We are on the eve of Mahatma Gandhi undertaking an important part of his
programme by starting Civil Disobedience in a district in Surat. It is
very difficult to offer any useful comment on this undertaking because
beyond the general lines, his programme in its detail is not yet before
the Country. We can only hope that the resistance to law will not be so
undertaken as to be widely interpreted as a sort of charter for general
lawlessness. That would be a catastrophe for which the country is not
prepared. This seems also to be Mr. Gandhi's opinion, for he has very
prudently circumscribed the practice of the resistance with very severe
restrictions, involving a moral and economic preparation. To disobey
specific orders of Government or their officials, which have no moral
sanction behind them or are illegal in their inception, is a
comparatively easy matter, fraught with no far-reaching harm to the
community. The disobedience, in such a case commands the moral approval
of the civilised community, and ends only by affecting the prestige of
the promulgator of the order. But when a campaign is undertaken
involving a wholesale and general defiance of order and authority,
forces may arise, which, in the hands of inexperienced and enthusiastic
associates or partisans, may reach extreme limits, involving the
community in chaos, disorder and possibly violence. The country has had
only a year's training in his (Mr. Gandhi) counsels of non-violent
resistance--far too short a period for his countrymen to imbibe his
spirit, in a manner worthy of his teaching. May we, therefore, hope that
in launching on this undertaking he will seriously consider this aspect
of the case? We shall of course, watch his experiment but with concern
and solicitude, feeling secure in the hope, created by his magnificent
personality, that in his hands the destinies of the country are
perfectly safe.