The Conservative Party And Indian Independence, 1945-1947

The article examines the reasons for the failure of the Conservative party to offer effective opposition to the independence of India in 1947. It is argued that until the last moment the Conservative stance on Indian independence was much more hostile than is usually recognized. That this opposition did not evolve into a full-scale revolt is explained less by the conversion of Conservatives to acceptance of the Attlee government's Indian policy than by the party leaders' beliefs that it would be hard to sustain a coherent campaign against it. The inability of unreconciled Conservatives to challenge this tactical decision as they had done in the early 1930s resulted from the erosion and disappearance of many of the organizational advantages they had then enjoyed and of the rapid pace of events in India.