{"id":1104,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","slug":"71-facts-and-opinions-5-2-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/71-facts-and-opinions-5-2-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-71_Facts and Opinions 5-2-1910.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nFacts and Opinions<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nVolume I – Feb.
\n5, 1910 – Number 31<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n The
\n Party of Revolution<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nB<\/font>e
\nthe fault whose you will, ours or the Government’s, the existence of an organised party of armed Revolution in Indian politics is now a recognised
\nfactor of the situation. The enormous strides with which events have advanced
\nand a sky full of trouble but also of hope been overcast and grown full of
\ngloom and menace, can be measured by the rapidity with which this party has
\ndeveloped. It is only five years since the national movement sprang into being.
\nThe cry was then for self-help and passive resistance. Boycott, Swadeshi, Arbitration,
\nNational Education, were the hope of the future, the means of
\nself-regeneration. In five years everything has been struck to the earth.
\nBoycott has almost disappeared, Swadeshi languishes under sentence of arrest,
\nArbitration died still-born, National Education is committing suicide. A
\ntremendous disintegration has taken place and we look amazed on the ruins of
\nthe work our labour and our sacrifice erected. It is a huge defeat, an astonishing
\ncatastrophe. And on those ruins grim, wild-eyed, pitiless to itself and to
\nothers, mocking at death and defeat with its raucous and careless laughter
\nRevolution rises repeating the language of the old-world insurgents, cherishing
\na desperate hope which modern conditions deny, grasping at the weapons which
\nthe Slav and the Celt have brought into political warfare. The seeds which the Yugantar<\/i> sowed in its brief, violent and
\nmeteoric career have borne fruit in unexpected quarters and new-born journals
\nrepeat in foreign lands and in the English tongue the incitations
\nto revolt and slaughter which have been put down by the strong hand in India
\nof the law. Money is forthcoming to support a journalism which must obviously
\nbe all cost and no profit, young men exile themselves from their native land by
\nopenly joining the party of violence and in India itself repeated blows have
\nbeen struck paralysing the hope and the effort to revive the activity of that<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 383<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

broader and calmer
\nNationalism which, recognising modern conditions, still commands the allegiance
\nof the bulk of the nation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n Its
\n Growth<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nis the precise nature, propaganda and strength of this party, which by so small
\nan expenditure of energy has produced such surprising results ? When the Yugantar<\/i>,
\nabandoning its habit of philosophic Revolutionism, first began to enter the
\nfield of practical politics, to sneer at passive resistance and gird at its
\nchief exponents, no one thought that its change of attitude portended anything
\nserious. Men read the paper for the amazing brilliance, grace and sustained
\nforce of its style, a new thing in Bengali journalism, and from the natural
\nattraction men feel for strong writing and bold thought even when they do not
\nagree with it. Afterwards the reckless fight of the Yugantar<\/i> for existence
\nattracted a more dangerous admiration and from that time the journal changed
\nfrom a thing of literary interest into a political force. Even then it was
\ntaken as a practical guide only among a section of young men small in numbers
\nand without means or influence. But things have changed since then. A void has
\nbeen created by the conviction, deportation, self-imposed exile or silence of
\nthe great Nationalist speakers, writers, organisers, and the dangerous opinions
\nand activities then created have rushed in to occupy the vacuum. The
\nNationalism we advocate is a thing difficult to grasp and follow, needing
\ncontinual intellectual exposition to keep its hold on the mind, continual
\ninspiration and encouragement to combat the impatience natural to humanity; its
\nmethods are comparatively new in politics and can only justify themselves to
\nhuman conservatism by distinguished and sustained success. The preaching of the
\nnew revolutionary party is familiar to human imagination, supported by the
\nrecords of some of the most inspiring episodes in history, in consonance with
\nthe impatience, violence and passion for concrete results which revolutionary
\nepochs generate. The growing strength of this party is not difficult to explain; it is extremely difficult to combat.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 384<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\n Its Extent<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This
\nparty has two sides, the propaganda carried on in foreign countries, and the
\nTerrorist activity always recrudescent in
\nour midst. The latter is the more formidable in the present, the former the
\nmore dangerous in the future. The foreign propaganda was first located in
\nLondon and confined to the single paper, the Indian Sociologist<\/i>, first
\nan organ of Shyamji Krishnavarma’s
\nHome Rule Society and opposed to all methods of violence. The conversion
\nof Krishnavarma to the Terrorism he once
\nfiercely condemned, has been a very important factor in the growth of the new
\nparty. The propaganda has been driven from London only to spring at once into
\nan ubiquitous activity abroad. From Paris Krishnavarma publishes the Indian
\nSociologist<\/i>; from Berlin a new organ,
\nsignificantly self-styled the Talwar<\/i>,
\nissues; in
\nGeneva a paper naming itself the Bande Mataram<\/i> busies itself with decrying the policy
\nof the defunct Bande Mataram <\/i>and denouncing its originator and former
\nEditor; a paper called the Free Hindustan<\/i> maintains itself in America.
\nWealthy men and women stand behind these organs, the Kathiawar
\nKrishnavarma, the Parsi lady Mrs. Kama and
\npossibly others who do not advertise their names. Young men of all
\nnationalities in India seem to have joined these organisations and occasional
\npamphlets find their way into India in spite of the vigilance of the Post
\nOffice by means familiar to European revolutionism. In India any violent
\npropaganda is impossible; violent action takes its place and the swift
\nsuccession of attempted or successful outrages in Gujerat,
\nMaharashtra, Punjab and Bengal show that if the movement is not
\norganised, as in these foreign countries, it is equally widespread. The very
\nexistence of such a conspiracy must paralyse all other forms and methods of
\nnational aspiration by driving the Government and the Anglo-Indian community
\ninto the suppression of everything that goes beyond contented acceptance of
\nthat which exists. The revolutionists know
\nthis well and they have played their game with great skill and success.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 385<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Ourselves<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every
\nestablished Government is bound to eradicate a movement of this kind and it
\nwill naturally use any means it thinks effective. We recognise this necessity,
\nbut we have no faith in the means the Government and the Anglo-Indians seem to
\nfavour. We are dead against covering over an evil by pretentions,
\nsounding and hollow speech and measures; we do not believe in a remedial system
\nwhich suppresses symptoms and leaves the roots untouched. All we can do is to
\nstand aside and let the physician try his system \u2014 and this we propose to do
\nfrom henceforward. We have written this week in order to explain our action and
\nour attitude, but we shall abstain in future from comment on current Indian
\npolitics or criticism of Government and its measures until more favourable and
\nnormal conditions return. We only reserve to ourselves the liberty of writing
\nonce to point out the immense difference between Indian conditions in modern
\ntimes and the historical precedents on which the revolutionists rely, \u2014 for
\nwhich we had not sufficient space in this issue. With this exception the rest
\nis silence. The Karmayogin<\/i> was originally started as a weekly review
\nintended to encourage the habit of deep and close thinking on all subjects and
\nwiden the intellectual range of the people, giving an especial importance to
\nreligion and the growth of spirituality. The disproportionate space allowed to
\ncurrent politics was necessitated by the absence of any political organ devoted
\nto that propaganda of peaceful Nationalism in which we saw the only way to
\nhealthy political development in India. Now that that way is barred by the
\nlegislator and the Terrorist, we return to our original intention.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 386<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Feb. 5, 1910 – Number 31 The Party of Revolution   Be the fault whose you will, ours or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-karmayogin-volume-02","wpcat-23-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}