The agitator and the poet

When Gandhi preached the law of Non-Resistance in South Africa around 1903, he thought of Tolstoy. Tolstoi was delighted with the results obtained by Gandhi. Tolstoy had no doubt that his distant disciple practiced Non-Resistance as Jesus wanted his law to be practiced. And this was indeed the spirit which originally animated Gandhi. religious by nature.
But, returning to India after the war, here is Gandhi, leader of Hindu nationalism, head of a political party and, as such, obliged to adapt his religious and social views to the possibilities and wishes of the country.

Will Non-Resistance be enough to wrest from Great Britain Swaraj, this Home Rule that the Indian National Congress solemnly demanded in December 1920?

Between Gandhi, on the one hand, and the government of India, on the other, a sort of fight began, at the beginning of which Gandhi declared that he only wanted to practice constitutional opposition. But, either because the crowds overwhelm him, or because the government lacks composure, riots break out and repression follows. In 1919, General Dyer machine-gunned the population of Amritsar. Bloody day, which will go down in history.

The British, at this time, seem to have discounted the physical weakness of their adversaries and, even more, the old enmity which separates, in India, the Hindus from the Muslims.

But “a hundred thousand Englishmen cannot frighten three hundred million human beings,” exclaims Gandhi in one of those writings which resemble proclamations. and “the Saint,” as he is called, preaches unity to his compatriots. As he castigated the Hindus, his brothers, because of their attitude against the Pariahs, he urges them to sacrifice their enmity against the Muslims to the cause of Swaraj. Behind him, more and more crowds are massing.

Then a moving encounter occurs.
Rabindranath Tagore, the great Hindu poet, returns to India after a long stay in Europe. He joined the nationalist leader there.

Tagore regrets seeing Gandhi's moral authority put at the service of politics. Gandhi replies that he is only giving in to necessity.

Tagore criticizes the element of negation contained in this new faith, Non-Cooperation, as practiced in India. Gandhi, for whom Non-Cooperation has become a means of action, replies that the principle is enshrined in old texts.
Tagore cannot countenance the elimination of Western civilization. Gandhi, for whom the boycott of European education and European products is now a weapon of war, responds by showing immense populations that neither machinery nor industrial civilization has been able to rescue from extreme poverty.

Tagore points out the disadvantage of a doctrine which willy-nilly encourages fanaticism. Gandhi says India is playing. his destiny and that this is not the time to examine whether the men who follow him are more or less narrow-minded.
Tagore sees that Gandhi's tactics and doctrine prepare the triumph of the worst nationalism. Gandhi promises not to exclude Europeans if Europeans are willing to conform to the salutary ideal that he offers to all men. from now on, it seems, to reconcile the principles of the disciple of Tolstoi and the action of the Swarajist leader. Impossible for a Westerner!

But for Gandhi, ardent faith ensures the transition between principles and action. Saint Paul also reconciled the two things because he was a man of action.

In fact, Non-Cooperation, in the form of the boycott of European products and the non-payment of taxes owed by the natives to the British administration, became a terribly effective means and Gandhi quickly put the government of India in embarrassment. The viceroy imagines that, with Gandhi disappearing, the agitation will end. On March 10, 1922, the Mahatma was arrested. Gandhi imprisoned became Gandhi martyr and all of India will, for two years, look towards his prison. From afar, Gandhi never ceases to exert his action. The Swarajist party becomes more powerful month by month. In the elections last December he elected forty-two resolute supporters of swaraj to the All-India Parliament, joined by twenty-five independents.

This group of sixty-seven resolute deputies will be joined by several liberal Hindus, whenever it comes to a question of national interest. So much so that in this Assembly of 145 members, the British government, represented by the Viceroy, could find itself in a minority at any moment!

The debate on Swaraj has just begun.

FRANCOIS CRUCY.