MAHATMA
GANDHI
MAHATMA
GANDHI
Nonviolent Power in Action
Dennis Dalton
WITH A NEW PREFACE, AFTERWORD,
AND CHRONOLOGY BY THE AUTHOR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 1993, 2012 Columbia University Press
Preface copyright © 2000 Dennis Dalton
All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-53039-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dalton, Dennis.
Mahatma Gandhi : nonviolent power in action / Dennis Dalton.
p. cm.
Reprint of 1993 edition. Includes new preface, afterword, and chronology.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-15958-6 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-15959-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-53039-2 (e-book)
1. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869—1948. 2. Statesmen—India—Biography. 3. Nationalists—India—Biography. I. Title.
DS481.G3D215 2012
954.03′092—dc23
[B]
2011029531
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].
Photographs of Gandhi and letters were provided by Pyarelal Nayar and S. K. De, then director of the Gandhi Memorial Museum and Library, Rajghat, New Dehli. Special thanks to Pyarelal for his detailed comments on and dating of these photos. Photographs of Lord Edward Irwin and Reginald Reynolds were provided by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Photographs of Gangabehn and Ramjibhai Badhia were donated by Mr. Arjubhai Badhia.
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
• CONTENTS
Preface to the 2012 Reissue
Preface
Introduction
1. Satyagraha Meets Swaraj:
The Development of Gandhi’s Ideas, 1896—1917
2. Gandhi as Leader: Nonviolence in Power
3. Critiques of Gandhi from His Contemporaries:
Rabindranath Tagore and M. N. Roy
4. Civil Disobedience: The Salt Satyagraha
5. The Calcutta Fast
6. Mohandas, Malcolm, and Martin
Conclusion: Gandhi’s Contribution from Various Angles
Afterword to the 2012 Reissue
Chronology
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
For my students, with thanks.
And to remember those
courageous and powerful few
who marched to Dandi
in pursuit of freedom.
•
PREFACE TO THE 2012 REISSUE
A variety of incidents in my life have conspired to bring me in close contact with people of many creeds and many communities, and my experience with all of them warrants the statement that I have known no distinction between relatives and strangers, countrymen and foreigners, white and colored, Hindus and Indians of other faiths, whether Muslims, Parsis, Christians or Jews. I may say that my heart has been incapable of making any such distinctions.
—Gandhi
The power of nonviolent action has been demonstrated amply throughout the world since the second edition of this book in 2000. In that year, nonviolent power succeeded dramatically in Eastern Europe, employed by student groups like OTPOR in Belgrade to oust Slobodan Milosevic. But the most striking evidence came in the Middle East, where activists led nonviolent mass action against the longstanding authoritarian regimes of Zin El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. As the world watched and worried in early 2011 that these revolts would degenerate into violence, nonviolent power quickly deposed the despots. Pundits on both the left and right failed to anticipate the success of “soft power” against these entrenched governments; if considered at all, nonviolent action was quickly discounted as impotent.
The most notable exception to these skeptics is the American political theorist Gene Sharp. Against arguments that dictators like Milosevic and Mubarak were impervious to the power of nonviolence, Sharp has consistently and cogently expounded strategies to overcome them. Since Sharp published Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power in 1960, he has steadfastly promulgated his theories (in works noted in the afterword). OTPOR activists in Serbia and protesters in Cairo have openly acknowledged their intellectual debt to Sharp’s strategies for using mass nonviolent resistance to replace dictatorships with democracies.
Thus the idea of nonviolence has continued to circle the globe in improbable ways. From its origins in all of the great world religions, most significantly in the Hindu idea of ahimsa and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, it has leaped centuries to the interpretations of Thoreau and Tolstoy, to Gandhi’s breakthrough in South Africa, and to the works of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gene Sharp in the United States. These are only a few obvious examples. Hundreds of writers have perpetuated the idea; millions have marched to bring it to life. Among all who have either theorized about this phenomenon or actively participated in civil disobedience against unjust authority, Gandhi’s thought and leadership are unquestionably the most prominent.
Harold Laski, an eminent English political theorist and citizen of the empire that Gandhi was then in the process of overturning, observed when Gandhi arrived in London for the last time: “No living man has, either by precept or example, influenced so vast a number of people in so direct and profound a way.”1 This has also been the judgment of history if we compare Gandhi’s enduring relevance to that of all the other leaders of major mass movements—violent without exception—during the twentieth century. Gandhi’s claim to uniqueness rests both on the originality of his thinking about power and even more on his uncanny ability to put his theory into practice. Nonviolent power in action defined his career: the creative ways that he used it excite the world today. We can see human events, if only for a moment, through the lens that Gandhi above all others provided, without a bias toward the power of violence.
The aim of this study is to explain and understand the genius of Gandhi’s singular achievement. Although the book recounts, especially in the third chapter, extensive criticism of Gandhi’s leadership by his Indian contemporaries, I write for the most part with a strong sympathy for my subject. Most of the book is given to two lengthy case histories of his exercise of power: the mass civil disobedience campaign of 1930 and his fast for Hindu-Muslim unity in 1947. I chose these examples to show Gandhi at his best, using power strategically and wisely. In each case, the dramatic force of nonviolent power is highlighted because this is the purpose of the book: to offer lucid examples of how Gandhi connected his aim of liberation with the methods of nonviolent action.
As I have emphasized in the afterword, from the time that I arrived in India in 1960, I was fortunate to connect with Pyarelal and Sushila Nayar, the brother-sister team that served as Gandhi’s personal secretary and physician, respectively. They were a remarkable pair of instructors, discussing in detail my questions and doubts about Gandhi, never turning away my queries about his personal and political life, whether concerning his conduct on the famous salt march (where Pyarelal was at his side) or matters of his health and diet. During the subsequent decades that I corresponded with both of them, in India and from London and New York, we exchanged manuscripts, including the t
en-volume biography that they wrote together and the chapters of this book.
I will mention, after the Nayars, only a few of the many other Indian friends who provided me with their remarkable insights into Gandhi. First and foremost is S. R. Mehrotra, who from the beginning of my graduate studies in 1962 at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, guided me through the labyrinth of the old India Office Library files, explaining and interpreting records of the Raj in laborious detail. His awesome knowledge of the Indian National Congress has since been published; his recent discoveries behind Gandhi’s writing of Hind Swaraj are featured in the afterword. For over fifty years, Sriram Mehrotra has been my steadfast mentor on Indian history.
Nirmal Kumar Bose served as Gandhi’s Bengali interpreter and biographer during the period of partition and generously shared his understanding and serious criticisms of Gandhi during the final year of his life. K. K. Swaminathan and C. N. Patel, editors of Gandhi’s Collected Works, allowed me to work with them on their scrupulous production of this opus and shared their intricate knowledge of difficult passages. In Delhi B. R. Nanda, author of several distinguished studies of Gandhi, gave vital assistance when he was director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, as did S. K. De when he directed the Gandhi Library in Rajghat. Raghavan Iyer, analyst extraordinaire of Gandhi’s philosophy, commented on my work from the period when he taught at Oxford University to later at the University of California. Bimal Prasad sponsored my research in India and arranged seminars at Jawaharlal University in Delhi, as did R. Kumar at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Simla.
Finally, I have dedicated this book to those who accompanied Gandhi on his salt march because, along with Pyarelal, they tried in earnest to recreate that historic moment through their personal narratives. Dr. Haridas Muzumdar, one of the marchers, provided extensive written documentation as well as a series of interviews.
During the years that I studied and then lectured at SOAS (1962—1969), Hugh Tinker first supervised my doctoral dissertation on modern Indian political thought and then became a colleague. For decades after, he remained a close friend who read and criticized drafts of this entire book. No British or American historian helped me as much to appreciate the workings of the Raj because, unlike other English historians, he had served in the Indian Civil Service and then explained it in voluminous writings. W. H. Morris-Jones was the other Briton who helped me grasp British-Indian history and politics in the age of Gandhi, and he encouraged me for three decades to complete this book. It is a pleasure now to acknowledge the value of his comments on chapters 4 and 5 when they were first presented in seminars and conferences on the Partition of India at SOAS in 1965—1967 and 1974.
Professors Stephen Hay and James Hunt were American scholars and good friends who long focused their research and publications on Gandhi. They read and criticized preliminary drafts of chapters 4 and 5 when presented as papers at conferences in Mexico City and Toronto. Through their writings on Gandhi I have gained more perspective on his place in history. Barbara Stoler Miller, my colleague at Barnard College, offered important comments on Gandhi’s use of the Vedic tradition when she read the introductory chapter of this book. The unflagging encouragement of Leonard Gordon during the last forty years should have been enough to spur my completion of a dozen books. As a preeminent historian of Bengali political leadership, he was not known for his sympathetic attitude toward Gandhi. But he concentrated his critical powers on this book, reading the entire manuscript at various stages of its evolution. His detailed suggestions of innumerable leads and sources could not have been more constructive. Legions of American students of India are indebted to Ainslie Embree for indispensable support, and I feel privileged to count myself among them. As noted in the afterword, Thomas Weber, an Australian scholar, not only made a close study of Gandhi’s salt march but actually walked the entire route himself checking various points for historical accuracy. I appreciate the opportunity to have read his detailed account a decade ago in manuscript form.
It should be evident that those above who have read part or all of this study are not responsible for its lapses; the responsibility remains fully with the author. Anyone familiar with my writings on Gandhi over the last forty-five years may recognize parts of this book in previous incarnations. References to all of these early articles are given in the bibliography.
Research for this book was undertaken in India, London, and South Africa as well as throughout the United States. It received support from SOAS, University of London; the American Institute of Indian Studies; the American Council of Learned Societies; the American Philosophical Society; the Olin Foundation; Barnard College; and the Southern Asian Institute, Columbia University.
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the staffs of the India Office Library and Records, London; the British Library, London; the SOAS Library; the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi, especially Mr. V. P. Joshi; the Gandhi Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi; the National Archives of India, Delhi; the Gandhi Library, Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, especially Mr. Kisanbhai Trivedi, Mr. Amrut Modi, Mr. anil Patel, and Mr. Digant K. Dave; the Gandhi Ashram at Sevagram; the M. N. Roy archives at the Indian Renaissance Institute, Dehra Dun, especially Mr. R. L. Nigam; the University of California Library at Berkeley; the University of Chicago Library; the King Library and archives at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in atlanta, Georgia; and the Barnard College and Columbia University Libraries in New York. In South africa, the personal attention of Sushila Gandhi (the Mahatma’s daughter-in-law) and her extended family in Durban is much appreciated, as well as the hospitality and instruction of Mr. a. D. Lazarus, an esteemed educator.
The special efforts of close friends on this project should be mentioned. Daniel argov, Israeli historian of India, arranged for my research on Gandhi at the Hebrew University in 1966. Peter Juviler and Leslie Calman of the Barnard College Political Science Department team-taught courses with me in the 1970s and 1980s, listened to many of my lectures on Gandhi, and helped me with their countless comments to formulate what have become the main themes of this book. Jim Caraley, chair of my department for thirty years, was a consistent source of strength. and my brother, Terry, continues to be an unfailing source of wit. In addition to my students, who have provided me with remarkable reinforcement for over forty years—and this book is in part dedicated to them—two individuals have defined friendship for me by giving it in abundance: James Shokoff and Phillip Hubbart, professors of English and law, respectively.
Above all, and always there, is Sharron, my spouse of over fifty years. We met in Kathmandu and began our journey through India, England, New York, and the American West, her birthplace. She remains my fiercest critic and closest friend as we have tried to improve each other’s books and teaching. Without India and Nepal we would have never met, so we remain in debt to those countries most. Our two sons, Kevin and Shaun, walked with us on our recreation of Gandhi’s salt march, were adopted by Sushila Nayar when we lived in her home and she in ours, and experienced with us the wonders of South Asia. In turn, they have given us our four grandchildren: Mia and Sierra, Hadley and Blaise, and a new dimension on life. Finally, it is my pleasure to acknowledge the editorial assistance of Wade Weast and Michael Simon at Columbia University Press.
Notes
The epigraph to this preface comes from Gandhi’s Autobiography in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1961), 39:221.
1. Harold Laski, comment, Daily Herald, September 11, 1931.
•
PREFACE
If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own risk.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
(New York: New
Market Press, 1983), p. 71.
This book is dedicated to my students because its interpretations emerged from teaching experiences during the last four decades in South Asia, Britain, and America. A year after the book’s publication, I went to Nepal as a Fulbright scholar and used it as a text in a political theory course at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, the very place where I had begun teaching in 1960. Students then and there, as always and elsewhere, taught me Gandhi’s many meanings. This feedback continued when I returned to my classes in New York. From these exchanges, two aspects of Gandhi’s originality appeared that I initially missed or understated, so I take this opportunity to discuss them here.
First, from 1904, a decade after he had arrived in South Africa, Gandhi said he discovered the sanctity or dignity of manual labor, insisting that all those in his community value working with their hands. He relates in his Autobiography how reading John Ruskin’s Unto This Last inspired a conviction “that a life of labor, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is the life worth living,” that heretofore “this idea had never occurred to me” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 39: 239). Whatever Ruskin’s initial influence, Gandhi developed this conception of work for his own purposes, to reinforce a growing egalitarianism that eventually distinguished his social reform program. Ruskin would not have recognized the philosophy of work that ultimately crystallized in India, where Gandhi used it to attack a caste hierarchy that systematically devalued manual labor.
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