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Mahatma Gandhi and Karl Marx - PDF - / Send As Email
Ramarajya and the Stateless Society
by Dipendra Sinha
In The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, June 1985, pp. 229-236 - Previous Article / Next Article

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M AH ATM A GANDHI AND KARL MARX:
RAMARAJYA AND THE STATELESS SOCIETY
By Dipendra Sinha
Just as Karl Marx may be portrayed as a prophet whose
teachings won widespread support among those who helped
create the Revolution which overthrew the Russian Czars, so
the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, who was also seen as a social
prophet, provided ideological inspiration for millions who participated
in the resistance movement against the British Raj
in India. While obviously there are differences between the two,
there are also many striking parallels between the social visions
which each offered. Thus, according to Gandhi, the ideal
society was the ramarajya, the kingdom of God, while according
to Marx, the final and ultimate state of society was a condition
in which the state ceased to exist, or "withered away.' There are
certain very basic similarities between these two concepts, and I
would like to take this opportunity to compare the two.
It must be recognized at the outset that a considerable
literature exists on the subject of a stateless society, not only
because Marx adopted this concept as a goal, but because
Hegel, Lenin and others have also given their interpretations
of the notion of a stateless society. The situation with regard
to Gandhi's ramarajya is a little different. Gandhi's ideas of
ramarajya are scattered in his various speeches, writings and
interviews. Pulling all the strands of his thought together turns
out to be a rather difficult task.
Ramarajya, according to Gandhi, meant sovereignty of the
people based on pure moral authority. (1) As he explained in
1939, "Ramarajya means renunciation all along the line. It
means discipline imposed by the people." The same type of
'dictatorship of the proletariat' society is envisaged by Marx.
To quote from The Communist Manifesto, "When, in the
course of development, class distinctions have disappeared and
all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast
association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its
political character. Political power, properly so-called, is merely
organized power of one class for oppressing another If by
means of a revolution, it (the proletariat) makes itself the ruling
class and as such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of


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