83. Fruits of Violence

"Look at Italy," said Gandhiji the other day to a friend who would have independence at all costs. "Garibaldi was a great man. He brought deliverance to Italy. And Mussolini did make her look great. But where is she today? Look at Japan, look at Germany. The very violence which brought them to the pinnacle of power has razed them to the ground. And has not the atom bomb proved the futility of all violence? And yet we are crazy enough to think that we can win Swaraj by breaking a few skulls and destroying property which, after all is said and done, is our own." Needless to say that all these happenings have filled him with unspeakable -anguish. But he is an irrepressible optimist. "I am sure, out of this orgy of violence the people will learn the lesson of non-violence," he remarked. The sense of oppression and misery that he feels at what is happening is so great that only his unquenchable faith in the God of Truth and Non-violence could sustain him.

Poona, 3-3-'46

Harijan, 10-3-1946