3 Gandhi’s train journey in South Africa
Gandhi gained his law degree in England in 1891. After this he returned to India to practice law but soon found work as an attorney for the Indian merchant Dada Abdulla in Durban, South Africa. He arrived in South Africa in April 1893, at the age of 23. In June 1893, Abdulla asked him to travel to Pretoria for work, and a First-class train ticket was purchased for him. One of the stops on the way was Pietermaritzburg. Gandhi wrote about what happened to him there in his autobiography, first published as a serial in the Indian magazine Navijan in 1925–1928.
Activity 1
Read this primary source extract from Gandhi’s autobiography below, thinking about the following questions:
- How reliable do you think Gandhi’s account of the incident is?
- What does this tell us about why Gandhi decided his duty was to resist racism?
The train reached Maritzburg, the capital of Natal, at about 9 p.m. Beddings used to be provided at this station. A railway servant came and asked me if I wanted one. ‘No,’ said I, ‘I have one with me.’ He went away. But a passenger came next, and looked me up and down. He saw that I was a ‘coloured’ man. This disturbed him. Out he went and came in again with one or two officials. They all kept quiet, when another official came to me and said, ‘Come along, you must go to the van compartment.’
‘But I have a first class ticket,’ said I.
‘That doesn't matter,’ rejoined the other. ‘I tell you, you must go to the van compartment.’
‘I tell you, I was permitted to travel in this compartment at Durban, and I insist on going on in it.’
‘No, you won’t,’ said the official. ‘You must leave this compartment, or else I shall have to call a police constable to push you out.’
‘Yes, you may. I refuse to get out voluntarily.’
The constable came. He took me by the hand and pushed me out. My luggage was also taken out. I refused to go to the other compartment and the train steamed away. I went and sat in the waiting room, keeping my hand-bag with me, and leaving the other luggage where it was. The railway authorities had taken charge of it.
It was winter, and winter in the higher regions of South Africa is severely cold. Maritzburg being at a high altitude, the cold was extremely bitter. My over-coat was in my luggage, but I did not dare to ask for it lest I should be insulted again, so I sat and shivered. There was no light in the room. A passenger came in at about midnight and possibly wanted to talk to me. But I was in no mood to talk.
I began to think of my duty. Should I fight for my rights or go back to India, or should I go on to Pretoria without minding the insults, and return to India after finishing the case? It would be cowardice to run back to India without fulfilling my obligation. The hardship to which I was subjected was superficial – only a symptom of the deep disease of colour prejudice. I should try, if possible, to root out the disease and suffer hardships in the process. Redress for wrongs I should seek only to the extent that would be necessary for the removal of the colour prejudice.
So I decided to take the next available train to Pretoria.
The following morning I sent a long telegram to the General Manager of the Railway and also informed Abdulla Sheth, who immediately met the General Manager. The Manager justified the conduct of the railway authorities, but informed him that he had already instructed the Station Master to see that I reached my destination safely. Abdulla Sheth wired to the Indian merchants in Maritzburg and to friends in other places to meet me and look after me. The merchants came to see me at the station and tried to comfort me by narrating their own hardships and explaining that what had happened to me was nothing unusual. They also said that Indians traveling first or second class had to expect trouble from railway officials and white passengers. The day was thus spent in listening to these tales of woe.
Discussion
As with any memoir or other record written many years after the event, it is inevitable that it will never be completely accurate. In this case, over thirty years had passed. It’s also important to note that when Gandhi published his autobiography he was a very famous figure in India as one of the leaders of the Independence struggle, which may have affected the way in which he wrote about this incident. Gandhi was ejected from that First-class carriage because he was not white: it had a crucial effect on him and his future path in life. One of his goals after the incident, as he states in the account, was to ‘seek [redress for wrongs] only to the extent that would be necessary for the removal of the colour prejudice’.