Gāndhiji’s greatest contribution to the world was the successful demonstration of non-violent civil disobedience struggle to gain independence for India from a well armed and brutal rulers. This was achieved by practicing highest moral and ethical principles based on truth, non-violence, universal love and respect, even for the opponents. In the entire history of mankind, nothing like this was ever achieved by anyone before on such a large scale. Leo Tolstoy had observed about Gāndhi’s Satyāgraha as “the most important work now being done in the world”.
Satyāgraha is a combination of two Sanskrit words ⎼ Satya and Āgraha ⎼ meaning truth and firm insistence. Gāndhi explained the word as:
“Truth (Satya) implies love, and Firmness (Āgraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement ‘Satyāgraha’, that is to say the force which is born of truth and love or non-violence.”
Mohan was planning for India’s independence even while he was in school. His first attempt was to become big and strong like an Englishman by eating meat. In this he failed miserably. Later he got involved in activities related to earning money and supporting his family. Again he failed in establishing himself as a lawyer in Mumbai and Rajkot. Gāndhi went to South Africa to run away from the failures. In South Africa he experienced first hand discrimination and oppression because of his Indian origin. The Maritzberg train incident made him think about trying to find some solution. A revolution was started in his mind. Any change or revolution starts first in the mind. Thoughts are vocalized and then put in to action. As John Adams had observed about the American revolution:
“Revolution was effected before the war commenced...The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”
John Adams, 1818
The answer to the question of how to fight for India’s independence did not come to Gāndhi overnight or very easily. In the past people had resorted to violent methods involving assassinations of kings and dictators or fighting with swords and guns with invaders. These methods did not fit in with Gāndhi’s core principles of ‘truth’ and ‘non-violence’. He had to come up with something different. As his secretary later observed:
“...questions that arise in each age must be solved by the people of that age through their own efforts.”
“The Diary of Mahadev Desai”, p.105
Gāndhi described his idea of non-violent civil disobedience movement (satyāgraha) in the book ‘Hind Swaraj’ (India’s Independence) as follows:
“Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms... When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul-force. For instance, the Government of the day has passed a law which is applicable to me. I do not like it. If by using violence I, force the Government to repeal the law, I am employing what may be termed body force. If I do not obey the law and accept the penalty for its breach, I use soul-force. It involves sacrifice of self...”
M. K. Gāndhi in “Hind Swaraj”, 1909
Gāndhi had firm conviction that in the long run, the non-violent satyāgraha will be effective in achieving independence of India. If majority of Indians decided to not obey the laws, pay taxes, wear locally made clothes, stop going to British schools, serve in the military or government, then the British will be defeated without firing a bullet.
“Passive resistance, that is, soul-force, is matchless. It is superior to the force of arms... a passive resister will say he will not obey a law that is against his
conscience, even though he may be blown to pieces at the mouth of a cannon... even a man weak in body is capable of offering this resistance... Control over the mind is alone necessary, and when that is attained, man is free like the king of the forest and his very glance withers the enemy.”
M. K. Gāndhi in “Hind Swaraj”, 1909
His advice to all contemplating any non-violent civil disobedience movement was:
“Select your purpose...selfless, without any thought of personal pleasure or personal profit and then use selfless means to attain your goal. Do not resort to violence even if it seems at first to promise success; it can only contradict your purpose. Use the means of love and respect even if the result seems far off or uncertain. Then throw yourself heart and soul into the campaign, counting no price too high for working for the welfare of those around you, and every reverse, every defeat will send you deeper into your own deepest resources.”
M. K. Gāndhi
He also said that just being truthful and honest is not enough. All participating in the movement and especially the leaders need:
"Mere goodness is not of much use. Goodness must be joined with knowledge, courage and conviction. One must cultivate the fine discriminating quality which goes with spiritual courage and character."
M. K. Gāndhi
Gāndhi was thrown out of a first class compartment while traveling by train in South Africa because of the color of his skin. It was a very humiliating and traumatic experience. He paced up and down Maritzburg station all night. Some of us would have run away back to India and others would have thought of taking revenge. Gāndhi had trouble explaining ‘how someone can feel good by humiliating or physically hurting someone else’. He decided that night to ‘never give in to force or use force (violence) to achieve an objective’.
Gāndhi’s first assignment of solving the financial dispute in a family was resolved successfully and he decided to go back to India. On the day of the farewell party, Gāndhi read in a newspaper that the Government of South Africa was taking away the right of all Indians to vote for the Legislative Assembly. Everyone at the party requested him to stay and fight for the rights of all Indians in South Africa. He decided to stay, formed a committee, wrote petitions and letters to newspapers, and organized public meetings to fight this injustice. Natal Indian Congress was created in August 1894. This was the start of the first Satyāgraha, though that name was not yet coined at that time.
Gāndhi was inspired and influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau, an American philosopher and Leo Tolstoy, a Russian author. He organized non-violent civil disobedience movement based on their writings, learnt from his own experiences, and modified as he went along.
“If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them and (thereby) enable the state to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceful revolution, if any such is possible.”
Henry David Thoreau
Gāndhi expressed similar idea about dealing with a king or dictator:
“...fewer the subjects who cooperate with him, the less will be his authority.”
M. K. Gāndhi in “Navajivan”, 4 July 1920
In India, Nazi Germany, and many other places, people kept quiet and did not do anything to resist big bullies with swords and guns.
"In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Martin Niemöller
Later he coined the word 'Satyāgraha' meaning ‘a force based on truth’ or ‘forceful insistence on truth’. Satya means truth. Āgraha is insistence or firm request with love. Satyāgraha is much more than ‘civil disobedience’ and ‘nonviolent resistance’ because there is always love and respect for the other party involved. It is practiced to transform the opposition’s thinking by satyāgrahi’s sacrifice and suffering. It is meant to change the enemy without any coercion, force, or violence. It happens from the heart. It requires great amount of courage when you have to love your opponent even when he is using force. The methods used in Satyāgraha are as important as the result we are trying to obtain.
" When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always. What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?”
M. K. Gāndhi
Football (soccer in North America) was a popular game among the poor South Africans and Indians in South Africa. Gāndhi saw that the game brought people together and built team spirit. He helped organize three teams of 'Passive Resisters Soccer Club'. During half time and at the pitch side, he would talk about the non-violent resistance against the unfair laws promoting segregation and unequal treatment of Indians in South Africa. Gāndhi utilized the passion of ordinary people for the sport of soccer to bring them together, educate them about apartheid and generate passion to fight against the government to change the unjust laws. Some old photographs found in Court House Museum in Durban, South Africa shows Gāndhi talking with the players and giving speeches. This was the beginning of sports activities in South Africa without any consideration of racial background of the players.
A war broke out between the English and the Boers (Dutch settlers) in 1899. Gāndhi was practicing law in South Africa and was very loyal to the British Empire. He was against violence so he organized volunteers from among the Indians in South Africa to treat the injured. About 7,000 Indians volunteered to help the British. Gāndhi himself would carry the wounded by stretcher for miles to safety and medical care. It was hoped that after the war, the British would ease their oppression of Indian community. But this did not materialize. Instead of concessions, Indians were asked to give their finger prints like common criminals and carry an identity card with them.
Gāndhi wanted to increase political awareness of Indians in South Africa. In 1903, when he was practicing law in Natal, he started publishing a newspaper ‘Indian Opinion’. Later he moved this activity to Phoenix Āshram, a commune he and his friend had established.
An epidemic of Bubonic Plague hit Johannesburg in 1904. Gāndhi recruited volunteers from the Indian community to help the afflicted. By personal example and sacrifice he inspired ordinary people and professionals of various groups to work together for a common cause and serve the community. Poor laborers appreciated this gesture of sacrifice and putting his own life in danger to help the community. They became his loyal followers and participated in Gāndhi’s future satyāgraha-s.
The first great war of twentieth century was the Russo-Japanese war from 8 February 1904 to 5 September 1905. The Japanese won this war and showed that an Asian country can win against a European nation. This was a boost for Indian morale in their fight for independence.
The Transvaal Government imposed Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance for Indians and the Chinese in 1906. People of these two communities were required to give their fingerprints and carry an identification card with them all the time. Gāndhi talked to members of both communities to come together and oppose this ordinance by non-violent means.
“If man will only realize that, it is unmanly to obey laws that are unjust, no man’s tyranny will enslave him. This is the key to self-rule or home-rule.”
M. K. Gāndhi
On 11 September 1906 (first 9/11), Gāndhi asked all Indians not to obey this law. Under his leadership, Indians were not afraid of breaking an unjust law and going to jail. He was arrested and sent to prison. Gen. Jan Smuts was the Colonial Secretary for Transvaal. He called Gāndhi to his office to make a deal. General would repeal the law if the Indian and Chinese communities registered voluntarily. Gāndhi believed him and agreed to register. Some in the Indian community did not like this and severely beat Gāndhi on his release from jail.
Initially in South Africa, Gāndhi, like a good lawyer, relied on ‘reasoning’ to bring about change in the government. This approach did not work. He wrote:
“...things of fundamental importance to the people are not secured by reason alone but have to be purchased with their suffering. Suffering is the law of human beings; war is the law of the jungle. But suffering is infinitely more powerful than the law of the jungle for converting the opponent and opening his ears, which are otherwise shut, to the voice of reason.”
This approach lead to jail sentences, loss of personal possessions, injury or even death of satyāgrahi-s.
“Our triumph consists in thousands being led to prisons like lambs to slaughter-house...Our triumph consists again in being imprisoned for no wrong whatsoever.”
M. K Gāndhi
The purpose of satyāgraha is to remove the underlying cause of conflict and make the adversary understand opposite party’s complaints and find a mutually beneficial solution. It:
“...is a force that may be used by individuals as well as communities. It may be used as well in political as in domestic affairs. Its universal applicability is a demonstration of its permanence and invincibility. It can be used alike by men, women, and children.”
M. K. Gāndhi
Even General Smuts, Head of Transvaal Government, admired Gāndhi’s stubborn quality of ‘sticking it out till the end’ without retaliation. During his 21 years stay in South Africa, Gandhi organized three satyāgraha-s and was ultimately successful in persuading the Government to give in to the demands of Indians. Gāndhi frustrated even hard nosed General Smuts who said:
“You cannot put twenty-thousand Indians in jail.”
In 1915 when Gāndhi returned to India, he was still evolving and had not yet reached the status of a ‘Mahātmā’ (a great soul). He was quite well known in the educated and political circles of India for his work and achievements in South Africa. But he did not have the first hand experience of vast majority of people living in villages and their problems. 80% of the total population of India lived in villages. Soon after his arrival in Mumbai, Gāndhi met important political leaders of the period. He went to meet with Gopāl Krishna Gokhale, his mentor. Gokhale advised him to tour the country, meet with people and refrain from active involvement in politics for one year. He followed that advice and learnt first hand the poverty of ordinary people living in villages, the exploitation by the British and their cunning, brutal ways of ruling over India. Indians were divided along the lines of caste, religions, and provincial languages. The British took full advantage of these divisions, emphasized the differences, supported minorities to turn against Hindu majority and implemented their well known policy of ‘divide and rule’, pitching one group against another. Gāndhi decided to work on issues related to colonialism, ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British, caste system, oppression of women and untouchables, and exploitation of the poor by educated and rich Indians and the British. The poor were extremely poor and ignorant and the rich had a very luxurious life style. He established an āshram near the city of Amdavad, Gujarat. All the families living in the ashram had to promise to live a simple life, abide by principles of truth and ahimsa, and serve their country.
It is important to understand how a few thousand British were able to rule over 300 million Indians and why independence from the British was crucial for the people of India.
There were many among the Indian community who tried to discourage or stop Gāndhi from doing anything against the British saying the British had brought stability, peace, order, education, progress to Indians in India. These Indians had received British education and were convinced that the British education, governance, discipline, etc., were good for India and Indians. They talked about how the British railways, British organization, English language, manners etc., had ‘civilized’ the Indian nation. They believed everything written or made by the British was the best. They became incapable of thinking independently and question the history books written by the English. These British subjects were very loyal and submissive and were given good paying government jobs. They did all the dirty work of exploiting Indians for the British. The rich and educated Indians were afraid of losing their status or well paying job and did not want to make an effort out of shear self-interest, apathy, and fear to bring about any change in status quo. Gāndhi did not agree with these people. While in South Africa, he had written:
“The present peace is only nominal, for by it we have become emasculated and cowardly.”
M. K. Gāndhi in “Hind Swaraj”, 1909
The educated, rich, and the privileged class wanted status quo because they were afraid of losing what power and wealth they had. Most of them were quite ignorant of the condition of the poor ⎼ the farmers and millworkers. The rich had become rich at the expense of the poor starving masses. Benjamin Franklin had expressed similar idea some time before Gāndhi:
“A people who seek to exchange liberty for security deserve neither.”
Gāndhi found fault with both ⎼ Indians and the British, for the situation in India:
“The English have not taken India, we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them...Who assisted the Company's officers'? Who was tempted at the sight of their silver? Who bought their goods?... He is a true physician who probes the cause of disease, and if you pose as a physician for the disease of India, you will have to find out its true cause.”
M. K. Gāndhi in “Hind Swaraj”, 1909
Young Gāndhi wanted to be a physician before he went on to study law. Like an astute physician he tried to find the real cause behind the malaise afflicting India. His diagnosis was:
“...the English merchants were able to get a footing in India because we encouraged them. When our Princes fought among themselves, they sought the assistance of Company Bahadur. That corporation was versed alike in commerce and war. It was unhampered by questions of morality. Its object was to increase its commerce and to make money. It accepted our assistance, and increased the number of its warehouses. To protect the latter it employed an army which was utilized by us also. Is it not then useless to blame the English for what we did at that time? The Hindus and the Mohammedans were at daggers drawn. This, too, gave the Company its opportunity and thus we created the circumstances that gave the Company its control over India. Hence it is truer to say that we gave India to the English than that India was lost.
M. K. Gāndhi in “Hind Swaraj”, 1909
Will Durant, a very well respected, Pulitzer Prize winning, American historian wrote a book “The Case for India” in 1930. He quoted facts, figures, and statements made by the British about their intentions and how they ruled over India. The British banned his book because it showed that the British ruled over India without any morals or ethics and with brutal force of superior firepower, treachery, bribery, deceit, torture and cold-blooded murders. They imposed exorbitant tax on the farmers and weavers, cut off hands of weavers and artisans, destroyed existing educational system, created divisions among castes, religions, regional languages, and ruled over the country simply to drain the wealth of the ‘Crown Jewel’ that was India.
To really appreciate the effect of British rule in India, we need to examine the condition of India before the British rule. In a speech to British Parliament (2 February 1835), Lord Macaulay, the architect of British education in India, said that:
“I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominant nation.”
Macaulay was not alone in his admiration for the Indian culture and society.
“If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most endowed with all the wealth, power, and beauty that nature can bestow – in some parts a very paradise on earth – I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant – I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life – again I should point to India.”
F. Max Muller, KM, “India, what can it teach us?”, p. 6
“Whatever sphere of the human mind you may select for your special study, whether it be language, or religion, or mythology, or philosophy, whether it be laws or customs, primitive art or primitive science, everywhere, you have to go to India, whether you like it or not, because some of the most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India, and in India only”.
F. Max Muller, KM, “India, what can it teach us?”, p. 15
It is important to read quotes from other sources because misinformation about India is deeply entrenched in the history books and minds of most Western educated people. They are:
“The civilization was not perfunctory, but universal and all-pervading – furnishing the country not only with political systems, but with social and domestic institutions of the most ramified description. The beneficent nature of these institutions as a whole may be judged from their effects on the character of the Hindu race. Perhaps there are no other people in the whole world who show so much in their character the advantageous effects of their own civilization. They are shrewd in business, acute in reasoning, thrifty, religious, sober, charitable, obedient to parents, reverential to old age, amiable, law-abiding, compassionate towards the helpless and patient under suffering.”
J. Seymore Keay, M.P., Banker in India and India Agent, 1883.
“If a good system of agriculture, unrivaled manufacturing skill, a capacity to produce whatever can contribute to convenience or luxury; schools established in every village, for teaching, reading, writing and arithmetic; the general practice of hospitality and charity among each other; and above all, a treatment of the female sex, full of confidence, respect and delicacy, are among the signs which denote a civilized people...”
Colonel Thomas Munro who served in India for 32 years
“The Indian village has thus for centuries remained a bulwark against political disorder and the home of the simple domestic and social virtues. No wonder, therefore, that philosophers and the historians have always dwelt lovingly on this ancient institution which is the natural social unit and the best type of rural life; self-contained, industrious, peace-loving, conservative in the best sense of the word.”
Sir William Wedderburn, Bart.
Positive reports about India or Indians never saw the day light because all media and school text books were written by the biased British or their loyal Indian henchmen.
In India the British had a policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ to drive a wedge between different religious groups, the upper class and the untouchables, those working for the British and others, and people speaking different languages, etc. Religious minorities and Indians who worked for the British were given special privileges. This would antagonize Hindus, who were more than 80% of the population against the minorities. The idea was to create an atmosphere in which no one group can work with others to fight against the real enemy of the nation ⎼ the British.
Before Mr. Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister of Britain, he wrote:
“...Mohammedan leaders have been and are inspired by certain British officials ...sow discord between the Mohammedan and Hindu communities.”
in Will Durant, ‘The Case for India’, p. 137
The British encouraged the formation of Muslim League in 1906. Later, the Muslim League under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah put forward the demand for a separate nation for the Muslims. The British also emphasized different castes and sub-castes to further divide and weaken the society.
Will Durant described the caste system of India as follows:
“The present caste system in India consists of four classes: the real Brahmans - i.e., the British bureaucracy; the real Kshatriyas - i.e., the British army; the real Vaishyas - i.e., the British traders; and the real Shudras and Untouchables - i.e., the Hindu people.”
In “The Case for India”, p. 12, 1930
When he was a private citizen, Ramsay MacDonald wrote two books - ‘The Awakening of India’ and ‘The Governme