Jump to content

Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/877

From Wikisource
This page needs to be proofread.

'indefinitely prolonged, In all the strikes that I have ever conducted I have laid down one indispensable rule fchab labourers must find their own support. And therein lies the secret of suooess and therein consists your education. You should be able to perceive that, if you are able to serve one master and command a particular wage, your labour must be worthy and fib to receive that wage any where else. Strikers therefore cannot expect to be idlers and succeed. Your attempts must be just. And there should be no pressure exerted upon those whom you call " black legs." Any force of this kind exerted against your own fellow- labourers is bound to react upon yourselves. And I think your advisers will tell you that these three condition* being fulfilled no strike need fail. But they at once demonstrate to you the necessity of thinking a hundred times before under- taking a strike. So much for your rights and the method of enforcing them But as labour becomes organised strikes must be few and far between. And as your mental and collective development progresses, you will find that the principle of arbitration replaces the principle of strikes and the time has now arrived when we should reach this state.

I would now venture to say a few words in connec- tion with your national responsibility. Jusfa as you have to understand obligations amongst ourselves with reference to your own masters, so also is it necessary to understand your obligations to the nation to which you belong. Then your primary education is complete. If you sufficiently realise the dignity of labour) you will realise that you have a duty too discharge by your country. Yon must) therefore find out) the affaire of your country in the best manner you can. You must]

�� �