The Pro-Indian Nationalist Face of the British Labour Party – Keir Hardie’s India Visit of 1907

Speaker: Suhas Borker

Discussant: Prof. Aditya Mukherjee, Professor of History and Dean, School of Social Sciences, Jawharlal Nehru University

Chair: Prof. Arjun Dev, former Professor of History and Head of NCERT’s erstwhile Department of Education in Social Sciences and Humanities

To mark the 100^th death anniversary of Keir Hardie (1856-1915), socialist and first independent Labour member of the British Parliament, founder of the modern British Labour Party and a strong advocate of self-government for India. Keir Hardie’s deep involvement in the movement for Indian Independence broadened the vision of Labour regarding conditions in India and began the process of giving Labour a viable imperial and colonial policy which bore fruit in 1947. Keir Hardie visited India from 18 September 1907 to 17 October 1907. His tour of the country was planned in close touch with Tilak and Surendra Nath Bannerjee