The Fragmented Realities of Britain's Liberal-Empire: An Open Letter

This paper examines open letters written by British and Indian intellectuals during the Second World War. Supporters and apologists of the British Empire often trumpeted its liberal foundations. Grounded in a philosophical tradition of individual expression and representative institutions, liberal-imperialism ‘emancipated’ individuals and nations across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In practice, however, emancipation often took the form of violent exploitation. During the Second World War, the dichotomy between liberalism in Europe and liberal-imperialism outside of Europe produced radically different understandings of the British war effort. In England, liberalism was worth defending against Nazi barbarism, while in India it was an iniquitous justification for continued exploitation. This paper explores these fragmented realities by analyzing open letters written by Eleanor Rathbone, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Hari Singh Gour, H.G. Wells, and Mohandas Gandhi.