Gandhi - Speech (Geneva, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 10 Dec 1931)
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Mahatma Gandhi (Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, 10 December 1931):
"I regard myself as a soldier, though a soldier of peace."
"I know the value of discipline and truth."
"I must ask you to believe me when I say that I have never made a statement of this description that the masses of India, if it became necessary, would resort to violence."
"I regard myself as incapable in my lucid moments of making a statement of this character."
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SPEECH AT MEETING
Geneva, Switzerland,10 December, 1931
The meeting, which was held during the lunch hour in the Victoria Hall under the auspices of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, was attended by about 2,000 people:
"I do not want a single soldier, after having taken an oath to serve the army, to mislead the people by shooting in the air. I regard myself as a soldier, as a soldier of peace. I know the value of discipline and truth and I would consider it unmanly for a soldier who has taken an oath to deny himself the consequences when he defies the order by shooting in the air. In my opinion, when a soldier comes to the conclusion that it is inhuman and beneath the dignity of man, he should lay down arms and pay the penalty of insubordination." (...)
"Meanwhile I must ask you to believe me when I say that I never made the statement that masses would, if necessary, resort to violence. I regard myself in my lucid moments as incapable of making a statement of that character. Nonviolence is not a policy but a creed. I would pray to God that He may give me faith to lay down my life rather than countenance violence in any shape or form and, as this matter has attained some local importance (...)"
(The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 54, p. 282)
"I regard myself as a soldier, though a soldier of peace."
"I know the value of discipline and truth."
"I must ask you to believe me when I say that I have never made a statement of this description that the masses of India, if it became necessary, would resort to violence."
"I regard myself as incapable in my lucid moments of making a statement of this character."
--------------------
SPEECH AT MEETING
Geneva, Switzerland,10 December, 1931
The meeting, which was held during the lunch hour in the Victoria Hall under the auspices of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, was attended by about 2,000 people:
"I do not want a single soldier, after having taken an oath to serve the army, to mislead the people by shooting in the air. I regard myself as a soldier, as a soldier of peace. I know the value of discipline and truth and I would consider it unmanly for a soldier who has taken an oath to deny himself the consequences when he defies the order by shooting in the air. In my opinion, when a soldier comes to the conclusion that it is inhuman and beneath the dignity of man, he should lay down arms and pay the penalty of insubordination." (...)
"Meanwhile I must ask you to believe me when I say that I never made the statement that masses would, if necessary, resort to violence. I regard myself in my lucid moments as incapable of making a statement of that character. Nonviolence is not a policy but a creed. I would pray to God that He may give me faith to lay down my life rather than countenance violence in any shape or form and, as this matter has attained some local importance (...)"
(The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 54, p. 282)
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