Gandhi's Speech to Indentured Laborers, 1914
The following speech is the text of Mr. Gandhi’s address to Indentured Indians at Verulam on the 12th July, 1914...
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From Speeches and Writings of M.K. Gandhi, 1922.
The following speech is the text of Mr. Gandhi’s address to Indentured Indians at Verulam on the 12th July, 1914:--
Please understand, my indentured countrymen, that it is wrong for you to consider the relief that has been obtained because I or you have gone to gaol, but because you the courage to give up your life and sacrifice yourselves and in this instance I have also to tell you that many causes led to this result. I have to specially refer to the valuable assistance rendered by the Hon. Senator Marshall Campbell. I think that your thanks and my thanks are due to him for his work in the Senate while the Bill was passing through it.
The relief is of this nature: the £3 tax you will not have to pay, and arrears will be remitted. It does not mean that you are free from your present indentures. You are bound to go through your present indentures faithfully and honestly, but when these finish you are just as free as any other free Indian under Act 25, 1891, and can receive the same protection as set forth in that Act. You are not bound to re-indenture or return to India. Discharge certificates will be issued to you free of charge. If you want to go to India and return therefrom you must first spend three years in Natal as free Indians.
If you, being poor, want assistance to enable you to go to India, you can get it on application to the Government; but in that case you would not be allowed to return. If you want to return, fight shy of this assistance, and use your own money or borrow from your friends.
If you re-indenture you come under the same law--namely, 25 of 1891. My advice to you is: Do not re-indenture, but by all means serve your present masters under the common law of the country. Now, in the event of any occasion arising (which I hope it will not do), you will know what is necessary.
Victoria County has not been as free from violence as the Newcastle District was. You retaliated. I do not care whether it was under provocation or not, but you retaliated, and have used sticks and stones, and you have burnt sugar canes. That is not passive resistance. If I had been in your midst I would have repudiated you, and allowed rather my own head to be broken that allow a single stick or stone to be used. Passive resistance is a more powerful weapon than all the sticks, stones, and gunpowder in the world. If imposed upon, you must suffer even unto death. That is passive resistance.
If, therefore, I was an indentured Indian working for the Hon. Mr. Marshall Campbell, Mr. Saunders, or other employer, and if I found my treatment not just, I would not go to the Protector--I would go to my master and ask for justice; and if he would not grant it I would say that I would remain there without food or drink until it was granted. I am quite sure that the stoniest heart will be melted by passive resistance. Let this sink deeply into yourselves. This is a sovereign and most effective remedy.
I shall now say my farewell to Verulam and you all. The scene before me will not fade in my memory, be the distance ever so great. May God help you all in your troubles. May your own conduct be such that God may find it possible to help you.
Gandhi, Mohandas K. Speeches and Writings of M.K. Gandhi. G.A. Natesan & Co. 1922.
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