The emancipatory logic of self-sacrifice in the pacifism of Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in the religious phenomena of self-sacrifice. Within academic debates, the elusive meaning of the concept has been a topic of various and conflicting interpretations. Most recent commentators include Jacques Derrida, René Girard and Terry Eagleton, who propose conflicting secular interpretations of the religious concept. The recent ongoing war in Ukraine has also contributed to the interest in its symbolic meaning. In response to the economic ramifications of the war in Ukraine and the decline in the trade relations between Russia and the West, numerous world leaders have asked citizens to self-sacrifice their economic conditions and endure the effects of the growing economic crisis. This purpose of this paper is twofold. First to question and challenge some of the contemporary secular (mis)understandings of the concept which are often used within popular culture and most recently by political actors and institutions. More importantly, to contribute to the growing literature within the Social Sciences and Humanities on the symbolic meaning and enactment of self-sacrifice in politics of resistance and activism. Drawing on the work of the principled tradition of nonviolence, namely Lev Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the paper traces and reconstructs a pacifist understanding of self-sacrifice as an ethical act of defiance which serves as a prerequisite for any attempt to resist and overcome violent societal conditions. I argue that the concept of self-sacrifice serves as the bedrock of the politics and philosophies of nonviolent resistance that the latter authors propose. That is, the successful enactment of Tolstoy’s doctrine of non-resistance to Evil, Gandhi’s ahimsa and satyagraha and Martin Luther King’s civil disobedience calls for the affirmation of a type of subjectivity which is willing to endure suffering and self-sacrifice itself for the purpose of overcoming the perpetuation of violence. The second part of the paper discusses the implications of the proposed understanding of self-sacrifice for contemporary debates on nonviolent activism and resistance. I maintain that although the meaning of the concept is rooted in doctrinal religious categories, it still holds relevance for contemporary social movements that aim to successfully achieve social transformation. In other words, activists taking part in social movements whether against an oppressive state or climate change should be willing to embrace suffering and self-sacrifice their conditions as to overcome the predicament that they attempt to resist and interrupt its reproduction. The paper concludes by highlighting the fruitful resources that could be traced and reconstructed from the philosophies of the normative approach to nonviolence and a call for the rethinking of the paradigmatic distinction between principled and pragmatic nonviolence.