And Shri Roy may feel quite sure that the weakened ministers would have been poor guardians o', civil liberty. The Governors would have set aside their decisions and caught hold of those whom they would have chosen to imprison. The ministers had taken office principally to advance independence. When they failed, they were bound to forego every other advantage however great in itself. And they can never go back to their offices so long as the demand of the Congress remains unsatisfied.
Civil disobedience is by no means the next inevitable forward step.
It depends upon a variety of circumstances some of which I have already mentioned. Now for the crucial point. Non-violence is the central fact of the civil disobedience technique. It was in 1920 that the Congress hooked its politics deliberately to fundamental morals and vital social reform. It came to the conclusion that Swaraj could not be won without non-violence and certain definite social reform, viz.