The Friends of Freedom for India

New York: The Friends of Freedom for India, [ca. 1920]. Pamphlet. Four-panel brochure, 6x7 inches, minor splitting at the fold, otherwise very good.

The Friends of Freedom for India was a pro-independence organization established in 1919 with Robert Morss Lovett as temporary president, the Irish-American lawyers Dudley Field Malone and Frank P. Walsh as vice presidents, Agnes Smedley as secretary, and Louis P. Lochner as treasurer. The editorial committee was chaired by Surendra Karr and included Margaret Sanger. The Board included Roger Nash Baldwin, Norman Thomas, and Judah Magnes, among others. This leaflet lists officers on the front panel. The interior text is titled "British Inquisition in India" (with different contents from Surendra Karr's essay of this title published in the June 28, 1919 issue of the Nation). It concludes with a section explaining why Americans should support the Indian activists being threatened with deportation, "only to suffer torture and death upon their return to their own native land." The organization declares its objectives as being "To maintain the right of asylum and see that Hindu political prisoners and refugees in America get justice in the light of American traditions" and "To assist in fair, frank and open discussion that the truth about India may be ascertained."

Cat.No: 295685

Price: $100.00