Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power (Three Case Stories)

Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power (Three Case Stories) By Gene Sharp Foreword by: Dr. Albert Einstein First Published: September 1960 Printed & Published by: Navajivan Publishing House Ahmedabad 380 014 (INDIA) Phone: 079 – 27540635 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.navajivantrust.org Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power FOREWORD By Dr. Albert Einstein This book reports facts and nothing but facts — facts which have all been published before. And yet it is a truly- important work destined to have a great educational effect. It is a history of India's peaceful- struggle for liberation under Gandhi's guidance. All that happened there came about in our time — under our very eyes. What makes the book into a most effective work of art is simply the choice and arrangement of the facts reported. It is the skill pf the born historian, in whose hands the various threads are held together and woven into a pattern from which a complete picture emerges. How is it that a young man is able to create such a mature work? The author gives us the explanation in an introduction: He considers it his bounden duty to serve a cause with all his ower and without flinching from any sacrifice, a cause v aich was clearly embodied in Gandhi's unique personality: to overcome, by means of the awakening of moral forces, the danger of self-destruction by which humanity is threatened through breath-taking technical developments. The threatening downfall is characterized by such terms as "depersonalization" regimentation “total war"; salvation by the words “personal responsibility together with non-violence and service to mankind in the spirit of Gandhi I believe the author to be perfectly right in his claim that each individual must come to a clear decision for himself in this important matter: There is no “middle ground ". At the Nuremberg trials the following principle was put into practice: The moral responsibility of an individualcannot be superseded by the laws of the State. May the day come soon when this principle is not merely put into opera- tion in the case of citizens of a vanquished country! Gene Sharp may have drawn the strength to complete his work from the inner struggle these problems have engendered. No attentive reader will be able to ignore its effect. Princeton, New Jersey April 1953 Translated from the German by Herman Brinkman www.mkgandhi.org Page 1 Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power INTRODUCTION By Dr. Bharatan Kumarappa We have arrived at a moment in human history when wars have to be banned if humanity is to survive. Nations are forging nuclear weapons which, if used in a war, are likely' to destroy or poison life on this planet for generations. Man has, therefore, for his very survival to find some other way of overcoming conflict than war. Against this background Gandhiji's life, message and work derive vital significance for he points to an alternative to war. He turned his back to violence, but he did not on that account meekly submit to evil. He discovered a way of fighting evil, a dynamic way, which he felt could never know defeat. His way was the one taught by the Prophets, not of striking the opponent down, but of winning him over by an appeal to his reason and conscience through selfless devotion to a righteous cause, self-suffering and love. He took seriously Buddha's instruction to overcome hatred by love and Jesus' teaching to love your enemy. He imbibed the. Hindu teaching of centuries of the marvellous spiritual value of self-suffering. His genius lay in blind faith in these principles and ruthless application of them in practice. His life, as he himself looked upon it, was nothing other than a series of experiments with these principles. He was interested in nothing else. Science had achieved wonders in carrying on experiments in the material world and in the discovery of natural laws. Gandhiji spent his life in making experiments in the spiritual world, and in the discovery of the efficacy of the great spiritual laws taught by seers through the centuries. He saw, for instance, how these laws had to be applied in any given circumstance, what they implied in regard to the one who tried to apply them, whatwere the prerequisites to which he had to conform if he- were to apply them effectively, what changes they pro- duced or tended to produce in those in relation to whom, they were applied, www.mkgandhi.org Page 2 Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power what were the various steps to be taken to convert the opponent, and what were the pitfalls to be avoided. What makes Gandhiji's experiments unique and epoch making is that he set out to experiment with these great spiritual principles in every sphere of human life, including the social. He did not limit them to the individual sphere, to which people generally limit religion. He applied them also to man's dealings with his fellowmen. He sought through them to bring about the reign of justice, love and peace, and to terminate oppression, exploitation, hatred and strife. Till now social conflict was suppressed by the superior brute force of the State, or of the capitalist or the organized strength of labour or whatever party was in. power. Might was right. Gandhi}i saw that brute force did not overcome conflict. Though it might suppress opposition for a time, opposition in fact grew stronger under repression. The only way therefore to root out conflict altogether from the social sphere was to win over the opponent. How this could best be done was Gandhiji's life-long quest. He started on this quest in South Africa to overcome racial prejudice against Indians, and continued it in India till his last breath against various social evils prevalent in the country. The author of this book gives three instances of how Gandhiji used spiritual laws to overcome hatred and strife and to bring about justice and peace. One was in the economic sphere, to free the peasants of Champaran from exploitation by British planters; another in the political sphere, to wage war against alien rule; and still another in the social sphere to overcome hatred between religious groups, viz. the Hindus and the Muslims. The author keeps theory to the minimum and lets the reader observe each campaign as it took place. He takes great pains to give first-hand records of facts and the testimony of eye-witnesses and fellow workers with Gandhiji. Each campaign thus passes before the reader as in a photographic film, for him to learn for himself how this method actually worlds in every detail. The teaching aimed at is one by example which is always more effective than teaching by precept. www.mkgandhi.org Page 3 Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power Systematic non-violent resistance in the social sphere as developed by Gandhiji is hitherto unknown in human history. It ranks in importance for man, at least as high as the discovery and use of atomic energy. Gandhiji was the first experimenter in this field. His technique and results require to be studied if the world is to move towards the resolving of human conflicts through peaceful methods. More such books as this will have to be written, giving other instances of Gandhiji's non-violent campaigns, and more experimenters must follow, carrying the work of Gandhiji in this regard further. That an American should come forward with thd first effort of this kind is significant. For one thing it indicates that even among those who have attained the leadership of the world in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, there are some who have begun to realize the need to find an alternative to such weapons. For another,, it raises the hope that the scientific methods of investigation which have led to the discovery and improvement of nuclear weapons in America may still be applied, as Gandhiji wished, to perfecting the weapon of moral power, which he was the first to forge in his own imperfect pioneer way. New Delhi October, 1956 www.mkgandhi.org Page 4 Gandhi wields the weapon of moral power ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author, Gene Sharp, was born in 1928 in North Baltimore, Ohio, U.S.A. He was graduated from NorthHigh School, Columbus, Ohio in 1946 after attending several schools in that State. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts with high distinction in social sciences from the Ohio State University (1949) and Master of Arts in sociology from the same University (1951). His M. A. thesis was en- titled Non-violence: A Sociological Study. While at the University he was active in religious, socialist, pacifist and anti-discrimination organizations, was a member of the University debate team, and was elected to several honoraries. In 1951 he moved to New York where he supported himself by part-time jobs while continuing his research on Gandhi and non-violent resistance. This volume was completed in February 1953 at the age of twenty-five. In April 1953 he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for civil disobedience to military conscription; over nine months were served in prison and the remainder on parole. In his position he was firmly supported by the late Dr. Albert Einstein. While in the United States he held a variety of jobs, including working as a factory labourer, gardener, guide to a blind social worker, and secretary to A. J. Muste, America's leading pacifist. He was invited in 1955 to become Assistant Editor of Peace News, the weekly pacifist newspaper published in London, where he remained until 1958.

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