Smash Pacifism - Warrior Publications

violence, did not like the strutting, clicking of boots, and
saluting, and he afterwards described the Calcutta session
of the Congress as a Bertram Mills circus, which caused
great indignation among the Bengalis.”
(History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement, p.
154)
In 1939, after resigning from the INC (being forced
out by Gandhi), Bose was placed under house arrest by the
British. In 1941, he escaped and travelled to Nazi Germany.
Working with the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan),
he helped establish an Indian Legion, although the Nazis
had little confidence in the Indian troops. Bose was
transported to Japan by a Nazi U-boat, and in 1943 set up
the Indian National Army (INA) with Indian prisoners that
had been captured by the Japanese.
The INA were to assist the Japanese in an invasion
of India. It eventually grew to a force of some 50,000. The
INA fought briefly in India, from March to June, 1944,
before being defeated by the British. Many of the INA
troops simply deserted.
Indian National Army members surrender to the
British, 1944.
“It is common knowledge that Bose's army roused
immense, and almost hysterical, enthusiasm among Indians
in the last months of the war and those immediately
following. The Indian public was determined that Bose's
men, who had been taken prisoner by the British Indian
Army, should not be punished as traitors... Such trials as
were held were turned into farce and a fiasco. Such was the
strength of the popular feeling that in order to keep hold of
the Gandhian Congress unimpaired, even Gandhi and
Nehru came out vehemently on the side of the men of
Bose's Army. Gandhi was a pacifist vowed to nonviolence,
Nehru was an anti-Fascist, and both had forced
Bose out of Congress in 1939.”
(History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement, p.
155)
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Although Bose was prepared to use any means
necessary to force the British out, including alliances with
fascist regimes,
“Nonetheless, Bose and the Indian National Army
eloquently demonstrated that Gandhi did not have a
monopoly of ideas as to how India might achieve its
independence, nor was their universal acceptance either of
his leadership or of his non-violent tactics.”
(Gandhi, p. 201)
Some assert that Gandhi's methods actually
prolonged the struggle for Independence:
“Although Gandhi's defenders may disagree, not
only were Gandhi's ideas on non-violence applied very
selectively, they were hardly the most appropriate for
India's situation. At no time was the British military
presence in India so overwhelming that it could not have
been challenged by widespread resistance from the Indian
masses. Had Gandhi not called for a retreat after Chauri
Chaura, it is likely that incidents such as Chauri Chaura
would have occurred with much greater regularity - even
increasing in frequency and intensity. This would have
inevitably put tremendous pressure on the British to cut
short their stay. As it is, British administrators were
constrained to send back British troops as soon as possible,
because many clamored to return after serving for a few
years in India. Had India become too difficult to control,
mutinies and dissension in the royal armies would have
occurred more often, and the British would have had to cut
and run, probably much sooner than in 1947.”
(“Gandhi - 'Mahatma' or Flawed Genius? National
Leader or Manipulative Politician?” South Asia Voice,
October 2002 Online edition)
Gandhi's Religious Pacifism
“For me there is no hope save through truth and
non-violence. I know that they will triumph when
everything else has failed. Whether therefore I am in the
minority of one or I have a majority, I must go along the
course God seems to have shown me.”
(Gandhi, quoted in Gandhi and Civil Disobedience,
p. 16)
“My faith in my creed stands immovable. I know
that God will guide me. Truth is superior to man's wisdom.”
(Gandhi, 1924, Gandhi in India, p. 62)
“”Men say I am a saint losing myself in politics...
The fact is that I am a politician trying my hardest to be a
saint.”
(quoted in Gandhi and Beyond, p. 21)
Gandhi's pacifism was clearly a religious belief.
For him, it was the root of an all-encompassing religion