Evening star., 1947-05-11
b. Phillips Talbot

with idealistic Jawaharlal Nehru,
who, at 81, is the youngest top
flight leader on the Indian scene.
For the Indian states, it now ap-
pears, there will be no unified lead
ership The chancellor of the Cham
ber of Princes, his highness the
Nawab Of Bhopal, has failed to keep
all the major rulers with him in
maintaining strong and independ-
| ent line as regards the British IN
dian parties.
Politicians, professors. business
men, lawyers, legislators and many
others with whom I have talked
sense the urgency of the national
crisis. They, like the Filipinos, have
learned that independence is no
magic formula that banishes all
difficulties.
Trouble Factors.
! To most of them the storm clouds
have never seemed so black as now
with British rule slated to end by
June, 1913. Hindu riots
have virtually wiped out any spirit
of compromise between the major
communities; imitation is gnawing
at the economic vitals of the coun-
try and social upheaval is revealing
itself in town and country.
Combined with an administrative
deterioration visible at all levels of
government, these factors spell
trouble ahead.
Yet I have found few Indians
who want Britain to postpone its
departure. Nationalists say they
have not come this far just to turn
back. Even less appreciated is the
suggestion that a U. N. trusteeship
might be invoked to maintain order
after the British leave.
"Of course, we must expect dis
turbances," a businessman said to
me recently. But the story of
Europe shows that most countries
have difficulties just at this stage
of their history.
Many Tongues.
There would be worse troubles If
the British tried to hang on. Our
job is to get through the transition
period as quickly as possible so
that all this will be behind us"
Indians speak dozen principal
Languages and pride themselves on
as many regional cultures.
The gathering of all these threads
into a fabric of nationhood is one
of the biggest tasks of the coun-
try's leaders.
The job must be tackled, more
over, at this particular moment of
economic and social turbulence.
Wartime imitation and the short
age of goods gravely unbalanced
Indian economy.
While military contractors, prof
|iteerS and black marketers made un-
imagined fortunes, Bombay mill
hands and similar workers at most
doubled their wages, leaving their
real incomes below prewar levels.
White-collar workers, as usual, were
worse off.
Strikes Spread.
The war stimulated social rest
lessness. Tens of thousands of viii
layers followed war jobs into the
cities, where they were exposed to
new and revolutionary influences.
Likewise, soldiers brought back
to their home communities novel
ideas.
Indian Communists and Social
lists, taking advantage of these new
influences, have already launched
vigorous ofensives on the existing
capitalist and feudal systems Strikes
have spread not only through in
dustrial labor, but also into profess
sional and Office classes and share
cropping tenant farm labor.
As if this somber setting did not
provide enough handicaps for the
constitution makers, the wave of
Hindu-M Moslem pogroms which has
swept this country in the last eight
months has disrupted every effort
to return to normalcy.
Riots in the name of religion and
politics have caused Indians to
choose sides. Because of them, the
Moslem League now represents the
Moslems more solidly than ever
before. The Congress, likewise, and
against the will of some of its
leaders, Is increasingly the mouth
piece Of the much larger Hindu
community.
ALI of these are the root issues
that viii condition the policy makers
| work during the next year.
Immediately, however, there are a
| number Of vital, practical political
and administrative decisions that
must be reached before the new
India can be planned.
Every other question hangs on the
overriding first point: Who is to
inherit British authority?
India has, unfortunately, no single
George Washington.
Unless two-party agreement is
reached, the new viceroy may have
to adjudicate this basic question
hoping that neither side win be
sufiiciently dissatisfied with his
decision to take up arms.
Once that hurdle is crossed, the
(See TALBOT, Page C-50