Nationalism

When our nationalists talk about ideals, they forget that the basis of nationalism is wanting. The very people who are upholding these ideals are themselves the most conservative in their social practice. Nationalists say for example, look at Switzerland, where, in spite of race differences, the peoples have solidified into a nation. Yet, remember that in Switzerland the races can mingle, they can intermarry, because they are of the same blood. In India there is no common birthright. And when we talk of Western Nationality we forget that the nations there do not have that physical repulsion, one for. the other, that we have between different costes. Have we an instance in the whole world where a people who are not allowed to mingle their blood shed their blood for one another except by coercion or for mercenary purposes?

And can we ever hope that these moral barriers against our race amalgamation will not stand in the way of our political unity?

When Nationalism was first published in 1917 by Macmillan, New York, it contained three lectures, delivered in different places in Japan (Tagore first visited Japan from May to September, 1916) and in the USA where it was his second visit. The book also contained English translations of five poems, all taken from the collection, Naivedya. In a new edition of Nationalism, published by Rupa, New Delhi in 1992, edited by E.P. Thompson, these poems were deleted without any editorial explanation. In English Writings of Tagore (Volume Two), published by Sahitya Akademi in 1996 and edited by Sisir Kumar Das, we find one of the poems 'The Sunset of the Century' (shatabdir surjya aji) restored.

**Contents and Sample Pages**