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Term Paper
Mahatma Gandhi – A Social Revolutionary?
A Critical Evaluation
Tutor: Herr März
Verfasser/in: Pham Thi
Referent/Tutor/in: Herr März
Table of Contents
1.Introduction 3
Main Part: Analysis of Gandhi
2. A Social Revolutionary .4
2.1 What is a revolution? 4
2.2 A revolution in comparison to a social revolution 4
2.3 Definition of a Social Revolutionary 4
3. Mahatma Gandhi - The “great” soul 5
3.1 Gandhi's life - Biography of Mahatma Gandhi 5
3.2 Gandhi's philosophy of life – his “key” to success 6
4. The journey of Gandhi - Important steps and acts .7
4.1 Living in South-Africa 7
4.2 The returning of Gandhi and the beginning of independence 9
a) Salt March 10
b) Finally independent but still not peace 11
5. Conclusion: Evaluation of the question if Gandhi was a Social Revolutionary .…12
Bibliography 14
Appendix 16
1. Introduction
My term paper is about Mahatma Gandhi and the question if he was a social revolutionary. I chose this topic because I believed that almost everybody heard of the name Mahatma Gandhi but I doubt that any of them really knows who he was as well as what he did and so did I. This pushed me to choose this topic as a chance to see his life. During my research I found out that Gandhi was a man with much background and influence which made it difficult for me to decide which aspects I should put into my term paper because Gandhi's life was multifaceted.
The name Gandhi can be associated with political change, philosophy of life or just the faith in something. All these aspects play a role in his life and movement which made him to the man for who he is famous now. But to concentrate on the main question if he was a social revolutionary I decided to make a limitation only on all his important steps and actions which were bonded on a change since you know that a revolution always has to do something with a change but with regard that some actions also had negative effects which could refute his position as social revolutionary.
I thought of arranging my term paper like that, that I first clarify the question what a social revolutionary actually is and how someone has to be or what someone has to do to be called a social revolutionary in order that I can evaluate in my conclusion if Gandhi was a social revolutionary or not. Of course it is important to know something about his background, where he came from, in which conditions he grew up and where he went, all basic informations till his death so therefore I wrote a short biography to get to know about him more but still focused on the examination of the in my opinion most important actions of Gandhi which should lead to the final conclusion which is the answer to the main question.
I needed to mention his Satyagraha, you could not find something out about Gandhi without the reference to the Satyagraha his own created concept of living before I started to go more in detail with his actions because his concept effectuated that the actions had more or less success, more precisely all the following actions are based on this concept. After that I referred to his actions that I picked out under my terms of importance and change or effect which were then for me in South-Africa and India.
In the end I tried to bring all the aspects in my term paper that I mention in a context so that you won't have any problems to follow my structure and understand my conclusion.
2. A Social Revolutionary
2.1 What is a revolution?
For a general definition a revolution means a fast and radical change of ruling conditions which can be political, social or economical0 or the sustainable, structural change of a current system. A revolution comes up very suddenly and occurs in a short period of time. As also a revolution can be practised peacefully or by force.0
2.2 A revolution in comparison to a social revolution
As you compare a revolution to a social revolution you will recognize immediately that the difference between the two words is just the term social. As a result you might say that a social revolution is in contrast to a general revolution based on a social level. But what does it mean to be based on a social level or rather what does the term social actually say ?
The term social mostly refers to a society so it can be also interpreted as the way of living in society or community in a state, so living together with other humans. Relating to this context the term social is better understood as serving the common welfare, regulating and fostering the relation between humans in societies as also supporting the weaker ones.0
So put together with the word and meaning of a general revolution a social revolution can be defined as a political movement that originates with the general population or society as opposed to a select group of elites in the military or party system.0
2.3 Definition of a Social Revolutionary
A Social Revolutionary is someone who wants a radical improvement of a social and economical situation of socially disadvantaged in a country by redistributing the wealthiness of rich ones to poorer ones. That can be done more or less by force and the Social Revolutionary stands up for his actions in public.0
3. Mahatma Gandhi – The “great soul”
3.1 Gandhi's life – Biography of Mahatma Ghandi
Mahatma Gandhi known as the intellectual and political leader of the Indian independence movement with his concept of the non-violent resistance was born on the 2nd October 1869 under the name Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi in Porbandar, Gujarat in India. His name Mahatma is a sanscritic honorific title and means “great soul”. It is suspected that Gandhi got the title from the philosopher who was also an awardee of the Nobel Prize in Literature Rabindranath Tagore called him Mahatma when Gandhi came back from South-Africa to Bombay as an appreciation for what he did in South-Africa.6 Gandhi was raised by Karamchand Gandhi, his father and Putlibai Gandhi, his mother as the youngest child of three brothers, one sister and two half-sisters from two previous marriages of the father.
With 13 years he got married with the same year old girl Kasturbai Nakanji due to a forced marriage. He and Kasturbai were married until her death in 1944. In the end they had 4 children.7 Nonetheless he could enjoy normal education. In 1887 he finished high school and decided to study at Salmadas College in Bhavnagar but he quitted after the first semester. A friend of the family proposed Gandhi to study for the bar in England so Gandhi followed this idea on the 4th September 1888. Arrived in England he began to study in a law school in London and 3 years later he passed his examinations and got the title as a lawyer.
Now he felt ready to go back to his home country. As he got home he decided to practice his skills as lawyer. The problem was that the Indian legislature is different to the British legislature he learned. He concluded to study Indian legislature in Bombay at the high court to make his experiences there before he ran his own law office in Rajkot with which Gandhi had not much success and quitted.
The outcome of this was that Gandhi worked in the law office which belonged to his brother. At the time Gandhi got an offer from a company which was located in South-Africa “Dada Abdulla & Co.” to help them in a lawsuit. His expected time of 1 year in South-Africa extended up to 21 years in which Gandhi stood up for the there living Indians which were discriminated and suppressed by the present British sovereigns.
On the 30th January 1948 an assassin shot Gandhi to death.9
3.2 Gandhi's philosophy of life – his “key” to success
Gandhi's life and success is based on his own created attitude towards life during his residence in South-Africa, the so called Satyagraha. The word Satyagraha is put together by the words Satya which stands for the truth and Graha for insistence. So it is rather translated to “Insistence on truth”. As an overall definition Satyagraha in general stands for the non-violent resistance.
His attitude of being non-violent he already gained by the breeding of his religious parents, the teaching in his schooldays and the study of other religions and writings during his whole lifetime therefore the Satyagraha seems to be the concept based on everything he learned and experienced. It includes also other principles which must be strictly adhered to.10From the Satyagraha evolved the Satyagraha-campaigns which were set up by Gandhi as an instrument of “conflict resolutions” bonded on his rules and the supporters of Gandhi as also the philosophy are called the Satyagrahis.11 The Satyagraha wasn't only an attitude but more important also a political strategy to “fight” against the British sovereigns so the Satyagraha in public was also known as civil disobedience because all his actions that were taken like the campaigns weren't criminal because no violence was used and the British hadn't something lawfully to hold over Gandhi and his followers.12
4. The journey of Gandhi – Important steps and acts
4.1 Living in South-Africa
Since 1795 South-Africa was under leadership of the British Empire.13 Gandhi arrived 1893 at Durban, South-Africa the province Natal on enquiry of the “Dada Abdulla & Co.”. At that time many Indians came from their home country to Natal to work on British sugar cane plantations because the working conditions were much better than in their home countries and after a few years of work they could acquire their own piece of land.14 By that more and more Indians settled to South-Africa as a result you could recognize an Indian population.
But as long as the Indians worked and lived in South-Africa they had to deal with discrimination and suppression. It was firstly noticeable by the name with which the British called the Indians, “Kulis”. It did not matter if those were day labourer or merchant, all of them were seen as “Kulis” so Gandhi established himself as “Kuli-advocate”. Gandhi also experienced discrimination the hard way, when he introduced himself to the court of Durban he was forced to take his turban off, a part of his culture.
Besides that when he was on his way to his other destination Pretoria by train with a first-class-ticket a conductor prompted him to change into the baggage compartment even though Gandhi was entitled to sit in the first-class. Gandhi rejected and was kicked out off the train. Moved by this experiences he wanted to call an assembly for the Indian minority and he created unmeant a network which already stood behind him.
That position as “Kuli-Advocat”and fighter for the rights of the Indians made him famous there so more and more people followed him in this fight. The years passed with work against the discrimination until he got confronted with a Registration Law in Transvaal where only Indians were forced to register them as well as taking their registration form always with them.15 In 1907 the law was passed in Transvaal and till July of the same year all Indians should be registered.
Gandhi organised an assembly in which he swore that he would never register hereupon he called on the Indians to do the same. The Indians followed Gandhi so that the deadline was extended to November and although the secretary of the Interior General Smuts threatened with imprisonment and deportation the Indians resisted for the most part. This movement of resistance is also associated as the origin of the Satyagraha.
Thereupon General Smuts tried to made out an compromise with Gandhi that the law would be established if the Indians register them voluntary. He accepted but General Smuts did not comply the compromise. After that registration forms were then burned up in public under Gandhi's control. But still it was a bash for the Indians which questioned the reliability and position of Gandhi because he broke one's word.
The situation grew more acute in 1913 when a Marriage Act was passed which indicated that Indian marriages were illegal as well as children resulted from the marriage were illegitimate, only Christian marriages were valid. Gandhi motivated his countrymen and especially women to join his campaigns of non-violent resistance. That I think is a gradual indicator of emancipation.
Therefore workers struck, protests were held and protest march were put into effect. Mass arrests as consequence took place and the British were totally overstrained with the situation in their Empire because at the same time white railway workers began to strike with which the Indians had nothing to do. In good nature Gandhi declared the premature examination of the resistance until the railway strikes are finished.
All in all it had success Gandhi was still for two times the first one who gave in to the British, the nation which he wanted to “fight” and now at the end you don't have to forget that the outcome could have been completely different if the British had not that much grace with Gandhi. So you can speculate if this outcome was intended or a matter of luck.
4.2 The returning of Gandhi to India and the beginning of independence
“In a gentle way you can shake the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)17
A quote from Gandhi which matches perfectly his attitude as well as his view and which I think he proved especially in his fight for the independence of India.
Ever since Mahatma Gandhi was born India was already under British leadership. From 1858 until 1947 India belonged to the British Empire. The authority also meant new reforms in administration, constitution, army and also modernisation in sectors like traffic and communication. Thereby it was possible to make rules and laws which could exploit and oppress the Indian residents.18 The situation is similar to South-Africa but now the whole nation of India is affected.
A Year after he arrived in India Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress (INC), a congress party founded by Hindus and Muslims in 1885 which already stood up for the independence of India.19 The fact that during the First World War Indians were forced to serve for the British as also an act called Rowlatt Act which said that everyone who was suspected of terrorism could be instantly imprisoned led many people demonstrate against the British under the control of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Since the success in South-Africa he seemed to be the dawn for hope for the Indians which was first of all obvious by the name Mahatma he got and now is popular for, moreover the people followed him wherever he went, whatever he did and demanded. The dimension Gandhi's influence took was shown off the best in his perhaps most popular campaign the Salt March:
a) Salt March
The Salt March or also known as the Salt Satyagraha22 in March 1930 was the major step to an independent India. Thousand of Indians revolted against the British Empire by breaking the British salt monopoly an adopted law which implied that Indians weren't allowed to gain salt, trade with salt and sell salt, in addition a tax on salt, salt that was gained in India was levied23 so salt was only reserved for the British and the Indians were forced to buy imported salt which came on behalf of the British of course from Great Britain.
The British weren't only pressurized by the partisans but also the fact that the Salt March attracted international attention.
At the11th March 1930 he headed out with 78 companions and reached his destination 24 days later. During the march more and more people joined Gandhi therefore the whole campaign gained international interest and the press of the whole world started to report about it. Gandhi took a bath at the Arabian Sea, grabbed some salt which was already settled at the beach and showed it to everyone and used this as a message that everyone can gain salt very easily and for free.
The press helped to spread out the message so that it was guaranteed that really every Indian received the message. Consequently, the Indians followed Gandhi and began to gain salt on their own so they have been used it for their own or sold it without tax. By that they broke the British salt monopoly and broking a law meant that thousands of Indians were imprisoned and so was Gandhi too.
Nevertheless the width of law breakers were too big that everybody could have been caught and showed the dimension of success the Salt March had. The brutality and violence with whom the Indians were treated and caught because none of the Indians became violent against the British released by the press caused an worldwide horror and the British Empire came under criticism.
b) Finally independent but still not peace
During further contentions Gandhi and the INC targeted directly at the independence and declared this officially to the British Empire afterwards on the 15th of August 1947 it was proved to be true and India was stated as independent. But the independence also contributed that India's territory which it comprised at that time was split into the today's known Pakistan and the rest of India.
Thereby, Muslims and Hindus became opposing parties because more numerous Muslims wanted to emigrate to Pakistan. They started to wage war against each other with the result that the situation escalated that much that Gandhi decided to begin to fast until the parties put down their weapons. He made a months-long march to bring about peace and reconciliation between the parties.
In fear of the health of Gandhi due to the fast the excesses were end. However, Muslims and Hindus couldn't unite and in the end not only India was independent but also the today's Pakistan could go out as independent state.26
5. Conclusion: Evaluation of the question if Mahatma Gandhi was a Social Revolutionary
Concerning the definitions of a social revolution and a social revolutionary it is evident that Gandhi pled for the Indians which speaks in his favor as a social revolutionary because the Indians were socially disadvantaged by the British. More than that the Indians were stolen from their rights that caused the social position and in general the whole situation of the Indians under the British.
So therefore Gandhi stood up as a role model for the Indians and fought for their freedom. During his journey he moved mass of Indians who followed him till his death. His influence was out of range which confirms how important Gandhi was for the whole Indian nation. But what he actually did was to motivate the Indians to stand up for their rights and qualities because the problems with the British against them were already there before Gandhi arrived but no known had really the courage to do something so with the help of Gandhi they could finally rebel against the British.
That considers also the spin-off of Muslims and Hindus but for all that India is now independent. A whole nation could rescue themselves from the British Empire only with Gandhi's leadership. As the definition says a social revolutionary redistributes the wealthiness of the richer ones to the poorer ones, so that definition concentrates more on materialistic disparities.
So firstly there is a difference in point of departure because the problems of the Indians weren't based on the unequal dispersal of wealthiness. That means that not with redistribution the problems could have been solved since the problems weren't based materialistically but rather socially because of the Indian status under the British which enabled all the discontentment.
But to make it still fit into the definition you can say that he did not give wealth to the Indians but he gave them back their rights and freedom which I think was for them like their wealth and for me those are things which are much more worth than any wealth. Besides that for me the way he achieved success is very appreciable because he and his follower could disengage themselves from British authority without brutality and violence.
He stood for the things he did and aimed, whether he took actively part or he stood symbolically for these movements in public or represented his aims very obviously that also backs his position as social revolutionary. Into the bargain he was very smart because he was aware that due to his principles of the Satyagraha the British could not really do something against him and so the Satyagraha became his strategy on which his campaigns were based.
Gandhi and his philosophy did not only change the conditions for the Indians he also changed their minds on showing that you can make a difference without getting violent, without killing someone like in other historical revolutions. This aspect was at that time completely new and still influences today's actions in the whole world. To this he also addressed to the women to stand up which is for me the most appreciable that he was so tolerant and unprejudiced that he really wanted to involve everyone.
Referring to all this arguments I come to the decision that Mahatma Gandhi was in my view definitely a Social Revolutionary.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Andrews, Charles Freer; with postscript by Curt Ullerich: Mahatma Gandhi-Mein Leben. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1983
Rothermund, Dietmar: Gandhi-Der gewaltlose Revolutionär. München: Verlag C.H.Beck oHG, 2011
Secondary Sources:
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