This man, the leader of India's revolt against British rule, was the creator of a new force in politics: disciplined, nonviolent mass action against systems felt to be unjust and immoral. His exploits in the field were so widely known, and the character of the man so widely felt that, when the news of his assassination, on January 30, 1948, was reported, people wept in the streets of towns and villages all around the world.
Some of Gandhi's critics were inclined to say: "What a pity that the saint has allowed himself to be involved in politics." To which he himself replied: "They have it the wrong way round. I am a politician who is trying to become a saint." It was his conviction that every man, whatever his religious convictions, should play his part in the affairs of the world. His whole life was a protest against the idea that a religious man is one who withdraws himself out of the world in order to pray and meditate. I have heard him say that he could believe that a man, withdrawing in his latter years to the Himalayas, might influence the world from his lonely sanctuary; but he was sure that this call had never come to him. His job was to stay in the world, and if necessary suffer from the dirt of the highway.
His dream was of all men united in one world, where all nations live in mutual respect, where all obey the moral law of non-violence, and practice mutual aid. He would have liked to see free India adopt a policy of total disarmament from the beginning of her independence. He knew that the country was not ready for it; but he believed to the end that the country that can set this example, without waiting for its neighbors, will be able to lead the world away from hatred, fear, and mistrust towards the true community, the harmony of man.
