. A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI MOVEMENT IN INDIA BY W. .H: ROBERTS Pe ns REPRINTED FROM POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY VoL, XXXVIII, No. 2, JUNE, 1923 NEW YORK eg ay: PUBLISHED BY THE wha ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 1923 A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI MOVEMENT IN INDIA BY Wi ti ROBERTS REPRINTED FROM POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY VoL. XXXVIII, No. 2, JUNE, 1923 ae NEW YORK PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 1923 ‘ & Ti } t4 1) CAC MGY fk a Rea yee A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI MOVEMENT IN INDIA followed upon the arrest and imprisonment of Gandhi, affords a convenient point from which to review the extraordinary movement of which he was the inspiration. For the first time it seems possible to estimate in a broad way its permanent results. if Hi apparent lull in Indian political agitation which has Non-Cooperation Though “Indian unrest” has a long history and presents a multitude of aspects, it will be sufficient for our present pur- pose to go back only to the early months of 1920, and to trace the action of but three main forces—the Khilafat Movement, Hindu unrest, and the “Reforms.” The state of mind in India at this time was one of suspense. Theterms of European peace, so far as Turkey was concerned, had not yet been decided. The delay had afforded time for a formidable agita- tion to develop which demanded the restoration of the Sultan of Turkey, Khalif of Islam, to his pre-war position. This movement gained strength and confidence from the obvious hesitancy of the Allies in grappling with the Turkish problem. Certain expressions of Englishmen and Americans, which it was easy to interpret as hostile to the Turks and to the Mo- hammedan religion, were circulated throughout India with ap- propriate comments, and tended to exasperate already strained and tense feeling. It was openly preached that loyalty to religion took precedence over loyalty to the Government, that support of the Allies against the Turks had been a grave error and sin, and that, if Mohammedan demands on behalf of Turkey were not met, the Government could no longer count upon the loyalty. of its seventy million Mohammedan subjects. A notable deputation waited upon the Viceroy to acquaint him with Mohammedan feeling, and another deputa- tion was sent to England to confer with the Premier. The Hindu community was awaiting the decision of the Government 224 228 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vou. XXXVIII with reference to the ‘‘ Punjab Atrocities” of the preceding year. The Hunter Committee, appointed to inquire into the whole affair, had not yet published its findings. There was tension everywhere but also the recognition that the time for action was not yet. In the meantime the Government adver- tised with might and main the “Reforms”. Officials were jubilant over their success in piloting the measures through Parliament. Ata meeting of the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi the Viceroy exclaimed: The present is indeed a critical time in the world’s history, when every nation which hopes to maintain or advance its position in the community of civilized States must stand firm by its traditions and set up a bulwark of sanity and moderation against the forces of disorder and destruction. In India I see no grounds for pessimism. There may be clouds in the sky but the shadows they cast are relieved by much that is bright.* Among the replies, that of Sir Surendranath Banerjee is notable. In his younger days he had been a fierce and implac- able opponent of the Government. His eloquence, more than any other factor, had aroused Bengal to political consciousness. On this occasion with reference to the Reform he said: My Lord, the proclamation announces the birth of a new era. It says, ‘©a new era is opening. Let it begin with a common determi- nation allowing my people and my officers to work together for a common purpose.’’ In so far as the educated Indians are concerned, we shall loyally carry out that mandate and I am sure that the officers of Government and representatives of the European Community will do the same. For good or for evil, for good as I believe, Indians and Europeans have got to live together in this country as fellow citizens of a common Empire. Let us live together in peace and amity, in the cultivation of those friendly relations which alone make for our mutual advantage and our mutual prosperity. We, the educated Indians, are prepared to extend the hand of fellowship to the servants of Government, to the representatives of the European Community. I ask them to grasp it with alacrity. We are prepared to make the first advance. Are they prepared to reciprocate the sentiment and do likewise? 1 India in 1920. No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 229 In March it became evident that Mohammedan hopes would not be realized. A little later the report of the Hunter Committee was published. This report pleased no one. Indians felt that the punishment meted out to the guilty officers was utterly inadequate. Europeans felt that in punish- ing them at all the Government had betrayed men to whose firm and decisive action in a critical time it owed an immense debt. The controversy was carried on in the Press and in Parliament with most regrettable bitterness and Hindu feeling was more than ever outraged. When Gandhi, the Hindu leader,* announced his support of the Khilafat movement, the Government found itself confronted by a new and portentous force in Indian History—Hindu-Moslem Unity. Although Gandhi succeeded in merging the two streams of discontent, it was not for some time apparent what character the new movement would assume. The Ali brothers, Khilafat leaders, favored open rebellion and warfare. It was only by convincing them that this was hopeless that Gandhi won their reluctant and temporary adherence to his program. They were frankly skeptical but agreed to try ‘“ Non-Cooperation”. If it failed, they reserved the right to fall back upon the tradi- tional reliance of their faith, to call for rebellion and war. Henceforth the Ali brothers and Gandhi worked in concert. A stranger contrast can scarcely be imagined than the appear- ance upon the same platform of Shaukat Ali, big, brutal, fanatic, with conflict and slaughter suggested in every speech, and Gandhi, studiedly undramatic in manner and speech, plead- ing for endurance of suffering, sacrifice, brotherliness, self- discipline, and love even for the enemies of his people. The two men fairly represented the ideals of the communi- ties for which they spoke. Of Shaukat Ali we have said enough. In Gandhi were gathered all those traits that Hindus passionately adore. He was an ascetic. He moved about in the world but he lived in God. In comparison with God nothing else was real to him; beside duty nothing else was important. Yet he was no gaunt, repellant figure, such as one 1 After the death of Lokamanya B. G. Tilak. 230 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [V0Ot. XXXVIIE often sees hideous with ashes, with matted hair and with madness in his eyes. Little children were happy in his smile. His gracious manner and simple friendliness were for rich and poor, outcaste and Brahmin alike. He was insignificant in appearance but his simple gesture hushed turbulent assemblies. Wherever he went, vast crowds listened with awe to his quiet, unimpassioned speaking. His invincible courage, his complete indifference to approval or abuse, his uncompromising adher- ence to what he believed his duty, the austerity and purity of his daily life, his devout piety, exalted him almost to divinity :n the minds of his followers. Tales of his miraculous powers were readily believed and his denials were soon lost or for- gotten in the worship of three hundred million devotees. He preached a gospel even more amazing than his person- ality. It was a message of renewed self-respect and regenera- ted manhood, of freedom and a future of spiritual slory for India. Not by warfare was this to be won. Indeed freedom so won would not be worth the cost. Real freedom could come only from moral regeneration. His people must put away weakness, timid servility, deceitfulness, sloth, every form of moral impurity, and put on courage, honor, self-respect, industry. So equipped, they could assert themselves and their mere assertion would be irresistible. They had only to refuse to cooperate with a government that would not meet their desires, and that government, though fortified with all the resources of materialistic science, would find itself powerless. Especially must all forms of hate be replaced by love. Against a love that had no limit and was strong enough to endure all things, the utmost malice and oppression must soon succumb. Then would come victory. And India so freed need fear none but would lead the world to yet undreamed-of spiritual con- quests. The program laid down by which this vision was to be made a reality was probably the most extraordinary that has ever proved a really powerful force in politics. In brief it was one of gradual withdrawal by the Indian people from all coopera- tion with their European masters. It was a “strike ” on the vastest scale yet conceived. Government servants were to No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 231 resign their posts, lawyers their practices, students were to leave their schools and colleges, notable individuals were to discard their titles and honors. When the time was ripe, if the British Government had not heeded the people’s protest, labor- ers were to refuse their labor to foreign employers. Foreign manufactures were to be boycotted—especially cotton cloth. To fill their place industries must be developed within India, especially the once nearly universal art of spinning and weav- ing. Lastly, obedience to laws and payment of taxes were to be refused. Thus a political and economic independence would be established. The whole activity could be success- ful only as it was carried on absolutely without violence and even without bitterness. Once self-control were lost, once the Indian people failed to maintain the highest standard of conduct, the cause would be lost. It was by self-discipline, in- flexible resolution, and triumphant spirituality alone that any- thing could be achieved. All this of course demanded a complete moral regeneration. The Government, as it felt its grasp slipping, would try in every way to goad the people into violence. It was only a morally purified nation that could stand the strain. Men and women, therefore, even children, must purify themselves. Moreover the guilt of a great sin rested as a deadly blight upon Hindu society. Sixty millions of ‘‘ untouchables” were denied the elementary human rights. Until this was changed and “ un- touchability ” abolished, India would not deserve her freedom and would not be fit to use it if it were won. Of such a personality, such a gospel, and such a program it is difficult to write in the ordinary language of political science. They were all so utterly different from the political forces with which we are familiar. In fact the movement could scarcely be called political. The very youngest and least experienced recruit of the ‘‘ Bureaucracy”, just out from England, could point out absurdity after absurdity and the practical impossi- bility of the whole scheme. For this very reason the Govern- ment long underestimated the power and the peril of the agitation. It seemed impossible that any considerable number of men could attach themselves to such a fantastic program. 232 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vot. XXXVIII Gandhi was primarily a saint. He openly confessed that his political thought was derived from the Sermon on the Mount. Because India is India, peculiarly sensitive to religious appeals, the movement spread beyond all expectation. Of the causes that rendered its failure inevitable I shall have enough to say. At this point I wish to insist upon the overwhelming grandeur of the ideal. Gandhi’s vision of a revolution to liberate three hundred million people, achieved not through war or violence but primarily through a moral regeneration, is surely one of the most magnificent that was ever opened to human aspira- tion. And it could not have been resisted by the most stu- pendous accumulation of materials of war. Had his people been capable, spiritually capable, of such a program as Gandhi demanded, they would have been irresistible, and no one could have denied them the spiritual leadership of the world. The Muhajrin We must turn aside here from Gandhi and his gospel to note a dramatic incident that is of interest apart from its somewhat sensational character for the light it throws upon prevailing conditions and the mentality of the people. When Indian Mohammedans realized that they were powerless to assist Turkey, many felt that life under British rule was no longer tolerable. Their thoughts turned naturally to the nearest independent Mohammedan sovereign, the Amir of Afghanis- tan. About eighteen thousand zealots sold all their belongings and in long caravans streamed through the passes on the Northwest Frontier to place themselves under his protection. The first to arrive were welcomed; but the hospitality, of a rugged country and a stern people was soon exhausted. The pilgrims could only retrace their weary journey. Old men and children died by the way; and those who reached home found themselves impoverished for the remainder of their days. Successive Failures | Gandhi’s appeal to office-holders and to the rich and power- ful was disappointing in its results. There were doubtless many who sighed like the rich young ruler of the Christian No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 23% Gospels as they contemplated the prospect of heroic renuncia- tion and spiritual high adventure; but “men of substance” have certain common characteristics the world over. Sub- stance held them. Only an insignificant number cut them- selves loose. The wheels of government rolled as ponderously and smoothly as ever. The next appeal was to the students; and the great ‘‘ Student Strike” like the WZuhajrin, deserves attention for the light it casts upon the character of the whole movement. The schools and colleges of India, the students were told (and let it be noted, with some justification), were institutions for the culti- vation of “slave mentality.” Let them come out from them. In new, ‘“ national” schools they would be trained to robust manhood and service of the “ Mother.” The response was overwhelming. There was no hesitation here. Experienced and thoughtful elders had turned away, but the students thronged in great crowds to: place themselves at the disposal of India’s ‘‘leaders” for the service of their country. Parental authority, prospects of a career, ordinary prudence or timidity, all counted for nothing. The youth of India with glowing zeal and high courage pressed on to the great adventure. It was a magnificent spectacle. Lovers of India were exultant. Great meetings were held, speakers were moved to impassioned eloquence, and large sums of money were promised for the new schools. It was as though men, long confined in a stifling prison, had just drawn their first breath of pure, outdoor air. In a little more than a fortnight nearly all the students were back in their schools and colleges. A great system of education cannot be built inaday. Even a great school requires years for its distinctive ideas and tradi- tions to develop and mature. The vision of a ‘‘ national edu- cation,” drawing its inspiration from the greatness of India, training up erect, alert, masterful yet reverent spirits was, like the vision of the Revolution, a splendid one. But, when those who had drawn and colored it were called upon to make it more than a vision, and actually to provide for the thousands of young lives that had so generously entrusted themselves to 234 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor. XXXVIII their guidance, they were lost. They could provide only a few ill-equipped and precariously financed institutions. They could offer only the same old subjects less efficiently taught. The one new subject in the curriculum of the national schools was— spinning. It was not an encouraging nor an inspiring prospect to those whose hopes of very livelihood were at stake. As one looks back upon this pitiful squandering of youth's priceless offering, it is plain that the whole movement originated in a very superficial and immature estimate of the situation; that it owed its progress to unscrupulous promises by the leaders and the credulity and emotionalism of the student class; and that it was wrecked by incompetence to erapple with its prac- tical problems. In every one of these aspects it was typical of the larger movement of which it formed a part. The Duke of Connaught’s visit at the end of the year did something to lessen the tension. There were hartals, or pub- lic displays of mourning, in some of the large cities through which he passed; but these were only partially successful. The reluctant manner in which the Non-Cooperation leaders’ mandates were obeyed seemed to indicate a weakening of the public interest in Gandhi and his teachings. The royal tour had for its carefully prepared climax the opening of the Chamber of Princes, at Delhi, on the oth of February, 1921. A scene which might have passed into the annals of India merely as a splendid pageant, was rendered memorable by the appeal of Britain's representative, who was also Victoria's son. Conscious of the triviality of all visible pomp and of the in- stability of all Governments that are founded upon aught else than loyal consent and justice, the aged Duke pleaded for that spirit of understanding and cooperation that alone could make Government of any sort possible. Since I landed [he said] I have felt around me bitterness and estrange- ment between those who have been and should be friends. The shadow of Amritsar has lengthened over the fair face of India. I know how deep is the concern felt by his Majesty the King Emperor at the terrible chapter of the events in the Punjab. No one can deplore these events more sincerely and more intensely than I do myself. I have reached a time of life when I most desire to heal No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 235 wounds and to reunite those who have been disunited. In what must be, I fear, my last visit to the India I love so well, here in the new capital, inaugurating a new constitution, | am moved to make you a personal appeal, put in the simple words that come from my heart, not to be coldly and critically interpreted. My experience tells me that misunderstanding usually means mistakes on either side. As an old friend of India I appeal to all of you—British and Indians—to bury along with the dead past the mistakes and misunderstandings of the past, to forgive where you have to forgive, and to join hands and to work together to realize the hopes that arise from today.’ In 1921, the second year of the struggle, we have to notice the increased emphasis upon the boycott of foreign cloth, the raising of ten million rupees to finance the movement, and the growing menace of lawlessness. The shift from a political or educational to an economic agi- tation was hailed by the opponents of Non-Cooperation as a desperate effort to recover a rapidly diminishing prestige and revive a waning interest. Friends of the movement, however, declared that it was merely the next stage in a carefully planned procedure, a step which had been contemplated from the be- ginning. For our purpose it is enough to notice the broader appeal that this move made possible. Only a few could resign offices; students were after all but an infinitesimal fraction of the whole population; but every man, woman and child could wear country-made cloth and spurn the imported fabrics. The advantages to Indian mill-owners would be obvious and appre- ciation of them would doubtless swing over to the movement the support of a wealthy and powerful community. So began a remarkable boycott of foreign cloth. Wearing it was denounced asasin. Ten million rupees were collected, principally to popularize the charka or spinning wheel. Two million charkas in constant use, it was said, would mean swaraj, independence. In many of the principal cities great bonfires were made of English cloth. In some cases Gandhi himself, after suitable ceremonies, applied the torch. In the bazars pickets, sometimes in uniform, threatened those who sold 1 [India in 1920, 236 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vou XXXVIII the imported cloth with the reproaches of their country and not seldom with physical violence. Everywhere khaddar or homespun was proclaimed the only possible dress for patriots. An active agitation against the liquor traffic was linked with that for the boycott and lent to the political and economic movement a prestige derived from Indian morality and religion. This movement achieved a large measure of success and was responsible for an extraordinary diminution in India’s principal import. It brought with it, however, a burden of suffering. English cloth is better and cheaper than Indian. There are not mills enough in India to supply the normal demand and it is fatuous to suppose that home spinning and weaving can be revived on a nation-wide scale in a single year—or in several. Thus the burden of the boycott fell heavily on the poor. It is interesting to note that Mr. C. F. Andrews, an Englishman of saintly character if of somewhat eccentric views, a devoted friend of Gandhi and a passionate lover of India, whose delight it had been to go about in a native dress of kkaddar that Gandhi had given him, appeared before the National Congress at Ahmedabad in European dress and declared that he sought in this way to signalize ‘his disapproval of the boycott and the bonfires. While the burnings of cloth were spectacular advertisements of Non-Cooperation, and the raising of the crore (10,000,000 ) of rupees was another, the real work of the movement was done far away from the cities and out of sight. While oppo- nents were exulting over its decline, doctrines of disaffection, legends of the Mahatma’s miraculous powers, prophecies of a glorious day soon to dawn, were diffusing through the vast rural population of India. An immense and highly efficient organization was developed. Bands of volunteers were formed to preach the new gospel of non-violence and khaddar. In many places the police and the petty officials were brushed aside and found themselves mere spectators of a government carried on without their advice or guidance. As the move- ment grew, “volunteers” in uniform drilled openly in the streets and squares of the large cities or paraded with banners while shouting the praise of Mahatma Gandhi. One could No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA G29 not blame simple-minded villagers and peasants for believing, on the evidence of what they heard and saw, that the British Raj was indeed ended and the Gandhi Ra about to commence. The consequences which everyone but Gandhi knew were inevitable, duly appeared. Disorders in outlying districts be- came increasingly alarming. Finally, in southwest India, a sturdy, stupid, fanatical Mohammedan people, the Moplahs, broke into open rebellion. Alas for glowing eloquence upon the new Hindu-Moslem Unity! The Moplahs proved true to the traditions which have characterized militant Mohammedan- ism in India. Forced conversions, murder, torture, mutilation and worse, marked the progress of the rebellion. The Mop- lahs were brave fighters, the pursuit of small bands through a difficult country was hazardous and tedious, and it was many months before quiet was restored. When the Prince of Wales landed at Bombay, the occasion was made one for savage and bloody rioting in a section of the city. Not long afterward about a score of Indian policemen at Chauri Chaura became engaged in an altercation with a Hindu crowd. The altercation became a fight. The police were driven into the station house. A couple of guns kept a crowd of several thousand at bay for some time, but the am- munition was soon exhausted. The crowd then set the station house on fire. As the unfortunate men rushed from the burn- ing structure they were beaten to death with clubs or thrust back into the ames. Their charred bodies were ghastly testi- mony to the temper of “the mild Hindu” once roused. Gandhi’s son, as he viewed the sickening sight, was moved to write his father that here was a crime to be compared with the Amritsar massacre. Gandhi himself was horrified. He spoke of it as the third warning from God that his people were not yet ready for lib- erty. He imposed upon himself a five days’ fast. Yet, with a curious resilience which is difficult to understand and which has characterized him upon similar occasions before, he came back from his mourning and fasting more determined than ever to press on to a speedy decision. One step alone remained to be taken, the most momentous 238 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII of all—‘ Civil Disobedience.” This meant the refusal of taxes, refusal to obey laws, refusal to perform any of the duties of citizens. It would mean acessation of government. Would it mean also anarchy and terror? Were the people ready? Could they be trusted to maintain order and sobriety in such trying circumstances and in face of the narsh repressive meas- ures that the Government would undoubtedly take. After long hesitation, it was resolved to try the experiment in a single section of the country that was believed to be peculiarly pre- pared for it. Before the plan could be put in force, however, Gandi was arrested and a critical chapter in Indian history was closed. For two years the Government had watched the growth of a movement openly professing to be aimed at its destruction. It had seen its authority weakening, its officers held up to public ignominy. It had hoped to meet propaganda with argument, but there was something ponderous, elephantine, in its procedure. Gandhi was a far more skilled manipulator of public opinion. Only the appeal to force was left. Reluct- antly and only at the last possible moment the Government decided to make that appeal. The Ali brothers were the first to be imprisoned; then, one after another the prominent leaders in all parts of India were arrested. Gandhi alone seemed to enjoy an inexplicable immu- nity. Indeed some of the hotter spirits among the Khilafat workers went so far as to accuse him of having been a Govern- ment agent from the beginning. This could not continue, however. Implacable and imperturbable, he continued his struggle against the British power until on the 11th of March he, too, fell victim.' The circumstances attending the arrest were congruous with all that had gone before. Gandhi had long expected it. He 1Tt should be noted, however, that almost his last official activity was to oppose plans calling for the immediate inauguration of civil disobedience. An important section of the English press considered that his arrest just at this zime was typical of a certain ponderous stupidity in Government. It seemed that he was at last beginning to realize the peril of his movement and that there was hope he would guide it into safer channels, No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 239 had indeed calculated its time with considerable nicety. A few hours before it was to take place he was considerately notified. When the police appeared before his house, they were met with simple, quiet dignity. A few of his closest friends joined him in a hymn, a reading from the Gz/a, and a prayer. He took with him a few personal effects and went quietly to jail. Present Problems and Abiding Results “The story of the trial of Gandhi and his speech is to mea classic equal to a passage from the Gospels or from the Trial and Death of Socrates. And I am sure that it will go down to posterity as a piece of history more important than the rise of the British Empire”. So writes a highly cultured Englishman who, with peculiar abandon, is giving his life to service of the Indian people. Perhaps he is right. A simple yet majestic dignity marked the bearing of India’s spiritual emperor, as he confronted the might of the greatest earthly power of history. With sublime fortitude he accepted the sentence pronounced by a reluctant judge, acknowledging that it was reasonable and just. jp And yet, over the whole of India—relief! Relief to the harrassed government officials, as they realized that the chal- lenge of lawlessness and rebellion was at last accepted. Relief to thousands of perplexed and dismayed Europeans who for two years had watched with growing alarm the supine inaction of the Government before an ever more plainly vis- ‘ble and ever more formidable menace of anarchy and _ blood- shed. Relief, I venture to think, to some at least of the “extremist leaders” who had played with matches and now stood aghast at the threatened conflagration. Relief, perhaps, to Gandhi himself. It is difficult to see what other course the Government could have taken. Gandhi himself named only one alternative—ab- dication. A formidable rebellion in southwest India had been crushed only after months of difficult guerilla warfare. ‘National Volunteers” in uniform were parading the streets of all the larger cities, shouting that the British Raj was ended 240 ; POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Voi. XXXVIII and the Gandhi Raj about to commence. In outlying districts the labor on the plantations and in the collieries was hampered and distracted. ‘There were grave apprehensions as to the loyalty of the army. Unrest was everywhere. Danger was everywhere. To have ignored longer the challenge of the Gandhi movement would indeed have been to abdicate. As Gandhi contemplated the prospect of his arrest, which he knew was inevitable, he addressed his followers in words that recall the saying of a Greater, “It is expedient for you that I go away”. He had summoned his people to a severe discipline of self-control, moral purification and toil; he had repeatedly told them that until they had put away servility, deceitfulness, hate, indolence, and assumed instead courage, honesty, love and industry, until they had eradicated “ untouchability ” from their social system, and until they had resumed cottage spin- ning and weaving on an immense scale, swaraj could never come. Yet, although not a single one of these conditions had been fulfilled, the current of political conflict had carried him on from stage to stage of his revolutionary program, until its ultimate phase, “civil disobedience”, had already been decreed. He must often have doubted, indeed he had said he did doubt, his people’s capacity for such a gospel, their readi- ness for the privileges and responsibilities of freedom. If he were imprisoned, tales of his miraculous powers and prophecies of the wonders he was to work would be discredited. His gospel would make its appeal on its spiritual worth alone. Men ceasing to look for an apocalyptic glory, a spectacular overturning of the ruling power, or any other magical attain- ment of swaraj, would give their attention and their effcrt to building the solid, if somewhat prosaic, foundations for the New India. The restraints of government upon outward activ- ities would only deepen spiritual energies. When it became apparent that violence and disorder could never win a physical kingdom, the spiritual kingdom would gain new meaning. So it was perhaps with a measure of relief that he greeted those who came to arrest him. In European circles the feeling was very different. ‘‘ Now we shall have peace,’ was the almost universal expression. No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 241 Europeans believe that Indians were never so well off as they are today. They believe that British rule is the greatest con- ceivable blessing to India. Dissatisfaction, the stirring of the masses from their customary apathy, are therefore always the work of wicked, malicious and deceitful agitators. Fortunately these are generally cowardly and are soon subdued by a show of force. The Gandhi movement had thrived only because the Government had allowed itself to appear helpless. Now that it had roused to determined action, unrest would soon disappear and the agitators would “come to heel.” For a time the people had hesitated in their loyalty, for it was not clear whether power lay with the British Government or with Gandhi. Now chat question was settled, things would go on as before. Will India “come to heel”? Will her people set themselves with determination to the long, grim, wearisome task of prepar- ing themselves for freedom? Or, a third possibility, will the revolution, deprived of Gandhi's spiritualizing and restraining influence, guided by lesser men, assume a violent character and plunge the country into the horrors of a civil war? We can only wait and see. Calcutta merchants or Assam tea planters are imperfectly qualified to judge the temper of ‘the Indian People”. The tourist or journalist who feeds upon extremist literature and thinks the eloquence therein means what it would mean if uttered by Americans, is not qualified at all. The Government itself does not know. It has its men of broad intelligence and comprehensive understanding ; but they are separated from the common people by ponderous routine and insurmountable barriers of official ritual. For the Non-Cooperation movement in its original form it is difficult to see any future. Its history has been one of failure at every stage. Government servants have not resigned their posts, nor eminent men their titles. ‘National Schools” have by no means replaced the former system of education. Home spinning and weaving have not been resumed on any large scale. Imports of foreign cloth, though they have diminished, have not nearly ceased. ‘ Untouchability ” has not been abolished. Hindu-Moslem unity has not been established. Not one of the avowed aims has been realized. 242 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor. XXXVIII The fundamental and really devastating objection to Gandhi's whole program is that the Indian people are not remotely capable of such a revolution as he preached. The atrocities of the Moplah Insurrection or the ghastly outrage at Chauri Chaura are more reliable indexes to Indian character and feel- ing than Gandhi’s most notable utterances on “soul force”, love of enemies, or non-violence. During certain troubles at Chandpur the saintly C. F. Andrews addressed a meeting and pleaded against a threatened strike. The prestige which he enjoyed as an intimate friend of Gandhi and his own record of conspicuous and devoted service to the Indian people barely sufficed to obtain for him an indifferent hearing. The applause of the meeting was for a notorious ruffian who with appropriate gestures shouted, ‘ This right hand has killed ten men and I am ready to kill many more.” Into the story of the peculiarly in- sensate strike that followed there is no need to go. The inci- dent throws a flood of light upon the real temper of Gandhi's most vociferous followers; and such illustrations could easily be multiplied. The curious blending of religious idealism and _ political expediency which characterized the Non-Cooperation move- ment has appealed to every observer as its most striking aspect. I cannot but regard this as Gandhi’s disastrous blunder. A gospel such as his is only injured by close alliance with such a political agitation as developed. Suppose for a moment that Christ had made the center of His gospel the expulsion of the Romans from Judea! Suppose He had made the achievement of His aim within a few years the test of His success! The compromises necessitated by political conflict tended from the first to weaken Gandhi’s spiritual appeal. Followers were attracted and actuated by a variety of motives which did not contribute to the moral regeneration which was his real aim. Propaganda of the most virulent and unscrupulous char- acter grew up about his figure. He repeatedly expressed his disapproval of it and as often professed his own humility; but he would not or could not check it. As the idealism of Gandhi’s message suffered from its con- nection with a political agitation, so the political movement was. No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 243 weakened by a lack of contact with the prosaic, every-day realities of Indian need. The movement was negative in name and character. Its emphasis was upon destruction and it lacked either sharply defined aims or a constructive program. One searches in vain for illuminating utterances on labor problems, education, sanitation, village betterment, or the form of government to be enjoyed once swaray is won. To questions on such points Gandhi would serenely reply that, once India was free, the awakened genius of her children could be trusted to solve all such problems. Certain outstanding characteristics of Gandhi’s activity are difficult to reconcile with that complete sincerity that has been universally acknowledged as his most admirable quality. It is difficult to understand his championship of Mohammedan ambitions except as an astute move to win Mohammedan support. It is hard to see how he could ignore the patent fact that Indian Mohammedans are interested in India only asa unit in Islam—a very different feeling from the passionate love of Hindus for the ‘“‘ Mother.” I have already noted the manner in which he pressed on from stage to stage of his revolutionary program, although not one of the conditions which he had laid down as indispensable to such progress was ever met. 4, He professed and based his action upon a faith in his people, in their spirituality, their self-control, their willingness to sacri- fice, that to anyone else appeared fatuous. All these, however, are explained by reference to the blind- ness of his intense patriotism. This limitation becomes of tragic significance, when we observe the lofty ideas and the failure to which it has led one of the world’s purest and most forceful personalities. It is one of the finest features of his character and teaching that he has attacked in the most deter- mined and vigorous manner the “curse of untouchability ”. So long as sixty million Indians are denied the elementary human rights, he has repeatedly told his people, India does not deserve freedom and will never win it. But against Hinduism as a whole he has said nothing. He glories in being a Hindu and idealizes hopelessly beyond reason the history and the character of his people. His reverence for India has led him 244 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII to underestimate sadly, indeed to misunderstand, elements of western culture and life that would be of untold value to India. It has led him to seek a return to primitive simplicity instead of a pressing on to a mastery of present complexities. It has rendered him unable to perceive the weaknesses of his country- men or their incapacity for the revolution of which he dreamed. Thus he was led to attempt in a year or in two years a work which should have been left to the ages and to delude the people he loved so well with impossible promises of speedy and easy triumph. The weakness of Non-Cooperation will become increasingly obvious, as the glamor of Gandhi’s personality fades and as men turn from visions to face realities. There will always be the Moderate at hand with his insinuating whisper that all the concrete advantages reasonable men have any right to expect may be achieved through the legitimate constitutional agitation for which the ‘‘ Reforms” provide opportunity. In addition to being the easier course, constitutional agitation will offer the alluring prospect of easy victories and results which can be seen of all men. The Extremist following is so enor- mous, it is so skillfully and closely organized, that opposition in the elections need not be considered. Gandhi always regarded the ‘‘ Reforms” as an insidious temptation. They were for him the broad and pleasant way that, we are told, leads to destruction. Unquestionably they are the Government’s best reply to his attack. In so far as they afford opportunities for the effective expression of Indian opinion (and they do) and for influence upon Govern- ment policies (they have), they tend to make Non-Cooperation not only hazardous but unnecessary. The Government is of course fully alive to this fact and will spare no effort to prove that just such opportunities are offered. Less heroic souls than Gandhi will prefer an office to a cell. And indeed it can scarcely be a reproach to a politician or patriot that he finds a Council a more advantageous point from which to serve his country than a prison. So it seems possible that the majority of those who have hitherto formed the Non-Cooperation movement will “ rush” No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 245 the coming elections which until now they have attempted to boycott. Once in office they may wreck the ‘“ Reforms” by adopting such an obstructive policy as will make them unworkable; or they may put through really constructive legis- lation and accomplish much for the lasting good of India. The choice will show whether they are patriots or mischief-makers, statesmen or mere demagogues. A group of irreconcilables must indeed be reckoned with. Their fulminations against the existing order, however, will arouse less and less public interest. In time it is possible that Gandhi’s followers will become one of the innumerable sects of Hinduism. It is quite possible that there will be outbreaks of violence; but there is little reason to anticipate anything like a universal rising. Anything less than a determined revolt of all India will be futile. So at least the situation appears to a western mind, but it must be remembered that the Indian mind does not work along the lines to which ours have been accustomed. Anything is possible. Some things, however, admit of no dispute. Some things we can be sure will never again be as they have been. These changes may be loss or gain; but changes they are. The full significance of Gandhij’s life and work must be left for the future to reveal; but some real and abiding results are already apparent. The writer of an article entitled “Gods or Brothers,” which appeared in Everybody's of May, I9Il, tells an amusing story of two American travelers in India, who were much perplexed at what seemed to them their resemblance to some important personages in the land. Wherever either went, guards and police saluted them, perfect strangers salaamed with deep respect. It was the same in all cities. For whom were they mistaken? Some very great man indeed it must be. It was puzzling enough. In time however, they learned that the salutes and salaams were for them not as individuals but as members of the white race. It was white prestige. The wide-reaching significance of this “ prestige,” the pictur- esque deeds of daring that won it, the integrity of character that earned it, the good or evil of it, we need not discuss ; for it is no more. A show of respect is indeed still kept up, but in 246 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII many subtle ways the bearing of the brown man to the white has changed. It is visible on every hand—in the press, in labor movements, in the contacts of daily life. Many factors have contributed to this result. The Great War with its accompanying burdens of taxation and high prices, the disasters that befell the Allied armies, the awfulness of the slaughter and devastation, America’s part in the struggle and her record in the Philippines, have all given occasion for intense thought. More important has been the spread of education through universities and schools and especially through the Press. It is significant that my servant was anxious to get my views upon the cultivation of jute as compared with the growing of rice, that he watched the progress of the Genoa Conference with keen attention, and that he liked to supplement the carefully censored news of my English paper with bits of his own upon conditions in Europe or Asia Minor. It was significant not because it complicated my domestic arrangements (fortunately it did not), but because in this in- terest and alertness to the news of the day my servant was typical of the new India. Such a range of information, such freedom of inquiry, does not furnish the soil on which “prestige” can flourish. When we speak of education, however, we must not forget that it has been English education. There is a social dynamite in English thought and institutions. It was as champions. of English rights that our forefathers won American liberty. Indian students of English history cannot fail to find in it stimulus and guidance for their own patriotic aspirations. No amount of Toryism among British officials, no assumptior by individuals of the manners or prerogatives of the oriental despots they have replaced, no stupid adherence to “ classical” education upon the English model, can forever confine the explosive energies of English political idealism. To any act of tyranny or oppression the unanswerable rebuke is that it. is not British: and this rebuke is more potent than machine guns or artillery. Nor should it be forgotten that Britain herself contributed deliberately to the destruction of her “ prestige”. When India No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 247 sent her army to France and assisted in checking the Ger- man rush, British gratitude ran high. In all quarters it was felt that after such sacrifice and service India could no longer be a mere possession but must be drawn into a close partner- ship of mutual respect and affection. The task of making this gratitude effectual fell to the hand of Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford. With the ‘ Reforms”, the result of their labors, it is easy to find fault; but the fundamental idea, the ultimate aim, is magnifi- cent. The only features which we can pause to note here are the provisions for the transfer of certain departments to /udian officers, the gradual Indianization of the Services, and the great enlargement of the powers of representative assemblies. By these means it is hoped to educate for free and responsible government a people three times as numerous as our own, in a country as large as all of Europe west of Russia. Already there has been an Indian governor of a province. High English officials yield to the authority of their Indian superiors. Indians address you with a freedom which unfamiliarity and awkwardness make you sometimes mistake for rudeness. Labor- ers strike, servants leave your employ with a jaunty careless- ness that is at least disconcerting. Whether you find it dismay- ing or inspiring depends upon your point of view. And so race prestige is gone forever. With the disappearance of race prestige (military, physical, economic prestige remain), probably as a corollary of it, has come a consciousness of the power that lies in united action. The Hindu-Moslem breach has not been closed; but that under Gandhi’s inspiration men have grown accustomed to think of a national unity at all is a fact of tremendous import. On a lower plane, though perhaps of more immediate inter- est, must be noted the multiplying of strikes, the spread of unionism, the appearance of a labor problem. On the devel- opment of the labor movement in India, which at bottom is only a new consciousness of power, vast issues depend which reach out far beyond India and which help to make India one of the most fascinating problems of our time. Cheap labor available in immense quantities is just as real a field for capital- 248 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY istic exploitation as a rich deposit of coal or gold or oil. At one time men saw visions of a great migration of capital from western lands to India and China. There is not, however, the same certainty about labor that is characteristic of a mineral deposit. Moreover the powerful labor parties in the west will have something to say. British labor at least is well organized, politically powerful, and fully awake to the possibility of oriental competition. Every stirring of Indian unionism, every agitation for increased wages or shortened hours, will be watched with keen intelligence and sympathy. Stimulus, suid- ance, political support will be freely given. America and the Dominions may exclude Asiatics from their soil but they will not thereby escape the competition of oriental labor. Even tariffs will not provide an impregnable defense. It iS a subtler move, and a nobler one, to raise the conditions and the price of oriental labor to some sort of equality with the standards that prevail in western countries. Such a policy may not be avowed by any labor party. There may be no conscious aim of this nature. Yet powerful forces tend in this direction and are bound to have their effect. Beside vanished “prestige” and a new consciousness of power in united action we must realize also that there is throughout the land a vision of a new and glorified India. The vision lacks details, it is not sharply focused, it is blurred and confused; but a vision there is. Perhaps students and teachers in the universities dwell most upon it; but workers in offices and factories, the millions of inarticulate peasants, all have had glimpses of it. Some day that vision may become distinct. Some day a greater than Gandhi may make it real. W. H. ROBERTS LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY vw it Tey Wie Wa Is t Wa Ay pi . ; Hy i RANG ié THE ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK iia tha acd as The Academy of Political Science is affiliated with Columbia University and is composed of men and women interested in polit- ical, economic and social questions. The annual dues are five — dollars. Members receive the Political Science Quarterly and the Proceedings of the Academy and are entitled to free admission to all meetings, lectures and receptions under the auspices of the Academy. 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