Chapter 75 - Free Speech Vs. Seditious Libel
We meet the first Briton to go to prison for Indian freedom
When Madanlal Dhingra assassinated Sir Curzon-Wyllie, the British government got very touchy about this act. They started arresting anyone who showed even the slightest sympathy towards Dhingra or his act, under ‘Seditious Libel’. Freedom of speech be damned.
They didn’t actually care who it was who was supporting Dhingra - they imprisoned Englishmen for doing so as well.
The first Englishman to be arrested was Arthur Fletcher Horseley, who was the publisher of Shyamji Krishna Varma’s newspaper, The Indian Sociologist. Since he was in prison, he couldn’t publish the paper. Guy Aldred, an anarcho-communist and fervent friend of India House, took on the responsibility.
Shyamji wanted Guy to publish an impassioned defence of Dhingra before his date of execution, because “I want the martyr to read in print what I’ve said about him before they hang him.”
Not long after. Guy was arrested, too. He was barely 22. He had referred to British leaders as ‘the lickspittle crew of imperialistic blood-sucking capitalist parasites’, and talked of Dhingra’s act in high esteem.
When Guy Aldred went to prison, the publication of The Indian Sociologist then went to an old anarcho-communist Frank Kitz, and his associate, James Tochatti. Needless to say, they were eventually shut down as well.
An interesting thing I found out about Frank Kitz is that he was running to escape the police, and being cornered, he escaped by jumping into the freezing, filthy waters of the Thames. Apparently it gave him lifelong health issues.
I’m not able to put my finger on what source I used to find out about the involvement of Kitz and Tochatti. And I can’t freaking find any reference to the Thames incident But I definitely didn’t pull all these out of nowhere — reality is much more exciting than my imagination can ever be. It’s quite interesting how intertwined the Indian freedom fighters were with British anarchists and communists.
Likely, Tochatti and Kitz aren’t going to make it to the final draft. So, enjoy these old dogs here!
Free Speech Vs. Seditious Libel
Arthur Horseley liked to walk around his little press before lunch, seeing if anyone needed any help before he went home to eat. Increasingly, there wasn’t much for him to do. Ian, his manager, had the whole place humming like a well-oiled machine. And he had made sure to keep the printing press well-maintained too. He could barely remember the last time he had to call the repairman to fix something.
“Mr. Horseley?” a voice said from outside.
