Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/642

 552 NON-CO-OPERATION

And Non-Co-operation is possible only when those who com- menced to co-operate begin the process of withdrawal. If we can but free ourselves from the threefold Maya of Govern- ment-controlled schools, Government law courts and legislative councils, and truly control our own education, regulate our disputes, and be indifferent to their legislation, we are ready to govern ourselves, and we are only then ready to ask the Government servants, whether civil or military, to resign, and the taxpayers to suspend payment of taxes.

And is it such an impracticable proposition to expect parents to withdraw their children from schools and colleges and establish their own institutions, or to ask lawyers to suspend their practice and devote their whole time and attention to national service against payment, where neces- sary, of their maintenance or to ask candidates for councils not to enter councils and lend their passive or active assist- ance to the legislative machinery through which all control is excercised.The movement of Non-Co-operation is nothing but an attempt to isolate the brute force of the British from all the trappings under which it is hidden and to show that brute force by itself cannot for one single moment hold India.

But I frankly confess that, until the three conditions mentioned by me are fulfilled, there is no Swaraj. We may not go on taking our college degrees, taking thousands of rupees monthly from clients for cases which can be finished in five minutes, and taking the keenest delight in wasting the national time on the council floor, and still expect to gain national self-respect.

The last, though not the least, important part of the Maya still remains to be considered. That is Swadeshi. Had we not abandoned Swadeshi, we need not have been in the present fallen state. If we would get rid of the economic

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