Satyagraha — Gandhi's term, literally 'truth-force' or 'soul-force' — is a philosophy of resistance grounded in the belief that nonviolence is not a strategy of the weak but a weapon of the morally strong: that the willingness to suffer injustice rather than perpetuate it is more powerful, in the long run, than any armed response. Gandhi drew on Hindu, Jain, and Tolstoyan Christian sources to build a comprehensive philosophy of liberation that had direct influence on every major nonviolent movement of the twentieth century. Its power — and its limitation — lies in its dependence on the opponent's susceptibility to moral witness.
Each step builds on the last.