Empire and violence, or the foes in Hind Swaraj

Abstract

This chapter argues that Gandhi’s primary purpose in Hind Swaraj is to initiate a debate over Empire and violence, and over satyagraha, which is a response to both. Initiating a discussion on modern civilization is only a secondary goal. While modernity too is assailed in Hind Swaraj, that is because modernity is Empire’s most seductive weapon. Along with Empire, violence is an enemy Gandhi identifies in Hind Swaraj. He also identifies a way of combating both foes. Writing Hind Swaraj in 1909, Gandhi is yet to employ the phrase satyagraha. But he articulates the theory of satyagraha, or truth-force, which by this time he and his associates have already practised in South Africa. Hind Swaraj claims that the new method can confront Empire and violence in India, too, and elsewhere. Suggesting that Gandhi’s belief in the worth of individual human beings lies at the root of Hind Swaraj’s opposition to Empire and violence, the chapter seeks to show, further, that what Hind Swaraj challenges is more than the domination of India and other peoples by imperial countries. Also being challenged is the domination of weak Indians by bullying Indians.