Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-07-30
By Mahatma Gandhi

BY Mahatma Gandhi
My principle Of non-yiolence
means, in general terms, that men
will deliberately shun all weapons
of slaughter and the use of force
of any kind whatsoever.
The most familiar comment on
this principle is that we who be-
lieve in it are naive fools without
realistic knowledge of the world.
The criticism is leveled particu-
larly against me, since it is my
name that is most commonly asso-
ciated with non-violence.
1t is said that if l were not such
a simpleton, deliberately closing
my eyes to conditions as they
really are, | would know that nom
violence can never hope to prevail
over such powerful and brutal
forces as those represented by Nazi
Germany and Japan, which are the
essence of unscrupulous armed
might. Non violence, it is said,
may be all very well in theory, but
in practice, it is too hopelessly
idealistic to have any chance of
success in this modern world of
armored divisions, para ch e
troops, dive bombers.
Are We Fools?
Are we naive fools? Is nom
violence a sort of dreamy wishful
thinking that has never had and
can never have any real success
against the heavy odds of modern
armies and the unlimited applica-
tion of force and frightfulness?
India's recent history gives the
answer to this. We have won con-
siderable victories. We have faced
powerful armed forces and we
have not been swept out of the
way. We still exist; belief in nom
violence still exists. Does not the
fact that only single victory has
been won prove that non-violence,
developed to greater perfection,
could win greater victories against
greater armed forces?
But let me describe the true fol-
lower of non-violence the true
non-violent soldier as / see him.
Ability to Die
The chief requisite for a soldier
in a violent army is physical fit
ness. But in the non-violent army,
the chief requisite is the ability to
die for your belief. This depends
not on physical but on mental fit
ness. Therefore, this army can
welcome to it's ranks old men,
women, youths, the blind, the sick
and the lame. Thus it follows that
the non-violent army has a much
greater mass base; it consists not
merely of a certain section of the
population but of all sections.
The non-violent army has no use
for weapons. 1t beats its swords
into plowshares and its spears into
pruning hooks. Whereas, the SOL
der of the violent army is trained
in the use of violence by being
taught how to shoot, the non-vio-
lent soldier comes through nursing
the sick, saving those in danger at
risk of his own life, and cultivating
the capacity for sacrifice of the
highest type.
He must have the resourceful
ness and capacity to plunge into
seemingly impenetrable scenes of
rioting, the will and the desire to
go to the rescue of men trapped in
burning houses, and the fearless
ness to plunge into flood to save
people drowning there.
There have been those in India
who had weapons but who threw
them away after embracing nom
violence and offered themselves
freely and unafraid to bullets and
raw steel.
This is the true non-violent SOL
dier.
l have heard it said that the
non-violent movement has had
some acceptance in India only be-
cause the Indian people are cow
ards who have no weapons and
therefore are incapable of defend
ing themselves; that non-violence,
therefore, suits them very well in
deed.