Did British Imperialism Support the Industrialisation of India During the Course of the Second World War?
British imperialism did not change its long-term policy of hindering Indian industrial development during the Second World War. In contrast Australia was permitted to establish plants manufacturing twin-engine bombers, build ten thousand ton merchant ships and produce power alcohol. This was the result of a policy which wanted to take goods gratis from India but declined to pay for them in the form of capital goods lest industrial development led India to upgrade her status from a supplier of raw materials and so compete with Britain in the Indian market. The Second World War saw falling production of vital raw materials such as coal which led several jute mills to close down because of the coal shortages.41 In a manner fundamentally not dissimilar to M.N. Roy Proletarian Path confounds industrialisation, production of the means of production, with any and every industrial development. By this sleight of hand the local Indian assembly of imported machinery and the manufacture of small
