His weekly paper Young India, 29 January 1925

The Capacity to Resist

In January 1925 Mahatma Gandhi was in Delhi for political meetings. The Indian National Congress had split into two camps. Three years earlier, the non-cooperation movement had stopped after the killings at Chauri Chaura. Now prominent leaders wanted to run in elections and take seats in the legislative councils. They believed taking office was the way to gain power from the British. Gandhiji disagreed with them. He believed that winning elections would only change who sat in the chairs. He spent that winter trying to turn their attention back to the villages.

He stated his conviction in plain terms: "Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused." Here swaraj means self-rule. Changing who runs an office does not make ordinary people free. If an inspector sends an unfair order, a farmer or a clerk must be able to say no. A country does not become free at the top. Freedom is the everyday ability of regular people to refuse a bad demand without picking up a weapon.

Therefore

Do not wait for better managers to fix an unfair workplace or town. Notice whether the people doing the work have the strength to say no to a bad demand.

A small reminder, on the desk or the notebook, that freedom depends on whether ordinary people can say no to an unfair order.

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