Rajaram Vinayak Gogate

“ In spite of this discouraging aspect of human nature, it is possible with a little sober deliberation to discern that there are still other elements in human nature, viz., reason and righteousness, which persist in bringing forth in the midst of a matter-mad humanity personalities that are at once human and capable of revealing the divine potentialities of men. All greatness has to stand the test of time, and judged by this standard, one is happily surprised to realize that those civilizations which are called primitive, are the only ones that have brought forth permanent values. ”

“ I am here to invite and to submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a crime, but which is the first duty of every citizen ... Affection can not be manufactured or regulated by law. I hold it to be a virtue to be disaffected towards a government which, in its totality, has done more harm to India than any previous system ... ”

“ Mahatma Gandhi is opposed to industrialization of India because, like many opponents of industrialism in the West, he sees in it a serious obstacle to simple life. His stand against industrial progress is based on moral considerations rather than on economic principles. His deep interest in the human being makes him revolt against machinery—the modern monster—as he conceives it, which is grinding man down. About the workers in the mills he says: “The workers in the mills of Bombay have become slaves. The condition of the women working in the mills is shocking. ”

“ It is physical and brutal ill-treatment of humanity which has made many of my co-workers and myself impatient of life itself.”
In any struggle between nationalism and imperialism more than one policy of activity is responsible for the achievement of the goal. Also the causes for such diversity of policy are many. It is not, therefore, only the desire of the British imperialists and die-hards to perpetuate the vested interests of their country in the soil of India which has kept India’s aspirations for freedom down but there are other important causes as well. ”

“ In the struggle between capital and labor it may be generally said that more often than not the capitalists are in the wrong box. But when labor comes to realize its own strength, I know it can become more tyrannical than capital. To use violence to secure rights may seem to be an easy path but it proves to be thorny in the long run.”
“A satisfactory solution of the condition of labor must include,” suggests Gandhi:
The hours of labor must leave the workmen some hours of leisure. They must get facilities for their own education. ”

“ Labor.—Gandhi is a worker. His whole career has been distinguished by his extraordinary love for work that is productive, elevating and emanicipating. He abhors talk, and in all he has ever said he shows lack of oratory and rhetoric. No other leader of India has been so directly and staunchly associated with the cause of the Indian workers whether they be farmers or workers in the mills. ”

“ But you must not mistake my condemnation of the system for that of the man. My religion requires me to love him as I love myself. I have no interest in living except to prove the faith in me. I would deny God if I do not attempt to prove it at this critical moment. ”

“ All of you Christians, missionaries and all, should begin to live like Jesus Christ, (2) that you must practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down, (3) that you make love central in your lives, for love is central in Christianity, and (4) you should study the non-Christion religions more sympathetically to find out the good that is in them in order to have a more sympathetic approach to the people.”
Gandhi offered these suggestions in full sincerity, and in them is embodied one of the greatest challenges ever given to the West. ”

“ Wherever machinery has captured the industries, Indian workers have not been slow to follow in the steps of their fellow-laborers in the West. They have been forced to organize trade unions, and the movement is growing fast. In 1920 the membership of Indian trade unions was 500,000. In 1922 it rose to 1,500,000. There is considerable labor unrest in India and many strikes on a large scale have occurred all over the country during the past few years.
Gandhi has, on all occasions, stepped forward to champion the cause of Indian workers and peasants. ”

“ It is to the credit of Western Christianity that many of its prominent divines have been moved to call Gandhi the greatest living man of the world and many others have been liberal enough to speak of him in the same breath with Christ. We in India are especially happy for this honesty of courage displayed by the prominent ministers of the Christian gospel, for this is highly promising in bringing about a healthy understanding and appreciation between the two great faiths. ”

“ I believe in loving my enemies ... I believe in the power of suffering to melt the stoniest heart ... We must by our conduct demonstrate to every Englishman that he is safe in the remotest corner of India as he professes to feel behind the machine gun.”
This interpretation of his faith when applied to the movement he was leading, viz, non-violent non-cooperation with the British bureaucracy in India, at once explains both the material weakness and the spiritual strength of his position. ”

“ When organized labor succeeds in securing increased wages and shorter hours of work, Gandhi feels that the money thus received should be devoted to the education of the children of the workers and the time saved for their own education. He advises the mill owners to open restaurants for their employees, where they can get pure milk, which has become such a rarity in the industrial centers of India, and wholesome food for moderate prices, by running these restaurants at cost. Employers should open reading rooms and provide harmless amusements and games. ”

“ Our non-violence teaches us to love our enemies. By non-violent non-cooperation we seek to conquer the wrath of English administrators and their supporters. We must love them and pray to God that they might have wisdom to see what appears to us to be their error. It must be the prayer of the strong and not of the weak. In our strength must we humble ourselves before our maker. ”

“ Unfortunately, however, divide et impera policy pursued by the bureaucracy in India has augmented the disunity, and the Hindus and Moslems are ever being played off one against the other with disastrous success. Mahatma Gandhi, therefore, postulated the freedom of India upon the communal unity of the peoples of India. He holds that the various communities inhabiting India must learn to replace their communal self consciousness by the larger national consciousness. ”

“ Foreign cloth must be totally banished from the Indian market, if India is to become an economically free nation, if her peasantry is to find honorable employment during times of famine and such other visitations. Protection of her staple industry is her birthright. I would therefore protect the Indian mills against foreign competition, even though for the time being it may result in mulcting the poor people. ”

“ No nation worthy of the name can possibly afford to so misuse her children. At least up to the age of sixteen the children must be kept in school. Similarly the women must also be gradually weaned from mill labor.”
This shows in what unmistakable terms Gandhi has given his serious thought to the problems of Indian workers, and, in spite of reasonable difference of opinion that one may hold with regard to Gandhi’s economic theories, it is refreshing to note that, after the manner of all really great men of the past, his soul is keenly concerned with the uplift and well-being of the toiler. ”

“ It may be considered a heresy, but I am bound to say that it were better for us to send money to Manchester and to use flimsy Manchester cloth than to multiply mills in India....By using Manchester cloth we would only waste our money, but by reproducing Manchester in India, we shall keep our money at the price of our blood, because our very moral being will be sapped, and I call in support of my statement the very mill hands as witnesses. And those who have amassed wealth out of factories are not likely to be better than other rich men. ”

“ Nations have risen and fallen, leaving behind them a lesson which, if looked in the face, could help to save further disintegration of humanity. But the intoxication of material power is still too great for mankind, and one has to agree with Edmund Burke in his assertion that men do not learn from history. ”

“ It was during this period of his stay in South Africa that Gandhi came to know Count Tolstoy and studied his philosophy of passive resistance. Gandhi was successful in organizing the Indian Colony into a unit and followed a policy of non-cooperation with the so-called whites whenever he was compelled to and a policy of cooperation and helpfulness whenever he could. Thus during the Boer War in 1899, during the plague of 1904 and again during the native revolt of 1908 Gandhi organized his colony for public relief and did all he could to serve his opponents. ”

“ Like the saints of old, he has given full measure of his powers to the service of his fellowmen and also simultaneously has adopted a mode of life which is calculated to purify and emancipate his being from the material fetters of wordly existence. He is not only proving in his life what is best in the Hindu mysticism but is effecting a happy union between what is truly spiritual, humane and honorable in the cultures of the East and the West. ”

“ It would be folly to assume that an Indian Rockefeller would be better than the American Rockefeller. Impoverished India can be free but it would be hard for an India made rich through immorality to regain freedom.”
When Gandhi faces the realities of economic and industrial situation obtaining in India, he becomes a follower of Alexander Hamilton. ”

“ He does not oppose peoples producing things of comfort and convenience, and thus experiencing the bliss of prosperity. He fears, for good reason indeed, the effects of large scale productions which remove personal initiative of the consumer and which gradually but inevitably renders him hopelessly dependent upon the impersonal providers of human wants.
Why Gandhi Emphasizes the Spinning Wheel.—India in the past had a very flourishing cotton industry, and Gandhi, like other Indian nationalists, believes that it was deliberately destroyed to benefit the British merchants. ”

“ Religion.—Mahatma Gandhi calls himself a Hindu, although many religions have claimed him. Staley Jones, an American evangelist in India, once asked Mahatma Gandhi whether it would not be a desirable thing to see Christianity naturalized in India, and as a part of national life contribute its power to the uplift of India. ”

“ Provision should be made for an adequate supply of milk, clothing and necessary education for their children. There should be sanitary dwellings for the workmen. They should be in a position to save enough to maintain themselves in old age. ”

“ In a region about 150 to 200 miles from Calcutta the minimum quantities of iron deposits are estimated up to the present, of ore containing not less than sixty per cent of iron, or 2,832,000,000 tons, on a conservative basis. ”

“ The chief among these is the lack of unity among the various communities which constitute the Indian nation. Although modern Indian culture and literature have been the joint product of Hindu-Moslem creative endeavor, dividing historical memories have persisted. ”