Speaker 1: A man dies when he refuses to stand up for
Speaker 1: that which is right. A man dies when he refuses
Speaker 1: to stand up for us. Yea. A man dies when
Speaker 1: he refuses to pick up stand for that which is true. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The great and often unsung civil rights hero Bayard Rustin
Speaker 1: once said, we need in every community a group of
Speaker 1: angelic troublemakers. We are non violent because injury to one
Speaker 1: is injury to all. In May, a ship pulled into
Speaker 1: the harbor in Durban, in the city in South Africa.
Speaker 1: Aboard the ship was a twenty seven year old Indian
Speaker 1: lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi. The young man was an advocate
Speaker 1: for the rights of immigrant Indian laborers across South Africa,
Speaker 1: and he was not popular among the nation's white citizens.
Speaker 1: An angry mob on the docks awaited Gandhi's arrival. Gandhi's grandson,
Speaker 1: a ruined Gandhi, explains it happened just by a chance.
Speaker 1: Was that the ship on which the Gandhi family was
Speaker 1: traveling also carried several hundred indentured labors. The mob assumed
Speaker 1: that the Indian agitator was connected to the arriving immigrants,
Speaker 1: so this mob thought that he's bringing all these people
Speaker 1: into South Africa to increase the population and overtake the
Speaker 1: white population. Gandhi was advised to remain aboard for his
Speaker 1: own safety. He refused. He was attacked as soon as
Speaker 1: he disembarked. The mob hurled stones, eggs, and bricks at it.
Speaker 1: He was beaten and kicked. His turban was torn from
Speaker 1: his head. The crowd intended to lynch him. Gandhi was
Speaker 1: only spared when the wife of the local police superintendent
Speaker 1: happened to pass by. She bravely shielded him with her parasol,
Speaker 1: then held off the mob until the brew used in
Speaker 1: bloody Gandhi was safely inside a nearby house. Gandhi was
Speaker 1: later asked why he got off the boat. He explained
Speaker 1: that he prayed for the courage to face the mob,
Speaker 1: not for his own safety. Later on, the police were
Speaker 1: able to arrest some of the people in the mob
Speaker 1: and they invited Grandfather to come over and file charges
Speaker 1: against them so that they could be tried and convicted.
Speaker 1: And Grandfather came to the police station and he met
Speaker 1: with these people and he told the police he said,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to I don't want to charge them.
Speaker 1: Gandhi offered his assailants only love and understanding. I believe
Speaker 1: three of the four people who were arrested eventually became
Speaker 1: his followers and his friends for life. In this episode
Speaker 1: of The Thread, we delve into the influential life of
Speaker 1: Mohandas Gando, the man who inspired million in South Africa
Speaker 1: and India to challenge their oppressors and convert enemies into
Speaker 1: friends in the world. Like in the World, Just like
Speaker 1: I'm Sean Braswell. This season on The Thread, we trace
Speaker 1: the origins of a powerful idea, non violent resistance. So far,
Speaker 1: we followed the Reverend Martin Luther King's journey to combat
Speaker 1: racial injustice in the United States. Then we heard about
Speaker 1: Bayard Rustin, King's tutor in non violence. Now we turn
Speaker 1: to the iconic figure behind Rusten and so many other
Speaker 1: social movements of the past century behind us Gandhi. Before
Speaker 1: Rustin helped shape the direction of the U s Civil
Speaker 1: rights movement, he journeyed to India in nineteen forty nine,
Speaker 1: shortly after Gandhi's death. There, Rustin learned firsthand about his
Speaker 1: heroes non violent tactics from those who knew Gandhi, best
Speaker 1: known as Mahatma or the great Ole. Gandhi was nothing
Speaker 1: short of a rebel genius. He took up the age
Speaker 1: old doctrines of love and pacifism and turned them into
Speaker 1: tools of resistance. Gandhi, armed only with love, humility, and disobedience,
Speaker 1: brought the most powerful empire on earth to the bargaining
Speaker 1: table and eventually to its knees. If you're joining us
Speaker 1: for the first time, we encourage you to go back
Speaker 1: and begin this season's interconnected journey with episode one. Gandhi
Speaker 1: was born in western India in eighteen sixty nine. He
Speaker 1: was the fourth and last child of a politician and
Speaker 1: a devout Hindu woman. Here's a ruined Gandhi again talking
Speaker 1: about his famous grandfather. He had all the weaknesses that
Speaker 1: teenagers have. He smoked cigarettes and he ate meat too,
Speaker 1: and his family was vegetarian, and he would lie to
Speaker 1: his parents. He just was not a very promising kid
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. This is Kit Miller, director
Speaker 1: of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non Violence, and
Speaker 1: I really loved telling people that because we have this
Speaker 1: idea that people like Gandhi are kind of coming straight
Speaker 1: out of the egg in a certain way, and it's
Speaker 1: far from the truth in his situation. Especially. Gandhi married
Speaker 1: his wife when they were both thirteen years old. It
Speaker 1: was an arranged marriage. Three years later, Gandhi's father unexpectedly
Speaker 1: died and it was decided that the teenager should leave
Speaker 1: for Great Britain in order to earn a law degree
Speaker 1: and helped support his family. Gandhi boarded a steamer bound
Speaker 1: for England one month before his nineteenth birthday. So Gandhi
Speaker 1: went off to London. He arrived there wearing a white
Speaker 1: suit in the wintertime and looked like an idiot. And
Speaker 1: I think he felt like an idiot a lot in
Speaker 1: the first especially weeks or months. There is an early
Speaker 1: photograph of the young Gandhi taken just after his arrival
Speaker 1: in London. He's almost unrecognizable to those who have only
Speaker 1: seen images of him as an older man. The young
Speaker 1: law student has no mustache or glasses. His thick black
Speaker 1: hair has parted on one side. At first in London,
Speaker 1: Gandhi was eager to fit in, to transform himself into
Speaker 1: a Victorian gentleman. He bought a top hat in an
Speaker 1: evening suit. He invested in French lessons, so he thought
Speaker 1: that if he changed himself and became like the British,
Speaker 1: speak their language, dressed like them, and you know, become
Speaker 1: British in every sense except the color. That he would
Speaker 1: be accepted more readily. And he attempted to do that,
Speaker 1: but he found that even that didn't help. Eventually, Gandhi
Speaker 1: began a different transformation in London. In addition to his
Speaker 1: legal studies, he read sacred Hindu and other religious texts.
Speaker 1: A British Bible salesman even persuaded Gandhi to read the
Speaker 1: Christian Holy Book. Gandhi later claimed that Jesus's Sermon on
Speaker 1: the Mount, including its admonition to love one's enemies, went
Speaker 1: straight to his heart in many ways. Gandhi was a
Speaker 1: changed man when he returned to India to practice law
Speaker 1: in eight But he was a lousy lawyer. He was
Speaker 1: so shy, didn't represent himself very well. He got one
Speaker 1: case in in what was then called Bombay and that
Speaker 1: didn't go very well. So there was a sense of
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? Gandhi was about to give up.
Speaker 1: Then he received an offer from South Africa the help
Speaker 1: resolve a legal dispute between two Indian businesses. He accepted
Speaker 1: the offer and decided he would try his luck in
Speaker 1: a new country. The twenty four year old Gandhi arrived
Speaker 1: in South Africa in eighteen It was not at all
Speaker 1: what the young lawyer was expecting. I think he was
Speaker 1: shocked by the racial prejudice in South Africa. It was
Speaker 1: an order of magnitude worse than anything he had encountered
Speaker 1: in India or in England. Gandhi boarded a train early
Speaker 1: on in his time in South Africa. He purchased a
Speaker 1: first class ticket, but when a white passenger complained about
Speaker 1: the Indian's presence in the first class compartment, two railway
Speaker 1: officials removed him from the train. Gandhi and his suitcases
Speaker 1: were tossed onto the platform at the next station. He
Speaker 1: spent the night in the station alone, far from home
Speaker 1: and freezing cold. And that's where he suffered his first
Speaker 1: physical act of prejudice, when he was thrown off the
Speaker 1: train because of the color of his skin. And that
Speaker 1: humiliation really brought about the transformation in his life. For me,
Speaker 1: that's one of the magic moments in Gandhi's life. Instead
Speaker 1: of becoming indignant simply on his own behalf, he made
Speaker 1: the moral leap. Sitting there that night to recognize that
Speaker 1: his situation was just one of a countless number of
Speaker 1: moments of prejudice and racism that was taking place, and
Speaker 1: he decided he wanted to do something about it. But
Speaker 1: Gandhi also realized that he didn't have the capacity to
Speaker 1: seek justice violently, so he wanted to find no reason
Speaker 1: which he could get justice without having to fight for it.
Speaker 1: And that's how the philosophy of non violence came about,
Speaker 1: and he began to practice that and that became his
Speaker 1: mission in life. Gandhi's commitment to justice and non violence
Speaker 1: led him to make an important decision. He decided to
Speaker 1: stay and help the Indian community fight for its rights.
Speaker 1: Instead of remaining in South Africa for one year to
Speaker 1: complete his legal assignment, Gandhi stayed for twenty one years.
Speaker 1: At first, Gandhi was a loyal subject of the British
Speaker 1: Empire and he worked to make change within the existing system,
Speaker 1: But he came to realize that those in power were
Speaker 1: not interested in changing the nation's laws or customs. Often
Speaker 1: they wanted to pass new ones. In nineteen o six,
Speaker 1: the government and transvol the Province of South Africa announced
Speaker 1: it would require all Indian men, women and children to
Speaker 1: register or imprisonment. Gandhi had an idea for how best
Speaker 1: to protest the new law. The first expression of non
Speaker 1: violence in a political frame actually took place on September
Speaker 1: nineteen o six. It's the other September eleven. In the
Speaker 1: following clip from film Gandhi, the young lawyer played by
Speaker 1: Ben Kingsley, makes his case for non violence and non cooperation.
Speaker 1: On that day before a hall packed with Indian labors.
Speaker 1: Gandhi proposed a new tactic. Whatever they do to us,
Speaker 1: we will attack no one, kill no one, but we
Speaker 1: will not give our fingerprints, not one of us. They
Speaker 1: will imprison us and they will find us. They will
Speaker 1: seize our possessions, but they cannot take away our self
Speaker 1: respect if we do not give it to them. Gandhi
Speaker 1: urged Indians not to register and to defy the new
Speaker 1: law regardless of punishment. Rallies and protests were staged across
Speaker 1: the country, which demonstrators burned their registration cards. I think
Speaker 1: he began to see that people who are moral had
Speaker 1: a duty to not obey unjust laws. Gandhi was sentenced
Speaker 1: to two months in prison for his own refusal to register.
Speaker 1: He began to move from being again like someone who
Speaker 1: really saw himself as a middle class attorney, to being
Speaker 1: someone who actually could best serve society by breaking the
Speaker 1: laws when they were not just. And Gandhi's assault on
Speaker 1: unjust laws was just beginning. A few years later, mine
Speaker 1: workers in South Africa organized a strike against a new
Speaker 1: government tax. At first, the striking miners went ahead without
Speaker 1: Gandhi's help. Their protests turned into violent confrontations with government
Speaker 1: forces and the strike went nowhere. Then Gandhi decided to
Speaker 1: organize a march with over two thousand demonstrators, one that
Speaker 1: took place over several days. He didn't let anybody show
Speaker 1: any anger or frustration. It was very peaceful. Gandhi was
Speaker 1: arrested and released on bail three times during the march.
Speaker 1: And then something incredible happened. The British official in South Africa,
Speaker 1: who previously used violence to stop the striking miners, asked
Speaker 1: Gandhi to come to the negotiating table, and during that
Speaker 1: time he confessed to Grandfather. He said, I could deal
Speaker 1: with the strikers because there was so much anger and
Speaker 1: frustration that that I could justify a violent action. But
Speaker 1: he says, I don't know how to deal with you
Speaker 1: because you are so compassionate and consider it towards us,
Speaker 1: and that is the key to a non violent action.
Speaker 1: We are not fighting an enemy, we are transforming a friend.
Speaker 1: Gandhi's new friend agreed to rescind the tax and in
Speaker 1: some of the other discriminatory laws against Indians. But Gandhi
Speaker 1: was still learning about the power of his new non
Speaker 1: violent philosophy, and his application of it was often imperfect.
Speaker 1: For example, he largely turned a blind eye to the
Speaker 1: suffering and discrimination being inflicted on the black South African population,
Speaker 1: and some modern scholars accused Gandhi of prejudice towards that community.
Speaker 1: Run Gandhi disagrees. He says that his grandfather's non violent
Speaker 1: mission merely began with his attempt to help his fellow Indians.
Speaker 1: So he felt that if it's difficult to convince my
Speaker 1: own people, how am I going to go and convince
Speaker 1: uh somebody else. Gandhi learned in South Africa that non
Speaker 1: violence could be a powerful tool for social protest, but
Speaker 1: he knew that his homeland in India was also suffering
Speaker 1: under colonial rule, and to combat that long standing injustice
Speaker 1: and pluck out the crown jewel of the British Empire.
Speaker 1: It would take a resistance movement unlike any of the
Speaker 1: world had ever seen. India had been under British rule
Speaker 1: for almost half a century. By the time gone He
Speaker 1: returned to his homeland in nineteen fourteen, a population of
Speaker 1: over three hundred million people was governed by a mere
Speaker 1: two thousand British civil servants and around sixty thousand soldiers.
Speaker 1: Ruined Gandhi again. His success in South Africa had attracted
Speaker 1: a lot of media attention in India, and many of
Speaker 1: the Indian leaders felt that he could make a tremendous
Speaker 1: contribution in India. Gandhi joined India's National Congress and, like
Speaker 1: many supported Great Britain in World War One and the
Speaker 1: hopes that the colonial power would treat India differently when
Speaker 1: the war was over. The British did the opposite. There
Speaker 1: were some really harsh laws that had been passed during
Speaker 1: World War One, which the Indians hoped and expected would
Speaker 1: be east up when the war ended, and on the contrary,
Speaker 1: harsher laws were put in place. Among other things, the
Speaker 1: new laws criminalized civil disobedience and prohibited more than ten
Speaker 1: In Dean's gathering in a public place at any one time.
Speaker 1: But the people were so you know, motivated by this
Speaker 1: non violent action that in spite of that rule, more
Speaker 1: than ten thousand of them gathered in a ground open
Speaker 1: ground in the middle of the city of Umrits. That
Speaker 1: open ground was a large six acre public garden with
Speaker 1: walls on all sides and only five entrances. When Colonel
Speaker 1: Reginald Dyer, the local British officer in charge, heard about
Speaker 1: the crowd gathered there, he decided to quash the protest.
Speaker 1: Dire later testified quote, I had made up my mind
Speaker 1: I would do all the men to death. He brought
Speaker 1: his military and surrounded the crowd of ten thousand and
Speaker 1: opened fire on them point blank range, and within minutes
Speaker 1: he killed more than three d and eighty six people.
Speaker 1: Gandhi responded to the blood and violence in Amritzar by
Speaker 1: encouraging Indians to boycott British goods, schools, jobs, courts, and
Speaker 1: honors to refuse to pay their taxes. For months, Gandhi
Speaker 1: toured the countryside in the torrid summer heat, speaking to
Speaker 1: large crowds. He encouraged them to weave their own clothes
Speaker 1: and to avoid British apparel. The crowds piled up shirts, coats,
Speaker 1: pants and other clothes, which Gandhi set a fire. Gandhi's
Speaker 1: non violent army in India was taking shape, but British
Speaker 1: officials arrested Gandhi for preaching sedition in nineteen twenty two.
Speaker 1: He was sentenced to six years in prison. Gandhi smiled
Speaker 1: as he was led away to jail. Gandhi served only
Speaker 1: two years of his sentence during that time. In the
Speaker 1: remainder of the nineteen twenties, the British succeeded in thwarting
Speaker 1: India's growing independence movement. They used a divide in rule policy.
Speaker 1: They exploited the existing tensions between Hindus and Muslims in
Speaker 1: India to consolidate their own power. A ruined Gandhi. So
Speaker 1: they they exacerbated all of these divisions that existed in
Speaker 1: society and kept people fighting within themselves and not the British.
Speaker 1: So Gandhi also devoted himself to helping his fellow Indians
Speaker 1: improve themselves. Kit Miller again, his attention very naturally turned
Speaker 1: to well what kind of country will we be after
Speaker 1: they leave um? And then also trying to get people
Speaker 1: to become able to be non violent. He many times
Speaker 1: called off campaigns if violence would break out, and he
Speaker 1: would fast himself in penance, um using his own moral
Speaker 1: credibility with the Indian people to try to get them
Speaker 1: to stay nonviolent even when they were provoked. British officials
Speaker 1: in India had no idea how to respond to the
Speaker 1: unorthodox tactics being used by the quiet man in sandals
Speaker 1: and a white loincloth. They told new administrators when they
Speaker 1: were coming from England to India to stay away from
Speaker 1: Gandhi because he was so compelling. Ah, he like literally,
Speaker 1: holl Gandhi will get you, they said. Gandhi's impact on
Speaker 1: his own people was even more remarkable. He was really
Speaker 1: regarded as a saint. I mean, he didn't ask for
Speaker 1: the honorific of Mahatma. He didn't actually like it because
Speaker 1: he felt that it separated him from other people. He
Speaker 1: lived ate, dressed and traveled like the poorest people in
Speaker 1: a very poor country. When he was asked why he
Speaker 1: always traveled third class, he said he smiled and said,
Speaker 1: because there's no fourth class. Still, the man they referred
Speaker 1: to as Bapu or father, had not delivered on any
Speaker 1: major reforms that was about to change. Gandhi would demonstrate
Speaker 1: the power of non violence to the world as it
Speaker 1: had never been shown, a message that would resonate with
Speaker 1: Bayard Ruston, Martin, Luther King, and others down corridors of
Speaker 1: history to this day. Gandhi grew frustrated by the pace
Speaker 1: of progress in India. He knew he needed something that
Speaker 1: would break through, that would put more pressure on the
Speaker 1: British and forced them to change course. And then he
Speaker 1: found it. The colonizers made Indians by British salt at
Speaker 1: a high price, even though Indians could make it much
Speaker 1: cheaper themselves. Gandhi knew he had his pressure point ruined.
Speaker 1: Gandhi again, he suddenly realized that this would be a
Speaker 1: great way of mobilizing the entire community, because salt is
Speaker 1: something that everybody were, the rich or poor or whatever.
Speaker 1: Everybody needed salt. So he announced the launching of the
Speaker 1: AsSalt March and the defiance of the AsSalt Law. Gandhi
Speaker 1: and seventy eight followers set out from a village in
Speaker 1: western India for a two hundred and forty one mile march.
Speaker 1: They had to due south towards the sea. The British were.
Speaker 1: They laughed it off. Then they didn't do anything um
Speaker 1: to prepare for this kind of major revolution that it became,
Speaker 1: and millions of people joined within a couple of days.
Speaker 1: That's when the British realized, how you know, popular this was,
Speaker 1: but by then it was too late for them to
Speaker 1: do anything to stop it. Gandhi and his followers watched
Speaker 1: for twenty four days from village to village along winding
Speaker 1: dirt roads, the army growing in size at every stop.
Speaker 1: Soon the eyes of the world were transfixed on Gandhi
Speaker 1: in India, and by the time they finished up, there
Speaker 1: were thousands of people walking along. Kit Miller. He was
Speaker 1: in his late sixties by then, and he just he
Speaker 1: could just eat up the ground walking. He was he
Speaker 1: was just on fire. Gandhi and his followers finally reached
Speaker 1: the country's coast in the early morning. Gandhi scooped up
Speaker 1: a handful of mud and salt left by the ocean
Speaker 1: in defiance of the British law. He declared, with this salt,
Speaker 1: I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire. People.
Speaker 1: Immediately after the first moment of when he grabbed the
Speaker 1: salt from the shore people all over the country started
Speaker 1: to follow suit, and um, you know, it was a
Speaker 1: remarkable moment of people recognizing that they could be free.
Speaker 1: That Salt March and and the defiance of the salt
Speaker 1: law was the last straw on the camel's back, and
Speaker 1: from that point onwards, independence was inevitable. The following year,
Speaker 1: Gandhi traveled to England to argue for Indian independence. Fear
Speaker 1: years at last the mystery man of India, and he's
Speaker 1: carrying with him is pots and pans, which he declared
Speaker 1: that the customers. When asked to speak into the sound
Speaker 1: film microphone, he said, I think not. Gandhi, now aged sixty,
Speaker 1: did agree to some interviews, though his words were fear,
Speaker 1: if England does not grant to your demand, what force
Speaker 1: of action will follow them? Of course, colia civil disobedience,
Speaker 1: Gandhi answered, But Britain's leaders did not grant Gandhi's demands,
Speaker 1: so he pressed on. This is Gandhi addressing a crowd
Speaker 1: in Geneva, Switzerland, after his trip to Great Britain. I
Speaker 1: regard my tip as a soldier, though a soldier of Pe,
Speaker 1: the soldier of peace was greeted as a conquering hero
Speaker 1: when he returned back to India, and he was more
Speaker 1: convinced than ever that India could prevail over Britain using
Speaker 1: love and non violence. It was just a question of
Speaker 1: how long that would take up Next, Gandhi's dream of
Speaker 1: independence for India was realized, but not without a steep price.
Speaker 1: Gandhi returned home to India nineteen thirty one. He is
Speaker 1: a hero beloved, but India is still under British rule.
Speaker 1: Gandhi continued to lead his fellow Indians and acts of
Speaker 1: civil disobedience and non violent protests throughout the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1: It had only a modest effect. Britain responded with more
Speaker 1: violence and oppression. Then the Second World War intervened. Finally,
Speaker 1: in the years following the war, great Britain's resolves started
Speaker 1: to fade. It came to the table, ruined Gandhi again.
Speaker 1: I think the you know, the massive defiance in India
Speaker 1: against British rule, plus the tremendous losses that they suffered
Speaker 1: in War War two, really broke the back of the
Speaker 1: British and decided that, you know, it's time that they
Speaker 1: gave India independence. August fifteenth nine, Independence Day for India.
Speaker 1: In London, the flags of the new Indian Union flattered
Speaker 1: over the headquarters of India and Pakistan. An era has ended,
Speaker 1: a new epoch begins. The Indian subcontinent achieved its independence,
Speaker 1: but only after its land was divided along religious lines
Speaker 1: into Hindu controlled India and Muslim ruled Pakistan. Gandhi was
Speaker 1: quite heartbroken with away. Independence was finally broken. Because of it,
Speaker 1: the divisiveness between Hindus and Muslims um I mean, he
Speaker 1: really went to the mat to try to avoid um
Speaker 1: that division. Gandhi feared that partition of the Indian subcontinent
Speaker 1: would spark widespread violence between Hindus and Muslims. He was right.
Speaker 1: The streets filled with corpses. Decades of non violent resistance
Speaker 1: were drowned in a river of blood. The possibility of
Speaker 1: death was a constant companion for Gandhi, but he continued
Speaker 1: on kit Miller again. He wouldn't take the security. He
Speaker 1: just would continue in his daily habits, so very easy
Speaker 1: target for assassination. Like he knew he was putting himself
Speaker 1: at risk, but it was not his His own safety
Speaker 1: was not his highest priority. Gandhi was on his way
Speaker 1: to address a prayer meeting on the evening of January
Speaker 1: when a young Hindu nationalists fired three bullets into his
Speaker 1: chest at point blank range. Gandhi died soon after. You know,
Speaker 1: when someone was crediting him for being non violent, he said, well,
Speaker 1: my test of non violence will really be at the
Speaker 1: end of my life. Will I be able to if
Speaker 1: I'm killed by someone? Will I be able to die
Speaker 1: with my prayers for their well being on my lips?
Speaker 1: Close to a million people to send it on New
Speaker 1: Delhi to pay homage, to go and watch as his
Speaker 1: body was burned atop a large funeral pyre. All this
Speaker 1: time wherever he went, I'm a Hatma's doctrine of commonal
Speaker 1: peace brought hope and faith to millions in village and city.
Speaker 1: Are luck. The news of it went all around the world,
Speaker 1: And you think about it. You know, Gandhi never had
Speaker 1: an army, he never had political office, he never had
Speaker 1: any money. I think he died with like five possessions,
Speaker 1: you know. So to think of someone who lived their
Speaker 1: life in the way that he did and had such
Speaker 1: enormous moral power, moral force, it changed the world, you know,
Speaker 1: the way he lived changed the world. Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: once wrote of Gandhi quote, with a little love and understanding, goodwill,
Speaker 1: and a refusal to cooperate with an evil law, he
Speaker 1: was able to break the backbone of the British Empire.
Speaker 1: More than three nine million people achieved their freedom, and
Speaker 1: they achieved it non violently. Gandhi became a singular figure
Speaker 1: in the eyes of the world, but even the Mahatma
Speaker 1: stood on the shoulders of another great man. In fact,
Speaker 1: Gandhi's roade to non violence originated with an eccentric novelist
Speaker 1: who lived more than five thousand miles away. Gandhi's interest
Speaker 1: in non violence stemmed from a variety of people in places.
Speaker 1: He spoke always about the women in his life as
Speaker 1: being key people showing him non violence. Gandhi was also
Speaker 1: influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and the teachings of Jesus.
Speaker 1: But the person who really caught Gandhi's attention was the
Speaker 1: famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. In the eighteen nineties, Gandhi
Speaker 1: read The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Tolstoy's treatise
Speaker 1: on Love and non violence. Gandhi later wrote that Tolstoi's
Speaker 1: book quote overwhelmed me ruined Gandhi again. The idea of
Speaker 1: non violence began to mature are in his mind. He
Speaker 1: realized that there is nothing disobedient about wanting justice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so he came to know about Tolstoy and had
Speaker 1: read some of dult sty book, and so he borrowed
Speaker 1: DLS toys A Passive Resistance in Night. Two years before
Speaker 1: his death, the eighty year old Tolstoy wrote an essay
Speaker 1: about the British occupation of India. He asked how millions
Speaker 1: of Indians could be enslaved by so few British and
Speaker 1: he provided the answer. The Indians were enslaving themselves through
Speaker 1: their cooperation with evil. The solutions at Tolstoy was love
Speaker 1: and non cooperation. He advised the Indians quote, do not
Speaker 1: resist the evil doer, and no one in the world
Speaker 1: will be able to enslave you. Tolstoy's words touched a
Speaker 1: nerve in the young Gandhi, who was attempting to help
Speaker 1: Indians overcome oppression in South Africa. After he accepted passive resistance,
Speaker 1: he wanted to learn a little bit more about it
Speaker 1: from Tolsto and so he started a correspondence with him,
Speaker 1: which we went on for several years back and forth.
Speaker 1: In those letters, Gandhi shared with Tolstoy the details of
Speaker 1: his struggles with the British and South Africa and sought
Speaker 1: his advice. Tolsto was thrilled to hear about the young
Speaker 1: activists who was trying to turn the principles of non
Speaker 1: violence into true political action. Just two months before Tolstoy's death,
Speaker 1: in one of the last letters he would ever write,
Speaker 1: he praised Gandhi's peaceful resistance in South Africa, calling it
Speaker 1: the most weighty, practical proof that such a course of
Speaker 1: action could work. Leo Tolstoy is perhaps best known today
Speaker 1: for his novels including Warren Peace and Anna Karinina, but
Speaker 1: his biggest legacy and gift to the world might be
Speaker 1: his ideas on non violence. The young Gandhi embraced those
Speaker 1: ideas and altered the course of the twentieth century, and
Speaker 1: in turn he inspired a black activist named Bayard Rust,
Speaker 1: who then handed the gift down to a young preacher
Speaker 1: named Martin Luther King Jr. Next week, on the thread
Speaker 1: count Leo Tolstoy, The Privileged Russian playboy who turned himself
Speaker 1: into one of the greatest novelists of all time before
Speaker 1: giving it all up to change the world in the world,
Speaker 1: just like change in the world, Just like, just Like.
Speaker 1: The Thread is produced by Libby Coleman, Robert Coulos, Sophia
Speaker 1: Perpetua and me Sean braswell Chris Hoff engineered our show.
Speaker 1: This episode features the song Be the Change by mc yogi.
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Speaker 1: you want to see in the world. It's just like
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