Tagore at Yearly Meeting, and some consequences

As we have seen, Alexander lost no time on his return in affirming his support for Gandhi's leadership of the Indian national movement. It was a view associated at the time with the radical left wing in British politics, and did not instantly appeal to many Quakers. This was all the more apparent because of the accelerating tempo of nationalist campaigning in India itself. In 1928 a series of All-Party Conferences in India responded to the Simon Commission by drafting a scheme for Dominion status, usually called the Nehru Report after its principal author Motilal Nehru. Alexander thought highly of the document, considering that its approach to the communal problem was exceptionally enlightened. In essentials, communal conflicts resembled the ‘minority problem’ in the states created by the Treaty of Versailles. ‘It would be well’, said Alexander in an unpublished paper evidently written at this time, ‘if the States of Europe had the prospect of being governed by men of such enlightenment’ as the authors of the Report. In any case, its proposals,

They provided an opportunity to meet the acknowledged leaders of India on a basis of equality, with respect and with confidence.