December 1942: Calcutta is bombed by the Japanese air force. In the ensuing panic, one and a half million flee the almost defenseless city. The Japanese, having stormed through Malaya, Singapore and Burma, appear unstoppable—and on their way to India. David Lockwood investigates the reactions and plans of the Congress, the British and the Indian National Army (INA), concluding that the episode revealed a good deal about plans for India after the war, the impossibility of the INA’s military solution, and that it was a part of the transition of the Indian State from the British to the Congress.
About the Author
David Lockwood is an Associate Professor in modern history and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. He is a specialist in the modern history and politics of India and in Soviet history. He is especially interested in the role of the bourgeoisie in historical development and in the concept of hegemony in the historical process. He combines this with work in the broad areas of the role of the state in economic development; the transition from state-controlled to market economies; and the effects of globalization on national states. He has published a monograph on the bourgeois revolution in Russia and another on the evolution of the bourgeoisie in India, concentrating on its relationship with the state. His most recent book was on the role of the Communist Party of India in the Indian Emergency under Indira Gandhi.
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