ISSN: 2454-2415
Volume 2, Issue 4, April, 2016
International Journal of
Innovative Knowledge
Concepts
The Influence of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience on Gandhi
Inamul Haq,
Centre for research and studies in Gandhian Thought and Peace,
Central University of Gujarat
Abstract : Gandhi, the known father of India was one of the leaders who gave his life in the service of his
nation. He was a barrister by profession and good debater on every aspect like religion, society, domestic
life and soon. His autobiography “My experiments with Truth” gives a clear sketch of his entire life. He led
revolutionary movements not only in India, but also abroad. In South Africa he fought for Indians and was
commonly known as Bhai (Brother) there. He returned back to India in 1915 and was really disturbed with
the conditions of the general masses. He first appealed people to support the Khalifat Movement led by Ali
brothers. After that he started Non-Cooperation movement, however it failed due to chaura churi incident. In
1930, he led the famous movement known as Civil- disobedience movement which remains successful
movement not only in India but in the whole world. This paper would highlights the how Gandhi was
influenced by the idea of civil disobedience.
Keywords: Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Gandhi
Introduction
In 1849 Henry David Thoreau published an article
originally entitled “Resistance to civil government.
“The name has later changed into “on duty of civil
dis obedience. “Because of the critique and
rejection of a chapter of William Paley’s book duty
of submission to civil government.
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Civil disobedience is the public act of
willfully disobeying the law or the
commands of an authority figure, to make
a political statement. (Doris lin)
Civil disobedience means refusal to obey a
law or follow a policy believed to be
unjust.practioners of civil disobedience
usual base their actions on moral rights
and employ the non-violent technique of
passive resistance in order to bring wider
attention to the injustice.
The term civil dis obedience was coined by henry
David Thoreau in his essay in 1848 essay to
describe his refusal to pay the state poll tax
implemented by the American government to fight
a war in Mexico. Thoreau’s civil disobedience
essay is not tied to a particular religion nor to a
specific issue.it is a secular call for the inviolability
(breaking up) of conscience on all issues. The
opening sentence of civil disobedience is that the
government is best which governs least. Thoreau
carries this logic one step further that government
is best which governs not at all and when men are
prepared for it, that will be kind of government
which they will have, government is at best but an
expedient(that achieves a particular purpose but
may not be morally right.) Thoreau civil
disobedience is an analysis of individual’s
relationship to the state that focuses on why men
obey governmental laws even when they know it to
be UN just. Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in
support of Mexican American war
American Mexican War
American-Mexican war was fought was in 18461848, and is marked the first U.S armed conflict
chiefly fought on foreign soil. In this war Mexico
had lost 1/3rd of its territory including California,
Utah, and Nevada and New Mexico. With the
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican –
American war. Thoreau focused on in civil
disobedience on two things that is war and
slavery.it was Thoreau’s desire to have a public
that is not drawn under the will of a government
but placed over the will of itself.as a citizen he
states’ ask for, not at once, but at once a better
government. The response of Thoreau to the war
was
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He refused to pay his poll tax.
He joined the army.
Tore up his draft card.
Organized the anti- war rallies.
Wrote a book called Walden.
Thoreau’s civil disobedience is not an essay of
abstract theory.it is Thoreau’s extremely personal
response to being imprisoned for breaking the law,
because he disliked slavery and because tax
revenues contributed to the support of it.Thoreau
decided to become a tax rebel and declined to pay
tax and so in July 1846 he was arrested and jailed.
Prior to his arrest, Thoreau had lived a quiet,
solitary life at Walden. He now returned Walden to
think about for a long time over two questions
Available online at www.ijikc.co.in
8
The Influence of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience on Gandhi
1.why do some men obey laws without asking if the
laws are just or unjust and 2.why do others obey
laws they think are wrong.in this essay Thoreau
compares government to a machine and problems
of government to friction.as friction is normal to a
machine so that its mere presence cannot justify
revolution, but open rebellion does becomes
justified in two cases.
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When the friction (problems of
government) comes to have its own
machine (the government) injustice is no
longer occasional.
When the machine demands that people
cooperate with injustice. Thoreau declared
that if the government requires you to be
the agent of injustice to another, then I say
break the law. Let your life to be a counter
friction to stop the machine. Thoreau
argues that the individual is the final judge
of right and wrong. When the government
knocks on door it is the form of a postman
or tax collector whose hand hit the wood.
Thoreau1 recognizes the individual as a
higher and independent power, from
which all its own power and authority are
derived it, is a state that can afford to be
just for all men, and treat the individual
with respect as a neighbor.
Thoreau’s Main Idea That Influenced Gandhi
The crux of Thoreau’s essay is hidden in four
points that influenced not only Gandhi but also
Martin Luther king. These four points are;
1.
2.
3.
4.
1
Thoreau says that under a government
which imprisons any unjustly, the place of
a just person is also prison.
If any think that their influence would be
lost their and their voices no longer afflict
the ear of the state that would not be as an
enemy without its walls, they don’t by
how much truth is stronger than error.
Cast your whole vote not a strip of paper
merely, but your whole influence. A
minority is powerless while it confirms to
the majority; it is not even a minority then;
but it is irresistible when it clogs by its
whole weight means that “ the individual
is the basis of the empire.” What is
government it is a group of individuals
and minorities, without strong emphasis
on the individual, the government
becomes tyrant.
If the alternative is to keep all just men in
prison or give up war and slavery, the
state will not hesitate which to choose. If a
thousand men were not pay their tax bills
Henry Thoreau and Civil Disobedience by Wendy
McElroy copy right 2005, future of freedom
foundation.
this year, that would not be a violent and
bloody measure as it would be to pay them
and enable the state to commit violence
and shed innocent blood. Gandhi read this
essay at a crucial phase of his life, when
he was fighting against the Asiatic
registration act in South Africa.2
Methods Used by Gandhi and Indians in South
Africa
Gandhi arrived in natal province in May 1893 at
that time 41,000 Indians resided in the colony
many as indentured labours.the government of
South Africa began enacting measures to limit
Indian immigration in order to reduce Indian
population this includes, the restricting the right to
vote and Indians had to pay three pounds annual
tax. Gandhi began organizing against these laws. In
1894 he helped to establish natal Indian congress
and started opposing government policies by letter
writing, petitions to officials and publishing
pamphlets. Gandhi became an out spoken critic of
South Africa’s discrimination policies, when the
government passed a law that all Indian’s should
give thumb impression as a mark of identification.
This was nothing hatred towards Indians. Gandhi
declared that he would go to jail or even die before
obeying an anti-Asian law .he was arrested and put
in jail, while in jail Gandhi read the essay “civil
disobedience”. Gandhi adopted civil disobedience
to describe his strategy of non –violently refusing
to cooperate with injustice, but he preferred the
Sanskrit word sathyagraha. After his release he
continued to protest against the registration law by
supporting labor- strikes and organizing a massive
non- violent resistance.
Establishing a Newspaper
Gandhi realized that it was difficult to organize
resistance to oppressive labor law and practice,
because the Indian population was spread over a
vast distance. In fact in 1904, there were more than
1300 employers of indentured Indians in Natal
alone in order to address this problem. Gandhi
helped to found a weekly newspaper called Indian
opinion in June 1903. Through the medium of
newspaper, Gandhi could transmit local happenings
in politics to the rural population of Indians.
Gandhi wrote an article in this newspaper nearly
every issue until his departure from South Africa in
1914. The Indian opinion was also aimed at
pointing out the Europeans that they had a
responsibility towards Asians who were a part of
the British Empire. Gandhi wrote about passive
resistance, civil disobedience, sathayagraha and his
various other developing ideologies in the
newspaper. To Gandhi service to the community
was the sole aim of journalism. He puts in his
2
The Influence of Thoreau’s civil Disobedience on
Gandhi’s Sathyagraha by George Hendricks pg. no.
465
International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 2(4) April, 2016
9
The Influence of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience on Gandhi
autobiography “Indian opinion in those days like
young India and navajivan today was a mirror part
of my life”. Week after week I poured out my soul
in its columns and expounded the principles and
practice of sathayagraha.3
Involvement in British-Boer War
In 1899, the British- Boer war broke out and
Gandhi stated that he personally sided with the
bores. However he felt his personal opinions
should not have effect on actions. Since he
demanded equal rights from the British Empire as
white citizens had, it was his duty to be loyal and
serve the British Empire. Gandhi organized and
served with ambulance cops, it was a volunteer
group of 1100 men, of whom 300 were free
Indians. This was Gandhi’s first experience of
leading an army of Indian volunteers to carry the
wounded on their stretchers to safety and nursing
them. They had to do a lot of work and they stood
up to their challenges and proved themselves to be
the sons of empire. There are four reasons that why
he joined British-Boer war.
1.
2.
3.
4.
3
He believed that Indians were British
subjects, they must be loyal to the empire
at their critical hour of need, by nursing
the wounded they can demand their right
for citizen ship
He believed that India’s complete
emancipation was possible only within
and through British Empire.
He wanted to wipe out the image of
Indians as cowards.
He hoped that Indians help would soften
the natal government’s anti-Indian policies
in the future.4
The Black Act
On 31 July, 1907, the Asiatic Registration
Act (commonly called the Black Act)
passed in the Transvaal and was enacted
in November of that year. The Act
required all Indians to register with the
Registrar of Asiatic and obtain a
certificate. Failure to do so would subject
the offender to a fine, imprisonment or to
be deported. The government would then
be able to monitor Asian residents by
registering, finger printing them and
requiring them to possess passed at all
times. Gandhi announced that he would
set precedence and be the first person to
fail to register and subject himself to
imprisonment. He also instructed other
Indians to refuse to register and to
willfully accept imprisonment. He wrote
extensively about the “Black Act” in the
Gandhi’s Formative and Transitional Years in
South Africa By: Robert Schwartz pg. no.7 -19
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
4
Gandhi’s pilgrimage on faith by Uma majmudar
pg. no.91-133
Indian Opinion and sought to persuade
Indians to unite together. Gandhi’s efforts
were successful and only 500 of the 9,500
Indians registered under the Asiatic
Registration Act. Gandhi was arrested 10
January, 1908 in a mass arrest for failing
to register. While Gandhi was in jail,
Transvaal authorities negotiated with him
regarding registration. Gandhi agreed to
register and encouraged other Indians to
do so as well, and in return, once all
Indians were registered the Act would be
repealed. Gandhi even wrote in the Indian
Opinion instructing all Indians to register.
To make registration easier for Indians
and the government as well, Gandhi
outlined the procedure in the Indian
Opinion. He explained who could simply
sign their name and who would be
required to give digit impressions for the
government’s identification records. He
also explained what ages of children were
required to register and under which
circumstances. This shows that even when
negotiating with a government which he
opposed, when he made a promise (to
instruct Indians to register) he would keep
that promise and by all means encourage
Indians to register. However, once all the
Indians had voluntarily registered, the Act
was never repealed.
Negotiations broke down between the
Indians and the Transvaal Government in
May of 1908. Gandhi and hundreds of
other Indians decided to burn their
registration cards in a mass protest 16
August, 1908. Several large cauldrons
were set afire up in public and Indians
threw their registration cards in. For his
participation in burning the registration
certificates he was sentenced to prison 10
October, 1908.the seven years struggle
marked by brutal repression of Indian
community including beatings, shootings
and mass arrests. Gandhi himself was
jailed on numerous occasions. The result
was the Indian relief act of 1914 that was
the result of Gandhi policy of non-violent
resistance could produce dramatic results.
Civil Disobedience in India
After calling off the non-cooperation movement in
1922.Gandhi took indirect retirement from politics
and got indulged in creative works. In 1930
congress accepted the goal of poorna swaraj in
Lahore session and it had decided to launch civil
disobedience movement, and congress asked
Gandhi’s leadership for it .Gandhi again came back
in political scenes and announced that he would
lead march to break one of the most widely disliked
laws of state monopoly over manufacturing and
selling of salt.
International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 2(4) April, 2016
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The Influence of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience on Gandhi
Conclusion
Limited Government
We can say Thoreau’s definition of civil dis
obedience is not only achieved through nonviolence, but findings it in one’s self to do the right
things according to your morals and values not
according to the masses, general population or the
government. There are three themes of Thoreau’s
civil disobedience.
The most ideal form of government is one which
exercises the least power and control over its
citizens. Thoreau believes that government is an
inherently intrusive force that stifles the creative
enterprise of the people. Henry David Thoreau’s
writings influenced both martin Luther king and
Mahatma Gandhi. In 1931, Gandhi told American
reporter Webb Miller, “why of course I read
Thoreau…… I read Walden first in Johannesburg
in south Africa in 1906,”said Gandhi, “and his
ideas influenced me greatly5.Gandhi thanked
American people saying that you have given me a
teacher in Thoreau, who furnished me through his
essay on the duty of civil disobedience a scientific
conformation of what I was doing in south Africa
Henry David Thoreau’s civil disobedience is
undoubtedly one of the most important works ever
published in the united states.it embodies the spirit
of American individualism and encourages people
to fight injustice without it, history would be
lacking in its numerous plights for the poor and
oppressed..
The Right to Resistance
Thoreau affirms the absolute right of individuals to
withdraw their support from a government whose
policies are immoral or unjust. The possible
consequences of civil disobedience against the
seriousness of the injustice. The ultimate goal of
civil disobedience is not to undermine democracy
but to reinforce its core values of liberty and
respect for individual.
Individual Conscience and Morality
Only an individual can have and exercise a
conscience, that is both the state and corporations
are impersonal. It has been truly said that a
corporation has no conscience, but a corporation of
conscientious men in a corporation with a
conscience. Civil dis obedience is a necessary
expression of individual conscience and morality.
5
Thoreau, Gandhi and King by Carla Binion
Posted on oct 17, 2011
International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 2(4) April, 2016
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