---
title: Foreword
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/02-foreword/
description: Foreword, from Indian Home Rule (Hind Swaraj) by M. K. Gandhi.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: a pre-1914 imperial intelligence-dossier collage of colonial telegraph logs, sepia field photography and empire maps.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-pre1914.jpg)

[Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/) · Book · [Indian Home Rule (Hind Swaraj)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/)

# Foreword

This text

- **Work:** [Indian Home Rule (Hind Swaraj)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/)
- **Author:** M. K. Gandhi
- **Published:** 1909

Full details

- **Rights:** Published in Madras in 1922; Gandhi died in 1948. A foreign work still protected in its home country in 1996 had its US copyright restored for 95 years from publication, which ended on 31 December 2017 for a 1922 book, so the edition is in the public domain in the United States (Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright). The edition also prints a note by C. Rajagopalachari (died 1972), published with it in 1922 and covered by the same US rule; its term in India runs to 2032, so readers outside the United States should check their own law.

Chapters

1. [Note](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/01-note/)
2. [Foreword](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/02-foreword/)
3. [Hind Swaraj or the Indian Home Rule: Reply to Critics](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/03-hind-swaraj-or-the-indian-home-rule-reply-to-cri/)
4. [1. The Congress and Its Officials](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/04-the-congress-and-its-officials/)
5. [2. The Partition of Bengal](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/05-the-partition-of-bengal/)
6. [3. Discontent and Unrest](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/06-discontent-and-unrest/)
7. [4. What Is Swaraj?](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/07-what-is-swaraj/)
8. [5. The Condition of England](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/08-the-condition-of-england/)
9. [6. Civilization](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/09-civilization/)
10. [7. Why Was India Lost?](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/10-why-was-india-lost/)
11. [8. The Condition of India](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/11-the-condition-of-india/)
12. [9. The Condition of India (Continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/12-the-condition-of-india-continued/)
13. [10. The Condition of India (Continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/13-the-condition-of-india-continued/)
14. [11. The Condition of India (Continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/14-the-condition-of-india-continued/)
15. [12. The Condition of India (Continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/15-the-condition-of-india-continued/)
16. [13. What Is True Civilization?](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/16-what-is-true-civilization/)
17. [14. How Can India Become Free?](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/17-how-can-india-become-free/)
18. [15. Italy and India](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/18-italy-and-india/)
19. [16. Brute-force](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/19-brute-force/)
20. [17. Passive Resistance](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/20-passive-resistance/)
21. [18. Education](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/21-education/)
22. [19. Machinery](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/22-machinery/)
23. [20. Conclusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/23-conclusion/)
24. Appendices
25. [Some Authorities](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/24-some-authorities/)
26. [Testimonies by Eminent Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/25-testimonies-by-eminent-men/)

[← Note](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/01-note/) [Hind Swaraj or the Indian Home Rule: Reply to Critics →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/03-hind-swaraj-or-the-indian-home-rule-reply-to-cri/)

**Content note:** Period language and sweeping generalisations: calls Parliament "a sterile woman and a prostitute", makes broad claims about lawyers, doctors, Europeans and relations between Hindus and Muslims, and uses the period term "Mahomedans". This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

I have re-read this booklet more than once. The value at the present moment lies in re-printing it as it is. But if I had to revise it, there is only one word I would alter in accordance with a promise made to an English friend. She took exception to my use of the word 'prostitute' in speaking of the Parliament. Her fine taste recoiled from the indelicacy of the expression. I remind the reader that the booklet purports to be a free translation of the original which is in Gujarati.

After years of endeavour to put into practice the views expressed in the following pages, I feel that the way shown therein is the only true way to Swaraj. Satyagrah--the law of love is the Law of life. Departure from it leads to disintegration. A firm adherence to it leads to regeneration.

BOMBAY, } *28th May, 1919*. } M. K. GANDHI.

[← Note](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/01-note/) [Hind Swaraj or the Indian Home Rule: Reply to Critics →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/03-hind-swaraj-or-the-indian-home-rule-reply-to-cri/)

Indian Home Rule (Hind Swaraj), M. K. Gandhi. Published in Madras in 1922; Gandhi died in 1948. A foreign work still protected in its home country in 1996 had its US copyright restored for 95 years from publication, which ended on 31 December 2017 for a 1922 book, so the edition is in the public domain in the United States (Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright). The edition also prints a note by C. Rajagopalachari (died 1972), published with it in 1922 and covered by the same US rule; its term in India runs to 2032, so readers outside the United States should check their own law. [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/gandhi-hind-swaraj-1909/).
