The Story of Tolstoy Farm

By Kirti Menon1

Satyagraha gained momentum as Gandhi led the struggle against the recruitment of indentured labour for Natal, the poll-tax and the judgment of the Cape Supreme Court in 1913 declaring all marriages- other than those according to Christian rites and registered with the Registrar of Marriages - as illegal. This provoked strikes and marches and a sophisticated use of satyagraha as more Indians willingly courted arrest against the inequities and injustices of the times. News of Gandhi and Satyagraha spread across the continents and it was clearly the beginnings of a philosophy which would see Britain relinquish power in India and concede defeat a few decades later. The influence of the philosophy on other political movements No story of Tolstoy Farm can begin would continue to inspire the struggle for democracy in South Africa, the civil rights movement without detailing Mohandas Karamchand in America and many individuals. Gandhi attributed his spiritual awareness and growth to the Gandhi's arrival in South Africa as a young seminal work of Ruskin'sUnto The Last , which, he unequivocally stated as a book which lawyer. His engagement in South Africa "marked the turning point in my life" as well as Leo Tolstoy's (1828-1910) The Kingdom of God is commenced in 1893 with a legal case Within You in 1894. Gandhi wrote to Tolstoy and described himself as "a humble follower of representing Dada Abdulla & Company in yours." Henry D. Thoreau's (1817-1862) writings on civil disobedience shaped his thinking as Natal and he remained actively engaged and evolving, sharpening and honing his well. During Gandhi's period in Johannesburg he met with the Theosophists and began reading philosophy of non-violence, passive the Bhagvad Gita and the writings of Vivekananda. The reading at the time of courting resistance 'satyagraha'. He returned to imprisonment helped Gandhi refine and define Satyagraha. India in 1914 as a Mahatma after 21 years. His rise as a social and political Hermann Kallenbach was born in East Prussia (1871 – 1945) and studied architecture in activist had roots in the context of South Stuttgart and Munich. In 1896 he went to South Africa, where he practiced as an architect. He Africa as gradually he became conscious met Mohandas Gandhi in 1903 and became a friend, confidante and follower. Along with of the social injustices of the times. H.S.L. Polak, Kallenbach was integrally involved with Satyagraha and Gandhi's Phoenix and History narrates the progress of Gandhi's Tolstoy Farm experiments. In 1910 Kallenbach and Gandhi conceived of the idea of Tolstoy activist role as he gradually became Farm. The idea was to have a communal farm to serve several purposes: integrally involved with the struggle for social justice and became a voice in first Natal and then in the Transvaal. This · Training for new passive resisters activism found expression in the form of protest action, negotiations with the · Experiment in communal living government of the time and mobilization of the community. This period saw the · Haven for families of prisoners establishment of Phoenix Settlement (1906) and the Indian Opinion (1903), · Multi-denomination prayers and multilingual experiments both providing Gandhi with a vital and vibrant medium for communicating with The farm Roodepoort No. 49, 1100 acres of land was purchased by Kallenbach from the community on matters that would Johannesburg TownCouncillor L. V.Partridge for £2,000 on 30 May 1910 . One third, £666.13.4, impact on the rights of the people. was to be paid in advance for the transfer deeds. The balance was to be paid in monthly installments of £15 per month and with an interest of 6% per annum. For the security of the The Transvaal Government's "Black Act" payments, a bond was signed by Kallenbach with the farm itself serving as the collateral.2 They (Asiatic Registration Act) of 1906 which called it Tolstoy Farm in recognition of their deep admiration for Count Leo Tolstoy. Ironically, it made it compulsory for all Indians to be was on 31 May 1910 that the Union of South Africa came into being with General Jan Smuts as registered and finger-printed, propelled the Minister for Interior,Mines and Defence. Gandhi into defiance of the law and the evolution of a philosophy of protest and Gandhi described the farm: "It is nearly 1,100 acres in extent or 508 morgen, being nearly two resistance which he called 'Satyagraha'. miles long and three quarter broad. It slopes down a hill from South to North and is, therefore, This led to mass imprisonments and soon well protected from the South-East winds. There are nearly 1,000 fruit-bearing trees and with General Smuts retreated and released peaches, apricots, figs, almonds, walnuts, etc., and a small plantation of wattle [acacia] and prisoners and indicated that the Act eucalyptus trees. The ground is fertile. Water is supplied from two wells as also a spring. would be repealed in exchange for Beyond a shed and a dilapidated house containing four rooms and a kitchen, it contains no voluntary registration by the Indians. In structure worth naming. By rail, it generally takes about one and a half hours to reach it from 1908, the struggle intensified as the here. A cyclist has to cover a distance of about 18 miles [to the city] and he can cycle the Government of the day reneged on its distance in less than two hours. The boundary of the Farm is reached in about seven minutes promise and what ensued was the from Lawley Station and the dwelling place in about thirteen more minutes." Indian Opinion bonfire of certificates. Gandhi went to June 18, 1910, p.201. Britain in 1909 to convince the British government that self-government for South Africa was not a viable option. He Gandhi was inspired and moved by Tolstoy's writings and during 1910 an exchange of letters was unsuccessful as on 31 May 1910, the between the two reveals the depth of the influence. Tolstoy advocated non-resistance as an British government transferred power to appropriate response to aggression and foregrounded the need for equitable treatment of the the white minority in South Africa. poor and working class and called for the need to look into oneself and to God for answers on Ironically this transpired a day after the morality. Tolstoy wrote to Gandhi “Your activity is the most important essential work, the most 3 purchase of Tolstoy Farm. important of all the work being done in the world.”

1 Acknowledgement of input 2 James Hunt, Unpublished Manuscript on Tolstoy Farm by Professor Uma-Dhupelia Mesthrie 3Tolstoy to Gandhi, 7 September 1908 Gandhi was convinced that the success of the final phase of the satyagraha campaign in South Africa between 1908 and 1914 owed much to the "spiritual purification and penance" afforded by the Tolstoy Farm. He wrote: "I have serious doubts as to whether the struggle could have been prosecuted for eight years, whether we could have secured larger funds, and whether the thousands of men who participated in the last phase of the struggle would have borne their share of it, if there had been no Tolstoy Farm."4 "The Farm that Mr.Kallenbach has given for the use of the families of passive resisters he has named Tolstoy Farm. He has chosen an ambitious title and it is his intention, so far as possible, to live up to the ideals that Tolstoy has set forth. The greatest thing, however,that Mr.Kallenbach has done is to live with the passive resisters their life, to share their sorrows, and joys when there are any,and to comfort and protect the wives and families of the imprisoned passive resisters. Mr.Kallenbach considers that all this is part of his own training and that it gives him an insight into human nature which nothing else could have given",(Indian Opinion, 18 June 1910) . Kallenbach and his partner, Alexander Kennedy worked on the plans and supervised the building work at Tolstoy Farm. Inhabitants slept in tents while the first building was constructed, a shed. Mistri Narayandas Damania volunteered his services with no charge and brought with him several other carpenters. A house, a school and a workshop for carpentry and shoemaking was constructed. Early accounts indicate that there was a library at the farm. The primary objective of the Farm was to provide a safe haven for families whose breadwinners were in prison. Apart from, Gandhi's wife Kasturba and sons, there were also women like Veeramal Naidoo, the wife of resister Thambi Naidoo and their children, A Mrs John who had a little baby, a Mrs Lazarus, and Rambhaben Sodha the wife of resister Ratanshi Sodha. The farm catered for a fluid population of approximately 70 people at any given time. The communal family included Gujaratis, Tamils, Hindi-speakers, Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Parsis. There were also some African families on the farm one of them being known only as John. Many visitors went to the farm and were involved in providing classes or working at carpentry.

"Tolstoy Farm was a family in which I occupied the place of the father," wrote Gandhi, “and that I should so far as possible shoulder the responsibility for the training of the young". Gandhi personally taught the young children Tamil grammar and Urdu and supervised a curriculum that challenged conventional colonial education. Many biographers have described the focus of Gandhi on education and manual labour. There was a strong emphasis on vocational training for both genders and a serious ‘experiment’ in communal living with tasks on the farm shared by all. The lifestyle was meant to prepare one for prison – food was served in bowls like those in prison. Paramount in the busy schedule of cooking, sandal making and carpentry was the nurturing of the ideals of social service and citizenship. These lessons that began at Phoenix Settlement in Natal in 1904 were refined when Gandhi returned to India and adopted the spinning wheel as an integral part of ashram life. The rural geographical context provided Gandhi with the opportunity to place an emphasis on simple living.

There is evidence of discipline in the daily routine followed by the residents. Its purpose was to prevent, no doubt, idle time-wasting, and make them feel that they were being constructively useful. The bell rang at six in the morning, wrote a Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg) reporter.After the toilets were completed and the beds made, the residents ate breakfast. Everybody was assigned a task for the morning. Work was stopped at 11 a.m. to go for a bath - the bath was postponed for this hour so as to make good use of the warm sun rays. The midday meal was served. At 1 p.m. Several classes of school began lasting until 5 late in the afternoon. The evening meal was taken at 5.30. There would be an hour of rest. At 7 p.m. the residents would assemble before Gandhi who would review the day's events, point out difficulties if any, and suggest ways of preventing their recurrence. The meeting ended with readings from books on religion and the singing of hymns .5

Gandhi left Tolstoy Farm in January 1913 and took some of the youngsters with him to Phoenix which thereafter became his main base. Tolstoy Farm residents nonetheless proved crucial in the satyagraha campaign that resumed in 1913. Kallenbach led a group of eleven women (most of whom had been former Tolstoy Farm residents) to Vereeniging in the Orange Free State to break the provincial restrictions on movement. These women had young childen with them and they proceeded to the coal mines of Newcastle where they played a role in getting the workers there to go on strike. It was this kind of courage that places like Tolstoy Farm and Phoenix Settlement fostered. The thousands of workers in northern Natal led by Gandhi then began a march to cross the Transvaal border with the intention of reaching Toltstoy Farm, though they were arrested before they could do this. Tolstoy Farm had a short history of existence as a communal farm in comparison to Phoenix Settlement but despite the brevity of Gandhi's stay there the critical historical significance cannot be underestimated. It represented a bold experiment. The land was transferred to a WH Humpreys in 1915. In the 1950s, Anglovaal bought the land and then sold it to current owner Corobrik. The story of Tolstoy Farm and Gandhi's early experiments with truth, non-violence and moral living has interwoven in it the generosity of his friend and colleague, Hermann Kallenbach and their inspiration, Tolstoy. This is a story that pays tribute to the men, women and children whose footprints have left an indelible mark on our history and who have inspired many of our leaders. It is the story of all those who worked jointly on a communal project without thought for the self and who endured many hardships in the name of justice and who charted new ground in working towards a multi-racial, multi-faith, multi-class and multilingual community all bound by a shared purpose: justice for all.

Gandhi, Ms Schlesin, Herman Kallenbach

4 The Tolstoy Farm: Gandhi's Experiment in "Cooperative Commonwealth" By Surendra Bhana Published in South African Historical Journal, No. 7, November 1975 5 Ibid. LIST OF RESIDENTS AT TOLSTOY FARM IN 1910

Adajania, Sorabji Knudsen, Elizabeth Albrecht Kotwal, Purushottam K Badri, Shipujan Lailu Bawazir, Fatima Medh, Surendrarai B Bawazir, Imam Molteno, Elizabeth Bhagabhai, Bagho Moodley, S.S. Burjorsingh (1890) Mudaliar Bush, Miss (Off. Clerk) Mudaliar, Kuppuswami Moonlight Cachalia, Ahmad Muhammad Murgan Cachalia, Ismail Muthuswami Call A.E. Naidoo, Bala Chettiar, V.A. Naidoo, Barsodhi Chinan Naidoo, C.K. Thambi C.K. Thambi Naidoo Naidoo, Kuppusamy Coopoo/Kuppusamy Naidoo, Mrs Thambi Dahya, Tulis Naidoo, Naransamy Damania, Narandas Naidoo, P.K. Deasi, Pragji K. Naidoo, Raju Desai, Kisan Naidoo, Gopal Desai, Nagin Naidoo, Pakiri Desai, Purshottamdas Narandas, Mistri Doctor, Jeki Naynah, Mrs Dhobie Doctor, Manilal Patel, Bhagabhai Manchhabhai Domodar, Virji Patel, Maganbhai Ernest, Solomon Patel, Raojibhai Francis, Veera Patel Gandhi, Chhaganlal K Pillay Kanapathe Gandhi, Devdas Pillay, Govindsamy Gandhi, Gokuldas Parmananddas Polak, Millie Gandhi, Harilal Polak, Waldo Gandhi, Jamnadas Polak, Henry Gandhi, Karsandas Polak, Maud Gandhi, Kasturba Rajabali Velshi Keshavjee Gandhi, Keshavlal Rajkumar Gandhi, Krishnadas Ramhorry Gandhi, Lakshmidas Ritch, Lewis W Gandhi, Maganlal Royeppen, Joseph Gandhi, Manilal Rustomji, Parsee Gandhi, Mohandas Rustomji, Sorabji Gandhi, Narandas Sam (Govindaswamy) Gandhi, Prabhudas Schlesin, Sonja Gandhi, Radha Shanti Gandhi, Raliatbehn (sis) Shelat, Umiyashankar Gandhi, Ramdas Sodha, Chhotalal Gandhi, Rukmini Sodha, Ratansi Gewurz Sodha, Revashanker Givindu, Raju (Sam) Thayanayagie Pillay Govindrajloo, V Hansraj, Gokuldas Garach Vihari Harry Lazarus, Mrs? Virsing John, Mrs Aaron West, Ada "Devi" Kallenbach, Herman West, Albert

5 James Hunt, Unpublished Manuscript on Tolstoy Farm Gandhi: The Barrister Count Leo Tolstoy

GANDHI LETTERS

To Gandhi.

I HAVE just received your very interesting letter, which gave me much pleasure. God help our dear brothers and co-workers in the Transvaal! Among us, too, this fight between gentleness and brutality, between humility and love and pride and violence, makes itself ever more strongly felt, especially in a sharp collision between religious duty and the State laws, expressed by refusals to perform military service. Such refusals occur more and more often.

From Recollections & Essays by Leo Tolstoy. Oxford University Press: London, New York, Toronto, 1937. (pp. 433-439)

10 January, 1908 Arrested for failing to register or to leave Transvaal and sentenced to two months simple imprisonment. On 30th January,following a compromise, he was released.

07 October,1908 While returning from Natal, as he was unable to show his registration, which he had burnt, his sentence was imprisonment with hard labour.

25 February, 1909 Arrested, sentenced for 3 months imprisonment at Transvaal for not producing registration certificate.

06 November,1913 After the ‘great march’ he was arrested at Palm Ford, released on 7th on bail furnished by Kallenbach.

08 November,1913 Again arrested and released on bail.

09 November,1913 Arrested and sentenced to nine months imprisonment. At Volksrust sentenced for further three months. But unexpectedly released on 18 December,1913.

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