‘I have only One Country, it is the World’: Madame Cama, Anticolonialism, and Indian-Russian Revolutionary Networks in Paris, 1907–17

Abstract

Abstract In September 1912, the Russian author Maxim Gorky wrote to the Paris-based Indian revolutionary Madame Cama and asked her to write an article on Indian women and their role in the Indian freedom struggle. Their correspondence highlights several issues: Cama’s central role among Indian and anticolonial nationalists from across the world in early twentieth-century Paris; the inspiration from the 1905 Russian Revolution and alliances between exiled Indian and Russian revolutionaries; the role of women in revolutionary movements. Focusing on Indian-Russian networks in early twentieth century Paris, this article examines Cama’s thoughts on feminism and socialism, and the inspiration from Russian revolutionaries in Cama’s anticolonial activities.