9 February 2016 
4 hours

Continuation Devi Prasad Archive Box 57
Archive Box 57.
The cover states: Articles on Gandhi’s perspective.
- “An effort to put different aspects of Gandhi’s ideas in a coherent form: first draft”
Typescript, original. Authors: Devi Prasad and Bindu Parikh. Date: 1977. Format: A4. 4 pages.
A book proposal for a new, systematic study of Gandhi’s political, social and educational philosophy. The authors state that Gandhi’s aversion to ‘isms’ (“which tend to become mechanical and dehumanizing”) lead him to focus on values which minimize exploitation of any kind and on “discovering techniques for effective practice of these values […] and evolving tools which individuals and groups can use for resisting power when abused.”
Gandhi wrote no ‘manifesto’ for a nonviolent revolution. The basis of his agenda is to be found in the Ekadasha Vrata (the ‘eleven vows’: Satya-Truth; Ahimsa-Nonviolence; Brahmacharya-Celibacy; Asteya-Non-stealing; Aparigraha or Asangraha-Non-possession; Sharira-Shrama-Physical labour or Bread Labour; Asvada-Control of Palate; Abhaya-Fearlessness; Sarva-Dharma-Samanatva- Equal respect for all Religions; Swadeshi-Duty towards Neighbour; and Asprishyatanivarana - Removal of Untouchability), his daily prayer. “We feel that these ‘vratas’ seen all together present what can be called Gandhi’s political and social philosophy. Singly, these vows may, and often do, give a conservative picture. Put together and woven in a pattern they show all the necessary ingredients of a wholistic socio-political philosophy.”

- “Lenin and Gandhi: Contemporary Revolutionaries – Paper Presented at the International Scientific Symposium Lenyin I Surrememost, Zagreb, 7-9-1976”
Original typescript. Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1976. Format: A4. 13 pages.
Paper dealing with the similarities and differences between Lenin and Gandhi. Prasad lists as similarities their year of birth, their middle class upbringing, their sober, simple lifestyles, the idealization of the commune and their violent deaths. 
Their paths diverge in the area of the role of the individual (Gandhi: the individual is the architect of his own government), the means of production (the soviet economy is basically an industrial economy with a different set of rules, which differs radically from Gandhi’s constructive program and his ideas on how to develop an economy), means and ends (for Gandhi means and ends were one and the same, destructive means can never bring about constructive ends), the role of the party and state power. 
Prasad ends with what he calls a ‘naïve’ hypothesis – just a hunch, really – that would Lenin have lived for another 24 years, as Gandhi did, on most of these issues Lenin would have moved to a more Gandhian position. 

- “Gandhi’s Nonviolence”
Original typescript. Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1991. Format: A4. 16 pages.
A memorial lecture to commemorate the death of Fr. Michael Rodrigo (better known as Father Mike), a Sri Lankan priest who had been assassinated in 1987. Prasad draws a parallel between Rodrigo and Gandhi, as both were assassinated and Rodrigo had furthered “a dialogue of presence and a dialogue of life” and the reconciliation of Christians and Buddhists, whereas Gandhi was “a medium for bringing about reconciliation and human liberation” who tried to reconcile Hindu’s and Muslims.
Prasad provides a short biography of Gandhi, how he came to his ideas and he offers a link between the origin of his Satyagraha and the 1917 “Champaran situation”. In the ensuing court case, Prasad states, “Gandhi could have easily defended himself legalistically”, but he refused to do so. He was not interested in merely resisting evil. Instead, this would be the beginning of “a political and moral struggle to eliminate exploitation and to prepare an exploited community to face the situation nonviolently and courageously”. Prasad sees this as “a holistic image of Satyagraha in theory and action”, which would become the “Handbook of Satyagraha”. He further sketches the origins and implementation of the Constructive Program and that of nonviolent defence, and he concludes by stating that if the peace movement wants to be of any relevance it will need to integrate Gandhi’s Constructive Program, as well as Gandhi’s ideas on education (new education) and nonviolent defence.

- “Gandhi and the Indian Renaissance”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1982. Format: A4. 23 pages.
Background article for the 1982 WRI Study seminar. 
The first half of the article is devoted to the systematic destruction of the Indian economy, culture, educational system and social fabric under British rule. “The greatest tragedy was that Indians were so oppressed and humiliated that they accepted their image which was created in the British mind to be true. The poor lost their hope and energy to regain their vitality; and the elite, the English educated, saw hope only in imitating the ways of the West for their own upliftment.” Could the Indian elite possibly turn this dismal situation around, Prasad asks. Well, “If you discover after returning home that you have lost something while shopping, you do not look for it in the house. This is simple wisdom which applies to the freedom of the individual and of a community or nation. This was the secret of Gandhi […] He went back to the economic and cultural history of the people of India, only to discover that a society which had reached a high level of social, economic and political maturity was first defeated, impoverished and subdued by the deceitful, greedy and unscrupulous forces of imperialism. It was plundered and made helpless because it was torn and divided within itself. 
The second half is devoted to a short biography of Gandhi and the processes he had set in motion (Champaran, the Salt Satyagraha): “Between 1916 and 1930 the country was systematically consciousized [sic] and educated in nonviolent thinking. Secondly, a sizeable second and third level leadership had emerged which was fairly close to Gandhi in his analysis and program, even though it was in most cases more on a tactical than a philosophical basis.” Other elements are Gandhi’s great organizational skills, as well as his attempt not to alienate the moderates or the extremists. Together with the constructive program and new education all this produced a renaissance that was different in that, in its struggle for social change, it was not directed against the enemy of a certain class of people, but against evil itself: “Once you have created and strengthened the anti-evil, the anti-oppression forces in the community, the evildoer has little opportunity and courage to practices his ‘profession’. We have seen and experienced that eliminating the evildoer does not eliminate the evil.”

Archive Box 58. The cover states: Articles on childhood, art and education / 1981-2001.
A series of general articles on art and education, without references to Gandhi or nonviolence.

Archive Box 13. The cover states: WRI India / 1961-1962.
Correspondence, minutes and memo’s from the Indian section of the WRI.

Archive Box 14. The cover states: WRI India / 1985-1991.
Correspondence, minutes and memo’s from the Indian section of the WRI.

Archive Box 15. The cover states: WRI reports on conferences, visits and staff members / 1962-1991.
A collection of reports on staff and HQ problems.

Archive Box 63. The cover states: WRI book / documentation on peace and nonviolence / I / copies of documents used for Prasad’s book / 1960-1988.
- “Is it possible to struggle for social justice and at the same time respect man?”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Hebato Montes de Oca Sein. No date [ca. 1970]. Format: A4. 6 pages.
“Is there truely a method that draws man out of passivity, resignation, conformism and fear? A method that draws man out of passive acceptance of injustice, exploitation, oppression, repression, colonialism or any other structure based on injustice? Is there a method that will serve men to struggle without weapons that kill fellow men for the liberation of people?”
The answer – in a long series of quotes from Helder Camara, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Che Guevara and many others – is nonviolent liberation action.

- “JP’s Total Revolution: In Retrospect and Prospect”
Typescript (possibly original). Author: Geoffrey Ostergaard. Date: 1979. Format: A4. 21 pages.
Ostergaard’s Resisting the Nation State contains a reference (the only one I could find) to this article. In a note it says that it has been published in Vigil (Calcutta) 2, nos 14-17 (November-December 1979). 
In his fascinating article Ostergaard delves into the turmoil and complexities of 1970’s Indian politics. He evaluates the politics of Jay Prakash Narayan (JP), whose ideology moved from nationalism to Marxism to democratic socialism to Sarvodaya, Gandhi’s social and political program, and finally to his concept of Total Revolution. Ostergaard portrays JP as the third in line (after Gandhi and Bhave) and concludes that the nonviolent movement always centered around a charismatic leader.
The Total Revolution itself followed the familiar Gandhian path of deploying political discontent to drive forward a wider movement for all-round social, economical and cultural change, as a way to fight the government of Indira Gandhi, who in 1975 had proclaimed a state of emergency, which was by and large backed by Vinoba Bhave. After the election of 1977, which put an end to the state of emergency and saw JP victorious (he had the backing of the Socialist Party, the Jana Sangh, Dal and some splinter movements) the way was open for a more active support of the Gandhian program. After various initial successes, the total revolution grinded to a halt, partly due to JP’s death in 1979, but mostly, as Ostergaard shows, because JP’s electoral success was not so much based on a wide public support for his revolution but on a general and vehement dislike of the Indira Gandhi government.

Box 63 is to be continued next week