voluntary expression of opinion accompanied by the voluntary self-denial of thirty crores of people?
I hope, therefore, that Non-Cooperation workers will beware of the snares of social boycott. But the alternative to social boycott is certainly not social intercourse. A man who delies strong, clear public opinion on a vital matter is not entitled to social amenities and privileges. We may not take part in his social functions such as marriage feasts, we may not receive gifts from him. But we dare not deny social service. The latter is a duty. Attendance at dinner parties and the like is a privilege which it is optional to withhold or extend. But it would be wisdom to err on the right side and to exercise the weapon even in the limited sense described by me on rare and well-defined occasions. And in every case the user of the weapon will use it at his own risk. The use of it is not as yet in any form a duty. No one is entitled to its use if there is any danger of hurting the movement.
"NEITHER A SAINT NOR A POLITIClAN"[1]
A kind friend has sent me the following cutting from the April number of the "East and West":—
"Mr. Gandhi has the reputation of a saint but it seems that the politician in him often dominates his decisions. He has been making great use of hartals and there can be no gainsaying that under his direction hartal is becoming a powerful political weapon for uniting the educated and the uneducated on a single question of the
- ↑ From Young India.
