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Gandhian socialism, a socio-economic philosophy devised by the Indian independence activist and practical idealist,Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, is a syncretism of philosophicalanarcho-pacifism,egalitarianism,anti-consumerism, andsocialism. Its core principles includingSarvodaya,Satyagraha andTrusteeship are primarily drawn from 'Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule' and 'Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place', authored by Gandhi.
The ideology aligns with the village-centric, bottom-up federated approach for political and economic decentralisation, and expresses conservatism, skepticism, and reluctance towards the perceived exploitation and scientific misuse caused by themodernisation oftechnology and large-scaleindustrialisation, while emphasising local production,cottage industries, self-employment,Sharirashrama (bread labour), andself-reliance within an enlightened anarchy inRam Rajya, the ideal state.
This Indianised and traditionalised variant ofsocialism was championed by severalGandhians, including Gandhi's close associates, thinkers, scholars and public figures, such asAcharya Vinoba Bhave, a spiritual ascetic and pioneer of theBhoodan Movement;Jayprakash Narayan, a political activist and the leader of theTotal Revolution;J.C. Kumarappa, an economist of rural economic development;Mahadev Desai, a prolific scholar of Gandhi's works; andJamnalal Bajaj andG.D. Birla, both of whom were industrialists and philanthropists.
Dr. Kumarappa's 'Gandhian Economic Thought' also perfectly embodies the traditional and rural spirit of Gandhian socialism, by referring it as the economy of utmost permanence and enlightenment.
Although the Gandhian economic thought holds immense relevance and reverence in the contemporary Indian society and political discourse, many intellectuals still feel the need for its revitalization, realisation and acculturation.
Gandhian socialism was greatly influenced by ideas that he embraced from his reading ofRuskin'sUnto This Last in 1904 during a 24-hour train journey in South Africa.[1] He translated the book into Gujarati asSarvodaya (welfare of all) and summarized its contents into three main ideas:
He articulated his ideas in his work titledSwaraj andIndia of My Dreams in which, he describes Indian society, with no one rich or poor, no class conflict, where there is an equal distribution of the resources, and self-sufficient economy without any exploitation and violence.[3] Thus, Gandhian socialism differed from Western socialism because the latter believed in material progress whereas Gandhi considered every one materially equal.[4] AsJawahar Lal Nehru puts in his biography, "he suspects also socialism, and more particularlyMarxism, because of their association with violence." He believed his style of socialism came from the strong beliefs he held in non-violence and not those adopted from any books.[5] Many experts observed that, similar to other schools of socialism, Gandhi's concept of socialism was a result of ethical considerations, but had nothing to do with class-consciousness as professed by the western socialism.[6] There was also a religious aspect of Gandhi's socialism. To understand Gandhi's socialist philosophy, asRomain Rolland observed; "it should be realized that his doctrine is like a huge edifice composed of two different floors or grades. Below is the solid groundwork, the basic foundation of religion. On this vast and unshakable foundation is based the political and social campaign."[7]
The key aspects of the economic policies of Gandhian socialism are based on ethics. According to Gandhi: "Economics that hurts the moral well-being of a human or a nation is immoral and, therefore sinful". Hence, Gandhian socialism roots for economic social justice by promoting equality for all.[8] Evolving from this ideology, the economic components of Gandhian socialism are centered aroundSwaraj, resulting from complete economic freedom. This is achieved through self-sufficiency and self-reliance, where, everyone gets an appropriate share of his labor. According to Marbaniang, Gandhian social economics argues "for a decentralized, nonparliamentarian, and autonomous rural communitarian self-governance based on the concept of the dignity of labor and the individual ethic of nonviolent social cooperation."[9] Therefore, Gandhian socialism advocates a society without economic classes, which Gandhi termed it asSarvodaya.[10][11] An example of this concept can be seen in the implementation ofPanchayat Raj in India.[12] In 1938, during the formulation of an economic plan for the post-independent India, it was noted that the planning under a democratic India should be based not only on raising thestandard of living by copying varioussocialist,capitalist, or afascist nation's plan, but it should be centered towards its roots firm in Indian soil and India's problems.[13]
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