E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

207 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtability to face the consequences of refusing to cooperate withthe exploiter. Gandhi was relentless in his diagnosis of thephenomenon of exploitation. He pointed out that the exploiterdepended on the cooperation of the exploiter. This In fact is theAchilles' heel of the exploiter. The moment this cooperation isdenied to him, his hands are paralysed, and his weapons fallfrom his hands. He is 'disarmed'; his economic power isquarantined, or "sterilized,'' 52 and he is ready for meaningfulnegotiations for a way out; "My non-cooperation with him willopen his eyes to the wrong he may be doing". 53It is this withdrawal of cooperation that Gandhi callednonviolent non-cooperation. "No one is bound to cooperate inone's own undoing or slavery." 54 Non-cooperation thusbecomes a right, a duty and a non-violent weapon which istruly infallible. Hence Gandhi claimed that "non-violentnoncooperation can secure what violence never can, and this byultimate conversion of the wrong doers." 55 If the exploitedunited and demonstrated that they would pay the price ofliberation, but not cooperate with the exploiter, the evil-doerwould be paralysed, and the evil would be liquidated. If thetoilers intelligently combine, they will become an irresistiblepower. This is how I do not see the necessity of class conflict.If I thought it inevitable, I should not hesitate to preach it andteach it." 56Satyagraha, thus, is not merely a pious appeal, notmerely verbal persuasion. It asks for revolutionary action by theexploited to elicit a revolutionary change in the attitude of theexploiter and to bring about the total paralysis and extinction ofthe system of exploitation.Gandhi did not believe that violence could solve socialproblems or lead to social justice" 57 , or lead to the real rule ofthe people. The results that it brought were transitory. 58 What