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The Work Before Us
THE little that we have done is the first faint shadowing forth of our future activities, nothing more. If we are content with what we have done, even that little will disappear, the movement will be abortive and the country fall back into its former condition. It is therefore necessary to give a new impetus to the movement everywhere, and now that Srijut Bepin Chandra is out of prison, the necessary will no doubt be done. The first work is to revive courage in the hearts of the people. The effect of the recent repression has been not to crush the movement, but to discourage its outward activity. This discouragement must be removed. We cannot allow the movement to be driven inward and become an affair of secret societies and terrorism, as it will inevitably become if the outward expression of it is stopped. The next work is to give a stronger impetus to the boycott, so that the little that we have gained may become the starting-point for fresh victories; the organisation of boycott is the first work to which we should set our hands. The third thing to be done is to spread National Education. A serious effort must be made to take in hand the raising of funds for this branch of national activity, so that the National Council may be in a position both to effect the complete organisation of its scientific, technical and other sides and to extend aid to the increasing number of schools which are springing up all over the country. It is also necessary to bring the existing primary schools under the Council; for this is a work of great importance, and until it is done, the foundations of the new educational edifice will not be secure, since it is the primary schools in which the bulk of the people are educated. If the present institutions will not come into the new system, the country must be covered with a network of new primary schools on national lines, such as the one which is now being projected at Uttarpara, — schools giving a primary literary education along with such technical instruction as will enable the students to earn a livelihood as small artisans. If this
Page-847 is done, the public will flock into the national institutions and the old primary schools will perish. So much is necessary for the completion of the work for which we have already laid a foundation, but the time has come when we should start actively on fresh lines. The most important of these is arbitration, which will, if successfully carried out, form the basis of our future self-government. Education will give us the necessary training of mind and character for self-government, arbitration will provide a practical field in which our capacities can be tested. In some parts the work has already been begun and with remarkable success, but it is necessary to lay the foundations all over Bengal. The difficulties that lie in its way are not so insuperable as they at first appear; if the lawyer class can be provided with a means of living by the arbitration system, their passive opposition, which is the only real obstacle to be dreaded, can be removed. The existing courts will provide careers for those who wish to earn large fortunes in the legal line, but the host of small practitioners in the mofussil are those who will be affected by the spread of arbitration and some provision must be made in our arbitration schemes by which their field, if restricted, may not be entirely destroyed. This subject is one which demands detailed treatment and it will be the theme of a future article. At present we wish only to emphasise its great importance. When we have laid the foundations of arbitration, our work is not finished; the positive side of it only has been done. There is another side less palpable, but even more important, and it is the destructive or negative side, the removal of old prepossessions, false beliefs, false ideals from the mind of the people. So long as the least little of faith in the bureaucracy remains in the lowest class of our population, the conditions of success are not complete. The bureaucracy is itself doing much to destroy the ancient faith in its philanthropy, integrity and high motive which was the source of its strength, but this is chiefly in the educated class and the landed aristocracy, both of which, whatever the outward professions, fear or self-interest may dictate, are now thoroughly alienated. The only work which remains to be done so far as these classes are concerned, is to generate faith in the
Page-848 nation, for so far as moderatism still prevails, it is not owing to faith in the bureaucracy but to distrust in the nation. The lower classes have still to be inoculated with the spirit of self-help, separation from the alien and confidence in their own countrymen. To some extent the work has been done, the seed has been sown; Swadeshi is the seedbed of this spirit of self-reliance, this sense of separateness, and, at least among the Hindu community, Swadeshi is deeply rooted in all classes. But this seed has yet to fructify and spring up. The only way in which this can be done is to destroy the barriers between the educated class and the peasantry which English education has created, to restore the old unity of society by mutual service, by love, by self-identification with the mass of our countrymen. The volunteer movement, now in a rudimentary state, has to be developed and perfected so as to form the bridge of communication between the heart of the people and the brain of the educated community. Our propaganda among the masses must consist less in the teaching of ideas than in teaching by acts, less in intellectual conviction than in the appeal to the heart and to the imagination. No time should be lost in taking this work in hand, the days are passing by with great swiftness and bringing us nearer and nearer to the final struggle when the people and the bureaucracy will stand face to face. On that day the masses will weigh down the scale and decide victory or defeat.
The resignation of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman leaves things for India just where they were, but it is of some importance for England, as it is not unlikely that the transference of leadership to a man of Mr. Asquith’s cold, hard and unsympathatic Whiggism may lead to an early disruption of the Liberal majority. For India, of course, that event would mean little or nothing; a Hamilton to a Fowler and a Morley to a Brodrick succeeds, and the only difference made by the retirement of the quondam friend, philosopher and guide of Moderatism into the cool shades of Opposition, will be that we are now suffering from repression
Page-849 with sympathy and will then suffer from repression without sympathy. On the whole we prefer the latter brand; it is more genuine and invigorating.
United Congress*
After several gentlemen’s speeches Sj. Aurobindo Ghose rose up at last. He admitted that he had a hand in drafting the resolution but denied the charge of inconsistency on the ground that this new movement, as it is divinely decreed, cannot proceed on the basis of strict consistency of individual conduct from any individual standpoint. The breaking-up of the Congress at Surat was God’s will and if it can meet again on a basis of union that would also come from His will. If, again, all our efforts at union fail and the New Party be compelled to face troubles and persecutions, that should also be taken as a divinely appointed destiny. We shall not be eager for compromise to avoid trouble and persecution as sufferings are welcome if it be God’s will that we should suffer, so that our Mother India would be saved. But, in the meantime, we are a democratic party: at Pabna, at Dhulia and other places, people wanted a united Congress and it is our duty to try for it if no vital principle is sacrificed to gain that end. This was the Speaker’s apology for the attempt at union, though, as he said, his hopes were not high about the success of the attempt. The Congress broke up not over personalities, but for certain definite issues which were: (1) irregularities in the election of the President, (2) the attempt from certain quarters to take advantage of the local majority to recede from the four Calcutta resolutions, (3) the attempt to impose a creed by the help of a local majority with a view to exclude a large and growing party. Under the circumstances it was necessary to oppose the whole thing tooth and nail and Mr. Tilak moved an amendment to have a Congress Continuation Committee and there to proceed with the election of the President. The other party did not give · * A well-attended public meeting was held on Friday, the 10th April, 1908 at the Panti’s Math, Calcutta, to discuss the lines on which the Congress postponed sine die at Surat may be revived. Dr. Sundari Mohan Das was elected to the Chair.
Page-850 him any opportunity to carry the amendment and declared the President to be unanimously elected, though many still hold that the election was not valid as the whole Congress could not express any opinion on it. But how to carry out the opinion of the people? We are ready to condone this irregularity if a united Congress is to be held on the basis of the Calcutta resolutions. If the other party does not accept, the responsibility of breaking-up of the Congress and having a party institution in its place will be on their shoulders. Our position is, let us work on our different party lines through our own institutions, but at the same time let us have the united Congress of the whole people. Bande Mataram, April 10, 1908
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