16 February 2016
3 hours

Devi Prasad Papers
Continuation Archive Box 63. The cover states: WRI book / documentation on peace and nonviolence / II / copies of documents used for Prasad’s book / 1960-1992.
- “Some Reflections on Mahatma Gandhi: a Draft for Comments”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Dharampel. Date: 1985. Format: A4. 20 pages.
In six short chapters Dharampel presents his thoughts on Gandhi. His quest, Dharampel states, was ‘Moksha’ (emancipation, liberation), “gained through the service of his fellow beings”. A vital part of this function was the ashram, which “is by many supposed to be the prototype of the society as it was envisaged by Gandhi. To treat the ashram so seems to be a grievous error. The ashram was primarily a training institute which provided a common discipline and purpose, and a toughening of the body as well as the spirit. If it is not considered blasphemous to say so, the ashram may be likened to an army training camp in which, while the armaments and the drill were wholly different, the purpose as well as the daily routine were very similar. The ashrams and the ever increasing fall-out from them, were meant to forge India in togetherness, and to create an army, which not only proved to be as tough as the forces of the adversary but under the generalship of Gandhi was two or three paces ahead of British strategy and forces at least till about 1942.” Dharampel continues to note that the ashram was much more than just that, they were also at the centre and the promoters of “constructive activity”. Despite their critical role it would be an error to treat the ashram – or items of its constructive program – as Gandhi’s main social message. However important they were, in the end they were only of transient value and subservient to the main cause “of throwing away the foreign yoke and helping and furthering the desirable order.”
The society that Gandhi envisioned was not obsessed with “speed and progress” and the overexploitation of resources. What mattered most was that it had a moral and spiritual core, “that its various constituents were in a state of balance, and that whatever changes took place happened in a manner that the relationship of the constituents was not unduly disturbed.

- “Reason, Nonviolence, and Global Legal Change”
Original typescript. Author: Beverly Woodward. Date: 1972. Format: A4. 38 pages.
An extended version of this draft article was published under the same title in Philosophy, morality, and international affairs; essays edited for the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs (New York, Oxford University Press, 1974).
In this article Woodward lays the foundations for a new global legal framework based on the principles of nonviolence. A key element of her rationale is the complex relationship between nonviolence and coercion. Woodward states that most nonviolent tactics have coercive aspects, which has led some critics to claim that they are in fact violent (according to Woodward, these critics fail to see the difference between force and violence). Only a small minority of the nonviolent community fully denounces coercion – Guy Hershberger, a Mennonite, is one of the few to reject coercion full stop. In practice, though, the rejection of violence does not automatically include the rejection of coercion, as “the avoidance of every form of coercion seems even more unlikely a feat than the avoidance of every form of violence, a theoretical problem remains. If violence is defined so as to include its core meaning of doing harm or injury, than coercion can only be nonviolent if it’s non-injurious, and some would deny that this can ever be possible. Thus it is necessary to ask whether there is not always a kind of harm done when one ‘will’ replaces another.” 
In her discussion of the problem she relies on Kant to differentiate between willful acts and autonomous acts and the relation between autonomous and reasonable acts, an analysis which does not end in a clear-cut conclusion. Instead she offers a tentative solution. According to Woodward, coercion can be part of a larger social process in which its goal is not merely to succeed, but to make itself progressively less necessary. “Traditionally this has occurred through the substitution of authority for coercion. There is a catch to this, however. Authority that comes to be viewed has having no basis in reality, that comes to be called ‘irrational’, must once again resort to coercion. Therefore, if one cares about the long run, it is not just any kind of authority that should be striven for, but rational authority.”

Archive Box 63. Folder III. The cover states: WRI book / documentation on peace and nonviolence / III / copies of documents used for Prasad’s book / 1960-1992.
- “The Casualties of the War in Vietnam: an Address by Dr. Martin Luther King”
Typescript (copied on paper watermarked Hammerhill Bond). Author: Martin Luther King. Date: 1967 (February 25^th). Format: A4. 19 pages. 
In his speech, delivered at the Nation Institute in Los Angeles on February 25, 1967, King used the Vietnam conflict to highlight the evils of war in general. In relation to the Vietnam War, though, he was particularly concerned with the “casualties of principles and values”. 
He distinguished six casualties: (1) “the Charter of the United Nations. In taking armed action against the Vietcong and North Vietnam, the United States clearly violated the United Nations charter”; (2) “the principle of self-determination. By entering a war that is little more than a domestic civil war, America has ended up supporting a new form of colonialism. […] Whether we realize it or not our participation in the war in Vietnam is an ominous expression of our lack of sympathy for the oppressed, our paranoid anti-Communism, our failure to feel the ache and anguish of the Have Nots. It reveals our willingness to continue participating in neo-colonialist adventures”; (3) “the Great Society. This confused war has played havoc with our domestic destinies. Despite feeble protestations to the contrary, the promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam. The pursuit of this widened war has narrowed domestic welfare programs, making the poor, white and Negro, bear the heaviest burdens both at the front and at home”, (4) “the humility of our nation. Through rugged determination, scientific and technological progress and dazzling achievements, America has become the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But honesty impels me to admit that our power has often made us arrogant. We feel that our money can do anything. […] We often arrogantly feel that we have some divine, messianic mission to police the whole world. We are arrogant in not allowing young nations to go through the same growing pains, turbulence and revolution that characterized our history. We are arrogant in our contention that we have some sacred mission to protect people from totalitarian rule, while we make little use of our power to end the evils of South Africa and Rhodesia, and while we are in fact supporting dictatorships with guns and money under the guise of fighting Communism”, (5) “the principle of dissent. An ugly repressive sentiment to silence peace seekers depicts advocates of immediate negotiation and persons who call for a cessation of bombings in the north as quasi-traitors, fools and venal enemies of our soldiers and institutions. When those who stand for peace are so vilified it is time to consider where we are going and whether free speech has not become one of the major casualties of the war”; and (6) “the prospect of mankind's survival. This war has created the climate for greater armament and further expansion of destructive nuclear power. One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everybody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody's business among the power wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace.”
King concludes that it is not enough to say “that we must not wage war”, “we will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path”, and he remarks that Ulysses was only able to resist the temptation of the Sirens after taking on board Orpheus, “the beautiful singer whose melodies were sweeter than the music of the Sirens. […] So we must fix our visions not merely on the negative expulsion of war. But upon the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.”

- “The Ambiguous Strategy of JP’s Last Phase”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Geoffrey Ostergaard. Date: 1980. Format: A4. 40 pages.
The article is published in In theory and in practice : essays on the politics of Jayaprakash Narayan (Delhi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1985).

Archive Box 64. Folder I. The cover states: Documentation 1962-1992.
- “Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini (Student Youth Direct Action Force)”
Typescript, carbon copy (very poor quality). Author: Gimpel. No date [ca. 1979]. Format: A4. 12 pages.
Article on the formation of the ‘Vahini’ (nonviolent army), Jayaprakash Narayan’s force of disciplined young men and women, organized like an army, who were destined to make ‘Lok’ (the people) more powerful as to control the ‘Tantra’ (the system) in order to have true ‘Loktantra’. The Vahini was the backbone of JP’s Total Revolution. In order to safeguard a true revolutionary spirit, all participants were young people of the ages between 14 and 30.

- “Notes for Gandhi as an Organiser (confidential)”
Typescript, carbon copy (very poor quality). Author: Bob Overy. Date: 1977. Format: A4. 12 pages. 
This case study of Gandhi’s organisational skills focuses on the struggle in Champaran, specifically on how he organized support for his activities, how he nurtured his movement by the way he approached his opponents and how he reacted to his opponents’ reaction to this approach. Overy’s main intention is to “look behind the cult around Gandhi” and to study his innovative qualities as a political organizer. Some of Gandhi’s best ‘movers’ according to Overy’s: during the Champaran situation Gandhi protected himself by keeping public officials fully informed of everything he did, so he could not be accused of trickery; his willingness to go to jail, which might have created serious, all-India agitation at a time when Britain had few troops in India; his success at rousing peasant interest and support; his outspoken and clearly genuine opposition to violence; and his friendly and courteous demeanor at all times. Yet, Overy continues, Gandhi had aimed to develop his own idea of Swaraj (Home Rule) in Champaran through constructive work in education, sanitation and hygiene. And in this he failed. He also aimed at creating “social harmony between planter and cultivator in Champaran. Änd in this he had failed as well. 

- “Prelude to the Bihar Movement: Sarvodaya and the Search for Nonviolent Revolution in India”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Geoffrey Ostergaard. Date: 1975. Format: A4. 10 pages.
There is only one online reference to this article (www.gandhiserve.org/sale/library_books_english/nonviolence/nonviolence.html), which indicates it was published in 1978 in New Delhi.