| 释义 |
passive resistance
[cf. resistance 1.]
Simple refusal to comply with some demand, without active opposition, now mostly used of refusal to comply with demands or legal requirements imposed by a government or other authority.
In spec. use, refusal to pay voluntarily the education rate imposed by the Education Act of 1902.
1819Scott Ivanhoe xxiii, In this humour of passive resistance..Isaac sat in a corner of his dungeon. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 467 Their conduct was uniformly peaceable; passive resistance was the only weapon to which they trusted. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. 58 The resistance was probably passive. 1883Encycl. Brit. XX. 147/2 The student of English constitutional history will observe the success with which they [sc. the Quakers] have, by the mere force of passive resistance, obtained from the legislature and courts indulgence for all their scruples and a recognition of the legal validity of their customs. 1909J. J. Doke Indian Patriot in S. Afr. ii. 5 The Passive Resistance movement had come into prominence [in 1907]. 1927C. Bergmann Hist. Reparations xxiii. 173 (heading) Force and passive resistance. Ibid. 180 The military invasion of the Ruhr District was met by the German people and the German Government with an attitude which has become generally known as passive resistance. 1928V. G. Desai tr. Gandhi's Satyagraha in S. Afr. xii. 172 None of us knew what name to give to our movement. I then [sc. in 1906] used the term ‘passive resistance’ in describing it. 1930Economist 22 Mar. 631/1 The Education Bill, which was the cause of the bitter religious controversy that gave rise to the passive resistance movement. 1936[see conscientious a. 2]. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. vi. 46 Unable to collect reparations, on account of German poverty and ‘passive resistance’ which became spasmodically impassive, Poincaré declared an embargo on iron and steel into Germany. 1950G. Brenan Face of Spain vii. 167 The land is difficult to legislate for, and those who own it are past masters in passive resistance. 1974J. White tr. Poulantzas's Fascism & Dictatorship iv. ii. 170 In July 1923, with..the failure of passive resistance in the Ruhr,..there was a situation of open crisis.
attrib.1845Ld. Campbell Chancellors xc. (1857) IV. 227 By a partial scrutiny Pritchard, his passive-resistance competitor, was placed in the civic chair.
Hence passive-reˈsistant, -reˈsister, one who practises passive resistance; passive-reˈsistful a., expressive of passive resistance. Also passive-resist v. intr. (rare), to practise passive resistance.
1903Westm. Gaz. 29 May 5/1 At Hastings, where the Passive Resisters are numbered by hundreds. 1904G. B. Shaw in Daily Mail 27 Feb. 4/4 They look at me with volumes of reproach in their earnest, passive-resistful eyes. 1906Passive resister [see lippy a. 2]. 1907G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island Pref. p. xxx, The warcry of the Passive Resisters is Voltaire's warcry, ‘Écrasez l'infâme’. 1936M. Plowman Faith called Pacifism 86 It was as a passive resister that the greatest revolutionary in the world became the greatest social force in the world. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment i. xii. 131 The soldiers were confronted with the grotesque task of dragging the passive resistants..into barbed-wire cages for interrogation. 1952B. Wolfe Limbo (1953) xvii. 255 Couldn't you just lie down and passive-resist? 1968Punch 2 Oct. 474/1 He incurred much unpopularity as a Passive Resister, which is what people called those who refused to pay their rates towards the upkeep of Church Schools. |