An Autobiography ,, (Abridged) 2.00 All Men Are Brothers (PB) 3.50 Basic Education 1.00 Constructive Programme 0.50 Economic & Industrial Life and Relations, 3 Vols. 10.50 Fasting in Satyagraha 1.00 For Pacifists 1.80 Gandhiji and International Politics 8.00 Gandhiji’s Correspondence with the Government Gandhiji Expects 3.00 Flind Swaraj 0.80 India of My Dreams 4.50 Industrialize and Perish 2.50 Key to Health 0.50 Kliadi — Why & How 3.00 Mohanmala 1.50 Non-violence in Peace & Pathway to God 2.00 Political and National Life and Affairs, 3 Vols. 18.00 Rebuilding Our Villages 1.00 Sarvodaya (The Welfare of Satyagraha 4.00 Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi The Voice of Truth 8.00 The Way to Communal Harmony 8.00 Village Swaraj 3.00 Women and Social Injustice 5.00 Postage etc. extra Navajivau Trust, Ahmedabad 14 SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA BY THE SAME AUTHOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY TRUTH IS GOD NON-VIOLENCE IN PEACE AND WAR SELF-RESTRAINT V. SELF-INDULGENCE CENT PER CENT SWADESHI THE REMOVAL OF UNTOU CHABILITY FOOD SHORTAGE AND AGRICULTURE HOW TO SERVE THE COW BASIC EDUCATION KHADI— WHY AND HOW REBUILDING OUR VILLAGES VILLAGE INDUSTRIES WOMEN AND SOCIAL INJUSTICE KEY TO HEALTH ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL LIFE AND RELATIONS FROM YERAVDA MANDIR— ASHRAM OBSERVANCES ASHRAM OBSERVANCES IN ACTION CHRISTIAN MISSIONS— THEIR PLACE IN INDIA DISCOURSES ON THE GITA MY RELIGION WHAT JESUS MEANS TO ME RAMANAMA HIND SWARAJ UNTO THIS LAST THE MORAL BASIS OF VEGETARIANISM SATYAGRAHA DELHI DIARY CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMME MY SOCIALISM COMMUNISM AND COMMUNISTS BREAD LABOUR SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI GANDHI & INTERNATIONAL POLITICS PATHWAY TO GOD SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA M. K. GANDHI TRANSLATED FROM THE GUJARATI by VALJI GOVINDJI DESAI NAVAJIVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE AHMEDABAD 14 First Edition, 1928 Revised Second Edition, December 1950 Third Impression, August 1961, Fourteenth Thousand Reprint, May 1972, Copies, 10,000 Rupees Five HARD BOA^ BOUND RUPEES TEN © The JVavajivan Trust, 1928 Printed and Published by Shantilal Harjivan Shah at Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad 14 To MAGANLAL K. GANDHI in 2018 with funding from Public.Resource.Org FOREWORD Shri Valji Desai’s translation has been revised by me, and I can assure the reader that the spirit of the original in Gujarati has been very faithfully kept by the translator. The original chapters were all written by me from memory. They were written partly in the Yeravda jail and partly outside after my premature release. As the translator knew of this fact, he made a diligent study of the file of Indian Opinion and whenever he discovered slips of memory, he has not hesitated to make the necessary corrections. The reader will share my pleasure that in no relevant or material particular has there been any slip. I need hardly mention that those who are following the weekly chapters of My Experiments with Truth cannot afford to miss these chapters on Satyagraha, if they would follow in all its detail the working out of the search after Truth.
Sabarmati M. K. Gandhi TRANSLATOR’S NOTE (Second edition) This is a reprint of the first edition except for some verbal alterations suggested by my friend Shri Verrier Elwin who was good enough to go through the translation at my request.
St 2006 Bhadrapad krishna 6 (Third impression) I take this opportunity to place on record my indebted¬ ness to Shri C. F. Andrews, Shri Dattatraya Balkrishna Kalelkar and Shri Abhechand Govindji Desai who made helpful suggestions when I was doing the first few chapters.
St 2017 Ashadha krishna 5 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD...vii PREFACE...xi I GEOGRAPHY...3 II HISTORY...7 III INDIANS ENTER SOUTH AFRICA.. 19 IV A REVIEW OF THE GRIEVANCES {Natal). 24 V A REVIEW OF THE GRIEVANCES {The Transvaal and other Colonies).. 29 VI A REVIEW OF THE EARLY STRUGGLE. 35 VII A REVIEW OF THE EARLY STRUGGLE.
{continued)...45 VIII A REVIEW OF THE EARLY STRUGGLE.
{concluded) — The Work in England.. 60 IX THE BOER WAR...62 X AFTER THE WAR...74 XI THE REWARD OF GENTLENESS— THE BLACK ACT...89 XII THE ADVENT OF SATYAGRAHA.. 95 XIII SATYAGRAHA v. PASSIVE RESISTANCE. 103 XIV DEPUTATION TO ENGLAND.. 108 XV CROOKED POLICY...115 XVI AHMAD MUHAMMAD KACHHALIA. 118 XVII A RIFT IN THE LUTE...125 XVIII THE FIRST SATYAGRAHI PRISONER. 128 XX A SERIES OF ARRESTS...134 XXI THE FIRST SETTLEMENT...142 XXII OPPOSITION AND ASSAULT.. 145 XXIII EUROPEAN SUPPORT...160 XXIV FURTHER INTERNAL DIFFICULTIES. 169 XXV GENERAL SMUTS’ BREACH OF FAITH(?) 173 XXVI RESUMPTION OF THE STRUGGLE. 182 XXVII A BONFIRE OF CERTIFICATES.. 185 IX X SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA XXVIII CHARGE OF FORCING FRESH ISSUE XXIX SORABJI SHAPURJI ADAJANIA XXX SHETH DAUD MAHOMED ETC. ENTER THE STRUGGLE XXXI DEPORTATIONS XXXII A SECOND DEPUTATION.
XXXIII TOLSTOY FARM— I.
XXXIV TOLSTOY FARM— II.
XXXV TOLSTOY FARM— III.
XXXVI GOKHALE’S TOUR.
XXXVII XXXVIII BREACH OF PLEDGE XXXIX WHEN MARRIAGE IS NOT A MARRIAGE XL WOMEN IN JAIL XLI A STREAM OF LABOURERS XLII THE CONFERENCE AND AFTER XLIII CROSSING THE BORDER XLIV THE GREAT MARCH XLV ALL IN PRISON XL VI THE TEST XL VI I THE BEGINNING OF THE END XL VIII THE PROVISIONAL SETTLEMENT XLIX LETTERS EXCHANGED L THE END OF THE STRUGGLE CONCLUSION.
INDEX PREFACE The Satyagraha struggle of the Indians in South Africa lasted eight years. The term Satyagraha was invented and employed in connection therewith. I had long entertained a desire to write a history of that struggle myself. Some things only I could write. Only the general who conducts a campaign can know the objective of each particular move. And as this was the first attempt to apply the principle of Satyagraha to politics on a large scale, it is necessary any day that the public should have an idea of its development.
But today Satyagraha has had ample scope in India. Here there has been an inevitable series of struggles beginning with the rather local question of the Viramgam customs. c prrt f It was through the instrumentality of Bhai Motilal, the public-spirited good tailor of Vadhvan, that I became interested in the Viramgam question. I had just arrived from England and was proceeding to Saurashtra in the year 1915. I was travelling third class. At Vadhvan station Motilal came up to me with a small party. He gave me some account of the hardships inflicted on the people at Viramgam, and said: “Please do something to end this trouble. It will be doing an immense service to Saurashtra, the land of your birth.”
There was an expression of both compassion and firmness in his eyes.
“Are you ready to go to jail?” I asked.
“We are ready to march to the gallows,” was the quick reply.
“Jail will do for me,” I said. “But see that you do not leave me in the lurch.”
“That only time can show,” said Motilal.
xi Xll SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA 0 I reached Rajkot, obtained detailed information and commenced correspondence with Government. In speeches at Bagasra and elsewhere, I dropped a hint that the people should be ready to offer Satyagraha at Viramgam if necessary. The loyal C. I. D. brought these speeches to the notice of Government. In this they served Government and unintentionally, served the people also. Finally, I had a talk with Lord Chelmsford on the matter. He promised abolition of the customs line and was as good as his word. I know others also tried for this. But I am strongly of opinion that the imminent possibility of Satyagraha was the chief factor in obtaining the desired redress. h cjc to Then came the Indian Emigration Act. Great efforts were put forth to get indenture repealed. There was a considerable public agitation. The Bombay meeting fixed May 31, 1917 as the date from which onwards indentured labour should be stopped. This is not the place for narrating how that particular date came to be selected. A deputation of ladies first waited upon the Viceroy in connection with this. I cannot help mentioning here the name of the high-souled sister, Mrs Jaiji Petit. It was she who may be said to have organized this deputation. Here, too, success came merely through preparedness for Satyagraha. But it is important to remember the distinction that in this case public agitation was also necessary. The stopping of indentured labour was very much more important than the abolition of the Viramgam cus¬ toms. Lord Chelmsford committed a series of blunders beginning with the passing of the Rowlatt Act. Still, I think, he was a wise ruler. But what Viceroy can escape for long the influence of the permanent officials of the Civil Service?
The third in order came the Champaran struggle, of which Rajendra Babu has written a detailed history. Here Satyagraha ha3~axtually to be offered. Mere preparedness for it did not suffice, as powerful vested interests were arrayed in opposition. The peace maintained by the people of Champaran deserves to be placed on record. I can bear PREFACE Xlll witness to the perfect non-violence of the leaders in thought, word and deed. Hence it was that this age-long abuse came to an end in six months.
The fourth struggle was that of the mill-hands of Ahmedabad. Gujarat is perfectly familiar with its history. How peaceful the labourers were! As for the leaders, there can hardly be anything for me to say. Still I hold the victory in this case was not quite pure, as the fast I had to observe in order to sustain the labourers in their determination exercised indirect pressure upon the mill- owners. The fast was bound to influence them, as I enjoyed friendly relations with them. Still the moral of the fight is clear. If the labourers carry on their struggle peacefully, they must succeed and also win the hearts of their masters. They have not won their masters’ hearts, as they were not innocent in thought, word and deed. They were non-violent in deed, which is certainly to their credit.
The fifth was the Kheda struggle. I cannot say that,'y in this case all the local leaders of Satyagraha parties adhered to the pure truth. Peace was certainly maintained.
The non-violence of the peasantry, however, was only superficial, like that of the mill-hands. So we came out of the struggle with bare honour. However there was a great awakening among the people. But Kheda had not fully grasped the lesson of non-violence; the mill-hands had not understood the true meaning of peace. The people had therefore to suffer. At the time of the Rowlatt Act Satyagraha, I had to confess my Himalayan blunder, to fast myself and invite others to do so.
The sixth was in connection with the Rowlatt Act. > Therein our inherent shortcomings came to the surface.
But the original foundation was well and truly laid. We admitted all our shortcomings and did penance for them.
The Rowlatt Act was a dead letter even when it was promulgated, and that black act was finally even repealed. This struggle taught us a great lesson.
The seventh was the struggle to right the Khilafat and the Punjab wrongs and to win Swaraj. It is still going XIV SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA on. And my confidence is unshaken, that if a single Satyagrahi holds out to the end, victory is absolutely certain.
But the present fight is epic in character. I have already described our course of unconscious preparation for it. When I took up the Viramgam question, little did I know that other fights were in store. And even about Viramgam I knew nothing when I was in South Africa. That is the beauty of Satyagraha. It comes up to oneself; one has not to go out in search for it. This is a virtue inherent in the principle itself. A dharma-yuddha, in which there are no secrets to be guarded, no scope for cunning and no place for untruth, comes unsought; and a man of religion is ever ready for it. A struggle which has to be previously planned is not a righteous struggle. In a righteous struggle God Himself* plans campaigns and conducts battles. A dharma-yuddha can be waged only in the name of God, and it is only when the Satyagrahi feels quite helpless, is apparently on his last legs and finds utter darkness all around him, that God comes to the ^rescue. God helps when one feels oneself humbler than the very dust under one’s feet. Only to the weak and helpless is divine succour vouchsafed.
We are yet to realize this truth, and so I think the history of Satyagraha in South Africa will be helpful to us.
The reader will note South African parallels for all our experiences in the present struggle to date. He will also see from this history that there is so far no ground whatever for despair in the fight that is going on. The only condition of victory is a tenacious adherence to our programme.
I am writing this preface at Juhu. I wrote the first thirty chapters of the history in Yeravda jail. Shri Indulal Yajnik was good enough to write to my dictation. The subsequent chapters I hope to write hereafter. I had no books of reference in jail. Nor do I propose to get them here. I have neither the time nor the inclination to write a regular detailed history. My only object in writing this PREFACE XV book is that it may be helpful in our present struggle, and serve as a guide to any regular historian who may arise in the future. Although I am writing without books of reference at hand, I must ask the reader not to imagine that any single item in this volume is inaccurate or that there is the least exaggeration at any point.
CORRIGENDA Page 65, line 30, instead of grubbing read grabbing. Page 171, line 18, insert I between years and have.
Page 225, footnote line 5, for began read begun.
Page 261, line 38, omit is between he and or.
Page 280, line 33, for this read his.
SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA CHAPTER I GEOGRAPHY Africa is one of the biggest continents in the world. India is said to be not a country but a continent, but con¬ sidering area alone, four or five Indias could be carved out of Africa. Africa is a peninsula like India; South Africa is thus mainly surrounded by the sea. There is a general impression that Africa is the hottest part of the earth, and in a sense this is true. The equator passes through the middle of Africa, and people in India cannot have any idea of the heat in countries situated along this line. The heat which we feel in the extreme south of India gives us some notion of it. But in South Africa there is nothing of that kind, as it is far away from the equator. The climate of many parts is so healthy and temperate that Europeans can settle there in comfort, while it is nearly impossible for them to settle in India. Moreover, there are lands of great elevation in South Africa like Tibet or Kashmir, but these do not attain a height of ten to fourteen thousand feet as in Tibet. Consequently, the climate is dry and cold enough to be endured, and some places in South Africa are highly recommended as sanatoria for consumptives. One of these is Johannesburg, the golden city of South Africa. Only fifty years ago, the site on which it now stands was desolate and covered with dry grass. But when gold mines were discovered, houses began to be built one after another, as if by magic, and today there are many hand¬ some and substantial buildings. The wealthy people of the place have got trees from the more fertile tracts of South Africa and from Europe, paying as much as a guinea for a tree, and have planted them there. A traveller ignorant of this previous history would imagine that these trees had been there for all time.
I do not propose to describe all the parts of South Africa, but will confine myself only to those which are 3 4 SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA connected with our subject-matter. One part of South Africa is under the Portuguese, and the rest under the British. The territory under the Portuguese is called Delagoa Bay, and this is the first South African port for steamers from India. As we proceed further south, we come to Natal, the first British Colony. Its chief sea-port is called Port Natal, but we know it as Durban, under which name it is generally known all over South Africa. Durban is the largest city in Natal. The capital is Pietermaritzburg, situated inland at a distance of about sixty miles from Durban and at a height of about two thousand feet above sea-level. The climate of Durban is somewhat like that of Bombay, although rather colder. If we proceed further inland beyond Natal we reach the Transvaal, whose mines supply the world with the largest amount of gold. Some years ago diamond mines were also discovered in one of which was the world’s largest diamond. The Cullinan, so called after the name of the proprietor of the mine, weighed over 3,000 carats, or over 1^ lb. avoirdupois, while the Kohinoor now weighs about 100 carats and the Orloff, one of the Russian crown jewels, about 200 carats.
But though Johannesburg is the centre of the gold¬ mining industry and has diamond mines in the neigh¬ bourhood, it is not the official capital of the Transvaal. The capital is Pretoria, at a distance of about thirty-six miles from Johannesburg. In Pretoria one chiefly finds officials and politicians and the population drawn by them. It is therefore a comparatively quiet place, while Johannes¬ burg is full of bustle. As a visitor from a quiet village, or for the matter of that a small town in India, to Bombay, would be confounded with the din and roar of the city, oven so would a visitor from Pretoria be affected with Johannesburg. It would be no exaggeration to say that the citizens of Johannesburg do not walk but seem as if they ran. No one has the leisure to look at any one else, and every one is apparently engrossed in thinking how to amass the maximum wealth in the minimum of time! If leaving the Transvaal we travel further inland towards the West, we come to Orange Free State or Orangia. Its capital is Bloemfontein, a very quiet and small town.
GEOGRAPHY 5 GEOGRAPHY 5 There are no mines in Orangia like those in the Transvaal. A few hours’ railway journey from here takes us to the boundary of the Cape Colony, the biggest of all the South African colonies. Its capital, which is also its larg¬ est sea-port, is known as Cape Town and is situated on the Cape of Good Hope, so called by King John of Portugal, as after its discovery he hoped his people would be able to find a new and easier way of reaching India, the supreme object of the maritime expeditions of that age.
Over and above these four principal British colonies, there are several territories under British ‘protection,’ inhabited by races which had migrated there before the appearance of Europeans on the scene.
The chief industry of South Africa is agriculture and for this it is pre-eminently fitted. Some parts of it are delight¬ ful and fertile. The principal grain is maize, which is grown without much labour and forms the staple food of the Negro inhabitants of South Africa. Wheat also is grown in some parts. South Africa is famous for its fruits. Natal cultivates many varieties of excellent bananas, pawpaws and pineapples, and that too in such abundance that they are available to the poorest of the poor. In Natal as well as other colonies, oranges, peaches and apricots grow in such plenty that thousands get them in the country for the labour of gathering them. The Cape Colony is the land of grapes and plums. Hardly any other place grows such fine grapes, and during the season they can be had so cheap that even a poor man can have his fill. It is impossible that there should be no mangoes in places inhabited by Indians. Indians planted mango trees in South Africa and consequently mangoes also are available in consider¬ able quantities. Some varieties of these can certainly comp¬ ete with the best mangoes of Bombay. Vegetables also are extensively grown in that fertile country, and it may be said that almost all the vegetables of India are grown there by Indians with a palate for home delicacies.
Cattle also are bred in considerable numbers. Cows and oxen are better built and stronger than in India. I have been ashamed, and my heart has often bled, to find many cows and oxen in India, which claims to protect 6 SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA the cow, as emaciated as the people themselves. Although I have moved about over all parts of South Africa with open eyes, I do not remember to have seen a single emaci¬ ated cow or bull.
Not only has Nature showered her other gifts upon this country, but she has not been stingy in beautifying it with a fine landscape.
The scenery of Durban is considered very beautiful, but that of Cape Town surpasses it. Cape Town is situated at the foot of the Table Mountain which is neither too high nor too low. A gifted lady who dotes on South Africa says in her poem about this mountain that no other gave her such a sense of the unique. There may be exaggeration in this. I think there is. But one of her points struck me as true. She says the Table Mountain stands in the position of a friend to the citizens of Cape Town. Not being too high, it does not inspire awe. People are not compelled to worship it from afar, but build their houses upon it and live there. And as it is just on the seashore, the sea always washes its foot with its clear waters. Young and old, men and women, fearlessly move about the whole mountain, which resounds every day with the voices of thousands. Its tall trees and flowers of fine fragrance and variegated hues impart such a charm to the mountain that one can never see too much of it, or move too much about it.
South Africa cannot boast of such mighty rivers as the Ganga or the Indus. The few that are there are com¬ paratively small. The water of rivers cannot reach many places. No canals can be taken to the highlands. And how can there be canals in the absence of large rivers? Wherever there is a deficiency of surface water in South Africa, artesian wells are sunk, and water needed for irri¬ gating fields is pumped up by windmills and steam-engines. Agriculture receives much encouragement from Govern¬ ment. Government sends out agricultural experts to advise the cultivators, maintains model farms where experiments are carried on for their benefit, provides them with good cattle and seed, bores artesian wells for them at very little cost and permits them to repay this amount by instalments.
HISTORY 7 Similarly Government erects barbed wire fences to protect their fields.
As South Africa is to the south, and India to the north, of the equator, climatic conditions there are just the reverse of what they are here. The seasons occur in a reverse order. For example, while we have summer here. South Africa is passing through winter. Rainfall is un¬ certain and capricious. It may occur any time. The average annual rainfall rarely exceeds twenty inches.
CHAPTER II HISTORY CHAPTER II HISTORY The geographical divisions briefly noticed in the first chapter are not at all ancient. It has not been possible definitely to ascertain who were the inhabitants of South Africa in remote times. When the Europeans settled in South Africa, they found the Negroes there. These Negroes are supposed to have been the descendants of some of the slaves in America who managed to escape from their cruel bondage and migrated to Africa. They are divided into various tribes such as the Zulus, the Swazis, the Basutos, the Bechuanas, etc. They have a number of different languages. These Negroes must be regarded as the original inhabitants of South Africa. But South Africa is such a vast country that it can easily support twenty or thirty times its present population of Negroes. The distance between Gape Town and Durban is about eighteen hundred miles by rail; the distance by sea also is not less than one thousand miles. The combined area of these four colonies is 473,000 square miles. In 1914 the Negro population in this vast region was about five millions, while the Europ¬ eans numbered about a million and a quarter.
Among the Negroes, the tallest and the most hand¬ some are the Zulus. I have deliberately used the epithet ‘handsome5 in connection with Negroes. A fair complexion and a pointed nose represent our ideal of beauty. If we discard this superstition for a moment, we feel that the Creator did not spare Himself in fashioning the Zulu to 8 SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA perfection. Men and women are both tall and broad-chested in proportion to their height. Their muscles are strong and well set. The calves of the legs and the arms are muscular and always well rounded. You will rarely find a man or woman walking with a stoop or with a hump back. The lips are certainly large and thick, but as they are in perfect symmetry with the entire physique, I for one would not say that they are unshapely. The eyes are round and bright. The nose is flat and large, such as becomes a large face, and the curled hair on the head sets off to advantage the Zulu’s skin which is black and shining like ebony. If we ask a Zulu to which of the various races inhabiting South Africa he will award the palm for beauty, he will unhesitatingly decide in favour of his own people, and in this I would not see any want of judgment on his part. The physique of the Zulu is powerfully built and finely shaped by nature without any such effort as is made by Sandow and others in Europe in order to develop the muscles. It is a law of nature that the skin of races living near the equator should be black. And if we believe that there must be beauty in everything fashioned by nature, we would not only steer clear of all narrow and one-sided conceptions of beauty, but we in India would be free from the improper sense of shame and dislike which we feel for our own complexion if it is anything but fair.
The Negroes live in round huts built of wattle and daub. The huts have a single round wall and are thatched with hay. A pillar inside supports the roof. A low en¬ trance through which one can pass only by bending one¬ self is the only aperture for the passage of air. The en¬ trance is rarely provided with a door. Like ourselves, the Negroes plaster the walls and the floor with earth and animal dung. It is said the Negroes cannot make anything square in shape. They have trained their eyes to see and make only round things. We never find nature drawing straight lines or rectilineal figures, and these innocent children of nature derive all their knowledge from their experience of her.
The furniture in the hut is in keeping with the simpli¬ city of the place. There would be no room for tables, chairs.
HISTORY 9 boxes and such other things, and even now these things are rarely seen in a hut.