Page:Gandhi and Saklatvala - Is India different.pdf/8

 In essence, this is a controversy that has long ago been raised and disposed of in this country, but it must not be thought that this fact is sufficient to settle the matter in India. It is necessary to take into account the special characteristics of the situation in which capitalism is developing in India, and it is for this reason that the present correspondence is particularly worthy of study in thiscoun try, for it throws a vivid light on the results of Indian capitalist development, on the reactions produced in the minds of different sections and classes in India and on the obstacles to be overcome in the furtherance of the working class movement.

Since capitalism has been imposed upon India in a com paratively short space of time, as contrasted with its much slower development, occupying several centuries, in Europe, it is only natural that we should find that in India the influ ence of pre-capitalist social forms, customs, religious beliefs, and modes of thought is very pronounced. Consequently, it is not to be expected that the class significance of the shatter ing of pre-capitalist Indian society by the penetration of capitalism should be as apparent to an Indian as it is to a Marxist who knows the history of capitalism in Europe, or that the conflicts and controversies that have resulted from that shattering should be conducted in terms of the class struggle. Just as in the history of Europe the conflict of classes was carried on under the guise of quarrels about religion and so forth, so in India the demands of different classes have been translated into the language of spiritual ideas. Therefore, in order to understand the situation in India, and the circumstances in which the correspondence between Saklatvala and Gandhi came to be written, with its special subjects of discussion, it is necessary to examine the spiritual slogans round which the controversy has grownup in India and to realise the class character of the conflict that they conceal.

Gandhi appears as if he were the leader of a religious movement. He denounces the " Satanic" Western civilisation, i.e., capitalism, on spiritual grounds. He proposes to cure the misery caused by capitalism by propagating the use of the "charka" or hand-spinning wheel, and by the wearing of " khaddar" or hand-woven cloth. He supports Hindu religion and the caste system, though he proclaims himself against "untouchability," i.e., the complete social ostracism of the lowest castes by the higher. He preaches human brotherhood and the moral improvement of individuals. He preaches