COLONAILISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA

ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC – GANDHI’S ,METHODS ON

COMMUNISTS , SOCIALISTS AND
REVOLUTINISTS

SUBMITTED TO - DR. ALANKAR SIR

SUBMITTED BY – SHASHANK UPADHYAY

ROLL NO. – 2006

COURSE – B.A HONS POL SCI.

YEAR – 3 RD

SEMESTER – 6

COLLEGE – RAM LAL ANAND COLLEGE

 COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA
ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC – GANDHI’S METHODS ON THE BASIS

OF REVOLUTIONARIES , COMMUNISTS OR
SOCIALIST

In the realm of modern Indian political thought, numerous

ideologies and philosophies have been able to influence the
thinking of the Indian thinkers to a great extent. Amongst such
ideologies, the socialism and communism stand out
prominently. In fact, there was a time when a whole generation
of prominent Indian thinkers, a few exceptions notwithstanding,
took socialism and communism as the principal determining
factor of their philosophical contemplations.
Gandhi was one of the few exceptions of the leaders who could
never imbibe the philosophy of socialism and communism as
the guiding ideology of their socio-political thought. But this
does not mean that Gandhi was not able to appreciate the
remarkable features of the socialism and communism
particularly their concern for the virtues like equality and
fulfillment of the basic needs of the people. What appears
remarkable in his views on socialism and communism is the
fact that despite appreciating the underlying humanist
orientations of these philosophies, he was convinced with the
concomitant methodology of achieving the noble objectives
inherent in them .
It needs to be clarified that despite having certain subtle
differences, this Unit takes socialism and communism as
somewhat similar ideology based on the philosophical
formulations of various thinkers the most prominent of which is
Karl Marx .

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The meaning of socialism and communism
 Gandhi’s critique of these ideologies
 The mode of social transformation, redistribution of power
and politics, economic life etc. propounded by these ideologies.

 GANDHI ON COMMUNISMS
Gandhi‟s economic ideas were mainly based on self-sufficiency of a nation and
his ideal type of economy can be termed as Service Economics . Communists
fight for a state control of resources and bringing equalities in the society.
Gandhi was against the state controlling the resources as we can depict from his
idea of decentralization of resources. Gandhi says that nation‟s wealth is same
as sum of wealth of all the communities in the nation and also in
decentralization of resources and power.
Gandhi‟s philosophy of opposition to the industrialism and return to the
charkha and village industries was a negation of progress and a reactionary
rejection of the achievements of science. Communists never fight against
the scientific progress, they only fight against the people those who are
governing that scientific progress. Communists believe that only violent
revolution can bring the required change, but Gandhi believed in non-
violence. Gandhi says that something that is true for one nation may not be
true for the other. But Communists believe in the same social change
throughout the world. Communists strive for material results whereas
Gandhi strives for moral results.

 Reasons of failure
Being a case of extreme socialism it provides the lethargic group of any
community with the advantage of enjoying the fruits of others hard work.
This as a result demotivates the group which actually works hard to provide
the basic needs. This in turn leads to an era where progress is at stake
because some don’ t need to work and some don’ t want to work anymore.
Communism is a failed ideology also because people fail to live up to
communism. It’ s impossible to picture a world where we can count on the
masses to work for the benefit of a stranger, or strive to preserve property
that is collectively owned, or where the upliftment of the downtrodden
galvanizes them toward success. Marks completely forgot about the inclusion
of middle class in his ideology which is passive about bringing the
revolutions as they always have something to loose in contrast to the lower
class which never had much to lose.
 GANDHI AND THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS
There were two schools of socialists: the socialists in the Congress led by
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the socialists led by Jayaprakash Narayan,
Narendra Deo and Dr. Lohia. The Nehru School of Socialists were influenced
by the policies and programmes of the British Labour Party. Jayaprakash and
his associates were more influenced by Gandhian ideas. In 1934, the Congress
socialist party led by Jayaprakash was established within the Congress party.
The basic difference between the communist and the socialist parties was that
the socialists wanted to bring about socialism by peaceful means and without
the support of dictatorship of proletariat . Gandhi’s persona left a lasting
impression on the people. The greatest contribution of Gandhi was creating an
awakening in the minds of the people about their rights. This was a greater
achievement than winning Swaraj for India. He was aware of the problems
faced by the modern society and did not provide medieval solutions to them. He
gave a weapon of Satyagraha in the hands of ordinary Indians to fight against
the British rulers. Modern state had acquired tremendous power and it has to be
controlled through people’s power. We had to instill courage in the minds of
ordinary people

 Overview Of Gandhi
The abovementioned arguments of Gandhi on socialism and
communism may seem to portray Gandhi as the bitterest critique of
the philosophy that became the reference point of socio-economic
reconstruction of a number of countries in the world. However, it
must be pointed out that Gandhi was not criticising socialism and
communism from any parochial or partisan perspectives. The
Gandhian views on socialism and communism were premised on the
basic framework that Gandhi evolved, stood by and practised
throughout his life in both India and abroad . various theoreticians and
practitioners of socialism and communism in India who were able to
appreciate the Gandhian stand point in critiquing the theory and
practice of socialism did not find any partisan or vested interest in his
points of view. They, in fact, commended the views and role of
Gandhi in mobilising the masses in India to rise and fight against the
capitalist colonial system by taking the strength of their moral
courage and spiritual force of their personalities. For instance,
articulating his views on life and works of Gandhi, Hiren Mukherjee,
a stalwart amongst Indian communists, wrote: “Not for a thousand
years or more has India resounded to any name so much as Gandhi’s
strode . he wrote, “Moral values like truth, nonviolence, renunciation
of the pleasures of life etc., political ideals such as freedom,
democracy, peace etc., social objectives such as abolition of caste
distinctions, emancipation of women, unity of all religious groups and
communities, etc., these were indivisible parts of his life and
teachings”

 CONCLUSION
Gandhi’s views on socialism and communism provide a moralist
critique of a philosophy rooted in excessive concern for materialism
and physical aspects of life. In offering his views on socialism and
communism, Gandhi acted neither as a liberal philosopher nor an
agent of capitalist class to denounce the fundamental assumptions of
the ideology of socialism and communism. Rather, as a devout
humanist, deeply embedded in his unending concern for the
comprehensive and all round, more particularly moral, development
of the individuals, Gandhi could not accept the one-dimensional
conceptualisation of human personality in the socialist and communist
discourses. s. Moreover, he appeared extremely pained at the blatant
support of the socialists and communists to the use of naked force in
attaining the pious goal of ending the centuries of capitalist
exploitation and subjugation of the people. Therefore, he offered the
alternative that not only the ends, but also the means need to be
equally pious and proper in order to have a morally liberating results
of any humanist pursuit. It was due to this apparently disinterested
passion of Gandhi for moral and material liberation of the .
There may be many dissimilarities in the theories or the path
followed by Gandhi and communists but they always fought for
the social change and that social change which increases
nonviolence in the human system. In history we can‟t find
examples for ideal society of Gandhi but there are a few nations
like USSR(before division into different countries) which have
attained partial communism. There are no nations which have
attained complete communism. Considering the present scenario,
we have dominations of capitalism and inequalities in many
forms based on caste, colour, race, gender, economy etc. all over
the world which are increasing the violence in the society. We are
moving exactly opposite to what Gandhi and communists fought for
individuals that silenced even his critics and supporters of the
ideologies that he criticised
from labeling any charge of being partisan or serving any vested
interest, in the main, in his
staunch critique of the theory and practice of socialism and
communism in various parts of
the world.