Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/953

Rh is that it is woven in India. Even on handlooms for every fine cloth only foreign yarn is used. The use of such cloth does not amount to an observance as Swadeshi. To say so is simple self-deception. Satyagraha, i.e., insistence on truth is necessary even in Swadeshi. When men will say, 'we shall confine ourselves to pure Swadeshi cloth, even though we may have to remain satisfed with a mere loincloth,' and when women will resolutely say, ‘we shall observe pure Swadeshi even though we may have to restrict ourselves to clothing just enough to satisfy the sense of modesty,’ then shall we be successful in the observance of the great Swadeshi vow. If a few thousand men and women were to take the Swadeshi vow in this spirit others will try to imitate them so far as possible. They will then begin to examine their wardrobes in the light of Swadeshi, Those who are not attached to pleasures and personal adornment, I venture to say, can give a great impetus to Swadeshi.

Generally speaking, there are very few villages in India without weavers. From time immemorial we have had village farmers and village weavers, as we have village carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, etc., but our farmers have become poverty stricken and our weavers have patronage only from the poor classes. By supplying them with Indian cotton spun in India we can obtain the cloth we may need. For the time being it may be coarse, but by constant endeavours we can get our weavers to weave out fine yarn and so doing we shall raise our weavers to a better status, and if we would go a step still further we can easily cross the sea of difficulties lying in our path, We can easily teach our women and our children to spin and weave cotton, and what can be purer than cloth woven in our own home; I say it from my experience that acting in this way we shall be saved from many a hardship, we shall be ridding ourselves of many an unnecessary need, and our life will be one song of joy and beauty. I always hear divine voices telling me in my ears that such life was a matter of fact once in India, but even if such an India be the idle dream of the poet, it does not matter. Is it not necessary to create such an India now? Does not our purushartha lie therein? I have been travelling throughout India. I cannot bear the heart-rending cry of the poor. The young and old all tell me, ‘we cannot get cheap cloth, we have not the means wherewith to purchase dear cloth. Everything is dear, provisions, cloth and all. What are we to do?’ and they have a sign of despair. It is my duty to give these men a satisfactory reply. It is the duty of every servant of the country but I am unable to give a satisfactory reply. It should be intolerable for all thinking Indians that our raw materials should be exported to Europe and that we have to pay heavy prices therefore. The first and the last remedy for this is Swadeshi. We are not bound to sell our cotton to anybody, and when Hindustan ring; with the echoes of Swadeshi, no producer of cotton will sell it for