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FREEDOM THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE

by

C. R. DAS
President of the 37th
Indian National Congress, Gaya, 1922.







Arka Publishing House,
George Town, Madras.
1922

Imperial Book Depot,
Delhi.

Printed at the Manoranjini Press,
Sowcarpet, Madras.




FREEDOM THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE

_The following is the full text of the Presidential Address of Desabhandhu
C. R. Das at the thirty-seventh session of the Indian National Congress
held at Gaya on 26th December 1922:--_

SISTERS AND BROTHERS,--

As I stand before you to-day, a sense of overwhelming loss overtakes me,
and I can scarce give expression to what is uppermost in the minds of all
and everyone of us. After a memorable battle which he gave to the
Bureaucracy, Mahatma Gandhi has been seized and cast into prison; and we
shall not have his guidance in the proceedings of the Congress this year.
But there is inspiration for all of us in the last stand which he made in
the citadel of the enemy, in the last defiance which he hurled at the
agents of the Bureaucracy. To read a story equal in pathos, in dignity,
and in sublimity you have to go back over two thousand years, when Jesus
of Nazareth, "as one that perverted the people" stood to take his trial
before a foreign tribunal.

"And Jesus stood before the Governor: and the Governor asked him saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayëst.

"And when he has accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered
nothing.

"Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness
against thee?

"And he answered him too never a word; insomuch that the Governor
marvelled greatly."

Mahatma Gandhi took a different course. He admitted that he was guilty,
and he pointed out to the public Prosecutor, that his guilt was greater
than he, the Prosecutor, had alleged; but he maintained that if he had
offended against the law of Bureaucracy in so offending, he had obeyed the
law of God. If I may hazard a guess, the Judge who tried him and who
passed a sentence of imprisonment on him was filled with the same feeling
of marvel as Pontius Pilate had been.

Great in taking decisions, great in executing them, Mahatma Gandhi was
incomparably great in the last stand which he made on behalf of his
country. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest men that the world has ever
seen. The world hath need of him and if he is mocked and jeered at by "the
people of importance," the "people with a stake in the country"--Scribes
and Pharisees of the days of Christ he will be gratefully remembered now
and always by a nation which he led from victory to victory.


"LAW AND ORDER"

Gentlemen, the time is a critical one and it is important to seize upon
the real issue which divides the people from the Bureaucracy and its
Indian allies. During the period of repression which began about this time
last year, it was this issue which pressed itself on our attention. This
policy of repression was supported and in some cases instigated by the
Moderate Leaders who are in the Executive Government. I do not charge
those who supported the Government with dishonesty or want of patriotism.
I say they were led away by the battle cry of Law and Order. And it is
because I believe that there is a fundamental confusion of thought behind
this attitude of mind that I propose to discuss this plea of Law and
Order. "Law and Order" has indeed been the last refuge of Bureaucracies
all over the world.

It has been gravely asserted not only by the Bureaucracy but also by its
apologists, the Moderate Party, that a settled Government is the first
necessity of any people and that the subject has no right to present his
grievances except in a constitutional way, by which I understand in some
way recognised by the constitution. If you cannot actively co-operate in
the maintenance of "the law of the land" they say, "it is your duty as a
responsible citizen to obey it passively. Non-resistance is the least that
the Government is entitled to expect from you."

This is the whole political philosophy of the Bureaucracy--the maintenance
of law and order on the part of the Government, and an attitude of passive
obedience and non-resistance on the part of the subject. But was not that
the political philosophy of every English King from William the Conqueror
to James II? And was not that the political philosophy of the Romanoffs,
the Hohenzollerns and of the Bourbons? And yet freedom has come, where it
has come, by disobedience of the very laws which were proclaimed in the
name of law and order. Where the Government is arbitrary and despotic and
the fundamental rights of the people are not recognised, it is idle to
talk of law and order.

The doctrine has apparently made its way to this country from England. I
shall, therefore, refer to English history to find out the truth about
this doctrine. That history has recorded that most of the despots in
England who exercised arbitrary sway over the people proposed to act for
the good of the people and for the maintenance of law and order. English
absolutism from the Normans down to the Stuarts tried to put itself on a
constitutional basis through the process of this very law and order. The
pathetic speech delivered by Charles I. just before his execution puts the
whole doctrine in a nutshell. "For the people," he said, "truly I desire
their liberty and freedom as much as anybody whatsoever, but I must tell
you that their liberty and freedom consist in having Government, those
laws by which their lives and their goods may be their own. It is not
their having a share in the Government, that is nothing appertaining to
them. A subject and a sovereign are clear different things." The doctrine
of law and order could not be stated with more admirable clearness. But
though the English kings acted constitutionally in the sense that their
acts were in accordance with the letter of law and were covered by
precedents, the subjects always claimed that they were free to assert
their fundamental rights and to wrest them from the king by force or
insurrections. The doctrine of law and order received a rude shock when
King John was obliged to put his signature to the Magna Charta on the 15th
of June, 1215. The 61st clause of the Charter is important for our purpose
securing as it did to the subject the liberty of rebellion as a means for
enforcing the due observance of the Charter by the Crown. Adams, a
celebrated writer of English Constitutional History, says that the
conditional right to rebel is as much at the foundation of the English
Constitution to-day as it was in 1215. But though the doctrine of law and
order had received a rude shock it did not altogether die; for in the
intervening period the Crown claimed and asserted the right to raise
money, not only by indirect taxes but also by forced loans and
benevolences; and frequently exercised large legislative functions not
only by applying what are known as suspending and dispensing powers but
also by issuing proclamations. The Crown claimed, as Hallam says, "not
only a kind of supplemental right of legislation to perfect and carry out
what the spirit of existing laws might require but also a paramount
supremacy, called sometimes the king's absolute or sovereign power which
sanctioned commands beyond the legal prerogative, for the sake of public
safety whenever the Council might judge that to be in hazard." By the time
of the Stuarts the powers claimed by the Crown were recognised by the
courts of law as well founded, and, to quote the words of Adams, "the
forms of law became the engines for the perpetration of judicial murders."
It is necessary to remember that it was the process of law and order that
helped to consolidate the powers of the Crown; for it was again and again
laid down by the Court of Exchequer that the power of taxation was vested
in the Crown, where it was "for the general benefit of the people." As
Adams says, "the Stuarts asserted a legal justification for everything
done by them," and, "on the whole, history was with the king."

But how did the Commons meet this assertion of law and order? They were
strict non-co-operators both within and outside the Parliament. Within the
Parliament they again and again refused to vote supplies unless their
grievances were redressed. The King retorted by raising Customs duties on
his own initiative and the courts of law supported him. The Commons passed
a resolution to the effect that persons paying them "should be reputed
betrayers of the liberties of England and enemies to the same." There was
little doubt that revolution was on the land; and King Charles finding
himself in difficulty gave his Royal Assent to the Bill of Rights on the
17th of June 1626. The Bill of Rights constitutes a triumph for N. C. O's;
for it was by their refusal to have any part or share in the
administration of the country that the Commons compelled the King to
acknowledge their Rights. The events that followed between 1629 and 1640
made the history of England. In spite of the Bill of Rights the King
continued to raise customs duties and Elliot and his friends were put on
their trial. They refused to plead and the result was disastrous for the
arbitrary power of the King. The King levied ship money on the nation. The
chief constables of various places replied that the sherrifs had no
authority to assess or tax any man without the consent of the Parliament.
On the refusal on the part of the people to pay the taxes, their cattle
was destrained and no purchaser could be found for them. The King took
the opinion of the Exchequer Court on the question "when the good and the
safety of the kingdom is concerned and the whole kingdom is in danger."
Mark how the formula has been copied verbatim in the Government of India
Act. "May not the king command all the subjects of his kingdom, to provide
and furnish such a number of ships with men, victuals and munitions and
for such time as he shall think fit for the defence and safeguard of the
Kingdom from such peril"--again the formula "and by law compel the doing
thereof in case of refusal any refractoriness? And whether in such case is
not the King the sole judge, both of the danger and when and how the same
is to be prevented?" The Judges answered in the affirmative and maintained
the answer in the celebrated case which Hampden brought before them.

I desire to emphasise one point and that is that throughout the long and
bitter struggle between the Stuarts and Parliament, the Stuarts acted for
the maintenance of Law and Order, and there is no doubt that both law and
history were on their side. On the eve of the Civil War, the question that
divided the parties was this: could the Crown, in the maintenance of Law
and Order, claim the passive obedience of the subject or was there any
power of resistance in the subject, though that resistance might result in
disorder and in breaches of law? The adherents of the Parliament stood
for power and the majesty of the people, the authority and independence
of Parliament, individual liberty, the right to resist and the right to
compel abdication and deposition of the Crown, in a word, they stood by
them against the coercive power of the State. The adherence of the Crown
stood for indefeasible rights--a right to claim passive obedience and
secure non-resistance on the part of the subject through the process of
Law and Order; in a word, they stood for State coercion and compulsory
co-operation against individual liability.

The issue was decided in favour of Parliament but as it must happen in
every war of arms, the victory for individual liberty was only temporary.
Though the result of Civil War was disastrous from the point of view of
individual liberty, and though it required another revolution--this time,
a non-violent revolution--to put individual liberty on a sure foundation
"the knowledge that the subject had sat in rude judgment on their King,
man to man, speeded the slow emancipation of the mind from the shackles of
custom and ancient reverence."

The Revolution of 1688--a bloodless revolution--secured for England that
Rule of Law which is the only sure foundation for the maintenance of Law
and Order. It completed the work which the Long Parliament had begun and
which the execution of Charles I. had interrupted. But how was the
peaceful revolution of 1688 brought about? By defiance of authority and by
rigid adherence to the principle that it is the inalienable right of the
subject to resist the exercise by the executive of wide, arbitrary or
discretionary powers of constraint.

The principle for which the revolution of 1688 stood was triumphantly
vindicated in the celebrated case of Dr. Sacheverell. In the course of a
sermon which he had preached, he gave expression to the following
sentiment. "The grand security of our Government and the very pillar upon
which it stands is founded upon the steady belief of the subjects'
obligation to an absolute and unconditional obedience to the supreme power
in all things lawful and the utter illegality of resistance on any
pretence whatsoever." This is the doctrine of passive obedience and
non-resistance the doctrine of law and order, which is proclaimed to-day
by every bureaucrat in the country, foreign or domestic and which is
supposed to be the last word on the subjects' duty and Government's
rights. But mark how they solved the problem in England in 1710. The
Commons impeached Dr. Sacheverell giving expression to a view so
destructive of individual liberty and the Lords by a majority of votes
found him guilty. The speeches delivered in the course of the trial are
interesting. I desire to quote a few sentences from some of those
speeches. Sir Joseph Jekyll in the course of his speech said, "that as
the Law is the only measure of the Princes' authority and the peoples'
subjection, so the law derives its being and efficacy from common consent;
and to place it on any other foundation than common consent is to take
away the obligation." This notion of common consent puts both prince and
people under, to observe the laws.

"My Lords, as the doctrine of unlimited non-resistance was impliedly
renounced by the whole nation in the resolution, so diverse Acts of
Parliament afterwards passed expressing their renunciation, ... and,
therefore I shall only say that it can never be supposed that the laws
were made to set up a despotic power to destroy themselves and to warrant
subversion of a constitution of a Government which they were designed to
establish and defend." Mr. Walpole put the whole argument in a nutshell
when he said, "the doctrine of unlimited, unconditional passive obedience
was first invented to support arbitrary and despotic power and was never
promoted or countenanced by any Government that had not designs sometime
or other of making use of it." The argument against the doctrine of Law
and Order could not be put more clearly or forcibly, for his argument
comes to this: "that the doctrine is not an honest one if law and order is
the process by which absolution consolidates its powers and strengthens
its hand." I will make one more quotation and that is from the speech of
Major-Gen. Stanhope. "As to the doctrine itself of absolute
non-resistance, it should seem needless to prove by argument that it is
inconsistent with the law of reason, with the law of Nature and with the
practice of all ages and countries.... And indeed one may appeal to the
practice of all Churches and of all states and of all nations in the
world, how they behaved themselves when they found their civil and
religious constitutions invaded and oppressed by tyranny."

This then is the history of the freedom movement in England. The
conclusion is irresistible that it is not by acquiescence in the doctrine
of Law and Order that the English people have obtained the recognition of
their fundamental rights. It follows from the survey that I have made
firstly that no regulation is law unless it is based on the consent of the
people; secondly where such consent is wanting the people are under no
obligation to obey; thirdly, where such laws are not only not based on the
consent of the people but profess to attack their fundamental rights the
subjects are entitled to compel their withdrawal by force or
insurrections; fourthly, that Law and Order is and has always been a plea
for absolutism and lastly there can be neither law nor order before the
real reign of Law begins.

I have dealt with the question at some length as the question is a vital
one and there are many Moderates who still think that it is the duty of
every loyal subject to assist the Government in the maintenance of Law and
Order. The personal liberty of every Indian to-day depends to a great
extent on the exercise by persons in authority of wide, arbitrary or
discretionary powers. Where such powers are allowed the rule of law is
denied. To find out the extent to which this exploded doctrine of Law and
Order influences the minds of sober and learned men we have only to read
the report of the Committee appointed to examine the repressive laws. You
will find in the report neither the vision of the patriot nor the wisdom
of the statesman; but you will find an excessive worship of that much
advertised but much misunderstood phrase "Law and Order." "Why is
Regulation III of 1818 to be amended and kept on the Statute Book?"
Because for the protection of the frontiers of India and the fulfilment of
the responsibility of the Government of India in relation to Indian States
there must be some enactment to arm the executive with powers to restrict
the movements and activities of certain persons, who though not coming
within the scope of any criminal law have to be put under some measure of
restraint. Why are the Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act 1908 and the
Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act 1911 to be retained on the Statute
Book? For the preservation of law and order? They little think these
learned gentlemen responsible for the report that these Statutes, giving
as they do to the Executive wide, arbitrary and discretionary powers of
constraint, constitute a state of things wherein it is the duty of every
individual to resist and to defy the tyranny of such lawless laws. These
Statutes in themselves constitute a breach of law and order, for, law and
order is the result of the rule of law; and where you deny the existence
of the rule of law, you cannot turn round and say it is your duty as
law-abiding citizens to obey the law.

We have had abundance of this law and order during the last few years of
our National History. The last affront delivered to the nation, was the
promulgation of an executive order under the authority of the Criminal Law
Amendment Act making the legitimate work of Congress Volunteers illegal
and criminal. This was supported by our Moderate friends on the ground
that it is the duty of the law-abiding subject to support the maintenance
of law and order. The doctrine, as I said before, has travelled all the
way from the shores of England. But may I ask--is there one argument
advanced to-day by the Bureaucracy and its friends which was not advanced
with equal clearness by the Stuarts? When the Stuarts arrogated to
themselves a discretionary power of committing to prison all persons who
were on any account obnoxious to the Court, they made the excuse that the
power was necessary for the safety of the nation. And the power was
resisted in England, not because it was never exercised for the safety of
the nation, but because the existence of the power was inconsistent with
the existence, at the same time of individual liberty. When the Stuarts
claimed the right to legislate by proclamation and by the wide exercise of
suspending and dispensing powers they did so on the express ground that
such legislation was necessary for public safety. That right was denied by
the English nation, not because such legislation was not necessary for
public safety but because such right could not co-exist with the
fundamental right of the nation to legislate for itself. Is the power of
the Governor-General to certify that the passage of a Bill is essential
for safety or tranquility or interest of British India, any different from
the power claimed by the Stuarts? There is indeed a striking resemblance
between the power conferred on the Governor-General and the Governors of
the provinces and the powers claimed by the Tudors and the Stuarts. When
the Stuarts claimed the right to raise revenue on their own initiative,
they disclaimed any intention to exercise such right except "when the good
and safety of the kingdom in general is concerned and the whole kingdom is
in danger." That right was resisted in England, not because the revenues
raised by them were not necessary for the good and safety of the kingdom,
but because that right was inconsistent with the fundamental right of the
people to pay such taxes only as were determined by the representatives of
the people for the people. Is the power conferred on the Governor to
certify that the expenditure provided for by a particular demand not
assented to by the legislature is essential to the discharge of his
responsibility for the subjects, any different from the power claimed by
the Stuarts? It should be patent to everybody that we do not live under
any history of England as proclaimed that it is idle to talk of the
maintenance of law and order when large discretionary powers of constraint
are vested in the executive. The manhood of England triumphantly resisted
the pretensions of "Law and Order." If there is manhood in India to-day,
India will successfully resist the same pretensions, advanced by the
Indian Bureaucracy.

I have quoted from English History at length, because the argument
furnished by that history appeals to people who are frightened by popular
movement into raising the cry of "law and order." Follow the lines laid
down in that History. For myself, I oppose the pretensions of "law and
order" not on historical precedent, but on the ground that it is the
inalienable right of every individual and of every nation to stand on
truth and to offer a stubborn resistance to the promulgation of lawless
laws. There was a law in the time of Christ which forbade the people from
eating on the Sabbath, but allowed the priests to profane Sabbath. And how
Christs dealt with the law is narrated in the New Testament.

"At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his
disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ear of corn and to eat.

"But when the Pharisses saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples
do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.

"But he said unto them, have we not read what David did, when he was an
hungered and they that were with him;

"How he entered into the House of God and did eat the shew bread, which
was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but
only for the priests?

"Or have we not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests
in the temple profaned the Sabbath and are blameless?"

The truth is that law and order is for man, and not man for law and order.
The development of nationality is a sacred task and anything which impedes
that task is an obstacle which the very force and power of nationality
must overcome. If therefore you interpose a doctrine to impede the task
why, the doctrine must go. If you have recourse to law and order to
establish and defend the rule of law, then your law and order is entitled
to claim the respect of all law-abiding citizens, but, as soon as you have
recourse to it not to establish and defend the rule of law, but to
destroy and attack it, there is no longer any obligation on us to respect
it, for a Higher Law, the virtual law, the Law of God compels to offer our
stubborn resistance to it. When I find something put forward in the sacred
name of law and order that it is deliberately intended to hinder the
growth, the development, and the self-realization of the nation, I have no
hesitation whatever in proclaiming that such law and order is an outrage
on man and an insult to God.

But though our Moderate friends are often deluded by the battle cry of law
and order, I rejoice when I hear that cry. It means that the Bureaucracy
is in danger and that the Bureaucracy has realised its danger. It is not
without reason that the false issue is raised and the fact a false issue
has been raised fills me with hope and courage. I ask my countrymen to be
patient and to press the charge. Freedom has already advanced when the
alarm of law and order is sounded; that is the history of Bureaucracies
all over the world.

In the meantime it is our duty to keep our ideal steadfast. We must not
forget that we are on the eve of great changes, that world forces are
working all around us and that the battle of freedom has yet to be won.


NATIONALISM: THE IDEAL

What is the ideal which we must set before us? The first and foremost is
the ideal of nationalism. Now what is Nationalism? It is, I conceive, a
process through which a nation expresses itself and finds itself, not in
isolation from other nations but, as part of a great scheme by which, in
seeking its own expression and therefore its own identity, it materially
assists the self-expression and self-realization of other nations as well.
Diversity is as real as Unity. And in order that the unity of the world
may be established it is essential that each nationality should proceed on
its own lines and find fulfilment in self-expression and self-realisation.
The Nationality of which I am speaking must not be confused with the
conception of nationality as it exists in Europe to-day. Nationalism in
Europe is an aggressive nationalism, a selfish nationalism, a commercial
nationalism of gain and loss. The gain of France is a loss of Germany, and
the gain of Germany is a loss of France. Therefore French nationalism is
nurtured on the hatred of Germany and German nationalism is nurtured in
the hatred of France. It is not yet realised that you cannot hurt Germany
without hurting Humanity and in consequence hurting France; and that you
cannot hurt France without hurting Humanity, and in consequence hurting
Germany. That is European nationalism; that is not the nationalism of
which I am speaking to you to-day. I contend that each nationality
constitutes a particular stream of the great unity, but no nation can
fulfil itself until it becomes itself and at the same time realises its
identity with Humanity. The whole problem of nationalism is therefore to
find that stream and to face the destiny. If you find the current and
establish a continuity with the past, then the process of self-expression
has begun, and nothing can stop the growth of nationality.

Throughout the pages of Indian history, I find a great purpose unfolding
itself. Movement after movement has swept over this vast country,
apparently creating hostile forces, but in reality stimulating the
vitality and moulding the life of the people into one great nationality.
If the Aryans and the non-Aryans met, it was for the purpose of making one
people out of them. Brahmanism with its great culture succeeded in binding
the whole of India and was indeed a mighty unifying force. Buddhism with
its protests against Brahmanism served the same great historical purposes
and from Magadha to Taxila was one great Buddhistic empire which succeeded
not only in broadening the basis of Indian unity, but in creating what is
perhaps more important, the greater India beyond the Himalayas and beyond
the seas, so much so that the sacred city where we have met may be
regarded as a place of pilgrimage of millions and millions of people of
Asiatic races. Then came the Mahomedans of divers races, but with one
culture which was their common heritage. For a time it looked as if there
was a disintegrating force, an enemy to the growth of Indian nationalism,
but the Mahomedans made their home in India, and, while they brought a new
outlook and a wonderful vitality to the Indian life, with infinite wisdom,
they did as little as possible to disturb the growth of life in the
villages where India really lives. This new outlook was necessary for
India: and if the two sister streams met, it was only to fulfil themselves
and face the destiny of Indian history. Then came the English with their
alien culture, their foreign methods, delivering a rude shock to this
growing nationality; but the shock has only completed the unifying process
so that the purpose of history is practically fulfilled. The great Indian
nationality is in sight. It already stretches its hands across the
Himalayas not only to Asia but to the whole of the world, not
aggressively, but to demand its recognition, and to offer its
contribution, I desire to emphasise that there is no hostility between the
ideal of nationality and that of world-peace. Nationalism is the process
through which alone will world-peace come. A full and unfettered growth of
nationalism is necessary for world-peace just as a full and unfettered
growth of individuals is necessary for nationality. It is the conception
of aggressive nationality in Europe that stands in the way of peace; but
once the truth is grasped that it is not possible for a nation to inflict
a loss on another nation without at the same time inflicting a loss on
itself, the problem of Humanity is solved. The essential truth of
nationality lies in this, that it is necessary for each nation to develop
itself, express itself and realise itself, so that Humanity itself may
develop itself, express itself and realise itself. It is my belief that
this truth of nationality will endure, although, for the moment, unmindful
of the real issue, the nations are fighting amongst themselves and, if I
am not mistaken, it is the very instinct of selfishness and
self-preservation which will ultimately solve the problem, not the narrow
and the mistaken selfishness of the present, but a selfishness
universalized by intellect and transfigured by spirit, a selfishness that
will bring home to the nations of the world that in the efforts to put
down their neighbours lies their own ruin and suppression.

We have, therefore, to foster the spirit of Nationality. True development
of the Indian nation must necessarily lie in the path of Swaraj. A
question has often been asked as to what is Swaraj. Swaraj is indefinable
and is not to be confused with any particular system of Government. There
is also the difference in the world between Swarajya and Samrajya. Swaraj
is the natural expression of the national mind. The full outward
expression of that mind covers, and must necessarily cover, the whole
life history of a nation. Yet it is true that Swaraj begins when the true
development of a nation begins, because, as I have said, Swaraj is the
expression of the national mind.

The question of nationalism, therefore, looked at from another point of
view, is the same question as that of Swaraj. The question of all
questions in India to-day is the attainment of Swaraj.


NON-VIOLENT NON-CO-OPERATION

I now come to the question of method. I have to repeat that it has been
proved beyond any doubt that the method of non-violent non-co-operation is
the only method which we must follow to secure a system of Government
which may in reality be the foundation of Swaraj. It is hardly necessary
to discuss the philosophy of non-co-operation. I shall simply state the
different view-points from which this question may be discussed. From the
national point of view the method of non-co-operation means the attempt of
the nation to concentrate upon its own energy and to stand on its own
strength. From the ethical point of view, non-co-operation means the
method of self-purification, the withdrawal from that which is injurious
to the development of the nation, and therefore to the good of humanity.
From the spiritual point of view Swaraj means that isolation which in the
language of Sadhana is called protyahar--that withdrawal from the forces
which are foreign to our nature--an isolation and withdrawal which is
necessary in order to bring out from our hidden depths the soul of the
nation in all her glory. I do not desire to labour the point, but from
every conceivable point of view, the method of non-violent
non-co-operation must be regarded as the true method of "following in the
path of Swaraj."


FORCE AND VIOLENCE

Doubt has, however, been expressed in some quarters about the soundness of
the principle of non-violence. I cannot refuse to acknowledge that there
is a body of Indian opinion within the country as well as outside
according to which non-violence is an ideal abstraction incapable of
realisation, and that the only way in which Swaraj can ever be attained is
by the application of force and violence. I do not for a moment question
the sacrifice and patriotism of those who hold this view. I know that some
of them have suffered for the cause which they believe to be true. But may
I be permitted to point out that apart from any question of principle,
history has proved over and over again the utter futility of revolutions
brought about by force and violence. I am one of those who hold to
non-violence on principle. But let us consider the question of expediency.
Is it possible to attain Swaraj by violent means? The answer which
history gives is an emphatic "No". Take all the formidable revolutions of
the world.


THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The history of the French Revolution is the history of a struggle at the
first instance between the Crown and the nobility on one side and the
Representative Assemblies with armed Paris on the other. Both took to
violence, one to the bayonet and the other to the pike. The pike succeeded
because the bayonet was held with uncertain hands. And then, as is usual
after the victory gained with violence, the popular party was sharply
divided between two sections--the Girondins and the Jacobins. Again there
was an appeal to force. The Girondins asked the provinces to rise in arms,
the Jacobins asked Paris to rise in arms. Paris being nearer and stronger,
the Girondins were defeated and sent to the guillotine--the Jacobins
seized the power. But it did not take them many months to fall out among
themselves. First Robespierre and Danton sent Hebert and Chanmette to the
guillotine, then Robespierre sent Danton to the guillotine. Robespierre in
his turn was guillotined by Collot, Billand and Tallien. These men again
were banished by others to the far-off South America. If there was a
slight difference of views between the Girondins and the Jacobins there
was practically none between the different sections of the Jacobins. The
whole question was which of the various sections was to rule France. Force
gave way to stronger force and at last under Napoleon, France experienced
a despotism similar to if not worse than the despotism of Louis XIV. As
regards liberty there was not more liberty in France under the terrible
Committee of Public Safety, and Napoleon than under Louis XIV or Louis XV.
The law of Prairial was certainly much worse than Lettres de Cachet. And
the people--? On the Pont au Change, on the Place de Greve, in long sheds,
Mercier, at the end of the Revolution, saw working men at their repast.
One's allotment of daily bread had sunk to an ounce and a half. "Plates
containing each three grilled herrings, sprinkled with shorn onions,
wetted with a little vinegar; to this add some morsel of boiled prunes,
and lentils swimming in a clear sauce; at these frogal tables I have seen
them ranged by the hundred; consuming, without bread, their scant messes,
far too moderate for the keenness of their appetite, and the extent of
their stomach." "Seine water," remarks Carlyle grimly--"rushing plenteous
by, will supply the deficiency." One cannot forget the exclamation of
Carlyle in this connection:

"O Man of Toil! Thy struggling and thy daring, these six long years of
insurrection and tribulation, thou hast profited nothing by it, then? Thou
consumest thy herring and water, in the blessed gold-red of evening. O why
was the Earth so beautiful, becrimsoned with dawn and twilight, if man's
dealings with man were to make it a vale of scarcity, of tears, not even
soft tears? Destroying of Bastilles, discomfiting of Brunswicks, fronting
of Principalities and Powers, of Earth and Tophet, all that thou hast
dared and endured,--it was for a Republic of the Saloons? Aristocracy of
Feudal Parchment has passed away with a mighty rushing; and now, by a
natural course, we arrive at Aristocracy of the Moneybag. It is the course
through which all European Societies are, at this hour, travelling.
Apparently a still baser sort of Aristocracy? An infinitely baser the
basest yet known."

Even to-day France is plodding her weary way towards Swaraj.


REVOLUTIONS IN ENGLAND

The history of England proves the same truth. The revolution of the Barons
in 1215 took away or purported to take away the power from the King but
the power fell into the hands of the aristocracy, and democracy did not
share in the triumph of the Barons. Thus the great Charter, as a great
historian has observed, was thus not a Charter of Liberty but of
liberties. The revolution in the reign of Charles I. produced a new
dictator who suppressed freedom. The work which the Long Parliament began
was interrupted by the Revolution which followed the execution of the
King, and it required another Revolution, this time a bloodless
Revolution, to complete the work. I deny that the work is yet complete.
The continual class war and the obvious economic injustice do not proclaim
that freedom which England claimed for herself. I maintain that no people
has yet succeeded in winning freedom by force and violence. The truth is
that love of power is a formidable factor to be reckoned with, and those
who secure that power by violence will retain that power by violence. The
use of violence degenerates them who use it and it is not easy for them,
having seized the power, to surrender it. And they find it easier to carry
on the work of their predecessor, retaining their power in their own
hands. Non-violence does not carry with it that degeneration which is
inherent in the use of violence.


REVOLUTIONS IN ITALY AND RUSSIA

The Revolutions in Italy and Russia illustrate the same principle. The
Italian Revolution inspired by Mazzini and worked out by Garibaldi and
Cavour, did not result in the attainment of Swaraj. The freedom of Italy
is yet in the making, and the men and women of Italy are to-day looking
forward to another revolution. If it results in a war of violence it will
again defeat its purpose, but only to allow Freedom and Non-violence to
triumph in the end.

The recent revolution in Russia is a very interesting study. The shape
which it has now assumed is due to the attempt to force Marxian doctrines
and dogmas on the unwilling genius of Russia. Violence will again fail. If
I have read the situation accurately I expect a counter-revolution. The
soul of Russia must struggle to free herself from the socialism of Carl
Marx. It may be an independent movement or it may be that the present
movement contains within itself the power of working out that freedom. In
the meantime the fate of Russia is trembling in the balance.


NON-VIOLENT NON-CO-OPERATION: THE ONLY METHOD

I believe in revolutions, but I repeat, violence defeats freedom. The
revolution of non-violence is slower but surer. Step by step the soul of
the nation emerges and step by step the nation marches on in the path of
Swaraj. The only method by which Freedom can be attained in India at any
rate, is the method of non-violent non-co-operation. Those who believe
this method to be impracticable would do well to ponder over the Akali
movement. When I saw the injuries of the wounded at Amritsar and heard
from their lips that not one of them had even wished to meet violence by
violence, in spite of such grave provocation, I said to myself, "here was
the triumph of non-violence."

Non-violence is not an idle dream. It was not in vain that Mahatma
declared, "put up thy sword into the sheath." Let those who are "of the
truth" hear his voice as those others heard a mightier voice two thousand
years ago.

The attempt of the Indian nation to attain Swaraj by this method was,
however, met by severe repression. The time has come for us to estimate
our success as well as our failure. So far as repression is concerned, it
is easy to answer the question. I have not the least doubt in my mind that
the nation has triumphed over the repression which was started and
continued to kill the soul of the movement.


SUCCESS OF NON-VIOLENT NON-CO-OPERATION

But the question, which agitates most minds, is as to whether we have
succeeded in our work of non-violent non-co-operation. There is, I am
sorry to say, a great deal of confusion of thought behind the question. It
is assumed that a movement must either succeed or fail, whereas the truth
is that human movements, I am speaking of genuine movements, neither
altogether succeed nor altogether fail. Every genuine movement proceeds
from an ideal, and the ideal is always higher than the achievement. Take
the French revolution. Was it a success? Was it a failure? To predicate
either would be a gross historical blunder. Was the non-co-operation
movement in India a success? Yes, a mighty success when we think of the
desire for Swaraj which it has succeeded in awakening throughout the
length and breadth of this vast country. It is a great success when we
think of the practical result of such awakening, in the money which the
nation contributed, in the enrolment of members of the Indian National
Congress and in the boycott of foreign cloth. I go further and say that
the practical achievement also consists of the loss of prestige suffered
by Educational Institutions and the Courts of Law and the Reformed
Councils throughout the country. If they are still resorted to, it is
because of the weakness of our countrymen. The country has already
expressed its strong desire to end these institutions. Yet it must be
admitted that from another point of view, when we assess the measure of
our success in the spirit of Arithmetic, we are face to face with "the
petty done" and "the undone vast." There is much which remains to be
accomplished. Non-violence has to be more firmly established. The work of
non-co-operation has to be strengthened, and the field of non-co-operation
has to be extended. We must be firm but reasonable. The spirit of
sacrifice has got to be further strengthened, and we must proceed with the
work of destruction and creation more vigorously than before I say to our
critics. I admit we have failed in many directions, but will you also not
admit our success where we have succeeded?


CHARGE OF CORRUPTING THE YOUTHS

We have been denounced by the Moderates for having corrupted the youth of
this country. It has been asserted that we have taught sons to disobey
their fathers, the pupils, their teachers and the subjects the Government.
We plead guilty to the charge and we rely on every spiritual movement as
argument in our support. Christ himself was tried for having corrupted the
people, and the answers which he gave in anticipation is as emphatic as it
is instructive.

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send
peace, but a sword."

"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."


CHARGE OF HYPOCRISY

It has been said that with love on our lips we have been preaching the
Gospel of hatred. Never was such a vile slander uttered. It may be we have
failed to love, it may be we lost ourselves some of us in hatred, but that
only shows our weakness and imperfectness. Judge us by our ideals, not by
what we have achieved. Wherever we have fallen short of our ideal, put it
down to our weakness. On behalf of the Indian National Congress I deny the
charge of hypocrisy. To those who are anxious to point out our defects, I
say with all humility. "My friends, if you are weak, come and join us and
make us stronger. If the Leaders are worthless, come and join us to lead,
and the leaders will stand aside. If you do not believe in the ideal what
is the use of always criticising us in the light of that ideal?" We need
no critic to tell us how far we have fallen short of that ideal. Evidence
of weakness has met me from every direction which I have looked. But in
spite of our defects of human weakness, of human imperfection I feel bold
enough to say that our victory is assured and that the Bureaucracy knows
that our victory is assured.


HOW TO APPLY THE NON-VIOLENT N. C. O. METHOD

But though the method of non-violent non-co-operation is sure and certain,
we have now to consider how best to apply that method to the existing
circumstances of the country. I do not agree with those who think that the
spirit of the nation is so dead that non-violent non-co-operation is no
longer possible. I have given the matter my earnest thought and I desire
to make it perfectly clear that there is absolutely no reason for
entertaining any feelings of doubt or despair. The outward appearance of
the people to-day is somewhat deceptive. They appear to be in a tired
condition and a sense of fatigue has partially overcome them. But beneath
all this exterior of quietude, the pulse of the nation beats as strongly
as before and as hopefully as at the beginning of this movement. We have
to consolidate the strength of the nation. We have to devise a plan of
work which will stimulate their energy, so that we can accelerate our
journey towards Swaraj. I shall place before you one by one the items of
work which in my opinion the Indian National Congress should prescribe for
the nation.


DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

It should commence its work for the year, by a clearer declaration of
rights of the different communities in India under the Swaraj Government.
So far as the Hindus and Mahomedans are concerned, there should be a clear
and emphatic confirmation of what is known as the Lucknow pact and along
with that there should be an emphatic insistence of each others' rights.
And each should be prepared to undergo some kind of sacrifice in favour of
the other. Let me give an instant to make my meaning clear. Every devout
Mussalman objects to any music in front of a mosque and every devout and
orthodox Hindu objects to cows being slaughtered. May not the Hindus and
Mussalmans of India enter into a solemn pact so that there may not be any
music before any mosque and that no cows may he slaughtered? Other
instances may be quoted. There should be a scheme of a series of
sacrifices to be suffered by each community so that they may advance
shoulder to shoulder in the path of Swaraj. As regards the other
communities such as Sikhs, Christians and Parsees, the Hindus and
Mohamedans who constitute the bulk of the people should be prepared to
give them even more than their proportional share in the Swaraj
administration, I suggest that the Congress should bring about real
agreement between all these communities, by which the rights of every
minority should be clearly recognised in order to remove all doubts which
may arise and all apprehensions which probably exist. I need hardly add
that I include among Christians not only pure Indians but also
Anglo-Indians and other people who have chosen to make India their home.
Such an agreement as I have indicated was always necessary but such an
agreement is specially necessary in view of the work which faces us
to-day.


FOREIGN PROPAGANDA

I further think that the policy of exclusiveness which we have been
following during the last two years be now abandoned. There is in every
country a number of people who are selfless followers of liberty and who
desire to see every country free. We can no longer afford to lose their
sympathy and co-operation. In my opinion there should be established
Congress agencies in America and in every European country. We must keep
ourselves in touch with the world's movements and be in constant
communication with the lovers of freedom all over the world.


THE GREAT ASIATIC FEDERATION

Even more important than this is the participation of India in the great
Asiatic Federation which I see in the course of formation. I have hardly
any doubt that the Pan-Islamic movement which was started on a somewhat
narrow basis has given way or is about to give way to the great Federation
of all Asiatic people. It is the union of the oppressed nationalities of
Asia. Is India to remain outside the union? I admit that our freedom must
be won by ourselves, but such a bond of friendship and love of sympathy
and co-operation between India and the rest of Asia, nay between India and
all the liberty-loving people of the world is destined to bring about
World Peace. World Peace, to my mind, means the freedom of every
nationality and I go further and say that no nation in the face of the
earth can be really free when other nations are in bondage. The policy
which we have hitherto pursued, was absolutely necessary for the
concentration of the work which we took upon ourselves to perform and I
agreed to that policy whole-heartedly. The hope of the attainment of
Swaraj or a substantial basis of Swaraj in the course of the year made
such concentration absolutely necessary. To-day that very work demands
broader sympathy and a wider outlook.


DEMANDS FOR PUNJAB WRONGS, KHILAFAT AND SWARAJ

We are on the eve of great changes, and the world-forces are upon us. The
victory of Kemal Pasha has broken the bonds of Asia and she is all astir
with life. It is Prometheus who spoke within her, and 'her thoughts' are
like the many forests of vale through which the might of whirlwind and
rain had passed. The stir within every European country for the real
freedom of the people has also worked a marvellous transformation in the
mentality of subject races. That which was more or less a matter of Ideal
has now come within the range of practical politics. The Indian nation has
found out its bearings. At such a time as this it is necessary for us to
reconsider and to restate our demands. Our demands regarding the Punjab
wrongs have got to be restated because many of them have already been
realised. Our demands regarding Khilafat have got to be reconsidered,
because some of them have already been worked out and we hope that before
Lausanne Commission has finished their work very little of it will remain
unrealised. Our demand for Swaraj must now be presented in a more
practical shape. The Congress should frame a clear scheme of what we mean
by a system of government which may serve as a real foundation for
Swaraj. Hitherto, we have not defined any such system of Government. We
have not done so advisedly as it was on the psychological aspect of Swaraj
that we concentrated our attention. But circumstances to-day have changed.
The desire is making us impatient. It is therefore the duty of the
Congress to place before the Country a clear scheme of the system of
Government which we demand. Swaraj, as I have said, is indefinable and is
not to be confused with any particular system of Government. Yet the
national mind must express itself, and although the full outward
expression of Swaraj covers the whole life history of a nation, the
formulation of such a demand cannot be any further delayed.


SCHEME OF A GOVERNMENT

It is hardly within the province of this address to deal with any detail
scheme of any such Government. I cannot, however, allow this opportunity
to pass without giving you an expression of my opinion as to the character
of that system of Government. No system of Government which is not for the
people and by the people can even be regarded as the true foundation of
Swaraj. I am firmly convinced that a parliamentary Government is not a
government by the people and for the people. Many of us believe that the
middle class must win Swaraj for the masses. I do not believe in the
possibility of any class movement being ever converted into a movement
for Swaraj. If to-day the British Parliament grants Provincial autonomy in
the provinces with responsibility in the Central Government, I for one,
will protest against, because that will inevitably lead to the
concentration of the power in the hands of the middle class. I do not
believe that the middle class will then part with their power. How will it
profit India, if in place of the White Bureaucracy that now rules over
her, there is substituted an Indian Bureaucracy of the middle classes.
Bureaucracy is Bureaucracy and I believe that the very idea of Swaraj is
inconsistent with the existence of a Bureaucracy. My ideal of Swaraj will
never be satisfied unless the people co-operate with us in its attainment.
Any other attempt will inevitably lead to what European Socialists call
the "Bourgeoise" Government. In France and in other European countries it
is the middle class who fought the battle of freedom and the result is
that power is still in the hands of this class. Having usurped the power
they are unwilling to face with it. If to-day the whole Europe is engaged
in a battle of real freedom it is because the nations of Europe are
gathering their strength to wrest this power from the hands of the middle
classes. I desire to avoid repetition of that chapter of European history.
It is for India to show the light to the world, Swaraj by Non-violence and
Swaraj by the people.

To me the organisation of village life and the practical autonomy of small
local centres are more important than either provincial autonomy or
central responsibility; and if the choice lay between the two, I would
unhesitatingly accept the autonomy of the local centres. I must not be
understood as implying that the village centres will he disconnected
units. They must be held together by a system of co-operation and
integration. For the present, there must be power in the hands of the
provincial and the Indian Government; but the ideal should be accepted
once for all, that the proper function of the central authority, whether
in the provincial or in the Indian Government is to advise, having a
residuary power of control only in case of need and to be exercised under
proper safeguard. I maintain that real Swaraj can only be attained by
vesting the power of Government in these local centres, and I suggest that
the Congress should appoint a Committee to draw up a scheme of Government
which would be acceptable to the Nation.

The most advanced thought of Europe is turning from the false
individualism on which European culture and institutions are based to what
I know to be the ideal of the ancient village organisation of India.
According to this thought modern democracy of the ballot box and large
crowds has failed, but real democracy has not yet been tried. What is the
real democracy of modern European thought?

The foundation of real democracy must be laid in small centres--not
gradual decentralisation which implies a previous centralisation--but a
gradual integration of the practically autonomous small centres into one
living harmonious whole. What is wanted is a human state, not a mechanical
contrivance. We want the growth of institutions and organisations which
are really dynamic in their nature and not the mere static stability of a
centralised state.

This strain of European thought found some expression in the philosophy of
Hegel according to whom "human institutions belong to the region not of
inert externality, but of mind and purpose and are therefore dynamic and
self-developing."

Modern European thought has made it clear that from the individual to the
"unified state," it is one continuous process of real and natural growth.
Sovereignity (Swaraj) is a relative notion. "The individual is sovereign
over himself"--attains his Swaraj "in so far as he can develop control and
unify his manifold nature." From the individual we come to the integrated
neighbourhood which is the real foundation of the unified State, which
again in its turn gives us the true ideal of the world-state. This
integrated neighbourhood is a great deal more than the mere physical
contiguity of the people who live in the neighbourhood area. It requires
the coalition of what has been called "neighbourhood consciousness." In
other words, the question is "how can the force generated by the
neighbourhood life become part of our whole critic and national life?" It
is this question which now democracy takes upon itself to solve.

The process prescribed is the generation of the collective will. The
democracy which obtains to-day rests on an attempt of securing a common
will by a process of addition. This really means a war of wills, the issue
being left to be decided by a mere superiority of numbers. New democracy
discountenances this process of addition, and insists on the discovery of
detailed means and methods by which the different wills of a neighbourhood
entity may grow into one common collective will. This process is not a
process addition but of integration and the consciousness of the
neighbourhood thus awakened must express the common collective will of
that neighbourhood entity. The collective will of several neighbourhood
centres, must by a similar process of integration be allowed to evolve the
Common collective will of the whole nation. It is only thus, by a similar
process of integration that any league of nations may be real and the
vision of a world state may be realized. The whole of this philosophy is
based on the idea of the evolution of the individual. The idea is to
"release the powers of the individual." Ordinary notions of state have
little to do with true individualism, (_i. e._) with the individual as
consciously responsible for the life from which he draws his breath and to
which he contributes his all. According to this school of thought
'Representative government, party organisation, majority rule, with all
their excrescences in their stead must appear the organisation of
non-partisan groups for the begetting, the bringing into being of common
ideas, a common purpose and the collective will.' This means the true
development and extension of the individual self. The institutions that
exist to-day have made machines of men. No Government will be successful,
no true Government is possible which does not rest on the individual. "Up
to the present moment," says the gifted authoress of the New State, "we
have never seen the individual yet. The search for him has been the whole
long striving of our Anglo-Saxon history. We sought to improve the method
of representation and failed to find him. We sought to reach him by
extending the suffrage to every man and then to every woman and yet he
eludes us. Direct Government now seeks the individual." In another place
the same writer says; "Thus group organisation releases us from the
domination of mere numbers, thus democracy transcends time and space. It
can never be understood except as a spiritual force. Majority rule rests
on numbers; democracy rests on the well-grounded assumption that society
is not a collection of units, but a network of human relations. Democracy
is not worked out at the polling booths, it is the bringing forth of a
genuine collective will, one to which every single being must contribute
the whole of his complex life, as one which every single being must
express the whole of it at one point. Thus the essence of democracy is
creating. The technique of democracy is group organization." According to
this school of thought no living state is possible without the development
and the extension of the individual self. The State itself is no static
unit. Nor is it an arbitrary creation. "It is a process; a continual
self-modification to express its different stages of growth in which each
and all must be so flexible that continual change of form is twin fellow
of continual growth." This can only be realised when there is a clear
perception that individuals and groups and the nation stand in no
antithesis. The integration of all these into one conscious whole means
and must necessarily mean the integration of the wills of individuals into
the common and collective will of the entire nation.

The general trend of European thought has not accepted the ideal of this
new democracy. But the present problems which are agitating Europe seem
to offer no other solution. I have very little doubt that this ideal which
appears to many practical politicians as impracticable will be accepted as
the real ideal at no distant future. "There is little yet," I again quote
from the same author, "that is practical in practical politics."

The fact is that all the progressive movements in Europe have suffered
because of the want of a really spiritual basis and it is refreshing to
find that this writer has seized upon it. So to those who think that the
neighbourhood group is puny to serve as a real foundation of
self-Government, she says, "is our daily life profane and only so far as
we rise out of it do we approach the sacred life? Then no wonder politics
are what they have become. But this is not the creed of men to-day; we
believe in the sacredness of life; we believe that divinity is for ever
incarnating in humanity, and so we believe in Humanity and the common
daily life of all men."

There is thus a great deal of correspondence between this view of life and
the view which I have been endeavouring to place before my countrymen for
the last 15 years. For the truth of all truths, is that the outer Leela of
God reveals itself in history. Individual Society, Nation, and Humanity
are the different aspects of that very Leela and no scheme of
self-Government which is practically true and which is really practical
can be based on any other philosophy of life. It is the realisation of
this truth which is the supreme necessity of the hour. This is the soul of
Indian thought, and this is the ideal towards which the recent thought of
Europe is slowly, but surely, advancing.

To frame such a scheme of Government regard must therefore be had:--

1. To the formation of local centres more or less on the lines of the
ancient village system of India.

2. The growth of larger and larger groups out of the integration of these
village centres.

3. The unifying state should be the result of minor growth.

4. The village centres and the larger groups must be practically
autonomous.

5. The residuary power of control must remain in the Central Government,
but the exercise of such power should be exceptional and for that purpose
proper safeguards should be provided, so that the practical autonomy of
the local centres may be maintained and at the same time the growth of the
Central Government into a really unifying state may be possible. The
ordinary work of such Central Government should be mainly advisory.

As a necessary corollary to what I have ventured to suggest as the form of
Government which we should accept, I think that the work of organising
these local centres should be forthwith commenced. The modern
sub-divisions or even smaller units may be conveniently taken as the local
centres, and larger centres may be conveniently formed. Once we have our
local areas--"the neighbourhood group"--we should foster the habit of
corporate thinking, and leave all local problems to be worked out by them.
There is no reason why we should not start the Government by these local
centres to-day. They would depend for their authority on the voluntary
co-operation of the people, and voluntary co-operation is much better than
the compulsory co-operation which is at the bottom of the Bureaucratic
rule in India. This is not the place to elaborate the scheme which I have
in mind; but I think that it is essentially necessary to appoint a
Committee with power, not only to draw up a scheme of Government but to
suggest means by which the scheme can be put in operation at once.


BOYCOTT OF COUNCILS

The next item of work to which I desire to refer is the Boycott of
Councils. Unhappily the question has become part of the controversy of
Change or No change. To my mind the whole controversy proceeds on a
somewhat erroneous assumption. The question is not so much as to whether
there should be a change in the programme of the work; the real question
is, whether it is not necessary now to change the direction of our
activities in certain respects for the success of the very movement which
we hold so dear. Let me illustrate what I mean. Take the Bardoli
Resolution. In the matter of boycott of schools and colleges the Bardoli
Resolution alters the direction of our activity, which does not in any way
involve the abandonment of the boycott. During the Swaraj year the idea
was to bring the students out of Government schools and colleges, and if
National schools were started they were regarded as concessions to the
"weakness" of those students. The idea was, to quote the words of Mahatma
Gandhi, "political" and not "educational." Under the Bardoli Resolution,
however, it is the establishment of schools and colleges which must be the
main activity of national education. The idea is "educational" and if it
still be the desire of the Congress to bring students out of Government
schools and colleges, it is by offering them educational advantages. Here
the boycott of schools and colleges is still upheld, but the direction of
our activities is changed. In fact, such changes must occur in every
revolution, violent or non-violent, as it is only by such changes that the
ideal is truly served.

In the next place, we must keep in view the fact that according to the
unanimous opinion of the members of the Enquiry Committee, Civil
Disobedience on a large scale is out of question because the people are
not prepared for it.

I confess that I am not in favour of the restrictions which have been put
upon the practical adoption of any system of civil disobedience, and in my
opinion, the Congress should abolish those restrictions. I have not yet
been able to understand why to enable a people to civilly disobey
particular laws, it should be necessary that at least 80 per cent. of them
should be clad in pure "Khadi". I am not much in favour of general Mass
Civil Disobedience. To my mind, the idea is impracticable. But the
disobedience of particular laws which are eminently unlawful, laws which
are the creatures of "Law and Order," laws which are like an outrage on
humanity and an insult to God ... disobedience of such laws is within the
range of practical politics, and, in my opinion, every attempt should be
made to offer disobedience to such laws. It is only by standing on truth
that the cause of Swaraj may prevail. When we submit to such laws, we
abandon the plank of truth. What hope is there for a nation so dead to the
sense of truth as not to rebel against lawless laws, against regulations
which insult their national being and hamper their national development?

I am of opinion that the question of the boycott of Councils which is
agitating the country so much must be considered and decided in the light
of the circumstances I have just mentioned. There is no opposition in idea
between such civil disobedience as I have mentioned and the entry into the
Councils for the purpose and with the avowed object of either ending or
mending them. I am not against the boycott of Councils. I am simply of
opinion that the system of the Reformed Councils with their steel frame of
the Indian Civil Service covered over by a dyarchy of deadlocks and
departments is absolutely unsuitable to the nature and genius of the
Indian nation. It is an attempt of the British Parliament to force a
foreign system upon the Indian people. India has unhesitatingly refused to
recognise this foreign system as real foundation for Swaraj. With me, as I
have often said, it is not a question of more or less; I am always
prepared to sacrifice much for a real basis of Swaraj, nor do I attach any
importance to the question as to whether the attainment of full and
complete independence will be a matter of 7 years or 10 years or 20 years.
A few years is nothing in the life history of a nation. But I maintain
India cannot accept a system such as this as a foundation of Swaraj. These
Councils must therefore be either mended or ended. Hitherto we have been
boycotting the Councils from outside. We have succeeded in doing much. The
prestige of the councils is diminished and the country knows that the
people who adorn those chambers are not the true representatives of the
people. But though we have succeeded in doing much, these Councils are
still there. It shall be the duty of the Congress to boycott the councils
more effectively from within. Reformed councils are really a mask which
the Bureaucracy has put on. I conceive it to be our clear duty to tear
this mask from off their face. The very idea of boycott implies, to my
mind, something more than mere withdrawal. The boycott of foreign goods
means that such steps must be taken that these councils may not be there
to impede the progress of Swaraj. The only successful boycott of these
councils is either to mend them in a manner suitable to the attainment of
Swaraj or to end them completely. That is the way in which I advise the
nation to boycott the councils.

A great deal of discussion has taken place in the country as to whether
the boycott of councils in the sense in which I mean it is within the
principle of non-violent non-co-operation. I am emphatically of opinion
that it does not offend against any principle of non-co-operation which
has been adopted and applied by the Indian National Congress. I am not
dealing with the logical, or philosophical abstractions. I am only dealing
with that which the Congress has adopted and called non-co-operation. In
the first place, may I point out that we have not up to now
non-co-operated with the Bureaucracy? We have been merely preparing the
people of this country to offer non-co-operation. Let me quote the Nagpur
Resolution on non-co-operation in support of my proposition. I am quoting
only the portions which are relevant to this point.

Whereas in the opinion of the Congress the existing Government of India
has forfeited the confidence of the country, and, whereas the people of
India are now determined to establish Swaraj ... now this Congress ...
declares that the entire or any part or parts of the scheme of non-violent
non-co-operation with the renunciation of voluntary association with the
present Government at one end and the refusal to pay taxes at the other,
should be put into force at a time to be determined by either the Indian
National Congress, or the All-India Congress Committee and that "in the
meanwhile to prepare the country for it, effective steps should continue
to be taken in that behalf."

Then follows the effective steps such as, national education, boycott of
law courts, boycott of foreign goods, etc., which must be taken "in the
meanwhile." It is clear therefore that the Congress has not yet advocated
the application of non-co-operation but has merely recommended certain
steps to be taken so that at some time or other to be determined by the
Congress, the Indian Nation may offer non-co-operation. In the second
place, let us judge of the character of this principle not by thinking of
any logical idea or philosophical abstraction but by gathering principle
from the work and the activity which the Congress has enjoined. When I
survey the work it is clear to my mind that the Congress was engaged in a
two-fold activity. In everything that the Congress has commanded there is
an aspect of destruction as there is an aspect of creation. The boycott of
Lawyers and Law Courts means the destruction of existing legal
institutions; and the formation of Panchayats means the creation of
agencies through which justice may be administered. The boycott of schools
and colleges means the destruction of the department of Education; and the
establishment of National schools and colleges means the creation of
educational institutions for the Youth of India. The boycott of foreign
goods followed as it was by the burning of foreign goods covering into the
country. But, on the other hand, the spinning wheel and looms means
creative activity in supplying the people with indigenous cloth. Judged by
this principle what is wrong about the desire either to convert the
Councils into institutions which may lead us to Swaraj, or to destroy them
altogether? The same twofold aspect of creation and destruction is to be
found in the boycott of Councils in the way I want them to be boycotted.

It has also been suggested that it offends against the morality and
spirituality of this movement. Let us take the two points separately. As
regards morality apart from the ethics of Non-co-operation, it has been
urged that entering the Councils for the purpose of ending the Councils is
unfair and dishonest. The argument implies that the Reformed Councils
belong entirely to the Bureaucracy, and the idea is that we should not
enter into other peoples' property with a view to injure it. To my mind,
the argument is based on a misconception of facts. Inadequate as the
Reforms undoubtedly are, I do not for a moment admit that the Reform Act
was a gift of the British Parliament. It was, to quote the words of
Mahatma Gandhi, "a concession to popular agitation." The fact is that it
is the resultant of two contending forces, the desire of the people for
freedom and the desire of the Bureaucracy to oppose such a desire. The
result is that it has travelled along lines neither entirely popular nor
entirely bureaucratic. The people of India do not like these Reforms, but
let us not forget that the Bureaucracy does not like them either because
it is the result of two contending forces pulling in different directions
or the Reforms have assumed a tortured state. But so far as the rights
recognised are concerned, they are our rights--our property, and there is
nothing immoral or unfair or dishonest in making use of the rights which
the people have extorted from the British Parliament. If the fulfilment of
the very forces which have succeeded in securing the Reforms require that
the Councils should either be mended or ended, if the struggle for
freedom compels the adoption of either course, what possible charge of
immorality can be levelled against it? I admit if we had proposed to enter
the Councils stealthily with the avowed object of co-operation keeping
within our hearts the desire to break the Councils, such a course would
undoubtedly have been dishonest. European diplomacy, let us hope, has been
abolished by Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma
Gandhi. If we play now, we play with all our cards on the table.

But some people say that it is immoral from the point of view of
non-co-operation, because it involves an idea of destruction. The work of
non-co-operation according to these,--I have the highest reverence for
them,--is only to build our national life ignoring altogether the
existence of the Bureaucracy. It may be an honest ideal, and, logically
speaking, it may be the inner meaning of non-co-operation. But the
non-co-operation which the Congress has followed is not so logical and I
claim that if the principle of non-co-operation is to be advanced as a
test of my programme, let it be the same principle which the Congress has
accepted, adopted and applied. As I have already said, that principle
countenance destruction as well as creation. As a matter of fact
circumstanced as we are with Bureaucracy to the right and the Bureaucracy
to the left Bureaucracy all around us, it is impossible to create without
destroying: nor must it be forgotten that if we break, it is only that we
may build.

It has also been suggested that the very entry into the Council is
inconsistent with the ideal of non-co-operation. I confess I do not
understand the argument. Supposing the Congress had sanctioned an armed
insurrection could it be argued that entry into the fort of the
Bureaucracy is inconsistent with the principle of non-co-operation? Surely
the charge of inconsistency must depend on the object of the entry. An
advancing army does not co-operate with the enemy when it marches into
the enemy's territory. Co-operation must therefore depend on the object
with which such entry is made. The argument if analysed comes to this,
that whenever the phrase entry into Councils is used it calls up the
association of co-operation, and then the mere idea of this entry
is proclaimed to be inconsistent with non-co-operation. But this
is the familiar logical fallacy of our terms. Entry into the
Councils to co-operate with the Government and entry into the
Councils to non-co-operate with the Government are two terms and two
different propositions. The former is inconsistent with the idea of
non-co-operation, the latter is absolutely consistent with that very idea.

Next let us understand the opposition from the point of view of the
spirituality of our movement. The question of spirituality is not to be
confused with the dictates of any particular religion. I am not aware of
the injunctions of any religion against entering the Councils with a view
either to mend them or end them. I have heard from many Mahomedans that
the Koran lays down no such injunction. Other Mahomedan friends have told
me that there may be some difficulty on that ground, but that is a matter
with regard to which I am not competent to speak. The Khilafat must answer
that question with such assistance as they may obtain from the Ulemas. It
is needless to point out that should the Ulemas come to the conclusion
that under the present circumstances it would be an offence against their
religion to enter the Councils, the Congress should unhesitatingly accept
their decision because no work in this country towards the attainment of
Swaraj is possible without the hearty co-operation of both Hindus and
Mussalmans. But I am dealing with that spirituality which does not affect
any particular creed or any particular religion. Judged from the
standpoint of such spirituality what objection there can be in removing
from our path by all legitimate means any obstacle to the attainment of
Swaraj? We burned foreign cloth without a scruple, and the spirituality of
the movement did not receive a shock when we burned them. It is as well to
start with a clear conception as to what that spiritually is. Apart from
any creedal or doctrinal injunction and apart from any question of
morality, the basis of spirituality must be the attainment of freedom and
of Swaraj. What is the duty which every human being owes not only to his
race, not only to his nation, not only to humanity but also to his God? It
is the right to fulfil oneself. It is the duty of living in the light of
God. Shortly after my release from imprisonment I said in a public speech
that all our national activities should be based on truth. Ever since that
day questions and conundrums have been put to me. I have been asked to
define what is truth. It has also been suggested that because I dare not
tell the truth that I took refuge under the general expression. I still
insist that our national activities must be based on truth. I repeat that
I do not believe in politics, or in making water-tight compartments of our
national life which is an indivisible organic whole. I repeat that as you
cannot define life, you cannot define truth. The test of Truth is not
logical definition. The test of Truth lies in its all-compelling force, in
making itself felt. You know truth when you have felt it. God cannot be
defined, nor can truth because truth is the revelation of God. Two
thousand years ago, a jesting judge asked the same question of the Son of
God. He made no answer by word of mouth; but he sacrificed himself and
Truth was revealed. When I speak of spirituality I speak of the same
truth. I look upon history as the revelation of God. I look upon human
individual personality, nationality and humanity, each contributing to
the life of the other as the revelation of God to man. I look upon the
attainment of freedom and Swaraj the only way of fulfilling oneself as
individuals, as nations. I look upon all national activities as the real
foundation of the service of that greater humanity which again is the
revelation of God to man. The Son of God brought to the world not peace
but a sword--not the peace of death and immortality and corruption but the
"separating sword" of Truth. We have to fight against all corruptions and
all immorality. It is only thus that freedom can be attained. Whatever
obstacles there may be in the path of Swaraj either of the individual or
of the nation, or humanity at large, these obstacles must be removed by
the individual if he desires his freedom by the nation, if that nation
desires to ruin itself by all the nations of the world if the cause of
humanity is to prosper. That being the spirituality of the movement as I
understand it I am prepared to put away all obstacles that lie between the
Indian nation and the attainment of its freedom, not stealthily but
openly, reverently in the name of truth and God. Judged from this ideal of
spirituality the entry into the Councils for the purpose I have stated is
necessary to advance the cause of truth. Everything in connection with the
controversy must be judged by that standard.

At present the question before the country put by those members of the
Civil Disobedience Enquiry Committee who are in favour of the Council
Entry is simply that the members of the Congress should stand as
candidates. It is unnecessary therefore to go into other questions raised,
such as in the matter of taking oath, the probability or otherwise of
securing a majority and so on. With regard to the question of oath all
that I need say at present is this, that apart from the dictates of any
particular religion which I do not propose to deal with, the question does
not present any difficulty at all. The oath is a constitutional one. The
king stands for the constitution. Great changes in the constitution have
taken place in England under that very oath. Now what is the oath? It
binds those who take it,--first not to make any use of powers which are
not allowed by the Reforms Act; secondly to discharge their duties
faithfully. So far as the first point is concerned, there is nothing in my
suggestion which militates against it. So far as the second point is
concerned, I am aware that a forced interpretation has been sought to be
put upon it, namely, that a member taking the oath is bound to discharge
his duties faithfully to the Bureaucracy. All that I need say is, that
there is no constitutional authority of any kind to justify that
interpretation. To my mind the words mean a faithful discharge of a
member's duties to his constituency by the exercise of powers recognised
under the Reforms Act. I do not therefore understand what possible
objection there may be to take the Oath. But there again the question
does not arise at present.

Various other questions have been asked as to whether it is possible to
secure a majority and as to what we should do, supposing we are in a
majority. I think it possible that having regard to the present
circumstances of the country, the Non-co-operators are likely to get the
majority. I am aware of the difficulty of the franchise. I am aware of the
rules which prevent many of us from entering the Councils; but making
every allowances for all these difficulties, I believe that we shall be in
the majority. But here also the question doesn't arise till we meet in the
Congress of 1923 when the matter may be discussed not on suppositions but
on actualities.

As regards the question as to what we should do if we have the majority
the answer is clear. We should begin our proceedings by a solemn
declaration of the existence of our inherent right, and by formal demand
for a constitution which would recognise and conserve those rights and
give effect to our claims for the particular system of Government which we
may choose for ourselves. If our demands are accepted, then the fight is
over. But, as I have often said, if it is conceded that we are entitled to
have that form of Government which we may choose for ourselves, and the
real beginning is made with that particular form of Government in view,
then it matters nothing to me whether the complete surrender of power is
made up to-day, or in five years or even in twenty years. If, however, our
demand is not given effect to, we must non-co-operate with the Bureaucracy
by opposing each and every work of the Council. We must disallow the
entire Budget. We must move the adjournment of the House on every possible
occasion and defeat every Bill that may be introduced. In fact we must so
proceed that the Council will refuse to do any work unless and until our
demands are satisfied. I am aware of the large powers of certification
which Governors can exercise under the Reform Act. But Government by
certification is just as impossible as Government by veto. Such procedure
may be adopted on a few occasions. The time must soon come when the
Bureaucracy must yield or withdraw the Reforms Act. In either case it is a
distinct triumph for the nation, and either course if adopted by the
Bureaucracy will bring us nearer to the realisation of our ideal.

Another question is often asked, suppose we end these Reformed
Councils,--what then? Could not the same question be asked with regard to
every step the Congress has hitherto undertaken in the way of breaking, of
destroying institutions. If we had succeeded in destroying the Educational
Department, might not somebody ask--what then? If we had succeeded in
destroying the legal institutions, might not the question be put with
equal relevance? The fact is destruction itself will never bring us
Swaraj. The fact further is that no construction is possible without
destruction. We must not forget that it is not this activity or that
activity by itself that can bring Swaraj. It is the totality of our
national activity in the way of destruction and in the way of creation,
that will bring Swaraj. If we succeeded in demolishing these Reformed
Councils you will find the whole nation astir with life. Let them put
other obstacles in our way; we shall remove them with added strength and
greater vitality.

It has also been suggested that the Bureaucracy will never allow the
Non-co-operators to enter the Councils, they will alter the rules to
prevent such entry. I cannot conceive of anything better calculated to
strengthen the cause of Non-co-operation than this. If any such rule is
framed I should welcome it and again change the direction of our activity.
The infant nation in India requires constant struggle for its growth and
development. We must not forget that a great non-violent revolution is on
the land, and we shall change the direction of our activities as often as
circumstances require it. To-day the Councils are open and we must attack
them,--to-morrow if the Councils are closed, we must be prepared to deal
with the contingency when it arises. What do we do when it pours with
rain? We turn our umbrella in the direction from which the water comes.
It is in the same way that we must turn the direction of our activities
whenever the fulfilment of our national life demands it.

The work of the Councils for the last two years has made it necessary for
non-co-operators to enter the Councils. The Bureaucracy has received added
strength from these Reformed Councils, and those who have entered the
Councils, speaking generally, have practically helped the cause of
Bureaucracy. What is most necessary to consider is the fact that taxation
has increased by leaps and bounds. The expenditure of the Government of
India has grown enormously since the pre-war year 1913-14. In that year
the total expenditure of the Government of India amounted to 79 crores and
37 lakhs; in 1919-20, it rose to 138 crores, and in 1920-21, the first
year of the reformed system of administration, it stood at 149 crores. The
expenses of the current year are likely to be even higher. To meet the
successive increases in expenditure, additional taxation was levied in
1916-17, 1917-18, 1919-20, 1921-22 and 1922-23. We may prepare ourselves
for proposals for further additional taxation in the ensuing year. In
spite of the levy of additional taxation, seven out of the last nine years
have been years of deficit.

The increase in military expenditure is chiefly responsible for the
present financial situation. In 1913-14, the expenses of this department
amounted to about 31-1/2 crores, in 1919-20, after the conclusion of the
war they mounted up to 87 crores, and in 1920-21 they stood at 88 crores.
As Sir Visveswaraya remarks the expenses under the head "Civil
Administration" also have shown a perpetual tendency to increase. As a
part and parcel of the Reform Scheme, the emoluments of the members of the
Indian Civil Service, the Indian Educational Service, the Indian Medical
Service and of all the other services recruited in England have been
enormously increased; and to maintain some kind of fairness the salaries
of the subordinate services which are manned by Indians have also been
increased.

The financial situation in the provinces is not much better. Under the
financial arrangements of the Reform Scheme, the provinces of India, taken
together, secured an accession to their resources of about 11 crores of
Rupees. Besides, the provinces had between them in 1920-21 a total
accumulated balance of 21 crores and 68 lakhs. But so great has been the
increase in provincial expenditure during the last two years that even
those provinces which had hoped to realise large surpluses are now on the
verge of bankruptcy. In the first year of the reform era, most of the
provinces were faced with deficits and were just able to tide over their
financial difficulties by drawing upon their balances. But in the current
year, the financial situation in many of the provinces has become worse.
The Burma budget shows a deficit of 1 crore and 90 lakhs, the Punjab, 1
crore and 30 lakhs, Bihar and Orissa, 51 lakhs, Madras, 41 lakhs, the
United Provinces, 27 lakhs and the Central Provinces 37 lakhs. The deficit
of the Madras Government would have been much higher had it not taken
steps to increase its revenues by Rs. 77-1/2 lakhs from fresh taxation.
The Bengal statement shows an estimated surplus owing to the remission of
the Provincial contribution to the Central Government and expected
receipts from fresh taxation amounting to 1 crore and 40 lakhs. But it is
very doubtful if the expectation will be realised, and early next year,
further fresh taxes are likely to be imposed. Assam has budgeted for a
deficit of 14-1/2 lakhs after the imposition of additional taxation.
Proposals for further taxation are under consideration in the Punjab,
Bihar and Orissa, the Central Provinces and Assam. In the United Provinces
the proposals brought forward by the Government were rejected by the
Legislative Council.

I warn my countrymen against the policy of allowing these Reformed
Councils to work their wicked will. There will undoubtedly be a further
increase of taxation and there is an apprehension in my mind, I desire to
express it with all the emphasis that I can command, that if we allow this
policy of drift to continue the result will be that we shall lose the
people who are with us to-day. Let us break the Councils if the
Bureaucracy does not concede to the demands of the people. If there is
fresh taxation as it is bound to be let the responsibility be on the
Bureaucracy. Then you and I and the people will jointly fight the powers
that be.


LABOUR ORGANISATION

I am further of opinion that the Congress should take up the work of
Labour and Peasant organisation. With regard to labour there is a
resolution of the Nagpur Congress, but I am sorry to say that it has not
been acted upon. There is an apprehension in the minds of some
non-co-operators that the cause of non-co-operation will suffer if we
exploit Labour for Congress purposes. I confess again I do not understand
the argument. The word "exploitation" has got an ugly association, and the
argument assumes that Labour and Peasants are not with us in this struggle
of Swaraj. I deny the assumption. My experience has convinced me that
labour and the Peasantry of India to-day are, if anything, more eager to
attain Swaraj than the so called middle and educated classes. If we are
"exploiting" boys of tender years and students of colleges, if we are
exploiting the women of India, if we are exploiting the whole of the
middle classes irrespective of their creed and caste and occupation, may I
ask what justification is there for leaving out Labourers and the
Peasants? I suppose the answer is that they are welcome to be the members
of the Congress Committees but that there should not be a separate
organisation of them. But Labour has got a separate interest and they are
often oppressed by foreign capitalists and the Peasantry of India is often
oppressed by a class of men who are the standard bearers of the
Bureaucracy. Is the service of this special interest in any way
antagonistic to the service of nationalism? To find bread for the poor, to
secure justice to a class of people who are engaged in a particular trade
or avocation--how is that work different from the work of attaining
Swaraj? Anything which strengthens the national cause, anything which
supports the masses of India is surely as much a matter of Swaraj as any
other items of work which the Congress has in hand. My advice is that the
Congress should lose no time in appointing a Committee, a calm workable
Committee to organise labour, and the peasantry of India. We have delayed
the matter already too long. If the Congress fails to do its duty, you may
expect to find organisations set up in the country by labour and peasants
detached from you, dissociated from the cause of Swaraj which will
inevitably bring within the arena of a peaceful evolution class struggles
and the war of special interests. If the object of the Congress be to
avoid that disgraceful issue let us take labour and the peasantry in
hand, and let us organise them both from the point of view of their own
special interests and also from the point of view of the higher ideal
which demands the satisfaction of their special interests and the devotion
of such interests to the cause of Swaraj. Here again we have to make use
of very selfishness of the labourers and peasants, as we know that the
fulfilment of that very selfishness requires its just and proper
contribution to the life of the nation.


WORK ALREADY TAKEN UP

I now turn to the work which the Congress has already taken up. I may at
once point out that it is not my desire that any work which the Congress
has taken up should be surrendered. The change of direction which I
advocate and the other practical change which I have mentioned is not by
way of surrendering anything that is already on the plank but it is simply
by way of addition.


BOYCOTT OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

I am firmly of opinion that the boycott of schools and colleges should be
carried on as effectively as before. I defer from the Civil Disobedience
Enquiry Committee when they propose the abandonment of the withdrawal of
boys from such schools and colleges. The question to my mind is of vital
importance. It is on the youth of the country that the cause of Swaraj
largely depends--and what chance is there for a nation which willingly,
knowingly sends its boys, its young men to schools and colleges to be
stamped with the stamps of slavery and foreign culture? I do not desire to
enter into the question more minutely. I have expressed my views on the
subject so often that I find it unnecessary to repeat them. I, however,
agree with the recommendation of the Enquiry Committee that national
schools and colleges should also be started.


BOYCOTT OF LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS

With regard to the question of the boycott of lawyers and the legal
institutions I agree with the main recommendations of the Committee. Many
questions have been raised as to whether the right of defence should be
allowed or not and on what occasions, and for what purposes. I have never
been in love with formal rules, and I think it impossible to frame rules
which will cover all the circumstances which may arise in particular
cases. All that I desire to insist on, is the keeping in view of the
principle of the boycott of courts.


HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY

With regard to the question of Hindu-Muslim Unity, untouchability and such
matters, I agree with the recommendations of the Enquiry Committee. I
desire to point out however the true unity of all sections of the Indian
nation can only be based on a proper co-operation and the recognition by
each section of the rights of the others--that is why I proposed that
there should be a compact between different sections, between the
different communities of India. We will do little good to the section
known as untouchables if we approach them in a spirit of superiority. We
must engage them in the work before us, and we must work with them side by
side and shoulder to shoulder.


KHADDAR

I now come to the question of khaddar which I regard as one of the most
important questions before us. As I have already said, I am opposed to the
manufacture of Khaddar on a commercial basis. I said among the other
things when I seconded the Bezwada resolution on the 31st of March in 1921
proposed by Mahatma Gandhi:

"Our reason in asking the people to take to Charka was not based upon any
desire to enter into any competition with foreign capitalist production
either from without or from within. Our idea is to enable the people to
understand and fashion for themselves, their economic life and utilise the
spare time of their families and opportunities with a view to create more
economic goods for themselves and improve their own condition." The idea
is to make the people of this country self-reliant and self-contained.
This work is difficult but essential and should be carried on with all our
strength. I would much rather that few families were self-contained than
that factories were started on a large scale. Such factories represent a
short-sighted policy, and there is no doubt that though it would satisfy
the present need it will create an evil which it would be difficult to
eradicate. I am naturally opposed to the creation of a new Manchester in
India of which we have had sufficient experience. Let us avoid that
possibility, if we can.

It is often stated that Khaddar alone will bring us Swaraj. I ask my
countrymen in what way is it possible for khaddar to lead us to Swaraj? It
is in one sense only that the statement may be true. We must regard
khaddar as the symbol of Swaraj. As the khaddar makes us self-contained
with regard to a very large department of our national life, so it is
hoped that the inspiration of khaddar will make the whole of our national
life self-contained and independent. That is the meaning of the symbol. To
my mind such symbol worship requires the spreading out of all
non-co-operation activities in every possible direction. It is only thus
and only thus that the speedy attainment of Swaraj is possible.


CONCLUSION

It remains to me to deliver to you a last message of hope and confidence.
There is no royal road to freedom, and dark and difficult will be the path
leading to it. But dauntless is your courage, and firm your resolution;
and though there will be reverses, sometimes severe reverses, they will
only have the effect of speeding your emancipation from the bondage of a
Foreign Government. Do not make the mistake of confusing achievements with
success. Achievement as in appearances are often deceptive. I contend
that, though we cannot point to a great deal as solid achievement of the
movement, the success of it is assured. That success is proclaimed by the
bureaucracy in the repeated attempts which were made, and are still being
made, to crush the growth of the movement, and to arrest its progress, in
the refusal to repeal some of the most obnoxious of the repressive
legislation, in the frequent use that has been made of the arbitrary or
discretionary authority that is vested in the executive Government and in
sending to prison our beloved leader, who offered himself as a sacrifice
to the wrath of the Bureaucracy. But though the ultimate success of the
movement is assured, I warn you that the issue depends wholly on you and
how you conduct yourselves in meeting the forces that are arrayed against
you. Christianity rose triumphant when Jesus of Nazareth offered himself
as a sacrifice to the excessive worship of law and order by the Scribes
and the Pharisees. The forces that are arrayed against you are the forces
not only of the bureaucracy but of the modern Scribes and Pharisees whose
interest it is to maintain the Bureaucracy in all its pristine glory. Be
it yours to offer yourself as sacrifice in the interest of truth and
justice, so that your children and your children's children may have the
fruit of your sufferings. Be it yours to wage a spiritual warfare so that
the victory, when it comes does not debase you, nor tempt you to retain
the power of Government in your own hands. But if yours is to be a
spiritual warfare, your weapons must be those of the spiritual soldier.
Anger is not for you, hatred is not for you, nor for you is pettiness,
meanness or falsehood.

For you is the hope of dawn and the confidence of the morning, and for you
is the song that was sung by Titan, chained and imprisoned, but the
champion of man in the Greek fable:

  To Suffer woes with Hope, things infinite;
  To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
  To defy power which seems Omnipotent:
  To love, and bear, to hope till Hope creates
  From its own wreck, the thing it contemplates;
  Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
  This like thy glory, Titan, is to be
  Good, Great and joyous, beautiful and free;
  This alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.

  BANDE MATARAM.




IMPERIALISM IN PRACTICE AND IN THEORY

BY K. M. Panikkar. Re. 1

(_Late Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford_).

Press Opinions.

Mr. K. M. Panikkar, lately Chairman of the Department of History in
Aligarh University; has done a distinct service to the country by his able
analysis of the processes of aggrandisement with which the Br. Empire was
built up. In his small book he has laid bare the selfishness which
underlies the foundation of the British Empire. "What it stands for," says
Mr. Panikkar, "is a white oligarchy exploiting coloured nations. It is in
fact a British Empire Co., Ltd." The Book is a valuable addition to the
growing Indian Political Literature.--_Bombay Chronicle._

We have learnt to associate Mr. Panikkar's name with first class work and
our expectations have not been disappointed in this volume. The vulgar
pretensions of Imperialism have been shown up with perfect candour, but
the days of Imperialism, according to the author, are numbered in Asia
though not in Africa. It has done the great service of calling forth the
mighty spirit of Asia from its decaying cell.--_Modern Review, Calcutta._

"Your remarkable little book _on Imperialism_ which I have read _three
times_--I have been anxious to write a review on it appreciating it."--_C.
F. Andrews._

_ARKA PUBLISHING HOUSE_,

George Town, Madras.




BOOKS WORTH READING


  Struggle for Swaraj by Pandit Motilal Nehru.            As. 4

  India and the Empire by Edward Carpenter.                "  4

  Voice of Bengal by Mrs. C. R. Das.                       "  4

  A Guide to Matrimonial Alliance by Aristotle             "  12

  Non-co-operation in Other Lands by Fenner Brockway
  (cloth bound)                                           Re. 1-8

  National Education by Arabinda Gose                     Re. 1

  Indian Industrialism by K. V. Ganapathy Aiyar with
  introduction by Hon. V. G. Kale                          "

  Indian Boy Scouts Hand Book by F. G. Pearce             Re. 1-8

  The New Russia by R. U. Postgate & T. A. Jackson        As. 12

  Amritsar and Our Duty to India by B. G. Horniman        Rs. 2-10

  My Childhood and Boyhood by Tolstoy                     Re. 1-12

  My Youth by Tolstoy                                     Re. 1-12

  Life and Writings of Bal Gangadhar Tilak                Rs. 4

  Tolstoy's Teachings                                     As. 6


ARKA PUBLISHING HOUSE,

_George Town, MADRAS_.




The RELATIONS OF THE SEXES

BY COUNT LEO TOLSTOY

Translated by V. T. and A. C. F., Principally from private letters,
diaries and unpublished Mss.

Price Re. 1.

_Some Extracts._

Women who demand masculine work and liberty equal to that of man are
generally unconsciously demanding the liberty of License, and in
consequence descend to a plane lower than the family one, while imagining
they are ascending higher....

I think that a man who has entered upon physical connection with a woman
cannot, and must not, forsake her especially when there is or may be a
child....

Chastity is an ideal after which one should always; under all conditions,
strive. The nearer you are realising it the more you--not to say attain a
merit before God--attain a greater degree of your own well being. Man may
serve God more by being chaste than by giving himself up to carnal
life....

Attacks of sexual lust engender confusion of thought. The absence of
thought rather--the whole world darkens. Man loses his relation to
it--chance, blackness and failure....

One thing is rational: "Be perfect, as your Father", and this perfection
is in purity and then in Love, deduction: first, purity, then preservation
of the race....


_ARKA PUBLISHING HOUSE_,

G. T., MADRAS.