{"id":309,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=309"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:14","slug":"009-introduction-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\/009-introduction-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-009_Introduction.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n <\/font><\/b>O<\/font><\/span>NE<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>\n<\/p>\n


\nIntroduction<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/span>                       
\n<\/span>I<\/span>N A<\/font><\/b> series of articles, published in this
\npaper soon after the Calcutta session of the Congress, we sought to indicate our
\nview both of the ideal which the Congress had adopted, the ideal of Swaraj or
\nSelf-Government as it exists in the United Kingdom or the Colonies, and of the
\npossible lines of policy by which that ideal might be attained. There are, we
\npointed out, only three possible policies: petitioning, an unprecedented way of
\nattempting a nation’s liberty, which cannot possibly succeed except under
\nconditions which have not yet existed among human beings; self-development and
\nself-help; and the old orthodox historical method of organised resistance to the
\nexisting form of Government. We acknowledge that the policy of self-development
\nwhich the New Party had forced to the front, was itself a novel departure under
\nthe circumstances of modern India. Self-development of an independent nation is
\none thing; self-development from a state of servitude under an alien and
\ndespotic rule without the forcible or peaceful removal of that rule as an
\nindispensable preliminary, is quite another. No national self-development is
\npossible without the support of rā<\/font>jaś<\/font>akti, <\/i>organised political strength,
\ncommanding, and whenever necessary compelling general allegiance and obedience.
\nA caste may develop, a particular community may develop, by its own efforts
\nsupported by a strong social organisation; a nation cannot. Industrially,
\nsocially, educationally, there can be no genuine progress carrying the whole
\nnation forward, unless there is a central force representing either the best
\nthought and energy of the country or else the majority of its citizens and able
\nto enforce the views and decisions of the nation on all its constituent members.
\nBecause Japan had such a central authority, she was able in thirty years to face
\nEurope as an equal; because we in India neither had such an authority nor tried
\nto develop it, but<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-85<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

supported
\neach tottering step by clinging to the step-motherly apron-strings of a foreign
\nGovernment, our record of more than seventy years has not been equal to one year
\nof Japan. We have fumbled through the nineteenth century, prattling of
\nenlightenment and national regeneration; and the result has been not national
\nprogress, but national confusion and weakness. Individuals here and there might
\nemancipate themselves and come to greatness; particular communities might show a
\npartial and one-sided development, for a time only; but the nation instead of
\nprogressing, sank into a very slough of weakness, helplessness and despondency.
\nPolitical freedom is the life-breath of a nation; to attempt social reform,
\neducational reform, industrial expansion, the moral improvement of the race
\nwithout aiming first and foremost at political freedom, is the very height of
\nignorance and futility. Such attempts are foredoomed to disappointment and
\nfailure; yet when the disappointment and failure come, we choose to attribute
\nthem to some radical defect in the national character; as if the nation were at
\nfault and not its wise men who would not or could not understand the first
\nelementary conditions of success. The primary requisite for national progress,
\nnational reform, is the free habit of free and healthy national thought and
\naction which is impossible in a state of servitude. The second is the
\norganisation of the national will in a strong central authority.<\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>How impossible it is to carry out efficiently any large national
\nobject
\nin the absence of this authority was shown by the fate of<\/span>
\n<\/span>the Boycott in Bengal. It is idle to
\ndisguise from ourselves that the Boycott is not as yet effective except
\nspasmodically and in patches. Yet to carry through the Boycott was a solemn
\nnational decision which has not been reversed but rather repeatedly confirmed.
\nNever indeed has the national will been so generally and unmistakably declared;
\nbut for the want of a central authority to work for the necessary conditions, to
\nsupport by its ubiquitous presence the weak and irresolute and to coerce the
\nrefractory, it has not been properly carried out. For the same reason national
\neducation languishes. For the same reason every attempt at large national action
\nhas failed. It is idle to talk of self-development unless we first evolve a
\nsuitable central authority or Government<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-86<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

which
\nall will or must accept. The Japanese perceived this at a very early stage and
\nleaving aside all other matters, devoted their first energies to the creation of
\nsuch an authority in the person of the Mikado and his Government, holding it
\ncheaply purchased even at the price of temporary internal discord and civil
\nslaughter. We also must develop a central authority, which shall be a popular
\nGovernment in fact though not in name. But Japan was independent; we have to
\nestablish a popular authority which will exist side by side and in rivalry with
\na despotic foreign bureaucracy \u2014 no ordinary rough-riding despotism, but
\nquiet, pervasive and subtle \u2014 one that has fastened its grip on every detail
\nof our national life and will not easily be persuaded to let go, even in the
\nleast degree, its octopus-like hold. This popular authority will have to dispute
\nevery part of our national life and activity, one by one, step by step, with the
\nintruding force to the extreme point of entire emancipation from alien control.
\nThis and no less than this is the task before us. A Moderate critic characterised it at the time as an unheroic programme; but to us it seems so
\nheroic that we frankly acknowledge its novelty and audacity and the uncertainty
\nof success. For success depends on the presence of several very rare conditions.
\nIt demands in the first place a country for its field of action in which the
\npeople are more powerfully swayed by the fear of social excommunication and the
\ngeneral censure of their fellows than by the written law. It demands a country
\nwhere the capacity for extreme self-denial is part of the national character or
\nfor centuries has taken a prominent place in the national discipline. These
\nconditions exist in India. But it requires also an iron endurance, tenacity,
\ndoggedness, far above anything that is needed for the more usual military revolt
\nor sanguinary revolution. These qualities we have not as yet developed at least
\nin Bengal; but they are easily generated by suffering and necessity and hardened
\ninto permanence by a prolonged struggle with superior power. There is nothing
\nlike a strong pressure from above to harden
\nand concentrate what lies below<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>always provided that the superior pressure
\nis not such as to crush the substance on which it is acting. The last requisite
\ntherefore for the success of the policy of self-development against the pressure
\nof foreign<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-87<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

rule
\nis that the bureaucracy will so far respect its former traditions and
\nprofessions as not to interfere finally with any course of action of the popular
\nauthority which does not itself try violently to subvert the connection of the
\nBritish Empire with India. It is extremely doubtful whether this last condition
\nwill be satisfied. It is easy to see how the bureaucracy might put a summary end
\nto National Education or an effective check on industrial expansion or do away
\narbitrarily with popular Arbitration Courts. It is easy to see how the
\ntemptation to resort to Russian methods on a much larger and effective scale
\nthan that of mere Fullerism might prove too strong for a privileged class which
\nfelt power slipping from its hold. We therefore said in our previous articles
\nthat we must carry on the attempt at self-development as long as we were
\npermitted. What would be our next resource if it were no longer permitted, it is
\ntoo early to discuss.<\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>The attempt at self-development by self-help is absolutely necessary for
\nour national salvation, whether we can carry it peacefully to the end or not. In
\nno other way can we get rid of the fatal dependence, passivity and helplessness
\nin which a century of all-pervasive British control has confirmed us. To recover
\nthe habit of independent motion and independent action is the first necessity.
\nIt was for this reason that after extreme provocation and full conviction of the
\nhopelessness otherwise of inducing any change of policy in the older
\npoliticians, the leaders of the New School decided to form an independent party
\nand place their views as an independent programme before the country. Their
\naction, though much blamed at the time, has been thoroughly justified by
\nresults. The National Congress has not indeed broken with the old petitioning
\ntraditions, but it has admitted the new policy as an essential part of the
\nnational programme. Swadeshi and National Education have been recognised, and,
\nin all probability, Arbitration will be given its proper prominence at the next
\nsession; Boycott has been admitted as permissible in principle to all parts of
\nIndia though the recommendation to extend it in practice as an integral part of
\nthe national policy was not pressed. It only remained to develop the central
\nauthority which will execute the national policy and evolve with time into a
\npopular Government. It was for this object that the<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/span>88<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nNew Party determined not to be satisfied with any further evasion of the
\nconstitution question, though they did not press for the adoption of their own
\nparticular scheme. It is for this object that a Central National Committee has
\nbeen formed; that Conferences are being held in various districts and
\nsub-divisions and Committees created; that the Provincial Conferences are
\nexpected to appoint a Provincial Committee for all Bengal. The mere creation of
\nthese Committees will not provide us with our central authority, nor will they
\nbe really effective for the purpose until the new spirit and the new views are
\nparamount in the whole country. But it is the first step which costs and the
\nfirst step has been taken.<\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>So far, well; but the opposition of the bureaucracy to the national
\nself-development must be taken into account. Opposition, not necessarily final
\nand violent, will undoubtedly be offered; and we have not as yet considered the
\norganisation of any means by which it can be effectually met. Obviously, we
\nshall have to fall back on the third policy of organised resistance, and have
\nonly to decide what form the resistance should take, passive or active,
\ndefensive or aggressive. It is well known that the New Party long ago formulated
\nand all Bengal has in theory accepted, the doctrine of passive, or, as it might
\nbe more comprehensively termed, defensive resistance. We have therefore not only
\nto organise a central authority, not only to take up all branches of our
\nnational life into our hands, but, in order to meet bureaucratic opposition and
\nto compel the alien control to remove its hold on us, if not at once, then
\ntentacle by tentacle, we must organise defensive resistance.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-89<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 ONE Introduction                             IN A series of articles, published in this paper soon after the Calcutta session of the Congress, we sought to…<\/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-309","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\/309","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=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}