ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explain part of the basis of Gandhi's power, the unexpected izzat which he was able to project, almost from his earliest encounters, when he returned to India during World War I, a middle-aged, non-resident Indian and colonial politician. In 1893 when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi emigrated to South Africa, there were already significant problems associated with the system of indentured emigration. In South Africa, according to Gandhi, satyagraha began for the first time on 11 September 1908. The immediate cause of the action was the 'Black Act', which required all Indians over the age of eight to register, be photographed and thumb-printed. Gandhi's own inconsistent attitude is reflected in the lack of a critical historiography of the indenture issue. Gandhi's interest in the status of the prosperous merchants, landowners and professionals strongly echoed the concerns of the Indian National Congress delegates: they too were little concerned with the rights or wrongs of the coolie workers.
