Note by editors
When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi left South Africa for London on July 18, 1914, he was forty-five and already a celebrity. "M.K. Gandhi, Attorney" to his clients and to the authorities, he was "Gandhibhai" to his large and growing circle of friends in the Indian community of South Africa.
He had lived two decades in that country of black, brown and white populations, writing, speaking, organising and practising law with restless zeal.
Restless and unremittingly preoccupied as he was, an inner stillness permeated him, a calm self-assurance. Ex-indentured labourers, tradespeople and professionals looked upon him as one who had ministered to their personal, professional and political needs. The Tolstoy Farm and Phoenix Settlement set up by Gandhiji were places which invited Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis, speaking many languages - Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu - to live self-sufficiently and selflessly in a society of chaste human fellowship. Gandhiji was like the head of a family in these settlements, guiding and instructing the inmates and, of course, working at the same time for the cause he had given to himself: the vouchsafing of the dignity of Indians in South Africa and the honour of India.
After three major campaigns spread over eight years during which the term "satyagraha" came to be "invented and employed", Gandhiji was able to secure the "Smuts-Gandhi Agreement" of 1914. This settled the long-drawn and bitterly contested issue of the validity in South Africa of the marriages which were held legal in India (with some qualifications in regard to plural marriages). It also abolished the annual tax of £3 on ex-indentured labourers and their wives and children and obtained the promise that existing laws will be administered in a just manner and with due regard to vested rights.
In the conclusion to his book Satyagraha in South Africa, written sometime in 1924, Gandhiji observed:
"Thus the great Satyagraha struggle closed after eight years, and it appeared that the Indians in South Africa were now at peace. On July 18, 1914, I sailed for England, to meet Gokhale, on my way back to India, with mixed feelings of pleasure and regret, - pleasure because I was returning home after many years and eagerly looked forward to serving the country under Gokhale's guidance, regret because it was a great wrench for me to leave South Africa, where I had passed twenty-one years of my life sharing to the full in the sweets and bitters of human experience, and where I had realised my vocation in life."
At a reception that was hosted in his honour at London on August 8, 1914, Gandhiji spoke with fervour of the sacrifices made by his compatriots and fellow-satyagrahis in South Africa. He was unstinting in his acknowledgement of the role played by General Smuts, then Minister of the Interior, in bringing the Smuts-Gandhi compact into effect. But he had no illusions about the future. "Grievances remain", he made it clear, "which will have to be redressed in no distant future. But I hope it will not be by way of passive resistance..."
A startling statement from one who had created the instrument of Satyagraha and wielded it with palpable success. But Gandhiji had his reasons for "reserving" satyagraha to the role of an ultimate weapon. "They (the grievances) are capable of settlement by pressure of Indian opinion, by pressure from Downing street and from Delhi or Calcutta", he said to his London audience. (Item 1).
This optimism was not to last long. Although the Indian community won praise for raising a volunteer ambulance corps to serve under General Smuts in East Africa during the First World War, irritating new discriminatory measures were introduced even before the War ended.
Gandhiji warned as early as 1917 that the Indian community must be prepared to resume passive resistance. He wrote in a letter to Indian Opinion on December 15, 1917:
"I note... that our people in South Africa are not yet free from difficulties about trade licences and leaving certificates. My Indian experience has confirmed the opinion that there is no remedy like passive resistance against such evils. The community has to exhaust milder remedies, but I hope that it will not allow the sword of passive resistance to get rusty." (Item 10).
Setting up, within months of his return to India, the Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad, Gandhiji continued the pattern of the Phoenix Settlement. But, as with Phoenix, the ashram was only the base for his activities. These grew apace and extended to the tackling of wrongs throughout the length and breadth of the country.
The indigo cultivators at Champaran, the textile workers at Ahmedabad and the peasants of Kheda gave him cause in 1917-18 for the launching of highly successful, though localised, satyagraha campaigns which contained in them clear signs of their South African lineage.
...It is impossible to express in adequate terms the sense of gratitude which Mrs. Gandhi and I feel to you all. We come among you almost as barbarians. We have lived isolated on a little farm, cut off from the cities. That is why I said we were "barbarians". We have worked in the limelight, and you have seen what we have done in exaggerated form. If we merit any approbation, how much more those behind us, who went into the battle with simple faith, with no thought of appreciation.
What will you say to Harbat Singh, an ex-indentured Indian, 75 years of age, who was with me at Volksrust Gaol? He was 6 feet tall and of noble carriage. "Why have you come?" I asked. "How could I help it?" was the reply. "In the evening of my days I am content to pass the rest of my life in prison to deliver my countrymen". He remained in gaol and died there.(2)
What do you think of the young lad, Narayanswamy, whose parents came from what is falsely called the "Benighted Presidency", Madras? He had never seen India except as a deportee; he starved for some days when he returned. He died.(3)
And what of Nagappan, another lad from Madras who suffered imprisonment. He worked as a prisoner on the African veldt in the bitter cold of winter, in the early morning when there was no sun. You know what the cold of a London winter is like, but few of you know the biting cold of the early mornings of winter on the veldt. Unfit for work, he still held on, but at last he died.(4)
Then there is Sister Valliamma, a girl of 18. She went to prison and was only discharged when she was very ill. I remember well when Mr. Polak(5) and I went to see her; how we lifted her with greatest care on to her carpet, and tended her to the best of our powers. She died, leaving thousands of Indians in South Africa to mourn the loss.(6)
There were 20,000 strikers who left their tools and work because there was something in the air. People said they did not know why they had struck. There was a half- truth in that saying; they went out in faith. Violence was entirely eschewed. These men and women are the salt of India; on them will be built the Indian nation that is to be. We are poor mortals before these heroes and heroines.
But victory is due not only to their work. They quickened the conscience of the Empire and of South Africa. Success was due also to the help given by the Motherland in the hour of trial of her sons and daughters, led by that saintly politician, Gopal Krishna Gokhale;(7) to the stand made by India; and to the action of that great Viceroy, Lord Hardinge.(8)
Success would, however, have been impossible had not the conscience of South Africa been quickened, had not the people realised the moral force which Indians could bring to bear against brute force.
Marching over the veldt last November, Europeans came to our aid. I have spoken elsewhere of unreasonable and unreasoning prejudice; but the masses stood aside; they never worried us; and during the march they helped us and showed us practical sympathy.
The Botha Government, too, "played the game". Mr. Smuts(9) said to me: "We do not want any misunderstanding; we want all the cards on the table. Take these documents; read them; come to me again and again if you are not satisfied; we will make changes." And he did.
You see many things conspired to enable the Settlement(10) to be made. But I must mention one more: Mr. Andrews.(11)
You have no notion what he did; how he worked in selfless zeal, preaching love for India through his Master - the poet-saint at Bolpur whom I have come to know through Mr. Andrews - Rabindranath Tagore.(12)
I have called the Settlement the Magna Charta of the British Indians of South Africa; after due deliberation I repeat my statement. It is the Magna Charta of British Indians, not only because of its substance, which is great enough, but for its spirit, which indicates a change of attitude on the part of South Africa and the South African Government. The sufferings of our countrymen sealed the Settlement. The discovery was made that the ancient force could be applied in South Africa; conviction came after the sufferings of eight long-drawn-out years. They saw that Indians, when in earnest, were irresistible; that they would not take a bit less than the minimum they demanded.
Mr. Cartwright(13) is here; he has been our staunch friend throughout and I honour him for his help. But I tell him here that he almost tried to weaken us. I remember, and he will remember, how he came to me in Johannesburg Gaol, and said: "Will not this letter do?" "No, Mr. Cartwright," was my reply; "not until this alteration is made." "But everything is achieved by compromise," he urged. "There can be no compromise on principles," I answered. There never was any compromise on principles from 1906 to 1914.
The Settlement is final on all the points of our passive resistance, but not of all our grievances. Grievances remain which will have to be redressed in no distant future. But I hope it will not be by way of passive resistance. They are capable of settlement by pressure of Indian public opinion, by pressure from Downing Street, and from Delhi or Calcutta. The attitude of South Africa has changed; that is our great asset. On our behaviour depends the future settlement in South Africa...
Indian Opinion, September 30, 1914; Collected Works, Volume 12, pages 523-26
Preface
I have left South Africa, but not my connection with that land. I said in many of my speeches during the final days that I would not give up that connection. My writings in Indian Opinion will furnish some proof of my keeping the promise. In them, I shall express my thoughts from time to time, hoping that readers will like them and find them useful as well.
I am commencing this article on board the Kinfauns Castle. Five days have passed since we left the Cape...
The love of our Indian brethren in their thousands and the honour they accorded us are constantly in our minds. That love reminds me of the wonderful power of the soul and its extraordinary properties. The functions at Durban, Verulam, Johannesburg, Kimberley and Pretoria are, we find, impossible to forget. The Cape Town friends, moreover, placed us under a crushing burden of gratitude by taking out a procession. Where so many showed such immeasurable love, whom shall we thank by name? The white people, too, made an excellent demonstration of their affection. During the final days, we drank the cup of their love also full to the brim. Occasions such as these prove that there is no bar or permanent division as between the whites and Coloureds and that, if both the sides make the required effort, the evil in South Africa can be overcome. If one side at least were to practise satyagraha on every occasion and in every manner, it is my firm faith, borne out by experience, that even such effort, one-sided as it would be, would suffice to remove the evil of colour-bar. So much by way of preface.
(From Gujarati).ls1
Indian Opinion, August 26, 1914; Collected Works, Volume 12, pages 507-508.
Account of the last satyagraha campaign
During the last campaign, the very highest limit was reached. I have had simply no time to write of the experience. I had meant to share it with the readers of Indian Opinion. They will remember that the last struggle was, as it were, the third chapter in the story of satyagraha.(15)
When the first chapter came to a close, we, at any rate I, had thought that it was definitely the last. When the time came for the second chapter to open many friends said to me: "Now who will fight? The community cannot be expected to put forth so much strength every time." I laughed when I heard this. My faith in truth was unshakable and I replied, "The people, having tasted once the joy of struggle, will fight now with even greater zeal." And that was precisely what happened. On the first occasion, a hundred or two hundred Indians went to gaol. The second time, not only did hundreds court imprisonment, but the whole of Natal woke up and leaders came from there to join the struggle. The fight dragged on, but the morale never went down and we advanced. When it came to launching the last fight, I heard only talk of defeat. "Every time the Government deceives you," they said, "and you allow yourself to be imposed upon and the people`s interests suffer. This will never do." I had to listen to bitter words like these. I knew only too well that neither I nor anyone else had any remedy against the Government`s foul play. If, after we have accepted a promissory note, the signatory refuses to honour it or confesses his inability to do so, how are we to blame? To me it was clear that, if the Government broke its promise, though we would have to put in greater efforts, it would have to yield all the more. The longer the time taken to repay a debt, the heavier the burden becomes. This unalterable law applies to both material and moral obligations. My reply at that time was, "Satyagraha is a kind of struggle in which there can be no defeat and no cause for regret. A man can only become stronger through the struggle. He suffers no exhaustion and at every stage he gains fresh strength. If truth be on our side, the Indian community will work harder this time and earn an even more glorious name." When I made this reply, I never dreamt that 20,000 poor Indians would arise and make their own and their country`s name immortal. General Botha(16) observed in the course of a speech that the whites had not been able to start and conduct the kind of strike that the Indians had done this time. This fight was joined by women and by many young boys of sixteen, so that the campaign became much more of a moral struggle. South African Indians became the talk of the world. In India, rich and poor, young and old, men and women, kings and labourers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Christians, citizens of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Lahore - all were roused, became familiar with our history and came to our assistance. The Government was taken aback. The Viceroy, gauging the mood of the people, took their side. All this is public knowledge. I am stating these facts here in order to show the importance of this struggle. My main purpose in writing this article is to reveal certain details with which I am particularly familiar, which are not known in India and even to Indian friends in South Africa.
The training imparted in Tolstoy Farm(17) proved to be of great use in this last fight. The mode of life accepted by the satyagrahis on the Farm became an invaluable asset in the struggle. It was copied and improved upon in Phoenix.(18)
When Tolstoy Farm was closed, the pupils who wished to, came over to Phoenix.(19)
The discipline was severe and there was an understanding with each pupil and his parents that those of the pupils who chose to live in Phoenix should, provided they were of a suitable age, join the struggle, if it was launched again. To tell the truth, the education in Phoenix was for the most part a preparation for satyagraha. The rules applied also to the families living in Phoenix. Only one of them kept aloof. The result was that, leaving aside those engaged in running Phoenix, all were fully prepared when the agitation started. Thus the third struggle began with the residents of Phoenix. I shall never forget the scene when these men, women and children marched out. Each had but one thought - that this was a holy war and that all were setting out on a pilgrimage. They set out singing hymns, one of which was the famous "Let not thy mind be affected by joy or sorrow". The strains of music that issued from the throats of those men, women and children still echo in my ears. The great Parsee Rustomjee(20) was among this band. Many had thought that Mr. Rustomjee had suffered so much in the previous struggle that he would not join this one. Those who said so did not know his true greatness. That women and children should go forth and he stay behind was unthinkable to him. Two other incidents of this period stand out in my memory. There was an argument between Mr. Rustomjee and his lion-hearted son, Sorabjee, who insisted that he would accompany his father. "Father, let me go in your place," he said, "or take me along with you."
The second incident was the meeting between the late Hoosen Mian(21) and Rustomjee. When Mr. Rustomjee went to see him, tears streamed from his eyes and he said, "Kakaji,(22) if I had been well, I would have accompanied you to gaol." Bhai(23)
Hoosen loved his country dearly; though bed-ridden, he gave full support to the struggle and spoke constantly of it to all who visited him.
Among those who remained behind in Phoenix were boys under sixteen. Although they and the others who managed the affairs of Phoenix stayed out of prison, they did better work than those who went to gaol. Day and night were one to them. They placed themselves under the strictest vows till such time as their companions and elders should be released, lived on saltless diet and fearlessly took upon themselves even the most onerous tasks. When the strike began in Victoria County, hundreds of indentured labourers took shelter in Phoenix. To have looked after them was in itself a very great achievement. It was equally an achievement to have gone on doing their work in complete fearlessness in spite of the danger of raids by their masters. When the police came and arrested Mr. West,(24) they prepared themselves for the possibility that others might also be taken. But not a single person moved out of Phoenix. As I have said already, only one family remained an exception. The Indian community can never truly measure the services that the Phoenix workers rendered to it at that time. This secret history has yet to be written, that is why I am recording a part of it here in the hope that some lover of truth might collect further information and might appreciate the services of the Phoenix workers at their true worth.(25)
I am very much tempted to write more, but I drop Phoenix here.
When the Phoenix batch went to prison, Johannesburg could not remain behind. The women there became restive. They were fired with the desire to be in gaol. The entire family of Mr. Thambi Naidoo(26) got ready. His wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, Mr. Moorgan`s relatives,(27)
Mrs. P. K. Naidoo(28) , Valliamma who made herself immortal,(29) and other women came forward. They marched forth with children in their arms. Mr. Kallenbach(30) took them to Vereeniging. The idea was that, when they crossed the Free State border and returned, they would be arrested.(31)
Their expectations were not fulfilled. They somehow managed to spend a few days in Vereeniging, where they tried to get arrested by going round with baskets hawking, but they were left free.
This frustration held within itself a glorious future.(32)
If the women had been arrested in Vereeniging itself, the strike might not have taken place; at any rate it would never have reached the proportions it finally did. But the community was in the (protective) hand of God. He is ever the protector of truth. When the women were not arrested, it was decided that they cross the Natal border. If they were not arrested even there, they were to fix, along with Mr. Thambi Naidoo, their headquarters at Newcastle. Accordingly, they proceeded to Natal. At the border, the police did not arrest them. They made their home in Newcastle. There Mr. D. Lazarus(33) handed over his own house to the women; his wife and sister-in-law, Miss Thomas, took it upon themselves to look to the comforts of the women satyagrahis.
The plan was that in Newcastle the women should meet the indentured labourers and their wives, give them a true idea of their conditions and persuade them to go on strike on the issue of the £ 3 tax. The strike was to commence on my arrival at Newcastle. But the mere presence of these women was like a lighted match-stick to dry fuel. Women who had never before slept except on soft beds and had seldom so much as opened their mouths, now delivered public speeches among the indentured labourers. The latter were roused and, even before I arrived, were all for commencing the strike. The project was full of risk. I got a wire from Mr. Naidoo. Mr. Kallenbach went to Newcastle and the strike began. By the time I reached there, Indians in two coal mines had already stopped work.
I was sent for by the Committee of European Sympathisers presided over by Mr. Hosken.(34)
I met them. They approved of the strike and decided to support it. I stopped for a day at Johannesburg and proceeded to Newcastle and stayed on there. I saw that the people`s enthusiasm was tremendous. The Government could not tolerate the presence of the women and finally they were sent to gaol as "vagabonds". The house of Mr. Lazarus now became a dharmsala for satyagrahis. Food had to be cooked there for hundreds of indentured labourers. Mr. Lazarus was not to be daunted. The Indians in Newcastle appointed a committee. Mr. Sidaat(35) was elected Chairman, and the work proceeded apace. Indians in other mines downed tools.
Thus, as the strike by the Indian workers in the mines was spreading, a meeting of the Mine-Owners` Association was held. I was invited to attend. A great deal of discussion ensued but no solution was found. Their proposal was that, if we called off the strike, they would undertake to write to the Government about the £ 3 tax. This, the satyagrahis could not agree to. We had no quarrel with the mine-owners. The object of the strike was not to hurt them but rather to invite suffering on ourselves. And so the suggestion of the owners was unacceptable. I returned to Newcastle. When I reported the result of this meeting, enthusiasm mounted still higher. Work stopped in more mines.
Till then the workers had always resided at the mines where they worked. The Council of Action in Newcastle felt that so long as the labourers continued to live on their masters` estates, the strike would not have its full effect. There was the risk that they might be either tempted or coerced to resume work. Then again, to live in the master`s house or eat his bread while refusing to work for him would be immoral. The workers` continued stay on the mines was morally wrong. This last taint, it was felt, would sully the purity of the satyagraha movement. On the other hand, to house and feed thousands of Indians was a stupendous problem. Mr. Lazarus` house was now too small. The two poor ladies had laboured night and day but found it impossible to cope with the work. It was decided, even in the face of this, to adopt only the right course, whatever the cost. Messages were sent to miners to stop work and proceed to Newcastle. The moment these messages were received, an exodus from the mines began. Indians from the Belangi mine were the first to arrive. It appeared as though bands of pilgrims were daily streaming into Newcastle. Men, young and old, women - some by themselves, others with children in their arms - all arrived with bundles on their heads. The men, one saw, were carrying trunks. Some arrived by day, others by night and food had to be provided for them. How can I describe the contentment of these poor people? They were pleased with what they got, no matter how little. Rarely did one come across anyone with a downcast look. A smile played on every face. To me they appeared to have come from among the 33 crores(36) of gods. The women were like goddesses. From where could shelter be provided for all? For bedding, straw was spread on the earth and the sky was their roof. God was their protector. Someone asked for a bidi.(37)
I explained that they had come out, not as indentured labourers, but as servants of India. They were taking part in a religious war and at such a time they must abandon addictions such as drinking and smoking. Those who were unable to give them up should not expect their requirements to be paid for from the common coffers. The good men accepted this advice. I was never again asked for money to buy a bidi. The exodus from the mines continued. One pregnant woman had a miscarriage on the way. In spite of numberless hardships of this kind, no one gave up the struggle or turned back.
There was a tremendous increase in the Indian population of Newcastle. The houses of Indians were over-filled. The number made available was enough to accommodate women and old people. I must state here that the white people of Newcastle showed us great courtesy, even sympathy. No Indian was harassed by them. One good lady even gave her house free for our use; other assistance of a minor nature was also received from a number of whites all the time.
It was, however, not possible to keep thousands of Indians permanently in Newcastle. The Mayor became apprehensive. The normal population of Newcastle is about three thousand. An additional ten thousand could not be accommodated in such a town. Labourers stopped work in other mines also. And so the question arose: what should be done? The intention behind the strike was
to court imprisonment. The Government could have arrested the workers if it had so wished, but there were not enough prisons to house those thousands. Hence, they had not so far touched the strikers. The one simple way left to us now was to cross the Transvaal border and get arrested. We thought that the congestion in Newcastle would thereby be relieved and the strikers could also be put to the test. In Newcastle, the agents of the mine owners were trying to lure away the workers. Not a single person had yielded; even so, it was the duty of the Council of Action to keep them away from all temptation. It seemed desirable, therefore, that they should march from Newcastle to Charlestown. The distance is about 35 miles. To provide railway fare for thousands was out of the question. It was therefore arranged that all able-bodied men and women should do the journey on foot. The women who could not walk were to be taken by train. There was a possibility of arrests on the way. Moreover, this was the first experience of its kind for them. It was therefore decided that I should myself take the first batch. It consisted of about 500 persons of whom 60 were women, with their children. I shall never forget the scene. The company walked along raising cries of "Victory to Dwarkanath", "Victory to Ramachandra" and "Vande Mataram". Each person was given enough cooked rice and dal to last for two days. Everyone carried his or her things in a bundle. The following conditions were read out to them:
There were persons of every caste and community in this pilgrim-band. There were Hindus, Muslims, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras.(38)
There were men from Calcutta and there were Tamils. Several Pathans and Sindhis from the North found it difficult to accept the conditions requiring them to refrain from defending themselves in case they were beaten; not only did they accept it, however, but, when the testing time came, they actually made no move to defend themselves.
And so, the first batch started on its march.(39) On the very first night, we had the experience of sleeping out on the grass. On the way, warrants were received for the arrest of about 150 persons and they surrendered themselves readily. A single police officer had come to make the arrests. He had no assistant; how the arrested men were to be taken away became a problem. We were only 6 miles from Charlestown. So I suggested to the officer that these persons could proceed along with me and that he should take them into custody at Charlestown, or do whatever he thought fit after obtaining instructions from his superiors. The officer agreed and left us. We arrived at Charlestown. This is a very small township, with a population of barely 1,000. There is only one main road and the Indian population is negligible. The whites were amazed, therefore, at the sight of our party. At no time had so many Indians appeared in Charlestown. There was no train ready to convey the prisoners to Newcastle. Where could the police keep them? There was not enough room for all these arrested persons at the Charlestown police station. And so, the police handed them over to me and agreed to pay for their food. This is no small tribute to satyagraha. In the ordinary course of things, how could people arrested from among us be placed in our charge? If some of them had escaped, the responsibility would not have been ours. But everyone knew that it was the job of the satyagrahis to court arrest and they had, therefore, full confidence in us. The arrested men thus stayed with us for four days more. When the police were ready to take charge of them, they went away willingly.
More and more people were being recruited to our party. On some days 400 would join, on others even more. Many arrived on foot, while women came mostly by train. These were put up wherever there was space in the houses of Indian merchants of Charlestown. The local Corporation also offered us houses. The whites did not give us the slightest trouble. On the contrary, they went out of their way to help us. One Dr. Briscoe(40) took it upon himself to give us free medical aid and, when we proceeded beyond Charlestown, he gave us gratis some expensive medicines and useful instruments. Our food was cooked in the mosque premises. The fire had to remain lit all the twenty-four hours. The cooks came from among the strikers. During the final days, four to five thousand persons were being fed. Yet these workers never lost heart. In the morning, the meal consisted of mealie pap with sugar and some bread. In the evening they had rice, dal and vegetables. Most people in South Africa eat thrice a day. The indentured labourers always have three meals, but during the struggle they remained content with only two. They like to have small delicacies with their meals, but these, too, they gave up at this time.
What to do with these huge crowds of people became a problem. If they were kept somehow in Charlestown, there was the likelihood of an epidemic breaking out. Moreover, it was not desirable that so many thousands accustomed to hard work should be kept in a state of idleness. It needs to be mentioned here that, although so many poor people had come together in Charlestown, not one of them committed a theft. The police had never to be called and they had no extra work on our account. However, it seemed best not to keep waiting in Charlestown. It was therefore decided to proceed to the Transvaal and, if not arrested, to go on ultimately to Tolstoy Farm. Before commencing the march, the Government was informed that we were proceeding to the Transvaal to court arrest, that we had no desire to stay there or to claim any rights, but that, so long as the Government did not arrest us, we would continue our march and finally stay on Tolstoy Farm. If, however, the Government promised to withdraw the £ 3 tax, we were willing to return. But the Government was in no mood to consider this notice. It was misled by its informants who assured it that the strikers would soon be exhausted. The Government had a notice printed in all languages and distributed among the strikers.
At last the time came for us to proceed beyond Charlestown. On November 6, a party of 3,000 left at day-break. The procession was more than a mile long. Mr. Kallenbach and I were at the rear. The procession reached the border where a police party stood in readiness. When the two of us reached the spot, we had a talk with the police. They refused to arrest us and the procession went on in a disciplined and peaceful manner through Volksrust. On reaching Standerton Road outside the town, we halted and had some refreshments. It had been arranged that women should not join in this march, but later it became impossible to check the tide of enthusiasm and a few women managed to accompany the procession. However, some women and children still remained behind in Charlestown. After crossing the border at Volksrust, Mr. Kallenbach was sent back to look after them.
On the following day, the police arrested me near Palmford. I was charged with having brought unauthorised persons into the Transvaal. There was no warrant for the arrest of anyone else. Therefore, on reaching Volksrust, I sent the following telegram to the Government:
"WHILST I APPRECIATE THE FACT OF GOVERNMENT HAVING AT LAST ARRESTED PRIME MOVER IN PASSIVE RESISTANCE STRUGGLE, CANNOT HELP REMARKING THAT FROM POINT VIEW HUMANITY MOMENT CHOSEN MOST UNFORTUNATE. GOVERNMENT PROBABLY KNOW THAT MARCHERS INCLUDE 122 WOMEN, FIFTY TENDER CHILDREN, ALL VOLUNTARILY MARCHING ON STARVATION RATIONS WITHOUT PROVISION FOR SHELTER DURING STAGES. TEARING ME AWAY UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES FROM THEM IS VIOLATION ALL CONSIDERATIONS JUSTICE. WHEN ARRESTED LAST NIGHT LEFT MEN WITHOUT INFORMING THEM. THEY MIGHT BECOME INFURIATED. I, THEREFORE, ASK EITHER THAT I MAY BE ALLOWED CONTINUE MARCH WITH MEN OR THAT GOVERNMENT SEND THEM BY RAIL TOLSTOY FARM AND PROVIDE FULL RATIONS FOR THEM. LEAVING THEM WITHOUT ONE IN WHOM THEY HAVE CONFIDENCE AND WITHOUT GOVERNMENT MAKING PROVISION FOR THEM IS IN MY OPINION AN ACT FROM WHICH I HOPE ON RECONSIDERATION GOVERNMENT WILL RECOIL. IF UNTOWARD INCIDENTS HAPPEN DURING FURTHER PROGRESS MARCH OR IF DEATHS OCCUR, ESPECIALLY AMONG WOMEN WITH BABIES IN ARMS, RESPONSIBILITY WILL BE GOVERNMENT`S."
The procession went ahead. I was produced before the magistrate at Volksrust. I did not, of course, wish to defend myself. But as some arrangements had yet to be made regarding those who had gone beyond Palmford and those left behind at Charlestown, I asked for time. The Government pleader objected, but the magistrate pointed out that bail could be refused only in a case of murder. He then asked me to furnish a bail of £ 50 and gave me time for a week. The amount was immediately paid by a merchant in Volksrust. As soon as I was released, I went straight to the marchers. Their enthusiasm was doubled. Meanwhile, a wire came from Pretoria to say that the Government had no intention of arresting the Indians who were with me. Only the leaders were to be arrested. This did not mean that all the rest would be allowed to go free. But the Government had no desire to make our work easy by arresting all of us or to provoke agitation in India on this account.
Mr. Kallenbach followed with another large batch. Our party of over 2,000 was nearing Standerton. There, I was again arrested and the hearing was fixed for the 21st. We, however, proceeded on our way. But now the Government could stand this no longer and it took the step of separating me from the rest. At this time, preparations were afoot to send Mr. Polak(41) to India with a deputation. He came to see me before leaving. But "our undertakings remain unfinished, and the will of God prevails". This is what happened. On Sunday, I was arrested, for the third time, near Greylingstad. The warrant this time was issued from Dundee and the charge was that of instigating the workers to stop work. I was removed from there to Dundee in utmost secrecy. I have mentioned above that Mr. Polak was in the march with us. He now took charge. My case came up for hearing in Dundee on Tuesday. All three charges against me were read out and I pleaded guilty to all of them. I then made, with the Court`s permission, the following statement:
Summary
As a member of the profession, and being an old resident of Natal, he thought that, in justice to himself and the public, he should state that the counts against him were of such a nature that he took the responsibility imposed upon him, for he believed that the demonstration for which these people were taken out of the Colony was one for a worthy object. He felt that he should say that he had nothing against the employers, and regretted that in this campaign, serious losses were being caused to them. He appealed to the employers also, and he felt that the tax was one which was heavily weighing down his countrymen, and should removed. He also felt that he was in honour bound, in view of the position of things between Mr. Smuts and Professor Gokhale, to produce a striking demonstration.(42)
He was aware of the miseries caused to the women and babes in arms. On the whole, he felt he had not gone beyond the principles and honour of the profession of which he was a member. He felt that he had only done his duty in advising his countrymen, and it was his duty to advise them again, that until the tax were removed, to leave work and subsist upon rations obtained by charity. He was certain that without suffering it was not possible for them to get their grievances remedied.
I made myself quite comfortable in gaol. Afterwards, proceedings were taken against me in Volksrust and I was given another three months of gaol, besides the nine months I got at Dundee.
About this time, I learnt that Mr. Polak had been arrested and that instead of going to India he found himself in gaol. I, for one, was delighted, because this, to my mind, was a far more weighty deputation than the other one. Soon after this, Mr. Kallenbach was arrested and he also, like Mr. Polak, found himself lodged in gaol for three months. The Government was sadly mistaken when it imagined that, once the leaders were arrested, the people would surrender. All the strikers were put into four special trains and taken to mines in Dundee and Newcastle. They were subjected to much cruelty and they suffered terribly. But they had come forward to suffer. They were their own leaders. They had to demonstrate their strength, left as they were without any leaders, so called; and they did so. How well they did is known to all the world...
(From Gujarati)
Indian Opinion. Golden Number, December 1914; Collected Works, Volume 12, pages 508-19
He who played an important part in the Indian Passive Resistance Movement did not live to see the final stages. He has described the struggle in his own graphic style in his monograph on me, Gandhi.
This chapter is intended to take a brief survey of the Movement from where Mr. Doke left it. No Englishman had such a keen grasp of the subject as he, by patient study, had acquired. Busy though he was with the work of his own flock, if a man of his breadth of vision and his all-round humanity could be said to have had a special flock, he made this Indian Question as much his own as the work of the Pastorate. He collected and tabulated every scrap of paper upon the subject. He wrote much upon it. He saw the authorities and spoke to them with the certainty of the knowledge of an expert. He took charge of the editorial work of the Passive Resistance organ, Indian Opinion,(44) during Mr. Gandhi`s and Mr. Polak`s absence from South Africa. The leading articles he wrote for the journal during the period are literally monuments. His anxiety to keep up the traditions of the journal was so great that, in matters of policy, he took the advice of, and allowed himself to be guided by, those whom he was not bound to consult. He came in contact with the best and the worst of Indians. All his study was not merely to bring to a close a movement, however great it may have been. He had dreams about the future of South Africa, the part that Indians were to play in it, the part that Christianity had to play in the great drama that was being enacted before him. His Indian work was taken up in answer to the question of his soul: "What am I to do in South Africa in the midst of many races?"
Mr. Doke had intended, if he had lived, to take part in the constructive programme of the Indian community after the struggle was finished. He had intended, too, to write a volume on the lessons of the struggle. But that was not to be.
The readers of these pages will, however, be glad to know the final results of the historical struggle which attracted world-wide attention. Only a bird`s-eye view is possible in a single chapter of a book, when a full description would require several volumes. During the last stages it took a most unexpected and brilliant turn. Every act of repression by the authorities only heartened the resisters. The refusal of the Government to recognise the legal status of Indian minors and to abolish the poll-tax on indentured Indians, which it was claimed on their behalf the Government had promised the late Mr. Gokhale to do, brought thousands to the Passive Resistance fold. Indentured Indians, working in the Natal mines and in the sugar fields, struck work and sought imprisonment. This strike must be distinguished from ordinary strikes. It was undertaken, not to usurp the functions of the Government or to paralyse the industries concerned. It was declared simply as a protest against the £3 tax. It was an assertion on the part of the strikers, men and women, of their self-respect. They were no longer content to pay a tax, which not only told heavily upon their slender purses, but which was a mark of their degradation and a cause of terror to the women-folk. At one time nearly 30,000 men were on strike. The Government and the planters tried every means to bend the strikers, but without avail. They had but one purpose in life: these strikers refused to be left alone. They wanted to fill the prisons. After due notice to the Government, nearly 2,000 of them, men, women and children, marched into the Transvaal. They had no legal right to cross the border, their destination was Tolstoy Farm, established by Mr. Kallenbach for Passive Resisters, the distance to be covered was 150 miles. No army ever marched with so little burden. No waggons or mules accompanied the party. Each one carried his own blankets and daily rations, consisting of one pound of bread and one ounce of sugar. This meagre ration was supplemented by what Indian merchants gave them on their way. The Government imprisoned the leaders, i.e., those whom they thought were leaders. But they soon found that all were leaders. So when they were nearly within reach of their destination the whole party was arrested. Thus their object (to get arrested) was accomplished. That extreme reasonableness was mixed with such an unbending spirit was shown when the Indian strikers voluntarily stayed their activity during the strike of the Government railway men, which was certainly not a Passive Resistance Movement.
The Indian strikers at once stood aloof, and their self-restraint was much appreciated throughout the Empire; whilst it had not a little to do with the final settlement, for which negotiations were opened.
It will be easily imagined that India would not remain supine when a mighty effort was being made by her sons in this far-off Continent. Under the splendid leadership of the late Honourable Mr. Gokhale, meetings of protest were held all over the country, and thousands of pounds were collected to aid the Resisters. Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, who strongly protested in a public speech at Madras against what was transpiring in South Africa, sent a Commission to investigate the cause of the upheaval. A local Commission was appointed. Though for high political reasons, the Indian community as a whole refused to give evidence before it, the Commissioners completely vindicated the Resisters by declaring in favour of every one of the main contentions of the aggrieved Indians. And so at last legislation was passed, repealing the poll-tax, restoring racial equality in law, and recognising the status of Indian wives. Thus ended the great struggle in 1914, after having lasted nearly eight years.
Mr. Doke, along with many, considered it to be a religious or ethical struggle. It was not undertaken in order to gain individual rights but to gain national dignity. The methods adopted were not those of brute force or violence, but those of self-sacrifice and suffering. Repeal of obnoxious legislation was an embodiment of the vital principle that Indian sentiment must not be flouted on Indian matters. It was an admission of the right of the Indians to be consulted in everything affecting their status and intimate well-being. And it was for such an achievement that Mr. Doke laboured during his life-time. Who knows how important a part he would have played in the more difficult work of reconstruction? Certainly the Indian community misses the guiding hand.
Source: William E. Cursons, Joseph Doke: The Missionary-Hearted, pages 147-150.
Ahmedabad,
June 16, 1915
Dear Mr. Petit,
...Whilst the actual courting of imprisonment has ceased, the struggle itself has by no means ended. In its last stages, nearly 25,000 Indians actively participated in it, that is, one-sixth of the total Indian population in South Africa. The balance of the community practically but with few exceptions supported the struggle whether by contributions in cash or in kind or by holding meetings, etc. It began in the Transvaal with the passing of the now famous Asiatic Registration Bill in the year 1906, but as year after year the struggle rolled on with temporary settlements, it included many other things besides the Asiatic Registration Act, and covered the whole of South Africa. At the time of the settlement, the points of Passive Resistance were as follows:.lm14
All these points are covered by the settlement of the last year which I consider to be a complete vindication of Passive Resistance and I venture to state that if more has not been gained, more was not - and could not be - asked for as an item in Passive Resistance, for a Passive Resister has to frame his minimum as well as his maximum and he dare not ask for more nor can he be satisfied with less.
But I do not wish to be understood to mean that nothing further remains to be done in South Africa, or that everything has been gained. We have only fought for removal of legal disabilities as to immigration but administratively we have taken note of existing conditions and prejudices. We fought to keep the theory of the British Constitution intact so that practice may some day approach the theory as near as possible. There are still certain laws in South Africa, for instance, the Law 3 of 1885, Trade Licence Laws of the Cape and Natal which continue to cause worry. Administration of the Immigration Law is not all it should be. For these, however, Passive Resistance [was not] applied and is at present inapplicable, its application being confined to grievances which are generally felt in a community and are known to hurt its self-respect or conscience. Any of the grievances referred to by me may any day advance to that stage. Till then only the ordinary remedies of petition, etc., can be and are at present being adopted. Letters received from South Africa show that difficulties are being experienced in some cases acutely by our countrymen and if not much has been heard of them in India just now, it is because of the extraordinary self-restraint of our countrymen in South Africa during the crisis that has overtaken the Empire.
The struggle has defined principles and removed disabilities which were in the shape of a national insult. The larger question of the treatment of British Indians who came from outside can only be dealt with here. For the question of the local disabilities still unredressed, your Committee will have to exercise a ceaseless watch and assist as heretofore the efforts of our countrymen in South Africa.
I feel I ought to place on record my strong conviction, based upon close personal observation extending over a period of twenty years, that the system of indentured emigration is an evil which cannot be mended but can only be ended. No matter how humane the employers may be, it does not lend itself to the moral well-being of the men affected by it. I therefore feel that your Committee should lose no time in approaching the Government of India with a view to securing entire abolition of the system for every part of the Empire.
Before closing, I am bound to mention that the struggle would not have ended so soon and even as satisfactorily as it did, but for the generous support rendered by the Motherland under the leadership of the great and saintly patriot whose death we all mourn(46) and but for the very sympathetic and firm attitude taken by the noble man who at present occupies the Viceregal chair(47) .
M. K. Gandhi
1. Gandhiji, Mrs. Kasturba Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach arrived in London on August 4, 1914, and were given a reception at Hotel Cecil by British and Indian friends on August 8th. Among those present were Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, Satchidanand Sinha, Lala Lajpat Rai, M. A. Jinnah, Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Mrs. W. J. Wybergh and Albert Cartwright. The Hon. Bhupendranath Basu presided.
2. Harbat Singh, a labourer originally from Uttar Pradesh, India, died of pneumonia in Volksrust jail on January 5, 1914.
3. Mr. Narayanswamy was deported to India as a passive resister. He returned with other deportees, but the ship was not allowed to land in South African ports. He died in Delgoa Bay on October 16, 1910.
4.Sammy (Swami) Nagappan died on July 6, 1909, soon after release from prison.
5. H. S. L. Polak. Journalist, attorney and close associate of Gandhiji; editor of Indian Opinion for several years.
6. Miss Valliamma Moonsamy Moodaliar died on February 22, 1914, a few days after release from prison.
7. For a tribute to Mr. Gokhale, please see items 6 and 9 below.
8. Lord Hardinge, Viceroy from 1910 to 1916, in a speech in Madras on November 23, 1913, publicly expressed his sympathy with the struggle of the Indian people in South Africa. (Please see item 6).
He persuaded the British Government to intervene and, when the South African Government appointed a Commission to look into Indian grievances, sent a senior civil servant, Sir Benjamin Robertson, to give evidence on behalf of the Government of India before the Commission and to promote a settlement.
9. General Jan Christaan Smuts (1870-1950), then Minister of the Interior of the Union of South Africa
10. The Smuts-Gandhi settlement was reached by an ex change of letters on June 30, 1914.
11. The Reverend C. F. Andrews (1871-1940), sent by Mr. Gokhale, arrived in South Africa in January 1914 and greatly assisted in promoting a settlement. He was closely associated with Poet Rabindranath Tagore.
12. Poet, writer and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore established, at Bolpur, Santiniketan and Vishwa Bharati University, where the Reverend C.F. Andrews was a professor.
13. Albert Cartwright, editor of the Transvaal Leader and member of the Progressive Party, helped promote the provisional settlement between General Smuts and Gandhiji in January 1908 when Gandhiji served his first term in prison. He was a leader of the Committee of European Sympathisers formed in 1908 to support the Indian cause.
14. Gandhiji started writing this article on board the ship Kinfauns Castle, on which he left South Africa for England in July 1914. The preface was written on July 23, 1914. The main article was delayed because of his illness and other preoccupations in London, and was published in a special issue of Indian Opinion in December 1914 devoted to satyagraha.
He gave a fuller account of the satyagraha in his book, Satyagraha in South Africa, which he wrote mostly in Yeravda jail where he was incarcerated from 1922 to 1924. But this article has a value as this account was written while the struggle was still very fresh in his mind.
15. Gandhiji refers here to the three stages of the Satyagraha.
The first stage, which began with the decision of 1906 to defy the Asiatic Ordinance in the Transvaal (replaced by the Asiatic Registration Act of 1907), ended with the provisional settlement with General Smuts on January 30, 1908.
The second stage began with the resumption of the Satyagraha in July 1908, when General Smuts reneged on the promise to repeal the obnoxious Act. Some Indians from Natal joined the struggle by defying the Transvaal Immigration Restriction Act of 1907. It continued until 1911 when it was suspended during talks for a settlement.
The third stage began in September 1913. Women and indentured labourers were encouraged to join the struggle as the validation of Indian marriages and the abolition of the £3 tax were added to the demands, and the struggle extended beyond the Transvaal into Natal. It ended with the Smuts-Gandhi agreement of June 30, 1914.
16. General Louis Botha, Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, 1910-19
17. The Tolstoy Farm at Lawley, Johannesburg, was given by Hermann Kallenbach in 1910 for the use of passive resisters and their families for the duration of the struggle.
18. Gandhiji had established the Phoenix Settlement near Durban in 1904, and Indian Opinion was published there.
19.The Tolstoy Farm was closed in January 1913, when an agreement on the struggle in the Transvaal seemed imminent, and Gandhiji went to Phoenix with the pupils in the school at the Tolstoy Farm and some passive resisters.
20. Rustomjee Jeewanjee Ghorcoodoo, a wealthy trader from the Parsee community and a close associate of Gandhiji. He repeatedly went to jail during the Satyagraha. Please see obituary by Gandhiji, item 65 below.
21. Haji Hoosen Dawad Mahomed, who spent some time in the Phoenix Settlement. He was the son of Dawad Mahomed, a businessman and leader of the Indian community, who went to prison several times. On Dawad Mahomed, please see item 30.
22. Parsee Rustomjee was affectionately addressed as "Kakaji" (uncle).
24. Albert H. West, one of the close European associates of Gandhiji, was Joint Manager of the International Printing Press and of Indian Opinion. He was briefly jailed in 1913 for helping indentured labourers who fled to the Phoenix Settlement during the strike.
25. For some further information, please see Gandhi, Prabhudas, My Childhood with Gandhiji, (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1957), Chapters XIV-XIX.
26. A leading satyagrahi who went fourteen times to prison
27. Rajoo and Willie, members of the Moorgan (Murgan) family, went to prison in October 1913. Indian Opinion, October 8, 1913.
28. Wife P. K. Naidoo, a prominent satyagrahi. She again courted imprisonment in the passive resistance movement of 1946.
29. Valliamma, a young girl in her teens, became seriously ill in prison and died soon after release - on February 22, 1914.
30. Hermann Kallenbach. A European architect in Johannesburg, he became a devoted friend and co-worker of Gandhiji.
31. Indians were not permitted to reside in the Free State. They could be arrested if they crossed the Transvaal border as they had not registered under the Asiatic Registration Act.
32. Literally, "immortal hope".
33. "... a middle class Christian Tamilian, who owned a small plot of land and a house consisting of two or three rooms... (he) belonged to a family of indentured labourers." Gandhiji, Satyagraha in South Africa, Chapter XLI.
Gandhiji and several other satyagrahis stayed at his modest home in October 1913.
34. A European Committee of Sympathisers was formed in 1908 to support the Indian cause. William Hosken, a leader of the Progressive Party and former President of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa, was Chairman.
36. A "crore" is ten million or 100 lakhs.
37. Tobacco rolled by hand in a dry leaf and smoked like a cigarette
38. The four castes in Hinduism
40. District Health Officer in Charlestown
41. H. S. L. Polak, an attorney and associate of Gandhiji. He was sent by Gandhiji to India in 1909-10 and to Britain in 1911 and 1913 to explain and promote support for the cause of Indians in South Africa.
42. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a member of the Viceroy`s Legislative Council and a prominent public leader in India, met Prime Minister General Botha on November 14, 1912, to discuss the position of Indians in South Africa. General J. C. Smuts and Abraham Fischer, the responsible Ministers, were also present. Mr. Gokhale understood that they undertook to repeal the £3 annual tax imposed by Natal on former indentured labourers from India, who did not re-indenture themselves or leave for India, as well as their wives and children. But the South African Government subsequently denied an undertaking and took no action.
43. Gandhiji wrote this for William E. Cursons who was preparing a biography of the Reverend Doke at the request of his family. It was published as Chapter XV of the biography - Joseph Doke: The Missionary-Hearted (Johannesburg: The Christian Literature Depot, 1929) - under the title: "The Asiatic Passive Resistance Struggle - The Final Stages - by M.K. Gandhi". The date when Gandhiji wrote this is not available; there was a delay of several years before the publication of the biography.
44. Indian Opinion, a weekly, was established by Gandhiji in June 1903 with M. H. Nazar as editor.
The Reverend J. J. Doke was editor for a brief period in 1913.
45. his letter to Jehangir Bomanji Petit, Secretary of the South African Fund, contained an accounting of the income and expenditure in connection with the satyagraha in South Africa. It was printed and published on October 31, 1915, with minor alterations. The alterations are incorporated in the extract reproduced here.