"Look at Italy," said Gandhiji the other day to a
friend who would have independence at all costs. "Garibaldi was a
great man. He brought deliverance to Italy. And Mussolini did make
her look great. But where is she today? Look at Japan, look at
Germany. The very violence which brought them to the pinnacle of
power has razed them to the ground. And has not the atom bomb proved
the futility of all violence? And yet we are crazy enough to think
that we can win Swaraj by breaking a few skulls and destroying
property which, after all is said and done, is our own." Needless to
say that all these happenings have filled him with unspeakable
-anguish. But he is an irrepressible optimist. "I am sure, out of
this orgy of violence the people will learn the lesson of
non-violence," he remarked. The sense of oppression and misery that
he feels at what is happening is so great that only his
unquenchable faith in the God of Truth and Non-violence could
sustain him.
Poona,
3-3-'46
Harijan, 10-3-1946