Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hind Swaraj, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passive Resistance and Indian Independence
Modern Civilization and Colonialism
The Personal and the Political
Indian Nationhood and Identity
Summary
Analysis
The reader concludes that the editor’s beliefs are a middle ground between the extremists and moderates in the Congress. But the editor rejects this simplistic division and says that anyone can listen to and learn from his arguments. Still, the reader asks if the editor has a message for each side. The editor would tell the extremists that home-rule is something people create for themselves, not something that anyone can give to anyone else. This means that brute force can never achieve it; only nonviolent soul-force (or passive resistance) can. And he would tell moderates that Indians must take political change into their own hands, rather than suppressing and avoiding conflict. The dueling sides must resolve their problems directly and remember that they are fighting tyranny, not just the English.
Rather than claiming to be halfway between the extremists and moderates—and therefore asking each group to make concessions to the other side—Gandhi proposes a paradigm shift in the way Indians think about national independence. Namely, he explicitly distinguishes between the existing English government—which is based on the exercise of brute force without popular consent—and the future Indian government, which will base itself on the moral principles and active participation of everyone in society. Through this distinction, he shows extremists that brute force cannot establish a moral society, but also tells moderates that it’s futile to sit around and hope the English will eventually decide to do what’s morally right.
Themes
The reader then asks what the editor would tell the British. The editor says that he would invite them to remain in India, but only “as servants of the people.” They would have to stop plundering and start respecting India’s ancient civilization and religions. In India, beef and pork should be banned, the court and school systems should be traditional (not modern), and Hindi should be the national language. Indians must reject railways, the formation of a military, the purchase of European goods and the manufacture of Indian goods with modern machinery.
As he summarizes what he believes should be the independence movement’s key policy demands, Gandhi again emphasizes that the struggle for independence is a fight against modern civilization, not a fight against the British. In fact, Gandhi suggests that the English can assimilate into India just as so many other groups of people have done throughout history.
Themes
Most importantly, the editor concludes, Indians must choose passive resistance over armed struggle against the English. The English might kill them and delight in their superior power at first, but eventually they will realize that the Indians have the moral high ground and see how their own actions bring shame upon England. Indians must believe in the superiority of their ancient civilization and find the spiritual force necessary to passively resist England’s brute force.
Gandhi specifically calls for his followers to launch a campaign of passive resistance. But he also reminds them that, because passive resistance is a bottom-up strategy that starts with the people, it may take a very long time to build up real momentum. Nevertheless, he continues to believe that the moral power of passive resistance will always defeat the brute force of arms, and the campaign he helped launch in the decades after writing this book ultimately did prove successful.
Themes
The editor offers a list of 19 rules that Indians should follow. Indians should avoid using English. Lawyers and doctors should quit their jobs to instead weave cloth and educate others. Rather than hoarding money, wealthy people should donate hand-looms and invest in handmade Indian goods. Finally, Indians should mourn for their country and recognize that personally blaming the English will not help them achieve freedom. They should refuse indulgence and be willing to suffer imprisonment, suffering, or exile as punishment for passive resistance. Indeed, they should see the value in suffering, which is what truly makes a person or nation strong, and they should insist on doing what is right even when others disagree.
Gandhi’s long list of rules is specifically targeted at the kind of professionals who he believes are likely to read Hind Swaraj. Their wealth and power are built on unjust institutions and a tragic colonial history, but doctors, lawyers, and businessmen can turn this wealth and power against these institutions. However, this requires the same kind of personal discipline, moral reform, and political sacrifice that Gandhi demands of all Indians. Ultimately, then, while Gandhi’s educated professional readers might have initially considered themselves the natural leaders of the revolution due to their wealth and power, Gandhi is actually telling them that they have to give up their wealth and power if they want to help build a truly independent India.
Themes
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The reader asks the editor to condense his program, and the editor narrows it down to four main points. First, home-rule truly means “self-rule or self-control.” Second, passive resistance is the means to home-rule. Third, Indians will practice passive resistance through Swadeshi—boycotting English goods and buying Indian goods. And fourth, Indians are pursuing self-rule because it is their duty, and not because they hate the English. In closing, the editor says that he hopes he has helped clarify the true nature of Swaraj and affirms that achieving Swaraj is his life’s goal.
In his brief conclusion, Gandhi summarizes his central arguments and shows how they fit together into a comprehensive theory of individual, moral, and political life. He again insists that the independence movement is more than just a fight for power: it’s an opportunity to build a completely new kind of human society from the ground-up. But independence activists risk wasting this opportunity if they fail to see that political life is really just an extension of the moral decisions people make about what to prioritize in their lives. Indeed, if they fail to start from moral principles, Gandhi thinks, they will also fail to restore the proper balance between spiritual and bodily pursuits that is necessary to achieve true home-rule.
Themes
