Poverty and Un-British MPs: Transnational Politics and Economic Thought in Britain and India, 1885–1936

Abstract:

Between 1892 and 1929 there were three Indians elected to the British parliament, all representing British constituencies. These three men were the products of the same Bombay-based Parsi milieu, and represented predominantly working class districts in London, but espoused radically different combinations of ideologies—ranging from pro-Free Trade Liberal nationalism to antinationalist Conservatism and internationalist Communism. My thesis considers this transnational political phenomenon in relation to histories of the development of Indian national identity and of the British Empire. The first chapter discusses the motivations of the three MPs in getting involved in British politics, and focuses on the dynamics of transnational politics. I argue that the MPs used their status in Britain to win respect in India, and support in India to generate authority in Britain. The second chapter concerns the ideological underpinnings of transnational and imperial politics, looking at ideas of class unity, imperial idealism, and the prehistory of development economics. In my third chapter, I use quantitative data to examine the popularity of imperialism and the prevalence of racial prejudice in British electoral politics over this period.