Salaudin Ayubi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear Friends,
around 20 comrades from SLP and SLP Youth, CMKP and Che-Leila Youth
Brigades, who attended the Birmingham SLP education school, wne to see a
screening of 'The Legend of Bhagat Singh', and Hindo language film with
english subtitles (you'll have to find a cinema which screend Bollywood
movies, which exist in every major city and town in Britain)
Shaheed E-Azam Bahagt Singh, is the equvalent of India's Che Guevara or
James Connolly. A revolutionary, a marxist-leninist, whic, at the age of 23
was hanged by the British Labour Imperialist admin in India in March 1931.
He elctrified the patriotic and revolutionary youth of India to such an
extent that the people denounced Gandhia and the congress for failing to
save Bahgat Singh, and that they took up socialist and anti-imperialist
ideas for the first time on a mass scale.
There are three films in this young revolutionary which are coming out. One
of them supposed to be even better than the one we saw! So watch out for
them.
You MUST go and see this film, it is a great revolutionary film, better than
any other we had seen!
Below is a short speech by muyself on the subject of Bhagat Singh.
Inqilab Zindabad! (Long live revolution!)
Samajwad Murdabad! (Death to Imperialism)
Sukant
Inquilab Zindabad! - Long Live Revolution!
Martyr of the Freedom Struggle Shaheed E-Azam Bhagat Singh
On the 8th of April, the 'Committee to Commemorate Bhagat Singh' held a
meeting to mark the 68th anniversary of his judicial murder at the hands of
the British Raj. It was very fitting that the rally was held in Saklatvala
Hall, in Southall. The contribution of comrades Bhagat Singh and Shapurji
Saklatvala should be widely known and celebrated by all progressive people.
The rally was addressed by Malkiat Bilku, of the Hillingdon Hospital
Strikers; Avtar Jouhl, from the Indian Workers Association (GB) and the SLP;
Braham Lata, who brought greetings from the Panjab Kala Sangam in India;
Harpal Brar, SLP NEC and editor of Lalkar. SLP Youth were honoured to take
part in the rally and we reproduce below the speech made by its
representative, Sukant Chandan.
-----------------------------------------
Why did India produce Shaheed Bhagat Singh?
Because India was exploited and oppressed, primarily by British Imperialism.
Imperialism exploited India economically; Shah and Khambata, two of India's
leading economists said in 1924, "the average Indian income is just enough
either to feed two in every three of the population, or give them two in
place of three meals they need, on condition that they all consent to go
naked, live out doors all the year round, have no amusement or recreation,
and want nothing else but food, and that the lowest, the coarsest, the least
nutritious" (quoted from India Today and Tomorrow, Palme Dutt, 1951).
Imperialism oppressed India; just one example is the Amritsar massacre, the
shooting of hundreds of unarmed workers and peasants by British troops in
1919 which gave rise to another of India's great patriots and
revolutionaries - Shaheed Udham Singh (note; Shaheed means martyr. Bhagat
Singh is known as Shaheed 'E-Azam' Bhagat Singh, which means he is THE
martyr above all others).
Bhagat Singh and his comrades in the Hindustan Republican Socialist
Association (note - Hindustan is the Indian term for India, everyone from
all religions uses this term) decided to throw a bomb in the Legislative
Assembly on 8 April 1928 to expose the farce of the Assembly, and to protest
against the passing of anti-insurgent and anti-union laws. The bomb was not
intended to hurt anyone and did not, leaflets were thrown with the slogan
"Inqilab Zindabad", "Long Live Revolution" which was to be taken up with one
voice by the Indian people. Bhagat Singh was to give himself up and use the
trial to expose British Imperialism in India.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh's development to Marxism-Leninism in Jail.
In jail Bhagat Singh had time to reflect on his ideas and practice through
his unquenchable thirst for knowledge through reading and discussion with
his comrades. He came to understand Marxism-Leninism and adhere to it. What
in Marxism-Leninism did he learn?
The need for and understanding of revolution, "Revolution does not
necessarily involve sanguinary strife, nor is there any place for individual
vendetta. It is not the cult of the bomb and pistol. By revolution we mean
the ultimate establishment of an order of society which may not be
threatened by such break-downs and in which the sovereignty of the
proletariat should be recognised and a world federation should redeem
humanity from the bondage of capitalism and the misery of imperial wars."
(Bhagat Singh defining the word 'revolution' in court).
The need for organisation, the need for the revolutionary party, "Today we
cannot ask the youth to take to pistols and bombs. Today, students are
confronted with a far more important assignment ... They have to awaken
crores [100,000s] 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." (Message to Punjab
Students Conference, Oct 1929).
"We require - to use the term so dear to Lenin - the 'professional
revolutionaries'. The whole time workers who have no other ambitions or
life-work except the revolution. The greater the numbers of such workers
organised into a party the greater the chances of your success ... what you
need the most is a party with workers of the type discussed above with
clear-cut ideas and keen perception and ability of initiative and quick
decisions. The party shall have iron discipline." (To Young Political
Workers, Feb 1931).
Revolutionary Heroism.
Bhagat Singh was a tremendously heroic revolutionary who faced every ordeal
with revolutionary optimism and drive. He asked the British that he be shot
not hung as he was not a criminal but a warrior fighting a war against
imperialism.
It is nearly a part of folk legend that he faced the hangman's noose, at the
age of 23, by chanting Inqilab Zindabad! (Long Live Revolution) and laughed
at his execution on the gallows. He explained to his comrades before his
execution, "To be hanged by the neck till we are dead [note - He was hung
along with two of his and our comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru who are also
synonymous with the name of Bhagat Singh among the Indian people]. That is
the reality, comrades. I know it, you know it. Then why shut our eyes to it.
Afraid to recognise the reality? This is the highest award for patriotism,
and I am proud that I am going to get it. They think that by destroying my
body that they will be safe in this country. They are wrong. They may kill
me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not
be able to crush my spirits ... 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."
He also went to jail one day, Jan 21 1930, which was Lenin's death
anniversary. As soon as the magistrate took his chair he raised the slogans
of 'Long Live Socialist Revolution', 'Long Live Communist International',
'Lenin's name will never die' and 'down with imperialism!' He then asked the
magistrate to forward greetings to the Third International!
Where was the Comintern?
Can it be that the mighty land of Soviets, the Bolsheviks of the USSR and
the Comintern let this epic episode of the development of Marxism-Leninism
in India pass without assistance or at least comment? Of course not. The
Comintern tried many times to send messages to Bhagat Singh and his comrades
in jail but, due to the authorities, they were not allowed to receive them.
Comrade Shiv Verma, a comrade in arms of Bhagat Singh [sadly passed away
last year; responsible for the brilliant Selected Writings of Shaheed Bhagat
Singh], comments, "Unfortunately none of these documents reached us in time,
leaving us to learn from our own experience. It took us three years for us
to realise the limitations of individual actions. We moved towards socialism
step by step, and it was only after our arrests that we got enough time and
material to read, discuss, ponder over our past and come to correct
conclusions." (Preface to Bhagat Singh Writings)
Socialism in USSR Vindicated the Prospects of Liberation for India
One could say that Bhagat Singh was just a utopian, for where is the proof
that people can achieve anything once they have freed themselves of
imperialism and capitalism? Many people on the fake left believe that
socialism was never achieved. But at the time of Bhagat Singh, just as now
in North Korea and Cuba, it was achieved in the USSR. Marxism Leninism gave
the Soviet people the most advanced weapon for their revolution. India and
the Tsarist Empire were at very similar stages of industrial, cultural and
agricultural development which meant the masses were in misery and slavery.
Parts of the Russian empire were even further behind India as in the case of
the Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikstan and
Azerbaijan. Lets us look at the relative changes in the USSR and India. Due
to time only the briefest exposition can be made.
Education
In 1937 the USSR had compulsory primary and secondary education, 17.2% of
the population were in these schools. At the same time in India it was 0.8%
of the population (all figures taken from India Today and Tomorrow, Palme
Dutt)
The number of higher education students in India was one eighth of that of
the USSR in 1937. In the area of technical training, which is fundamental
for a people to raise their standard of living, India had one seventy eighth
of that of the USSR!
Health
The number of doctors in the USSR rose from 19,800 in 1913 to 97,000 in
1937. In the year between 1934-'35 in India 630 doctors graduated from
universities. In the USSR the number of hospital beds rose from 138,000 in
1913 to 543,000 in 1937. In British India it rose from 48,435 in 1914 to
72,271 in 1934.
Labour Conditions
In 1922 the USSR established a universal 8hr day replaced with a 7hr day
with 6hr for those employed in heavy jobs (miners for example) by 1927.
India established a 11hr working day in 1922 replaced by a 10hr working day
by 1934. However, there were only 90 inspectors to enforce this for the
whole of India.
Our 'Leaders' Today.
That was Bhagat Singh. Who have we today who are representing us? The two
people I am mentioning should never be compared to Bhagat Singh as in the
words of some comrades, they are not worthy for even tying the shoelaces of
Shaheed Bhagat Singh! Piara Khabra is our MP for Ealing Southall. Apart from
doing nothing to voice the concerns of the working class here, he is
useless, even by bourgeois standards. One bourgeois paper (Daily Telegraph)
said that his contribution in parliament was inaudible and deserved only a
long raspberry!
What about Ken Livingstone? SLP Youth attended a Loony Socialist Alliance
meeting in Southall where no-one from the people came. Comrades, you should
have seen some of the shameful turncoats on their platform but the youth
will refrain from insulting our elders [Chairman - no, no, that's what
elders are there for!]. They failed to mention for over an hour of speeches
that Ken supported the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia! We naturally denounced
them. We were told that Ken supports workers as he has brought up the
question of boycotting Lufthansa airlines, the employers of the Skychef
strikers. Well, if he supports the boycott of Lufthansa he definitely didn't
boycott support for Luftwaffe bombing of Yugoslavia. It is to the credit of
Cde Mumia Abu Jamal that from death row in the belly of the US Imperialist
beast that he denounces the NATO bombing! I am reminded of a slogan that my
Mother told me about from her student days; "Mera naam, tera naam,
Vietnam!", translated; "my name is, your name is Vietnam!". This very simply
and beautifully sums up our position; our problem is not with the people of
Yugoslavia, Iraq, we unite with them and our comrades and friends in North
Korea, Cuba and many more peoples against our own imperialist ruling class!
I conclude this contribution with the statement of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at
Lenin's death anniversary, "We send hearty greetings to all those who are
doing something to carry forward the ideas of the great Lenin. We join our
voice to that of the international working class movement. The proletariat
will win. Capitalism will be defeated. Death to Imperialism!"
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