“I do not share the socialist belief that centralization of the necessaries of life will conduce to the common welfare, when the centralized industries are planned and owned by the State. The socialistic concept of the West was born in an environment reeking with violence.”
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Source: Harijan (27 January 1940), p. 428; listed in the 1940s section of Gandhi's English Wikiquote page.
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Piling the essentials of life into one central authority — even a well-meaning state — worries this outlook, since concentrated control tends to be held and defended by force. The preference is for ownership spread among ordinary people, so provision doesn't depend on power that has to coerce.
When to use it
- A neighborhood starts a member-owned food co-op instead of waiting on a single distant supplier.
- Villages that manage their own water share it fairly, where a far-off authority once rationed by decree.
- A network of small local workshops proves steadier than one giant plant that can shut a whole town down.