{"id":43146,"date":"2014-05-26T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=43146"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:49","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:49","slug":"was-this-gandhis-worst-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/05\/was-this-gandhis-worst-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Was This Gandhi\u2019s Worst Decision?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gandhi<\/a>

Gandhi in the Boer War<\/p><\/div>\n

2014 has been chosen by the British Government to commemorate the\u00a0start of the Great War. The idea strikes me as very odd, unless its aim is to\u00a0encourage a determined effort to avoid war in the future. But there is little\u00a0sign of that in the everyday business of government. However the\u00a0commemoration does give opponents of war the opportunity to present their\u00a0different approaches and peace organisations are attempting to do that this\u00a0year. [See www.noglory.org<\/a> for some events planned]<\/p>\n

But what about Gandhi and WWI ? Let\u2019s start with Gandhi\u2019s first\u00a0experience of war, namely the Anglo-Boer War. Although critical of the\u00a0treatment of Indians by the white South Africans, he believed at this stage in\u00a0his development that the influence of the British Empire was generally\u00a0benign. So, although sympathetic to the Boers, he offered to form an\u00a0ambulance corps of Indian volunteers to serve in the British army. The corps\u00a0was 1,100 strong and for 6 weeks it served in the battlefield removing the\u00a0wounded to field hospitals. Gandhi also felt that this support would improve\u00a0the standing of the Indians in the eyes of the British. In 1906 fighting broke\u00a0out between Zulus and the British and this time Gandhi gathered a smaller\u00a0corps to serve with the British under his command as a sergeant-major. The\u00a0corps in fact helped to treat Zulus who had either been flogged as a\u00a0punishment or were \u2018friendlies\u2019 who had been shot by mistake. In both cases\u00a0Gandhi believed that as the SA Indians accepted the protection of the British\u00a0Empire they should be prepared to defend it when it was under threat.<\/p>\n

Leaving South Africa in 1914 for the last time Gandhi called in at\u00a0London before returning to India but the European war broke out just two\u00a0days before the ship reached port and so once more he felt called on to\u00a0establish an ambulance unit, this time made up of Indians in Britain,\u00a0including many students. Gandhi\u2019s health was poor during his stay but the\u00a0corps was able to give aid to wounded Indians when they started to arrive\u00a0from the front although they were not given permission to go to France. In all\u00a0three cases the Indians led by Gandhi were non-combatants but his actions\u00a0were now criticised by some of his colleagues and friends. His close friends\u00a0and colleagues Henry Polak and his wife Millie Graham Polak objected to this\u00a0support for the war as being inconsistent with ahimsa. Olive Schreiner, the\u00a0South African writer who knew Gandhi wrote to him saying that she had been\u00a0\u201cstruck to the heart \u2026 with sorrow to see that you \u2026 had offered to serve the\u00a0English government in this evil war in any way they might demand of you.\u00a0Surely you, who would not take up arms even in the cause of your own\u00a0oppressed people cannot be willing to shed blood in this wicked\u00a0cause.\u201d [Olive Schreiner by Ruth First and Ann Scott]<\/p>\n

The issue of participation in war was to arise more dramatically when\u00a0he was back in India. The war was not going well for the Allies early in 1918\u00a0and the Viceroy hoped to recruit more Indians for the war in Europe. For this\u00a0purpose he convened a War Conference to which prominent Indians were\u00a0invited. At first Gandhi thought of boycotting it but then decided to attend.\u00a0He was persuaded to support recruitment. The argument put forward on the\u00a0previous occasions still stood. Gandhi always greatly admired bravery \u2013\u00a0perhaps having been a timid child had something to do with that \u2013 and he\u00a0perceived soldiers as displaying bravery. But he also thought that by\u00a0supporting Britain now it could lead to the politicians taking a more generous\u00a0attitude to Indian political aspirations after the war.<\/p>\n

Gandhi then threw himself into a recruiting campaign in the Kheda\u00a0district of Gujarat, significant because only a few months earlier he had\u00a0launched an anti-tax campaign there. But the villagers could see more clearly\u00a0than Gandhi. The contradiction in the votary of nonviolence recruiting for a\u00a0war that had already led to the slaughter of tens of millions of human beings\u00a0was clear to them and they refused to join up. Not only that but villagers did\u00a0not greet Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel who accompanied him, nor feed them\u00a0nor provide carts for the journey and so the recruiters often had to walk 20\u00a0miles a day. Gandhi now experienced non-cooperation used against himself.\u00a0His actions were also once again opposed by friends and colleagues including\u00a0C F Andrews.<\/p>\n

The physical and mental strain on Gandhi led to a severe illness that\u00a0was to last for months. It is clear that there was serious conflict in his mind\u00a0and Erik Erikson the psychoanalyst attributes his physical collapse at least in\u00a0part to a nervous breakdown at this time.<\/p>\n

By the following year the war had ended but the Government had\u00a0decided to pass the Rowlatt Acts which were perceived by Indians as\u00a0oppressive, the very opposite of what Gandhi had expected following his\u00a0support for the Government. So he launched the first all-India satyagraha\u00a0and when a peaceful crowd in Amritsar were massacred by the Army his hope\u00a0for a generous attitude by the Government was finally shattered.<\/p>\n

Over the next decade or so Gandhi\u2019s past attitude to war continued to\u00a0puzzle Western pacifists and some like the noted Dutch pacifist Bart de Ligt\u00a0and the Russian Vladimir Tchertkov, Tolstoy\u2019s former secretary, argued with\u00a0him through correspondence. Gandhi gave the reasons for his participation\u00a0that he had given at the time, reasons that did not satisfy his correspondents.\u00a0However Gandhi spoke and wrote increasingly strongly against war during\u00a0the rest of his life. There was still occasional room for confusion over his\u00a0positions as, although he would not participate in war himself, he knew that\u00a0most people did not share his belief in nonviolence and so he believed there\u00a0were circumstances when such people should fight. On the other hand in the\u00a01930s and 40s he advocated only nonviolent resistance against the forces of\u00a0Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. As on other issues Gandhi\u00a0could be inconsistent, or at least apparently so. But certainly he believed that\u00a0satyagraha was universally applicable and that was the direction in which\u00a0humankind should move and ultimately war should be completely replaced\u00a0by nonviolent action and the willingness to suffer rather than kill.<\/p>\n

Below are some quotations from Gandhi which reveal something of his\u00a0evolving views over the last 30 years of his life, although this did not follow\u00a0a straight unwavering line but rather a clear direction.<\/em><\/p>\n

I hear and read many charges of inconsistency about myself.<\/p>\n

\u2026. Not only did I offer my services at the time of the Zulu revolt but before\u00a0that, at the time of the Boer War, and not only did I raise recruits in India\u00a0during the late war, but I raised an ambulance corps in 1914 in London. If,\u00a0therefore, I have sinned the cup of my sins is full to the brim. I lost no\u00a0occasion of serving the Government at all times. Two questions presented\u00a0themselves to me during all those crises. What was my duty as a citizen of the\u00a0Empire as I then believed myself to be, and what was my duty as an out-and-out\u00a0believer in the religion of Ahimsa \u2013 nonviolence?<\/p>\n

\u2026 Under Swaraj of my dream there is no necessity for arms at all. But I do\u00a0not expect that dream to materialise in its fulness as a result of the present\u00a0effort. Young India 17\/11\/1921<\/em><\/p>\n

I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods even to serve the\u00a0noblest causes. Young India 11\/12\/1924<\/em><\/p>\n

I should be against compulsory military training in every case and even under\u00a0a national Government. Young India 24\/9\/1925<\/em><\/p>\n

I do justify entire nonviolence, and consider it possible in relation between\u00a0man and man and nations and nations; but it is not \u201ca resignation from all\u00a0real fighting against wickedness\u201d. On the contrary, the nonviolence of my\u00a0conception is a more active and more real fighting against wickedness than\u00a0retaliation whose very nature is to increase wickedness.\u00a0Young India 8\/10\/1925<\/em><\/p>\n

By enlisting men for ambulance work in South Africa and in England, and\u00a0recruits for field service in India, I helped not the cause of war, but I helped\u00a0the institution called the British Empire in whose ultimate beneficial\u00a0character I then believed. My repugnance to war was as strong as it is today;\u00a0and I could not then have, and would not have, shouldered a rifle.\u00a0Young India 5\/11\/1925<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026. But that still does not solve the riddle. If there was a national Government,\u00a0whilst I should not take any direct part in any war, I can conceive occasions\u00a0when it would be my duty to vote for the military training of those who wish\u00a0to take it. For I know that all its members do not believe in nonviolence to the\u00a0extent I do. It is not possible to make a person or society nonviolent by\u00a0compulsion.<\/p>\n

\u2026 But the light within me is steady and clear. There is no escape for any of us\u00a0save through truth and nonviolence. I know that war is wrong, is an\u00a0unmitigated evil. I know too that it has to go. I firmly believe that freedom\u00a0won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom. Would that all the acts\u00a0alleged against me were found to be wholly indefensible rather than that by\u00a0any act nonviolence was held to be compromised or that I was ever thought to\u00a0be in favour of violence or untruth in any shape or form.\u00a0Young India 13\/9\/1928<\/em><\/p>\n

I would not yield to anyone in my detestation of war. Young India 7\/2\/1929<\/em><\/p>\n

Czechoslovakia has a lesson for me and us in India. The Czechs could not\u00a0have done anything else when they found themselves deserted by their two\u00a0powerful allies. And yet I have the hardihood to say that, if they had known\u00a0the use of nonviolence as a weapon for the defence of national honour, they\u00a0would have faced the whole might of Germany with that of Italy thrown in.\u00a0They would have spared England and France the humiliation of suing for a\u00a0peace which was no peace; and to save their honour they would have died to a\u00a0man without shedding the blood of the robber. I must refuse to think that\u00a0such heroism, or call it restraint, is beyond human nature. Human nature\u00a0will only find itself when it fully realises that to be human it has to cease to be\u00a0beastly or brutal. Harijan 8\/10\/1938<\/em><\/p>\n

I do not think that the sufferings of Pastor Niemoeller and others have been\u00a0in vain. They have preserved their self-respect intact. They have proved that\u00a0their faith was equal to any suffering. That they have not proved sufficient for\u00a0melting Herr Hitler\u2019s heart merely shows that it is made of harder stuff than\u00a0stone. But the hardest metal yields to sufficient heat. Even so must the\u00a0hardest heart melt before sufficiency of the heat of nonviolence. And there is\u00a0no limit to the capacity of nonviolence to generate heat.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Herr Hitler is but one man enjoying no more than the average span of life.\u00a0He would be a spent force, if he had not the backing of his people. I do not\u00a0despair of his responding to human suffering even though caused by him. But\u00a0I must refuse to believe that the Germans as a nation have no heart or\u00a0markedly less than the other nations of the earth. They will some day or other\u00a0rebel against their own adored hero. If he does not wake up betimes. And\u00a0when he or they do, we shall find that the sufferings of the Pastor and his\u00a0fellow-workers had not a little to do with the awakening. Harijan 7\/1\/1939<\/em><\/p>\n

My personal reaction towards this war is one of greater horror than ever\u00a0before. I was not so disconsolate before as I am today. But the greater horror\u00a0would prevent me today from becoming the self-appointed recruiting\u00a0sergeant that I had become during the last war. Harijan 30\/9\/1939<\/em><\/p>\n

As against this imagine the state of Europe today if the Czechs, the Poles, the\u00a0Norwegians, the French and the English had all said to Hitler: \u201cYou need not\u00a0make your scientific preparation for destruction. We will meet your violence\u00a0with nonviolence. You will, therefore be able to destroy our nonviolent army\u00a0without tanks, battle ships and airships\u201d. It may be retorted that the only\u00a0difference would be that Hitler would have got without fighting what he\u00a0gained after a bloody fight. Exactly. The history of Europe would then have\u00a0been written differently. Possession might (but only might) have been then\u00a0taken under nonviolent resistance., as it has been taken now after\u00a0perpetration of untold barbarities. Under nonviolence only those would have\u00a0been killed who had trained themselves to be killed, if need be, but without\u00a0killing anyone and without bearing malice towards anybody. I dare say that\u00a0in that case Europe would have added several inches to its moral stature. And\u00a0in the end I expect it is the moral worth that will count. All else is dross.\u00a0Harijan 22\/6\/1940<\/em><\/p>\n

Japan is knocking at our gates. What are we to do in a nonviolent way ? If we\u00a0were a free country, things could be done nonviolently to prevent the\u00a0Japanese from entering the country. As it is, nonviolent resistance could\u00a0commence the moment they effected a landing. Thus nonviolent resisters\u00a0would refuse them any help, even water. For it is no part of their duty to help\u00a0anyone to steal their country. But if a Japanese has missed his way and was\u00a0dying of thirst and sought help as a human being, a nonviolent resister, who\u00a0may not regard anyone as his enemy, would give water to the thirsty one.\u00a0Suppose the Japanese compel resisters to give them water, the resisters must\u00a0die in the act of resistance. It is conceivable that they will exterminate all\u00a0resisters. The underlying belief in such nonviolent resistance is that the\u00a0aggressor will, in time, be mentally and even physically tired of killing\u00a0nonviolent resisters. He will begin to search what this new (for him) force is\u00a0which refuses co-operation without seeking to hurt, and will probably desist\u00a0from further slaughter. But the resisters may find that the Japanese are\u00a0utterly heartless and that they do not care how many they kill. The nonviolent\u00a0resisters will have won the day inasmuch as they will have preferred\u00a0extermination to submission. Harijan 12\/4\/1942<\/em><\/p>\n

__________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

George Paxton is a trustee of the Gandhi Foundation, editor of the Gandhi Way and an author of several books on Gandhi.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 gandhifoundation.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although critical of the treatment of Indians by the white South Africans, he believed at this stage in his development that the influence of the British Empire was generally benign. So, although sympathetic to the Boers, he offered to form an ambulance corps of Indian volunteers to serve in the British army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonviolence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}