The Story of My Experiments with Truth · Chapter
The Fast explained
Gandhi undertakes a fast to rally the striking mill-hands of Ahmedabad who begin to waver in their pledge.
What happens
Gandhi undertakes a fast to rally the striking mill-hands of Ahmedabad who begin to waver in their pledge. The fast lasts three days and creates an atmosphere of goodwill, leading to arbitration by Sjt. Anandshankar Dhruva and a settlement after 21 days. The chapter also describes the chaotic distribution of sweets afterward, revealing the desperate poverty of beggars.
Themes in this chapter
Nonviolence and Satyagraha
Gandhi's fast is a satyagrahic act to uphold truth and the strikers' pledge, though he acknowledges its coercive pressure on mill-owners.
Self-Discipline and Simplicity
Gandhi's personal fast exemplifies self-discipline; the strikers are urged to find labor rather than rely on charity.
Social Justice and Anti-Colonialism
The strike addresses labor rights and poverty; the chapter highlights the desperation of beggars due to systemic poverty.
Characters to notice
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Undertakes a fast to prevent the mill-hands from breaking their strike pledge; reflects on the moral implications of fasting against mill-owners.
- Anasuyabehn
Leads the labourers in carrying sand for the Ashram; weeps upon hearing Gandhi's fast decision; shares the fast on the first day.
- Vallabhbhai Patel
Attempts to find employment for strikers under the Municipality during the strike.
- Maganlal Gandhi
Suggests employing strikers to carry sand for the Ashram's weaving school foundation.
- Sheth Ambalal
Principal mill-owner opposing the strike; his resolute will and sincerity are noted; sweets are later distributed at his bungalow.
- Sarladevi
Sheth Ambalal's wife; attached to Gandhi with the affection of a blood-sister; anguished by Gandhi's fast.
Key passages
“Unless the strikers rally and continue the strike till a settlement is reached or till they leave the mills altogether, I will not touch any food.”
Gandhi declares that he will fast until the strikers either settle or leave the mills.
This marks the beginning of his three-day fast to reinvigorate the strike.
“The grinding poverty and starvation with which our country is afflicted is such that it drives more and more men every year into the ranks of the beggars, whose desperate struggle for bread renders them insensible to all feelings of decency and self-respect.”
Pervasive poverty forces many into beggary, stripping them of dignity in their fight for food.
Gandhi reflects on the pathetic scramble for sweets by beggars, linking it to systemic poverty.