Home > 2026 > Some Materials On Gandhi And Business | Anil Nauriya

Mainstream, Vol 64 No 21, August 25, 2026

Some Materials On Gandhi And Business | Anil Nauriya

Tuesday 25 August 2026, by Anil Nauriya

The current Prime Minister of India once made a statement likening his association with certain business tycoons with the relation that Mahatma Gandhi had with businessmen and industrialists such as G D Birla. In this context, it is useful to recall a few facets about Gandhi’s association with persons from the commercial world.

1. Even when he was in South Africa, Gandhi placed less importance on the relentless pursuit of business profit by individuals than on their sacrificing wealth for a principle or cause. Many South African Indian businessmen became personally bankrupt and insolvent in the course of struggles led by him.

See As A Random Instance : (A) Gandhi On Licences In Ladysmith Clouds are gathering again over those Indians in Ladysmith who have not received licences. They carry on trade without a licence. The Chamber of Commerce has therefore recommended that they should be prosecuted. Mr. Labistour has replied that if they continue to do so, action will be taken against them. An assurance was given to the leaders of the Congress that those who traded without a licence would not be harassed. This promise was given out of a sense of justice. Now that the Europeans are bringing pressure, this sense of justice has collapsed and the Government, submitting to the pressure, wants the shops to be closed down. This gives the clearest picture of the shape of things to come in the nature of hardships for Indians. There are three ways to scatter these clouds:

(1) To prefer an appeal to the Privy Council.
(2) If such an appeal is not to be filed, the President of the Congress should meet the Imperial Government. This step can be taken along with the first.
(3) To have courage and keep the shops open. In case of prosecution, not to pay the fine, but allow the goods to be auctioned.

The first way can be adopted only when the Congress has a fund of £1,000. The second step must be taken in any case. It will not solve the difficulties for ever. The third way is the easiest of all and the best.

But it is a way that the brave alone can take. It does not depend on anybody’s advice. One must have courage oneself. If this is there, everything can be done. There is no provision in this Act for a sentence of imprisonment. Only a fine can be imposed. If the fine is not paid, it can be collected by auction of goods. We urge Indians to adopt that way. Men like Dr. Rutherford have adopted it, and we, too, can do likewise. But in such matters, prompting by others is of no avail. The necessary urge has to come from within.
— Indian Opinion, 31-8-1907

SEE ALSO (b):
Gandhi On Cachalia’s Self-Sacrifice

The fact that each successive Chairman of the Transvaal [British Indian] Association has proved himself worthier than his predecessor is an indication that the Indian community’s star is in the ascendant. Mr. Cachalia has been to gaol. He has now declared his intention to embrace poverty. His financial position is so sound that no one can argue that he had little to sacrifice. He is prepared to forgo a flourishing business. He does not mind being declared a bankrupt at the instance of his creditors. Rather he takes pride in that. This is what we can claim as wealth well earned. All this Mr. Cachalia suffers for the motherland. He wants to honour his pledge. This is real self-sacrifice.
We offer our congratulations to him.

This excellent step is already proving infectious. Mr. Aswat has emulated Mr. Cachalia’s courage. We congratulate him as well. This is a moment which will test the businessmen. We have often defended them in the past. They have suffered losses. Some of them have also courted imprisonment. We have mentioned all such instances from time to time. But this is the time when the businessmen will be really tested. They have never staked their all, as the hawkers did; now is the time for them to do so. Mr. Cachalia and Mr. Aswat have shown the way. It is to be seen what the other businessmen do. Nearly 40 of them have signed a statement that they will not take out licences, but close down their businesses instead. Those who are prepared for this had better come out in the, open in support of Mr. Cachalia’s action. The next phase of the campaign depends upon the businessmen; it is they who will stand to suffer, should the movement be unduly prolonged.

Everyone realizes that Mr. Cachalia has not lost his honour by having been declared an insolvent; rather, it has been enhanced. The creditors also know that it is none of Mr. Cachalia’s fault. He has brought distinction to the post of Chairman. Why, then, should the other businessmen feel timid? If at all, what they should fear is a retreat. When engaged in a battle, one can have nothing to fear in rushing forward.
— [From Indian Opinion, 30-1-1909]

2. After Gandhi’s return to India many businessmen who participated in his struggles ran the risk of losing much of their wealth as a consequence. It can hardly be compared with contemporary situations of crony capitalist enterprise.

See (A) The Following Note By Gandhi :

“Shri Godrej, it appears, has decided to run his whole business of making safes in the interest of the country. Parsi youths have come forward to picket liquor-booths. Parsi men have started wearing khadi. Perinbehn, grand-daughter of the country’s “Grand Old Man”, has taken to dressing in thick khadi from head to foot. Parsi sisters have contributed their jewellery to the Tilak Swaraj Fund. The Parsi Political Association celebrated the birth anniversary of Shri Tilak in the Empire Theatre. Now one Parsi sister from Bombay has expressed a desire to take part in the picketing ofliquor-booths and has invited other women to do likewise. This ladyhas suggested that if other women also join in picketing much of the present fear that it might lead to violence will disappear and we shallalso have saved ourselves from the allegation that among the pickets are undesirable characters too. I offer my congratulations to this lady.” Gandhi in Navajivan, 31-7-1921

More on Jamshedpur further on below.

6. Gandhi Was Not Silent On The Mulshi Satyagraha :
This is Gandhi’s call to the Tatas on the Mulshi Satyagraha in 1921:

My heart goes out to these poor people.2 I wish the great house of the Tatas, instead of standing on their legal rights, will reason with the people themselves, and do whatever they wish in consultation with
them. I have some experience of Land Acquisition Acts. I had nearly eighty cases to deal with. Here the reason for the acquisition was not industrial development but insanitation. I know that the people dispossessed never got the exact equivalent. What is the value of all boons that the Tata scheme claims to confer upon India, if it is to be at the unwilling expense of even one poor man? I dare say the problem of disease and poverty can be easily solved, and the survivors will live in luxury if the three crore half-starved men and women, and lakhs of the decrepit humanity were shot and their bodies utilized for manure, or their bones utilized for making knife-handles. And yet no one but a lunatic will put up such a suggestion. Is the case any weaker when men and women are not to be shot, but compulsorily dispossessed of their valued lands about which sentiment, romance, and all that makes life worth living, have grown up? I suggest to the custodians of the great name that they would more truly advance India’s interest if they will defer to the wishes of their weak and helpless countrymen. The duty of the satyagrahis is written in letters of gold. There can be no satyagraha in an unjust cause. Satyagraha in a just cause is vain, if the men espousing it are not determined and capable of fighting and suffering to the end ; and the slightest use of violence often defeats a just cause. Satyagraha excludes the use of violence in any shape or form, whether in thought, speech, or deed. Given a just cause, capacity for endless suffering, and avoidance of violence, victory is a certainty.
[—Young India, 27-4-1921]

7. It Is Worth Flagging Here That Gandhi Supported The Strike Of The Assam-Bengal Railway Workers In 1921.

For his reasons, see this fascinating SPEECH BY GANDHI TO RAILWAY WORKERS, CHITTAGONG
August 31, 1921. The headnote below is also by Gandhi:

(The workers of the Assam-Bengal Railway had gone on a strike to serve no selfish interest but to secure to the labourers who had abandoned the tea plantations justice for the cruelty which they had suffered at Chandpur. The Government had beaten up and driven them from the railway station, and refused to help them to return to their home towns. This had hurt the railway workers. They had no common bond with the plantation labourers. The latter hailed from Bihar and other provinces whereas most of the railway workers came from Bengal. Their strike, thus, had no element of self-interest in it. I met these strikers at Chittagong. I told them what they should do. Notes of that speech were taken down. Since some of the ideas are likely to prove useful, I publish the summary here believing that, though it is not complete and I have not been able to revise and abridge it, the speech may be read with profit. MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI)

I thank you all for the address which you have presented to me; but I do not wish to detain you long over expressions of gratitude. I shall not enter into a detailed discussion whether it was proper or improper on your part to have gone on a strike and continued it for so many months, because I am not in possession of all the facts. I know only what I heard yesterday after coming here. It is not possible for me to express any opinion on the basis of that limited knowledge.
You must have already heard from some of your leaders what I wrote in Young India about the Assam Bengal Railway strike. In that article also, I did not express any opinion since I did not have enough information to form one. I did not know your circumstances, your grievance. I did not know whether you had sufficient justification for striking work; and I do not know that even now. I can see, however, that your strike, unlike other strikes, is not motivated by self-interest. You have struck work not for any rise in wages but for the sake of others. You have gone on a strike to express your sympathy for the sufferings of your brothers as a result of the atrocities at Chandpur. I did not imagine that workers in India had become strong enough to go on a strike out of concern for other people’s sufferings. This is not true of the entire working class, but in your case, I am told, you have struck work only out of sympathy with the sufferings of your brethren.

And if that is the reason why you have gone on strike, it becomes your duty not to return to work, any of you, until the hardships of plantation labourers have ended, until they get justice.

When can we say that their hardships have ended? When can it be said that justice has been done for the atrocities committed at Chandpur? Only when the Government expresses regret, apologizes for the beatings and pays the labourers the railway fare which it refused under pressure from the planters. The Commissioner who ordered Gurkha soldiers to throw out from the railway waiting-sheds,

in the middle of the night, poor and exhausted working men and women and their children, was born in India and is one of us. He should be ashamed of himself. He should, on his own, offer an apology.

You can return to work only when all this is done. If the Government acts thus, one may not mind the railway company not paying you for the strike-period on the ground that you had given no notice. The railway company might employ you as if you were fresh recruits, it may tell you that you will be employed as and when vacancies arise and may even stipulate new service conditions,—you may submit to all this, but only after the Government yields. As long as the Government refuses to bend, you ought not to return to work no matter what they offer you or how hard they try to win you over.

You should not go down on your knees even if the Congress Committee does not help you with funds or your leaders desert you.

Why should a person, who can work with his hands and feet, have to go down on his knees? Such a man ought to remain independent and not rely on others for anything. Whether it is I or the Congress Committee, if any leader deserts you’ after having advised you to go on strike, you must not waver. I have read the notice which was served on you yesterday.

It says: Many of you have now returned to work. The rest of you also should report for duty immediately. We are advising you in your own interest. Some irresponsible leaders incited you to go on this strike and have now deserted you. Do not be misled by them any more. If you delay returning to work, you will lose your jobs too.

You need not be frightened by this notice. You are not going back to work; do not mind those who have returned. They have acted unworthily; you should preserve your honour.

Times change and one age succeeds another. This one belongs to the weavers. You can stand on your own feet if you adopt this profession. Do not think that this work will not solve your problem. Weavers can today earn twice as much as others. Those of you, moreover, who wish to go back to your villages may do so, your fares will be paid to you. You may live there, till your piece of land and spin during spare hours. Apart from this, you may do any other work of your choice and become self-supporting. If all of you belong to Chittagong, here also you can combine farming and weaving as I have suggested and thereby make Chittagong the pride of India. It is not at all difficult to do this. God is most merciful and just. A man can learn to spin within three days, carding is also easy and even weaving can be mastered within a month if properly attended to. There is one thing, of course. Railway employees habitually take bribes or steal. If you wish to have your bread without working for it, you will write to me the very next day that you cannot go on with weaving. If however you are willing to work and if you work for twelve hours daily, you will be positively writing to me within a month that the way suggested by me has made you self-supporting and that now you fear no one except God. It is not hard to work for twelve hours a day. I am an old man, I do not have much energy now, and yet I can work that long. Why, then, cannot you young men do so? If you work hard and live a thoughtful life, you will know God, for a man who does not possess good characters who drinks and visits prostitutes, cannot work strenuously for twelve hours. You cannot expect maintenance from the Congress Committee but, since you have struck work, you can ask for spinning-wheels. The spinning-wheels will provide you maintenance. You should continue your strike with the the help of the spinning-wheel, offer love and sympathy to those who suffer and, as long as this Satanic Government does not yield, let none of you go back to work.

For not less than thirty years now I have lived in the closest contact with labourers. Even when I was practising, I accepted generally working men’s briefs. I lived with them, moved with them and slept and ate with them. I have conducted a number of strikes before now. I consider myself an expert in conducting strikes. With God’s grace, I succeeded in all of them, the only reason being that I advised workers to stand on their own feet I refused to support them by raising funds. Why should a man, sound of body and limb, feed himself with money from another? I most certainly would not seek financial assistance from my brother or my friend if I should happen to lose my job or if my business is ruined. I would seek my brother’s help only when I was ill or incapacitated. When there was a strike by forty thousand men and women in South Africa, I straightway wired to Mr. Gokhale1 to tell him that he should not worry at all and that there was no need to raise funds in India and send the money there. As long as there was no money, things went on very well; it was only when funds started flowing in that difficulties arose. The workers secured their demands. We did not have to continue the strike for as long as six months. It was called off within a few weeks on a settlement being reached. The strikers used to get one roti1 and an ounce of sugar daily. On this ration, they walked twenty miles every day. Their women and children also accompanied them.

That one was a very big strike. Compared to it, your strike is a very small affair. During that strike large numbers submitted to beatings and assaults without so much as opening their mouths. Not less than ten thousand people walked into jails without uttering a single syllable. Among the ranks of the strikers were many hefty Pathans. Once a Pathan working in a coal-mine came to me and bared his back before me. It was all sore and swollen. He told me he had received the blows without the slightest movement of his body, that the tyrant had all but skinned him alive; but he submitted to it all because of the pledge he had taken before me in the name of God. Were it not for this, how dare the man beat him, he asked. He could have crushed the like of him in no time.

I told him that he was indeed a brave man. And, in that strike, he was not the only Pathan who behaved in this way. There were many Others like him. Some persons who had served terms of imprisonment for theft or murder had also joined the Strike. All of them, however, had only one thought in their minds, that the pledge they had taken had to be honoured even at the cost of their lives. All of them were brave people. I want you to be equally brave. I ask you, once again, not to look to the Congress or depend upon it. God has given us teeth and He is sure to provide us food. This land of Bengal is so very fertile. You have abundant rains here. Nature is all smiles upon you. Why should people here at all die of hunger? How can people here be anyone’s slaves? They should be completely free. If they so choose they can, this very day, win freedom for the whole of the country. I feel ashamed to think that, when there is famine in Khulna, they should approach merchants in Bombay for money and that the Khulna people can be fed only if the money is forthcoming. Let us think what needs to be done now. Either all of you go back to your villages and find out for yourselves some means of livelihood, or you set up some sort of a corporation of your own. If you wish to go back to your villages, the Congress Committee should pay you the fare for the journey. I would, however, advise you to set up a corporation. As one fighting for swaraj, I would ask you to card, spin and weave. After a month of training, you will earn from this work one rupee daily. The greater your skill the more you will earn. By taking up this work, you will also be serving the nation. Your family members will then cease to be liabilities since they too can lend a hand in this work. Moreover, your courage will have an effect on public opinion and those who have deserted you may again join you. This will of course need determination. Our forefathers laid great stress on honouring one’s pledge. Dasharatha said that the tradition of Raghu’s descendants enjoined them not to break a pledge, even if that meant losing one’s life.

Many of you have returned to work with the Railway; they are ignorant, weak men. You should not abuse them; nor should you employ force to compel them to give up their jobs again. That will not be right for you. If you refuse to go back on your pledge, silently keep up the strike and earn your bread by spinning and weaving; if you live a godly life, they will themselves feel ashamed; public opinion will make them feel so.
— Navajivan, 15-9-1921

8. Gandhi Was Imprisoned In 1922 And Released In February 1924.
In The Following Year (1925) He Visited Jamshedpur.: Gandhi’s secretary, Mahadev Desai, recorded :

“Labour unions are established in all such centres of industry, so that the workers themselves may also share the burden of responsibilities. There was one such Union here also. It came into conflict with the Company two years ago (sic : this seems to be an error for 5 years: AN ); there was a strike and rioting and firing also. But that is all old history. That happened when the Company was denying recognition to the Union and had actually discharged Mr Shethi, its Secretary, from service. In order to secure recognition for the Unon, Mr Andrews ( C F Andrews) pressed Gandhiji this year to visit Jamshedpur. Deshbandhu Das and Panditji (Motilalji, father of Jawaharlal Nehru) were appointed arbitrators last year to settle the dispute between the Company and its employees. Deshbandhu is no more and Panditji is almost always an invalid. It was, therefore, Jawaharlal who came here last year. Mr Andrews and Jawaharlal had consultations with Mr Tata. Gandhiji was requested to take part in these consultations and the result has been happy. Mr Tata has not only agreed to recognize the Trade Union and accept its constitution, but also to help it in the collection of the subscriptions of members by deucting the required amounts from their salaries. He has given hopes of the restitution of Mr Shethi also to his old post. And it was Gandhiji who was entrusted with the duty of announcing this amicable settlement before the vast public meeting held in the maidan before the Company’s club. In a long speech he gave the details of the compromise and his views on the relationship that ought to subsist between workmen and their employers. ” (Mahadev Desai, Day-to-Day with Gandhi, Volume VII, Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan, Varanasi, 1972, pp. 149-150).

Here is a short report of Gandhi ‘s speech:
Speech At Public Meeting, Jamshedpur1
August 9, 1925

Replying to the address in Hindi, Mr. Gandhi announced that at the meeting at which he himself was present along with Mr. R. D. Tata, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Steel Co., Mr. Andrews, and Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, Mr. Tata agreed that the Labour Association with officers duly elected would be recognized by the Company, and that the Company would be prepared to collect subscriptions of the members of the Labour Association from their pay and further that, subject to the confirmation of the Board of Directors, as a token of goodwill and conciliation, Mr. G. Sethi who was dismissed by the Company and Mr. Thomas, who has since been working as an Honorary Secretary of the Labour Association, would be offered reemployment in the Company’s works.

Mr. Gandhi hoped the Labour Association would devote its energies principally to the welfare of the labourers and the concessions made would end all the cause of friction between the Company and tens of thousands of workers. Mr. Gandhi then exhorted his audience to shun two great evils which were1 Gandhiji was presented with an address in Hindi and a purse of Rs.5,000 at a mass meeting attended by some 20,000 people. only too prevalent among the labouring classes all over India. These evils were eating into their vitals. He said: You cannot get swaraj until you can leave off drink and until you can look upon all women as your mothers and sisters.
— The Searchlight, 14-8-1925

9. Gandhi Was Not A Blind Or Uncritical Supporter Of Indian Industrialists Even Though He Took Their Support, When Given, For His Schemes Of Social Welfare (As Distinct From The Freedom Movement Proper).

SEE :
(a) Gandhi’s Letter To Birla Rejecting His Objections To Sarojini Naidu Being Made Congress President: [ The Suhrawardy referred to in this letter is not H S Suhrawardy : AN]

[August 21, 19241]
DEAR SHRI GHANSHYAMDAS,
God has provided me with conscience-keepers. You, I think, are one of them. Some of my own children, some ladies and a few grownups like Jamnalalji, and yourself want to make me a perfect man. Regarding you thus, how could I be offended by your letter? In fact, I want you always to caution me in this manner.

You complain against three things: One, my absolving the Swaraj Party of the charge of corruption; two, my giving a testimonial to Suhrawardy; and, three, my trying to get Sarojini Devi elected as [Congress] President.

In the first place, it is one’s duty to say only that which, after a pains-taking inquiry, one has come to regard as the truth, even if the world considers it to be an error. In no other way can one become fearless. I cannot consider anything dearer to me than moksha. Yet even that moksha I would renounce if it were to conflict with truth and non-violence. In all these three things I only followed truth. When I said that, I had in mind what you had told me at Juhu. In the absence of any definite proof, it becomes my duty to treat the Swaraj Party as free from the guilt imputed to it. If there is any evidence that you can furnish I shall certainly examine it. I shall even make it public if you will allow me to do so; if not I shall know and keep it to myself and remain silent.

As for Suhrawardy, I only testified to his sagacity and I am having practical experience of it even now.

About Sarojini Devi your fears are, I think, uncalled for. I hold strongly that she has served India well and is still doing so. While I have done nothing so far for her presidentship, I do believe that if the others who have so far occupied that office were fit for it, she too is fit. Everybody is charmed with her enthusiasm. I can bear witness to her courage. I have noticed nothing blame-worthy in her character.

Please do not conclude from this that I approve of everything done by her or anyone else.

God has filled this world with objects, animate and inanimate, good and bad. The wise man considers only the good and ignores the bad, even as the swan leaves the water and takes only the milk from a mixture of milk and water.1

Yours,
MOHANDAS GANDHI

SEE ALSO ( b ) :
Gandhi’s Query To G. D. Birla About The Manner In Which He Acquired Land : Was The Property Acquired For A Song?
[March 22, 1925]1
BHAI GHANSHYAMDASJI,
Your two letters.

You have taken a load of worry off my mind concerning the Muslim University. I would certainly not wish your donation to be the cause of dispute among your brothers. I shall not disclose your name. As for the land acquired by you in Chhota Nagpur, I will not advise you to give it up just because of the death of some of your employees. There is not much difference between landed property and property in the shape of bullion; and property is bound to lead to quarrels, even murder. There is only one way out of your dilemma; to give up property altogether. This, you do not wish to do at present.

But, as I have said, since property becomes the cause of quarrels and tempts us to do wrong things, we should give it up, and so long as we are not ready to renounce it completely, we should, as its trustees, use it for the good of others and make the minimum use of it for our ownenjoyment. There is another possibility. Has an attempt been made to get in touch with the gentleman who is creating trouble? Why does he give this trouble? May- be, it was his foolishness but has his land been acquired for a song? Even a fool would not like to throw away his property. But this is another moral problem I have raised.
Is your wife feeling a little better now? I shall leave Madras on the 24th.
Yours,
MOHANDAS GANDHI

SEE ALSO ( C ) :
The Industrialists Sympathetic To Gandhi Had No Freedom From Accountability To Gandhi.. In 1929 Gandhi Received A Letter Containing Charges Against G D Birla. Gandhi Sought A Reply From Birla (While Admonishing The Complainant For Not Writing To Birla First):

Agra, September 18, 1929
BHAI GHANSHYAMDASJI,
….
I trust you are keeping good health. Mahadevlalji had written to me in July a letter which contained some charges against you I drew his attention to the impropriety of it and asked his permission to pass
on the letter to you. The impropriety consisted in his not mentioning the matter to you first. In his reply he gave me permission to forward his letter to you. The letter, however, was not despatched perhaps because I was on tour or for some other reason. Meanwhile, Mahadevlal came to the Ashram. At present he is touring with Jamnalalji. He does not seem to have any selfish motive. I am sending his letter to you now. Read it at leisure and take your own time in sending the reply. And return his letter with your reply.
Yours,
MOHAN DAS

(From Birla’s reply, published in Volume 1 of “Bapu : A Unique Association”, pp. 127-129 comprising his correspondence with Gandhi, the charges pertained, inter alia, to wages, hours of work, provision of living quarters to workers, and employment of children in violation of the Factories Act. The last charge Birla denied. On the other charges, he listed recent actions taken. Interestingly, some of the remedial actions listed, such as fixing hours of work to 60 per week, appeared to have been taken by Birla after receipt of Madhavlal’s letter by Gandhi ).

SEE FURTHER (d) Gandhi’s Letter From Prison To G. D. Birla dated 16 December 1930 : [Gandhi Tells Birla : “I shall be very happy and content if you brothers can give up speculation.” ]

BHAI GHANSHYAMDASJI,
I have your letter. Even if I agree to see you I am afraid the permission will not be granted. Therefore for the time being, we must be content with letters alone. By speculation I did not mean that no forward transactions should be entered into. Speculation means gambling. With the expectation that market prices will go up I buy 1,000 bales of cotton. I do not need any cotton, I do not even store it in any warehouse. Only a book transaction is made. Now I await a rise in price. I sell the cotton when it rises; this I consider gambling. The nation or, rather, the world has lost a great deal through such transactions. This was what I meant in my letter1. Yes, I expect much more than this, but, at present, you will not be up to that. Without at all depending upon future market prices, to sell the commodities at a little more than the cost price is what I consider unsullied trade. Today it might be difficult to conduct such business, but ultimately, it might bear fruit. You might remember this is what I visualize for khadi. But I know this is a tall order. I shall be very happy and content if you brothers can give up speculation. However, do only what is intelligently acceptable and within your power. I would not at all wish that you should act upon the suggestion simply because it happens to be mine and that, too, sent from jail. Faith should not have a place where reasoning is applicable.

Jayaprakash informs me that, although you are not recruiting any new people just now, he will be absorbed somewhere because of my recommendation2. I certainly hold that Jayaprakash is a worthy young man but I do not wish that a post be created where none exists today…..
Yours,
MOHANDAS

See Still Further (E) Gandhi’s Letter To G. D. Birla dated
26 May 1932
BHAI GHANSHYAMDAS,
I have your letter. The letter I addressed to Gwalior was somewhat lengthy. I recollect this much but nothing of the contents.
We must consider the views of the workers regarding working in three shifts and also the extent of the material and moral benefit to them from it. If they gain materially but lose morally, it will not be acceptable to me. I may be considered neutral as I have at present no means of ascertaining labour’s point of view. I only hope that this change has been made with due regard for the labourers’ attitude towards it. …
Blessings from
BAPU

See More ( F) : When Congress Ministries Were Formed In The Provinces In 1937, G D Birla Wanted The Harijan Sevak Sangh To Be Wound Up On The Ground That The Ministries Could Take Up The Welfare Work.
Gandhi wrote to A V Thakkar on 16 December 1937 :
“Let Ghanshyamdas say what he likes, but the [Harijan Sevak ] Sangh cannot be wound up.” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 66, p. 319)

10. Gandhi Advises Birla To Meet Delhi’s Congress Socialist Leader Satyavati, (Also Remembered As A Communist Within Delhi ‘S Communist Tradition) Who Had Organised Workers In The Birla Mills:
GANDHI’S TELEGRAM TO G. D. BIRLA1

WARDHAGANJ,
December 2, 1935
GHANSHYAMDAS BIRLA
ALBUQUERQUE ROAD
NEW DELHI

WITHOUT DIMINSHING INFLUENCE OR DAMAGING STATUS OF RECOGNIZED UNION OFFER LISTEN COMPLAINTS BY WHOMSOEVER MADE AND REDRESS LEGITIMATE PROVED GRIEVANCE. PERSONS THEMSELVES NOT EMPLOYEES SHOULD PROVE THEIR AUTHORITY SPEAK FOR AGGRIEVED WORKERS. IF THIS ADVICE DOES NOT FIND ECHO IN YOUR HEART IT IS CLEAR I HAVE NOT GRASPED TRUE SITUATION. IN THAT EVENT SHOULD ACT ACCORDING YOUR BEST JUDGEMENT.
BAPU

1 The workers of the Birla Cotton Mill had gone on strike in protest against reduction in their wages, and under the leadership of Satyavati had formed an ad hoc committee to fight their cause. But the addressee had refused to recognize her authority and insisted on negotiating with the Birla Cotton Mill Union functioning since 1928.

11. Regarding Birla Mills’ Workers : Gandhi Did Met Them : And The Idea Of A Five-Member Team Was Gandhi’s. The Meeting With Gandhi Took Place When He Was Out Of Delhi : Gandhi Told Them, Inter Alia : “I believe that the mill-owners too will now have to see reason. If they continue to suck the blood of the workers their mills will be reduced to ashes.”

GANDHI’S ADVICE TO MILL-WORKERS1
May 11, 1947

We do not judge properly when and against whom we may offer strikes. Nowadays in India, going on strike is regarded as an act of bravery. There are strikes in mills over trivial matters. For insignificant issues students in schools and colleges go on strike. Have you ever considered who are the worst sufferers in such situations? It is the workers and the students who suffer the most. The rich people and the Government schools and colleges have nothing to lose. If the mills are closed for a day or a month, the mill-owners would not have to worry about their daily bread. But what would happen to you who live from day to day? Similar is the case with Government clerks and postmen going on strike. Of course I believe in equal wages at all levels. Why should a sweeper get only four annas a day while a lawyer may get one hundred rupees? But the world has not yet reached that ideal state, because people pay huge fees to lawyers and barristers in their own interests. It will take many years before incomes would be equalized in our society. If injustice is being done to you, go to your employer with an open mind, try to convince him about your point. But do not go on strike being swept away by others in the current of their parties and ‘isms’ that are daily coming up like mushrooms. You are an illiterate lot, you are workers. Hence see that others do not take undue advantage of you. I believe that the mill-owners too will now have to see reason. If they continue to suck the blood of the workers their mills will be reduced to ashes. Their huge mansions, their cars and all other things are the result of your labour. However, it is my impression that the majority of the mill-owners are sensible. I do hope that they will understand the prevailing situation in the country and treat the workers accordingly. If not now, in the coming year or two mill-owners and workers will have to develop relations like father and sons. Therein lies the good of both. If this does not happen both will come to grief. I have no doubt about it. Hence I humbly suggest that 1 you must all go back to work. Choose and appoint a committee of five persons from amongst you. Let the five go to the mill-owners and present the entire case to them. You must understand their difficulty and they must understand yours. Finding a proper way by mutual compromise is in the interest of both sides.
[From Gujarati]
— Biharni Komi Agman, pp. 336-7
1 Workers of the Birla Mills were on strike and had turned violent. Some of them called on Gandhiji.

12. Formation Of The Congress Socialist Party:

Some of the reasons for the formation of the CSP may be found here (the closeness of Prof Abdul Bari, the Labour leader and freedom fighter from Jamshedpur to Gandhi and the growing CSP closeness to Gandhi are also discussed) : http://nehrumemorial.nic.in/images/pdf/occasional/Anil_Nauriya_16_April_2015.pdf