Smash Pacifism - Warrior Publications

I. Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas K. Gandhi was born into politics and
privilege in Gujarati province, in north west India, on
October 2, 1869, and died January 30, 1948 (assassinated
by a Hindu nationalist). His father was a prime minister in
the provincial government, his mother a devout Hindu.
Gandhi's upbringing was middle-class and he was raised
under Hinduism. Gandhi was married at age 13 as part of a
traditional Hindu arranged marriage. His wife, Kasturbai,
was the same age, and the two would eventually have four
children together.
In 1888, at the age of 19,
Gandhi travelled to London, England to
attend law school. While living in the
imperial capital, he befriended middleclass
Britons, some of whom were
members of the Vegetarian Society,
which he joined. He also met members
of the Theosophy Society, a new fad that
merged various Eastern religious
philosophies, such as Hinduism and
Buddhism, with occult interests (a
precursor to the New Age movement).
Ironically, it was from these British
citizens that Gandhi gained a renewed
interest in Hinduism, due to the Society's
romanticized views of Eastern religions.
After graduating from law
school, in 1893, Gandhi returned to
India but was unable to find
employment. That same year, he travelled to South Africa
to work for an Indian trading firm involved in a legal suit,
and would reside there until 1914. It was in South Africa
where Gandhi first became politically active, where he first
developed his pacifist doctrine, and where some of his
followers began addressing him as Mahatma (“great soul”).
Gandhi in South Africa,
1893-1914
Gandhi arrived in Natal province, South Africa, in
May 1893. At the time, some 41,000 Indians resided in the
colony, many as indentured servants working on
plantations, mines, and other labouring jobs. There were
some 41,000 Europeans, and nearly 500,000 Black Africans
(the survivors of a genocidal war of conquest carried out by
European colonizers in Southern Africa).
Within the Indian community, there was also a
small elite of middle-class merchants, traders and business
owners. Contrary to his experience in London, where he
was seen as more of a colonial curiosity, in S. Africa
Gandhi was subjected to the same racism that Europeans in
Gandhi, centre, with his staff in S. Africa.
6
the colony applied to Blacks and other Indians. He was
thrown off a train for being in the first class section, even
though he had a ticket for first class, because only
Europeans could ride in first class. On his first day in court,
he was told to remove a turban he wore.
Some European settlers despised Indians even
more than the Blacks; the Indians were 'foreigners' and
practised strange religions (Hindu and Muslim). Like the
racism directed against Blacks, Indians were portrayed as
“filthy & dirty,” a source of sickness and disease.
Meanwhile, the government began enacting
measures to limit Indian immigration, impose stricter
controls, and eventually reduce the Indian population. This
included restricting the right to vote and the issuing of
licenses, as well as a 3 Pound
annual tax for Indians not working
as indentured servants (at the
time, this was equivalent to six
months wages for a labourer).
Gandhi began organizing
against these laws, as well as
other racial discrimination applied
to Indians. In 1894, he helped
establish the Natal Indian
Congress, named after the Indian
National Congress (which had
formed in India in 1885). The NIC
was an elite middle-class group
whose members paid an annual
membership fee of 3 Pounds.
Gandhi's efforts and those of the
NIC in opposing the government's
policies consisted of letter writing, petitions to officials, and
publishing pamphlets.
In 1899, the Second Anglo-Boer War occurred,
with Dutch settlers rebelling against British colonial
authorities. The British, along with other countries in the
Commonwealth (including Canada), waged a counterguerrilla
war against the Boers (Dutch-speaking
colonialists). Gandhi called for Indians to join the British
Army and thereby show their loyalty to the Empire, in the
quest for equal rights and full citizenship.
The British military in S. Africa, however, had no
interest in having Indian officers in its ranks, but did accept
Gandhi's petition to organize an Ambulance Corps. With
1,000 stretcher-bearers, Gandhi was made the unit's
commanding sergeant. When the war finished, the status of
Indians was no better. In the meantime, Gandhi maintained
his law practise and had considerable financial success.
Along with working with his compatriots in the NIC, he
also socialized with middle-class Europeans in the local
Vegetarian and Theosophian Society's.
Overall, Gandhi's middle-class background and
socialization informed his concept of struggle, including
specific campaigns and tactics. Despite a large mass of
highly exploited workers upon which to direct his efforts,