The inaugural address to the National Seminar of the Indian Adult Education Association, held at Pondicherry, India, December 26, 1968, examines the implications of the mass man, the challenge of violence to democratic living, and the role of education in parliamentary democracy. There is no simple, automatic correlation between education and freedom, adult education and parliamentary democracy. Adult education for living democratically involves the family, school, work and leisure time institutions, and society generally, and includes the participation of the citizen as a voter, member of a party, and officeholder. A study of the influence of adult education on Swedish elected officials revealed that 66% of the parliamentarians, 79% of the social democrats, 87% of the agrarians, 41% of the liberals, and 33% of the conservatives had recourse to adult education. Adult education preparation for city council members in Stockholm and three other selected communities ranged from 51% to 80%. Political participation must be learned; therefore, education bears a major responsibility for overcoming political apathy. [Not available in hardcopy due to marginal legibility of original document.] (nl)