INDIA: Definition of Non-Violence

On the eve of India's ponderous election campaign (the provincial elections will continue for four or five months), Lord Wavell spoke his mind on the mounting spirit of violence. Said he emphatically: India's political problem "cannot and will not be resolved by violence. . . . No solution will be satisfactory that would result in chaos, bloodshed. . . ."

The same day, in Calcutta's imposing Government House, he granted an audience sought by Mohandas K. Gandhi. For an hour they talked privately. When Gandhi emerged he gave fresh meaning to the Viceroy's words. To the waiting crowd he said: "India has attained her great position in the East because of her message of peace."

Next day the influential Working Committee of the All-India Congress Party pinpointed a closer definition. Resolved the Committee: the policy of non-violence . . . "does not include burning public property, cutting telegraph wires, derailing trains, and intimidation."