INDIA: Dictator of Disobedience

"I still have unquenchable faith in Civil Disobedience," wrote spindle-shanked Mahatma Gandhi, loinclothed, ascetic patron saint of Indian Independence, a month ago. "But if India should have to go through the agonies of civil war or foreign invasion, be sure these are no new things in the history of nations that have struggled for freedom. England has gone through both experiences!"

"Civil Disobedience," "Passive Resistance" have long been favorite watchwords of Saint Gandhi. By them he means to break the power of British rule, through refusal to pay taxes, refusal to purchase British goods* Last week, eager to put his plans into effect, he received a committee of the Indian Nationalist Congress, asked that he be appointed Dictator of Disobedience and given a council of war with sole power to say where, when, and in what manner "civil disobedience" was to start. The Nationalist congressmen, who venerate Saint Gandhi with almost religious fervor, but do not always do what he wants, argued secretly for six hours, intimated they would give him the appointment he desired. Thus proceeded the vast trouble which some observers predict will be the worst world-trouble of this decade.