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Chapter 7    Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory229
emotional attachment toGandhi, which heattributed tohisownlifelong search for
thefather hehadnever seen(Erikson, 1975). InGandhi’s Truth, Erikson (1969) 
revealed strong positive feelings forGandhi asheattempted toanswer thequestion of
howhealthy individuals suchasGandhi work through conflict andcrisis when other 
people aredebilitated bylesser strife. Insearching forananswer, Erikson examined 
Gandhi’s entire lifecycle butconcentrated ononeparticular crisis, which climaxed 
when amiddle-aged Gandhi firstusedself-imposed fasting asapolitical weapon.
Asachild, Gandhi wasclose tohismother butexperienced conflict withhis
father. Rather thanviewing thissituation asanOedipal conflict, Erikson sawitas
Gandhi’s opportunity towork outconflict withauthority figures—an opportunity 
Gandhi wastohavemany times during hislife.
Gandhi wasbornonOctober 2,1869, inPorbandar, India. Asayoung man, 
hestudied lawinLondon andwasinconspicuous inmanner andappearance. Then, 
dressed likeaproper British subject, hereturned toIndia topractice law.After 
2years ofunsuccessful practice, hewent toSouth Africa, which, likeIndia, wasa
British colony. Heintended toremain forayear, buthisfirstserious identity crisis 
kepthimthere formore than20years.
Aweek afterajudge excluded himfrom acourtroom, Gandhi wasthrown off
atrainwhen herefused togiveuphisseattoa“white” man. These twoexperiences 
withracial prejudice changed Gandhi’s life.Bythetimeheresolved thisidentity cri-
sis,hisappearance hadchanged dramatically. Nolonger attired insilkhatandblack 
coat, hedressed inthecotton loincloth andshawl thatweretobecome familiar tomil-
lions ofpeople throughout theworld. During those years inSouth Africa, heevolved 
thetechnique ofpassive resistance known asSatyagraha andusedittosolve hiscon-
flicts withauthorities. Satyagraha isaSanskrit termmeaning atenacious, stubborn 
method ofgathering thetruth.
After returning toIndia, Gandhi experienced another identity crisis when, in
1918, atage49,hebecame thecentral figure inaworkers’ strike against themill
owners atAhmedabad. Erikson referred totheevents surrounding thestrike as“The 
Event” anddevoted thecoreofGandhi’s Truth tothiscrisis. Although thisstrike 
wasonlyaminor event inthehistory ofIndia andreceived onlyscant attention in
Gandhi’s autobiography, Erikson (1969) sawitashaving agreat impact onGandhi’s 
identity asapractitioner ofmilitant nonviolence.
Themillworkers hadpledged tostrike iftheirdemands fora35%payincrease 
werenotmet.Buttheowners, whohadagreed among themselves tooffernomore 
thana20%increase, locked outtheworkers andtriedtobreak theirsolidarity byoffer-
ingthe20%increase tothose whowould come backtowork. Gandhi, theworkers’ 
spokesperson, agonized overthisimpasse. Then, somewhat impetuously, hepledged to
eatnomore fooduntiltheworkers’ demands weremet.This, thefirstofhis17“fasts to
thedeath,” wasnotundertaken asathreat tothemillowners buttodemonstrate tothe
workers thatapledge must bekept. Infact,Gandhi feared thatthemillowners might 
surrender outofsympathy forhimrather thanfrom recognition oftheworkers’ desper -
ateplight. Indeed, onthethird day,theworkers andowners reached acompromise 
thatallowed bothtosaveface—the workers would work onedayfora35%increase, 
onedayfora20%increase, andthenforwhatever amount anarbitrator decided. The
nextdayGandhi ended hishunger strike, buthispassive resistance hadhelped shape 
hisidentity andhadgiven himanewtoolforpeaceful political andsocial change.Final PDF to printer