Vinay Lal - Moral & Political Thought of Gandhi, Lecture 10 of 19, April 28, 2016

University of California, Los Angeles. We begin with a discussion of the non-cooperation movement of 1920-22.  The lecture will then focus mainly on the speech he made at his trial in 1922 and in the closing moments on his letter to Viceroy Irwin in 1930 before inaugurating the salt satyagraha. What were some of the principal elements of the non-cooperation movement? What was the incident of Chauri Chaura? What was the error of Himalayan proportions in Gandhi's thinking? Why did Gandhi suspend the non-cooperation movement? What was Gandhi's transformation of the Congress? Gandhi the so-called «dictator» of Congress. What was the structure of the Congress? What were the circumstances that brought Gandhi to trial? What is the nature of his defense? Why did Gandhi describe himself as a farmer and weaver? How did he disarm the British?  I argue that he creates a new language of dissent. In the 1920s, Gandhi puts together the constructive programme. In early 1930, he writes a letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy.   Gandhi divulges his plan; in contrast, the communists have always dwelled on secrecy. Vinay Lal is an Indian historian. He is a professor of history and Asian American studies at UCLA. He writes widely on the history and culture of colonial and modern India, popular and public culture in India, cinema, historiography, the politics of world history, the Indian diaspora, global politics, contemporary American politics, the life and thought of Mohandas Gandhi, Hinduism, and...