Page:Gregg - Gandhiism versus socialism.pdf/27

 lage councils the evils of parliamentarism are reduced to a minimum. The councillors are known personally by practically all the inhabitants. The discussion and planning are healthier and more responsible because the problems are usually simpler, the details are usually matters of direct personal knowledge of all who discuss them, the real aim is action, and those who discuss will themselves take part in the resultant action. On the other hand, large-scale organization is a value which enhances the power of all the other four controls which we have mentioned—money, physical violence, social divisions and parliamentarism.

By way of summary, we now see that Gandhi’s program tends strongly to weaken the five chief devices by which the ruling classes have been able to govern, restrain and thwart the masses; namely:


 * (1) Money.
 * (2) Physical violence.
 * (3) Social divisions and flatteries.
 * (4) Parliamentarism.
 * (5) Large-scale organization.

These five controls are used in different ways and degrees and in different combinations in different countries, but they may all be found in all nations, and to a greater or less degree they have weakened and corrupted the masses as well as the middle classes in all nations. Leaders of re form movements need to realize more clearly how these systems of value and symbols operate.

Herein lies the importance of Gandhi’s program. It uses symbols which heretofore have been little used in political and social movements, and values which are better under stood by the masses than by the old ruling classes. For the old symbols the new program substitutes new symbols that are closer to our modern vision of social realities, and are more adequate to modern purposes. For the old values it substitutes new values that are more true and useful to all