Freedom Through Disobedience Part 3

BOYCOTT OF LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS

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

HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY

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

KHADDAR

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

"Our reason in asking the people to take to Charka was not based upon any desire to enter into any compet.i.tion with foreign capitalist production either from without or from within. Our idea is to enable the people to understand and fashion for themselves, their economic life and utilise the spare time of their families and opportunities with a view to create more economic goods for themselves and improve their own condition." The idea is to make the people of this country self-reliant and self-contained.

This work is difficult but essential and should be carried on with all our strength. I would much rather that few families were self-contained than that factories were started on a large scale. Such factories represent a short-sighted policy, and there is no doubt that though it would satisfy the present need it will create an evil which it would be difficult to eradicate. I am naturally opposed to the creation of a new Manchester in India of which we have had sufficient experience. Let us avoid that possibility, if we can.

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

CONCLUSION

It remains to me to deliver to you a last message of hope and confidence.

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

Anger is not for you, hatred is not for you, nor for you is pettiness, meanness or falsehood.

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

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

BANDE MATARAM.

IMPERIALISM IN PRACTICE AND IN THEORY

BY K. M. Panikkar. Re. 1

(_Late Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford_).

Press Opinions.

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

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

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

F. Andrews._

_ARKA PUBLISHING HOUSE_,

George Town, Madras.

BOOKS WORTH READING

Struggle for Swaraj by Pandit Motilal Nehru. As. 4

India and the Empire by Edward Carpenter. " 4

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

A Guide to Matrimonial Alliance by Aristotle " 12

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

National Education by Arabinda Gose Re. 1

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

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

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

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

My Childhood and Boyhood by Tolstoy Re. 1-12

My Youth by Tolstoy Re. 1-12

Life and Writings of Bal Gangadhar Tilak Rs. 4

Tolstoy's Teachings As. 6

ARKA PUBLISHING HOUSE,

_George Town, MADRAS_.

The RELATIONS OF THE s.e.xES

BY COUNT LEO TOLSTOY