Is justice truly the "great interest" of humankind, or merely a veneer thinly applied over the relentless pursuit of self-interest and the exploitation of the vulnerable?

That justice is the great interest of humankind is a truth I hold to be self-evident, though I confess, the faces I see ground down daily give me pause to consider. It is not merely a veneer, but the very foundation upon which a lasting society must be built. The pursuit of self-interest, unchecked, leads to exploitation, as I witnessed with the indigo farmers in Champaran. But justice, pursued through satyagraha, through truth-force, can uplift both the oppressed and the oppressor. In Hind Swaraj I argued that true civilization is attained when we each govern ourselves. Justice begins there, in the individual heart, and spreads outward to encompass the world.

Justice is indeed the great interest of man, but it is not a tapestry woven by angels. It is a thing hammered out on the anvil of self-interest, often by very dirty hands. I have seen it done. I saw it done in 1940, when we stood alone against Hitler, and the world decided whether the great interest was to appease a tyrant or to fight for its own soul. Of course, there was self-interest at play: the self-interest of a nation that preferred freedom to subjugation. But it was justice nonetheless. As Webster said, justice is man’s great interest on Earth, but it is served by men — and men are never angels.