Many are the defects that will be found in this book. It was written in great haste and at a time when my health was far from satisfactory. As a matter of fact, owing to reasons of ill-health, the completion of the manuscript was delayed beyond all anticipation.

Difficulty in getting necessary papers and books of reference was a serious handicap to me. If I had been in India or even in England, at the time of writing, my task would have been much easier. In the circumstances, I had no option but to draw largely from my memory. After the completion of the manuscript some interesting developments have taken place — for example, the meeting of the plenary Session of the Congress at Bombay towards the end of October, 1934, elections to the Indian Legislative Assembly, the publication of the Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, etc. While revising the proofs, I have attempted to make certain additions, with a view to bringing the book up to date.

A further misfortune has been that even the finishing touches to the book could not be given at leisure. While engaged in this task I have had to rush through my work in order to start for India at once, owing to urgent private reasons.

This book has been written by one who has played an intimate part in the struggle which he has narrated and who is expected to continue the same work. It is therefore to be hoped that the narrative will prove to be interesting and will incidentally help to interpret the Indian struggle to the foreign observer. If this purpose is achieved in however small a measure, my labours will not prove to be in vain.

Hotel de France,
Vienna
November 29th, 1934

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