Even the milder forms of Non-co-operation activity such as
picketing,--which is often claimed by the Non-co-operators to be
peaceful pastime though even this claim is no longer maintained by Mr.
Gandhi as I shall show in a moment--result in wild orgies of violence as
we have been painfully reminded again, within the last few days by the
horrible crime at Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces. This outbreak,
in which 21 police men and chaukidars were violently beaten to death was
deliberately organised, we are told, in the report from the
Commissioners, by the volunteers, and if picketing results in orgies of
murder and destruction of this kind what are likely to be results of
attempts to put into operation the full pledged programme of Civil
Disobedience to which I have already referred?
But it seems, as I have already remarked that Mr. Gandhi no longer
maintains that all picketing is peaceful, for writing in his newspaper,
"Young India" a short time ago, he says that in connection with the
proposal for a round table conference his suggestion was that all
picketing, except bona-fide peaceful picketing should be suspended
pending the result of the conference. Clearly then, in Mr. Gandhi's
opinion picketing is of two kinds, bona fide peaceful picketing on the
one hand, and picketing which is not bona fide and peaceful on the
other. Very well then, Mr. Gandhi knows that picketing is not peaceful.
He must know that the more drastic forms of civil disobedience, which he
is now determined to embark upon, must lead to violence.