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Red Ruggiero
Mr. Costagliola
Global Studies
4 May 2016
Mahatma Gandhi and Civil Disobedience
Mahatma Gandhi, a very relevant figure in Indias history, was well known for using civil
disobedience to combat the tyrannical British. He fought for the independence of India, which
was being taken advantage of by Britain to profit off of their homegrown materials. This lead to
immense poverty, which was a main focal point in Gandhis fight against the British rulers.
Gandhi even dressed like the Indians of this status, to inspire other Indians to rebel against the
unjust ruling of their country. However, some people debate whether or not Gandhis use of civil
disobedience, or purposely going against the law, was effective in gaining Indias freedom. But,
by looking at what he accomplished with tactics of civil disobedience, such as refusing to follow
unjust laws and employing non-violence, along with his personal fastings, Gandhi is revealed to
have struck a vital blow against the British. This directly lead to their concedement of the land.

Gandhis primary use of civil disobedience was to simply refuse to acknowledge rules
that degraded the Indians. For instance, when Gandhi was a young man, he was forced off of a
train because he would not move back to third class. Even though he had a first class ticket, the
British had a law that forced Indians to have to sit in the back, no matter what. Unknowingly, he
had performed his first act of civil disobedience. Furthermore, after the train incident, Gandhi
started to purposely disobey the law. An example of this is when Gandhi and another man
publicly burned the passes that Indians had to carry as ID. The British imposed these on the

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Indian society to keep track of the citizens and didnt have to carry the passes themselves.
Therefore, Gandhi saw it as an injustice and eradicated them in a fire pit, while being beaten by
British officers. This was particularly effective because Indians witnessed the beating of two men
who were not fighting against arrest. This was Gandhis plan all along; he showed the
commonfolk that the British easily would resort to beating them, as if they were a second
class. He later expanded on this instance by marching to the sea and having the Indians make
salt, which was illegal if not approved by the government. Shortly after they began making salt,
the British arrived at a gate near the sea and viciously beat Indian men with poles. A journalist
who heard about this wrote about the Britishs horrible morals; they were simply resorting to
violence when none was being given in return. This further emasculated the British, by
publicizing their degrading treatment of the people they ruled over. So, this tactic of civil
disobedience was used wisely and often by Gandhi, which crippled the Britishs image as they
continued to show their unjust laws and punishments towards the Indian people.

Similarly, Gandhi utilized the concept of non-violence to further erode the British public
image. As mentioned before, the Indians did not fight back when assaulted by British officials,
which was a key cog in Gandhis plan to free India. He stressed the importance of non-violence
often, with the threat of him fasting to death on the horizon if they didnt follow his preachings.
In his speeches, Gandhi mentioned how it would be extremely hard to just take the abuse the
British would give them, but that in the long run itd help to free India from British control. By
doing this, the Indians were able to expose the villainy of their rulers, which was a very effective
piece in taking down the British. To expand on these points, Gandhi promoted peaceful marches,
rather than riots. To him, an eye for an eye made the whole world blind; essentially, he
believed that responding to violence with more violence got Indians nowhere. In fact, Gandhi

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thought it would help the British by showing that India was not yet ready for independence from
their continued chaos. Therefore, by staying peaceful and making non-violence an irreplaceable
concept, Gandhi was able to further his goal of gaining independence in India by once again
attacking the British image.

Lastly, Gandhi used fasting to death as a threat to his followers if they didnt obey him,
which helped to unite the Indians. In turn, this greatly boosted their ability to rebel against
Britain. For instance, after the Amritsar massacre, where there were several hundred Indian
casualties. This occurred when the British opened fire on a crowd of Indians; their general later
admitted that he felt they had enough warnings. After this, the Indians finally went against
their concept of non-violence. They rioted against the British, burning houses and beating them.
When Gandhi heard of this news, he revealed that he would fast until the violence ended, even if
it culminated in his death. This greatly impacted the Indian people; they didnt want to lose their
leader, so they returned to their more tranquil ways. Later on, however, this problem arose again.
The Muslims and Hindus fought over land, not wanting the other to have too much power. Once
again, Gandhi threatened with his fasting, which worked just as well. They put their issues aside
to preserve him, which in turn helped to retain the focus on gaining Indian independence.

Even though Gandhi made all of these great strides for India, he ended up meeting an
unfortunate end. On January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by a fellow Hindu. However, his
legacy remained. His contributions to India, through refusing to follow unjust laws and
employing non-violence, along with personal fastings, ended up shaping the country into what it
is today; a free nation, where equality can be seen.