan mission was, however, a dismal failure. Neither the Rifians nor the Spanish troops were willing to recruit the two Indians for suspicion of being spies from the opposing camp. Penniless and emaciated, Dutt and Acharya were left with no option but to leave the country. Writing to London, Acharya asked for help to be moved to a different country, and if possible, to India. The two were sent enough money to reach Portugal, where they were instructed to meet an Indian contact. Dutt returned to London, later joining the Paris Indian Society. Acharya, meanwhile, proceeded to Lisbon. He had wished to settle in Portugal, but the terms of residency offered by Portuguese Interior affairs minister instructed him to place himself under police supervision, not change residences without police permission and a number of other conditions which to Acharya meant he could not live as a free man. Broke and depressed, Acharya returned to London. The whole affair had cost nearly three hundred pounds. ==Europe==

A large number of Indian nationalists had (as explained above) moved to Europe in the aftermath of Curzon Wyllie's assassination. Among them were Shyamji Krishna Varma, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Har Dayal, Bhikhaji Cama. Madame Cama founded the Bande Mataram in Paris in September 1909. From Paris, Madame Cama arranged for Indian students to be supported in Russia, Germany, Japan and other countries where they could train in explosives, military tactics, arrange for arms shipments to India and also facilitate continental connections. Significantly, at this time, in addition to his works in promoting and clandestine distribution of the Bande Mataram, Acharya, in a train of thought that arose among Indian revolutionaries at this time, began efforts to spread nationalist sentiments amongst the British Indian Army. The result was the Indian Press Act, 1910 which restricted publication of sedtious material in India and the entry of such literature from outside. A number of newspaper proprietors, journalists and editors within India were imported or transported under the act. Acharya made the most of the available press freedom and the socialist platform to press for the re-extradition of his erstwhile leader to France and build French public opinion in support of such moves. Under public pressure at home, the French Government conceded to make such a request to Britain. The matter was ultimately settled in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, which ruled in favour of Britain. and grew to initiate contacts with not only French Socialists, but also those in continental Europe. V.V.S. Iyer later returned to India, where he began training the Indian underground movement on explosives and bombs. On 17 June 1911, a young Indian revolutionary by the name of Vanchi Iyer fatally shot Robert D'escourt Ashe at Tirunelveli. Ashe had been a district collector who had earned notoriety for himself for his role in suppression of nationalist agitation and Swadeshi movement in 1908. Vanchi himself had learnt to shoot from Iyer in Pondicherry. The 1918 sedition committee report blamed Acharya for instigating, organising and planning the assassination. The recruits to these groups included young nationalists of the likes of Rhishikesh Letha, Zia-ul-Haq, and Thakur Das. By 1910, the activities of these groups and their publication, the Hayat, had been noticed by British intelligence. Reports as early as 1910 indicated German efforts to unite Turkey and Persia and proceed to Afghanistan to threaten British India. In Istanbul, Har Dayal was joined by Pandurang Khankoje. However, Har Dayal's efforts were short-lived due to his apprehensions of Turkish Pan-Islamic ambitions and interference from the German Foreign office. He is known to have worked in Bushire amongst Indian troops with Wilhelm Wassmuss, while one story describes Acharya and a fellow revolutionary by the name of Birendranth Dasgupta as having swum across the Suez Canal at one point to contact troops of the British Indian Army. ==Communism==

Acharya later returned to Berlin and over the course of the war, was in Stockholm briefly along with Virendranath Chattopadhyaya. In Stockholm in May 1917, Acharya and Chattopadhyaya formed a Propaganda Bureau and later joined by Har Dayal. This bureau worked independently of the Berlin Committee and the German foreign office. The duo are known to have met with the Bolshevik ideologist Konstantin Mikhalilovich Troyanovsky at this time and explained the Indian situation, winning approval from the latter for the Indian cause. The Paris Indian society had been in touch with Russian communists before the Russian revolution. Nicholas Safransky, a Russian bomb expert, is known to have been involved in training the Indian revolutionaries in bomb manufacture and explosives. Chatto and Acharya arranged for Troyanovsky to be provided with a large amount of the committee's literature to acquaint the Soviets with the Indian situation when the latter left Stockholm for Petrograd. However, Acharya was ultimately disappointed with the Socialist conference in Stockholm, which in his opinion entirely skirted the issue of the colonies. Towards the end of 1918, Acharya returned to Berlin along with Chatto. Russia At Berlin at the time was also Mahendra Pratap, who had in 1915 travelled to Kabul at the head of a Turco-German-Indian expedition through Persia with the aim to try and rally the Afghan Emir into the war on the Entente side. Although mostly unsuccessful in their aim, the Indian nationalists established in Kabul the Provisional Government of India, as the head of which Pratap attempted to garner support from Soviet Russia through Trotsky and Joffe. In 1918, Pratap was in Berlin, where he was reunited with Acharya and Chatto and the rest of the Berlin committee. In December 1918, Chatto, Acharya and Pratap left for Petrograd, where they worked with Russian Propaganda centre with Troionovsky. Other Indians at this centre at the time included Hussein Shahid Suhrawardy, Abdul Jabbar, Abdul Sattar, Dalip Singh Gill as well as a number of others. In 1918 Acharya moved to Kabul to join Mahendra Pratap's mission to the Emir to declare war against British India. Abdul Rab and Acharya worked avidly in Soviet Turkestan, founding the Indian revolutionary association. In 1921 a split in the CPI emerged, between factions siding with M.N. Roy, and those who favoured the approaches of Chatto. Acharya was in the latter group. By the early 1920s, Acharya had begun exploring Anarchism. He took an active role in promoting Anarchist works in and was contributed at this time to the Russian Anarchist publication Rabotchi Put. In 1931, he lived in Amsterdam working with the school of Anarcho-syndicalism. Acharya came to be acquainted in early 1930s acquainted with Marxist-leaning Indian industrialist from Bombay, Ranchoddas Bhavan Lotvala. Lotvala had financed The Socialist, one of the first Marxist periodicals in India. Lotvala also financed the translation and publication of many leftist literature including the Communist manifesto. ==Return to India==

The British-Indian ban on Acharya was lifted in 1935 and he returned to Bombay that same year, where he managed a living as a journalist. During this time, Acharya wrote eight articles which would later be collated to be published as a book called Reminiscences of an Indian revolutionary. From Bombay, Acharya established correspondence with Japanese anarchist Taiji Yamaga and Chinese anarchist Ba Jin. The result of the correspondences led to the three establishing contacts with Commission de Relations de l’Internationale Anarchiste (Liaison Commission of the Anarchist International). In the following years, Acharya contributed to anarchist publications such as Freedom in London, Tierra y Libertad in Mexico and an anarchist publication called Contre Courant in Paris. He also remained in correspondence with Albert Meltzer for more than fifteen years. In the following years Acharya was appointed secretary of the Indian Institute of Sociology, established under Lotvala's patronage in the 1930s. In later years, Acharya's influence on the institute saw it adopt a number of statutes in 1947 and subsequently the institute adopted the name of Libertarian Socialist Institute. His views on economic matters were profound and in 1951, Free Society Group of Chicago published his work How Long Can Capitalism Survive? in 1951. Acharya also contributed essays and critiques on capitalism, colonialism, communism as well as nationalism to the journal Harijan, commissioned by its editor K.G. Mashruwala, and later M.P. Desai. His contributions to Harijan, accumulating to nearly thirty essays, were his primary source of income before his death in March 1954. ==Personal life==

Acharya married the artist Magda Nachman in 1921 in Moscow. == Works ==

• Letter from M.P.T. Acharya to Hem Day (1951) on the South Asian Anarchist Library (SAAL) ==References==