Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/129



THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PASSIVE RESISTANCE

[The following is reproduced from the Golden Number of the Indian Opinion, 1914]:—

I shall be at least far away from Phœnix, if not actually in the Motherland, when this Commemoration Issue is published. I would, however, leave behind me my innermost thoughts upon that which has made this special issue necessary. Without Passive Resistance, there would have been no richly illustrated and important special issue of Indian Opinion, which has, for the last eleven years, in an unpretentious and humble manner, endeavoured to serve my countrymen and South Africa,a period covering the most critical stage that they will perhaps ever have to pass through. It marks the rise and growth of Passive Resistance, which has attracted world-wide attention. The term does not fit the activity of the Indian community during the past eight years. Its equivalent in the vernacular, rendered into English, means 17