Louis Fischer

Louis Fischer (29 February 1896 – 15 January 1970) was an American journalist. Among his works were a contribution to the ex-communist treatise The God that Failed (1949), The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1950), basis for the Academy Award-winning film Gandhi (1982), as well as a Life of Lenin, which won the 1965 National Book Award in History and Biography.

Quotes

• Winston Churchill remains the implacable enemy of India’s independence He has never disguised his views Many members of his party differ with him ‘on the question of Indian Freedom, but Churchill’s imperialistic policy dominates “Mohamed Alt Jinnah has not in recent years given any proof of a devotion to the cause of India’s liberation from foreign rule Nor has the Muslim League over which he presides Landlords, who bulk large in the counsels of the League, stand to lose by the establishment of a new India, which would certainly alter the present land tenure to the disadvantage of landlords, Muslims as well as Hindus, and to the advantage of all peasants “What could be more natural, therefore, than that Churchill and Jiinnah should have been in correspondence, in recent months, over the fate of India ? They have quietly exchanged letters and messages It was shortly after the receipt of one such secret communication from Churchill that the Muslim League reconsidered its acceptance of the British Cabinet Misston’s long-term proposals and decided instead to boycott the coming Assembly which 1s to draw up a constitution for a new free India “The Cabinet Misston laboured hard and on the whole successfully to prepare the way for the transfer of political power from British to Indian hands Churchill and Jinnah are now attempting to undermine the effort”
  • Louis Fischer in the Hindustan Standard, quoted in Khosla G. D. (1989). Stern reckoning : a survey of the events leading up to and following the partition of india. Oxford University Press. 305