The Impact of Gandhi’s Satyagraha Strategy

Breaking away from the authority of an empire to achieve national independence is a very difficult and highly ambitious task that often requires a combination of intellect, diplomacy and violent force. However, different countries and nations can utilize different methods to obtain freedom depending on the values of the nation and the particular circumstances of the situation. Although a moderate degree of violence was inevitably required to fulfill Indian independence from the British Empire, Gandhi’s nonviolence strategy of Satyagraha was an effective tactic because it helped India complete the goal of obtaining freedom while preventing a significant amount of violence from being necessary.

Gandhi’s strategy of Satyagraha emphasized the importance of using “soul-force” and the “power of truth” to win a struggle without needing to resort to violence. The Satyagraha employed by Gandhi often reflected peaceful protests and nonviolent civil disobedience actions as a means of expressing disagreements and grievances with the British Empire. For instance, Gandhi staged several protests and public demonstrations in which his followers occupied important locations to vocally or symbolically convey their disapproval of the authority and laws established by the British Empire.

Civil disobedience or non-cooperation was an important aspect of Gandhi’s Satyagraha, for Gandhi encouraged his followers and all Indians to refuse to cooperate or comply with the British laws. For example, one grievance with the empire was that the monopoly the British had on salt caused the empire to establish excessively massive taxes on the salt products that Indians needed for the cattle of Indian farmers. As a result, Gandhi and his Indian followers disobeyed the salt laws, refused to pay the appropriate taxes and began illegally producing salt themselves. Gandhi also encouraged many other demonstrations of civil disobedience with the British Empire, including the refusal to work for British employers, boycotts on British products, refusing to pay taxes and the disenrollment of Indian children from schools operated by British authority. Thus, Gandhi’s nonviolent strategy of Satyagraha helped diminish the political and economic strength of the British Empire by encouraging his followers to conduct protest demonstrations and by motivating the Indians to refrain from complying with British laws.

However, many critics argue that the strategy of Satyagraha utilized by Gandhi and his followers did not effectively achieve independence for India because violence was required to achieve such freedom. For instance, the Quit India movement was an Indian rebellion that promoted the use of active violence to win the struggle and to remove the British Empire from India. Quit India supporters argued that such violence was necessary because the British used violence consistently and because violence was the only method of motivating the empire to leave India. Additionally, scholars argue that many of Gandhi’s initially peaceful and nonviolent protests gradually intensified and resulted in violence. For example, in 1922 many of Gandhi’s Satyagraha followers infamously burned down a police station and killed the two dozen police officers that were trapped inside the station. Thus, some critics contend that Gandhi’s nonviolence strategy was ineffective because many of his followers eventually resorted to violence and because more violent Indian movements were required to remove the British authority.

However, Gandhi’s strategy of Satyagraha was tremendously effective because the peaceful tactic did help the Indians achieve independence in a manner that did not result in a significant amount of violence or human deaths. Although achieving independence from an empire is an intense conflict and an overwhelming struggle that usually entails some violence, the moderate level of violence in the Indian struggle for independence was minimized by Gandhi’s strategy.

One of the reasons Gandhi’s strategy was effective was because most ambitious political or cultural movements require a great leader, and Gandhi was capable of fulfilling the leadership role as a result of his advanced intellect and his superior moral values. Gandhi’s effective leadership abilities unified and consolidated the Indian people and provided a coherent message of independence for the Indians to consistently express. Gandhi was one of the first Indian leaders who unequivocally called for the removal of British authority for the sake of Indian independence, and he was able to maximize the impact of this message by developing an abundance of followers to passionately join his movement.

Gandhi’s Satyagraha strategy was also effective because many of the plans that were developed and implemented by his nonviolent strategy proved to be successful. For instance, Gandhi’s plans of non-cooperation with British laws and non-compliance with British authority damaged the economic stability and financial prosperity of the empire. Furthermore, Gandhi’s protest demonstrations dramatically inconvenienced the empire with constant problems and significantly obstructed the ability of the British to execute their policies efficiently. Thus, Gandhi helped the Indians peacefully obtain independence by organizing his followers, by implementing effective plans to peacefully express grievances, and by motivating the British to grant the Indians with national independence. Although a moderate amount of violence was required in the struggle, Gandhi’s strategy of Satyagraha was effective because it helped the Indians achieve independence with tactics that did not cause a significant amount of violence.

Bibliography

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