Previous
Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hind Swaraj, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passive Resistance and Indian Independence
Modern Civilization and Colonialism
The Personal and the Political
Indian Nationhood and Identity
Summary
Analysis
The editor looks at the reader’s example of Garibaldi and Mazzini from Italy. The editor praises Mazzini for calling on individuals to morally improve and rule themselves, and he praises Garibaldi for leading a successful war for independence. But Italy is now run by a small elite, and the people have not achieved the freedom Mazzini hoped for. In fact, Italians’ lives have barely improved at all. This underlines why Indians must achieve true self-rule or Swaraj, rather than simply replacing the English government with tyrannical Indian princes.
The 19th-century Italian revolutionaries Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini might be obscure references to contemporary readers, but they were an important reference for Indian nationalists, so Gandhi’s audience would have been very familiar with them. While Mazzini was primarily a theorist and argued that Italians had to reform themselves in order to build a functioning and free society, Garibaldi was a military leader who primarily cared about seizing control of the government. Therefore, Mazzini’s approach was similar to Gandhi’s, while Garibaldi’s was similar to the reader’s. Again, Gandhi argues that switching out rulers is meaningless until the entire political system is reformed from the bottom up.
Themes
Moreover, the editor points out that Indians aren’t armed, so can’t fight a war. The reader suggests a few armed men can assassinate English officials and fight a guerrilla war, but the editor thinks this is suicidal: it would mean giving ruthless assassins control over the government. While some assassinations have led to reforms, the editor suggests that the English will undo them as soon as their fear passes.
Although the editor’s arguments against an armed rebellion are primarily ethical and theoretical, here he points out one very practical limit that would make war a poor political choice. The reader’s proposal is also significant because many Young India Party (or India House) activists in London were agitating for this kind of guerrilla war. But Gandhi reminds the reader that whoever fights the revolution then takes over the government. To establish a democratic and self-governing nation, he implies, the people must lead the revolution.
Themes
