THERE IS no such thing as slow
freedom. Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free, we are slaves. All
birth takes place in a moment.
Gilded Slavery
Golden fetter are no less galling
to a self-respecting man than iron ones. The sting lies in the fetters, not in
the metal. To my mind golden shackles are far worse than
iron ones, for one easily feels the irksome and galling nature of the latter,
and is prone to forget the former. If, therefore, India must be in chains, I
would they were of iron rather than of gold or other precious metals.
Right To Freedom
Freedom is not worth having if it
does not connote freedom to err and even to sin. If God Almighty has given the
humblest of His creatures the freedom to err, it passes my comprehension how
human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving
other human Beings of that precious right.
As every country is fit to eat, to drink and to breathe, even so is every
nation fit to manage its own affairs, no matter how badly. Superimposed control is bad any day….. When
this control is removed, the nation will breathe free, it will have the right
to make mistakes. This ancient method, of progressing be making mistakes and
correcting them, is the proper way.
Individual Freedom
It is my certain conviction that
no man loses his freedom except through his own weakness.
I value individual freedom, but you must not forger that man is essentially a
social being. He has risen to his present status by learning to adjust his
individualism to the requirements of social progress. Unrestricted
individualism is the law of the beast of the jungle. We have to learn to strike
the mean between individual freedom and social restraint. Willing submission to
social restraint for the sake of the well-being of the whole society enriches
both the individual and the society of which one is a member.
If this [individual liberty]
goes, then surely all is list, for, if the individual ceases to count, what is
left of society? Individual freedom alone can make a man voluntarily surrender
himself completely to the service of society. If it is wrested from him, he
becomes an automaton and society is ruined. No society can possible be built on
a denial of individual freedom. It is contrary to the very nature of man. Just
as a man will not grow horns or tail, so he will not exist as man if he has no
mind of his own. In reality, even those who do not believe in the liberty of
the individual believe in their own. Modern editions of chenghiz khan retain
their own.
Concept Of Freedom
My conception of freedom is no
narrow conception. It is co-extensive width the freedom of man in all his
majesty. Every individual must have the fullest
liberty to use his talents consistently with equal use by neighbours, but no
one is entitled to the arbitrary use of the gains from the talents. He is part
of the nation or, say, the social structure surrounding him. Therefore, he can
use his talents not for self only but for the social structure of which he is
but a part and on whose sufferance he lives.
Will To Be Free
No tyrant has ever yet succeeded
in his purpose without carrying the victim with him, it may be, as it often is,
by force. Most people choose rather to yield to the will of the tyrant than to
suffer for the consequence of resistance. Hence does terrorism form part of the
stock-in-trade of the tyrant. But we have instances in history where terrorism
has failed to impose the terrorist’s will upon his victim.
Even the most despotic government cannot stand except for the consent of the
governed, which consent is often forcibly procured by the despot. Immediately
the subject ceases to fear the despotic force, his power is gone. The moment the slave resolves that he will no
longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to
others. Freedom and slavery are mental states. Therefore, the first thing is to
say to yourself; ‘I shall no longer accept the role of a slave. I shall not
obey orders as such, but shall disobey them when they are in conflict with my
conscience.’
The so-called master may lash you
and try to force you to serve him. You will say; ‘No, I will not serve you for
your money or under a threat.’ This may mean suffering. Your readiness to
suffer will light the torch of freedom which can never be put out.
Price Of Freedom
Whether we are one or many, we
must refuse to purchase freedom at the cost of our self-respect or our
cherished convictions. I have known even little children become unbending when
an attempt has been made to cross their declared purpose, be it ever so flimsy
in the estimation of their parents. We must be content to die if we cannot live
as free men and women.
Man has to thank himself for his
dependence. He can be independent as soon as he wills it.
Freedom is never dear at any
price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
Freedom For Lowliest
It gives me both pain and
surprise when I find people feeling anxious about their future under a freed
India. For me an India which does not guarantee freedom to the lowliest of
those born, not merely within an artificial boundary but within its natural
boundary, is not free India.
Our fear paralyses our thinking
powers, or we should at once know that freedom means a state, at any rate some
what better than the present for every honest man or woman. It is exploiters,
money-grabbers, pirates and the like who have to fear the advent of freedom.
I shall strive for a constitution
which will release India from all thralldom and patronage, and give her, if
need be, the right to sin. I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall
feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice; an
India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India
in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in
such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of the intoxicating
drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men.
Since we shall be at peace with
all the rest of the world, neither exploiting, nor being exploited, we should
have the smallest army imaginable. All interests not in conflict with the
interests of the dumb millions will be scrupulously respected, whether foreign
or indigenous. Personally, I hate distinction between foreign and indigenous.
This is the India of my dreams… I shall be satisfied with nothing else.
No Exploitation
If I want freedom for my country,
believe me, if I can possibly help it, I do not want that freedom in order that
I, belonging to a nation which counts on-fifth of the human race, may exploit
any other race upon earth, or any single individual. If I want that freedom for
my country, I would not be deserving of that freedom if I did not cherish and
treasure the equal right of every other race, weak or strong, to the same
freedom.
Men aspiring to be free can
hardly think of enslaving others. If they try to do so, they will only be
binding their own chains of slavery tighter.
Independence of my conception
means nothing less than the realization the "Kingdom of God" within
you and on this earth. I would rather work for and die in the pursuit of this
dream, though it may never be realized. That means infinite patience and
perseverance.
If India is satisfied with the
mere attainment of political independence and there is nothing better for me to
do you will find me retiring to the Himalayas leaving those who wish to listen
to me to seek me out there.
In concrete terms... The
independence should be political, economic and moral.
‘Political ‘ necessarily means
the removal of the control of the British army in every shape and form.
‘Economic’ means entire freedom from British capitalists and capital, as also
their Indian counterpart. In other words, the humblest must feel equal to the
tallest. This can take place only by capital or capitalists sharing their skill
and capital with the lowliest and the least.
‘Moral’ means freedom from armed
defence forces.
Means Of Peace
India has never waged war against
any nation. She has put up, sometimes, ill-organized or half-organized
resistance in self-defence pure and simple. She has, therefore, not got to
develop the will for peace. She has that in abundance whether she knows it or
not.
The way she can promote peace is
to offer successful resistance to her exploitation by peaceful means. That is
to say, she has to achieve her independence. … by peaceful means. If she can do
this, it will be the largest contribution that any single nation will have made
towards world peace.
I personally would wait, if need
be, for ages rather than seek to attain the freedom of my country through
bloody means. I feel in the innermost recesses of my heart, after a political
experience extending over an unbroken period of close upon thirty-five years,
that the world is sick unto death of blood-spilling. The world is seeking a way
out, and I flatter myself with the belief that perhaps it will be the privilege
of the ancient land of India to show that way out to the hungering world.
I have, therefore, no hesitation
whatsoever in inviting all the great nation of the earth to give their hearty
co-operation to India in her mighty struggle. It must be a sight worth
contemplating and treasuring that millions of people have given themselves to
suffering without retaliation in order that they might vindicate the dignity
and honour of the nation. I would far rather that India perished than that she
won freedom at the sacrifice of truth.
It would not satisfy my soul to
gain freedom for India and not to help in the peace of the world. I have the
conviction in me that, when England ceases to prey upon India, she will also
cease to prey upon other nations. At any rate, India will have not part in the
blood-guilt.
Meaning Of India's Independence
….India’s freedom must
revolutionize the world’s outlook upon Peace and War. Her impotence affects the
whole of mankind. My ambition is much higher than independence.
Through the deliverance of India I seek to deliver the so-called weaker races
of the earth from the crushing heels o Western exploitation…. National independence is not a fiction. It is
as necessary as individual independence. But neither, if it is based on
non-violence, may ever be a menace to the equal independence of the nation or
the individual as the case may be. As with individual and national independence,
so with the international. The legal maxim is equally moral. Sic utere tuo ut
alienum non laedas*. It has been well said that the universe is compressed in
the atom. There is not one law for the atom and another for the universe.
International Co-operation
I want co-operation between
nations for the salvaging of civilization, but co-operation presupposes free
nations worthy of co-operation.
Freedom Of Exploited Races
When I am gone India will be free
and, not only India, but the whole world will be free. I do not believe that
the Americans or English are free. They will not be free so long as they have
the power to hold the coloured nations in subjection. I know my purpose and I
know what freedom is. English teachers taught me its meaning, and I must
interpret that freedom according to what I see and have experienced.
Freedom of India will demonstrate
to all the exploited races of the earth that their freedom is very near and
that in no case will they, henceforth, be exploited.
* ‘So use your own property as
not to injure the rights of another’.
Swaraj for me means freedom for
the meanest of our countrymen .. I am not interested n freeing India merely
from the English yoke. I am bent upon freeing India from any yoke whatsoever. I
have no desire to exchange ‘king log for king stork.
By Swaraj I mean the government
of India by the consent of the people as ascertained by the largest number of
the adult population, male or female, native-born or domiciled, who have
contributed by manual labour to the service of the State and who have taken the
trouble of having their names registered as voters.
Real Swaraj will come, not by the
acquisition of authority by a few, but by the acquisition of the capacity by
all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be
attained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and
control authority.
Self-government means continuous
effort to be independent of government control, whether it is foreign
government or whether it is national. (YI, 6-8-1925, p. 276)
The word Swaraj is a sacred word,
a Vedic word, meaning self-rule and self-restraint, and not freedom from all
restraint which ‘independence’ often means. (YI, 19-3-1931, p. 38)
Swaraj For The Poor
The Swaraj of my-our-dream
recognizes no race or religious distinctions. Not is it to be the monopoly of
the lettered persons or yet of moneyed men. Swaraj is to be for all, including
the former, but emphatically including the maimed, the blind, the starving,
toiling millions. (YI, 1-5-1930, p. 149)
The Swaraj of my dream is the
poor man’s Swaraj. The necessaries of life should be enjoyed by you in common
with those enjoyed by the princes and the moneyed men. But that does not mean
that they should have palaces like theirs. They are not necessary for
happiness. You or I would be lost in them. But you ought to get all the
ordinary amenities of life that a rich man enjoys. I have not the slightest
doubt that Swaraj is not Poorna Swaraj until these amenities are guaranteed to
you under it.
… What we mean and want through
Poorna Swaraj ……is an awakening among the masses, a knowledge among them of
their true interest and ability to serve that interest against the whole world,
….. harmony, freedom from aggression from within or without, and a progressive
improvement in the economic condition of the masses…
Real Swaraj must be felt by
all-man, woman and child. To labour for that consummation is true revolution,.
India has become a pattern for all exploited races of the earth, because
India’s has been an open, unarmed effort which demands sacrifice from all
without inflicting injury on the usurper. The millions in India would not have
been awakened but for the open, unarmed struggle. Every deviation from the
straight path has meant a temporary arrest of the evolutionary revolution. (H,
3-3-1946, p. 31)
No Majority Rule
It has been said that Indian
Swaraj will be the rule of the majority community, i.e., the Hindus. There
could not be a greater mistakes than that. If it were to be true, I for one
would refuse to call it Swaraj and would fight it with all the strength at my
command, for to me Hind Swaraj is the rule of all people, is the rule of
justice. Whether, under rule, the ministers were Hindus or Musalmans or Sikhs
and whether legislatures were exclusively filled by the Hindus or Musalmans or
any other community, they would have to do even-handed justice.
Today our minds are clouded by
delusion. In our ignorance, we quarrel with one another and indulge in rowdyism
against our own brethren. For such as these there is neither salvation not
Swaraj. Self-discipline or rule over self is the first condition of self-rule
or Swaraj.
Freedom Of Expression
In a vast country like this,
there must be room for all schools of honest thought. And the least, therefore,
that we owe to ourselves, as to others, is to try to understand the opponent ‘s
view-point and, if we cannot accept it, respect is as fully as we expect him to
respect ours. It is one of the indispensable tests of a healthy public life
and, therefore, fitness for Swaraj.
Freedom of speech and pen is the
foundation of Swaraj. If the foundation stone is in danger, you have to exert
the whole of your might in order to defend that single stone.
Achievement Of Swaraj
I have had the hardhood to say
that Swaraj could not be granted even by God. We would have to earn it
ourselves. Swaraj from its very nature is not in the giving of anybody.
Swaraj is the abandonment of the
fear of death. A nation which allows itself to be influenced by the fear of
death cannot attain Swaraj, and cannot retain it if some-how attained.
Swaraj can never be a free gift
by one nation to another. It is a treasure to be purchased with a nation’s best
blood. It will cease to be a gift when we have paid dearly for it. … Swaraj
will be a fruit of incessant labour, suffering beyond measure.
Surely Swaraj will not drop from
the clouds. It will be the fruit of patience, perseverance, ceaseless toil,
courage and intelligent appreciation of the environment.
For me the only training in
Swaraj we need is the ability to defend ourselves against the whole world and
to live our natural life in perfect freedom, even though it may be full of
defects. Good government is no substitute for self-government.
The pilgrimage to Swaraj is a
painful climb. It requires attention to details. It means vast organizing
ability, it means penetration into the villages solely for the service of the
villagers. In other words, it means national education, i.e., education of the
masse. It means an awakening of national consciousness among the masses. It
will not spring like the magician’s mango. It will grow almost unperceived like
the banyan tree. A bloody revolution will never perform the trick. Haste here
is most certainly waste.
One sometimes hears it said: ‘Let
us get the government of India in our own hands and everything will be all
right.. There could be no greater superstition than this. No nation has thus
gained its independence. The splendor of the spring is reflected in every tree,
the whole earth is then filled with the freshness of youth. Similarly, when the
Swaraj spirit has really permeated society, a stranger suddenly come upon us
will observe energy in very walk of life, he will find national servants engaged,
each according to his own abilities, in a variety of public activities. (SW, p.
146)
Basis In Self-Sacrifice
Swaraj can be maintained only
where there is a majority of loyal and patriotic people to whom the good of the
nation is paramount above all other considerations what-ever including their
personal profit.
My Swaraj will be… not a result
of murder of others but a voluntary act of continuous self-sacrifice. My Swaraj
will not be bloody usurpation of rights, but the acquisition of power will be a
beautiful land natural fruit of duty well and truly performed. It will…provide
amplest excitement of the Chaitanya type, not of the Nero type…. It can come
often does come, when the horizon is the blackest. But I know that it will be
preceded by the rise of a class of young men and women who will find full
excitement in work, work and nothing but work for the nation.
Without a large, very large, army
of self-sacrificing and determined workers, real progress of the masses I hold
to be an impossibility. And without that progress, there is no such thing as
Swaraj. Progress towards Swaraj will be in exact proportion to the increase in
the number of workers who will dare to sacrifice their all for the cause of the
poor.
Without a large, very large, army of self-sacrificing and determined workers,
real progress of the masses I hold to be an impossibility. And without that
progress, there is no such thing as Swaraj. Progress towards Swaraj will be in exact
proportion to the increase in the number of workers who will dare to sacrifice
their all for the cause of the poor. (YI, 24-6-1926, p. 226)
Through Truth And Nonviolence
If we wish to achieve Swaraj
through truth and non-violence, gradual but steady building-up from the bottom
upwards by constructive effort is the only way. This rules out the deliberate
creation of an anarchical state for the overthrow of the established order in
the hope of throwing up from within a dictator who would rule with a rod of
iron and produce order out disorder.
We have all-rulers and ruled-been
living so long in a stifling, unnatural atmosphere that we might well feel, in
the beginning, that we have lost the lungs for breathing the invigorating ozone
of freedom. If the reality comes in an orderly, that is, a non-violent manner,
because the parties feel that it is right, it will be a revealing lesson for
the world.
Genius Of Our Civilization
My Swaraj is to keep intact the
genius of our civilization. I want to write many new thing but they must be all
written on the Indian slate. I would gladly borrow from the West when I can
return the amount with decent interest.
If Swaraj was not meant to
civilize us, and to purify and stabilize our civilization, it would be nothing
worth. The very essence of our civilization is that we give a paramount place
to morality in all our affairs, public or private.
MY FAITH in human nature is
irrepressible and, even under the circumstances of a most adverse character I
have found Englishmen amenable to reason and persuasion, and as they always
wish to appear to be just even when they are in reality unjust, it is easier to
shame them then others into doing the right thing.
My personal religion… enables me
to serve my countrymen without hurting Englishmen or, for that matter, anybody
else. What I am not prepared to do to my blood-brother I would not do to an
Englishmen. I would not injure him to gain a kingdom. But I would withdraw
co-operation from him if it became necessary, as I had withdrawn from my own
brother (now deceased) when it became necessary. I serve the Empire by refusing
to par-take in its wrong.
I am not anti-English; I am not
anti-British; I am not anti-any Government; but I am anti-untruth, anti-humbug,
and anti-injustice. So long as the Government spells injustice, it may regard
me as its enemy, implacable enemy. (SW, p. 523)
No one will accuse me of any
anti-English tendency. Indeed, I pride myself on my discrimination. I have
thankfully copied many things from them. Punctuality, reticence, public
hygiene, independent thinking and exercise of judgment and several other things
I owe to my association with them.
My nationalism is not so narrow
that I should not feel for ….[Englishmen’s] distress or gloat over it. I do not
want my country’s happiness at the sacrifice of other country’s happiness. (YI,
15-10-1931)
There is no bitterness in me. I
claim fellowship with the lowest of animals. Why not, then, with Englishmen
with whom we have been bound, for good or ill, for over a century and amongst
whom I claim some of my dearest friends? You [Englishmen] will find me an easy
pro-position, but if you will repel my advances, I shall go away, not in
bitterness, but with a sense that I was not pure enough to find a lodgment in
your hearts. (ibid, p. 310)
My love of the British is equal
to that of my own people. I claim no merit for it, for I have equal love for
all mankind without exception. It demands no reciprocity. I own no enemy on
earth. That is my creed.
…No Indian has co-operated with
the British Government more than I have for an unbroken period of twenty-nine
years of public life, in the face of circumstances that might well have turned
any other man into a rebel……
I put my life in peril four times
for the sake of the Empire; at the time to the Boer War, when I was in charge
of the Ambulance corps whose work was mentioned in general Buller’s dispatches;
at the time of the Zulu Revolt in Natal, when I was in charge of a similar
corps; at the time of the commencement of the late war, when I raised an
Ambulance corps and, as a result of the strenuous training had a severe attack
of pleurisy; and lastly, in fulfillment of my promise to Lord Chelmsford at the
War Conference in Delhi, I threw myself in such an active recruiting campaign
in Kaira District, involving long and trying marches, that I had an attack of
dysentery which proved almost fatal. I did all this in the full belief that
acts such as mine must gain for my country an equal status in the Empire.
Autocratic Rule
Originality there could be none
in a close monopoly organization like the Government of India*. it is the
largest autocracy the world has known. Democracy has been reserved only for
great Britain. And when it rules and exploits millions belonging to other
races, it becomes an unmitigated evil. It corrupts the whole island with the
idea that such exploitation is the best thing for an enlightened democracy to
do. It would be well to remember this fundamental fact, if I have correctly
estimated it. If we recognize this, while dealing with the immediate problem,
we shall be patient with the present actors. There is no call here for patience
with the evil.
Any friend, who is a real friend,
and who comes in a spirit of service, not as a superior, is bound to be
welcome. India, when she has come into her own, will need all such assistance.
The distrust of Englishmen… is there. It won’t disappear even by transporting Indian
students to England. You have got to understand it and live it down. It has its
roots in history.
… So far Indians have known
Englishmen only as members of the ruling race-supercilious, when they are not
patronizing. The man in the street makes no distinction between such an
Englishmen and a good, humble European, between the Empire-builder Englishman
of the old type that he has known and the new type that is now coming into
being, burning to make reparation for what his fore-fathers did. (ibid, p.61)
A New Chapter
I can’t forget that the story of
Britain’s connection with India is a tragedy of unfulfilled promises and
disappointed hopes. We must deep an open mind. A seeker of truth will never
begin by discounting his opponent’s statement as unworthy of trust. So I am
hopeful, and indeed, no responsible Indian feels otherwise. This time I believe
that the British mean business. But the offer [of independence] has come
suddenly…..
…The tide of bitterness had risen
high and that is not good or the soul…. This is milestone not only in India’s
history and Britain’s but in the history of the whole world….
