Part Two
§ 1
On July 28, 1920, Gandhi announced that non-coöperation would be proclaimed August 1, and as a preparatory measure he ordered that a day of fasting and prayer be held the day before. He had no fear of governmental fury, but he feared the fury of the populace, and he bent every effort to have order and discipline reign within the Indian ranks. He declared:
Effective non-coöperation depends upon complete organization. Disorderliness comes from anger. There must be no violence. Violence means retrogression in our case, and useless waste of innocent lives. Above everything else, there must be complete order.
The tactics of non-coöperation had been defined two months before by Gandhi and the committee of non-coöperation, and they included the following measures:
(1) Surrender of all titles of honor and honorary offices.
(2) Non-participation in government loans.
(3) Suspension by lawyers of practice, and settlement of court disputes by private arbitration.
(4) Boycott of government schools by children and parents.
(5) Boycott of the reformed Councils.
(6) Non-participation in government parties and other official functions.
(7) Refusal to accept any civil or military post.
(8) Agreements to spread the doctrine of Swadeshi.67
In other words, the negative part of the program should be completed by constructive measures, which would lead to the building up of the new India of the future.
This program specified the first steps to be taken, and we must admire the prudent sagacity of the leader who, after cranking up the enormous machine of Hindu revolt, stops it short, so to speak, and holds it back, pulsating, at the first turn, a method in startling opposition to that of our European revolutionaries. Gandhi is not planning civil disobedience for the present. He knows civil disobedience. He has studied it in Thoreau, whom he quotes in his articles, and he takes pains to explain the difference between it and non-coöperation. Civil disobedience, he says, is more than a mere refusal to obey the law. It means deliberate opposition to the law; it is an infraction of the law, and can be carried out only by an elite, while non-coöperation should be a mass movement. Gandhi means to prepare the masses in India for civil disobedience but they must be trained for it by a gradual process. He knows that at present people are not ripe for it, and he does not want to set them loose before he feels sure that they have mastered the art of self-control. So he launches non-coöperation. Non-coöperation, in this first stage, does not include a refusal to pay taxes. Gandhi is biding his time.
August 1,1920, Gandhi gives the signal for the movement by his famous letter to the viceroy, surrendering his decorations and honorary titles:
It is not without a pang that I return the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal granted to me by your predecessor for my humanitarian work in South Africa, the Zulu War Medal, granted in South Africa for my services as officer in charge of the Indian Volunteer Ambulance Corps in 1906, and the Boer War Medal for my services as assistant superintendent of the Indian Volunteer Stretcher-bearer Corps during the Boer War of 1899-1900.
But, he adds, after referring to the scenes that took place in the Punjab and the events back of the Khilafat movement:
I can retain neither respect nor affection for a Government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality.... The Government must be moved to repentance.
I have therefore ventured to suggest non-coöperation which enables those who wish to disassociate themselves from the Government and which, if unattended by violence, must compel the Government co retrace its steps and undo its wrongs.
And Gandhi expresses the hope that the viceroy will see his way to do justice, and that he will call a conference of the recognized leaders of the people, and consult with them.
Gandhi’s example was immediately followed. Hundreds of magistrates sent in their resignations, thousands of students left the colleges, the courts were abandoned, the schools were emptied. The All-India Congress, meeting in special session in Calcutta in the beginning of September, approved Gandhi’s decisions by an overwhelming majority. Gandhi and his friend Maulana Shaukat Ali toured the country and met with tremendous ovations everywhere.
Never did Gandhi show himself a greater leader than during the first year of his action. He had to hold back the violence that lay smoldering, ready to leap into flame at the slightest provocation. Gandhi fears and abhors mob violence more than anything else. He considers “mobocracy” the greatest danger that menaces India. He hates war, but would rather have it than the insane violence of Caliban. “If India has to achieve her freedom by violence, let it be by the disciplined violence named war,” not by mob revolts. Gandhi looks with disfavor upon all demonstrations and mass-meetings, even in celebration of some joyous event, for out of a large crowd filled with noise and confusion frenzied violence may burst for no apparent reason. And he insists on the necessity of maintaining strict discipline. “We must evolve order out of chaos,” he says, “introduce people’s law instead of mob law.” And the mystic with the clear, firm eyes, whose sound practical sense equals that of the great European mystics who founded religious orders and dominated the souls of men, gives precise, detailed rules as to how to canalize the torrents of popular meetings and demonstrations.
“One great stumbling-block,” he says, speaking of the organization of mass-meetings, “is that we have neglected music. Music means rhythm, order. Unfortunately, in India, music has been the prerogative of the few. It has never become nationalized.... I would make compulsory a proper singing, in company, of national songs. And to that end I would have great musicians attending every congress or conference and teaching mass music. Nothing is so easy as to train mobs, for the simple reason that they have no mind, no meditation.”
Gandhi makes a list of suggestions. No raw volunteers should be accepted to assist in the organization of the big demonstrations. None but the most experienced should be at the head. Volunteers should always have a general instruction-book on their persons. They should be dispersed among the crowd and should learn flag and whistle signaling to pass instructions. National cries should be fixed and raised at the right moment. Crowds should be prevented from entering the railroad stations; they should be taught to stand back and leave a clear passage in the streets for people and carriages. Little children should never be brought out in the crowds, etc.
In other words, Gandhi makes himself the orchestra leader of his oceans of men.68