Hind Swaraj/ Indian Home Rule

M.K. Gandhi, 1909/1910

2 OCTOBER 1869-30 January 1948

Born in Porbandar, Gujarat. Studied law in London. Worked in South Africa as lawyer, representing
Indians there who were facing discrimination by the white supremacist government. Experiences of
discrimination -- being thrown out of a first class compartment because he was colored led him to
pledge himself to the cause of freedom. In 1906, a mass meeting of Indians was held at the Empire
Theatre in Johannesburg: an important moment in his political career.

Return to India from South Africa: 1914/15. Joins Congress, supports Home Rule. Advocates non
cooperation.

Major moments:

Non-co-operation (X civil disobedience): 1919-1922 (swadeshi, boycott, adoption of khadi, spinning)

Rowlatt, Khilafat, Jalianwalabagh

In 1921: gives up the Gandhi cap, and starts to wear the loin cloth.

Escalation in 1922. The incident at Chauri Chaura, 1922. In the name of Gandhi. Shahid Amin, Gandhi as
Mahatma. A police chowki is set on fire. 23 killed. Martial law, arrests. Gandhi feels responsible,
undertakes fast. Jailed. Noncooperation is suspended. Defining moment. Followers angry, critical. 3
interpretations (Mantena): overriding concern for ethical over political considerations; decision to
suspend based on Gandhis need for absolute control, authoritarian leadership; movement becoming
too radical (Marxist reading). Gandhis conclusion: a Himalayan miscalculation. People not ready for
independence, lack of discipline, excitement, crowd behavior, hubristic.

Political calculations about means of achieving swaraj, the meaning of swaraj. After Chauri Chaura,
Gandhi begins to move towards constructive work.

Dandi salt march 1930

Round Table Conference 1931

Quit India

Non-violence: in relation to violence in politics. Satyagraha a politics of exemplarity (Mantena),

demonstrating effectivity of non-violence. Role of affect.

BACK TO HIND SWARAJ text

In Gujarati, published as Hind Swarajya Banned in India. English translation undertaken after ban.
Gandhi surprised by ban.

The bilingualism of Hind Swaraj (Suhrud).

[Cf: bilingualism question as raised by Partha Chatterjee in The Subalternity of a Nationalist Elite]
Suhrud on the bilingualism of HS:

Although written in Gujarati it bears marks of a bilingual

text. And it is this bilingualism of Hind Swaraj that I wish to
explore through this essay. Bilingualism is not just the ability
to think and express oneself in two languages. The
bilingualism that I wish to suggest indicates simultaneity. It
suggests a process where an idea is conceived and thought
in one language and expressed in another, where it becomes
possible to speak of a concept, a notion, alien to one
linguistic/semantic universe through another tongue. I
propose that Hind Swaraj is a bilingual text in this sense.

The title:

Let us first consider the curious case of the title itself.

Gandhis handwritten manuscript as also the first Indian
Opinion edition consistently used the term Rajya; it is Hind
Swarajya and not Hind Swaraj. The term Rajya is used in the
text as well; for example, chapter 4 is Swarajya te shu? And
not Swaraj te shu? But during the English translation done
soon after and published on 20 March 1910, the term Rajya
was substituted by Raj; and this usage was standardised in
subsequent Gujarati editions; beginning with the 1914
edition.

Reasons:

Home rule is already in use. Gandhi wants to redefine it. Thus swaraj is home rule but it is also NOT
home rule. Gandhi wants swaraj in the meaning he gives to it to replace the term swaraj/home rule
as it is already in use. A discursive shift.

Rajya: also means kingdom, country etc. In other words, it refers to the place, the territorial entity
ruled by a king.

Raj: This means rule as in British Raj,as in ruling over something.

Gandhi used swarajya in the Gujarati version but after translating it into English, he changed the word
in the Gujarati version also.

The English sense is now being imparted to the Gujarati and at the same time the sense of the English
term is being transformed.

HOME RULE = SWARAJYA = SELF RULE = RULE BY SELF = RULE over SELF.

Self-rule according to Gandhi does not mean that a country must be ruled by the people who are its
native inhabitants.
He redefines it to mean the ability to rule the self, to control, discipline and set the self the task of
performing its moral duty.

In this text, Gandhi is arguing with the extremists, who want to make a violent revolution, to drive away
the British with assassinations and terror, because they believe that rule by a foreigner is inherently
unjust.

Gandhi wants to replace such programmes with his definition of self-rule.

He agrees that India has been colonized by an alien force which oppresses and exploits its people.

But he argues that Indians allowed them to come and rule. The fault thus lies with the Indians for their
present condition of unfreedom.

Therefore a programme of self-knowledge which recognizes that unless the faults in oneself which led
to enslavement are corrected and rule over the self achieved, it will not be possible to drive out the
British.

Gandhi considers that if the extremists drive out the British, they will install a government which is
based on the same model as the British government. Thus it will continue to be alien rule in a sense.
English rule without the English.

Gandhi wants to make a distinction between Indian civilization, which he asserts is the best and which
has nothing to learn from any other, and western civilization.

The futility of violence. Means and ends question. Examples of the relation between means and ends.

Indian civilization is ancient, and has stood the test of time. It is a civilization based on long experience,
self correction based on past mistakes, etc. Hence it is at a mature stage and is resilient. It is different
from the western civilization because it subjects the human passions, the greed for wealth, the animal
desires, ambition, egoism etc to the overall supervision of dharma.

By western civilization Gandhi most often means the modern, capitalist culture. But he also suggests
sometimes that it has been the same since the Greeks. Its distinguishing feature is that in it there are no
limits set to the passions. The capitalists greed knows no bounds. And it is considered a good thing.

India has its faults, but these are faults, which can be corrected. The west is what it is by definition, by
common consent, hence they actually like the current state of affairs.

Indias greatness: I am not saying it, it has been said by many people. Gandhi here cites a number of
European/ British writers who have decried their own (Western) culture and pointed to India as a
shining example to follow.

(Tridip Suhrud, Reading Gandhi in Two Tongues. Shimla: IIAS, 2012. Chapter 2 : Reading Hind
Swarajya/Hind Swaraj in Two Languages. 21-46)
The ancient civilization of India, the best that the world has ever seen (7) [Is he making an immodest
claim?]

British government represents a struggle between the Kingdom of Satan (Modern Civilization) and the
Kingdom of God (Ancient civilization). [the religious metaphor, drawn from Christian discourse]

[Modern versus Ancient, not East versus West. Is Gandhi defending everything that is old against all that
is new?]

[Influences on Gandhi: Tolstoy, Ruskin, Emerson, Thoreau the Bible, the Koran, ]

[Ruskins Unto This Last: In this series of essays, Ruskin argues, inter alia, that in order to resolve the
conflict between wage laborers and captains of industry, wages ought to be fixed by government for all
types of work. Ruskin also emphasized the spirit of sacrifice as essential to the faith people place in
different types of men: eg. The soldier is a figure of sacrifice. the soldiers trade is not slaying but
being slain. Our respect for the lawyer and the physician likewise, Ruskin says, are founded ultimately
on their self-sacrifice. The reason the merchant does not receive such respect is because the merchant
is presumed to act always selfishly. This view of sacrifice is echoed in HS, although in the Indian context,
Gandhi does not spare the doctors and the lawyers.

The philosophy that became known as Tolstoyism was outlined in the body of work the writer
produced from the late 1870s onwards. It was essentially a form of Christian anarchism based on the
doctrine of non-resistance. Tolstoy rejected the state (because it could only exist on the basis of physical
force) and all institutions derived from it: the police, law courts, the army and the Russian Orthodox
Church. He condemned private property and money and advocated living by ones own physical labour.
He also came to believe in vegetarianism, complete chastity and abstinence from tobacco and
alcohol.Charlotte Alston

Tolstoys philosophy of non-resistance influenced and was developed by later thinkers. The most
famous of these was Gandhi, who corresponded with Tolstoy in the year before the latters death,
founded a cooperative colony named for Tolstoy in South Africa and drew on Tolstoys idea in the
development of his own philosophy of non-violent, or passive resistance.Charlotte Alston, History
Today, 60.10 (2010).

My countrymen think that the English people are bad (mistakenly). They want to adopt modern
civilization and modern methods of violence to drive out the English. (critique of the extremists)

Hindi Swaraj has been written in order to show that they are following a suicidal policy.

Gandhi wants them to revert to their own glorious civilization and predicts that the English may
actually follow them.

Foreword

Very little influence of Buddhism and Jainism on Gandhi. Christianitys strong influence.
These views are held by many Indians not touched by what is known as civilization [does he mean they
are untouched by modern civilization? Or any civilization? Question will become important later] but
also by thousands of Europeans. [Question-answer style of presentation]

Chapter 1: The Congress and its officials

[Defends Congress for uniting India, praises its founders and eminent members, points out that not all
Englishmen are bad.]

Home Rule wave, pining for national independence, eagerness to acquire rights.

Existence of National Congress implies desire for Home Rule.

INC is not an instrument for perpetuation of British rule (as the revolutionaries associated with Young
India Party claim.) Mazzini- inspired.

Hume, Wedderburn Gokhale, Tyebji, Naoroji etc.

Wellwishers must be respected whether Indian or foreign. Gandhi speaks well of all these predecessors,
those who established the Congress, and those who have hitherto been speaking for Indians in the
Congress and outside it. While praising them, he also relegates them to an earlier though necessary
stage. Just as we remember our childhood with fondness, we must remember these people. Build on the
foundation laid by them. Grand Old Man of India (Naoroji) is the author of Nationalism. Gokhale: again,
refuses to speak critically of him but insists that he is a great leader who has done much in the past and
must be appreciated. A nation cannot afford to despire its ancestors. Respect them but not necessarily
follow everything they say. When it comes to your own action, you must act according to your
conscience. [Gandhi and Gokhale differed on the question of technology, western education,
industrialization.]

Chapter 2. The Partition of Bengal.

[Moment of awakening. Swadeshi. Split into moderate and extremist factions]

Real awakening took place after the partition of Bengal. Curzon to be thanked. Demand for home rule
and demand for abrogation of partition one and the same. India has awakened.

Petitions must be backed up by force. Swadeshi movement was inaugurated. Indians lost fear of the
Englishman.

Meaning of Swadeshi: page 21, footnote 26). [Sinn Fein as model.] boycott of british goods, resignation
from government positions and educational institutions, introduction of national educational
institutions, use of goods indigenously produced, comparison to Russia. Replace everything foreign.
Reliance on our own strength. Love of ones own language.

One negative result: Indians were split into two, moderates and extremists. The slow and the impatient
parties or the timid and the bold.
[Split occurred in 1907 at Surat Congress.]

Chapter 3: Discontent and unrest

[Discontent is good.]

There is unrest. Compares to a man rising from sleep, a state of restlessness. Discontent, a useful and
necessary thing. So long as a man is contented with his present lot, so long is it difficult to persuade
him to come out of it. Reform must be preceded by discontent.

Reading the great works of Indians and Englishman has produced this discontent in us.

Chapter 4: What is Swaraj?

[Reviews existing meanings, differs with extremist view, English rule without English]

critique of the prevailing notions of Swaraj expel the British but keep their political, military, and
economic institutions(Parel)

Disagrees with revolutionaries that expulsion of British from India is necessary condition of swaraj.

Rejects Japanese model of development. Earlier, greatly admired Japanese sense of self-respect,
national unity.

English rule without the Englishman.is not the Swaraj that I want.

Spencer and Mill, rationalist and utilitarian thought, much admired in India but opposed by Gandhi.

Chapter 5: The condition of England

[Pity England. People not to blame but civilization. Like a disease.]

Pitiable condition. [condition of India at this time was much worse economically speaking. Is Gandhi
talking about some other condition?]

English Parliament: a sterile woman and a prostitute. [later regretted use of prostitute] [however,
Gandhi is not anti-parliament: Parel] Carlyle, the talking shop of the world; a costly toy.

These views are by no means peculiar to me. Some great English thinkers have expressed them. One of
the members of that Parliament recently said that a true Christian [Gujarati: dharmisht, an ethical
person] could not become a member of it.

Not the fault of the English people, but the condition is due to modern civilization. It is a civilization
only in name. under it the nations of Europe are becoming degraded and ruined day by day.

Gandhi treats modern civilization like a disease which the Europeans are suffering from. Hence they are
not responsible for it, it is destroying them. They must be saved from it!
Chapter 6: Civilisation

[Critique of modern civilization. Can be cured.]

[Edward Carpenter in Civilization: Its Cause and Cure speaks of civilization as a disease. Gandhi does not
put forth arguments for his views on civilization. Rather he tends to treat them as absolute truths and
occasionally refers to the work of others who, like Carpenter, have proposed the idea of civilization as
disease and defended it carefully by making arguments. There is a reliance on the truth of the printed
word, and especially the truth of the word written by the European, which needs to be discussed.]

Better built houses: civilization? Bodily happiness. Machinery. Trains,etc: vivid picture of press-button
utopia. But workers are miserable. Formerly slaves, now too slaves. But for different reasons. The new
reason is temptation of money and luxuries. Letters, means of abuse! Eating: now every two hours. No
morality, no religion. Irreligion. Women wander in streets or slave in factories. Cause of suffragette
movement. Satanic. Will self-destroy. Hinduism calls it the black age. [Discuss] Parliaments are
emblems of slavery. The English deserve our sympathy. Civilisation is not an incurable disease.

[Care of the master]

All this you can ascertain from several authoritative books (36) [the authority of the written word]

Chapter 7: Why was India lost?

[We are ourselves responsible. Our greed. Infighting.]

The English did not take India, we have given it to them. We keep them. Our weakness, not their
strength. Company Bahadur: the title bestowed by us. We assisted the companys officers. [Seeley]

We did all this in order to become rich all at once [how did we become like that?]

Bhangseller cannot be blamed for my vice.

True cause of the disease must be found. The disease of India.

[What disease is this? the disease of India. Gandhi here seems to suggest that just as Europe is
suffering from the disease of civilization, India is also suffering from a disease, which is responsible for
its condition (and not the colonizer). He obviously does not equate this disease with Indian civilisation
but merely calls it the disease of India. ]

[The reader is totally convinced by this and says henceforth you dont have to argue, I believe you!]

[Details of the disease:] Our princes fought among themselves and sought Company Bahadurs help.
Hindu-Muslim enmity. Refutes the claim that English took India by the sword. Nation of shopkeepers.
Joke about the british and gold on the moon. Money is their god. Then it follows that we keep the
English in India for our base self-interest. We like their commerce. Quarreling among ourselves. In Japan
it is the same story. Thus Gandhi brings us back to what he considers a key truth: the English wish to
convert the whole world into a vast market for their goods.
[Why was India lost? What is the answer provided in this chapter?]

Chapter 8: The condition of India

[In pursuit of western civilization we have become irreligious. Pindars etc defended.]

Sad condition. Ground down by modern civilization. Becoming irreligious (without dharma).

All religions teach primacy of godly pursuits, and the need to set limits on worldly ambition.

There is humbug in all religions but that is not all. Cruelties are practiced in the name of religion but are
not a part of it (everybody knows this). But the victims of civilization believe it is all good. A mouse
gnawing while it is soothing us. Religious superstition is harmless compared to modern civilization.

Pindari peril better than seeking someone elses protection. unmanly.

Chapter 9: The condition of India (cont.): railways

[Critique of railways. Not a new nation but has been there all along. Hindu.]

Critique is related to views on poverty, derived from Naoroji and Dutt (Parel).

What railways have done: accentuate the evil nature of man. Holy places become unholy. Good people
are not in a hurry.

Spirit of nationalism: We were one nation before they came to India.

Travel on foot or on bullock carts, learned one anothers languages. Refers to the chardham. Pilgrimage
centres spread across the subcontinent.

All this is Hindu. What about after the arrival of Muslims and others. [Gujarati proverb]

Chapter 10: The condition of India (cont.): the Hindus and the Mahomedans

[Hindu-Muslim. Religious diversity no obstacle to national unity. Cows and false teachers]

Nature made man with some restrictions on his abilities. God set limit to mans locomotion. Man is
trying to transgress these limits. Intellect given to know the Maker. Railways dangerous. Man has gone
further away from his Maker. [Here Gandhi implies that God and Man are working at cross purposes.
Does he imply that Man is under the spell of Satan?]

Spirit of nationality versus variety of religions. Should not pose a problem. Live in unity, if only for their
own interest. Hindu-Muslim enmity is a phraseinvented by our mutual enemy. Quarrels were settled,
then English came and they recommenced.

[truths about the past: each party recognized that mutual fighting was suicidal same blood in both.
Shiva-Vishnu proverbs. the fact is that we have become enslaved, and, therefore, quarrel and like to
have our quarrels decided by a third party.
Cow: I respect the cow but will not kill a human being to protect it. Sacrifice my own life if necessary but
never take another human life. Use persuasion.

God has given us limited mental capacity, but they usurp the function of the Godhead and indulge in
novel experiments.

False teachers (shastris, mullahs).

Mutual distrust between communities.

Chapter 11: The condition of India (cont.): lawyers

[Critique of lawyers and the whole legal system. Language of law.

An immoral profession. Rights based modern law. Settling out of court (Gandhi did this during his career
as a lawyer.)

Chapter 12: The condition of India (cont.): doctors

[Modern medicine promotes evil. Antii-vivisection. Religiously polluting]

My views on lawyers and doctors not original. Western writers have used stronger terms regarding both.
[authority of the written word]. Vaids also?

Doctors are evil. Eg: I overear, have indigestion. Doctor gives me medicine. I go back and overeat again.
Instead, if I had been allowed to suffer from indigestion, I would have been more careful next time.

Hospitals: institutions for propagating sin. Anti-vivisection. [the Tolstoyan movement in Britain attracted
all kinds of people, dissenters, including anti-vivisectionists]. Medicines contain animal fat and alcohol.

Chapter 13: What is true civilization?

[India is the best. Restrained by morality. No competition. No change. Varna, vakils and vaids defended.]

the civilization india has evolved is not to be beaten in the world. Nothing can equal the seeds sown by
our ancestors. Rome went, Greece shared the same fate, the might of the Pharaohs was broken, Japan
has become westernized, of China nothing can be said, but India is still, somehow or other, sound at the
foundation.

India remains immovable and that is her glory.

What we have tested and found true on the anvil of experience, we dare not change.

Performance of duty and observance of morality. Civilization means good conduct

India as so many writers have shown has nothing to learn from anybody else.

Our ancestors set a limit to our indulgences.

The same kind of plough as 1000 years ago, same kind of cottages, education is the same etc.

No life-corroding competition. [introducing social affections a la Ruskin, into economic relations]

Defence of varna.

They therefore, after due deliberation, decided that we should only do.what we could with our hands
and feet. [speaks like an eye witness].

These vakils and vaids did not rob people.

India remains as before, in those places where modern civilization has not reached. The people there
laugh at your new fangled notions.

Those in whose name we speak we do not know, nor do they know us.

Defects of this civilization admitted, cannot be mistaken for the thing itself.

We may utilize the new spirit that is born in us. [here Gandhi admits something new is there. Parel:
Gandhi recognizes the positive contributions made by colonialism.]

Indian civilization elevates the moral being, while Western civilization propagates immorality.

Cling to the old civilization as a child clings to its mothers breast.

Chapter 14: How can India become free?

[Remove the cause of Indias slavery.j Rule the self, to be free.]

This civilization is unquestionably the best. It is in jeopardy because its sons were found wanting.
[Views people and their civilizations as separate.]

The whole of India is not touched. Only those who are touched by Western civilization are enslaved.

If we become free, India is free. [splits freedom into individual or subjective freedom and the objective
freedom of a nation.]

It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves.

Each one has to experience it for himself. No need to focus on expulsion of the English.

Satyagraha : to be experienced. Self transformation.

Unique, survived many a shock. Its strength is immeasurable.

Chapter 15: Italy and India

[Mazzini but not Garibaldi.]

Mazzini and Garibaldi. Mazzini: every man has to learn to rule himself. Garibaldi did not agree. He armed
the people. Freedom from Austrian yoke is all that Garibaldi wanted. Italy equated with the King of Italy.
State of Italy has not improved. In India: the princes are more tyrannical than the British. [see footnote]
the Indian nation will not adopt arms. Armed warfare will make India unholy.

Chapter 16: Brute force [darugolo]

[Means and ends]

We cannot get a rose through planting a noxious weed. Cannot use a cart to cross a sea.

The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree. [sadhya and sadhan]

Stealing a watch, buying a watch, begging for a watch: the resulting possession will be defined by these
means: stolen article, purchased article, gift.

If somebody steals from me, I make it easier for him to steal again. He will be puzzled etc. He becomes
your servant.

Love force, soul force (atmabal), passive resistance.

[footnote: Satyagraha: how he came to coin the word: CW 8: words submitted by readers for the new
movement: [based on idea of passive resistance]: pratyupaya, kashtadhin prativartan, dhrida
pratipaksha, sadagraha. Last one modified. Soul and force in Unto this last also]

Gandhi rejects reason of state or national interest as a principle of international politics. Only solution,
accommodation between Indians and Britons.

Chapter 17: Passive resistance

[Satyagraha and personal suffering. Soul force.]

History is a record of wars, violence. Hence no proof of success of soul force or love force can be
provided. The fact that in spite of so many wars, human beings are still around shows that soul force is
at work.

Soul force being natural is not noted in history.

[use of term scientific truth]

Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering: it is the reverse of resistance by
arms.

In gujarati, it is said that satyagraha or soul-force is called passive resistance in English (p 90)

Everybody admits that sacrifice of self superior to sacrifice of others. (Ruskin)

Law abiding: passive resisters do not break the heads of law givers, but simply refuse to submit to the
laws. Bad laws should not be obeyed. Obeying laws repugnant to our conscience is irreligious, means
slavery. Manmade laws.

Distinction between passive resistance and satyagraha: 93 footnote: south African friends.

Satyagraha: a word coined by Gandhi for his own equivalent of passive resistance which was already in
practice for eg. Among suffragettes (Parel). Gandhi gives it an Indian name, after considering a number
of possibilities, and also modifies its meaning, by ridding it of all, even the mildest, forms of coercion.
Thus he rejects both the forceful demonstration methods adopted by the suffragettes as too violent and
also the Indian practice of dharna in which groups of people protest by refusing to do their work, thus
disrupting everyday life and forcing authorities to heed their grievances. resistance through mass non-
violent civil disobedience.

True men disregard unjust commands. [who is to judge?]

[footnote on dharna 95]

What a passive resister or satyagrahi must possess: chastity, poverty, truthfulness, fearlessness.

What Gandhi means by nation?

Chapter 18: Education

[Derides modern education as useless, but indirectly admits it is useful.]

Baroda, compulsory education. A good thing? Sure, we should appreciate. But really, what is the use of
this kind of education? All modern education he finds useful. Only moral education is required. If you
take a good man who is moral and virtuous, and teach him letters, what use is it to him? Also, he will
start feeling discontented with his cottage, his lot. We have decided to give such education to the
people without thinking about the pros and cons.

Higher education: sciences no use to me in controlling my senses.

I had higher education, but had I not, I would have been okay. I use it for good purpose. I am free from
its ill effects. Not running it down, just dont treat it as a fetish. As an ornament it is ok. Our ancient
school system is enough.

English education: necessary for Home Rule?

Yes and No.

To educate the millions in English is to enslave them. Sad: to speak of Home Rule in a foreign tongue..

Indian languages and patriotism. Tyranny and hypocrisy have increased. English in a court of law.
But also, we are so much beset by the disease opf civilization, that we cannot altogether do without
English education make good use of it if you have it already. for the purpose of knowing how much
disgusted they (the English) have themselves become with their civilization, we may use or learn
English

Improve all our languages, translate, educate learn another language.

A language policy outline. 105.

Rank atheism cannot flourish in the land.

Mullahs, dasturs, and Brahmins: hold the key to religious education. This is regrettable. Has to be
rethought using our English education

Chapter 19: Machinery

[Destructive. Back to handlooms. Means charkha. Printing a useful poison]

Manchester and Indian handicraft. Machinery is a great sin, symbol of modern civilization.

Bombay mills. Close down? That is difficult. Change of views about machinery.

Hand-looms. Gandhi talking about something he did not know at all, had never seen. Pure abstract
thinking. [Footnote 109]

We must do without those things that cannot be made without machinery.

On tram cars, electricity etc also same compromising attitude. Cant undo now. Too late.

Books can be written to demonstrate its evils.

What about your sayings being printed by machinery? Use poison to kill poison.

Chapter 20: Conclusion [Gujarati: Emancipation]

[Beyond factions. Who are part of the Indian nation? The English are different from their civilization.]

Neither extremist nor moderate. So a third party? No, will serve both. Speak to both.

To the English: keep the riches that you have drained. Your function: to police India. Give up beef, give
up pork. And so on: demands.

NATION: For our purposes it is the nation that you and I have been thinking of, that is, those of us who
are affected by European civilization, and who are eager to have Home Rule.

What Indians should do: use English sparingly, if lawyer: give up etc; if doctor, if wealthy, if others. 19
points.

No enmity towards the English, only their civilization.

I have explained swaraj and I dedicate my life to its attainment.

Appendices: 1: Bibliography. 2. Testimonies by eminent men The following extracts from Mr. Alfred
Webbs valuable collection, if the testimony given there be true, show that the ancient Indian civilization
has little to learn from the modern: followed by entries.

Preface to the English translation

It is not the without hesitation that the translation of 'Hind
Swaraj' is submitted to the public. A European friend with whom I
discussed the contents, wanted to see a translation of it and, during
our spare moments, I hurriedly dictated and he took it down. It is not
a literal translation but it is a faithful rendering of the original.
Several English friends have read it, and whilst opinions were being
invited as to the advisability of publishing the work, news was
received that the original was seized in India. This information
hastened the decision to publish the translation without a moment's
delay. My fellow-workers at the International Printing Press shared
my view and, by working overtime a labour of love they have
enabled me to place the translation before the public in an
unexpectedly short time. The work is being given to the public at
what is practically cost-price. But, without the financial assistance of
the many Indians who promised to buy copies for themselves and
for distribution, it might never have seen the light of day.

[This para has been obscured in the Reader by double exposure. It is provided here for your
reference.]