{"id":279,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=279"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:04","slug":"136-the-tuticorin-victory-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/136-the-tuticorin-victory-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-136_The Tuticorin Victory.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Tuticorin Victory<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span>HE<\/font><\/b>
\nsuccess of passive resistance at Tuticorin ought to be an encouragement to those
\nwho have begun to distrust the power of the new weapon which is so eminently
\nsuited to the Asiatic temperament. When the Boycott was declared in Bengal, the
\nwhole of the energy of the people was thrown into the attempt to get the
\nPartition repealed and if that concentration of effort had been continued, the
\nPartition would by this time have become an unsettled fact; but for two
\ndifferent reasons the attempt to unsettle the Partition was unstrung and the
\nenergy diverted to a different goal. In the first place, a great thought entered
\ninto the heart of the people and displaced the petty indignation against an
\nadministrative measure which was the immediate cause of the Boycott. Swaraj
\ndisplaced the idea of a mere administrative unity and Swaraj is too mighty an
\nobject to be effected by a single and limited means. Secondly, the first
\nmagnificent unity of the movement was lost. The Mahomedans, lured by specious
\npromises, broke away from the ranks and within the circle of the leaders
\nthemselves a division arose between those who believed in Swaraj pure and
\nunadulterated and those whom policy or caution dissuaded from so mighty an
\naspiration. For passive resistance to succeed unity, perseverance and
\nthoroughness are the first requisites. Because this unity, perseverance and
\nthoroughness existed in Tuticorin, the great battle fought over the Coral Mill
\nhas ended in a great and indeed absolutely sweeping victory for the people.
\nEvery claim made by the strikers has been conceded and British capital has had
\nto submit to the humiliation of an unconditional surrender. Nationalism may well
\ntake pride in the gallant leaders who have by their cool and unflinching courage
\nbrought about this splendid vindication of Nationalist teaching. When men like
\nChidambaram, Padmanabha and Shiva are ready to undergo exile or imprisonment so
\nthat a handful of mill coolies may get justice and easier conditions of
\nlivelihood, a bond has been created between<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-752<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe
\neducated class and the masses, which is the first great step towards Swaraj.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>There has been only one other instance of a victory as complete for
\npassive resistance against the might of a great Government. We refer to the
\nstruggle in the Transvaal which was carried on with equal unity, perseverance
\nand thoroughness to a success less absolutely unconditional but even more
\nstriking from the strength and stubbornness of the enemy it had to overcome. We
\npublish in another column a letter from a brother in the Transvaal on the
\nsubject. The conditions of political struggle in the Transvaal are different,
\nthe objects less vast than those of the movement in India. The Transvaal Indians
\ndemand only the ordinary rights of human beings in modern civilised society, the
\nright to live, the right to trade, to be treated like human beings and not like
\ncattle. In India which is our own country, our aspirations have a larger sweep
\nand our methods must be more varied and strenuous. Moreover, in the Transvaal
\nthe Asiatics form a small and distinct community in a foreign and hostile
\nenvironment and can more easily rise above petty differences of creed and caste,
\nopinion and interest; but in this vast continent with its huge population of
\nthirty crores and its complex tangle of diversities the task is more difficult,
\neven as the prize of success is more splendid. The unity will be longer in
\ncoming, the perseverance more difficult to maintain, the thoroughness less
\nperfect; but the might of three hundred millions welded into a single force will
\nbe a potency so gigantic that the imagination fails to put a limit to the final
\nresults of the movement now in its infancy.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Meanwhile, the lesson of Tuticorin, the lesson of the Transvaal is one
\nwhich needs to be learnt and put frequently into practice. We should lose no
\nopportunity of letting our strength grow by practice. There have been many
\nlabour struggles in Bengal, but with the exception pf the Printers’ strike none
\nhas ended in a victory for Indian labour against British capital. Either the
\nunity among the operatives was defective or the support of the public was absent
\nor the perseverance and thoroughness of the strike was marred by hesitations,
\nindividual submissions, partial concessions. The Tuticorin strike is a perfect
\nexample of what an isolated labour revolt should be. The opera-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-753<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ntives
\nmust act with one will and speak with one voice, never letting the temptation of
\nindividual interest or individual relief get the better of the corporate aim in
\nwhich lies the whole strength of a labour combination, and the educated
\ncommunity must give both moral and financial support with an ungrudging and
\nuntiring enthusiasm till the victory is won, realising that every victory for
\nIndian labour is a victory for the nation and every defeat a defeat to the
\nmovement. The Tuticorin leaders must be given the whole credit for the
\nunequalled skill and courage with which the fight was conducted and sill more
\nfor the complete realisation of the true inwardness of the Nationalist gospel
\nwhich made them identify the interests of the whole Indian nation with the
\nwrongs and grievances of the labourers in the Coral Mill.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 13, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPerpetuate
\nthe Split!<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nThe
\nMehtaist Press in Western India seems to be unable to make up its mind for a
\ncompromise or against a compromise. It cannot conceal its repugnance to the
\nidea of giving up its darling scheme of excluding the Nationalists from the
\nCongress or the creed which Mr. Gokhale had so skilfully drawn up for that
\npurpose. On the other hand, the Pabna Conference has filled it with dismay, for
\nit perceives a force in Bengal which may prove strong enough to separate the
\nBengal Moderate leaders from the ranks of pure Moderatism in this crucial
\nmatter. It is curious that while trying to throw the whole blame of the Surat
\nfiasco on the Nationalists, the Bombay Moderates have never concealed the fact
\nthat it was their intention to jockey the Nationalists out of the Congress.
\nTheir chief organ openly declared that it had been the Moderate plan to get rid
\nof passive resistance and other Extremist heresies which had been read into the
\nCalcutta resolution by the Extremists. The Gujerati <\/i>is equally plain
\nabout the creed, its object is to get rid of the spectre of Swaraj by exorcism
\nand the creed is the magic formula which is to drive Swaraj and Swa-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-754<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nrajists
\nout of the National Assembly. Mr. R. C. Dutt has declared that the split was a
\nconsummation much to be desired and must be perpetuated and the Gujerati <\/i>heartily
\nendorses the sentiment. The Pabna Conference, it contends, was a got-up affair
\narranged by Mr. Tilak, and so its opinion has no value. The Mahomedans and
\nParsis will join the movement if the Nationalists are driven out and the British
\nPublic and British Government are, according to Babu Bhupendranath Bose, an
\nexcellent authority, deeply interested in seeing the creed preserved. For all
\nthese reasons let the creed be preserved. We wonder whether these cogent reasons
\nwill confirm the wavering allegiance of Srijut Surendranath Banerji and his
\nfollowers and keep them in the Mehtaist fold! They ought at least to show
\nunprejudiced people all over the country who were really desirous of the split
\nand with what motives it was engineered.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nLoyalty
\nto Order<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nThe
\naction of the Bharat Dharma Mandal in presenting themselves before the Viceroy
\nas representatives of Hindu Society and offering their loyalty and the post of
\ndefender of the Hindu faith has been so severely criticised by the vernacular
\nPress in Calcutta that it would be unkindness to add a final stroke. We cannot
\nrefrain, however, from reminding the Mahamandal that the foundations of Hinduism
\nare truth and manhood, esa dharmah sanā<\/font>tanah<\/i>. <\/i>Hinduism is no sect or
\ndogmatic creed, no bundle of formulas, no set of social rules, but a mighty,
\neternal and universal truth. It has learned the secret of preparing man’s soul
\nfor the divine consummation of identity with the infinite existence of God;
\nrules of life and formulas of belief are only sacred and useful when they help
\nthat great preparation. And the first rule of life is that man must live the
\nhighest life of which he is capable, overcoming selfishness, overcoming fear,
\novercoming the temptation to palter with truth in order to earn earthly favours.
\nThe first formula of belief is satyā<\/font>nnā<\/font>sti paro dharmah, <\/i>there is no
\nhigher law of conduct than truth. We leave it to the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-755<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nconscience
\nof the Mahamandal to decide how much of truth and manhood there was in their
\ndemonstration of loyalty and their ridiculous appeal to a representative of
\nWestern materialism and practical atheism to defend Hinduism and its
\ninstitutions.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 14, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-756<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tuticorin Victory                           THE success of passive resistance at Tuticorin ought to be an encouragement to those who have begun to distrust the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","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=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}