Non-Violent Resistance

by Mahatma K Gandhi

  Will the people of Bardoli stand this last trial? They have already staggered Indian humanity. They have shown heroic patience in the midst of great provocation. Will they stand the greatest provocation that can be offered? If they will, they will have gained everything. Imprisonments, forfeitures, deportations, death must all be taken in the ordinary course by those who count honour before everything else. When the terror becomes unbearable, let the people leave the land they have hitherto believed to be theirs. It is wisdom to vacate houses or places that are plague-infected. Tyranny is a kind of plague and when it is likely to make us angry or weak it is wisdom to leave the scene of such temptation. History is full of instances of brave people having sought exile in preference to surrender to zoolum.

  Let me hope however that such a step will not be necessary. One hears rumours of intercessions by well-meaning friends. They have the right, it may be even their duty, to intercede. But let these friends realize the significance of the movement. They are not to represent a weak cause or a weak people. The people of Bardoli stand for an absolutely just cause. They ask no favour, they seek only justice. They do not ask any one to consider their case to be true. Their cause is to seek an independent, open, judicial inquiry, and they undertake to abide by the verdict of such a tribunal. To deny the tribunal is to deny justice which the Government have hitherto done. The means at the disposal of the people are self-suffering. In such a cause then minimum and maximum are almost convertible terms. Those who rely upon self-suffering for redress of a grievance cannot afford to rate it higher than it actually is. Those therefore who will intervene will harm the people and their cause, if they do not appreciate the implications of the struggle which cannot be lightly given up or compromised.

  The public have a duty to perform by the Satyagrahis. The response is already being made to Vallabhbhai's appeal for funds. It will be remembered that he refused to make the appeal as long as it was possible to refrain. The imprisonments have made the appeal imperative. I have no doubt that the response will be quick and generous. Equally necessary is the expression of enlightened public opinion. Let the public study the facts carefully and then cover the whole of the land with public meetings. I like the suggestion made by Sjt. Jairamdas that June 12th or any other suitable date should be proclaimed as Bardoli Day when meetings representing all parties may be held to pass resolutions and make collections in aid of the sufferers of Bardoli.

  Young India, 31-5-'28

  93. NON-CO-OPERATION OR CIVIL RESISTANCE?

  Fear has been entertained in Government circles that the movement going on in Bardoli is one of non-co-operation. It is necessary, therefore, to distinguish between non-co-operation and civil resistance. Both are included in the wider term Satyagraha which covers any and every effort based on truth and non-violence. The term non-co-operation was designed to include among other things the items named in the programme of 1920 at the special session of the Congress at Calcutta and reaffirmed the same year at Nagpur with the object of attaining Swaraj. Under it no negotiation with or petition to the Government of the day was possible except for the purpose of attaining Swaraj. Whatever the Bardoli struggle may be, it clearly is not a struggle for the direct attainment of Swaraj. That every such awakening, every such effort as that of Bardoli brings Swaraj nearer and may bring it nearer even than any direct effort is undoubtedly true. But the struggle of Bardoli is to seek redress of a specific grievance. It ceases the moment the grievance is redressed. The method adopted in the first instance was through conventional prayer and petition. And when the conventional method failed utterly, the people of Bardoli invited Sjt. Vallabhbhai Patel to lead them in civil resistance. The civil resistance does not mean even civil disobedience of the laws and rules promulgated by constituted authority. It simply means non-payment of a portion of a tax which former, the aggrieved ryots contend, has been improperly and unjustly imposed on them. This is tantamount to the repudiation by a private debtor of a part of the debt claimed by his creditor as due to him. If it is the right of a private person to refuse payment of a debt he does not admit, it is equally the right of the ryot to refuse to pay an imposition which he believes to be unjust. But it is not the purpose here to prove the correctness of the action of the people of Bardoli. My purpose is to distinguish between non-co-operation with attainment of Swaraj as its object and civil resistance as that of Bardoli with the redress of a specific grievance as its object. This I hope is now made clear beyond doubt. That Sjt. Vallabhbhai and the majority of the workers under his command are confirmed non-co-operators is beside the point. The majority of those whom they represent are not. National non-co-operation is suspended. The personal creed of a non-co-operator does not preclude him from representing the cause of those who are helplessly co-operators.

  Young India, 19-7-'28

  94. LIMITATIONS OF SATYAGRAHA

  Sardar Sardul Singh is an esteemed worker. His open letter advising me to invite sympathetic civil disobedience for Bardoli demands a reply especially because it enables me to clear my own position. If Bardoli Satyagraha were a campaign of lawlessness as the Government paint it, nothing would be more tempting or more natural than sympathetic Satyagraha and that too without the limits prescribed in the Sardar's letter. But the Sardar rightly says: 'I find in prominent Gujarat workers a tendency to allow Bardoli peasants to be kept isolated. This impression has been created in my mind by the reports of Sjt. Vallabhbhai's speeches and your writings. Friends think that any more scruples on this point go beyond the limits of practical politics.'

  The Sardar's impression is correct. In order strictly to limit the scope of the struggle to the purely local and economic issue and to keep it non-political Sjt. Vallabhbhai would not let Sjt. Rajagopalachari and other leaders to go to Bardoli. It was only when the Government gave it a political character and made it an all-India issue by their coercive measures that the reins were loosened and Vallabhbhai could no longer prevent public men from going to Bardoli, though where his advice or permission was sought, he said, 'Not yet.'

  I do not know what Sjt. Vallabhbhai Patel would say to the Sardar's suggestion; but I can say, 'Not yet.' Time has not come even for limited sympathetic Satyagraha. Bardoli has still to prove its mettle. If it can stand the last heat and if the Government go to the farthest limit, nothing that I or Sjt. Vallabhbhai can do will stop the spread of Satyagraha or limit the issue to a bona fide re-inquiry and its logical consequences. The limit will then be prescribed by the capacity of India as a whole for self-sacrifice and self-suffering. If that manifestation is to come it will be natural and incapable of being stayed by any agency no matter how powerful. But so far as I understand the spirit of Satyagraha and its working, it is the duty of Sjt. Vallabhbhai and myself to keep to the original limits in spite of the Government provocations which are strong enough even as they are to warrant the crossing of the original boundary.

  The fact is that Satyagraha presupposes the living presence and guidance of God. The leader depends not on his own strength but on that of God. He acts as the Voice within guides him. Very often, therefore, what are practical politics so called are unrealities to him, though in the end his prove to be the most practical politics. All this may sound foolish and visionary on the eve of what bids fair to become the toughest battle that India has hitherto had to face. But I would be untrue to the nation and myself if I failed to say what I feel to be the deepest truth. If the people of Bardoli are what Vallabhbhai believes them to be, all will be well, in spite of the use of all the weapons that the Government may have at its command. Let us wait and see. Only let the M. L. C.'s and others who are interested in compromises not take a single weak step in the hope of saving the people of Bardoli. They are safe in the hands of God.

  Young India, 2-8-'28

  95. ALL'S WELL

  It is a matter for sincere joy that the settlement has at last been reached over the Bardoli Satyagraha. All's well that ends well. I tender my congratulations both to the Government of Bombay and th
e people of Bardoli and Valod and Sjt. Vallabhbhai without whose firmness as well as gentleness the settlement would have been impossible. The reader will note that the Satyagrahis have achieved practically all that they had asked for. The terms of reference to the Committee of Enquiry are all that could be desired. True, there is to be no inquiry into the allegations about the coercive measures adopted by the Government to enforce payment. But it was generous on the part of Sjt. Vallabhbhai to waive the condition, seeing that the lands forfeited including lands sold are to be restored, the talatis are to be reinstated, and other minor matters are to be attended to. It is well not to rake up old wrongs for which beyond the reparation made there can be no other remedy. The inquiry into the assessment question will be carried in a calmer atmosphere for the waiver of the clause about the coercive processes.

  Let not the Satyagrahis sleep over their well-deserved victory. They have to collect and collate material to prove their allegations about the assessment.

  And above all, if they are to consolidate their position, they must proceed with constructive work with redoubled vigour. Their strength lies in their ability and willingness to handle this difficult, slow and unpretentious work of construction. They have to rid themselves of many social abuses. They must better their economic condition by attention to the charkha. It was the charkha that led to the awakening among them. They must remove the reproach of drink from their midst. They must attend to village sanitation and have a properly managed school in every village. The so-called higher classes must befriend the depressed and the suppressed classes. The greater the attention given to these matters, the greater will be their ability to face crises like the one they have just gone through.

  Young India, 9-8-'28

  96. A SIGN OF THE TIMES

  Bardoli is a sign of the times. It has a lesson both for the Government and the people—for the Government if they will recognize the power of the people when they have truth on their side and when they can form a non-violent combination to vindicate it. By such recognition a wise Government consolidates its power which is then built upon people's goodwill and co-operation not merely in act enforced by brute power but in speech and thought as well. Non-violent energy properly stored up sets free a force that becomes irresistible.

  Let us then turn to the people of Bardoli. The lesson that they have to learn is that so long as they remain united in non-violence they have nothing to fear, not even unwilling officials. But have they learnt that lesson, have they recognized the unseen power of non-violence, have they realized that if they had committed one single act of violence, they would have lost their cause? If they have, then they will know from day to day that they will not become a non-violent organization unless they undergo a process of what may be called continuous corporate cleansing. This they can only do by engaging in carrying out a well thought out constructive programme requiring combined effort and promoting common good. In other words before they can claim to have become a non-violent organization, they must receive education in non-violence not through speeches or writings, necessary as both may be, but through an unbroken series of corporate acts, each evoking the spirit of non-violence. Sjt. Vallabhbhai Patel knows what he is about. He has set for himself this more difficult task of constructive effort or internal reform. May God grant him therein the same measure of success that has attended the struggle against the Government.

  Young India, 16-8-'28

  SECTION SIXTH: SALT SATYAGRAHA

  [Gandhiji launched civil disobedience in 1930 to rectify some of the evils of British rule, and symbolically singled out the Salt Laws for violation. He regarded these laws as iniquitous as they taxed salt which was the only flavouring to a bowlful of rice or other grain which the poorest in the land could afford.—Ed.]

  97. "NEVER FAILETH"

  'Hate dissolves in the presence of Love'.

  "In the opinion of the Working Committee civil disobedience should be initiated and controlled by those who believe in nonviolence for the purpose of achieving Purna Swaraj as an article-of faith, and as the Congress contains in its organization not merely such men and women, but also those who accept nonviolence as a policy essential in the existing circumstances in the country, the Working Committee welcomes the proposal of Mahatma Gandhi and authorizes him and those working with him who believe in non-violence as an article of faith to the extent above indicated to start civil disobedience as and when they desire and in the manner and to the extent they decide. The Working Committee trusts that when the campaign is actually in action all Congressmen and others will extend to the civil resisters their full co-operation in every way possible, and that they will observe and preserve complete non-violence notwithstanding any provocation that may be offered. The Working Committee further hopes that in the event of a mass movement taking place, all those who are rendering voluntary co-operation to the Government, such as lawyers, and those who are receiving so-called benefits from it, such as students, will withdraw their co-operation or renounce benefits as the case may be, and throw themselves into the final struggle for freedom. The Working Committee trusts, that in the event of the leaders being arrested and imprisoned, those, who are left behind and have the spirit of sacrifice and service in them, will carry on the Congress organization, and guide the movement to the best of their ability."

  This resolution of the Working Committee gives me my charter of freedom if it also binds me in the tightest chains. It is the formula of which I have been in search these long and weary months. For me the resolution is not so much a political as a religious effort. My difficulty was fundamental. I saw that I could not work out ahimsa through an organization holding a variety of mentalities. It could not be subject to the decision of majorities. To be consistent with itself, it might have to be inconsistent with the whole world.

  A person who has a choice before him is ever exposed to temptation. The instinct of those, therefore, with whom non-violence is a policy, when tempted by violence, may fail them. That of those who have no remedy but non-violence open to them can never fail them if they have non-violence in them in reality. Hence the necessity for freedom from Congress control. And I was thankful that the members of the Working Committee saw the utter correctness of my position.

  It is to be hoped that no one will misunderstand the position. Here there is no question of superiority. Those, who hold non-violence for the attainment of freedom as an article of faith, are in no way superior to those with whom it is a mere policy, even as there is no such inequality between brown men and yellow men. Each acts according to his lights.

  The responsibility devolving on me is the greatest I have ever undertaken. It was irresistible. But all will be well, if it is ahimsa that is guiding me. For the seer who knew what he gave to the world said, 'Hate dissolves in the presence of ahimsa.' The true rendering of the word in English is love or charity. And does not the Bible say:

  "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour,

  "Believeth all things,

  "Hopeth all things,

  "Never faileth."

  Civil disobedience is sometimes a peremptory demand of love. Dangerous it undoubtedly is, but no more than the encircling violence. Civil disobedience is the only non-violent escape from its soul-destroying heat. The danger lies only in one direction, in the outbreak of violence side by side with civil disobedience. If it does I know now the way; not the retracing as at the time of Bardoli. The struggle, in freedom's battle, of non-violence against violence, no matter from what quarter the latter comes, must continue till a single representative is left alive. More no man can do, to do less would be tantamount to want of faith.

  Young India, 20-2-'30

  98. TO ENGLISH FRIENDS

  [On the eve of starting Civil Disobedience. An extract.]

  Hatred and ill-will there undoubtedly are in the air. They are bound sooner or later to burst into acts of fury if they are not anticipated in time. The conviction has deepened in me that civil disobedience alone can stop the bursting o
f that fury. The nation wants to feel its power more even than to have independence. Possession of such power is independence.

  That civil disobedience may resolve itself into violent disobedience is, I am sorry to have to confess, not an unlikely event. But I know that it will not be the cause of it. Violence is there already corroding the whole body politic. Civil Disobedience will be but a purifying process and may bring to the surface what is burrowing under and into the whole body. And British officials, if they choose may regulate civil disobedience so as to sterilize the forces of violence. But whether they do so, or whether, as many of us fear, they will, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, provoke violence, my course is clear. With the evidence I have of the condition of the country and with the unquenchable faith I have in the method of civil resistance, I must not be deterred from the course the Inward Voice seems to be leading me to.

  But whatever I do and whatever happens, my English friends will accept my word, that whilst I am impatient to break the British bondage, I am no enemy of Britain.

  Young India, 23-1-'30

  99. WHEN I AM ARRESTED

  It must be taken for granted, that when civil disobedience is started, my arrest is a certainty. It is, therefore, necessary to consider what should be done when the event takes place.

  On the eve of my arrest in 1922 I had warned coworkers against any demonstration of any kind save that of mute, complete non-violence, and had insisted that constructive work, which alone could organize the country for civil disobedience, should be prosecuted with the utmost zeal. The first part of the instructions was, thanks be to God, literally and completely carried out—so completely that it has enabled an English noble contemptuously to say, 'Not a dog barked.' For me when I learnt in the jail that the country had remained absolutely non-violent, it was a demonstration that the preaching of non-violence had had its effect and that the Bardoli decision was the wisest thing to do. It would be foolish to speculate what might have happened if 'dogs' had barked and violence had been let loose on my arrest. One thing, however, I can say, that in that event there would have been no Independence Resolution at Lahore, and no Gandhi with his confidence in the power of non-violence left to contemplate taking the boldest risks imaginable.