Note by editors
This final section of the volume contains Gandhiji's comments on South Africa in the last phase of his life.
The Quit India Movement of 1942 had placed Gandhiji, his wife Kasturba and his colleagues behind prison bars. Incarcerated in Poona, husband and wife must have thought of their days in South Africa and their first imprisonments there.
The situation in their Poona jail was to become sombre. In February 1944, Kasturba fell grievously ill. It became clear, before long, that she was in her deathbed. As life ebbed away from her fragile body, the events of three decades earlier, in the final phase of the Satyagraha in South Africa, must have been re-lived by the two prisoners in their thoughts.
On Februry 22, 1944, Kasturba, the heroine of the 1913 march into the Transvaal, died. A prisoner of the British Raj. But a prisoner who had shaken the prison house to its foundations...
In the meantime, the clock was ticking away for the British Raj. Events moved swiftly in the three years between 1945 and 1948. World War II came to an end as did, in a sense, India's War of Independence. And just as the former left a divided Germany, the latter left a divided India. But India was, at last, free.
Gandhiji did not fail, through these momentous events, to remain posted with the latest developments in South Africa.
A delegation of the South African Indian Congress, led by Sorabjee Rustomjee, arrived in India in March 1946, as the South African Government proceeded to enact the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Bill, denounced by the Indian community as the "Ghetto Bill". In a statement dated March 18, 1946, Gandhiji said:
"The threatened Land and Franchise Bill which has brought the South African delegation to India, though superficially it affects the Indians of Natal and the Transvaal, is in effect a challenge to Asia and by implication to the Negro races..." (Item 202).
On the same day, he said in a cable to General Smuts: "Your Asiatic policy... ill becomes you... withdraw Land and Franchise Measure and call... RTC (Round Table Conference)." (Item 203).
And in an article in Harijan dated June 2, 1946, he declared: "The cause is the cause of the honour of India and through her of all the exploited coloured races of the earth whether they are brown, yellow or black." (Item 207).
When the Indian community launched passive resistance shortly after, under the leadership of Dr. Y. M. Dadoo and Dr. G. M. Naicker, Gandhiji sent a message to the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, suggesting he lend support. At his prayer meeting, he expressed the hope that the passive resisters would prove themselves to be ideal satyagrahis in every respect. (Item 211).
Disturbed by reports of white violence against the Satyagrahis, he said in a speech on June 27, 1946, that the whites there were becoming more and more frenzied in their hooliganism and seemed to be determined to cow down the satyagrahis who were behaving in a calm and dignified manner. (Item 213).
Writing in Harijan, on June 30, 1946, he said: "Let us hope that our countrymen's heroic resistance will not only shame the hooligans into silence but prove the precursor of the repeal of the law that disfigures the statute book of South Africa." (Item 212).
Gandhiji said in his speech to the All India Congress Committee in Bombay on July 7, 1946:
"The South African struggle may appear to be insignificant today but it is charged with momentous consequences". (item 217)
That statement was to prove prophetic, as the Indian resistance encouraged the African people and resulted in a defiance campaign of all the oppressed people of South Africa in 1952.
It was more than thirty years since the Smuts-Gandhi Agreement. And more than twenty years since he wrote Satyagraha in South Africa. But his words at the end of that book rang true:
"... had it not been for this great struggle and for the untold sufferings which many Indians invited upon their devoted heads, the Indians today would have been hounded out of South Africa. Nay, the victory achieved by Indians in South Africa more or less served as a shield for Indian emigrants in other parts of the British empire, who, if they are suppressed, will be suppressed thanks to the absence of Satyagraha among themselves, and to India's inability to protect them, and not because of any flaw in the weapon of Satyagraha. I will consider myself amply repaid if I have in these pages demonstrated with some success that Satyagraha is a priceless and matchless weapon, and that those who wield it are strangers to disappointment or defeat."
Gandhiji was gratified and proud that satyagraha had been revived in the land of its birth. He said in a speech on July 10, 1946, that it was a matter of pride for India that the children of indentured labourers and traders - many of them descendants of Harijans - were proving themselves such brave Satyagrahis. "After all," he remarked, "civil resistance had its birth in Asia. Jesus was an Asiatic. If he was reborn and went to South Africa today and lived there, he would have to live in a ghetto." (Item 218).
Indian public opinion, which became increasingly sensitive as the country moved towards independence, pressed for sanctions and other strong action against racism in South Africa. All parties were united on this matter of honour for the country.
Under pressure of public opinion, the Indian Government lodged a complaint with the United Nations, withdrew its High Commissioner from South Africa and imposed a trade embargo.
Gandhiji had no doubt that the struggle would be difficult. In May 1947, on the eve of a major rally organised in Johannesburg, he said he wanted "to warn the organisers of the rally against rhetorical display or raising idle hopes and to advise them to carry on their demonstration with dignity and restraint." (Item 234).
Dignity and restraint. Those were his chosen attributes for a true satyagrahi. And those were his own attributes as he walked, on January 30, 1948, compassionately, but determinedly, to stop bullets of prejudice in their lethal track. Even two days prior to his assassination, addressing a prayer congregation at Birla House, New Delhi, he had reverted to his favourite theme, South Africa.
200. MESSAGE TO INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA, APRIL 18, 1945(1)
As India holds the key to the freedom of all the exploited races and nations of the earth so do Indians in South Africa hold the key to the protection and freedom of the exploited people in the overseas. For it was in South Africa that satyagraha was fairly tried and became largely successful. Will the Indians there unite and sacrifice themselves for the common cause?
Bombay Chronicle, May 1, 1945, and The Hindu, May 2, 1945; Collected Works, Volume 79, page 391
201. LETTER TO KANTILAL GANDHI, APRIL 27, 1945
... Everyone in South Africa should live in harmony and bring credit to India. Everyone should be dedicated to service.
(From Gujarati)
Collected Works, Volume 80, page 24
Gandhiji`s Correspondence with the Government, 1944-47, page 93; Collected Works, Volume 83, page 280
202. STATEMENT TO THE PRESS, MARCH 18, 1946
Course of events has raised the question of South Africa Whiteman`s policy to the highest level. Unseen, it holds the seeds of a world war. The threatened Land and Franchise Bill(2) which has brought the South African Indian delegation to India,(3) though superficially it affects the Indians of Natal and the Transvaal, is in effect a challenge to Asia and by implication to the Negro races. India in her present exalted mood can view it in no other way. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is Indian to the core but, being also an internationalist, he has made us used to looking at everything in the international light instead of the parochial. India, weak physically and materially but strong ethically and numerically, has proclaimed from the house-tops that her independence would be a threat to no one and no nation, but will be a help to noble effort throughout the world and a promise of relief to all its exploited peoples. Therefore India regards the contemplated measure of the Union of South Africa as an insult and challenge to them.
The Indian deputation see in the present measure not merely an assault on Indian property rights but also on their status as free men. They do not want merely to exist in South Africa. They need not have sent the deputation all the way to India for that purpose. They want to be in South Africa as equals of the European settlers of South Africa. They know that today they are not. But they must stop deterioration and hence move forward. In that forward march India will help, of course. Indeed all the moral forces will be at their call. The brunt, however, will have to be borne by them. They rediscovered the force of Truth (Satyagraha) and that will be their only and ultimate source of power. Time for it is not yet. Let us hope, it will never come. They have to try together(4) on their side all the moral forces of the world. They will have to clear the ground of all the weeds, all sordidness, all personal ambition which always and everywhere creeps in, if sleepless vigilance is not kept on the watch-tower. Imagine the plight of a poor barque sailing when the beacon light in front has gone out.
They must be prepared for accidents and consequent suffering. If they are in earnest and hardy enough to brave the worst, they are bound to come out the best in the end.
What about the whites of South Africa? They invited the Indians in the first instance. If they had thought the invitees would always be like slaves or that they would not be followed by their free brethren, they were soon undeceived.
Does real superiority require outside props in the shape of legislation? Will they see that every such wall of protection weakens them, ultimately rendering them effeminate? The lesson of history ought to teach them that might is not right. Right only is might. Field Marshal Smuts is a great soldier-statesman. Will he not perceive that he will be taking the whitemen of South Africa down the precipice, if he persists in the policy underlying his measure? Let him take counsel with the Allies to whose victory on the battlefield he contributed not a little. He will surely throw away its fruits, if he persists in his plan of protecting the civilisation of the West by artificial means.
Poona, March 18, 1946
Harijan, March 24, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 83, pages 284-286
203. TELEGRAM TO FIELD MARSHAL J. C. SMUTS, MARCH 18, 1946
YOUR ASIATIC POLICY REQUIRES OVERHAULING. IT ILL BECOMES YOU. LEAST YOU SHOULD DO IS WITHDRAW THREATENED LAND AND FRANCHISE MEASURE AND CALL ADVISORY ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE AT LEAST OF UNION BRITISH AND INDIAN GOVERNMENTS AND IF POSSIBLE OF ALL ASSOCIATE POWERS TO CONSIDER ASIATIC AFRICAN AND GENERAL COLOUR POLICY ARISING FROM ASIATIC BILL. THIS IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNLESS YOU SO WISH.
YOUR AND SOUTH AFRICA`S SINCERE FRIEND
GANDHI(5)
204. TELEGRAM TO FIELD MARSHAL J. C. SMUTS, MARCH 22, 1946
POONA
MARCH 22, 1946
FIELD MARSHAL SMUTS
CAPE TOWN
THANKS FOR WIRE. INDIA IS EXPECTED TO GET INDEPENDENCE THIS YEAR. IF YOU BELIEVE IT, WAIT TILL THEN. CLOISTERED CIVILISATION LIKE CLOISTERED VIRTUE. YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS UNDOUBTED. PREMISE APPEARS FAULTY. INDIA`S PROTEST AGAINST INFERIOR STATUS. PROPOSED FRANCHISE DOUBTFUL PRIVILEGE. LAND TENURE IS SEGREGATION. SHALL RESPECT YOUR WISH AVOID PUBLICITY CONTENTS OUR CABLES.
GANDHI
Gandhiji`s Correspondence with the Government, 1944-47, page 160
205. INTERVIEW TO SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATION(6)
Gandhiji remarked on the presence of divisions among them. They admitted divisions but argued that they were there even in Gandhiji`s time.
GANDHIJI: The difference between then and now is this: that in those days the blacklegs became isolated after a time, and it was possible to hold monster meetings everywhere. Parsee Rustomjee went among the indentured labourers and, in the final struggle, they rose like one man. Repeat that history today, and you will win. Do not repeat it, and you will fail. Do you command the sympathy and support of all the interests? Will the mercantile community back you?
SORABJEE: The mercantile community was not with us even then.
G: But we had Cachalia.(7) If you have one Cachalia amongst you, the whole of the mercantile community will be covered.
S: Suppose no merchant comes forward. Is not a struggle possible then?
G: It will then take a different turn and in the end the mercantile community will be swept out of existence.
A MEMBER: We are a difficult community at times.
ANOTHER MEMBER: And quarrelsome too.
G: I know, I know. The South Africa of today is not far different from the South Africa that I have known. In the first article I wrote for the Indian Opinion I said that if after all there was one true man in South Africa, he will cover all. He will build up the whole structure from within. "Amidst a whole heap of bad coins," I wrote, "if there is one true sovereign, the heap will be worth that one sovereign and no more". If you produce one civil resister of merit, he will pull things through. Do not start the struggle, therefore, unless you have that stuff. Manage to exist you will anyhow. But that should not satisfy you. You have to live as a self-respecting community with an equal status. Indians have to make good that position by showing the real stuff.
The discussion then turned on the strategy of the proposed satyagraha. Gandhiji was definitely opposed to sitting in prohibited seats in trains and railway carriages by way of satyagraha. Satyagraha should be on a clear, unequivocal and impersonal issue and capable of taking thousands in its fold...
Gandhiji mentioned how he had refused to send a message for a meeting of the West Africa Federation that was held some time back in London, because they conceived of a struggle after the way of Europe. He added:
Probably theirs is not the way of non-violence. One day the black races will rise like the avenging Attila against their white oppressors, unless someone presents to them the weapon of satyagraha.
A MEMBER: You have said, we should associate with Zulus and Bantus. Does it not mean joining them in a common anti-white front?
G: Yes, I have said that we should associate with Zulus, Bantus, etc. It means that you take them under your wing when you have developed that power of non- violence. You will be their saviour. But if you allow yourselves to be overwhelmed and swept off your feet, it will be their and your ruin. Their slogan today is no longer merely 'Asia for the Asiatics` or 'Africa for the Africans` but the unity of all the exploited races of the earth. On India rests the burden of pointing the way to all the exploited races. She won`t be able to bear that burden today, if non-violence does not permeate us more than today. I have been trying to fit ourselves for that mission by giving a wider bend to our struggle. India will become a torch bearer to the oppressed and exploited races, only if she can vindicate the principle of non-violence in her own case, not jettison it as soon as independence of foreign control is achieved.
ANOTHER MEMBER: Race consciousness is arising all over South Africa. We Indians take advantage of the Bantus. We send our children to Native colleges. But we are ashamed to call ourselves Natives. They feel we are arrogant and aloof. We do not do enough to make an adequate return for what we have got from them. They are getting resentful and the white man encourages and promotes that feeling to widen the gulf.
G: It will be an evil day for you, if he succeeds. The trouble is that you are all worshippers of the golden calf.
CHRISTOPHER: Having never seen it, how can we worship it?
G: Worshipping is different from seeing. Don`t we worship God without seeing Him?
The delegation then asked if a leader could be sent from India to organise and lead them.
Gandhiji, in reply, told them that a leader would have to arise from among them. He hoped that they would throw up one in due time. He described to them how he had been arguing with his son Manilal to train up his children for the task. After they had finished their education in India, he hoped, they would go back and settle down in South Africa and serve the Indian community. Apropos the training that would equip South Africa-born Indian children for service, he mentioned how he had refused to send his own children to Lovedale and Fort Hare.(8)
Harijan, May 19, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 83, pages 352-354
206. MESSAGE TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY, MAY 1946(9)
It is my firm conviction that Indians in South Africa must not submit to the latest racial legislation of the Union of South Africa. They have well nigh exhausted all constitutional means of seeking redress. Therefore, they have at their disposal the matchless weapon of satyagraha which was successfully tried for the first time in South Africa. There is no cause therefore for despair. They must vindicate the honour of the nation to which they belong by use of satyagraha, whether they are few or many. They must not selfishly submit to the contemplated segregation nor accept the racial franchise.
Messages to South African Indian Community from the Leaders of India, Durban, June 1, 1946
207. INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Indian deputation from South Africa have made a great stir in India. They propose to approach the U.N.O.(10) with a view to enlisting the latter`s sympathy. But the legislation is going through. The Indian High Commissioner will be withdrawn as he should be. What little aid he can render is nothing compared to the indignity of representing a country whose inhabitants are to be treated as an inferior race. This new caste is worse than the ancient but dying institution of India which has some redeeming features, even while it is dying. But the new civilised edition has none. It shamelessly proclaims that white civilisation requires the erection of legal barriers in order to protect itself against Asiatics and Africans. The Indians in South Africa are bearing a heavy burden which they are well able to discharge. Satyagraha, the mightiest weapon in the world, was born and bred there. If they make effective use of it, it will be well with the sacred cause they are handling. It is not one of making it easy for a handful to be permitted to live and trade there if they wear the badge of inferiority called years ago by an Englishman in South Africa "dog`s collar". The cause is the cause of the honour of India and through her of all the exploited Coloured races of the earth, whether they are brown, yellow or black. It is worth all the suffering of which they are capable.
New Delhi, May 27, 1946
Harijan, June 2, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 215
208. LETTER TO G.E.B. ABELL, JUNE 15, 1946
Dear Mr. Abell,(11)
His Excellency(12)
I have no doubt has seen from the papers that the passive resistance movement on the part of the Indians there has commenced against the Anti- Asiatic Act recently passed by the South African Union Legislature. Is it too much to expect His Excellency to support and express his approval of the movement, as did Lord Hardinge on a similar occasion in South Africa during his Viceroyalty?(13)
Yours sincerely,
M.K. Gandhi(14)
Gandhiji`s Correspondence with the Government, 1944-47, page 95; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 337
209. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, NEW DELHI, JUNE 21, 1946(15)
(Referring to the start of the passive resistance struggle of the Indian community in South Africa, Gandhiji described how some white people there had taken the law into their own hands and were harassing the passive resisters who were fighting for their self- respect and the honour of India.)(16)
The Union Government seems to be just watching while the whites commit mischief. It is wrong. It is bad enough to pass an unjust law, but it is worse to let white people take the law into their own hands. They ought to realise that Indians are in no way inferior to them. The latter cannot submit to segregation. The only way open to them to obtain redress is through satyagraha. They are offering it against the offending law by setting up tents in the prohibited areas. Some white men have vowed vengeance against them. They have been daily raiding their tents, and terrorising them. Some women are also among the resisters. But they have bravely told the men that they will stand by them and share their vicissitudes. It is no small thing in South Africa. The movement is being led, according to the papers, by Dr. Dadoo and Dr. Naicker.(17)
It was the duty of the Government to stop this hooliganism of the whites. They can take action against the passive resisters according to law. What is taking place there today is worse than martial law.(18)
I do not say these things to incite you to anger against the whites of South Africa. If you do that you will be unworthy to take part in the prayers. I want you to go home and pray that God may give strength to our brethren and sisters in South Africa, who are fighting for the honour of India, to face all hardships bravely; secondly that He may show light to the whites so that they may cease to inflict inhuman atrocities and the eyes of the Government there may be opened so that they may treat Indians as fellow human beings. The whites of South Africa too are our brethren, being children of the same God.
When we have the control of India`s affairs in our own hands such things will become impossible. A free India wedded to truth and non-violence will teach the lesson of peace to the inhabitants of South Africa. But it is for you and the Congress to decide whether a free India will follow the path of peace or the sword...
Hindustan Times and Hindustan, June 22, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, pages 355-356
210. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, NEW DELHI, JUNE 22, 1946
...He was glad to tell them, Gandhiji continued, that according to the latest reports received from South Africa, the police there had surrounded the camping ground of the satyagrahis, and had given notice to the white population that baiting of the passive resisters would not be allowed.(19)
The passive resisters were not criminals but respectable citizens. They were fighting for the vindication of their rights. As self-respecting people they preferred imprisonment to segregation in ghettos. They would resist injustice and oppression with their last breath.
It was open to the South African Government to visit them with the penalty of law or to abrogate the Segregation Act(20) that was contrary to the dictates of humanity. But it would be a dark blot on the history of the white civilisation if lynch law was allowed to have its course in South Africa. He hoped that the South African Government and the civilised conscience of mankind would not allow that. The whites outside South Africa should not allow themselves to be carried away by any misleading propaganda, but should exercise a restraining influence on the South African whites...
Bombay Chronicle Weekly, June 23, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, pages 357-358
211. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, NEW DELHI, JUNE 23, 1946
...He was also happy to inform them that 16 passive resisters in South Africa had been arrested by the South African Government.(21)
A satyagrahi breaks laws repugnant to his self-respect and invites the penalty, which he faces cheerfully. Prison-going is not a matter of sorrow to him but of joy. A satyagrahi does not expect preferential treatment in prison, but he does expect humane treatment. At the same time he must be prepared to face the worst. He hoped that the passive resisters in South Africa would prove themselves to be ideal satyagrahis in every respect...
Bombay Chronicle, June 24, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 360
212. WHITE MAN`S BURDEN(22)
According to Reuter, picked Indians, men and women, headed by Dr. Naicker, commenced satyagraha (in South Africa popularly known as passive resistance) on June 14th in respect of the Segregation Law of the Union Parliament of South Africa. The same agency further reports that neither the Government nor the Municipality had taken any action against the passive resisters but that some "whites" of Durban had taken the execution of the law into their own hands by raiding the camp at night, cutting down tents swiftly and carrying them away. "A band of 100 young white men broke through the cordon of 50 Indian passive resisters, pulled down the tents and dragged them away torn. Some camp stretchers were smashed and blankets and pillows removed. Two women resisters were involved in the melee. They are stated to have been kicked but not injured."(23)
The papers report that after three days of hooliganism the Borough police had posted themselves near the scene of passive resistance and warned the hooligans against molesting the resisters and terrorising them into submission.(24)
This is heartening news. Let us hope that it can be taken at its full value and that the protection means fullest protection against lawlessness, sporadic or organised. Organised popular lawlessness is known as lynching, so shamelessly frequent in America.
Before the Segregation Law was passed, white men, known to be respectable, had carried anti-Asiatic agitation to the point of frenzy. Not satisfied with their triumph in having legislation compelling segregation passed probably beyond expectation, the more advanced section among the agitators have become the executioners of their own laws. They do not know that they are thereby defaming the white man`s name!!!
My appeal to the white men and women who have regard for laws for which they have voted is that they should create public opinion against hooliganism and lynch law.
Passive resistance is aimed at removal in a most approved manner of bad laws, customs or other evils and is designed to be a complete and effective substitute for forcible methods including hooliganism and lynch law. It is an appeal to the heart of man. Often reason fails. It is dwarfed by self. The theory is that an adequate appeal to the heart never fails. Seeming failure is not of the law of satyagraha but of incompetence of the satyagrahi by whatever cause induced. It may not be possible to give a complete historical instance. The name of Jesus at once comes to the lips. It is an instance of brilliant failure. And he has been acclaimed in the West as Prince of passive resisters. I showed years ago in South Africa that the adjective "passive" was a misnomer, at least as applied to Jesus. He was the most active resister known perhaps to history. His was non-violence par excellence. But I must no longer stray from my main subject. It is the resistance of the Jesus type that the white hooligans are seeking to thwart. Let us hope that our countrymen`s heroic resistance will not only shame the hooligans into silence but prove the precursor of the repeal of the law that disfigures the statute book of South Africa. In concrete form, what pure suffering, wholly one-sided, does is to stir public opinion against a wrong. Legislators are, after all, representatives of the public. In obedience to it they have enacted a wrong. They have to reverse the process when the same public, awakened to the wrong, demands its removal.
The real "white man`s burden" is not insolently to dominate Coloured or Black people under the guise of protection, it is to desist from the hypocrisy which is eating into them. It is time white men learnt to treat every human being as their equal. There is no mystery about whiteness of the skin. It has repeatedly been proved that given equal opportunity a man, be he of any colour or country, is fully equal to any other.
Therefore, white men through the world and especially of India should act upon their fellow men in South Africa and call upon them not to molest Indian resisters who are bravely struggling to preserve the self-respect of Indians in the Union and the honour of their motherland. "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you". Or, do they take in vain the name of Him who said this? Have they banished from their hearts the great Coloured Asiatic who gave to the world the above message? Do they forget that the greatest of the teachers of mankind were all Asiatics and did not possess a white face? These, if they descended on earth and went to South Africa, would all have to live in the segregated areas and be classed as Asiatics and Coloured people unfit by law to be equals of whites.
Is a civilisation worth the name which requires for its existence the very doubtful prop of racial legislation and lynch law? The silver lining to the cloud that hangs over the devoted heads of our countrymen lies in the plucky action of Rev. Scott,(25) a white clergyman, and his equally white fellow-workers, who have undertaken to share the sufferings of the Indian resisters.
New Delhi, June 26, 1946
Harijan, June 30, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, pages 371-373
213. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, NEW DELHI, JUNE 27, 1946
The South African satyagraha was again the theme of Gandhiji`s talk after the prayers today. The whites there were becoming more and more frenzied in their hooliganism and seemed to be determined to cow down the satyagrahis who were behaving in a calm and dignified manner. The Indians in South Africa were a little over two lakhs(26) only. They were a mere handful in the midst of the overwhelming majority of white men and Africans.
Imagine what it must mean for men like Doctors Naicker and Dadoo to be required to live in special locations. I want you all to continue your prayers to God to enable our brethren to remain steadfast till the end and to vouchsafe wisdom to the whites. Let me repeat that prayer from the heart can achieve what nothing else can in the world...
Bombay Chronicle, June 28, 1946, and Harijan, July 7, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 379
214. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, NEW DELHI, JUNE 28, 1946
Gandhiji paid tribute to the courage and suffering of the passive resisters without retaliation in the midst of the hooliganism which was daily increasing. He was born in India but was made in South Africa of which he knew practically every province. He had passed there twenty years of his life at its meridian. He knew the white men of South Africa. He loved them as well as his countrymen. He felt ashamed, he said, of the hooliganism of some of them. He had the fear that this hooliganism had the sympathy of the mass of the white men of the Union. Hooliganism would not flourish without such silent sympathy. He fondly hoped that as the white men realised the deep strength and sincerity of satyagrahis, they would begin to respect them and transfer their sympathy to the suffering passive resisters. He asked the gathering to offer their heartfelt prayers for God`s mercy on the hooligans.
He did not want them to send money to their countrymen. Money could not give them victory. They had money enough. But a time might come when it would be their duty in India to offer non-violent resistance of the purest type for the sake of their brethren. He could not tell how.
India was fast becoming the storehouse of the honour and dignity of the human race. It would be in the fitness of things if it fell to their lot to help the struggle of the gallant resisters of South Africa. But for that the way must be clear before them. He felt that he would know when it was clear. Meantime he invoked the sympathy of the Viceroy and the white men and women of India to do their portion of duty...
Bombay Chronicle, June 29, 1946, and Harijan, July 7, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 380
215. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING, POONA, JULY 1, 1946(27)
Gandhiji said that it grieved him to tell them that the hooliganism of the white men of South Africa was daily growing worse. The relieving feature, however, was that the courage and renunciation of the satyagrahis was rising to the occasion. One of the sisters, Dr. Goonam, had been sentenced to six months` imprisonment with hard labour.(28)
The trying Magistrate had reduced the term to four months. Dr. Goonam had objected to it saying that she wanted no favour on the score of her sex. Her offence, if it could be so called, was exactly the same as that of the men satyagrahis. But the Magistrate would not listen to her objection.
Satyagrahis were being recruited in large numbers. He hoped and prayed, said Gandhiji, that the satyagrahis would continue to be strong and firm and that their struggle would be crowned with success...
The Hindu, July 3, 1946; Collected Works, Volume 84, page 398
1. The message was conveyed through J.R. Bhala, Joint Secretary of the Overseas Indian Students` Association, who had met Gandhiji and acquainted him with the difficulties facing the overseas students.
2. The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Bill, which was introduced in the Parliament of the Union of South Africa in March 1946.
3. The South African Indian Congress decided at its Conference in February to oppose the proposed legislation and to prepare immediately for "concerted and prolonged resistance". A delegation of the Congress, led by Sorabjee Rustomjee, arrived in India to urge the Indian Government to seek a round table conference with South Africa and, failing that, to withdraw the High Commissioner from South Africa and impose economic sanctions against South Africa. The other members of the delegation were S. R. Naidoo, A. S. M. Kajee and A. A. Mirza.
The delegation was received by the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, on March 12, 1946. It had earlier met Gandhiji on March 3rd, and he had helped draft the delegation`s memorandum to the Viceroy. For the draft of Gandhiji, please see Collected Works, Volume 83, pages 230-31. The text of the memorandum may be found in Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, The History of the Indian National Congress (Bombay: Padma Publications, 1947), Volume II, Appendix III.
The resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress (March 12-15, 1946) on "Indians in South Africa" was probably prepared by Gandhiji.
5. Field Marshal Smuts said in a cabled reply of March 21, 1946:
"I MUCH APPRECIATE YOUR INTEREST AND YOUR KIND MESSAGE OF FRIENDSHIP WHICH IS WARMLY RECIPROCATED. INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NATAL HAVE BECOME MUCH MORE ACUTE IN RECENT YEARS AND NOW HAVE TO BE URGENTLY DEALT WITH TO PREVENT DETERIORATION FROM WHICH INDIANS MAY BE GREATEST SUFFERERS. REPEATED LOCAL CONFERENCES WITH INDIAN ORGANISATIONS HAVE PRODUCED NO SOLUTIONS AND ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE WITH OUTSIDE POWERS IS NOT POLITICALLY FEASIBLE. AS REGARDS PROPOSED LEGISLATION CONFERMENT OF POLITICAL STATUS ON INDIANS HAS BECOME HIGHLY EXPEDIENT AND IS GREAT STEP FORWARD EVEN THOUGH REPRESENTATION IS BY EUROPEANS UNDER SOUTH AFRICA ACT. TO ALLAY FEARS OF FURTHER PENETRATION BILL PROPOSES DEMARCATION OF FREE AREAS IN NATAL WHERE INDIANS AND OTHERS CAN BUY AND OCCUPY LAND FREELY AND QUESTION OF INDIAN SEGREGATION DOES NOT ARISE. DEMARCATION TO BE MADE BY JOINT BOARDS ON WHICH INDIANS ADEQUATELY REPRESENTED. ALTHOUGH BILL CURTAILS RIGHTS OF INDIANS TO BUY AND OCCUPY ANYWHERE IN NATAL IT IS ESSENTIALLY NOT UNFAIR IN INTENTION OR EFFORT AND WILL PROVIDE WORKABLE BASIS FOR INDIAN DEVELOPMENT AND RACIAL PEACE FOR MANY YEARS. AS SUCH I COMMEND IT TO YOU WHO KNOW HOW GREAT ARE THE DIFFICULTIES IN MAINTAINING HARMONY AMONG SOUTH AFRICANS OF ALL RACES. I ASSURE YOU OF THE FRIENDLY SPIRIT IN WHICH I AM ACTING IN A SITUATION WHICH MAY EASILY GET OUT OF CONTROL. THIS IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND NOT FOR PUBLICATION. I SEE NO HARM HOWEVER IN STATEMENT THAT YOU AND I HAVE BEEN PERSONALLY IN COMMUNICATION OVER THIS MATTER IF YOU CONSIDER IT DESIRABLE."
6. This appeared under the title "With the South African Delegation" by Pyarelal, who explained that the delegation led by Sorabjee Rustomjee "sought Gandhiji`s advice on the starting of successful satyagraha".
According to Pyarelal, the delegation saw Gandhiji more than once and the last time was in the sweepers`colony in Delhi(Harijan, May 19, 1946), where he had arrived on April 1, 1946, so that the interview took place on or after that date.
8. Lovedale is a secondary school and Fort Hare a college, both established by Christian missions for the education of Africans.
9. This message was given to Sorabjee Rustomjee. Please see previous item.
10. United Nations Organisation
11. Private Secretary to the Viceroy
12. The Viceroy, Field Marshal Lord Wavell (1883-1950), Viceroy of India, 1943-47
13. The reference is to the statement by the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, on November 24, 1913. Please see footnote to item 4 above.
14. Mr. Abell replied on June 18, 1946, as follows:
"The Government of India have already given notice of the termination of the Trade Agreement with South Africa, and have called back their High Commissioner for consultation; they have also decided to refer the dispute to U.N.O. H.E. agreed with all these decisions.
"H.E. has every sympathy for the Indian case and has done all he can to support and further it, but he thinks it would be a mistake for him to make any public declaration on the subject, and that it might do more harm than good to the cause of Indians in South Africa."
15. Pyarelal in Harijan (June 30, 1946) prefaced his report of this speech with the following:
"The heroic struggle going on in South Africa has become a theme of his after-prayer talks. 'We hold it to be a crime against man and God to submit meekly any longer to a policy of segregation that is causing disaster to our country and our people,` runs the Passive Resistance resolution passed at a meeting of the Transvaal Indian Congress held at Johannesburg on April 21, 1946. 'They must remember,` continues the resolution, 'that non-violence is the basis of this movement and that this struggle is directed against the policy of segregation and not against the white population of this country.`
"The struggle has the full sympathy of the European democrats and the African section of South Africa. Said the President of the African National Congress at the Transvaal Indian Congress mass meeting:
'I declare from this platform that we Africans do not only sympathise, but will support and assist in all possible manner the Indians in their struggle against this inhuman legislation.`
'Yesterday,` he continued, 'it was the turn of Africans, today it is the turn of the Indians, tomorrow it will be the turn of the Coloured and there is no knowing where this policy of racialism will end.`"
16. The Indian community began passive resistance on the night of June 13, 1946. Volunteers pitched tents in a vacant municipal land on the corner of Gale Street and Umbilo Road in Durban to court arrest. Initially, the police took no action. On 19 June, bands of white hooligans jeered at, threatened and attacked the passive resisters.
17. Dr. Yusuf M. Dadoo and Dr. G. M. Naicker, Presidents of the Transvaal and Natal Passive Resistance Councils
18. Harijan (June 30, 1946) has the following:
"The passive resisters are not criminals but respectable citizens. As self-respecting people they will prefer imprisonment to segregation in ghettos. They will resist injustice and oppression with their last breath. It is open to the South African Government to visit them with the penalty of the law for breach or to abrogate the Segregation Act which is contrary to the dictates of humanity. But it will be a dark blot on the history of the white civilisation if lynch law is allowed to have its course in South Africa." He hoped that the South African Government and the civilised conscience of mankind would not allow that.
19. On June 21, white hooligans again attacked the passive resisters despite appeals for calm by the Mayor of Durban and the Attorney-General of Natal.
20. Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946
21. Passive resisters were arrested for the first time June 21st. They were charged with tresspassing, and were cautioned or given suspended sentences.
22. Gandhiji sent an advance copy of this article to the Viceroy. Gandhiji`s Correspondence with the Government, 1944-47, page 162.
23. In fact, the white hooligans brutally attacked the passive resisters on June 23rd, using lethal weapons. Five resisters fell unconscious and were thrown by the mob in the gutter. Many resisters were injured, including women. Miss Zainab Asvat received a cut on the side of her head and Mrs. Docrat received internal injuries. The Reuter report was apparently not accurate.
24. On June 24, the Government issued a proclamation prohibiting any gathering within 400 yards of the passive resistance site. Passive resisters were then arrested.
25. The Reverend Michael Scott joined the resisters when white hooligans resorted to violence against them. He was arrested on June 22 and was sentenced to a month in prison. B. Sischy, a white student, was arrested with him.
Several Europeans, as well as Africans and Coloured people, joined the passive resistance in solidarity with the Indians.
26. A lakh is one hundred thousand
27. As it was Gandhiji`s day of silence, his written speech was read out after the prayers.
28. Dr. K. Goonam Naidoo, the first Indian woman doctor in South Africa, was a leader of the community and Vice-President of the Natal Indian Congress. She led the second batch of passive resisters on June 22, 1946.
Dr. Goonam was sentenced on June 29, 1946, to six months with hard labour, in addition to the sentence of 7 days she had received for contravention of the Riotous Assemblies Act, but four months of the sentence was suspended.