Gandhian technique and tradition in Industrial relations

This volume, as will be seen at a glance, represents the writer's interests, spread over many years and there is an essay that was published as early as June, 1938 in the Prabudhha Bharat. In fact, the last six chapters included in Part II were written in other contexts and emphasise the tradition and pattern of Gandhian values. They have been included as they bring out the identical purpose and lay stress on his concern for the whole man-a tradition remarkably pursued by his two most notable followers, Vinoba and Pandit Nehru, as indicated in Chapter V: Part II.

While the inspiration and the ideas that have gone into the making of this book are obviously drawn from Mahatma Gandhi, most of the interpretations and assumptions are my own and it is about this that I am conscious of a great diffidence knowing my own limitations and the great difficulty of presenting the problems and their solution that remain unchanged under widely changed and changing conditions. Yet an attempt has to be made not only to recall Gandhiji's great services in seeking to strike a mean between apparently conflicting interests but also to co rrelate the lessons he taught to the needs of the present. In trying to give his message, as far as possible, in his own words, some repetitions could not be avoided. I am also aware that the exposition has been scrappy at times and the accent more modern, though the values re-affirmed are such as Gandhiji laid down for all time.

Gandhiji's views of labour are scattered in his writings and speeches but by varying the words he used in another context, it may, perhaps, be stated that he was neither a saint nor a politician nor a labour leader. If he took part in labour movement it was because labour capital tensions encircle us today like the coils of a snake from which few who are employers or employees or are sensitive to a social sense can escape.