The Plunge into the Politics of Suffering, 1920–1

Abstract

The years 1920 and 1921 were perhaps the happiest of Jawaharlal’s life. He was, in those years, fully committed, for the first and the last time. Action on his part during this period was a wholehearted expression of his self; in later years it was often an attempt to run away from himself.¹ Action, with or without attachment, and aggression without vengefulness were the hallmarks of his character. Later in his life, while consoling his sister on the death of her husband, he wrote: ‘I have myself found that work, hard continuous work, is the best occupation and antidote for a disturbed mind. It brings a certain calmness of spirit and makes one forget oneself in impersonal activity.’²

No country has ever risen without being purified through the fire of suffering. The mother suffers so that her child may live. The condition of wheat-growing is that the seed grain should perish. Life comes out of death. Will India rise out of her slavery without fulfilling this eternal law of purification through suffering?

Gandhi, June 1920

Bolshevism and Fascism are the ways of the West today. They are really alike and represent different phases of insensate violence and intolerance. The choice for us is between Lenin and Mussolini on the one side and Gandhi on the other. Can there be any doubt as to who represents the soul of India today?

Jawaharlal Nehru, October 1923