58. The above paragraphs from King’s speech represent a composite drawn from several different accounts of what he said on this evening: Martin Luther King, Jr., “Address” dated December 5,1955, Holt St. Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, in The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Library and Archives, Atlanta, Georgia; Yeakey, “Bus Boycott,” Appendix A, pp. 666–669; King’s own account in Stride Toward Freedom, pp. 47–48; and Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound pp. 70–72, who calls the speech “sixteen minutes of inspired extemporizing.”
59. James H. Cone characterizes King as a powerful “Internal Critic” of American Christianity, influential with his attack from within on racism in the religion. Martin and Malcolm and America (New York: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 295.
60. The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard, pp. 134, 140–143.
61. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court “affirmed a decision of a special three-judge U.S. District Court in declaring Alabama’s state and local laws requiring segregation on buses unconstitutional” (Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound, pp. 102–103).
62. King, reporting the comment of a “joyful bystander,” in Stride Toward Freedom, p. 140.
63. Black Power leaders such as Eldridge Cleaver, advocate for the Black Panthers, had by 1967 made a cult of revolutionary violence. See his Post Prison Writings (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), pp. 20,72–78. The thesis that nonviolent tactics are superior to violent ones within the context of contemporary movement politics has been argued by many scholars from a strictly pragmatic viewpoint. Why and how this should be is presented in a cogent manner by Leslie J. Caiman in her study, Protest in Democratic India: Authority s Response to Challenge (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1985). Caiman contrasts the effectiveness of violent and nonviolent movements in post-independent India.
64. Stride Toward Freedom, p. 67.
65. David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986), p. 43; and Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), p. 74
66. In an admirably thorough analysis of the perceptions of Gandhi by black Americans, Sudharshan Kapur carefully documents how extensively Gandhi’s life and message were publicized by black leaders such as Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. DuBois. George Hancock, black clergyman and educator, wrote in one representative article of March, 1931: “The sooner some black Gandhi comes with a reform program dedicated to revising our standards to conform to our economic opportunity, the better it is going to be for the Negro race.” Quoted in Kapur, Raising Up a Prophet: The African American Encounter With Gandhi (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992), p. 50.
67. CWMG 62: 202. This comment was in response to the first delegation of Howard Thurman, Sue Baily Thurman and Edward Carroll in February, 1936. That December Gandhi met with Benjamin E. Mays and Channing H. Tobias. CWMG 6: 221–225. These interviews were unusually extensive and it is clear how seriously Gandhi took the situation of black Americans and their prospects for nonviolent protest. Sudharshan Kapur concludes that “long before the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr., a growing number of African-Americans not only grasped the relevance of the doctrine of nonviolence to their own situation in this country, but also sought to experiment with its uses…. Thus, the soil which had been prepared and nurtured for a generation and more by some of the key African-American leaders was ready not only to receive the seed of nonviolence, but also to bear fruit as never before” (Raising Up a Prophet, pp. 161–163). This may be seen in direct contrast to the situation in Germany where no such development occurred among the Jews. Gandhi’s advice to black Americans was perhaps more appropriate and relevant for this reason because the situations in the United States and Germany during the 1930s and early 1940s were so markedly different.
68. Stride Toward Freedom, p. 78–79. Taylor Branch expresses doubt about the extent of King’s commitment to Gandhi’s ideas, claiming that “King mentioned buying a half-dozen books about Gandhi in a single evening, but he never bothered to name or describe any of them. He almost never spoke of Gandhi personally, and his comments about Gandhism were never different than his thoughts about nonviolence in general.” Parting the Waters, p. 87. These generalizations seem unfounded. While it is true that even during the Montgomery boycott, King’s understanding of Gandhi was elementary, it developed and deepened especially during and after his visit to India in February-March, 1959 (Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 72–73, 113–114). King did emphasize his indebtedness to and respect for Gandhi after his return from India (“Sermon on Gandhi,” March 22, 1959, noted below; “My Trip to the Land of Gandhi,” Ebony (July 1959), pp. 84–92; “More Than Any Other Person in History,” Peace News, January 1, 1958, p. 2). In interviews with Gandhians that King met in India, the present author noted their uniform high regard not only for King’s achievements in the United States but also for his grasp of Gandhi (Interviews with Jayaprakash Narayan, Delhi, May, 1967; Vinoba Bhave, Wardha, February, 1975; Pyarelal and Sushila Nayar, Delhi, February and March, 1975).
69. Stride Toward Freedom, pp. 83–88. The influence of Gandhi’s thought on King, and the latter’s concept of nonviolent action, including the idea of agape are cogently examined by John J. Ansbro, Martin Luther King, Jr. the Making of a Mind (New York: Orbis Books, 1984). Ansbro focuses on the similarities and differences in their uses of nonviolence and concludes that “Some of these differences in method stemmed from the fact that while Gandhi was seeking independence from an alien system, King’s goal was the transformation of the structure of the existing system so that all citizens could experience integration within the system” (p. 134).
70. In a comparison of the attitudes of Gandhi and King, a marked similarity appears in their relationships to those of other races and faiths. For example, Gandhi, a Hindu, and King, a Christian, both men of color, worked easily and well in their political campaigns with those of the Jewish faith. Gandhi observed that he “lived with Jews many years in South Africa,” (Harijan, May 18, 1947) and several served as valued leaders of his satyagrahas there: Hermann Kallenbach, noted above; Millie and Henry Polak (the former became Gandhi’s early biographer, the latter, a key source of his intellectual development); and Sonia Schlesin, whose courage and intellect Gandhi praised in his autobiography. (CWMG 39: 227). King’s relationship to Jews and his sympathetic understanding of their historical experience as a minority is a much appreciated aspect of his leadership. Among those who were trusted, intimate, and contributed most to the civil rights movement were Stanley Levison, whom Branch calls “King’s closest white friend and the most reliable colleague of his life,” (Parting the Waters, p. 208) and Harry Wachtel, who met King in 1962 as a Wall Street lawyer seeking to lend his ability to the struggle. Branch remarks that Wachtel and Levison “were destined to be paired for years as King’s twin Jewish lawyers…Whereas Levinson knew a host of union officials, ideologues and activists from the American Jewish Congress, Wachtel knew how to get high government officials on the phone and how to touch corporate officers” (p. 582). People of all faiths contributed to these movements; that Jews found them worthwhile and appealing, sensing no strains of anti-Semitism, is one indication of the quality of inclusiveness both Gandhi and King shared.
71. Goldman, Death and Life of Malcolm X, p. 389. Goldman’s comparisons and contrasts between King and Malcolm are drawn incisively in this book, pp. 383–392. See also Amiya Chakravarty, “Satyagraha and the Race Problem in America,” in S. N. Ray, ed., Gandhi, India and the World, pp. 300–318 for a consideration of this and also several of the other themes examined here.
72. Goldman, Death and Life of Malcolm X, p. 391.
73. Gandhi’s influence on King’s thought in this regard has been indicated by King in Stride Toward Freedom, pp. 78–80; Strength to Love (New York: Pocket Books, 1968), p. 169; and Where Do We Go From Here (New York: Bantam Books, 1968), pp. 51–52; and in Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound, pp. 31–33. Norman W. Walton has commented on Gandhi’s importance in his detailed analysis of the Montgomery b
us boycott in “The Walking City, A History of the Montgomery Boycott,” in The Negro History Bulletin 20 (1 pt. 1) (October, 1956): 17. Contributors to Raines, My Soul Is Rested, have stressed the particular effect that the example of Gandhi’s salt march had on the imagination of blacks, pp. 28, 53, 110,361.
74. The consensus that has formed across the political spectrum in the U.S. in praise of King was indicated on October, 19, 1983, when the U.S. Senate voted to make the third Monday in January a national holiday to commemorate the birth of King. The New York Times, October 20, 1983, pp. 1, 27.
75. Goldman, Death and Life of Malcolm X, p. 381.
76. Ossie Davis, “On Malcolm X” in AMX, pp. 458–459.
77. AMX, p. 372.
78. King, The Trumpet of Conscience (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), pp. 70–71.
79. King’s psychological state in the last days of his life has been described as markedly depressed, anxious, or fatigued by several sources: David Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 622; Ralph D. Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down (New York: Harper, 1989), p. 42; and Stephen Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound, pp. 459,472–73.
80. Ibid., p. 32. King expressed his fears about loss of creative force in a wry manner: “I’m worried to death … A man who hits the peak at 27 has a tough job ahead. People will be expecting me to pull rabbits out of the hat for the rest of my life.” New York Times, October 30, 1983, p. B9.
81. Oates, p. 420.
82. King, The Trumpet of Conscience, p. 15.
83. “Sermon on Gandhi,” March 22, 1959, Delivered at Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Papers of MLK, III/5, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Library and Archives, Atlanta, Georgia.
84. Alex Haley and James Baldwin both emphasize the basic similarities between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X in Malcolm X. As they Knew Him, edited by David Gallen (New York: Carroll and Graf, 1992), pp. 247–249, 276–279. Baldwin believes that “By the time each met his death there was practically no difference between them.” (p. 257).
85. James H. Cone, Martin and Malcolm, pp. 315–316, 318.
86. AMX, p. 375.
87. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound, p. 486. It is interesting to note that in an interview with a delegation of American blacks in February, 1936, Gandhi remarked of this “dream” that “it may be through the Negroes [of the United States] that the unadulterated message of non-violence will be delivered to the world.” CWMG 62: 202.
Conclusion
1. CWMG 85: 33.
2. The Republic of Plato, translated by F.M. Cornford (New York: Oxford University Press, 1945), pp. 177–178.
3. Nor was Plato, who devoted his life to education and proposes in his Republic education as a method of change, indifferent to practice. Socrates does pledge after stating the above that “I am to do my best to show under what conditions our ideal would have the best chance of being realized.” Ibid., 178.
4. F.M. Cornford’s explication in Ibid., p. 176.
5. Ibid., pp. 301, 282, 286.
6. Ibid., pp. 303–304.
7. Ibid., p. 306.
8. Harijan, Jan. 18, 1948.
9. Republic, pp. 234–23 5.
10. James MacGregor Burns, Leadership (New York: Harper, 1978), pp. 4, 20,448, 455. R. C. Zaehner captures the transforming purpose of Gandhi’s leadership in his study, Hinduism (London: Oxford University Press, 1962, ch. 8). He describes Gandhi not primarily as “the architect of Indian independence from British rule but as the liberator of the Indian spirit from the fetters of greed and anger, hatred and despair.” (p. 224)
11. Bruce Perry, Malcolm, p. 199.
12. Erik Erikson quoted in Dialogue with Erik Erikson, pp. 70–71. This is also conveyed in Robert Jay Lifton, The Genocidal Mentality (New York: Basic Books, 1990), p. 263 on Gandhi and King.
13. Interview with C. Rajagopalachari in Madras, May 24, 1967.
14. CWMG 26: 52.
15. CWMG 42: 469.
16. R. K. Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma (Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1964), pp. 44–45
17. Interviews with Maurice Frydman, one of Gandhi’s associates in the 1930s and 1940s, a Polish Jew and civil engineer who lived at Gandhi’s Sevagram ashram, in discussions with author in Bombay and Delhi, 1966–1967, related his own experience and those of others whom he observed in these terms.
18. R. K. Narayan, pp. 60–61.
19. R. C. Majumdar, Hirtory of the Freedom Movement in India, 3, 2nd Revised Edition (Calcutta: Firma KLM Private, Ltd., 1977), p. xviii. This is part of an extended severe criticism of Gandhi’s role in the Indian independence movement, the importance of which Majumdar believes to be vastly exaggerated. Majumdar emphasizes the influence of Subhas Chandra Bose against that of Gandhi, (pp. 609–610)
20. Judith Brown, Gandhi, p. 394.
21. Ibid.
22. Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph, Gandhi, p. 3.
23. Harijan, May 27, 1939.
24. Harijan, May 18, 1940.
25. Harijan, May 27, 1939.
26. CWMG, Autobiography, 39: 221.
27. Albert Einstein’s statement for the memorial service in Washington on February 11, 1948, quoted in Einstein on Peace, edited by Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden (New York: Avenel Books, 1981), pp. 467–468.
28. George Orwell, “Reflections on Gandhi” mA Collection of Essays (New York: Harcourt, 1953), p. 180.
29. CWMG 29:130, 264–265.
30. Sissela Bok, Lying. Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (New York: Vintage, 1979), PP. 28,33.
31. Sissela Bok, A Strategy for Peace (New York: Pantheon Books, 1989), p. 47.
32. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in Why We Can’t Wait (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 77.
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GLOSSARY
Abhaya: Fearlessness. A vital component of Gandhi’s thought because he stressed courage as an indispensable element of satyagraha.
Ahimsa: Nonviolence, conceived as both a personal and a political value as an active agent of change.
Ashram: Spiritual community. Gandhi established ashrams in Sabarmati (near Ahmedabad) in Gujarat and in Sevagram (near Wardha) in Maharashtra.
Atman: The Universal self.
Bania: Subcaste to which Gandhi belonged, within the vaishya social order in the system of four varnas.
Bapu: “Father,” a general term of affection and respect often applied to Gandhi.
Bhagavad-Gita (often shortened to Gita): A philosophical dialogue and sacred text of Hinduism that had a profound influence on Gandhi.
Brahmacharya: Vow of celibacy. Taken by Gandhi in 1906 to signify devotion to God, self-discipline, and commitment to public service.
Charka: Spinning wheel, promoted by Gandhi in his effort to spread the use of khadi.
Communalism: Conflict and intolerance among religious communities of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs.
Dandi: Village on the shores of Gujarat on the coast of western India. Here, Gandhi’s “march to the sea,” or salt march, ended.
Daridranarayan: “Divinity of the poor,” a term used by Gandhi and others to support social change.
Darshan: A sight or view of holiness that conveys a blessing, adapted by Gandhi to mean that Indians must have the darshan of the “goddess of swaraj.”
Dharma: Righteousness, adherence to the Hindu code of morality. Its opposite is adharma or immorality.
Duragraha: Biased action by an individual or group to attain a selfish goal. Although an act of duragraha may not commit physical violence, it will still harbor “violence of the spirit” in the form of anger and enmity. Gandhi also called this “passive resistance,” and distinguished it from satyagraha.
Dyerism: Signifies the brutal abuse of power seen in British imperialism, derived from Gen. Reginald Dyer, commander of troops responsible for the massacre of 400 Indians at Amritsar in 1919.
Goonda (indgoondaism): Thug or street criminal. In Calcutta, during partition, goondas terrorized
both Hindus and Muslims, thus contributing to an epidemic of urban and communal violence. “Goondaism” signified a kind of social disease sanctioned by a city consumed with fear and conflict.
Harijan: “Child of God,” Gandhi’s term for a member of the untouchable community. Also the title of his weekly journal after 1933.
Hartal: Mass strike by labor and business as an act of satyagraha and nonviolent noncooperation against British rule.
Hind swaraj: “Indian Home Rule,” the title of Gandhi’s first book, published in 1909 in South Africa and setting forth the basis of his political thought, especially the connection between swaraj and satyagraha.
Karmayoga: “Discipline (yoga) of action” set forth in the Bhagavad Gita. Gandhi interpreted it as a gospel of political and social action, performed in a selfless manner, without desire for personal rewards.
Khadi (orkhaddar): Homespun cotton cloth. Gandhi urged its production (by the spinning wheel) and use as the dress of the nationalist movement to symbolize identification with the masses and practice of swadeshi.
Mahatma: “Great [Maha] Soul [Atma].” An honorific title bestowed on Gandhi by Rabindranath Tagore.
Moksha: Spiritual liberation. Gandhi sometimes interpreted this as synonymous with swaraj but moksha usually did not connote political independence.
Panchayat: Village council; local organ of political administration advocated by Gandhi to form the basic unit of a decentralized system of democracy in an independent India.
Partition: Political division of British India into two independent nations, India and Pakistan, in August, 1947. Gandhi opposed the plan of partition but ultimately yielded to it in the face of civil war.
Raj: Government, denoting in Gandhi’s period the administrative system of British rule over its colony, India. The Viceroy was at the apex of this system, under him were various governors, civil servants, and the army. It was a formidable force but never numbered more than 100,000 Britons in India.
Ram Raj: “Rule of Ram,” the Hindu ideal of ancient India’s golden age, evoked by Gandhi to mean an ideal society of harmony and justice for all religious communities, consistent with his advocacy of a secular state for independent India.
Mahatma Gandhi Page 41