The Wheel of Fortune/Chapter 9
HOW TO BOYCOTT FOREIGN CLOTH
It is needness to say at this time of the day, that the proposed boycott of foreign cloth is not a vindictive measure, but is as necessary for national existence as breath is for life. The quicker, therefore, it can be brought about, the better for the country. Without it, Swaraj cannot be established or retained after establishment. It is of the highest importance to know how it can be brought about even before the first day of August next.
To arrive at the boycott quickly, it is necessary (1) for the mill-owners to regulate their profits and to manufacture principally for the Indian market, (2) for importers to cease to buy foreign goods. A beginning has already been made by three principal merchants, (3) for the consumers to refuse to buy any foreign cloth and to buy Khadi wherever possible, (4) for the consumers to wear only Khadi cloth, mill cloth being retained for the poor who do not know the distinction between Swadeshi and Pardeshi, (5) for the consumers to use, till Swaraj is established and Khadi manufacture increased, Khadi just enough for covering the body, (6) for the consumers to destroy Pardeshi cloth, as they would destroy intoxicating liquors on taking the vow of abstinence, or to sell it for use abroad, or to wear it out for all dirty work or during private hours.
It is to be hoped that all the parties referred to in the foregoing clauses will respond well and simultaneously. But in the end success depends upon the persistent determination of the consumer. He has simply to decline to wear the badge of his slavery.
Abusing the khaddar—A friend draws attention to the fact that many who have adopted the khaddar' costume are using it as a passport for arrogance, insolence, and, what is worse, fraud. He says that they have neither the spirit of non-co-operation in them nor the spirit of truth. They simply use the khaddar dress as a cloak for their deceit. All this is likely, especially during the transition stage, i.e., whilst khaddar is beginning to become fashionable. I would only suggest to my correspondent that such abuse of khaddar must not even unconsciously be allowed to be used as an argument against its use. Its use to-day is obligatory on those who believe that there is not sufficient Indian mill-made cloth to supply the wants of the nation, that the wants must be supplied in the quickest way possible by increasing home manufacture, and that such manufacture is possible only by making home-spinning universal. The use of khaddar represents nothing more than a most practical recognition of the greatest economic necessity of the country. Even a scoundrel may recognise this necessity, and has therefore a perfect right to wear it. And if a Government spy wore it to deceive people, I would welcome his use of khaddar as so much economic gain to the country. Only I would not give the wearer of the khaddar more than his due And I would therefore not ascribe to him any piety or special virtue. It follows, therefore, that co-operationists or government servants may wear khaddar without incurring the danger of being mistaken for non-co-operationists. We may no more shun khaddar, than a devout church-goer may renounce his church because bad characters go to it for duping gullible people. I recall the name of an M. P. who successfully cloaked many of his vices by pretending to be a staunch temperance man. Not very long ago a bold and unscrupulous speculator found entry into most respectable circles by becoming a temperance advocate. Well has a poet said that ‘hypocrisy is an ode to virtue.’
Some ‘ifs’ — If you are a weaver feeling for the country, the Khilafat and the Punjab,
- (1) You should weave only hand-spun yarn, and charge so as to give you a living. You should overcome all the difficulties of sizing and adjusting your loom to the requirements of coarse yarn.
- (2) If you cannot possibly tackle hand-spun
- yarn for warp, you must use Indian mill-spun yarn for it and use hand-spun for woof.
- (3) Where even the second alternative is not possible, you should use mill-spun yarn for both warp and woof.
But you should henceforth cease to use any foreign yarn, whether it is silk or cotton.
If you are a Congress official or worker you should get hold of the weavers within your jurisdiction, and place the foregoing propositions before them for acceptance and help them to the best of your ability.
If you are a buyer, insist upon the first class of cloth, but if you have not the sense or the courage to do so, take up the second or the third, but on no account purchase foreign cloth or cloth woven in India but made of foreign yarn.
If you are a householder,
- (1) You should make a fixed determination henceforth not to buy any foreign cloth.
- (2) You should interview the weaver in your neighbourhood, and get him to weave
- for you enough khadi out of home-spun and failing that to weave out of Indian mill-spun yarn.
- (3) You should deliver to the Congress Committee all your foreign cloth for destruction or sending to Smyrna or elsewhere outside India.
- (4) If you have not the courage to give up your foreign cloth, you may wear it out at home for all dirty work, but never go out in foreign cloth.
- (5) If you have any leisure, you should devote it to learning the art of spinning even, properly-twisted yarn for the sake of the nation.
If you are a schoolboy or schoolgirl, you should consider it a sin to receive literary training, before you have spun, carded or woven for the nation for at least four hours per day till the establishment of Swaraj. Y. I.— 6th July 1921.