# In Touch with Labour explained — The Story of My Experiments with Truth

> Chapter companion for The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi.

## What happens

Gandhi receives appeals from Kheda peasants and Ahmedabad mill-hands. He travels to Ahmedabad to guide the labourers' strike, advising nonviolence, self-reliance, and firmness. The strike lasts twenty-one days, with daily peaceful processions and meetings. Gandhi also reflects on abandoned plans for cow-protection and rural education in Champaran.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nonviolence and Satyagraha

Gandhi advised strikers to never resort to violence, never molest blacklegs, and maintain peace and self-respect throughout the 21-day strike.

### Service and Community Leadership

Gandhi guided the mill-hands' strike, held daily meetings, and consulted mill-owners to seek justice for labourers.

### Social Justice and Anti-Colonialism

The chapter addresses labour rights, peasant distress, and the struggle for fair wages and working conditions.

## Character check-ins

### Mohanlal Pandya

Co-wrote to Gandhi about the Kheda crop failure and sought his guidance for the peasants.

### Shankarlal Parikh

Co-wrote to Gandhi about the Kheda crop failure and sought his guidance for the peasants.

### Anasuyabehn

Informed Gandhi about the low wages and agitation of Ahmedabad mill-hands; she battled against her brother Sheth Ambalal during the strike.

### Sheth Ambalal

Led the mill-owners' side in the Ahmedabad labour dispute; Gandhi had friendly relations with him.

### Vallabhbhai Patel

Gandhi came to know him intimately during the Ahmedabad mill strike.

### Shankarlal Banker

Gandhi came to know him intimately during the Ahmedabad mill strike.

## Key lines

> I had not the inclination, the ability or the courage to advise without an inquiry on the spot.

Gandhi felt he could not give advice without first investigating the situation in person.

_Reflects his commitment to firsthand knowledge before action._

> never to resort to violence, never to molest blacklegs, never to depend upon alms, and to remain firm, no matter how long the strike continued, and to earn bread, during the strike, by any other honest labour.

Gandhi laid down conditions for a successful strike: nonviolence, no harassment of strikebreakers, self-reliance, steadfastness, and honest work for sustenance.

_Core principles of satyagraha applied to labour struggle._

> Our relations with the labourers are those of parents and children … How can we brook the interference of a third party? Where is the room for arbitration?

The mill-owners rejected arbitration, claiming their relationship with workers was paternal and should not involve outsiders.

_Highlights the paternalistic attitude of employers and the resistance to third-party mediation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se/chapters/part-v-xx-in-touch-with-labour
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se/chapters