Pacifism

[Thomas Eckhardt]

As for the recent discussions of Pacifism: George Orwell, in his essay
"Reflections on Ghandi" wrote:

"(...) Nor did he, like most western pacifists, specialise in avoiding
awkward questions. In relation to the late war, one question that every
pacifist had a clear obligation to answer was: "What about the Jews? Are
you prepared to see them exterminated? If not, how do you propose to
save them without resorting to war?" I must say that I have never heard,
from any western pacifist, an honest answer to this question, though I
have heard plenty of evasions, usually of the "you're another" type. But
it so happens that Gandhi was asked a somewhat similar question in 1938
and that his answer is on record in Mr. Louis Fischer's "Gandhi and
Stalin". According to Mr. Fischer Gandhi's view was that the German Jews
ought to commit collective suicide, which "would have aroused the world
and the people of Germany to Hitler's violence". After the war he
justified himself: the Jews had been killed anyway, and might as well
have died significantly. One has the impression that this attitude
staggered even so warm an admirer as Mr. Fischer, but Gandhi was merely
being honest. If you are not prepared to take life, you must often be
prepared for lives to be lost in some other way."

Although Ghandi's answer may seem outrageous - I think it is, and I
stopped being an Armchair Pacifist after I read this - it is also, as
Orwell says, honest. Perhaps even honourable. The awkward question
posed, though, I believe, is indeed the one "every pacifist has the
clear obligation to answer".

Please note that I am not talking about the present situation, which is
not comparable to the one that is the subject of Orwell's text.

Thomas