Introduction to Non-Violence

ny pacifists the movement for Indian independence under the leadership of Mohandas K. Gandhi stands out as the supreme example of a political revolt which has insisted on this principle, and

already seen that there have been many non-violent movements of reform within our western society, but those that we have examined have been based on expediency. Undoubtedly the widespre

ins of S

ally turned into a magic formula which would work automatically to procure desired ends and eliminate evil. In time the Hindus came to believe that the most effective type of sacrifice was self-sacrifice and suffering, accompanied by a refusal to injure others, or ahim

his western education Gandhi became acquainted with The Sermon on the Mount, and the writings of Tolstoy and Thoreau, but h

on of the State of Mysore carried on a great movement of non-cooperation against the exploitation by the native despot, during which they refus

of authority. The method most in use, and that which gives the best results, is complete non-co-

ign tribute. He called upon the people to demonstrate their fitness for self-government by establishing hygienic conditions, founding schools, building roads and developing agriculture. But

had been used, but Gandhi tells us that when he discovered that among Europeans, "it was supposed to be a weapon of the weak, that it could be characterized by hatred and that it could finally manifest itself as violence,"

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, War Without Vi

translated by Mahadev Desai and Pyrelal Nair (Ahmedabad:

I, 322; Shri

e Ligt, Conquest

bid.,

eriments with Tr

ess of S

omprehensive analysis of Satyagraha as a mass movement. He begins his dis

very member of that community feels. This grievance should be of such large proportions that it could be transformed,

British rule, Shridharani believes that the Hindese were willing to accept Satyagraha first because, unarmed under British law, no other means were available to them, and then because the

impression that under the American system of government the later stages of Satyagraha would never be necessary, since the Satyagrahi must first exhaust all the avenues of political expression and legislative action which are open to him. If any si

nd accepted Gandhi's spirit and principles.[63] This means that on several occasions the later stages of Satyagraha have been put into action before earlier stages of creating solidarity on both purpose and method have been fully completed. Despite Gandhi's tremendous influence in India, the movement for Indian independence has not yet fully succeeded. In view of the fact that so many of the people who have worked for in

technique to compulsive force."[65] He is pointing out that in practice Satyagraha is coercive in character, and that all the later steps from mass demonstrations through strikes, boycotts, non-cooperation, and civil disobedience to parallel government which divor

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arani, 4. I

bid.,

Ibid.

Ibid.

" in Devere Allen (Ed.), Pacifism in the Modern Wor

or even with many of his ideals. Often they did not understand him. But the action that he proposed was something tangible which could be understood and appreciated intellectually. Any action would be welcome after the long tradition of inaction which our spineless politics had nurtured; brave and effective action with an ethical halo about it had an irresistible appeal, both to the intellect and the emotions. Step by step he convinced us of the rightness of the action, and we went with him, although we did not accept his phil

scusses 13 steps in the development o

sophy of

th mere good will, as the pacifists usually do, but, on the contrary, are engaged in direct action of a non-violent variety which they are c

western pacifists.[67] In an article entitled "The Doctrine of the Sword," written in 1920, Gandhi brought out clear

courage I advise killing and being killed rather than shameful flight from danger. I would risk violence a thousand times rather than the emasculation of the

astuteness and personal sanctity, profound humanitarianism and paralysing conservatism."[69] Bishop McConnell has said of his non-violent coer

the power of non-co-operation than Christian love on the part of a group; but even so, it calls

mes in Gandhi's writings. The acceptance of such suffering is not easy; hence his emphasis upon the need of self-purification, preparation, and discipline. Because of the violence used by many of his followers during the first great campaign in

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id., xx

Nov., 1917, quoted by Case, Non-violent Coerc

ism, 107. A slightly different version i

in which a disarmed and disorganized multitude can resist armed troops and police. He has never suggested that when India attains full independence it shall disband the Indian

istianity and Coercion (Nashvi

Christian P

ne 16, 1920, quoted

Experiments

Origins of G

nstance, he describes in some detail a journey he made by coach in 1893 in South Africa, during which he was placed on the driver's seat, since Indians were not allowed to sit inside the coach

. If he can't stay there, let him come and sit with us.' 'No fear,' cried the man, but he seemed somewhat crestfallen and stopped beating me. He let go my arm, s

n on the part of the public.[75] Gradually the principle developed that the acceptance of suffering was an effective method of winning

ort to violence, the molestation of "blacklegs," and the taking of alms, and requiring the strikers to remain firm no matter how long the strike took-rules not too different from thos

o me. Unbidden and all by themselves the words came to my lips: 'Unless the strikers rally,' I declared to the meeting, '

. He told the owners that it should not influence their decision, and yet an arbitrator was now appointed, and as he says,

ise rather than the complete success of Gandhi's program. He said of it, "Although, therefore, the termination was celebrated as a triumph of Satyagraha, I could not enthuse over it, as it lacked the essentials of a complete triu

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id., I,

hat is for the cause. It enhanced the prestige of the Indian community in South Africa, and m

d., II,

d., II,

d., II,

tion from Gandhi i

ooper

ere not sufficiently prepared, fell back upon violence.[80] In the struggle in 1930, Gandhi laid down more definite rules for Satyagrahis, forbidding them to harbor anger, or to offer any physical resistance or to insult their opponents, although they must refuse to do any act forbidden to them by the move

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ents, II, 486-507; S

in Young India, Feb. 27, 1930, a

st

to obtain concessions, either from the British government or from groups of

even as on the government; but it is nothing more than the natural and moral result of an a

rish leader, MacSweeney, when he was impri

the technique as a means to an end which he considers equally fundamental. He accepts suffering as an end in itself, yet he knows that it also is a means to other ends since it arouses the sympathy of public opinion. He regards non-cooperation as compatible with love for the opponent, yet we have already seen that under modern conditions it is co

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Gandhi Triumphant! The Inside Story of the His

Ibid.

it will be a species of violence done to him. Fasting can only be resorted to aga

an Aboliti

been the abolition crusade before the Civil War. Its most publicized faction was the group led by William Lloyd Garrison, who has had a reputat

ice.... I am in earnest-I will not equivocate-I will not ex

ngton called him "the flintiest character amongst the New England militants."[85] In the

uncompromising terms as his opposition to slavery. In 1838 he induced the Boston Peace Convention to found the New Engla

not adapted to moral regeneration; that the sinful dispositions of men can be subd

the popular mind, and aided in stirring up much of the violent sentiment in the North which expressed itself in a crescendo of denunciation of the slave owners.

that even we had entertained in relation to it. Many in the South once believed that it was a moral and political evil; that folly and de

rison himself was rescued from an angry Boston mob. This violence in turn aroused many men like Salmon P. Chase and Wendell Phillips to espouse the anti-slavery cause b

reluctantly to the conclusion that a civil war to rid the country of the evil would be preferable to its continuance. In time the struggle was transferred to the politica

could not be settled without bloodshed, Garrison disclaimed all responsibility

er accompanied our cause wherever presented. Alas! in the course of the fearful developments of the Slave Power, and its continued aggressions on the rights of the people of the North, in my judgment a sad change has come over the spirit of anti-slavery men, generally speaking. We are growing more and more warlike, more and more

low through any counsel of mine. Much as I detest the oppression exercised by the Southern slaveholder, he is a man, sacred before me. He is a man, not to be harmed by my hand nor with my consent.... While I will not cease reprobating his horrible injustice, I will let him see that in

the slaves was so great that when the Civil Wa

r which we have so long been striving.... All our sympathies and wishes must be with the Government, as agains

ther than emancipation, eventually he did free the slaves. It would seem that Garrison, for

eans was translated into violence by followers who were more devoted to the cause

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Currents in American Thought (New Y

is reprinted in Allen,

he Coming of the Civil War (Ne

ery Crusade (New Haven: Yale U

t, see Gilbert Hobbs Barnes, The Antislavery Impuls

William Lloyd Garrison (New Yo

hnson, quoted in Allen,