Nightingale’s Sibling

Virendranath was the brilliant scion of a brilliant family. The second of seven children, the eldest of whom was Sarojini Naidu, Chatto arrived in London in 1902, intent on joining the ICS, which he failed to do so twice. Chatto befriended Savarkar and came under the influence of Shyamji Khrishnavarma. However, his independent manifested itself early on, when, in the columns of The Times, he debated Indian nationalism with Khrishnavarma. Chatto was unique among the revolutionaries in his abhorrence of violence: “The day that I feel convinced of the necessity of political assassination I shall cease to write.”

Chatto then went on an amazing spree, moving to Paris and then Germany in the First World War, then to Stockholm, and eventually the Soviet Union. From Germany he and the other revolutionaries tried to foment an uprising in India, sending arms and linking up with the Gadar Party in North America. Their efforts came to nought, with virtually every agent of theirs being caught and spilling the beans. Yet, he was noticed enough by British intelligence for one of its officers, W. Somerset Maugham, to write a story about him.

After the World War I, Chatto continued his anti-British propaganda in Scandinavia. Then, there was a strange interlude, in which Chatto and the American journalist and pro-India activist, Agnes Smedley, married — a disastrous union of totally incompatible people. The end of the marriage after Smedley’s collapse led to the most productive period of Chatto’s life, with establishment of the League Against Imperialism in the late 1920s. It is fascinating to read Chatto’s correspondence during this period with Jawaharlal Nehru, chastising, educating and otherwise encouraging him.

Chatto had made contact with the Russians shortly after the Revolution, but failed to make headway, as he was suspected to be a German agent, and M.N. Roy had got there before him. However, Chatto had been speedily moving towards communism, and just before the Nazis came to power, he moved to Moscow. He became a protege of Kirov, Stalin’s right-hand man. In 1937, Kirov was killed, apparently at the orders of Stalin, alarmed at his growing popularity. In purges that followed, Chatto was executed.

Chatto’s activities did not have any major impact on the British regime in India. What he did succeed in accomplishing, however, was to be a thorn in the side of the British, his incessant propaganda worrying them into vain efforts to stifle him, including a Keystone Kips attempt at murder. Moreover, he and the other revolutionaries were inspirational — their dedication and self-sacrifice moved others to dedicate themselves to the struggle for freedom.