Review of: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.:
The Power of Nonviolent Action
The Power of Nonviolent Action
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Mary E. King
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Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.:
The Power of Nonviolent Action
By Mary King
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
orig. 1999, 529 pages, $47.00
This book is a study of Mohandas K. Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the people and ideas
that connected them. It is also a lesson in the logic
of nonviolent struggle as it was preserved and
transmitted between generations, and its continuing
relevance in conflicts worldwide.
Dr. Federico Mayor, Director-General of
UNESCO, asked Mary King to write a new,
accessible account of Gandhi and King. He later
suggested the topic of Chapter Three, how
Gandhian ideas and techniques reached Dr. King—
an account central to the book's message. This
message is, first, that moral and political genius are
not required in nonviolent action. Second, leaders
and rank-and file must understand the nature and
dynamics of nonviolent struggle. They must study,
learn, and be trained. Third, nonviolent struggle can
place opponents in a dilemma they cannot solve by
violence.
The Power of Nonviolent Action
By Mary King
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
orig. 1999, 529 pages, $47.00
This book is a study of Mohandas K. Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the people and ideas
that connected them. It is also a lesson in the logic
of nonviolent struggle as it was preserved and
transmitted between generations, and its continuing
relevance in conflicts worldwide.
Dr. Federico Mayor, Director-General of
UNESCO, asked Mary King to write a new,
accessible account of Gandhi and King. He later
suggested the topic of Chapter Three, how
Gandhian ideas and techniques reached Dr. King—
an account central to the book's message. This
message is, first, that moral and political genius are
not required in nonviolent action. Second, leaders
and rank-and file must understand the nature and
dynamics of nonviolent struggle. They must study,
learn, and be trained. Third, nonviolent struggle can
place opponents in a dilemma they cannot solve by
violence.
Dr. King studied Gandhi in divinity school, but
when the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott
began he did not entirely understand effective
action. This part of Gandhi's legacy was passed to
him by people such as Bayard Rustin and the Rev.
James M. Lawson, Jr. Rustin critiqued movement
strategy and showed Dr. King the problems in
avoiding repression for fear of being hurt.
Accepting and opposing repression increases the
movement's power, he taught, and weakens an
opponent when people withstand violence and the
weapon of fear is lost. Lawson had studied the
recent history and theory of nonviolent action, and
had spent some time with Gandhian activists in
India. As FOR regional representative in the South,
Lawson trained many activists in workshops,
including SCLC members and students in the
Nashville, Tennessee sit-ins [See Nov/Dec 1999
Fellowship, pp.4-8]. This chapter, as also the one
on African-American contact with India, is itself a
significant contribution to the literature. A final
chapter is on continuing nonviolent struggle
worldwide. Unfortunately, UNESCO did not
include an index.
Mary King offers many observations on
nonviolent action, often in paragraph-long
mini-lessons. She explains, for example, why there
is a cost to the movement when activists use
violence. As Gandhi writes in a chapter of
comparative quotations from the writings of both
men, "Every movement which survives repression,
mild or severe, invariably commands respect,
which is another name for success." Letting this
possibility slip away through violence actually
weakens the movement.
One lesson I learned from the book is how Gandhi
and King prefigured the effects of struggle by
teaching how to act as if success were already
achieved. When people made khadi cloth in
Gandhi's ashrams, for example, they practiced
relying on themselves, not on Britain. Likewise, the
civil rights movement's idea of the Beloved
Community prefigured a non-racial, non-repressive
society. Success in each of these movements was
nowhere complete, but as Mary King reminds us,
struggle is a tutorial in the possible.
Ronald M. McCarthy
Originally published in the January/February 2000
issue of Fellowship
when the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott
began he did not entirely understand effective
action. This part of Gandhi's legacy was passed to
him by people such as Bayard Rustin and the Rev.
James M. Lawson, Jr. Rustin critiqued movement
strategy and showed Dr. King the problems in
avoiding repression for fear of being hurt.
Accepting and opposing repression increases the
movement's power, he taught, and weakens an
opponent when people withstand violence and the
weapon of fear is lost. Lawson had studied the
recent history and theory of nonviolent action, and
had spent some time with Gandhian activists in
India. As FOR regional representative in the South,
Lawson trained many activists in workshops,
including SCLC members and students in the
Nashville, Tennessee sit-ins [See Nov/Dec 1999
Fellowship, pp.4-8]. This chapter, as also the one
on African-American contact with India, is itself a
significant contribution to the literature. A final
chapter is on continuing nonviolent struggle
worldwide. Unfortunately, UNESCO did not
include an index.
Mary King offers many observations on
nonviolent action, often in paragraph-long
mini-lessons. She explains, for example, why there
is a cost to the movement when activists use
violence. As Gandhi writes in a chapter of
comparative quotations from the writings of both
men, "Every movement which survives repression,
mild or severe, invariably commands respect,
which is another name for success." Letting this
possibility slip away through violence actually
weakens the movement.
One lesson I learned from the book is how Gandhi
and King prefigured the effects of struggle by
teaching how to act as if success were already
achieved. When people made khadi cloth in
Gandhi's ashrams, for example, they practiced
relying on themselves, not on Britain. Likewise, the
civil rights movement's idea of the Beloved
Community prefigured a non-racial, non-repressive
society. Success in each of these movements was
nowhere complete, but as Mary King reminds us,
struggle is a tutorial in the possible.
Ronald M. McCarthy
Originally published in the January/February 2000
issue of Fellowship