07) GHADAR: A CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE

By Gurpreet Singh

     As the Indian Diaspora celebrates the centenary of the Ghadar Party this year, many observers have mainly focused on its role in India's independence from the British Empire, overlooking the party's contribution to mass movements in the post‑independent period.

     India gained independence from the British rule in 1947, following years of struggles by both the passive resistance movement and armed insurgents. The Ghadar Party was among the groups that believed in violence to rid India of foreign occupation. The word ``Ghadar'' means mutiny in Urdu, and the British rulers referred to the first organized act of rebellion in 1857 as the "Ghadar" which was suppressed. When Indian immigrants on the Pacific coast of the US and Canada formed the Hind Pacific Association in 1913 to seek independence, they chose to rename their first newsletter after Ghadar.

     The new Ghadar Party came into being after ugly experiences of systematic racism and discrimination suffered by the Indian migrants from the white supremacy in both countries. Most of these men came to Canada as British subjects, as Canada like India was a British colony. Many had actually served in the British army, but this did not help them in an alien land. Never did the British government come to the rescue of these people when they complained against racial discrimination. They were not allowed to bring their families to Canada, and were disfranchised in 1907. This alienation laid the foundation of the Ghadar Party that fought against social injustices in a foreign land, and foreign occupation back home. Most of these men returned to India to organize an uprising, only to face gallows or life imprisonment, while others went underground to continue resistance.

     Since the contributions of the Ghadar movement have largely been obscured in the mainstream history books, several myths have formed. One of the most popular mythologies says the party failed in its mission, primarily because the Ghadar Party's identity as a continuous struggle has been completely misunderstood.

     First, let's face it that the party did not achieve what it intended through an armed rebellion. That their strategy did not work is one thing, but to suggest that the movement failed is not correct. Their strategy failed as the people of India were not prepared for mutiny. The mainstream  political leadership either believed in passive resistance, or was pro‑British. Despite such a bitter experience, these men did not give up. Some became  members of the latter armed struggles like the Babbar Akali movement, a group seeking freedom of Sikh temples from the corrupt and pro‑British priest class. Others joined the communist movement.

     In post‑independence India they continued their fight against state repression and injustices. Among them was Mangu Ram Muggowal, who launched a movement against the caste‑based oppression of untouchability, a form of physical mistreatment practised against the so‑called low caste people. Muggowal launched his movement before independence, and continued it after the British left India. Likewise, Boojha Singh became a member of the ultra‑leftist Naxalite movement of the landless tillers, and died at the hands of the Indian police. So the movement's influence on other mass struggles continued after independence.

     Other militant movements prior to 1947 were also greatly inspired by the Ghadar activists. For instance Bhagat Singh, a towering revolutionary leader who was hanged by the British in 1931, considered Kartar Singh Sarabha, one of the founders of the Ghadar Party as his role model.

     Even before the Ghadar Party came into being, the Indian immigrants in London had celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first mutiny of 1857, despite opposition from the British government and the white supremacists. They openly honoured the participants of the first mutiny. Nor was the Ghadar of 1857 the first act of resistance against colonization, as many earlier anti‑British skirmishes took place in different parts of India.

     All this suggests that the struggle is a continuous process. The Ghadar was not limited by boundaries of time and place. The challenges that gave birth to the Ghadar Party in 1913 are still there, both in India and Canada. The ongoing social and political injustices, like casteism, uneven development, imperialism, racism and discriminatory immigration policies, will never be able to shut the door to a Ghadar-like uprising.

(The above article is from the May 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)