No. 9
March 23, 2026
INDEX
95th Anniversary of Martyrdom of
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev
March
23, 1931
• Honour the Memory of Revolutionary
Indian Youth
Executed by the
British
• Reflections on the Political Thought of
Shaheed
Bhagat Singh
95th Anniversary of Martyrdom of
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev
March 23, 1931
Honour the Memory of Revolutionary Indian Youth Executed by the British
In the dead of night of March 23, 1931, three outstanding Indian revolutionary youth, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, were executed by the British at the jail in Lahore. Many other staunch fighters for Indian independence from British rule, many in their early twenties, were also taken to the gallows. From one end of India to the other, the peoples of India, the workers, peasants and all those striving for liberation, saw their heroes martyred. Despite this and because of it, the cry of the Indian Martyrs for freedom, independence and justice rang and continues to ring out so long as those who took over the mantle of brutal rule from the British are still in power.
Mahatma Gandhi, contrary to all the myths about him, played a despicable role in these events. On March 5, 1931, after prolonged talks between Gandhi and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, the Gandhi-Irwin Agreement was signed. The pact stated that "those political prisoners will be released who are undergoing imprisonment in connection with the civil disobedience movement for offences which did not involve violence... or incitement to such violence." As a result, the greatest heroes of the Indian people were to be slaughtered by the British, while the followers of Gandhi were set free. Gandhi did this right at the time the colonialists were imprisoning Indian revolutionaries and sending them to the gallows. His deal gave the British the green light to carry out these executions. For this and other acts of treachery he committed, Gandhi has always been praised by those in positions of power and privilege. But the youth know better.
At his trial Bhagat Singh declared:
"None whose heart bleeds for those who give their life-blood in silence to the building up of the economic structure of the exploiter, of whom the government happens to be the biggest in this country, could repress the cry of the soul in agonizing anguish... Others have as keenly felt as we have done and from under the seeming sereneness of the sea of Indian humanity a veritable storm is about to break out. We have only hoisted the danger signal to warn those who are speeding along without heeding the grave dangers. We have only marked the end of the era of the utopian non-violence of whose futility the rising generation has been convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. Revolution is the inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is the imprescriptable birthright of all. The labourer is the real sustainer of society. The sovereignty of the people is the ultimate destiny of workers. For these ideals and for this faith we shall welcome any suffering to which we may be condemned. To the altar of revolution we have brought our youth as incense, for no sacrifice is too great for so magnificent a cause. We are content. We await the advent of the Revolution. Inquilab Zindabad!"
Comrade Hardial Bains dedicated his book Call of the Martyrs in 1985 to all those who gave their lives for Indian freedom. Writing on the crisis in India and the situation in Punjab at that time, Comrade Bains wrote:
Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the brave and honoured martyr of the Indian people, in his statements to the British colonial court that condemned him to death, pointed out with the true feelings and insight of a real patriot: "India's struggle shall continue as long as a handful of men in power continue to exploit the labour of the common people for their own ends. Whether the exploiters are Indian, or British, or both in alliance, nothing shall halt the struggle..."These prophetic words of the Indian patriot have been proven true by history hundreds and thousands of times over. The struggle he talked about with deep conviction and courage is still raging today – whether the exploiters be Indian or foreign or "both in alliance," as is the case today, "nothing shall halt the struggle..."
The Indian people have deep love for Shaheed Bhagat Singh and for his comrades, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who kissed the rope of the hangman with him for the real liberation of India. Attempting to cloak themselves in patriotic colours, the exploiters also speak of him. All the political parties of the big landlords and big capitalists evoke his name. They use the name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, but they do not uphold what he fought for. Indeed, they vainly attempt to use his name in order to give their barbaric system credence. But nothing can justify the capitalist system, the foreign dependence, the remnants of feudalism and the exploitation and oppression that prevail today.[1]
Comrade Bains goes on to quote V.I. Lenin to illustrate how revolutionaries, like Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, are "honoured" by the oppressors with the aim of ensuring that their revolutionary aims and example do not inspire or guide the people. Lenin wrote:
During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the 'consolation' of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it."[2]
Comrade Bains underscored the depth and breadth of the Indian revolutionaries' struggle to unite, mobilize and empower the people to liberate themselves. He wrote:
All the revolutionary personalities, the true patriots who fought for the liberation of the peoples, had the overall aim of uniting the Indian people irrespective of their religious background, language, regional origin or gender. Indian political and social literature from the time of the invasion of Mohammed Bin Kassem is filled with calls for the unity of the people. One of the leaders of the First War of Independence called upon the people to "sink your petty differences and join hands... Rush to the battlefield, fight under one flag and with the free flow of your blood wash away the stigma of the English domination over Hindustan." After the liberation of Delhi on May 16, 1857, Bahadar Shah Zafar proclaimed: "It is therefore absolutely essential that Hindus and Muslims should unite, work and fight not only to win wars but also to maintain peace and order on the home front... The contentment of the poor must also be secured."The revolutionaries who fought from abroad for the true liberation and independence of India, organizing themselves in 1913 into the Hindustani Ghadar Party, are referred to with deep love and respect as Ghadri Babas. They also fought for the unity of the people irrespective of religious or language, racial, caste or regional differences. They established Sikh Temples in Vancouver and other places not for the promotion of the aims of this or that religion or sect, but with the aim of the unity of all peoples irrespective of their religion in the sacred struggle for the liberation of India.
Shaheed Mewa Singh, who was executed by the Canadian bourgeoisie in Vancouver, and Shaheed Udham Singh, executed by the British colonialists in London, did not have religious aims. They fought for the true liberation of their brethren living in foreign lands. Not a single martyr fought for the supremacy of religion. Only the agents of the foreign and native exploiters have advanced sectarian and communal aims; their purpose is to destroy the unity of the people in their struggle to win complete liberation. In the past, the incitement of communal violence was the work of the British colonialists and their collaborators, and today it is the work of the reactionary Indian bourgeoisie and the U.S., British and other foreign imperialists, including the Soviet social-imperialists. The scale on which the Canadian bourgeoisie is deploying its resources to convince the people that India is divided among groups of warring fanatics is known to all. But the struggle is not and has never been for this or that religion, or for this or that religious aim. The struggle is for the complete liberation of India. The martyrs fought for the unity of the people to accomplish this goal and this goal alone. The enemies of the Indian people have always tried to impose other goals and to use religion to divide people, so as to divert and liquidate their struggle for real liberation. [...]
What shines like a beacon throughout the history of the Indian people is that regardless of religious and other differences, they have always found the strength and unity to carry forward the struggle for national and social emancipation. It is this historical tradition which the enemies seek to distort, blaming the people for the very communalist crimes which they themselves have committed.
The heroic uprising of the masses over the centuries has shaped the psychology of the Indian people, a psychology of revolt against all forms of enslavement, domination, exploitation, oppression, backwardness and ignorance. History has shown that this aspiration for freedom, independence and social progress is inextinguishable; it has withstood the assaults of the most formidable invaders and their native collaborators.[3]
Discussion of the
Indian people’s striving for control over their own affairs
in the Party Press and non-Party Press.
Desh
Bhagat Temple is inaugurated in Toronto, January 7. 1978. Hardial Bains
addresses
inaugural meeting.
Hardial
Bains in
discussion with participants in the Shaheed Mewa Singh sports
tournament in Vancouver, July 1, 1978. This was one of a number of
yearly sports tournaments held in cities across Canada by the East
Indian Defence Committee and, later, the People’s Front/EIDC.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Festival of Sports and Culture, 1990
Notes
1. Hardial Bains, The Call of the Martyrs: On the Crisis in India and the Present Situation in the Punjab, Part III, pp 163-164. National Publications Centre, 1985.
2. V.I. Lenin, The State and Revolution, Chapter 1.
3. Hardial Bains, The Call of the Martyrs: On the Crisis in India and the Present Situation in the Punjab, Part III, pp 166-166, 186. National Publications Centre, 1985.
Reflections on the
Political Thought of
Shaheed Bhagat Singh
March 23,
2026 -- Today
we commemorate the 95th anniversary of the martyrdom of
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Their lives and contributions
continue to inspire all those who are fighting against exploitation and
oppression.
It is the habit and practice of exploiters and oppressors, the ruling elites and oligarchs, to turn people's heroes into useless icons and dismiss their ideas, life and work. The political representatives of the corporates in India have done that with Bhagat Singh and his comrades. All the better to attack their teachings, political parties like the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Aam Aadmi Party and others have erected big hoardings and posters with their portraits which sport their party logos. They hold rallies to disorient those who are inspired by India's martyrs and are striving to affirm the rights of all, renew and renovate all relations. Every year on March 23, in Bhagat Singh's ancestral village, every unscrupulous political party erects its separate stage to commemorate his martyrdom. A main aim of all scoundrels is to divide people in the service of the corporates.
Bhagat Singh was clear on what changes must take place for the liberation of the peoples of India to succeed. He had studied the history, conditions and experience of peoples all over India as well as around the world. He unambiguously stated that what was needed was a socialist revolution for which the empowerment of people was a requisite. This for him, did not mean "the transfer of power from the hands of the British to the Indians." He said the revolution must lay the foundation upon which the work to transform the society itself on the socialist basis must start. "What difference does it make to them (the workers and peasants) whether Lord Reading is the head of the Indian government or Sir Purshotamdas Thakordas," he asked. "What difference for a peasant if Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru replaces Lord Irwin?" He warned people about such transfers of power and to beware those who claim that such transfers of power are the greatest achievement of the independence movement.
The last 80 years since the British transferred power to their Indian lackeys have proven the truth of what Bhagat Singh said. From Nehru to Modi, the exploitation and oppression of the people has intensified. According to the government's own figures, more than 140 million children have died of malnutrition, another 80 million have been killed by drinking dirty water and more than 40 million people have been displaced due to land theft by the corporates. Bhagat Singh's words proved prophetic because he had analyzed British imperialism, its structures and its collaborators. The structures, institutions and laws they put in place did not favour the people, a fact which becomes ever more obvious as time passes. No matter which party of scoundrels is in power, their role is to replicate and protect this system which keeps the people out of power.
"We believe all such governments, and particularly this British government, thrust upon the helpless but unwilling Indian nation, to be no better than an organized gang of robbers and a pack of exploiters equipped with all the means of carnage and devastation. In the name of 'law and order,' they crush all those who dare to expose or oppose them," Bhagat Singh pointed out.
"We believe that imperialism is nothing but a vast conspiracy organized with predatory motives. Imperialism is the last stage of development of insidious exploitation of man by man and of nation by nation. The imperialists, with a view to further their piratical designs, not only commit judicial murders through their law courts but also organize general massacres, devastations and other horrible crimes like war. They feel no hesitation in shooting down innocent and unarmed people who refuse to yield to their predatory demands or to acquiesce in their ruinous and abominable designs. Under the garb of custodians of 'law and order,' they break peace, create disorder, kill people and commit all conceivable crimes," Bhagat Singh added.
"We believe that freedom is an undeniable birthright of all people, that every man has the inalienable right of enjoying the fruits of his labour, and that every nation is indisputably the master of its resources. If any government deprives them of these primary rights, it is the right of the people -- nay, it is their duty -- to destroy that government. Since the British government is a negation of these principles for which we stand, it is our firm conviction that every effort made, every method adopted to bring about a revolution and to destroy this government is morally justified. We stand for a change, a radical change in the existing order of affairs in social, political and economic spheres, and the complete replacement of the existing order by a new one rendering the exploitation of man by man impossible and thus guaranteeing full liberty to all the people in all the spheres. We feel that unless the whole social order is changed and socialistic society is established, the whole world is in danger of a disastrous catastrophe," Bhagat Singh elaborated.
During his trial, Bhagat Singh was asked in the lower court what he meant by the word "Revolution." In answer to that question, he said, "Revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife nor is there any place in it for individual vendettas. It is not the cult of the bomb and the pistol. By Revolution we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change. Producers or labourers, in spite of being the most necessary element of society, are robbed by their exploiters of the fruits of their labour and deprived of their elementary rights. The peasant who grows corn for all, starves with his family; the weaver who supplies the world market with textile fabrics, has not enough to cover his own and his children's bodies; masons, smiths and carpenters who raise magnificent palaces, live like pariahs in the slums. The capitalists and exploiters, the parasites of society, squander millions on their whims. These terrible inequalities and forced disparity of chances are bound to lead to chaos. This state of affairs cannot last long, and it is obvious, that the present order of society in merry-making is on the brink of a volcano.
"The whole edifice of this civilization, if not saved in time, shall crumble. A radical change, therefore, is necessary and it is the duty of those who realize it to reorganize society on the socialistic basis. Unless this thing is done and the exploitation of man by man and of nations by nations is brought to an end, sufferings and carnage with which humanity is threatened today cannot be prevented. All talk of ending war and ushering in an era of universal peace is undisguised hypocrisy.
"By Revolution, we mean the ultimate establishment of an order of society which may not be threatened by such breakdown, and 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.
"This is our ideal, and with this ideology as our inspiration, we have given a fair and loud enough warning. If, however, it goes unheeded and the present system of government continues to be an impediment in the way of the natural forces that are swelling up, a grim struggle will ensure involving the overthrow of all obstacles, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat to pave the way for the consummation of the ideal of revolution. Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birthright of all. Labour is the real sustainer of society. The sovereignty of the ultimate destiny of the workers.
"For these ideals, and for this faith, we shall welcome any suffering to which we may be condemned. At the altar of this revolution we have brought our youth as an incense, for no sacrifice is too great for so magnificent a cause. We are content, we await the advent of Revolution. Inquilab Zindabad!"
Today, the voice of Bhagat Singh and his comrades rings out loud and clear in the struggles of the peoples of all of India, Pakistan and South Asia for genuine freedom, democracy and peace.
A Tribute
This Tribute, written some 40 years ago by Jaspal Singh, was dedicated to Bhagat Singh and the peoples of the Indian sub-continent.
Walking
your path, we'll free our land,
Not once – but
countless times we'll stand,
And gladly climb the gallows high,
For
freedom's call, we'll live and die.
There
was a garden once, stained red –
Where blood like
blossoms cruelly spread,
That sacred stain still marks our
hands,
While tyranny grips Delhi's lands.
But thrones
of blood and cruel regime,
We'll shatter all –
fulfill the dream.
Those
who served the foreign chain,
Who bartered freedom for their
gain,
Who sold their people, filled their gold –
Their
names, their traces won't be told.
These beasts who thrived on
others' pain,
Will vanish, wiped from every plane.
Your
voice resounds, it calls out clear,
To every youth: arise,
draw near!
Freedom demands your head held high –
Not
bowed in fear, but raised to the sky.
Face every Zulm, every
fight,
Only then are we truly upright.
Raste
Pe Tumhare Chal Ke, Azad Ab Des Karayenge
Ek Bar Nahin Kayee
Sainkarde Bar, Is Daar Pe Hum Chadh Jayenge
Jaliyan
Ka Ek Bagh Tha Kal, Us Mein Jo khilaye Khoon Ke Gul
Us Khoon
Ki Menhadi Haath Liye, Jabir Hai Mussalat Dilli Mein
In Khooni
Nizamon Kakimon Ke Takhte To Palat Ke Chhodenge.
Darban
Firangi Ke The Jo, Azadi Ke Saudebaz Hain Jo
Khud Apne Khazane
Bharne Ko Quomon Ke Saudegar Hain Jo
In Khoon Farosh Haiwanon
Ka , Har Naam Nishan Mityange
Awaz
Tumhari Deti Sada, Kahati Hai Aaj Jawanon Se
Azadi Ki Devi
Maangti Sir, Jhukane Ko Nahin Par Uthane Ko
Har Zulm-O- Sitam
Se Le Takkar, Insan Tab Hum Kahlayenge.
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