Free Republic

Is this really a credible source?

I seriously doubt the credibility of the guy who posted this, he is basically an unknown novelist, and he hasn’t cited any sources except “his many contacts in the CIA”. If he was that concerned, he would have outed his sources, would he not?

And if this were true, the biggest culprits would be the CIA, for leaking names in the first place. Why are the CIA getting a free pass?

Yes, that quote about the arms was informative of his views. Gandhi believed that true self-rule was only possible in the absence of a state. Otherwise you are only independent in name, exchanging one tyrant ruler for another.

Even Orwell, who was a socialist all his life, did not believe in socialism through force:

That rifle on the wall of the laborer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there! — George Orwell

Something a lot of people don't know, however, is that Orwell was a dedicated social democrat. It's quite amusing, Orwell, writer of 1984, maybe the book conservatives cite the most, is a socialist. Gandhi, the leftist's wet dream, is a libertarian, almost an anarchist. Quite ironic, eh.

Unfortunately, most of you are very ill-informed about Gandhi. Yes, its true that he inherited some racist characteristics from his upbringing and culture (and the dominant culture at the time, since he had a British education). However, his views on the state are very enlightening, here are some quotes in italics:

It is my firm conviction that if the State suppressed capitalism by violence, it will be caught in the coils of violence itself, and fail to develop nonviolence at any time. The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. Hence I prefer the doctrine of trusteeship.

I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which lies at the root of the progress.

He was hardly a socialist in the Marxist sense. He was a socialist in the sense of the founding fathers, in that, he believed socialism should be voluntary, and not accomplished through the machinery of the state.