Mohandas K. Gandhi A Brief Biography

Early Years Educated in law at University College in London, he tried to establish a law practice in Bombay, India in 1891 but was unsuccessful. In 1893 he got a job at an Indian law firm that did business in South Africa and traveled there to work. Gandhi in South Africa

Early Years in South Africa In South Africa, he was appalled by the widespread denial of civil liberties and rights to Indian immigrants. He decided to fight for elementary rights for Indians in South Africa.

Early Years in South Africa He remained in South Africa for 20 years and was put in jail many times. In 1896, he was attacked and humiliated by white South Africans and began to teach a policy of passive resistance and non- cooperation with South African authorities.

Early Years in South Africa Gandhi was inspired by many writers in his time. Part of his inspiration and ideas came from Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. He also said Christ was an inspiration. American writer Henry David Thoreau inspired Gandhi with his essay Civil Disobedience.

Early Years in South Africa In 1914 the British authorities in South Africa, under the command of General Smuts, agreed to Gandhi’s demands. The British agreed to legally recognize Indian marriages and to abolish the poll tax. He then returned to India. Gandhi returns to India from South Africa in 1915.

Campaigns in India After WWI, Gandhi began his non-violent, passive resistance to British rule of India. It was called his campaign for “home rule.” In 1919, during peaceful Indian protests, British soldiers massacred 1,000 peaceful protesters. Massacre at Amritsar.

Campaigns in India In 1920, when the British failed to make amends for the massacre, Gandhi organized a huge labor boycott. Gandhi was arrested, but the British were forced to release him for fear of rioting.

Campaigns in India He then advocated for economic independence for India and organized a boycott of British goods. He proposed that all Indians make their own clothes out of Indian cloth – “homespun” – and started using his sown spinning wheel to make cloth for his own clothes.

Campaigns in India He refused earthly possessions and wore the lowliest of clothing: a loincloth and shawl. He only ate vegetables, fruit juices and goat’s milk. People started calling him Mahatma which means great-souled.

Campaigns in India In 1921 Gandhi became the head of the Indian National Congress. He continued to preach non- violent resistance. But the Indian people started a series of armed revolts against the British, and Gandhi called off the civil-disobedience campaign to prevent further violence. In 1922 the British again imprisoned him.

Campaigns in India In 1930, the Mahatma announced a new campaign of civil disobedience and called upon the Indian people to stop paying taxes – particularly the tax on salt. His protest was a march to the sea where salt was made. Once more he was arrested but released in 1931 after the British made concessions to his demands. Gandhi during his march to the sea to make salt.

Campaigns in India In 1932 he began new civil disobedience campaigns and was arrested twice. Gandhi protested by fasting for long periods of time. The British had to make further concessions because if Gandhi had died in prison, revolution might have broken out. Gandhi uses a fast as a protest tool.

Campaigns in India In 1934 he resigned from the Indian National Congress and named Jawaharlal Nehru as his successor. The Congress party refused to support the British war effort in WWII unless they were granted immediate independence. The British refused. Gandhi and Nehru

Campaigns in India When Japan entered the war, Gandhi still refused Indian participation in the war and was jailed again. But he was released in 1944 due to failing health.

Campaigns in India By 1944 the British had agreed to Indian independence on the condition that the two contending groups, the Muslim League and the Congress Party (mostly Hindu) would resolve their differences. One of Gandhi’s Muslim associates, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, wanted an independent state for Muslims which would split India into two countries.

Campaigns in India Gandhi was completely opposed to splitting the country he had fought to liberate, but threats of civil war forced him to finally agree. During the riots that surrounded the partition of India, he fasted two different times until the people agreed to stop fighting. Ultimately India was split into two countries: Pakistan in the northeast and north west and India. 1947 partition of India

Gandhi Quotations Victory attained by violence is tantamount to defeat, for it is momentary. When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail– think of it: ALWAYS. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or another. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and we will make not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large. Choose one quote from the list on the right and explain, using the Answer Plan format, how it relates to the Transformational Leadership style we have discussed.