The Power of Non-Violent Resistance

As many writers have noted, the basic thesis, or strategy, upon which Gandhi's satyagraha and all non-violent resistance rests is that all structures of power - government and social organizations - always depend upon the voluntary cooperation of great numbers of people even when they seem to rely upon coercion. The chief wielders of power, in other words, must have the tacit assistance and cooperation of hundreds or even thousands of persons in order to exercise power. The strategy, then, of those who oppose or wish to change an established power structure, particularly one equipped with overwhelming physical force, is to persuade large numbers of persons to refuse to cooperate with it any longer. This is not the objective of non-violent resistance, but its strategy.