Jail Notebook and Other Writings, by Bhagat Singh; Chaman Lal (Editor).

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Jail Notebook and Other Writings

by Bhagat Singh,

Chaman Lal (Editor).

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"Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook was first published as A Martyr’s Notebook, edited and pressented by BhupenderHooja, Jaipur: Indian Book Chronicle, 1994. The annotations in that edition have been updated and revised in the current edition, with the permission of BhupenderHooja. The text of the Notebook is reproduced from “Jail Diary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh”, accession no. 7422, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

"“Statement Before the Session Court” reproduced from the original statement, accession no. 246, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

"The other writings of Bhagat Singh compiled here are from Selected Writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, edited with an Introduction by Shiv Verma, New Delhi: National Book Centre, 1986.

"Appendices 1 and 2 are from the National Archives of India, acquired through Chaman Lal."

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November 14, 2021 - November 14, 2021.

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Contents

Introduction

Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook by Chaman Lal

The Jail Notebook Annotated by Bhupender Hooja And Other Writings

Statement Before the Session Court

To Make the Deaf Hear

Message to Punjab Students’ Conference

On the Slogan “Long Live Revolution”

Regarding Suicide

Letter to Father

Letter to B.K. Dutta

Letter to Jaidev Gupta

Introduction to Dreamland

To Young Political Workers

Why I am an Atheist

No Hanging, Please Shoot Us

Letter to the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case Convicts

Appendices

Appendix 1

Labour Gov’t Executes 3 Indian Rebels

Appendix 2

75 Killed; 500 Hurt by Labour Gov’t Soldiers

Appendix 3

Editorial, Kudi Arasu, by Periyar E.V. Ramasami

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Review

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Introduction

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Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook

by Chaman Lal

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"Bhagat Singh dead, will be more dangerous to the British enslavers than Bhagat Singh alive. After I am hanged, the fragrance of my revolutionary ideas will permeate the atmosphere of this beautiful land of ours. It will intoxicate the youth and make him mad for freedom and revolution, and that, will bring the doom of the British imperialists nearer. This is my firm conviction.

"Bhagat Singh, quoted by Shiv Verma

"Introduction to The Selected Writings of Bhagat Singh"

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This chapter is, as titled, an introduction, written by Chaman Lal, to Bhagat Singh's jail notebook. It's a good introduction to life of Bhagat Singh, except for the opportunistic use thereof for a strident political diatribe, delivered by Chaman Lal - who uses this introduction to life and works of a freedom fighter of India, to deliver some vitrol against India. At the very outset, the strident tone startles, more about its being so unreal, so out of sync with reality, than mere being a leftist diatribe.

"The threat of imperialism, led by the United States in the company of the United Kingdom and Israel, looms large over the entire world. In Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, this threat has taken a direct military form over the past few years. Countries like Iran and North Korea are being bullied daily, while others like Cuba and Venezuela have faced conspiracies of various kinds over the last several years. Several other nations, India included, face pressure to frame domestic and international policies in line with what the imperialist master dictates. ... "

It fits, of course, the false discourse set up by a ridiculous front comprising of supposedly leftist politics in India - ridiculous, because it disdain majority of India and seeks to divide and destroy it a la Macaulay policy that suits everyone who claims heritage of invading, colonizing conquistadores of last millennium and half - and when this front claims to be secular in attacking not only majority of India, but also all minorities with exception of those aligned with the said colonial rulers of yore, then it's clear they are neither leftist nor secular, but merely flag bearers of anyone outside India who could claim to have ruled India.

By the same logic, they are virulent, as Chaman Lal is above, against Israel, whose major sin is one shared by India, in being not converted to either of the two major conversionist abrahmic religions.

In this they ignore all possible human right violations of the state's they champion, including all atrocities towards at least half of humanity - to which their own mother's belong - and others, often minorities in lands where being not converted is a crime that could get one executed.

Chaman Lal is championing rights of one such state, above. If he is living, now, he might just be championing Taliban about diktats issued a few weeks ago, about females being not required to do anything other than serving them, Taliban, in every physical need - and demanding handover of all females of reproductive age, for the purpose.

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Bhagat Singh, one doubts would approve of any of this - of females treated like reproductive robots who must hide unless escorted by a male legal relative, for example. This does not leave them free to have food, much less medical services, unless they serve a male legally in their reproductive capacity, incidentally. Execution by public stone pelting has been known meted out to those stepping out.

But this so called left, so self labelled secular, front couldn't care less - they'd use name of Bhagat Singh for purposes he wouldn't, couldn't, have approved, and when faced with Taliban or other jihadi atrocities, their strategy is to step up virulent attacks against India, mostly via false accusations, to cover up reality. This has gone on now for over three decades, in fact much longer, but more since a genocide forced an exodus of Hindus and other minorities from Kashmir, an exodus dictated by terrorists jubilant about their victory in, what they've since claimed continuously, breaking up USSR.

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" ... In these difficult and challenging times, one’s thoughts turn to Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara, who both fought against colonialism and imperialism uncompromisingly. Both were fearless and unflinching in their dedication to the cause of the oppressed. ... "

Minds like this author, Chaman Lal, aren't capable of dealing with complexity, much less outright contradictions, that exist in humans and human societies. They forget Bhagat Singh speaks of a political party in India that aspired to bring a U.S. style democracy after freeing India from yoke of colonial rule; that whatever role of U.S. in southern hemisphere, as far as India was concerned, U.S. was benefic, especially when FDR was president of U.S., as it was when JFK saved India in 1962 - not USSR.

A Churchill could be callous to the point of openly stating that starvation of millions to death in India was unimportant if caused due to British stealing harvest, but he was the main reason world did not fall to nazis, on the other hand, when rest of Europe was occupied and USSR was in cahoots before being turned on; this complexity would be beyond the likes of Chaman Lal- and of anyone with a colonial slave mindset, including those who are deliberately rude to anyone wearing a saree when they are in an alliance francaise, because a saree isn't secular enough for French law! That the alliance francaise is on Indian soul, is either irrelevant or considered a misfortune, to be corrected by converting, and being apologetic.

As for Che Guevara, that story was post WWII, FDR was no more, and a resurgence of those in sympathy with fascist and Nazi political views were winning by stealth, whether at home in U.S. or in Europe, from giving refuge to war criminals instead of prosecuting them, to encouraging Germany to report on Russia; neither Truman nor Ike were fooled completely, but were unable to correct it; and the Kennedy administration, which did attempt more successfully to do so, ended in a brutal assassination perpetrated to put a stop to reforms initiated by the brothers. Che Guevara persecution and assassination happened somewhere along those years. But fact remains that values such as universal franchise and human rights were established in U.S. before even in France, and while corrections much needed do keep getting struggled for, Chaman Lal is abusing an Israel that is endangered simply for being out of sync with the neighbourhood that allows no other religion to exist, for most part.

" ... The slogans they shouted, ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ (‘Long Live Revolution’) and ‘Down with Imperialism’, caught the imagination of the Indian people. The slogans themselves arose out of a qualitative change in the nature of the anti-colonial movement, with the entry, on a mass scale, of the working people and the poor. The new slogans replaced ‘Bande Mataram’ (‘Mother, I Bow to Thee’), from the earlier phase of the national movement. This was a change not simply at the linguistic level, from a Sanskritic slogan to Hindustani-English, but at the level of consciousness itself, from a kind of proto Hindu nationalism to a more inclusive secular and socialist consciousness. ... "

It's unclear if Chaman Lal pouring vitriol on an Indian identity, as opposed to an acceptance of a millennium and half of servitude by giving up India and bending under yoke of colonial rule and conversion to the latest abrahmic faith and denying existence of anything not of West Asia origin, is to be considered either secular or leftist. But that his politics is viciously anti Indian is indubitable, as is the said politics being baseless. For why throw out a British rule with abusive epithets, only go be equally or far more abusive to majority of India, culture of India and her ancient living tradition, all in favour of a colonial servitude towards erstwhile colonial rulers who identified themselves with Turks or Arabs as people, and coveted India only as a possession, but hated being part of it, so much so they aspired tombs abroad, and divided the nation rather than be part of a democracy on par with Hindu majority?

Bhagat Singh certainly woukdnt sympathise with partition, much less with those of JNU who chant slogans to the tune of wishing pieces of India, and victory to her enemies.

As for the linguistic preference shown by Chaman Lal, he seems to not have read the expose by Bhagat Singh regarding Punjab linguistic problems. But then Chaman Lal shows hatred of Sanskrit, the only language that unifies India, while preferring a slavery to foreign languages such as Arabic, Turkish and Persian, and calling their droppings in India Hindostani instead of recognising that they are, if anything, at least as foreign as English.

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"Bhagat Singh was born on September 28, 1907 at Chak no. 105 of Lyallpur Banga, now in Pakistan. The day of his birth brought good news: his father Kishan Singh and two uncles, the revolutionary Ajit Singh and young Swarn Singh, incarcerated in British jails, were released. Swarn Singh had contracted tuberculoses in jail, and died shortly after his release, at the age of 24. Ajit Singh was the founder of the Bharat Mata Society (‘Mother India Society’) along with Lala Lajpat Rai. Ajit Singh was also a peasant organizer, and was forced to leave the country in 1909, when Bhagat Singh was a child of two. Ajit Singh returned to India a full 38 years later, as India was on the verge of independence. In fact, he died in Dalhousie the day India became independent, on August 15, 1947. Ajit Singh had spent his intervening years in exile, mostly in Latin America, working with networks of Indian revolutionaries abroad. Ajit Singh was aware of his young nephew’s revolutionary activities, and tried to persuade him to leave the country. The veteran Ghadarite revolutionary Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, who lived in Argentina in the 1930s, told the present writer that Ajit Singh had three letters of Bhagat Singh with him. These letters, given to someone for safe custody, were lost – as indeed were other documents sent from jail by Bhagat Singh prior to his execution.

"The anecdotes and stories around Bhagat Singh’s childhood have passed into legend. As a child of four, he told well-known freedom fighter Mehta Anand Kishore that he would sow rifles in the fields, so that trees would yield weapons, with which the British could be driven away. In April 1919, as a boy of 12, he visited the Jallianwala Bagh where the British police had massacred thousands of unarmed Indians only days before, and came back with blood soaked earth. In 1921, at age 14, he was telling his grandfather about the preparations being made by railway men to go on strike. The same year, on February 4, more than 140 devout Sikhs had been killed by Mahant Narain Dass in collaboration with the British at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib. When Akali workers protested this massacre, Bhagat Singh was at the forefront of welcoming the protestors in his village. Bhagat Singh joined National College Lahore at the age of 15. Around this time, he learnt Punjabi language and the Gurumukhi script. This may seem strange today, given that he was born a Sikh. However, his grandfather, S. Arjan Singh, was a staunch Arya Samajist, and he emphasized learning Sanskrit. So young Bhagat Singh learnt Sanskrit, in addition to Urdu, English and Hindi."

Chaman Lal makes it sound strange. But he doesn't question Bhagat Singh learning Urdu. This is an attitude imposed artificially in favour of an anti Hindu, pro Muslim stance. It takes time go realise that thus us fraudulent, and intended to cut off roots of India, so India woukd fall prey to a conversion finally.

But fact is, learning Sanskrit was as natural in an Indian home with any education at all, as would be knowledge of Greek and Latin in an English public school.

"It is well-known that Bhagat Singh’s father wanted to marry the boy off, so that he stayed away from revolutionary activities. However, Bhagat Singh was gripped by patriotic fervour. He was also very sensitive to the plight of the two women in the house who lived without their husbands – the dead Swarn Singh’s widow, and the exiled Ajit Singh’s wife – and was determined not to let the same happen to any girl who might marry him. He was particularly attached to Ajit Singh’s wife, Harnam Kaur. According to Bhagat Singh’s classmate Jaidev Gupta, whose reminiscences are available at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi, Bhagat Singh was given to Harnam Kaur as a surrogate son, since she herself was childless. Bhagat Singh felt himself close to Ajit Singh, whose ideas on India’s freedom were far more advanced than those of the Congress, although he had never lived with him. Ajit Singh argued for organizing the peasantry on an anti-feudal, anti-colonial platform. In one sense, Bhagat Singh’s development on the Marxist path was a logical next step to this.

"Already at 15, Bhagat Singh was debating with his father Mahatma Gandhi’s decision to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri Chaura deaths in 1922. Withdrawal of Non-Cooperation had disillusioned many youth all over India. In the coming years as well, none of the revolutionaries maintained close contact with Gandhi; in fact most of them polemicized against him. Including, as a matter of fact, Chandrasekhar Azad, who had earlier received punishment by flogging because he shouted the slogan ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai’ (‘Victory to Mahatma Gandhi’). Years later, as they awaited execution, Bhagat Singh’s comrade Sukhdev had written a letter to Gandhi, which reached him only after the execution. As a result, Young India carried Gandhi’s response to it when it was too late."

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"Alarmed at Bhagat Singh’s impact on the youth, the Lahore police arrested him in May 1927 for his involvement in the October 1926 Dussehra bomb case. He was kept in jail for about five weeks, and finally released on bail bond of Rs 60,000. Soon after this, the infamous Simon Commission came to India. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha decided to oppose the Commission. Even though Bhagat Singh and his associates had voiced their criticism on Lala Lajpat Rai in public for his association with communal elements like the Hindu Mahasabha, they still asked him to lead the protest demonstration, because there was no leader of his stature in Lahore. The demonstration was planned for October 30, 1928. Though Bhagat Singh himself was not present at the demonstration, NBS activists had formed a cordon around the Lala. In spite of this, when the lathi charge began, it was so brutal that the veteran leader could not be protected. The Superintendent of Police, Lahore, Scott, ordered the lathi charge which his deputy Saunders led personally. Lala Lajpat Rai was grievously hurt, and he died on November 17.

"This led to the famous Saunders murder. The HSRA decided to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai by assassinating Scott, who had ordered the lathi charge. Jai Gopal was to identify the target, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru were to be the actual shooters, and Chandrashekhar Azad was to provide cover. Jai Gopal mistakenly identified Saunders instead of Scott, and even though it was decided that Bhagat Singh would shoot first, Rajguru, never one to be left out of the action for long, shot first. Bhagat Singh realized that they had got the wrong man, and in fact shouted this out to Azad, but when he realized that Rajguru had already shot Saunders, he pumped 3 or 4 more bullets into the fallen body, to make sure that he did not survive. The following morning, the revolutionaries put up posters in Lahore owning up the act.

"Azad was already underground for his involvement in the Kakori rail dacoity case. Immediately following Saunder’s assassination, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev also went underground. Bhagat Singh escaped to Calcutta with Durga Bhabhi. Here he established contact with some Bengal revolutionaries, including Jatindra Nath, who subsequently went to Lahore to train others in bomb-making.

"On the one hand, the HSRA wanted to work in the open, and organize the masses in order to bring the agenda of socialism to the centre of India’s struggle for freedom; on the other hand, the Saunders assassination meant that they could only work covertly, underground. Joining the Congress was not an option either; they had too many differences with the Congress. It was clear to Bhagat Singh that his days were numbered. If and when he was finally caught by the police, he would not be allowed to live. He decided that he must perform spectacular revolutionary acts in his remaining life. The Saunders killing had already brought Bhagat Singh and his comrades to national attention. He decided that henceforth, he must work to make the country aware of the revolutionaries’ goals. There is no doubt that more than anything else, the trial of Bhagat Singh and his comrades resulted in the cry ‘Inqilaab Zindabad’ (‘Long live revolution’) capturing the imagination of the nation. In achieving this, Bhagat Singh revealed himself to be a master tactician."

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"The British colonial government had brought in two anti-people bills, the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill, which they now wanted to pass as law. There was stiff opposition to this from the people, as well as from many members of the Central Assembly. The Central Committee of the HSRA decided to protest these bills by throwing bombs in the Central Assembly. It was clear from the beginning that these bombs were to be harmless, not designed to kill or injure anyone, but to create an explosion that would make the deaf hear. Bhagat Singh was keen that he should be part of this action. However, the party decided that since he was sure to be convicted in the Saunders murder case, they could not afford to lose his leadership at this time. As a result, Bhagat Singh was initially left out of the team.

"Sukhdev and Bhagat Singh were close friends. Sukhdev was not present at the Central Committee meeting, and was very upset and angry at the decision, since he felt that Bhagat Singh was in fact best suited for the mission, since he could effectively project the party’s views. He also taunted Bhagat Singh for being afraid of death. The Central Committee met again and decided that he would be part of the action and, at Bhagat Singh’s insistence, it was further decided that the revolutionaries would not try and escape after their act, but get arrested. B.K. Dutta was to accompany Bhagat Singh in actually throwing the bombs, while Jaidev Kapoor was to accompany them till they were inside the Assembly, but come out before the bombs were actually thrown.

"At the appointed time, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta threw the bombs over the empty seats in the Central Assembly, threw the historic pamphlet ‘To Make the Deaf Hear’, and shouted slogans: ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ and ‘Samrajyavaad ka naash ho’ (‘Down with Imperialism’). The Assembly erupted in commotion. Members ran helter-skelter. Some hid under their tables. Only a very few – amongst them Pandit Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya and Jinnah – remained cool. The police were scared to arrest the two young revolutionaries, since they had pistols in their hands. It was only after they kept the pistols in front of them that the police moved in and arrested them, who kept up their slogan shouting till the end.

"The action was planned very meticulously. Photographs of the two revolutionaries were kept ready, as were copies of the statement. The press got both immediately. The Hindustan Times, in its special evening edition the same day, published the full text of the statement. Overnight, the young revolutionaries became heroes of an entire nation. ... "

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Chaman Lal picks every possible opportunity to hit out at Hinduism and anyone not openly ashamed thereof. Including this point of the story.

"This was a defining moment of the Indian freedom struggle. From this day, ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ became a common slogan of all those who dreamed of a free and just India. As was to be expected, the only forces that did not adopt this slogan were the forces of communal fundamentalism, like the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), along with some Muslim fundamentalist organizations."

Least of the abusive process is the equation he, and his political mates, set up that's not too different from an equivalence between, say, a rape victim and a perpetrator, on the basis for example of being both present, or both part of the action. Would they, too, equalise the paedophile clergy of church of Rome and children victimised? No, they'd brush off the topic, and use a made up lie accusing India, for a cover up to brush the paedophile clergy under!

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"Bhagat Singh and his comrades had decided that they would not defend themselves in the British colonial court, but plead guilty and use the trial to broadcast their message and philosophy. They also decided that while they would accept a nationalist lawyer’s advice, they would not let anyone appear on their behalf in court. In other words, they would act as their own lawyers. During the trial, they proclaimed:

"We humbly claim to be no more than serious students of the history and conditions of our country and her aspirations. We despise hypocrisy. Our practical protest was against the institution, which, since its birth, has eminently helped to display not only its worthlessness but its far-reaching power for mischief. The more we have pondered, the more deeply we have been convinced that it exists only to demonstrate to world India’s humiliation and helplessness, and it symbolizes the overriding domination of an irresponsible and autocratic rule. Time and again the national demand has been pressed by the people’s representatives only to find the waste paper basket as its final destination. . . . We then deliberately offered ourselves to bear the penalty for what we had done and to let the imperialist exploiters know that by crushing individuals, they cannot kill ideas. By crushing two insignificant units, a nation cannot be crushed."

"When asked what they meant by the word ‘revolution’, they stated:

"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 nations by nations is brought to an end, sufferings and courage 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."

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"As is evident, Bhagat Singh was clearly very close to a Marxist understanding of society and change. When Ramanand Chatterjee, editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan ‘Inqilab Zindabad’, Bhagat Singh and Dutta rebutted him in a letter published in The Tribune of December 24, 1929:

"Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. . . . No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not—for that very reason —become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.

"The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led astray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one “good” order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout “Long Live Revolution”."

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Another opportunity to abuse Hinduism not missed by Chaman Lal -

"There is a great deal of effort today by various forces to appropriate the legacy of Bhagat Singh. The mainstream nationalist historiography, and its concomitant political current, the Congress, holds him up as a selfless patriot, but totally ignores his strong anti-Congress stance. In particular, the Congress elides Bhagat Singh’s Marxist ideology. Far greater injustice is done to Bhagat Singh by the Hindu Right – the RSS and its affiliates – who are also out to appropriate the revolutionary’s legacy. In an effort that can only be termed obscene, the Hindu Right would have us believe that Bhagat Singh was a votary of a greater Hindu homeland and a devotee of Bharat Mata. Even a mere glance through the Notebook and other writings of Bhagat Singh is enough to expose these as lies. Among the other lies they peddle is one that claims that Bhagat Singh sought the RSS chief Hedgewar’s blessings on the eve of his Assembly bomb action. Not a single shred of even remotely plausible evidence has ever been offered to back this claim; the claim therefore merely floats around as a rumour in the vain hope that with the passage of time it will be accorded status of fact."

Did Chaman Lal expect a stamped document, notarized and duly registered, in evidence of the said statement, wherein Bhagat Singh's signature is verified by, say, two district magistrates of the day, under a pleading request for a blessing? The same Chaman Lal on the other hand, one may safely bet, claim that every Brahmin of Maharashtra was a conspirator in murder of Gandhi, without a shred of evidence thereof. Their peculiar style of logic works wonders, by simple lack of existence of facts and logic.

That Bhagat Singh stood for his nation, there is no doubt of; left claims universal equality, but then salutes every jihadist claim of rulership over universe; and Bhagat Singh certainly did not weigh a poor East End cockney's need on par with the Indian exploited to the advantage of the former. As for left claiming him, well, does anyone have any evidence, much less proof, that Bhagat Singh approved of 14-20 millions murdered during Stalin's regime, or even the Romanov family being butchered for that matter? Or have they clairvoyance to prove Bhagat Singh approved of Mao massacring a hundred million of Chinese, and worse, over a million Tibetans? Logic won't do here, as much as it isn't enough for the left to know Bhagat Singh was a patriot.

"What is incontrovertible is that Bhagat Singh was inspired by the Ghadar revolutionaries. Shiv Verma has dealt with this in great detail in his introductory essay to the Selected Writings of Bhagat Singh, and it unnecessary to cover the same ground here again. Suffice it to note that the name ‘Ghadar’ itself is a self-conscious reference to the Revolt of 1857, and that the Ghadar Party links up with the communist movement in India. It is no less significant that the Chittagong revolutionaries led by Surya Sen inherited the revolutionary traditions of Bengal, but turned decisively away from the Hindu revivalist platform towards communism. Many of the Chittagong revolutionaries who survived went on to become leaders of the Communist Party, like Ganesh Ghosh, Kalpana Dutt and Subodh Roy. As Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook testifies, there was a common set of ideals that inspired the Ghadarites, Bhagat Singh’s comrades and the Chittagong revolutionaries: the ideals of liberty, equality, and socialism. In other words, the best ideals of the French and Russian revolutions. It is for this reason that we find Bhagat Singh reading thinkers like Rousseau, Marx and Lenin so closely in jail."

These people were young when Russian revolution was young, and tall claims of equality were attractive, inspirational, in a world of stringent inequalities. When they realised better, they'd change their minds. Upton Sinclair, who inspired Bhagat Singh, did - one has to go through his eleven volume series "World's End" to know just how disillusioned he was, and how well he bore it, how well he hid his disappointment and grief, behind a portrayal of a scene inspired by one in War And Peace, replacing only the comet, because he needed to; facts matter to those who don't wear blinkers.

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"Bhagat Singh’s comrade in jail and later editor of his Selected Works, Shiv Verma, records that Bhagat Singh prepared four manuscripts in jail: (1) The Idea of Socialism; (2) Autobiography; (3) History of the Revolutionary Movement in India; and (4) At the Door of Death. It is not clear if Verma actually read or saw these manuscripts, or simply heard Bhagat Singh saying that he is working on them. However, clearly Bhagat Singh did write something, and what he wrote was smuggled out of the jail by Kumari Lajjawati of Jalandhar. Lajjawati was secretary of the Bhagat Singh Defence Committee and a Congress activist. She visited Lahore jail frequently to discuss the legal aspects of the case. Lajjawati showed the papers to Feroze Chand, editor of People, the Lahore paper established by Lala Lajpat Rai. Feroze Chand was to publish selections from these writings in his paper. This is how the celebrated essay ‘Why I am an Atheist’ was published after his execution on September 27, 1931, his first birth anniversary. Earlier, on March 29, days after the execution on March 23, the paper published extracts from ‘Letter to Young Political Workers’. In an interview to the oral history archive of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi, Lajjawati says that she handed over the bulk of the papers to Bejoy Kumar Sinha in 1938, after his release from the Andaman prison. Sinha apparently passed them on to another unnamed friend, who, however, destroyed them, fearing a police raid. The loss of these invaluable documents must surely rank as one of the great tragedies of the period. Bhagat Singh’s father was keen to acquire the papers, or at least to see them. Lajjawati refused to give them to him, purportedly on Bhagat Singh’s own instructions. We must consider ourselves fortunate that some member of his family, probably Kulbir Singh, managed to retrieve Jail Notebook, reprinted here in its entirety."

Yes.

" ... Jail Notebook of Bhagat Singh is a document of great interest and importance. Edited by Bhupinder Hooja, it was first published in 1994. Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook, however, is quite different from the Prison Notebooks of the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, or the Philosophical Notebooks of Lenin, or even the diaries of Che Guevara. Bhagat Singh’s notebook is not a diary at all in the conventional sense, in that it does not record his daily life in the prison, nor his thoughts and emotions. Bhagat Singh’s Jail Notebook is a record of his study and reading in the prison prior to his execution. It helps us understand the roots and trajectory of his political and philosophical growth and development. It also reflects his aesthetic taste and sensibilities, as it contains a large number of quotations from literary classics from across the world. As a student, his friends remembered him as being fond of films, especially Charlie Chaplin’s films. He is said to have been a good singer and actor, and took part in college plays. He was a voracious reader – as the Jail Notebook testifies, and had a fine understanding of literature. Indeed, the senior revolutionary Ram Saran Dass asked him to write an introduction to his poetry collection, Dreamland."

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"Rajguru, Sukhdev and Bhagat Singh’s hanging was nothing but judicial murder – and that too performed in a hurry, with the colonial state clearly in a state of panic. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha had organized a big rally in Lahore on the March 23, apprehending that the three revolutionaries would be hanged the following morning. To preempt the crowd coming to the jail, the British authorities decided to carry out the death sentence at 7 in the evening – contrary to established international norms, where executions are carried out at dawn. The bodies of the revolutionaries were hurriedly butchered, cut into pieces, stuffed in gunny sacks and smuggled out of the back gate of the jail to the banks of the river Sutlej, where they were burnt and destroyed. The revolutionaries were not even granted the dignity of a proper farewell or last rites by their families, comrades, and admirers.

"However, news of the hanging spread like wildfire. On the same night, people located the soft spot in the earth where the British had tried to bury the remains of the revolutionaries. They took whatever remains could be found there and gave the revolutionaries a proper cremation on the banks of the river Ravi, where earlier Lala Lajpat Rai had been cremated. The Congress party had instituted a fact finding committee to investigate how the British had desecrated the martyrs’ bodies, but strangely, the report of the committee was never brought to light. There were communal riots in Kanpur after the execution of the revolutionaries, and resulted in the death of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. While the National Book Trust has recently published the report of the Kanpur riots, the report of the fact finding committee remains obscure. We publish here, as an Appendix, a report on the Kanpur riots that appeared in the Daily Worker of New York on March 27, 1931. Also reproduced is the first report of the hanging of the revolutionaries that appeared in the paper two days previously. The third appendix is Periyar’s editorial on the hanging, published in the Tamil paper Kudi Arasu on March 29. In north India in particular, Periyar’s writings are not so well known, and I doubt how many people are aware of this editorial.

................................................................................................

"There is no fitting memorial for the martyrs at Lahore. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha had set up a memorial committee, but the Congress managed to sabotage this by promising Bhagat Singh’s father, Kishan Singh, that it would erect a memorial to his son and his comrades. The memorial that was eventually built near Ferozepur had virtually no connection to the freedom struggle or to the revolutionaries it was supposed to pay tribute to. The fact is that Lahore was the city where Bhagat Singh came to prominence, where he did some of his most important work, where he was imprisoned, and eventually hanged and cremated. Lahore is where a memorial to Bhagat Singh and his comrades ought to be created. It is also noteworthy that of all the heroes of the freedom movement, Bhagat Singh evokes awe and admiration on both sides of the border equally. As the people of India and Pakistan extend hands of friendship and fraternity towards each other, the figure of Bhagat Singh has the potential of uniting people over a divided land. There can perhaps be no better tribute to the memory of this outstanding revolutionary as we celebrate the centenary of his birth."

Chaman Lal hallucinates in that last bit; any handshakes across that blood soaked border are between relatives, and those are dreaming of conquest of all of India, despite losing well over half the people who had separated in name of religion to form a separate identity. As for Bhagat Singh, he is remembered across India despite best efforts of congress to the contrary, to tramp down memories of not only that of his but of all but two names into dust. But nothing stopped his memorial being raised across border, in Lahore, except thus - for ever since separation, that bit has attempted yo be a part of the Arab world, failing only because Arabs disdain and ridicule it. Pakis spare no effort in attempting to alienate any part of India they can try to, even as China does, but it's all merely attacking India; they are too racist, too communal themselves, to have any regard for any "other".

Just think paki treatment of East Bengali and Hazara on one hand, Shia and other such muslim branches of non Sunni denominations on the other, not that different from Chinese treatment of Tibetans, replaced systematically by Han by design; regard for a kafir like Bhagat Singh who never converted? Hallucinating, Chaman Lal!

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The Jail Notebook

Annotated by Bhupender Hooja

And Other Writings

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THE JAIL NOTEBOOK

ANNOTATED BY BHUPENDER HOOJA

Annotations updated and revised

by Sudhanva Deshpande

From

“Jail Diary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh”,

National Archives of India, New Delhi

................................................................................................

The notebook, as Chaman Lal remarked, is not about daily activities or emotions of Bhagat Singh, as diaries or journals are normally understood, and for most people, are; in this case, it's his mind working out, from something as mundane as -

"Land Measurements:

"German 20 hectares—50 acres i.e. 1 hectare = 2 ½ acres1"

- to more complex matters.

Strangely enough, while Chaman Lal and so forth, who so proudly proclaim love of Bhagat Singh for Lenin, and inferred disdain for various Hindu things, do not publicise his open statement about the most common institution of civilisation -

"Marriage itself remained, as before, the legally recognised form, the official cloak, of prostitution . . ."

................................................................................................

Bhagat Singh seems to make notes in his journal about various topics, and from books he studies. He begins with Engel's Origin Of The Family, and civilisation beginning with stages of savagery and barbarism.

He seems to go entirely by sources West, or those of Europe, in any case outside India; in fact, apart from the atmosphere at home, his learning even about India seems to have been derived from sources outside India.

................................................................................................

"We have, then, three main forms of the family corresponding in general to the three main stages of human development:

"1. For savagery: “group marriage”

"2. For barbarism: the pairing family

"3. For civilisation: monogamy supplemented by adultery and prostitution.

"Between the pairing family and monogamy, in the higher stage of barbarism, the rule of men over female slaves and polygamy is inserted."

"Defects of Marriage"

"Socialistic Revolution and Marriage Institution!

"We are now approaching a social revolution, in which the old economic foundations of monogamy will disappear just as surely as those of its complement prostitution. Monogamy arose through the concentration of considerable wealth in one hand,—a man’s hand—and from the endeavour to bequeath this wealth to the children of this man to the exclusion of all others. This necessitated monogamy on the woman’s, but not on the man’s part. Hence this monogamy of women in no way hindered open or secret polygamy of women.

"Now the impending social revolution will reduce this whole case of the heritance to a minimum by changing at least the overwhelming part of permanent and inheritable wealth—the means of production—into social property. Since monogamy was caused by economic conditions, will it disappear when these causes are abolished?"

................................................................................................

It may come as a surprise, but he quotes Umar Khayyam - and that too, the most famous verses!

"“Ah, my Beloved, fill the cup that clears

"Today of past Regrets and future Fears—

"Tomorrow?—Why, Tomorrow I may be

"Myself with Yesterday’s Sev’n Thousand Years.

"Here with a loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

"A Flask of Wine, a Book of verse—and Thou

"Beside me signing in the Wilderness—

"And Wilderness is Paradise now!

"Umar Khayyam

Surprise, because, hed refused to get married and run away, when his father had arranged a martiage for him, thinking it'd keep him safer.

His fiancee, incidentally, is known to have lived her long life - well into our adulthood - alone, with no other man in her life, although she was very young when engaged to Bhagat Singh, the engagement carried out between the two families as per tradition. It's unclear if her family ever considered getting her married elsewhere, after his death. She explained it, when asked in her very old age, that, having been engaged to Bhagat Singh, it was out of question for her to consider another man, ever.

................................................................................................

"Definition of a Good Government

"“Good government can never be a substitute for self-government.”

"Henry Campbell Bannerman

"“We are convinced that there is only one form of Government, whatever it may be called, namely, where the ultimate control is in the hands of the people”.

"“Earl of Balfour"

................................................................................................

Bhagat Singh quotes Bertrand Russell on religion.

"Religion

"“My own view of religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear, and as source of untold miserv to the human race. I cannot, however, deny that it has made some contributions to civilisation. It helped in-early days to fix the calendar and it caused the Egyptian priest to chronicle eclipses with such care that in time they became able to predict them. These two services, I am prepared to acknowledge, but I do not know of any other.

"Bertrand Russell"

Egypt had far more knowledge, and Greece inherited one part, while Jews got another; Russell was unaware of these, and of course, of treasures of knowledge of India since antiquity. That Bhagat Singh was, too, unaware of much of the latter, despite it not only being his homeland, but his home being steeped in Arya Samaj tradition, seems a pity.

................................................................................................

These following astounding quotes tell much that is usually either not admitted, with the specific sayings pushed under the rug, hoping the world will forget about it, or worse, the opposite attitude is pushed continuously, so that they come as a surprise - and gratitude is owed to this young man who noted these down.

"Benevolent Despotism

"Montague-Chelsmford8 called the British Government a ‘benevolent despotism’ and according to Ramsay Macdonald,9 the Imperialist leader of the British Labour Party, “in all attempts to govern a country by a ‘benevalent despotism’, the governed are crushed down. They become subjects who obey, not citizens who act. Their literature, their art, their spiritual expression go.”

One must say, he was soft on British government to the point of falsehood, in calling it benevolent, and not acknowledging the deliberate nature of the havoc wreaked on India by the British following Macaulay policy of destruction of soul of India, of crushing spirit of India, in order to turn Indian people into slaves of British.

"Govt. of India

"Rt. Hon’ble Edwin S. Montague, Secretary of State for India, said in the House of Commons in 1917:

"“The Government of India is too wooden, too iron, two metallic, too antediluvian, to be of any use for modern purposes. The Indian Government is indefensible.”

"British Rule in India

"Dr. Ruthford’s10 words:

"“British Rule as it is carried on in India is the lowest and most immoral system of government in the world—the exploitation of one nation by another.”

"Liberty & English People

"“The English people love liberty for themselves. They hate all acts of injustice, except those which they themselves commit. They are such liberty-loving people that they interfere in the Congo and cry, “Shame” to the Belgians. But they forget their heels are on the neck of India.

"An Irish Author"

................................................................................................

"Mob Retaliation . . .

"Let us therefore, examine how men came by the idea of punishing in this manner.

"They learn it from the Governments they live under, and retaliate the punishment they have been accustomed to behold. The heads stuck upon spikes, which remained for years upon Temple Bar, differed nothing in the horror of the scene from those carried about upon spikes at Paris; yet this was done by the English Government. It may perhaps be said that it signifies nothing to a man what is done to him after he is dead; but it signifies much to the living; it either tortures their feelings or hardens their hearts, and in either case, it instructs them how to punish when power falls into their hands.

"Lay then the axe to the root, and teach Governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind . . . The effect of these cruel spectacles exhibited to the populace is to destroy tenderness or excite revenge, and by the base and false idea of governing men by terror instead of reason, they become precedents.”

"(Rights of Man, pp. 32,

"T. Paine)"

................................................................................................

"King’s Salary

"It Is inhuman to talk of a million sterling a year, paid out of the public taxes of any country, for the support of an individual, whilst thousands who are forced to contribute thereto, are pining with want and struggling with misery. Govt does not consist in a contract between prisons and palaces,14 between poverty and pomp; it is not instituted to rob the needy of his mite and increase the worthlessness of the wretched."

................................................................................................

"“Give me Liberty or Death”

"It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the North . . . to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so a dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take. As for me, give me “liberty or death”.

"Patrick Henry"

................................................................................................

Bhagat Singh quotes Charge Of The Light Brigade, and there is a photograph of the journal page where one sees he'd written it diwn in his own hand (presumably he did not dictate his journal, but wrote it himself).

................................................................................................

"Czarist Regime and the Bolshievist Regime

"Frazier Hunt tells that in the first fourteen months of their rule, the Bolsheviks executed 4,500 men, mostly for stealing and speculation. After the 1905 Revolution, Stolypin,59 minister of Czar, caused the execution of 32,773 men within twelve months.

"p. 390 Brass Check"

................................................................................................

Bhagat Singh quotes, after Charge Of The Light Brigade, also Internationale and Marseillaise. In English, of course.

................................................................................................

"Slavery Religion a supporter of the established order:

"In 1835, the General Assembly of the Presbytrain Church resolved that:

"“Slavery is recognised in both Old and New Testaments, and is not condemned by the authority of God”.

"The Charleston Baptist Association issued the following in 1835:

"“The right of masters to dispose of the time of their slaves has been distinctly recognised by the Creator of all things, who is surely at liberty to vest the right of property over any object whomsoever. He pleases.”

"The Revd. ED, Simon, Doctor of Divinity, a professor in Methodist College of Virginia wrote:

"“Extracts from Holy Writ unequivocally assert the right of property in slaves, together with the usual incidents to that right. The right to buy and sell is clearly stated. Upon the whole, then, whether we consult the Jewish policy instituted by God Himself, or the uniform opinion and practice of mankind in all ages, or the injunctions of the New Testament and the moral law, we are brought to the conclusion that slavery is not immoral. Having established the point that the first African slaves were legally bought into bondage, the right to detain their children in bondage follows as an indispensable consequence. Thus we see that the slavery that exists in America was founded in right.”"

................................................................................................

Bhagat Singh quotes from Iron Heel by Jack London, apart from several quotes from Cry For Justice by Upton Sinclair.

He briefly notes about the coal and railway strikes of England early in the century, and of Black Friday. He speaks of Bukharin, of world revolution and of comparison between Labour with and without machines, quoting figures by United States Bureau of Labour. He quotes Lenin on dictatorship, and on his retort to Kautsky 're proletarian dictatorship.

Wonder if his utopian ideas about communism would have survived long, if he hadn't died, and instead seen the massacres carried out by totalitarian regimes that had little difference between labels of left or fascism. It's unlikely someone so sincere woukd resort to the tactics other leftists resorted to, holding to party lines and shutting up their thinking, obeying either one or the other communist power.

He quotes Tagore on marriage. He now begins to mention Greeks, Aristotle and Socrates and more, and Romans. He goes on to Thomas Aquinas and Italians, Descartes and reformation, Huguenot and Rousseau, Buchanan, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke and more. He goes on to French revolution, Bastille and Versailles. He comes to Russian revolution. He arrives at British rule of India, Congress and more.

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Statement Before the Session Court

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"Large portions of the Statement were expunged from the record on June 9, 1929, because they were deemed “irrelevant”. These portions have been enclosed within square brackets here. The text of the Statement published here is the same as the original statement signed by Bhagat Singh and Batu Keshwar Dutta preserved in the National Archives of India, New Delhi (accession no. 246, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta). Many of the previously published versions of the Statement differ from this text. Why these variations have come into being is unclear."

................................................................................................

"3 This document was primarily written by Bhagat Singh. On April 8, 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt showered copies of the leaflet on the floor of Central Assembly Hall in New Delhi after tossing two bombs into the Assembly Hall corridors.

"4 This phrase (translated from “Inquilab Zindabad!”)became one of the most enduring slogans of the Indian Independence Movement. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutta repeated the slogan at their June 1929 trial on charges related to the bomb-throwing incident.

"5 “Balraj” was the pen name for the Commander-in-chief of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army, Chander Shekhar Azad."

................................................................................................

"When we were told by some of the police officers, who visited us in jail that Lord Irwin in his address to the joint session of the two houses described the event as an attack directed against no individual but against an institution itself, we readily recognized that the true significance of the incident had been correctly appreciated. ... We are neither perpetrators of dastardly outrages and therefore a disgrace to the country [as the pseudo-socialist Diwan Chaman Lal is reported to have described us;] nor are we ‘lunatics’ [as The Tribune of Lahore and some others would have it believed]. ... We despise hypocrisy, [Our practical protest was against the institution, which since its birth, has eminently helped to display not only its worthlessness but its far-reaching power for mischief. The more we have pondered the more deeply we have been convinced that it exists only to demonstrate to world India’s humiliation and helplessness, and it symbolizes the overriding domination of an irresponsible and autocratic rule. Time and again the national demand has been pressed by the people’s representatives only to find the waste paper basket as its final destination. Solemn resolutions passed by the House have been contemptuously trampled underfoot on the floor of the so called Indian Parliament. Resolution regarding the repeal of the repressive and arbitrary measures have been treated with sublime contempt, and the government measures and proposals, rejected as unacceptable buy the elected members of the legislatures, have been restored by mere stroke of the pen. In short, we have utterly failed to find any justification for the existence of an institution which, despite all its pomp and splendour, organized with the hard earned money of the sweating millions of India, is only a hollow show and a mischievous make-believe. And like have we failed to comprehend the mentality of the public leaders who help the Government to squander public time and money on such a manifestly stage-managed exhibition of Indian’s helpless subjection.] We have been ruminating upon all this, as also upon the wholesale arrest of the leaders of the labour movement, when the introduction of the Trade Disputes’ bill brought us into the Assembly to watch its progress [and the course of the debate only served to confirm our conviction that the labouring millions of India had nothing to expect from an institution that stood as a menacing monument to the strangling power of Exploiters and the serfdom of the helpless labourers. Finally the insult of what we consider an inhuman and barbarous measure was hurled on the devoted heads of the representative of the entire country and the starving and struggling millions were deprived of their primary right and the sole means of improving their economic welfare. None who has left like us for the dumb-driven drudges of labourers could possibly witness this spectacle with equanimity. None whose heart bleeds for those who have given their life-blood in silence to the building up of the economic structure of the Exploiters, of whom the Government happens to be the biggest in this country could repress the cry of soul-agonizing anguish which so ruthless a blow wrung out of our hearts.] Consequently [bearing in mind the words of the late Mr. S.R. Das, once the Law Member of the Governor-General’s Executive Council, which appeared in the famous letter he had addressed to his son, to the effect that a bomb was necessary to awaken England from her dreams,] we dropped the bombs on the floor of the Assembly Chamber to register our protest on behalf of those who had no other means left to give expression to their heard-rending agony. Our sole purpose was “to make the deaf hear”, and to give the heedless a timely warning. [Others have as keenly felt as we have done and from under the seeming stillness 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 danger ahead. [We have only marked the end of an era of Utopian non-violence, of whose futility the rising generation has been convinced beyond the shadow of doubt. Out of our sincerest goodwill to and love of humanity have we adopted this method of warning to prevent the untold suffering which we like millions of others clearly foresee."

"4. We have used the expression Utopian non-violence in the foregoing para, which requires some explanation.] Force when aggressively applied is “violence” and is therefore morally unjustifiable; but when it is used in the furtherance of a legitimate cause it has its moral justification. [The elimination of force at all costs in Utopian, and the mew movement which has arisen in the country, and of that dawn we have given a warning, is inspired by the ideal which guided Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha and Riza Khan, Washington and Garibaldi, Lafayette and Lenin. As both the alien Government and the Indian public leaders appeared to have shut their eyes and closed their ears against the existence and the voice of this movement,] we felt it our duty to sound the warning where it could not go unheard."

"5. We have so far dealt with the motive behind the incident in question, and now we must define the extent of our intention.

"It cannot be gainsaid that we bore no personal grudge or malice against any one of those who received slight injuries or against any other person in the Assembly. On the contrary we repeat that we hold human life sacred beyond words and would sooner lay down our own lives in the service of humanity than injure any one else. [Unlike the mercenary soldiers of Imperialist Armies who are disciplined to kill without compunction,] we respect and in so far as it lies in us attempt to save human life. And still we admit having deliberately thrown the bombs into the Assembly Chamber! Facts, however, speak for themselves and our intention should be judged from the result of our action without drawing upon hypothetical circumstances and presumptions. Despite the evidence of the Government Expert, the bombs that were thrown in the Assembly Chamber resulted in slight damage to an empty bench and some slight abrasions in less than half a dozen cases, while Government scientists and experts have ascribed this result to a miracle, we see nothing but a precisely scientific process in all this incident. Firstly, the two bombs exploded in vacant spaces within the wooden barriers of the desks and benches. Secondly, even those who were within 2 feet of the explosion, for instance, Mr. P. Rau, Mr. Shanker Rao and Sir George Schuster were either not hurt or only slightly scratched. Bombs of the capacity deposed to by the Government Expert (though his estimate, being imaginary is exaggerated), loaded with an effective charge of potassium chlorate and sensitive (explosive) picrate would have smashed the barriers and laid many low within some yards of the explosion. Again, had they been loaded with some other high explosive, with a charge of destructive pellets or darts, they would have sufficed to wipe out a majority of the Members of the Legislative Assembly. Still again we could have flung them into the official box which was occupied by some notable persons. And finally we could have ambushed Sir John Simon whose luckless Commission was loathed by all responsible people and who was sitting in the President’s gallery at the time. All these things, however, were beyond our intention and bombs did no more than they were designed to do, and the miracle consisted in no more than the deliberate aim which landed them in safe places. Similarly the pistol was fired in the air but by neither of us."

"6. We then deliberately offered ourselves to bear the penalty for what we had done, [and to let the Imperialist exploiters know that by crushing individuals they cannot kill ideas. By crushing two insignificant units the nation cannot be crushed. We wanted to emphasize the historical lesson that lettres de cachets and Bastilles could not crush the revolutionary movement in France. Gallows and the Siberian mines could not extinguish the Russian Revolution. Bloody Sunday, and Black and Tans failed to strangle the movement of Irish freedom. Can ordinances and Safety Bills snuff out the flames of freedom in India? Conspiracy cases trumped up or discovered and incarceration of all youngmen who cherish the vision of a great ideal cannot check the march of Revolution. But timely warning if not unheeded can help to prevent loss of life and general sufferings.] We took it upon ourselves to provide warning and our duty is done."

"[7. I, Bhagat Singh was asked in the lower court what we meant by word “Revolution”. In answer to that question, I would say that Revolution does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife nor is there any place in it for individual vendetta. 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. and the innocent children of the Exploiters no less than millions of the exploited are walking on the edge of a dangerous precipice. 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 a break-down, and in which the sovereignty of the proletariat should be recognized, and as the result of which a world-federation should redeem humanity from the bondage of capitalism and the misery of imperial wars."

"8. This is our ideal; and with this ideology for 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 welling up, a grim struggle must ensue 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 the Revolution.

"Revolution is the inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is the imprescriptable birth-right of all. The labourer is the real sustainer of Society. The Sovereignty of the people is the ultimate destiny of the workers.

"For these ideals, and for this faith, we shall welcome any suffering to which we may be condemned. To the altar of this 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: “Long live the Revolution.”]

Bhagat Singh Batukeshwar Dutta"

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To Make the Deaf Hear

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"Text of the typed leaflet thrown in the Central Assembly by Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta after they exploded the bombs. Shiv Verma, Bhagat Singh’s comrade and editor of Selected Writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, recalls that this was written by Bhagat Singh in their Sitaram Bazar den. He also typed out about 30 to 40 copies of it on the party letterhead. Jaidev Kapoor helped make arrangements for the typing. A full-size block of the leaflet was publishes in The Hindustan Times in its special evening edition the same day, April 8, 1929."

................................................................................................

"Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Notice

"“IT TAKES A LOUD VOICE TO MAKE A DEAF HEAR.”

"With these immortal words uttered on a similar occasion by Valliant, a French anarchist martyr, do we strongly justify this action of ours.

"Without repeating the humiliating history of the past ten years of the working of the reforms and without mentioning the insults hurled down on the head of the Indian nation through this House, the so-called Indian Parliament, we see that this time again, while the people, expecting some more crumbs of reforms from the Simon Commission, are ever quarelling over the distribution of the expected bones, the Govt. is thrusting upon us new repressive measures like those of the Public Safety and Trades Disputes Bills, while reserving the Press Sedition Bill for the next Session. The indiscriminate arrests of labour leaders working in the open field clearly indicate whither the wind blows.

"In these extremely provocative circumstances the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, in all seriousness, realizing the full responsibility, had decided and ordered its army to do this particular action so that a stop be put to this humiliating farce and to let the alien bureaucratic exploiters do what they wish but to make them come before the public eye in their naked form.

"Let the representatives of the people return to their constituencies and prepare the masses for the coming revolution. And let the Govt. know that, while protesting against the Public Safety and the Trades Disputes Bills and the callous murder of Lala Lajpat Rai on behalf of the helpless Indian masses, we want to emphasise the lesson often repeated by the history that it is easy to kill the individuals, but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled but the ideas survived. Bourbons and Czars fell while the revolution marched ahead triumphantly.

"We are sorry to admit that we who attach so great a sanctity to human life, we who dream of a glorious future when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood. But the sacrifice of the individuals at the altar of the great revolution that will bring freedom to all rendering the exploitation of man by man impossible, is inevitable.

"Long Live Revolution!"

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Message to Punjab Students’ Conference

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"October 19, 1929

"[The Second Punjab Students’ Conference was held at Lahore on October 19, 1929, under the persidentship of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bhagat Singh grabbed the opportunity and sent this message asking the students to plunge whole-heartedly into the coming movement of 1930-31 and carry the message of revolution to the remotest corners of the country. It was jointly signed with B. K. Dutt. The message was read in the open session. It received a thunderous applause from the students with the slogans of Bhagat Singh Zindabad!]"

"Comrades

"Today, we cannot ask the youth to take to pistols and bombs. Today, students are confronted with a far more important assignment. In the coming Lahore Session the Congress is to give call for a fierce fight for the independence of the country. The youth will have to bear a great burden in this difficult times in the history of the nation. It is true that students have faced death at the forward positions of the struggle for independence. Will they hesitate this time in proving their same staunchness and self-confidence? The youth will have to spread this revolutionary message to the far corners 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. Punjab is considered politically bockward even otherwise. This is also the responsibility of the youth. Taking inspiration from the martyr Yatindra Nath Das and with boundless reverence for the country, they must prove that they can fight with steadfast resolve in this struggle for independence."

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On the Slogan “Long Live Revolution”

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"6. Shri Ramanand Chaterji the editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of ‘Long Live Revolution’ through an editorial note and gave an entirely wrong interpretation. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply and handed it over to the trying magistrate to be sent to Modern Review. This was published in The Tribune of December 24, 1929."

................................................................................................

"December 24, 1929

"To, The Editor Modern Review

"You have in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption “Long Live Revolution” and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened Indian has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these “cries” a publicity in this country at this stage.

"We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russian revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout “Long Live Jatin Das”, we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in pursuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to.

"Similarly, one should not interpret the word “Revolution” in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Session Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word “Revolution”

"We stated therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not – for that very reason – become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.

"The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one “good” order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout “Long Live Revolution”

"Yours sincerely,

Bhagat Singh

"B. K. Dutt"

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Regarding Suicide

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"Shiv Verma, Bhagat Singh’s comrade, annotates this letter as follows:

"“Hearing of the case was over. Judgement was expected any day. Sukhdev expected life transportation for him. To him the idea of remaining in jail for 20 years was repulsive. He wrote to Bhagat Singh that in case he (Sukhdev) is convicted for life he will commit suicide. He stood for release or death; no middle course.

"“Bhagat Singh’s reaction to Sukhdev’s letter was very sharp. Serve, suffer and live to struggle for the cause—that was his stand. ‘Escaping from hardships is cowardice’, he said. This letter provides one more window to peep into the martyr’s mind.” Translated from Hindi."

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"In reply to Sukhdev's letter to Bhagat Singh that in case he (Sukhdev) is convicted for life imprisonment and not death sentence, he will commit suicide, Bhagat Singh wrote this letter."

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"Dear brother,

"I have gone through your letter attentively and many times. I realise that the changed situation has affected us differently. The things you hated outside have now become essential to you. In the same way, the things I used to support strongly are of no significance to me any more. For example, I believed in personal love, but now this feeling has ceased to occupy any particular position in my heart and mind. While outside, you were strongly opposed to it but now a drastic change and radicalisation is apparent in your ideas about it. You experience it as an extremely essential part of human existence and you have found a particular kind of happiness in the experience.

"You may still recollect that one day I had discussed suicide with you. That time I told you that in some situations suicide may be justifiable, but you contested my point. I vividly remember the time and place of our conversation. We talked about this in the Shahanshahi Kutia one evening. You said in jest that such a cowardly act can never be justified. You said that acts of this kind were horrible and heinous, but I see that you have now made an about-turn on this subject. Now you find it not only proper in certain situations but also necessary, even essential. My opinion is what you had held earlier, that suicide is a heinous crime. It is an act of complete cowardice. Leave alone revolutionaries, no individual can ever justify such an act.

"You say you fail to understand how suffering alone can serve the country. Such a question from a person like you is really perplexing, because how much thoughtfully we loved the motto of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha—”to suffer and sacrifice through service”. I believe that you served as much as was possible. Now is the time when you should suffer for what you did. Another point is that this is exactly the moment when you have to lead the entire people.

"Man acts only when he is sure of the justness of his action, as we threw the bomb in the Legislative Assembly. After the action, it is the time for bearing the consequences of that act. Do you think that had we tried to avoid the punishment by pleading for mercy, we would have been more justified? No, this would have had an adverse effect on the masses. We are now quite successful in our endeavour."

"At the time of our imprisonment, the condition for the political prisoners of our party were very miserable. We tried to improve that. I tell you quite seriously that we believed we would die very shortly. Neither we were aware of the technique of forced feeding nor did we ever think of it. We were ready to die. Do you mean to say that we were intending to commit suicide? No. Striving and sacrificing one’s life for a superior ideal can never be called suicide. We are envious of the death of our Comrade Yatindra Nath Das. Will you call it suicide? Ultimately, our sufferings bore fruit. A big movement started in the whole of the country. We were successful in our aim. Death in the struggles of this kind is an ideal death.

"Apart from this, the comrades among us, who believe that they will be awarded death, should await that day patiently when the sentence will be announced and they will be hanged. This death will also be beautiful, but committing suicide—to cut short the life just to avoid some pain—is cowardice. I want to tell you that obstacles make a man perfect. Neither you nor I, rather none of us, have suffered any pain so far. That part of our life has started only now."

"You will recollect that we have talked several times about realism in the Russian literature, which is nowhere visible in our own. We highly appreciate the situations of pain in their stories, but we do not feel that spirit of suffering within ourselves. We also admire their passion and the extraordinary height of their characters, but we never bother to find out the reason. I will say that only the reference to their resolve to bear pain has produced the intensity, the suffering of pain, and this has given great depth and height to their characters and literature. We become pitiable and ridiculous when we imbibe an unreasoned mysticism in our life without any natural or substantial basis. People like us, who are proud to be revolutionary in every sense, should always be prepared to bear all the difficulties, anxieties, pain and suffering which we invite upon ourselves by the struggles initiated by us and for which we call ourselves revolutionary."

"You know it that the suffering of political prisoners in the jails of Russia caused, in the main, the revolution in the prison-administration after the overthrow of Czardom. Is India not in need of such persons who are fully aware of this problem and have personal experience of these things?"

"In fact, if you feel that jail life is really humiliating, why don’t you try to improve it by agitating? Perhaps, you will say that this struggle would be futile, but this is precisely the argument which is usually used as a cover by weak people to avoid participation in every movement. This is the reply which we kept on hearing outside the jail from the people who were anxious to escape from getting entangled in revolutionary movements. Shall I now hear the same argument from you? What could our party of a handful of people do in comparison to the vastness of its aims and ideals? Shall we infer from this that we erred gravely in starting our work altogether? No, inferences of this kind will be improper. This only shows the inner weakness of the man who thinks like this.

"You write further that it cannot be expected of a man that he will have the same thinking after going through 14 long years of suffering in the prison, which he had before, because the jail life will crush all his ideas. May I ask you whether the situation outside the jail was any bit more favourable to our ideas? Even then, could we have left it because of our failures? Do you mean to imply that had we not entered the field, no revolutionary work would have taken place at all? If this be your contention, then you are mistaken, though it is right that we also proved helpful to an extent in changing the environment. But, then, we are only a product of the need of our times."

"I shall even say that Marx – the father of communism – did not actually originate this idea. The Industrial Revolution of Europe itself produced men of this kind. Marx was one among them. Of course, Marx was also instrumental to an extent in gearing up the wheels of his time in a particular way."

"Had Bakunin argued like you, he would have committed suicide right in the beginning. Today, you find many revolutionaries occupying responsible posts in the Russian state who had passed the greater part of their lives in prison, completing their sentences."

"I hope you will permit me to tell you what I think about myself. I am certain of capital punishment for me. I do not expect even a bit of moderation or amnesty. Even if there is amnesty, it will not be for all, and even that amnesty will be for other only, not for us; it will be extremely restricted and burdened with various conditions. For, us neither there can be any amnesty nor it will ever happen. Even then, I wish that release calls for us should be made collection and globally. Along with that, I also wish that when the movement reaches its climax, we should be hanged. It is my wish that if at any time any honourable and fair compromise is possible, issue like our case may never obstruct it. When the fate of the country is being decided, the fate of individuals should be forgotten. As revolutionaries, we do not believe that there can be any sudden change in the attitude of our rulers, particularly in the British race. Such a surprising change is impossible without through sustained striving, sufferings and sacrifices. And it shall be achieved."

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November 15, 2021 - November 15, 2021.

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Letter to Father

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"You know that we have been pursuing a definite policy in this trial. Every action of mine ought to have been consistent with that policy, my principle and my programme. At present the circumstances are altogether different, but had the situation been otherwise, even then I would have been the last man to offer defence. I had only one idea before me throughout the trial, i.e. to show complete indifference towards the trial inspite of serious nature of the charges against us. I have always been of opinion that all the political workers should be indifferent and should never bother about the legal fight in the law courts and should boldly bear the heaviest possible sentences inflicted upon them. They may defend themselves but always from purely political considerations and never from a personal point of view. Our policy in this trial has always been consistent with this principle; whether we were successful in that or not is not for me to judge. We have always been doing our duty quite disinterstedly.

"In the statement accompanying the text of Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance the Viceroy had stated that the accused in this case were trying to bring both law and justice into contempt. The situation afforded us an opportunity to show to the public whether we are trying to bring law into contempt or whether others were doing so. People might disagree with us on this point. You might be one of them. But that never meant that such moves should be made on my behalf without my consent or even my knowledge. My life is not so precious, at least to me, as you may probably think it to be. It is not at all worth buying at the cost of my principles. There are other comrades of mine whose case is as serious as that of mine. We had adopted a common policy and we shall stand to the last, no matter how dearly we have to pay individually for it.

"Father, I am quite perplexed. I fear I might overlook the ordinary principle of etiquette and my language may become a little but harsh while criticizing or rather censoring this move on your part. Let me be candid. I feel as though I have been stabbed at the back. Had any other person done it, I would have considered it to be nothing short o treachery. But in your case, let me say that it has been a weakness – a weakness of the worst type."

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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Letter to B.K. Dutta

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"Central Jail,

"November, 1930

"Dear Brother,

"The judgment has been delivered. I am condemned to death. In these cells, besides myself, there are many others prisoners who are waiting to be hanged. The only prayer of these people is that somehow or other they may escape the noose. Perhaps I am the only man amongst them who is anxiously waiting for the day when I will be fortunate enough to embrace the gallows for my ideal.

"I will climb the gallows gladly and show to the world as to how bravely the revolutionaries can sacrifice themselves for the cause.

"I will condemned to death, but you are sentenced to transportation for life. You will live and, while living, you will have to show to the world that the revolutionaries not only die for their ideals but can face every calamity. Death should not be a means to escape the worldly difficulties. Those revolutionaries who have by chance escaped the gallows for the ideal but also bear the worst type o tortures in the dark dingy prison cells.

"Yours

"Bhagat Singh"

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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Letter to Jaidev Gupta

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This has been most difficult part so far to write, chiefly because the list of titles he asks for is daunting; one finally begins to have an inkling about just how much injustice was done thus bright, brilliant thinker who did not merely stop to write, but put his thought into action, and that for others, for his nation, for people, with no thought of personal safety, much less glory, unlike the leaders celebrated by the governments of India post independence for most part, certainly until 2014, with rare exceptions that do not belong to the party that ruled most of the time, or allies thereof.

Most people are happy to sleepwalk through an education, at best preparing for examinations, happy if they do all right, very proud if they are ahead of others. Thus young mind was not only well versed with what was taught, which is startlingly clear from his jail dairy and quotations therein, but eager to read and absorb far more, as evident from this letter and the list of books he's asking for to be sent him.

"My Dear Jaidev,

"Please take following books in my name from Dwarkadas Library and send them through Kulvir on Sunday:

"Militarism (Kari Liebknecht)

"Why Men Fight (B. Russel)

"Soviets at Work Collapse of the Second International Left-Wing Communism Mutual Aid (Prince Kropotkin)

"Fields, Factories and Workshops Civil War in France (Marx)

"Land Revolution in Russia Spy (Upton Sinclair)

"Please send one more book from Punjab Public Library: Historical Materialism (Bukharin). Also, please find out from the librarian if some books have been sent to Borstal Jail. They are facing a terrible famine of books. They had sent a list of books through Sukhdev’s brother Jaidev. They have not received any book till now. In case they have no list, then please ask Lala Firoz Chand to send some interesting books of his choice. The books must reach them before I go there on this Sunday. This work is a must. Please keep this in mind.

"Also send Punjab Peasants in Prosperity and Debt by Darling and 2 or 3 books of this type for Dr. Alam. Hope you will excuse me for this trouble. I promise I will not trouble you in future. Please remember me to all my friends and convey my respect to Lajjawati. I am sure if Dutt’s sister came she will not forget to see me.

"With regards

"Bhagat Singh

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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Introduction to Dreamland

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"Lala Ram Saran Das was convicted for life in 1915 in the first Lahore Conspiracy Case. While in Salem Central Prison, Madras presidency, he wrote a book in verse entitled Dream. After his release in the mid-twenties he contacted Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev and became active in the HSRA. He was arrested again in connection with the second LCC. This time he wavered and accepted king's pardon. Soon he realised the mistake and retracted his statement. He was charged of perjury and convicted for two years which was subsequently reduced to six months in appeal. It was during this conviction that he passed on his manuscript to Bhagat Singh for an introduction. In this article Bhagat Singh, while appreciating the spirit behind Ram Saran Das's work, has criticised his utopian approach to the problems of revolution. He has also expressed himself on such subjects as God, religion, violence and non-violence, spiritualism, literature, poetry, etc."

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" ... In spite of all my efforts, I could not find any revolutionary party that had clear ideas as to what they were fighting for, with the exception of the Ghadar Party which, having been inspired by the USA form of government, clearly stated that they wanted to replace the existing government by a Republican form of government. All other parties consisted of men who had but one idea, i.e., to fight against the alien rulers. That idea is quite laudable but cannot be termed a revolutionary idea. We must make it clear that revolution does not merely mean an upheaval or a sanguinary strife. Revolution necessarily implies the programme of systematic reconstruction of society on new and better adapted basis, after complete destruction of the existing state of affairs (i.e., regime).

"In the political field the liberals wanted some reform under the present government, while the extremists demanded a bit more and were prepared to employ radical means for the same purpose. Among the revolutionaries, they had always been in favour of extreme methods with one idea, i.e., of overthrow the foreign domination. No doubt, there had been some who were in favour of extorting some reforms through those means. All these movement cannot rightly be designated as revolutionary movement."

" ... L. Ram Saran Das was sentenced to death in 1915, and the sentence was later on commuted to life transportation. Today, sitting in the condemned cells myself, I can let the readers know as authoritatively that the life imprisonment is comparatively a far harder lot than that of death. L. Ram Saran Das had actually to undergo fourteen years of imprisonment. It was in some southern jail that he wrote this poetry. The then psychology and mental struggle of the author has stamped its impressions upon the poetry and makes it all the more beautiful and interesting. ... "

"He discusses philosophy in the beginning. This philosophy is the backbone of all the revolutionary movement of Bengal as well as of the Punjab. I differ from him on this point very widely. His interpretation of the universe is teleological and metaphysical, which I am a materialist and my interpretation of the phenomenon would be causal. Nevertheless, it is by no means out of place or out of date. The general ideal that are prevailing in our country, are more in accordance with those expressed by him. ... "

"L. Ram Saran Das's idea about free education is really worth considering, and the socialist government has adopted somewhat the same course in Russia."

Surprisingly, he says -

" ... Like all other socialists he suggests that, instead of retribution, i.e., retaliation the reformative theory should form the basis of punishment. Not to punish but to reclaim should be the guiding principle of the administration of justice. Jails should be reformatories and not veritable hells. In this connection the readers should study the Russian prison system."

Those guys really did idolise Russia, and socialism, despite the brutal massacres of Romanov, including children, didn't they! They had no clue what the system was capable of, and although outsiders could only suspect for a long time, now world knows about the Siberian camps and gulags, about Raoul Wallenberg - the Swedish hero who saved hundreds of Jews in Hungary only to be spirited away to Siberia by USSR - and denied any knowledge of, about Subhash Chandra Bose being possibly another prisoner in USSR, after WWII, and more.

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November 14, 2021 - November 14, 2021.

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To Young Political Workers

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"[Written on February 2, 1931, this document is a sort of behest to young political workers of India. At that time the talk of some sort of compromise between the Congress and the British Government was in the air. Through this document Bhagat Singh explained as to when a compromise is permissible and when it is not. He also made out that the way Congress is conducting the movement it was bound to end in some sort of compromise. After analysing to the conditions then prevailing, he finally advised the youth to adopt Marxism as the ideology, work among the people, organize workers and peasants and form the Communist Party.

"After Bhagat Singh’s execution this document was published in a mutilated form. All references to Soviet Union, Marx, Lenin and the Communist Party were carefully deleted. Subsequently, the GOI published it in one of its secret reports in 1936. A photostat copy of the full report is preserved in the library of the Martyrs’ Memorial and Freedom Struggle Research Centre at Lucknow.]"

At the very outset one see a exactly why congress governments of almost seven decades never allowed Bhagat Singh more than a mere mention, at best without a pejorative epithet - he's no respecter of their holy, and this isn't tolerated in or by congress, which functions more like church of Rome than like anything that had roots in India.

"To

"The Young Political Workers

"Dear Comrades

"Our movement is passing through a very important phase at present. After a year’s fierce struggle some definite proposals regarding the constitutional reforms have been formulated by the Round Table Conference and the Congress leaders have been invited to give this [Original transcription is unclear – MIA Transcriber]... think it desirable in the present circumstances to call off their movement. Whether they decide in favour or against is a matter of little importance to us. The present movement is bound to end in some sort of compromise. The compromise may be effected sooner or later. And compromise is not such ignoble and deplorable an thing as we generally think. It is rather an indispensable factor in the political strategy. Any nation that rises against the oppressors is bound to fail in the beginning, and to gain partial reforms during the medieval period of its struggle through compromises. And it is only at the last stage – having fully organized all the forces and resources of the nation – that it can possibly strike the final blow in which it might succeed to shatter the ruler’s government. But even then it might fail, which makes some sort of compromise inevitable. This can be best illustrated by the Russian example."

From his writing, it would seem he thought Lenin could do no wrong.

"Again after the 1917 revolution, when the Bolsheviks were forced to sign the Brest Litovsk Treaty, everyone except Lenin was opposed to it. But Lenin said: “Peace”. “Peace and again peace: peace at any cost – even at the cost of many of the Russian provinces to be yielded to German War Lord”. When some anti-Bolshevik people condemned Lenin for this treaty, he declared frankly that the Bolsheviks were not in a position to face to German onslaught and they preferred the treaty to the complete annihilation of the Bolshevik Government."

Was it known then, what's known now, that German government of the then Kaiser Wilhelm II has put Lenin hidden in a sealed diplomatic train and transported him deep into Russia, just so as to create a devastation in Russia, which he did? Of course he wasnt going to fight Germany - not because of personal gratitude, but because he probably had committed to them, and they could expose him.

" ... Tilak’s policy, quite apart from the ideal i.e. his strategy, was the best. You are fighting to get sixteen annas from your enemy, you get only one anna. Pocket it and fight for the rest. What we note in the moderates is of their ideal. They start to achieve on anna and they can’t get it. ... "

"I have said that the present movement, i.e. the present struggle, is bound to end in some sort of compromise or complete failure.

"I said that, because in my opinion, this time the real revolutionary forces have not been invited into the arena. This is a struggle dependent upon the middle class shopkeepers and a few capitalists. ... After his first experience with the Ahmedabad labourers in 1920 Mahatma Gandhi declared: “We must not tamper with the labourers. It is dangerous to make political use of the factory proletariat” (The Times, May 1921). Since then, they never dared to approach them. There remains the peasantry. The Bardoli resolution of 1922 clearly denies the horror the leaders felt when they saw the gigantic peasant class rising to shake off not only the domination of an alien nation but also the yoke of the landlords.

"It is there that our leaders prefer a surrender to the British than to the peasantry. Leave alone Pt. Jawahar lal. Can you point out any effort to organize the peasants or the labourers? No, they will not run the risk. There they lack. That is why I say they never meant a complete revolution. Through economic and administrative pressure they hoped to get a few more reforms, a few more concessions for the Indian capitalists. That is why I say that this movement is doomed to die, may be after some sort of compromise or even without. They young workers who in all sincerity raise the cry “Long Live Revolution”, are not well organized and strong enough to carry the movement themselves. As a matter of fact, even our great leaders, with the exception of perhaps Pt. Motilal Nehru, do not dare to take any responsibility on their shoulders, that is why every now and then they surrender unconditionally before Gandhi. In spite of their differences, they never oppose him seriously and the resolutions have to be carried for the Mahatma."

Strange, he sees Motilal Nehru, but not Subhash Chandra Bose, as one who could stand up to, even oppose, Gandhi?

" ... During the Great War, when the Indian help was needed the most, promises about self-government were made and the existing reforms were introduced. Limited legislative powers have been entrusted to the Assembly but subject to the goodwill of the Viceroy. Now is the third stage."

" ... Up till now, the executive was never made responsible to the Legislative Assembly and the Viceroy had the veto power, which rendered all the efforts of the elected members futile. Thanks to the efforts of the Swaraj Party, the Viceroy was forced every now and then to use these extraordinary powers to shamelessly trample the solemn decisions of the national representatives under foot. It is already too well known to need further discussion."

" ... But if you say you are for the national revolution and the aims of your struggle is an Indian republic of the type of the United State of America, then I ask you to please let known on what forces you rely that will help you bring about that revolution. Whether national or the socialist, are the peasantry and the labour. Congress leaders do not dare to organize those forces. You have seen it in this movement. They know it better than anybody else that without these forces they are absolutely helpless. When they passed the resolution of complete independence – that really meant a revolution – they did not mean it. They had to do it under pressure of the younger element, and then they wanted to use it as a threat to achieve their hearts’ desire – Dominion Status. You can easily judge it by studying the resolutions of the last three sessions of the Congress. I mean Madras, Calcutta and Lahore. At Calcutta, they passed a resolution asking for Dominion Status within twelve months, otherwise they would be forced to adopt complete independence as their object, and in all solemnity waited for some such gift till midnight after the 31st December, 1929. Then they found themselves “honour bound” to adopt the Independence resolution, otherwise they did not mean it. But even then Mahatmaji made no secret of the fact that the door (for compromise) was open. That was the real spirit. At the very outset they knew that their movement could not but end in some compromise. It is this half-heartedness that we hate, not the compromise at a particular stage in the struggle. ... "

"Perhaps this is the topic that needs a careful explanation. There is very great probability of my being misunderstood on this subject. Apparently I have acted like a terrorist. But I am not a terrorist. I am a revolutionary who has got such definite ideas of a lengthy programme as is being discussed here."

"LONG LIVE REVOLUTION

"2nd February, 1931"

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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Why I am an Atheist

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Bhagat Singh wrote this to clear his stance, first of all making it clear that he did not think he was great, and the stance did not come from such a feeling, nor does it seem harmonious to atheism to consider oneself a demigod.

More than anything, one gets the impression of a discourse straight from hearrt of a very sincere youth who's not relying on external strength such as usually understood in religion, especially religions not stemmed from india. If hed known, hed have realised hus was a greater Karmayoga, devoted to his nation.

"A new question has cropped up.

"Is it due to Vanity that I do not believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God? I had never imagined that I would ever have to confront such a question. But conversation with some friends has given me, a hint that certain of my friends, if I am not claiming too much in thinking them to be so-are inclined to conclude from the brief contact they have had with me, that it was too much on my part to deny the existence of God and that there was a certain amount of vanity that actuated my disbelief. Well, the problem is a serious one. I do not boast to be quite above these human traits. I am a man and nothing more. None can claim to be more. I also have this weakness in me. Vanity does form a part of my nature. Amongst my comrades I was called an autocrat. Even my friend Mr. B.K. Dutt sometimes called me so. On certain occasions I was decried as a despot. Some friends do complain and very seriously too that I involuntarily thrust my opinions upon others and get my proposals accepted. That this is true up to a certain extent, I do not deny. This may amount to egotism. There is vanity in me in as much as our cult as opposed to other popular creeds is concerned. But that is not personal. It may be, it is only legitimate pride in our cult and does not amount to vanity. Vanity or to be more precise "Ahankar" is the excess of undue pride in one's self. Whether it is such an undue pride that has led me to atheism or whether it is after very careful study of the subject and after much consideration that I have come to disbelieve in God, is a question that I, intend to discuss here. Let me first make it clear that egotism and vanity are two different things.

"In the first place, I have altogether failed to comprehend as to how undue pride or vain-gloriousness could ever stand in the way of a man in believing in God. I can refuse to recognize the greatness of a really great man provided I have also achieved a certain amount of popularity without deserving it or without having possessed the qualities really essential or indispensable for the same purpose. That much is conceivable. But in what way can a man believing in God cease believing due to his personal vanity? There are only two Ways. The man should either begin to think himself a rival of God or he may begin to believe himself to be God. In neither case can he become a genuine atheist. In the first case he does not even deny the existence of his rival. In the second case as well he admits the existence of a conscious being behind the screen guiding all the movements of nature. It is of no importance to us whether he thinks himself to be that Supreme Being or whether he thinks the supreme conscious being to be somebody apart from himself. The fundamental is there. His belief is there. He is by no means an atheist. Well, here I am I neither belong to the first category nor to the second.

" ... I studied Bakunin, the Anarchist leader, something of Marx the father of Communism and much of Lenin, Trotsky and others the men who had successfully carried out a revolution in their country. They were all atheists. Bakunin's "God and State", though only fragmentary, is an interesting study of the subject. Later still I came across a book entitled 'Common Sense' by Nirlamba Swami. It was only a sort of mystic atheism. ... By the end of 1926 I had been convinced as to the baselessness of the theory of existence of an almighty supreme being who created, guided and controlled the universe. ... "

It's clear that his atheism is basically from study of various authors' works that basically responded to domination of Europe by church of Rome, which was more about control of minds rather than exploring Truth. But why he didn't stop in his tracks to realise that those works, understanding of those authors, left out everything India knew and offered, precisely because church had painstakingly prevented such seeking of Truth by knowledge seekers, to the extent of burning them at stake for centuries, can only be because he was young, and born and brought up under dominance of invading cultures.

"In May 1927 I was arrested at Lahore. The arrest was a surprise. I was quite unaware of (the fact that the police wanted me. All of a sudden while passing through a garden I found myself surrounded by police. To my own surprise, I was very calm at that time. I did not feel any sensation, neither did I experience any excitement. I was taken into police custody. Next day I was taken to the Railway Police lock-up where I was to pass full one month. After many day's conversation with the Police officials I guessed that they had some information regarding my connection with the Kakori Party and my other activities in connection with the revolutionary movement. They told me that I had been to Lucknow while the trial was going on there, that I had negotiated a certain scheme about their rescue, that after obtaining their approval, we had procured some bombs, that by way of test one of the bombs was thrown in the crowd on the occasion of Dussehra 1926. They further informed me, in my interest, that if I could give any statement throwing some light on the activities of the revolutionary party, I was not to be imprisoned but on the contrary set free and rewarded even without being produced as an approver in the Court. I laughed at the proposal. It was all humbug.

"People holding ideas like ours do not throw bombs on their own innocent people. One fine morning Mr. Newman, the then Senior Superintendent of C.I.D., came to me. And after much sympathetic talk with me imparted-to him-the extremely sad news that if I did not give any statement as demanded by them, they would be forced to send me up for trial for conspiracy to wage war in connection with Kakori Case and for brutal murders in connection with Dussehra Bomb outrage. And he further informed me that they had evidence enough to get me convicted and hanged.

"In those days I believed – though I was quite innocent – the police could do it if they desired. That very day certain police officials began to persuade me to offer my prayers to God regularly both the times. Now I was an atheist. I wanted to settle for myself whether it was in the days of peace and enjoyment alone that I could boast of being an atheist or whether during such hard times as well I could stick to those principles of mine. After great consideration I decided that I could not lead myself to believe in and pray to God. No, I never did. That was the real test and I came, out successful. Never for a moment did I desire to save my neck at the cost of certain other things. So I was a staunch disbeliever: and have ever since been. It was not an easy job to stand that test."

"You go and oppose the prevailing faith, you go and criticize a hero, a great man, who is generally believed to be above criticism because he is thought to be infallible, the strength of your argument shall force the multitude to decry you as vainglorious. This is due to the mental stagnation, Criticism and independent thinking are the two indispensable qualities of a revolutionary. Because Mahatamaji is great, therefore none should criticize him. Because he has risen above, therefore everything he says-may be in the field of Politics or Religion, Economics or Ethics-is right. Whether you are convinced or not you must say, "Yes, that's true". This mentality does not lead towards progress. It is rather too obviously, reactionary."All too true, and even now, mostly so.

"Because our forefathers had set up a faith in some supreme, being – the Almighty God – therefore any man who dares to challenge the validity of that faith, or the very existence of that Supreme Being, he shall have to be called an apostate, a renegade. If his arguments are too sound to be refuted by counter-arguments and spirit too strong to be cowed down by the threat of misfortunes that may befall him by the wrath of the Almighty, he shall be decried as vainglorious, his spirit to be denominated as vanity. Then why to waste time in this vain discussion? Why try to argue out the whole thing? This question is coming before the public for the first time, and is being handled in this matter of fact way for the first time, hence this lengthy discussion."

But that comes across as not quite related to India! "If, as you believe, there is an almighty, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God-who created the earth or world, please let me know why did he create it? This world of woes and miseries, a veritable, eternal combination of numberless tragedies: Not a single soul being perfectly satisfied.

"Pray, don't say that it is His Law: If he is bound by any law, he is not omnipotent. He is another slave like ourselves. Please don't say that it is his enjoyment. Nero burnt one Rome. He killed a very limited number of people. He created very few tragedies, all to his perfect enjoyment. And what is his place in History? By what names do the historians mention him? All the venomous epithets are showered upon him. Pages are blackened with invective diatribes condemning Nero, the tyrant, the heartless, the wicked. One Changezkhan sacrificed a few thousand lives to seek pleasure in it and we hate the very name. Then how are you going to justify your almighty, eternal Nero, who has been, and is still causing numberless tragedies every day, every hour and every minute? How do you think to support his misdoings which surpass those of Changez every single moment? I say why did he create this world – a veritable hell, a place of constant and bitter unrest? Why did the Almighty create man when he had the power not to do it? What is the justification for all this? Do you say to award the innocent sufferers hereafter and to punish the wrong-doers as well? Well, well: How far shall you justify a man who may dare to inflict wounds upon your body to apply a very soft and soothing liniment upon it afterwards? How far the supporters and organizers of the Gladiator Institution were justified in throwing men before the half starved furious lions to be cared for and well looked after if they could survive and could manage to escape death by the wild beasts? That is why I ask, 'Why did the conscious supreme being created this world and man in it? To seek pleasure? Where then is the difference between him and Nero'?"

Some of the greatest souls were in India during, and just before, his time. If only he'd known better, if only he'd been even slightly curious, hed have had not only answers, but far more.

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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No Hanging, Please Shoot Us

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"To,

"The Punjab Governor

"Sir,

"With due respect we beg to bring to your kind notice the following:

"That we were sentenced to death on 7th October 1930 by a British Court, L.C.C Tribunal, constituted under the Sp. Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance, promulgated by the H.E. The Viceroy, the Head of the British Government of India, and that the main charge against us was that of having waged war against H.M. King George, the King of England.

"The above-mentioned finding of the Court pre-supposed two things:

"Firstly, that there exists a state of war between the British Nation and the Indian Nation and, secondly, that we had actually participated in that war and were therefore war prisoners."

"As to the question of our fates, please allow us to say that when you have decided to put us to death, you will certainly do it. You have got the power in your hands and the power is the greatest justification in this world. We know that the maxim “Might is right” serves as your guiding motto. The whole of our trial was just a proof of that. We wanted to point out that according to the verdict of your court we had waged war and were therefore war prisoners. And we claim to be treated as such, i.e., we claim to be shot dead instead of to be hanged. It rests with you to prove that you really meant what your court has said.

"We request and hope that you will very kindly order the military department to send its detachment to perform our execution.

"Yours,

"Bhagat Singh"

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November 13, 2021 - November 13, 2021.

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Letter to the

Second Lahore Conspiracy Case Convicts

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"This is Bhagat Singh’s last letter, written a day before his execution. Shiv Verma’s annotation: “On March 22, the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case convicts, who were locked up in Ward Number 14 (near condemned cells), sent a slip to Bhagat Singh asking if would like to live. This letter was in reply to that slip.” Bhagat Singh wrote this in Urdu."

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"March 22, 1931

"Comrades,1

"The desire to live is natural. It is in me also. I do not want to conceal it. But it is conditional. I don’t want to live as a prisoner or under restrictions. My name has become a symbol of Indian revolution. The ideal and sacrifices of the revolutionary party have elevated me to a height beyond which I will never be able to rise if I live.

"Today people do not know my weaknesses. If I escape gallows those weaknesses will come before them and the symbol of revolution will get tarnished or perhaps it may vanish altogether. On the other hand, if I mount the gallows boldly and with a smile, that will inspire Indian mothers and they will aspire that their children should also become Bhagat Singh. Thus the number of persons ready to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of our country will increase enormously. It will then become impossible for imperialism to face the tide of the revolution, and all their might and their satanic efforts will not be able to stop its onward march.

"Yes, one thing pricks me even today. My heart nurtured some ambitions for doing something for humanity and for my country. I have not been able to fulfill even one thousandth part of those ambitions. If I live I might perhaps get a chance to fulfill them. If ever it came to my mind that I should not die, it came from this end only.

"I am proud of myself these days and I am anxiously waiting for the final test. I wish the day may come nearer soon.

"Your comrade

"Bhagat Singh"

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November 14, 2021 - November 14, 2021.

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Appendices

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These appendices are invaluable, wherein various newspaper accounts of the execution are given.

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Appendix 1

Labour Gov’t Executes 3 Indian Rebels

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News of the execution published in London calls it "one of the bloodiest deeds" of the "British Labour government", executing "fighters for Independence of India" "in the interest of imperialism". It reports consequent mass indignation at Gandhi-Irwin agreement, and doubts Gandhi managing the Karachi session of congress. It contrasts the reaction of British government about Menshevik trials in Soviet Union and points at the hypocrisy. The press report mentions torture of the prisoners by the British government, with some details, mentioning that there's more but unprintable. .

This report by Daily Worker (New York) calls Gandhi "bourgeois tool" of the British government.

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November 15, 2021 - November 15, 2021.

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Appendix 2

75 Killed; 500 Hurt by Labour Gov’t Soldiers

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This one is about news, published in Berlin, of the Kanpur riots subsequent to the news of execution of the three freedom fighters. It mentions censorship, mass exodus, armed trains being rushed by British, and mass murders by British.

" ... Gandhi’s object is to do the dirty work for British imperialism, despite everything." The reports speak of "red shirts" shouting slogans "Who killed Bhagat Singh? Gandhi, Gandhi". (Obviously red shirts would be leftists, not Hindu Mahasabha or RSS, who are maligned almost as universally as Hindus, India, and more of ancient India.)

The report, by Daily Worker(New York), speaks of mass demonstrations in Bombay and Calcutta, and fighting in Kanpur and "Tharawaddy" districts.

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November 15, 2021 - November 15, 2021.

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Appendix 3

Editorial, Kudi Arasu, by Periyar E.V. Ramasami

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Well written, and exposing some things that were subsequently pushed under rug by congress, such as Gandhi admitting that his Salt Agitation was undertaken to undo the work done by Bhagat Singh and such others.

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November 15, 2021 - November 15, 2021.

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November 14, 2021 - November 15, 2021.

Purchased August 22, 2021.

Kindle Edition, 191 pages

Published July 24th 2017

by LeftWord Books

(first published January 1st 2007)

Original Title

The Jail Notebook and Other Writings

ASIN:- B0747X416M

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Monday, November 15, 2021

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