https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Gandhian_socialismGandhian socialism - Revision history2026-08-01T02:15:32ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Gandhian_socialism&diff=461111&oldid=prevKiraHutchinson4 at 08:46, 2 February 20262026-02-02T08:46:54Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indianised socialism based on the ideas of non-possession, cooperation and trusteeship}}<br />
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{{Sources exist|date=September 2019}}<br />
{{original research|date=November 2025}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2013}}<br />
'''''Gandhian socialism''''', a socio-economic philosophy devised by the Indian independence activist and practical idealist, [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]], is a syncretism of philosophical [[anarcho-pacifism]], [[egalitarianism]], [[anti-consumerism]], and [[socialism]]. Its core principles including [[Sarvodaya]], [[Satyagraha]] and [[Trusteeship]] are primarily drawn from '[[Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule]]' and '[[Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place]]', authored by Gandhi.<br />
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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 the [[modernisation]] of [[technology]] and large-scale [[industrialisation]], while emphasising local production, [[cottage industries]], self-employment, [[Sharirashrama]] (bread labour), and [[autarky|self-reliance]] within an enlightened anarchy in [[Ram Rajya]], the ideal state.<br />
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This Indianised and traditionalised variant of [[socialism]] was championed by several [[Gandhians]], including Gandhi's close associates, thinkers, scholars and public figures, such as [[Acharya Vinoba Bhave]], a spiritual ascetic and pioneer of the [[Bhoodan Movement]]; [[Jayprakash Narayan]], a political activist and the leader of the [[Sampoorna Kranti|Total Revolution]]; [[J.C. Kumarappa]], an economist of rural economic development; [[Mahadev Desai]], a prolific scholar of Gandhi's works; and [[Jamnalal Bajaj]] and [[G.D. Birla]], both of whom were industrialists and philanthropists. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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==Background==<br />
Gandhian socialism was greatly influenced by ideas that he embraced from his reading of [[John Ruskin|Ruskin]]'s ''[[Unto This Last]]'' in 1904 during a 24-hour train journey in South Africa.<ref>Marbaniang, D. (2023). Gandhian Pluralist Spirituality and the Anticorruption Mission of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. In: KWAN, S.SM., CHOW, WY. (eds) Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_14</ref> He translated the book into Gujarati as ''[[Sarvodaya]]'' (welfare of all) and summarized its contents into three main ideas:<br><br />
# That the good of the individual is contained in the good of all.<br />
# That a lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's, in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work.<br />
# That a life of labor—that is, the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman—is the life worth living.<ref>Marbaniang, D. (2023). Gandhian Pluralist Spirituality and the Anticorruption Mission of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. In: KWAN, S.SM., CHOW, WY. (eds) Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_14</ref><br><br />
He articulated his ideas in his work titled [[Swaraj]] and ''India 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.{{sfn|Koshal|Koshal|1973a|p=191}} Thus, Gandhian socialism differed from Western socialism because the latter believed in material progress whereas Gandhi considered every one materially equal.{{sfn|Koshal|Koshal|1973a|p=197}} As [[Jawahar Lal Nehru]] puts in his biography, "he suspects also socialism, and more particularly [[Marxism]], 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.<ref name="Majumdar">{{cite journal |last1=Majumdar |first1=Bimanbihari |title=Gandhi and Socialism |journal=Indian Literature |date=September 1969 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=10–11 |jstor=23329173 }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Pradhan|1980|p=97}} There was also a religious aspect of Gandhi's socialism. To understand Gandhi's socialist philosophy, as [[Romain 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."<ref name="Rolland1924">{{cite book|author=Romain Rolland|title=Mahatma Gandhi: The Man who Became One with the Universal Being|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zM6AQAAIAAJ|year=1924|publisher=Century Company|page=26|isbn=9780824004989 }}</ref><br />
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==Economic philosophy==<br />
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.<ref name="Rao">{{cite journal |last1=Rao |first1=V.K.R.K.V |title=The Gandhian Alternative to Western Socialism |journal=India Quarterly |date=December 1970 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=331–332 |doi=10.1177/097492847002600401 |jstor=45069630 |s2cid=153248034 }}</ref> Evolving from this ideology, the economic components of Gandhian socialism are centered around ''Swaraj'', 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."<ref>Marbaniang, D. (2023). Gandhian Pluralist Spirituality and the Anticorruption Mission of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. In: KWAN, S.SM., CHOW, WY. (eds) ''Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation.'' Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_14</ref> Therefore, Gandhian socialism advocates a society without economic classes, which Gandhi termed it as ''[[Sarvodaya]]''.{{sfn|Koshal|Koshal|1973a|p=192}}{{sfn|Pradhan|1980|p=170}} An example of this concept can be seen in the implementation of [[Panchayati raj in India|Panchayat Raj]] in India.{{sfn|Koshal|Koshal|1973b|p=313}} 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 the [[standard of living]] by copying various [[socialist]], [[capitalist]], or a [[fascist]] nation's plan, but it should be centered towards its roots firm in Indian soil and India's problems.{{sfn|Koshal|Koshal|1973b|p=315}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Gandhian economics]]<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* Shourie, Arun (1990). Individuals, institutions, processes: How one may strengthen the other in India today. New Delhi, India: Viking. {{ISBN|9780670837878}}<br />
* [[Ram Swarup|Swarup, Ram]] (1955). Gandhism and communism: Principles and technique. New Delhi: J. Prakashan.<br />
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==References==<br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
* {{cite journal |last1=Koshal |first1=Rajindar K. |last2=Koshal |first2=Manjulika |title=Gandhian Economic Philosophy |journal=American Journal of Economics and Sociology |date=April 1973a |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=191–209 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1973.tb02190.x |jstor=3485726 }}<br />
* {{cite book|first=Benudhar |last=Pradhan|title=The Socialist Thought of Mahatma Gandhi: Vol-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sZAAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=GDK Publications}}<br />
* {{cite journal |last1=Koshal |first1=Manjulika |last2=Koshal |first2=Rajindar K. |title=Gandhi's Influence on Indian Economic Planning: A Critical Analysis |journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology |date=July 1973b |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=311–330 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1973.tb03156.x |jstor=3485967 }}<br />
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[[Category:Eponymous political ideologies]]<br />
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[[Category:Types of socialism]]</div>KiraHutchinson4