|
THE
PHILOSOPHY
OF
THE
BOMB*
THE
CONGRESS
AND
THE
REVOLUTIONARIES
Meanwhile,
what
has
the
Congress
being
doing?
It
has
changed
its
creed
from
Swaraj
to
Complete
Independence.
As a
logical
sequence
to
this,
one
would
expect
it to
declare
a war
on
the
British
government.
Instead,
we
find
it
has
declared
war
against
the
revolutionaries.
The
first
offensive
of
the
Congress
came
in
the
form
of a
resolution
deploring
the
attempt
made
on
the
23
December,
1929,
to
blow
up
the
Viceroy’s
Special.
It
was
drafted
by
Gandhi
and
he
fought
tooth
and
nail
for
it,
with
the
result
that
is
was
passed
by a
trifling
majority
of 81
in a
house
of
1,713.
Was
even
this
bare
majority
a
result
of
honest
political
convictions?
Let
us
quote
the
opinion
of
Sarla
Devi
Chaudhrani
who
has
been
a
devotee
of
the
Congress
all
her
life,
in
reply.
She
says:
“I
discovered
in
the
course
of my
conversations
with
a
good
many
of
the
Mahatma’s
followers
that
it
was
only
their
sense
of
personal
loyalty
to
him
that
was
keeping
them
back
from
an
expression
of
the
independent
views
and
preventing
them
from
voting
against
any
resolution
whatsoever
that
was
fathered
by
Mahatmaji.”
As to
Gandhi’s
arguments
in
favour
of
the
proposition,
we
will
deal
with
them
later,
when
we
discuss
his
article
The
Cult
of
the
Bomb
which
is
more
or
less
an
amplification
of
his
speech
in
the
Congress.
There
is
one
fact
about
this
deplorable
resolution
which
we
must
not
lose
sight
of,
and
that
is
this.
In
spite
of
the
fact,
that
the
Congress
is
pledged
to
non-violence
and
has
been
actively
engaged
in
carrying
on
propaganda
in
its
favour
for
the
last
ten
years,
and
in
spite
of
the
fact
also
that
the
supporters
of
the
resolution
indulged
in
abuse,
called
the
revolutionaries
‘cowards’
and
described
their
actions
as
‘dastardly’
–
and
one
of
them
even
threateningly
remarked
that
if
they
wanted
to be
led
by
Gandhi,
they
should
pass
this
resolution
could
only
be
adopted
by a
dangerously
narrow
majority.
That
demonstrates,
beyond
the
shadow
of a
doubt,
how
solidly
the
country
is
backing
the
revolutionaries.
In a
way
Gandhi
deserved
our
thanks
for
having
brought
the
question
up
for
discussion
and
thus
having
shown
to
the
old
at
large
that
even
the
Congress
–
that
strong-hold
of
non-violence
–
is at
least
as
much,
if
not
more,
with
the
revolutionaries
as
with
him.
GANDHI
ON
WAR
PATH
Gavubg
acgueved
a
victory
which
cost
him
more
than
a
defeat,
Gandhi
has
returned
to
the
attack
in
his
article
The
Cult
of
the
Bomb.
We
will
give
it
our
closest
attention
before
proceeding
further.
That
article
consists
of
three
things
–
his
faith,
his
opinion
and
his
arguments.
We
will
not
discuss
what
is a
matter
of
faith
with
him
because
reason
has
little
in
common
with
faith.
Let
us
then
take
such
of
his
opinions
as
are
backed
by
arguments
and
his
arguments
proper,
against
what
he
calls
violence
and
discuss
them
one
by
one.
DO
THE
MASSES
BELIEVE
IN
NON-VIOLENCE
He
thinks
that
on
the
basis
of
his
experience
during
his
latest
tour
in
the
country,
he is
right
in
believing
that
the
large
masses
of
Indian
humanity
are
yet
untouched
by
the
spirit
of
violence
and
that
non-violence
has
come
to
stay
as a
political
weapon.
Let
him
not
delude
himself
on
the
experiences
of
his
latest
tour
in
the
country.
Thought
it is
true
that
the
average
leader
confines
his
tours
to
places
where
only
the
mail
train
can
conveniently
land
him
while
Gandhi
has
extended
his
tour
limit
to
where
a
motorcar
can
take
him,
the
practice
of
staying
only
with
the
richest
people
in
the
places
visited,
of
spending
most
of
his
time
on
being
complimented
by
his
devotees
in
private
and
public,
and
of
granting
Darshan
now
and
then
to
the
illiterate
masses
whom
he
claims
to
understand
so
well,
disqualifies
him
from
claiming
to
know
the
mind
of
the
masses.
No
man
can
claim
to
know
a
people’s
mind
by
seeing
them
from
the
public
platform
and
giving
them
Darshan
and
Updesh.
He
can
at
the
most
claim
to
have
told
the
masses
what
he
thinks
about
things.
Has
Gandhi,
during
recent
years,
mixed
in
the
social
life
of
the
masses?
Has
he
sat
with
the
peasant
round
the
evening
fire
and
tried
to
know
what
he
thinks?
Has
he
passed
a
single
evening
in
the
company
of a
factory
labourer
and
shared
with
him
his
vows?
We
have,
and
therefore
we
claim
to
know
what
the
masses
think.
We
have,
and
therefore
we
claim
to
know
what
the
masses
think.
We
assure
Gandhi
that
the
average
Indian,
like
the
average
human
being,
understands
little
of
the
fine
theological
niceties
about
Ahimsa
and
Loving
one’s
enemy.
The
way
of
the
world
is
like
this.
You
have
a
friend:
you
love
him,
sometimes
so
much
that
you
even
die
for
him.
You
have
an
enemy:
you
shun
him,
you
fight
against
him
and,
if
possible,
kill
him.
The
gospel
of
the
revolutionaries
is
simple
and
straight.
It is
what
has
been
since
the
days
of
Adam
and
Eve,
and
no
man
has
any
difficulty
about
understanding
it.
We
affirm
that
the
masses
of
India
are
solidly
with
us
because
we
know
it
from
personal
experience.
The
day
is
not
far
off
when
they
will
flock
in
their
thousands
to
work
the
will
of
the
Revolution.
Next
|
