The letter printed below is a translation of Tolstoy's letter written in
Russian in reply to one from the Editor of Free Hindustan. After having
passed from hand to hand, this letter at last came into my possession
through a friend who asked me, as one much interested in Tolstoy's
writings, whether I thought it worth publishing. I at once replied in
the affirmative, and told him I should translate it myself into Gujarati
and induce others' to translate and publish it in various Indian
vernaculars.
The letter as received by me was a type-written copy. It was therefore
referred to the author, who confirmed it as his and kindly granted me
permission to print it.
To me, as a humble follower of that great teacher whom I have long
looked upon as one of my guides, it is a matter of honour to be
connected with the publication of his letter, such especially as the one
which is now being given to the world.
It is a mere statement of fact to say that every Indian, whether he
owns up to it or not, has national aspirations. But there are as many
opinions as there are Indian nationalists as to the exact meaning of
that aspiration, and more especially as to the methods to be used to
attain the end.
One of the accepted and 'time-honoured' methods to attain the end
is that of violence. The assassination of Sir Curzon Wylie was an
illustration of that method in its worst and most detestable form.
Tolstoy's life has been devoted to replacing the method of violence for
removing tyranny or securing reform by the method of non-resistance to
evil. He would meet hatred expressed in violence by love expressed in
self-suffering. He admits of no exception to whittle down this great
and divine law of love. He applies it to all the problems that trouble
mankind.
When a man like Tolstoy, one of the clearest thinkers in the western
world, one of the greatest writers, one who as a soldier has known
what violence is and what it can do, condemns Japan for having blindly
followed the law of modern science, falsely so-called, and fears for
that country 'the greatest calamities', it is for us to pause and
consider whether, in our impatience of English rule, we do not want to
replace one evil by another and a worse. India, which is the nursery
of the great faiths of the world, will cease to be nationalist India,
whatever else she may become, when she goes through the process of
civilization in the shape of reproduction on that sacred soil of gun
factories and the hateful industrialism which has reduced the people of
Europe to a state of slavery, and all but stifled among them the best
instincts which are the heritage of the human family.
If we do not want the English in India we must pay the price.
Tolstoy indicates it. 'Do not resist evil, but also do not yourselves
participate in evil--in the violent deeds of the administration of the
law courts, the collection of taxes and, what is more important, of
the soldiers, and no one in the world will enslave you', passionately
declares the sage of Yasnaya Polyana. Who can question the truth of
what he says in the following: 'A commercial company enslaved a
nation comprising two hundred millions. Tell this to a man free from
superstition and he will fail to grasp what these words mean. What does
it mean that thirty thousand people, not athletes, but rather weak and
ordinary people, have enslaved two hundred millions of vigorous, clever,
capable, freedom-loving people? Do not the figures make it clear that
not the English, but the Indians, have enslaved themselves?'
One need not accept all that Tolstoy says--some of his facts are not
accurately stated--to realize the central truth of his indictment of
the present system, which is to understand and act upon the irresistible
power of the soul over the body, of love, which is an attribute of the
soul, over the brute or body force generated by the stirring in us of
evil passions.
There is no doubt that there is nothing new in what Tolstoy preaches.
But his presentation of the old truth is refreshingly forceful. His
logic is unassailable. And above all he endeavours to practise what
he preaches. He preaches to convince. He is sincere and in earnest. He
commands attention.
[_19th November, 1909_] M. K. GANDHI