Satyagraha in Large-scale Conflict
When using satyagraha in a large-scale political conflict involving civil disobedience, Gandhi believed that the satyagrahis must undergo training to ensure discipline. He wrote that it is “only when people have proved their active loyalty by obeying the many laws of the State that they acquire the right of Civil Disobedience.”
He therefore made part of the discipline that satyagrahis:
- appreciate the other laws of the State and obey them voluntarily
- tolerate these laws, even when they are inconvenient
- be willing to undergo suffering, loss of property, and to endure the suffering that might be inflicted on family and friends
This obedience has to be not merely grudging, but extraordinary:
…an honest, respectable man will not suddenly take to stealing whether there is a law against stealing or not, but this very man will not feel any remorse for failure to observe the rule about carrying headlights on bicycles after dark.… But he would observe any obligatory rule of this kind, if only to escape the inconvenience of facing a prosecution for a breach of the rule. Such compliance is not, however, the willing and spontaneous obedience that is required of a Satyagrahi.Read more about this topic: Satyagraha
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