Gandhism, Democracy and Socialism

V. LINGAMURTY

Gandhi’s contribution to political and economic thought is still a subject of controversy. While some have depicted him as a “mystic”, “idealist” and “visionary,” others described him as a “sober realist”, “friend of the poorest” and “spokesman of the conscience of mankind.” Prof. Parkinson in his Evolution of Political Thought observed that “of recent years Gandhi is almost alone in having anything new or useful to say about democracy.” What is Gandhian democracy and socialism? Gandhi himself once remarked, “There is no such thing as Gandhism and I do not like to leave any sect after me.” Yet Gandhi’s ideas on democracy and socialism have great relevance for India in particular and for the world in general.

Gandhi is not a philosopher in the sense in which Aristotle or Spinoza is, nor is he a philosophical theologian like Sankara. The uniqueness of Gandhi’s contribution to democracy and socialism lies in the fact that his views were based on wide experience and penetrating understanding of the psychology of Indians and problems of our society. Gandhi was a “poly-psychologist.” He embodies the soul of our land, he himself observed, “I am of the earth earthy.” His views on democracy and socialism are not pedantic. He is held as “Mahatma” not for propounding a new philosophy but because he practised what he professed.

Democracy is more than a mere form of Government. It is a way of life. It requires for its successful working a particular frame of mind based on integrity and tolerance. People should learn to decide their differences through persuasion and not through pressure, on the floor of Parliament and not in the streets. Democracy is now derailed because of the crisis of conscience in our public life. Gandhi prescribed a rigid code of conduct to Satyagrahis and his moto is that noble ends cannot be achieved by ignoble means.

“Gandhi,” in the words of Prof. Parkinson, “is and will almost certainly remain the greatest democratic thinker of the 20th century.” Respect for the individual and faith in the rationality of man are the sine qua non of democracy. Gandhi believed and relied upon the innate nobility of the human heart. According to him “man is a spark of the universal spirit.” The individual, in Gandhi’s view, should be given supreme consideration and the state is a means for the development of individuality. Like a true democrat Gandhi advocated conversion instead of coercion, and laid emphasis upon man’s rationalism and altruism. His love of and respect for the individual led him to oppose racism in South Africa and untouchability in India. Gandhi despised the dictators. During the Second World War he remarked, “Hitlerism means naked, ruthless forces reduced to an exact science and worked with scientific precision.”

Gandhi was not a dogmatic democrat and his ideas of democracy were based on realistic considerations. Adult suffrage is generally held as a prerequisite of democracy. But Gandhi realised that in this age of journalism and capitalism adult suffrage will do more harm than good to democracy unless the people are educated. So he opposed automatic universal suffrage. Gandhi was quite severe in prescribing qualifications for candidates seeking election. A candidate must be selfless, able and incorruptible.

Opposition is the kingpin of democracy. While dictatorship stifles all criticism of Government with ruthless severity, democracy provides free scope for the people to criticise or even to rebel against the Government. No doubt this has to be done in a peaceful and constitutional way. In Gandhi’s view meek submissiveness is not the mark of good citizenship. Every individual has a right to bring moral pressure on the Government by non-violent non-co-operation. The exercise of the right of franchise is but once in a fixed number of years, the exercise of the right to co-operate or non-co-operate is from day to day. Gandhi vehemently asserted, “You assist an administration most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil administration never deserves such allegiance. A good man will therefore resist an evil system or administration with his whole soul. Civil disobedience is the only and most successful remedy and is obligatory upon him who would dissociate himself from evil.” According to Gandhi a citizen should oppose not only a bad system of Government but also a bad administration. A democratic system may become a diabolic force under a corrupt administration; democracy may be badly administered. So Gandhi justified civil disobedience in a democracy. Inaugurating the first All-India Conference of Educators for Secularism, Socialism and Democracy, the Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi observed “We are not against Satyagraha, opposition and criticism. But we are against a minority of the people gagging the majority.”

Gandhi’s life mission was to promote rural democracy in India, for the real life of our nation lies in villages. Real India is rural India. Throughout his life he was drawn by the vision of rural civilization. Decentralisation, both political and economic, was the core of his thinking. The impact ofGandhi can be noticed in the system of Panchayati Raj introduced in some states like Andhra Pradesh. But Panchayati Raj far from strengthening our democracy has injected casteism and corruption. Fake Gram Panchayats instead of real Gram Swaraj of Gandhi’s conception have emerged. Gandhi had the vision to foresee the evil consequences of introducing democracy at the grass-roots before making the voters educated and enlightened. Gandhi’s ideal of democracy in India was in making the village the basis of social and economic life. The village should be transformed into a self-governing unit. All adults should elect the village representatives who would elect provincial representatives and who in their turn elect a president. Gandhi’s ideal was that the ruling bodies are to be relatively small in their number.

Democracy becomes a name of noble sound but of squalid result in the absence of a socialist society. The essence of socialism lies in the establishment of economic equality in society. As Dr A. Appadorai pertinently remarked “If the essence of socialism is equality he (Gandhi) was a socialist.” In fact as Prof. V. K. R. V. Rao observed, his ideas on economic equality are more extreme than those of the socialists who concentrated their attention on the economic inequalities resulting from private property and ignored those resulting from differences in human skills and responsibilities.” Gandhiji looked at equality more from the needs than from the abilities of persons and in this respect there is similarity between Gandhi and Marx in their definitions of socialism, namely “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs.” Gandhi once stated, “My idea of socialism is that every one should get the same wages. A lawyer, a physician a teacher, a labourer, a sweeper–all should get equal wages.” According to Gandhi economic equality should mean equitable distribution of wealth. Everyone should be assured of a balanced diet, a decent house to live in, sufficient cloth to cover himself with facilities for educating his children and adequate medical relief. For the establishment of a socialist society there can be no greater source of inspiration than Gandhi and his teachings.

Sarvodaya is the apex of Gandhian socialism. Sarvodaya or universal uplift is based on his optimistic interpretation of human nature. Gandhi, like Rousseau, had great faith in the essential goodness of man. He advocated governmental minimum, for he believed that the individual will realise his own responsibility and duty to society. Individualism is opposed to socialism and socialism is unique in reconciling socialism with individualism. Gandhian socialism starts from the bottom and not from the top–from the individual who is the core of society. Like the Utopian socialists he visualised a society wherein there will be no army, no police force, where men and women enjoy the same rights, where everybody will be left to his own individual judgment. Individualistic socialism which may appear as a contradiction in terms, was advocated by Gandhi as he was thinking of society as an organic whole where the differences did not exist. People should have character. Gandhi held that socialist state is a wonderful ideal provided the nation has the character to work it in practice.

Another enigmatic feature of Gandhian socialism is the spiritual approach to socialism. He wanted to build a new social system which would be in tune with India’s ancient cultural traditions. So unlike Marx instead of materialistic approach Gandhi made a spiritualistic approach to socialism. In his view spirit counts more than material forces. Gandhi did not accept the thesis of class war and violence; on the other hand he considered that socialism can be achieved through class co-operation. He declared, “Socialism is as pure as crystal and therefore needed crystal-like means to achieve it. Satyagraha is the highest and infallible means, the greatest force. Socialism will not be reached by any other means.” Both Gandhi and Marx felt anguished at the misery of the poor and both agreed over ends. But the two sharply disagreed in the matter of means. Gandhian socialism is Marxism minus violence.

The spiritualistic approach to socialism led Gandhi to advocate the concept of trusteeship. Gandhi did not draw any distinction between economics and ethics. Like other socialists Gandhi did not advocate abolition of private property. He enunciated the thesis of voluntary poverty and reduction of wants by the rich. The rich should consider themselves as the trustees of the poor.

Socialism is normally associated with the growth of heavy industries and urbanism. But Gandhi’s spiritual approach to socialism led him to oppose the use of heavy machines and industrialisation. He once remarked, “Machinery represents a great sin... The workers in the mills have become slaves. If this machinery craze grows in our country it will become an unhappy land.” The root cause of the growth of heavy machines is the unlimited character of human wants. In Gandhi’s view voluntary reduction of wants will put a halt to industrialism. In fact Gandhi was not opposed to the use of machinery. He was against large scale production only of those things that villages can produce without difficulty. Mechanisation, in his view, is good wherever there is shortage of hands. As J. P. Narayan remarked, “He was not opposed to machinery but only to a craze for it. As he observed, the spinning wheel itself was a machinery. What he objected to was an indiscriminate application of machinery and the craze for bigger machinery.” It must be admitted that Gandhi’s attitude to machinery was perhaps the most controversial aspect of his economic thinking.

Gandhi was a great democrat and socialist. He gave a spiritualistic interpretation to both and this made his views on democracy and socialism enigmatic. As a true democrat Gandhi had immense faith in the innate goodness and rationality of man. As a votary of peace he upheld the democratic method of settling differences by peaceful methods. In Satyagraha he gave the world a new democratic technique for solving disputes. If socialism is the philosophy of the poor, Gandhi was a great socialist. His concept of trusteeship and his views on the use of machinery were put forth from a spiritual plane. The uniqueness of Gandhi lies in moralising democracy and socialism.