Book: Hind Swaraj

Context and Form
Composed in 1909 during a sea voyage, Hind Swaraj is framed as a sharp dialogue between an inquisitive Reader and an Editor who articulates Gandhi’s convictions. The conversational format allows common nationalist aspirations to be stated plainly and then interrogated. Gandhi wrote it first in Gujarati, later translating it into English; the colonial government quickly banned it for its uncompromising political message. Its tone is urgent and aphoristic, moving swiftly from diagnosis to prescription as it defines the meaning and means of Indian freedom.

Critique of Modern Civilization
Gandhi mounts a sweeping attack on modern Western civilization, which he judges to be driven by materialism, speed, and the multiplication of wants. Railways, courts, doctors, and machinery symbolize a civilization that values comfort over character. Railways abet centralization and spread disease; lawyers inflame disputes and foster dependence on litigation; doctors enable indulgence by relieving symptoms rather than reforming habits. Parliamentary politics is scorned as a “sterile woman,” too fickle to cultivate virtue. For Gandhi, such institutions are not neutral; they reshape human desires and make slavery attractive by gilding it with conveniences.

The Meaning of Swaraj
Swaraj literally means self-rule, and Gandhi insists it begins with the individual. Political independence without moral self-mastery is a mere change of masters. If Indians adopt the same appetites, institutions, and coercive methods as their rulers, British rule will simply be “Indianized,” not abolished in spirit. True swaraj arises when people curb wants, govern passions, and build life around duty. The state should be minimal and rooted in self-governing villages, where authority flows from consent and shared norms rather than from distant bureaucracies or armed force.

Ends and Means
Gandhi rejects violent revolution and the cult of efficiency. Ends are not separable from means; impure means corrupt the goal and perpetuate domination under new labels. His proposed method is passive resistance, later named satyagraha: steadfast, courageous, and public noncooperation with unjust authority, undertaken without hatred. Noncooperation includes voluntary suffering, which purifies the resister, communicates moral truth, and pricks the conscience of the oppressor. Courage is essential, but it must be moral courage; the bravery of the soldier is less transformative than the fearlessness of the self-restrained citizen.

Economy, Work, and Education
Gandhi prefers a decentralized economy based on village crafts and self-sufficient production. Machinery that displaces labor and concentrates power is suspect; the spinning wheel, by contrast, symbolizes work that builds character and community while meeting real needs. Swadeshi demands that people serve neighbors first and consume locally, reducing dependency on distant markets and imperial supply chains. Education should shape conduct, not merely transmit information; it must train students in truthfulness, restraint, and service, linking learning to livelihood and to the ethical regeneration of society.

Religion, Pluralism, and Nationalism
Gandhi grounds politics in religion understood as the pursuit of truth, not sectarian dogma. All faiths, properly lived, require self-control and compassion; communal antagonisms arise from ego and politics rather than doctrine. Nationalism has value only if it elevates moral life; a nation imitating the vices of modernity will forfeit its soul even as it gains power. Hind Swaraj calls readers to remake themselves so that political freedom expresses an inner revolution, self-rule as the daily practice of restraint, service, and fearless adherence to truth.