East and West cannot long afford to stand apart or in opposition. This is the message of all modern prophets of Love and harmony, as well as of those political idealists who work for world-peace and unity. But some of them seem to see in the movement of Non-Co-operation now spreading in India a threatening danger to their mission. Non-Co-operation is obviously an ugly word. For, in spite of repeated explanations by its author and responsible spokesmen misunderstandings seem still to persist in their minds regarding its expressed scope and object. We do not care for the criticisms of the avowed enemies of Non-Co-operation who deliberately misinterpret the term as the interested opponents of Indian freedom. We owe no explanations to them since their blindness is born of self interest. But there are others, among the truest sons and friends of India who due to a difference of temperament or outlook are unable to understand the term in its proper sense and scope or are scared away by its indefinite implications and exaggerated interpretations. They construe Non-Co-operation in its absolute significance as implying the refusal or withdrawal of all forms of Co-operation and mutual service, material, moral and cultural and point out the dangers involved in such a singular isolation from the surrounding world.
