enable the countryman, without journeying, to satisfy to the full his economic, social, intellectual and spiritual needs.”
The means, we have said, are twofold, first economic, secondly educational. Of these apparently the economic is the more urgent. In a recent conversation I had with Sir Horace Plunkett in America we discussed the work of the co-operative movement in Ireland. He stated that we have to recognise the need of persuading men of the economic benefits of co-operation before we can induce them to co-operate on other matters. Over and over again he has found that when men in a country district in Ireland have discovered the economic advantages of co-operation they have begun to co-operate for educational and social welfare. His invaluable experience has been that co-operation for selfish ends leads inevitably to co-operation for mutual advantage. Altruism follows when a firm basis of economic prosperity has been established, simply because the very act of co-operating for a common end unconsciously leads to a desire to combine for the benefit of all.
The considered opinion of a man of such long experience in co-operation as Sir Horace Plunkett is one that we would be wise not to neglect. It is therefore important for those who wish to serve India, and to develop amongst her people the spirit of co-operation, to study the best methods of introducing co-operation into her economic life.
The political motive must be replaced by the economic. When a whole people lives on the very verge of perpetual starvation it is useless to appeal to them on the plane of politics. However much they may believe that their miserable condition is due to a defective political system or an alien form of government, so long as they need food and are in a state of economic servitude no amount of political propaganda will be of any use in alleviating their condition. It is therefore more important to teach the village communities of India how to co-operate for their mutual benefit than it is to preach to them the duty of non co-operation with the present government. Establish in the villages strong and self-respecting communities founded upon a firm basis of mutual trust and economic prosperity, and inevitably Swaraj will follow. The mere departure of the British from India does not mean Swaraj though it is an essential preliminary, for with an alien government we have found that freedom of action is impossible. If the British were to leave India tomorrow Swaraj would not necessarily follow. Swaraj means more than a change of masters, it means that we learn to master ourselves, and that can only be achieved by a long process of self-discipline.
In Ireland this process of self-discipline has been going on in various districts of the country ever since the founding of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society thirty years ago. Although it may seem as if at present all the fruits of those years of labour are being destroyed by the armed and undisciplined forces of the Crown, it is not so in reality. For it is almost certain that the members of this Society, as a result of their training in co-operation, will prove to be the most efficient members of the new Irish Administration. British soldiers may destroy the Society’s creameries, but they cannot destroy the spirit of co-operation which has been developed during the years of the Society’s existence.
Outside this movement the Irish are unorganised and helpless. They are separated from each other and are weak because they cannot act together.
Before this Society was founded the Irish farmer produced, but for himself alone and not for the community in which he lived. This was false economy as it is also in India, for it meant that instead of combining with his neighbours for the purchase of his necessities and the sale of his produce he paid more for what he bought than he need have done because he bought in small quantities and had to pay carriage on small parcels, and got a lower price for his produce than he might have done if he had been organised with his neighbours. He never realised that if he combined with his neighbours he could
