Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/695

 THE ARREST OF THE ALI BROTHERS 60S

fat or the Punjab wrongs are not redressed and Swaraj, is not established during this year, the fault will be yours and mine. We must remain non-violent but we must not be passive. We must repeat the formula of the Brothers regarding the duty of soldiers and invite imprisonment. We need not think that the struggle cannot go on without even the best of us. If it cannot, \ve are neither fit for Swaraj nor for redressing the Khilafat and the Punjab wrongs. We must declare- from a thousand platforms that it is sinful for any Mus- salman or Hindu to serve the existing Government whether as soldier or in any capacity whatsover.

Above all we must concentrate on complete boy- cott of foreign cloth whether British, Japanese American of French, or any other, and begin, if we have not already done so, to introduce spinning-wheels and handlooms in our own homes and manufacture all the cloth we need. This will be at once a test of our belief on nonviolence for our country's freedom and for saving the Khilafat. It will be a test also of Hindu- Muslim unity, and' it will be a universal test of our faith in our own programme. I repeat my conviction that we can achieve our full purpose, within one month, of a compuete boycott of foreign cloth. For we are then in a position, having confidence in our ability to control forces of violence, to offer civil disobedience, if it is at all found necessary*

I can, therefore, find no balm for the deep wounds inflicted upon you by the Government other than non- violence translated into action b> boycott of fereign cloth and mrnufacture of cloth in our own homes.

I am,

Your friend and comrade, M. K. GANDHI.

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