Letter from Agnes Smedley to Bhagwan Singh Gyanee



DESCRIPTION
Letter from Agnes Smedley to Bhagwan Singh Gyanee dated January 18, 1920. Smedley describes the recent activities of the Friends for Freedom of India, and efforts to organize meetings with various intellectuals and politicians.

ADDITIONAL METADATA
Date: January 28, 1920
Subject(s): Bhagwan Singh Gyanee
Type: Correspondence
Language: English
Creator: Agnes Smedley
Location: 7 East 15th Street, Room 601, New York, New York

TRANSCRIPTION
January 18th, 1920 Dear Bhagwan: This is Sunday and I am taking a bit out of the day to greet you across three thousand miles. How are you by this time and are you as happy as ever? Our work is progressing quite well these days. I am enclosing Professor Lovett’s report. Now that Prof. Lovett is here, we are calling a special conference in two weeks, where there will be a complete reorganization of our group. Frank Walsh wants to get off, because he is planning to run four President, I think, and doesn’t want any private ties; he is cutting loose from everything now but the Irish Loan, and he will soon xxx be in the running for President. But he has not yet decided. Professor Boas of Columbia has suddenly blossomed forth as one of our most active supporters, and is writing an article for us. I shall wait to see the outcome of the conference. We have two different groupe now: the labor and the liberal. Three new members added to the Board are Ernest Bohm, Secretary of Central Federated Union, and Prof. Eourwioh and Evens Clarke, of the Soviet Bureau; also Professor Boas. Roger Baldwin wants to reorganize along liberal lines, making our Executive Board a “liberal” board. On the other side stand I, working more for the labor and radical elements. I am frank to say that the majority will be on the liberal side including Professor Lovett. I don’t know just how far I can work with them, because I have a very strong dislike for liberals. They are perhaps right, when it comes to American work for India. But I disagree with them. We are trying to arrange a dinner for Senator LaFollete and Senator France here, where the subject will be India. No definite plan yet, since La Follette is ill. We shall constitute a Hindu advisory board when our new conference is held. You may be interested to know that George Hasmyth, of our Executive Board, was deported from England back to Holland because he is a member of our Executive Board. The British are very efficient, you see, and keep watch on every little organization working against them. Sincerely, Agnes Smedley

PROVENANCE
Collection: Bhagwan Singh Gyanee Materials
Donor: S.P. Singh
Item History: 2012-03-21 (created); 2013-05-03 (modified)

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