The fact of the matter is that the Gandhian Way is not a medieval mode of life but a new civilization. Various panaceas have been advanced for curing the ills of modern civilization. But all of them are fundamentally similar in their emphasis on coercion and violence. “Although the partisans who are now fighting for the mastery of the modern world wear shirts of different colours,” writes Walter Lippmann, “their weapons are drawn from the same armoury, their doctrines are variations of the same theme, and they go forth to battle singing the same tune with slightly different words.” “Their weapons are the coercive direction of the life and labour of mankind. Their doctrine is that disorder and misery can be overcome only by more and more compulsory organisation. Their promise is that through the power of the State men can be made happy.”[86]This stress on state coercion is the dogma of the day; it is a strong tide and anybody who is not an authoritarian and collectivist is a “mossback, a reactionary, at best an amiable eccentric swimming hopelessly against the tide.” It is Mahatma Gandhi alone who has been consistently and persistently preaching non-violence and decentralisation for the last few decades. His vision is Oriental in its simplicity, vitality and realism. Observes Dr. Radhakamal Mukerjee:
