Editing Salt March (section)

==Preparing to march==
On 5 February, newspapers reported that Gandhi would begin civil disobedience by defying the salt laws. The salt satyagraha would begin on 12 March and end in Dandi with Gandhi breaking the Salt Act on 6 April.<ref name="gandhiheritageportal.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/dandi-march-details |title=Chronology: Event Detail Page |publisher=Gandhi Heritage Portal |date=15 June 2012 |access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> Gandhi chose 6 April to launch the mass breaking of the salt laws for a symbolic reason{{snd}}it was the first day of "National Week", begun in 1919 when Gandhi conceived of the national [[hartal]] (strike) against the [[Rowlatt Act]].<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 113.</ref>

Gandhi prepared the worldwide media for the march by issuing regular statements from the [[Sabarmati Ashram|Ashram]], at his regular prayer meetings, and through direct contact with the press. Expectations were heightened by his repeated statements anticipating arrest, and his increasingly dramatic language as the hour approached: "We are entering upon a life and death struggle, a holy war; we are performing an all-embracing sacrifice in which we wish to offer ourselves as an oblation."<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 108.</ref> Correspondents from dozens of Indian, European, and American newspapers, along with film companies, responded to the drama and began covering the event.<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 107.</ref>

For the march itself, Gandhi wanted the strictest discipline and adherence to satyagraha and ahimsa. For that reason, he recruited the marchers not from Congress Party members, but from the residents of his own [[ashram]], who were trained in Gandhi's strict standards of discipline.<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 104.</ref> The 24-day march would pass through 4 districts and 48 villages. The route of the march, along with each evening's stopping place, was planned based on recruitment potential, past contacts, and timing. Gandhi sent scouts to each village ahead of the march so he could plan his talks at each resting place, based on the needs of the local residents.<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 105.</ref> Events at each village were scheduled and publicised in Indian and foreign press.<ref>[[#Ackerman|Ackerman]], p. 85.</ref>

On 2 March 1930 Gandhi wrote to the [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy]], [[Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Irwin]], offering to stop the march if Irwin met eleven demands, including reduction of land revenue assessments, cutting military spending, imposing a tariff on foreign cloth, and abolishing the salt tax.<ref name="A & DuVall, p. 83" /><ref>{{cite web|author=<!-- - Mahatma Gandhi --> |url=https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/cwmg_redirect/ZW5fX18x/NDNfX18zNg= |title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi |publisher=Gandhi Heritage Portal |access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> His strongest appeal to Irwin regarded the salt tax:

<blockquote>If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man's standpoint. As the sovereignty and self-rule movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.<ref>''Gandhi's letter to Irwin'', [[#GandhiDalton|Gandhi and Dalton]], p. 78.</ref></blockquote>

As mentioned earlier, the Viceroy held any prospect of a "salt protest" in disdain. After he ignored the letter and refused to meet with Gandhi, the march was set in motion.<ref name=Majmudar/> Gandhi remarked, "On bended knees, I asked for bread and I have received stone instead."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://parliamentmuseum.org/fr_dandee_vr.html |title=Parliament Museum, New Delhi, India – Official website – Dandi March VR Video |publisher=Parliamentmuseum.org |access-date=1 August 2012 |archive-date=23 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523022518/http://www.parliamentmuseum.org/fr_dandee_vr.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The eve of the march brought thousands of Indians to Sabarmati to hear Gandhi speak at the regular evening prayer. American academic writing for [[The Nation]] reported that "60,000 persons gathered on the bank of the river to hear Gandhi's call to arms. This call to arms was perhaps the most remarkable call to war that has ever been made."<ref>Miller, Herbert A. (23 April 1930) "Gandhi's Campaign Begins", ''The Nation''.</ref><ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 107</ref>