sushant
“By crushing individuals, they cannot kill ideas. They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit.”
-Bhagat Singh
The history of revolutionary movements in India can be divided into a phase before Bhagat Singh, where the revolutionary movements were only the actions of bravery and patriotism, and after Bhagat Singh, when there were not only brave actions but the ‘idea of the revolution’ and association with the revolutionary movements of the world. Bhagat Singh was the ‘Cornerstone in India’s Struggle for Freedom’. Let’s try to understand his political ideas and his role in the cause of liberation of India from all kinds of oppression.
Bhagat Singh was one of the earliest Marxist thinkers of India. His worldview and political ideas represent both a shift from and a continuity of the previous revolutionaries. With political study and practice, he evolved from a utopian socialist to a scientific socialist, from a romantic nationalist revolutionary and anarchist believing in ‘propaganda by deed’, to a Marxist prioritizing the ‘awakening the masses’ and ‘organizing workers and peasants for mass struggle’. He was the founding General Secretary of Naujawan Bharat Sabha, the mass front of HRA. The objective of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha was to propagate revolutionary politics among the students and youth. In his article ‘Students and Politics’, he wrote, “Let them (students) study; certainly let them study. But let them also acquire knowledge about politics and jump into the fray and devote their lives to it, when the need arises. Offer their lives to this cause. There seems to be no other way”. In the message sent to the 2nd Punjab Students Conference on October 19, 1929, he said, “The youth will have to spread this revolutionary message to the far corner of the country. They have to awaken crores of slum-dwellers of the industrial areas and villagers living in worn-out cottages, so that we will be independent and the exploitation of man by man will become an impossibility”. His ideas on caste and religion were way ahead of his time. In his articles published in ‘Kirti’, he wrote about the problems of untouchability and communal riots. In these articles, he pointed out the economic roots of these problems and asked the working-class and Dalits to organise struggles for their demands. During his trial in the Assembly Bomb Case on June 6, 1929, explaining the meaning of revolution he said: “revolution is ‘not the cult of the bomb and pistol’ but ‘the ultimate establishment of an order of society’…in which the sovereignty of the proletariat should be recognized, and a world federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of capitalism and misery of imperial wars… The establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat [is required] to pave the way for the consummation of the ideal of revolution”.
On 23rd December, 1929, the HSRA bombed the special train of then Viceroy Lord Irwin on the Delhi-Agra railway line. After this action, the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Gandhi launched a crusade against the revolutionaries. Congress came up with a resolution criticizing the attempt. Gandhi wrote a critique of Indian revolutionaries titled ‘The Cult of Bomb’ in the journal ‘Young India’. Bhagat Singh and his comrades, in reply, wrote ‘The Philosophy of Bomb’, which produced a class-based analysis of the philosophy and politics of Gandhi and Congress and showed their philosophy and political ideas did not represent the peasants and workers as they represented the interests of the Indian elite. However, HSRA interacted with peasants and workers much more organically and therefore they were the true representative of the masses. In this article, they provided a concrete socio-economic-political ana-lysis of the Indian society and revolution. Revolution for them was not only to overthrow British imperialism along with Indian exploitation but also they wrote, “The revolution will ring the death knell of capitalism and class distinctions and privileges. It will bring joy and prosperity to the starving millions who are seething today under the terrible yoke of both foreign and Indian exploitation. It will bring the nation into its own. It will give birth to a new state – a new social order. Above all, it will establish the dictatorship of the proletariat and will forever banish social parasites from the seat of political power.” They also defended the violence of Indian revolutionaries as necessary, against the official terrorism committed by the British administration: “Only counter-terrorism on the part of revolutionaries can checkmate effectively this bureaucratic bullying”. They identified the emancipatory role of violence on the psychology of subjugated people, “…terrorism is a phase, a necessary and inevitable phase of revolution…” as it “…instills fear in the hearts of the oppressors, it brings hopes of revenge and redemption to the oppressed masses, it gives courage and self-confidence to the wavering, it shatters the spell of the superiority of the ruling class and raises the status of the subject race in the eyes of the world”.
‘To Young Political Workers’, written on 2nd February, 1931, is an ideological message to the young political workers of India, as well as a revolutionary programme to achieve the goal of a socialist society. Emphasising the need of a definite programme, for a revolutionary party, he advised the youthto adopt Marxism as an ideology, work among the people, organise workers and peasants, and form the Communist Party to not just change rulers from white to brown but to liberate the country from the exploitative system in general. He wrote, “…you must know that revolution means action. It means a change brought about deliberately by an organized and systematic work, as opposed to sudden and unorganised or spontaneous change or breakdown”.
“The revolution will ring the death knell of capitalism and class distinctions and privileges. It will bring joy and prosperity to the starving millions who are seething today under the terrible yoke of both foreign and Indian exploitation. It will bring the nation into its own. It will give birth to a new state – a new social order. Above all, it will establish the dictatorship of the proletariat and will forever banish social parasites from the seat of political power.”
-Excerpt from The Philosophy of Bomb
Contrary to the Communist Party of India, he provided a much more concrete idea of revolution in the Indian context. He identified that the state is just a weapon in the hands of the ruling class meant to preserve class-rule. He wrote, “We want to snatch and handle it to utilise it for the consummation of our ideal, i.e., social reconstruction on new, i.e., Marxist, basis. For this purpose, we are fighting to handle the government machinery”. He said, “…what difference does it make to them (workers and peasants) whether Lord Reading is the head of the Indian government or Sir Purshotamdas Thakordas ? What difference for a peasant if Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru replaces Lord Irwin! It is useless to appeal to their national sentiment. You can’t “use” them for your purpose; you shall have to mean seriously and to make them understand that the revolution is going to be his and for his good. The revolution of the proletariat and for the proletariat”. Inspired by the October Revolution, he suggested a revolutionary party based on class struggle to organise workers and peasants. On the economic liberty of the peasants and workers, he said, “We mean the economic liberty of the masses, and for that very purpose, we are striving to win political power. No doubt, in the beginning, we shall have to fight for little economic demands and privileges of these classes. But these struggles are the best means for educating them for final struggles to conquer “political power. On the certainty of revolution he wrote, “…the trade depression if continued, and continued it must be, we know the members of unemployed being multiplied daily as a result of the Capitalistic race in production and competition is bound to throw the Capitalistic system out of gear in the months to come. The Revolution is, therefore, no longer a prophecy and prospect – but “practical politics” for thoughtful planning and remorseless execution. Let there be no confusion of thought as to its aspect or as to its immediacy, its methods, and its objective”. Bhagat Singh’s ideas are a major contribution to the Indian freedom struggle and reflect his serious study of Marxism. He analysed the question of India’s freedom from a historical materialist perspective. His ideas are still influencing the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist uprisings in India.
“Ah! not for idle hatred, not For honour, fame, nor self applause But for the glory of the cause, You did, what will not be forgot.” -Arthur Clough (From poem ‘Peschiera’) (Bhagat Singh noted this poem on page 28 of his Jail Diary)
