selfless service to mankind. Time and again, nuclear arms will produce that security.
Correspondence Gandhi rejected a course of action which Ironically, it is this very same passion for
was politically expedient in favor of one security which prevents us from trusting our
which was nonviolent. Far from being a adversary sufficiently to take meaningful
JUDGING GANDHI "Machiavelli in homespun," as the writer steps toward disarmament. Gandhi did not
To the Editors: Mr. McWilliams's "Under suggests, Gandhi's course of action was seek an outward security. Unfortunately,
Cover" column entitled "Gandhi's Truth" dictated not by an attachment to results but such security has never existed and it will
(April) has caused me some concern. It is by a passion for truth. The writer suggests never exist. What Gandhi did teach is faith
indeed troubling that a nation bom out of that Gandhi "failed as a legislator be- in the essential goodness of the Creator and
the inspiration of Gandhi's teachings would cause... he rejected political life." It would of his creation. It is this burning faith, put
be racked with such senseless violence. It be more accurate to say that Gandhi never into actual practice in daily action, which
is obvious that Gandhi's path of nonvi- took up the role of a legislator than to say is at the very heart of nonviolence....
olence and appropriate technology has been he failed as one. But the writer is accurate Henry Warren Shaeffer
forsaken by the leaders and many of the in his assertion that Gandhi rejected politics
people of that nation. and those "specific human conditions" of
Is this to be taken as proof positive of fear, greed, and revenge under which most Wilson Carey McWilliams Replies:
the impractical nature of Gandhi's approach politicians live. If we blame Gandhi for the Politics is not, as Mr. Shaeffer seems to
to political change? It must be remembered partition of India, must we not also blame imagine, a slightly shady quest for power.
that the Congress party of India was not Christ for the fall of Jerusalem because of It involves the effort to discover justice and
united in its renouncement of the use of his insistence that his kingdom was not of to do it through rightly constituted public
force in opposing British rule. This was true this world? It was not Gandhi who taught authority. Gandhi may not have been a
during the struggle against Britain and dur- "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit "politician," but he spent most of his adult
ing the time of the formation of the nation- the earth... .Blessed are they which are per- life speaking about political things and en-
state of India. What is evident is that non- secuted for rightousness' sake: for theirs is gaging in specifically political actions aimed
violent resistance can work in some cases. the kingdom of heaven." at changing the basis, as well as the policies,
What is still unknown is the efficacy of mass In discussing Gandhi's attitude toward of civil authority. In response to the British
nonviolent resistance against totalitarian re- the body and toward celibacy, I am afraid claim that India could not govern herself
gimes. the writer betrays the ignorance of one who well, Gandhi contended that nations have
The use of violence is argued for on the has not practiced these disciplines. The a right to rule themselves badly. Perhaps
assumption that aggressive nonviolent re- blessed state of peace which results from he was correct. Having made that argument,
sistance to evil is a calculated risk, while yogic practice has long been well known, however, Gandhi is accountable for the evils
the use of violence somehow reduces or not only among the saints of India but also that follow from the liberties of self-gov-
eliminates risk. The enslavement of Eastern among those of the West.... ernment.
Europe was the result of the risk taken to Most fundamentally, the writer misun- Moreover, to ignore Gandhi's tactical skill
oppose with violence the evil of Hitler by derstands the nature of nonviolence. Non- only diminishes him. Jesus told his disci-
allying ourselves with the evil of Stalin. violence is not to be judged as an "effective" ples, after all, to be as wise as the serpents
Was the triumph of the Maoists in China or "ineffective" means of attaining political while being as gentle as the doves. Gandhi's
after the war a risk we took in opposing the ends. Nonviolence must be practiced, if at selection of the salt monopoly as an issue
imperialist aggression of Japan? Any path all, as an end in itself. It is a law of God, on which to confront the British is an ex-
chosen in fighting evil is full of peril and an eternal aspect of truth. Gandhi did not ample of his brilliant contrivances. In ma-
unpredictability. This being the case, it be- teach nonviolence because it was a politic terial terms, salt seems a small thing. It was
comes reasonable to give a good deal of method of dealing with a "liberal" Raj. Nor not crucial to the economic or military life
weight to the argument of nonviolence with did he calculate how many "good" lives of the Indian Empire. Hence, as Gandhi
its hope of reconciliation and redemp- would have to be given to avoid taking a knew, up-to-date, essentially liberal British
tion. ... "bad" one. Such calculations have no mean- opinion would not sustain prolonged vio-
Lewis Archer ing to one who believes in the unity of all lence and repression to defend the salt mo-
Salem United Methodist Church life. Gandhi taught and believed that non- nopoly. It is easy to imagine Englishmen
Keedysville, Md. violent action is a good in itself, and as an of the time reading their newspapers and
incidental matter it must prevail because it muttering "It's only salt, for heaven's sake."
is in harmony with the Power that governs Symbolically, however, salt represented to
To the Editors: "Gandhi's Truth" was so ill the universe. If we are to blame Gandhi Indians a crucial part of the authority of the
informed and so poorly reasoned that I really because the Indian people have behaved as Empire; the attack on the monopoly dealt
must protest. Founded on a misapprehen- they have in Assam, must we not blame a serious blow to Britain's title to rule.
sion of Gandhi the man, the piece blunders Christ for the countless wars and atrocities Despite Gandhi's skill, however, there is
through a misstatement of his philosophy perpetrated by Christians?... at least one respect in which Jesus was his
and winds up drawing conclusions which In this period of human history when we superior. As Mr. Shaeffer reminds us, Jesus
do a grave disservice to your publication stand on the brink of what even its pro- said "My kingdom is not of this world,"
and its readers. ponents call "mutual assured destruction," implying that his teaching—although rel-
Wilson Carey McWilliams appears to be it is particularly important for us to under- evant to this world and its politics—is not
unaware that Gandhi never saw himself as stand Gandhi's truth. Much of the current, suited to rule them. Gandhi, by contrast,
a politician. In all his actions he demon- demand for an arms freeze and arms ne- offered Satyagraha as a teaching for this
strated that he was a true karma yogi; that gotiation proceeds from a demand for se- world, and his doctrines are rightly judged
is, one who seeks God through the path of curity and a belief that reduced levels of by mis world's standards.
