Henry Polak

Henry Salomon Leon Polak (1882 — 31 January 1959) was a British-born lawyer, journalist and activist in South Africa who worked in collaboration with Mohandas Gandhi against racial discrimination.

Polak first met Mohandas Gandhi in 1904 at Ziegler's vegetarian restaurant in Johannesburg, then being an editor of the Transvaal Critic.

Polak and Gandhi introduced a range of writings to the audience of the Indian Opinion including ideas from Tolstoy, John Ruskin, Emerson, Mazzini, and Thoreau.

Polak returned to England in 1916 and began to work with the British Committee of the Indian National Congress, editing the journal India.

Extreme elements in the Indian National Congress like Bal Gangadhar Tilak disliked Polak's management of the India newsletter and he was forced to resign from the editorial position in 1919.