GANDHI’S COUNSEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 April 1939, Page 5

GANDHI’S COUNSEL

POLICY OF NON-VIOLENCE TO DEFEAT FASCISM. STRENGTH THROUGH PASSIVE RESISTANCE. Gains recorded by Fascism through violence, or threat of violence. are questioned by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian National Congress leader, who sees in the patient struggle of Pastor Martin Niemoller against religious intolerance and the yielding of the Czech nation after the Munich Conference a source of strength through passive resistance that must eventually have its effect upon the oppressor. Mr Gandhi notes the close similarity between the German pastors policy and the Hindu ideal of Satyagraha—insistance of truth by passive resistance—and says in his own organ. Harijan: “I do not think the sufferings of Pastor Niemoller and others have been in vain. They have preserved their self-respect intact, they have proved their faith was equal to any suffering. That they have not proved sufficient for melting Herr Hitler’s heart merely shows it is made, of a harder material than stone. But the hardest metal yields to sufficient heat... And there is no limit to the capacity of nonviolence to generate heat.... RESPONSE HELD CERTAIN. ‘•Herr Hitler is but one man enjoying no more than the average span of life. He would be a spent force if he had. not the backing of his people. I do not despair of his responding to human suffering even though caused by him. But I must refuse to believe the Germans as a Nation have no heart or markedly less than the other nations of the earth. They will some day or other rebel against their own adored hero, if he does not wake up betimes. And when he or they do, we shall find the sufferings of the Pastor and his fellow workers had not a little to do with the awakening.” Referring to the.situation of Czechoslovakia in the same journal, he writes: “It is clear the small nations must either come or be ready to come under protection of the dictators or be a constant menace to the peace of Europe. In spite of all the goodwill in the world, Britain and France cannot save them. Their intervention can only mean’ bloodshed and destruction such as has never been seen before. If I were a Czech, therefore, I would free these two nations from the obligation to defend my country. And yet I must I would not be a vassal to any nation or body. I must have absolute independence or perish. To seek to win in a clash of arms would be pure bravado. Not so, if in defying the might of one who would deprive me of my independence I refuse to obey his will and perish unarmed in the attempt. In so doing, though, I lose the body. I save my honour. OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED ' “This inglorious peace should be my opportunity. I must live down the humiliation and gain real independence. “‘But,’ says a comforter, “Hitler knows no pity. Your spiritual effort will avail nothing before him.' “My answer is, “You may be right. History has no record of a nation having adopted non-violent resistance. If Hitler is unaffected by my suffering, it does not matter. For I shall have lost nothing worthwhile. My honour is the only thing worth preserving. That is independent of Hitler’s pity. But as a believer in nonviolence. I may not limit its possibilities. Hitherto he and his likes have built upon their invariable experience that men yield to force. Unarmed men, women and children, offering non-violent resistance without any bitterness in them will be a novel experience'’for them. Who can dare say it is not in their nature to respond to the higher and finer forces?’ , “ ‘But,’ says another comforter. ‘What you say is all right for you. But how do you expect your people to respond to the novel call? They are trained to fight. In personal bravery they are second to none in the world. For you now to ask them to throw away their arms and be trained for non violent resistance seems to me to be a vain attempt.’ MESSAGE TO PEOPLE. “You may be right. But I have a call I must answer. I must deliver my message to my people. This humiliation has sunk too deep in me to remain without an outlet. I. at least, must act up to the light that has dawned on me... “I present Dr Eduard Benes with a weapon not of the weak but of the brave. There is no bravery greater than a resolute refusal to bend the knee to an earthly power, no matter how great, and that without bitterness of spirit and in the fullness of faith that the spirit alone lives, nothing else does.”