“In Gandhi's case the questions one feels inclined to ask are: to what extent was Gandhi moved by vanity—by the consciousness of himself as a humble, naked old man, sitting on a praying-mat and shaking empires by sheer spiritual power—and to what extent did he compromise his own principles by entering into politics, which of their nature are inseparable from coercion and fraud?”
These questions that Orwell puts forth are central to his investigation of the nature of Gandhi's political means and his political motive. While he acted as an ascetic, saintly figure, he managed to have great political leverage. In the essay, Orwell discusses the depth of Gandhi's saintly authenticity, ultimately finding it consistent and genuine.
“The attitude of the Indian millionaires was similar. Gandhi called upon them to repent, and naturally they preferred him to the Socialists and Communists who, given the chance, would actually have taken their money away.”
Here, Orwell is comparing Gandhi's political propositions to those of the western left, specifically Socialists and Communists. For the British Empire as well as Indian millionaires, Gandhi's demands were more appealing than those of Socialists and Communists, as Gandhi demanded of the millionaires merely that they reform their attitudes and spiritual life, rather than that they give up their wealth.
“In judging a man like Gandhi one seems instinctively to apply high standards, so that some of his virtues have passed almost unnoticed. For instance, it is clear even from the autobiography that his natural physical courage was quite outstanding: the manner of his death was a later illustration of this, for a public man who attached any value to his own skin would have been more adequately guarded.”
Here Orwell refers to the high standards that Gandhi is measured against, because of the type of man he was. By holding himself to a high standard, Gandhi made himself susceptible to higher standard of critique. In this way, Orwell says, his other virtues go unrecognized. Orwell commends Gandhi for his commitment to his word.
“Color feeling, when he first met it in its worst form in South Africa, seems rather to have astonished him. Even when he was fighting what was in effect a color war, he did not think of people in terms of race or status.”
Here Orwell uses an archaic term, 'color feeling' in referring to racism and Gandhi's attitudes around racism. He mentions this specifically in the context of South Africa, where politics was defined by racism. Gandhi, Orwell claims, was "astonished" by racism and seems to have been capable of seeing across color lines. That said, Gandhi fought on behalf of Indians in South Africa and not on behalf of black people.
“He was not one of those saints who are marked out by their phenomenal piety from childhood onwards, nor one of the other kind who forsake the world after sensational debaucheries.”
Here we have a critique of Gandhi's saintly qualities. As Orwell states, Gandhi was not born with a halo over his head. Instead, into adulthood, he lived a fairly unremarkable life in respect to his cultural, economic and social conditions. Nor did he dramatically renounce the world, as many saints do, when he made his change into saintliness.
“I believe that even Gandhi's worst enemies would admit that he was an interesting and unusual man who enriched the world simply by being alive.”
The quote speaks for itself. Orwell feels that Gandhi was so committed to his own truth that people saw this and respected it in him, "even his worst enemies." He also brought a novel proposition to the political sphere that again, those enemies, would respect him.
“One must choose between God and Man; and all 'radicals' and 'progressives,' from the mildest Liberal to the most extreme Anarchist, have in effect chosen Man.”
This is a discussion of the religious aspect of Gandhi's politics. Orwell says that in order to do as Gandhi did, people would be forced to choose God over Man, also as Gandhi did. But the fact remains that none of the political groups or types that Orwell mentions have committed to this choice. The radicals and progressives have not renounced their humanness for the sake of their cause. In that way they have not become saints. They have remained "men."
“If you are not prepared to take life, you must often be prepared for lives to be lost in some other way.”
This is Orwell's summary of the essential principle of Satyagraha. The offering of one's own life in return for the thing they are demanding is essential if violence is to be avoided. Without being willing to submit your own life to the cause, the defense of your life by violence will remain on the table.
“He believed in 'arousing the world,' which is only possible if the world gets a chance to hear what you are doing. It is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again. Without a free press and the right of assembly, it is impossible not merely to appeal to outside opinion, but to bring a mass movement into being.”
This claim of Orwell's is central to the general argument of his essay. He feels that Gandhi's method of politics depends on galvanizing public opinion. In this way, Orwell argues, his method is not transferable to conditions in which there is no free press or no right of public assembly--namely totalitarian conditions. This is an important quote, because one of Orwell's main goals in the essay is to test the universalism of non-violence and to see how and whether it could be effectively deployed outside of Gandhi's specific situation.
“It seems doubtful whether civilization can stand another major war, and it is at least thinkable that the way out lies through non-violence.”
Orwell's concludes his essay by speaking to the relevance of non-violent resistance in global politics. As he states here, another war would be a global catastrophe, because of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Non-violence, he concludes, could be one possible tactic for preventing global destruction, and in this way it deserves consideration.
