What is satyagraha?

Gandhi coined the term from Sanskrit: satya (truth) + agraha (insistence or holding firmly). Often translated as "truth-force" or "soul-force," satyagraha is the philosophy that moral truth has power — that if you act from truth, accept suffering without retaliation, and refuse to cooperate with injustice, you can transform your opponents rather than simply defeating them.

How is satyagraha different from passive resistance?

Gandhi insisted on the difference explicitly. Passive resistance can come from cowardice — refusing to fight because you're afraid. Satyagraha is active: you choose suffering. You refuse to retaliate not because you can't but because retaliation would compromise your moral position. The suffering is strategic as well as principled.

What are the core principles of nonviolent resistance?

1. Ahimsa (nonviolence): No physical harm to opponents, even when they harm you.
2. Voluntary acceptance of suffering: Absorbing violence without retaliation reveals the oppressor's true nature.
3. Refusal to cooperate: Withdrawing participation from unjust systems — refusing to buy, work, pay taxes.
4. Self-purification: The activist must be morally disciplined, not acting from hatred.
5. Love for the opponent: The goal is transformation, not defeat.

Does nonviolent resistance work against all opponents?

Gandhi himself acknowledged limitations. His methods worked against the British partly because Britain was accountable to domestic and international public opinion. He wrote that the same methods might not have worked against a regime willing to eliminate opponents in secret. Critics like Subhas Chandra Bose argued independence required armed resistance as well.

What is Gandhi's most important insight about power?

That unjust power depends on the cooperation of those it oppresses. Remove the cooperation — through strikes, civil disobedience, economic boycotts — and the power structure loses its material foundation. This is the deepest logic of satyagraha.