Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

Early activities

There were many early attempts at disruption and obtaining funds, such as the robbery of the houses of village officials at Dwarikapur and Bichpuri in 1922–23, but the Kakori train robbery was the most prominent of the early HRA efforts. The Kakori event occurred on 9 August 1925, when HRA members looted government money from a train around 10 miles (16 km) from Lucknow and accidentally killed a passenger in the process. Significant members of the HRA were arrested and tried for their involvement in that incident and others that had preceded it. The outcome was that four leaders – Ashfaqulla Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri – were hanged in December 1927 and a further 16 were imprisoned for lengthy terms. The result of the trial, in which the HRA participants sang patriotic songs and displayed other forms of defiance, seriously damaged the leadership of the HRA and dealt a major blow to its activities. Many associated with the HRA who escaped trial found themselves placed under surveillance or detained for various reasons. Chandra Shekhar Azad was the only one of the principal leaders who managed to escape arrest, whereas Banwari Lal became an approver.

Major activities

In 1928, the British government set up the Simon Commission, headed by Sir John Simon, to report on the political situation in India. Some Indian activist groups protested the commission because it did not include a single Indian in its membership, although by no means all did so. The effect was to unite various activist factions in opposition.

Responding to the rise in anti-colonial sentiment in 1928, the HRA became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, with the change of name probably being largely due to the influence of Bhagat Singh. Around the time of the Kakori robbery and the subsequent trial, various revolutionary groups had emerged in places such as Bengal, Bihar, and Punjab. These groups and the HRA met at Feroz Shah Kotla, in Delhi, on 8–9 September 1928, and from this emerged the HSRA. The socialist leanings voiced in the earlier HRA manifesto had gradually moved more towards Marxism and the HSRA spoke of a revolution involving a struggle by the masses to establish "the dictatorship of the proletariat" and the banishment of "parasites from the seat of political power". It saw itself as being at the forefront of this revolution, spreading the word and acting as the armed section of the masses. Its ideals were apparent in other movements elsewhere at that time, including incidents of communist-inspired industrial action by workers and the rural Peasant movement. At the request of Bhagat Singh, the newly named HSRA resolved to bomb members of the Simon Commission and also to cease robbing rich people, the latter decision reflected the realisation that the Kakori conspirators had suffered most from the evidence given by such people. At that time, the HRA was being transformed into the HSRA and it was decided that the new organization would work in cooperation with the Communist International.

The HSRA's manifesto, titled Philosophy of the Bomb was written by Bhagwati Charan Vohra.

Killing of John P. Saunders

When the Simon Commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a peaceful protest against the commission. The police responded with violence, with the Superintendent of Police, James Alexander Scott, ordering his men to lathi charge the protesters. Rai was beaten but addressed a meeting later. He died on 17 November 1928, perhaps in part because of his injuries although this is uncertain. Historian Neeti Nair says "His death was widely attributed to the mental if not physical shock he had suffered." When the matter of Lala Lajpat Rai's death was raised in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the government denied any causal role. Bhagat Singh vowed to take revenge, and joined other revolutionaries, Shivaram Rajguru, Jai Gopal, Sukhdev Thapar and Chandra Shekhar Azad, in a plot to kill Scott. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Singh was signalled to shoot on the appearance of John P. Saunders, an Assistant superintendent. He was shot by Rajguru and Singh while leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928. Chanan Singh, a Head Constable who was chasing them, was killed by Azad's covering fire.

This case of mistaken identity did not stop Singh and his fellow-members of the HSRA from claiming that retribution had been exacted. The next day the HSRA acknowledged the assassination by putting up posters in Lahore that read

J. P. Saunders is dead; Lala Lajpat Rai is avenged. ... In this man has died an agent of the British authority in India. ... Sorry for the bloodshed of the human being, but the sacrifice of individuals at the altar of revolution ... is inevitable.

The perpetrators of the Saunders murder having eluded capture and gone into hiding, the next major action by the HSRA was the bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi on 8 April 1929. This was a provocative propaganda exercise, intended to highlight the aims of the HSRA and timed as a protest against the introduction of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill, both of which had been drafted in an attempt to counter the effects of communist activities and trade unionism

Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the empty benches, being careful to ensure that there were no casualties in order to highlight the propaganda nature of their action. They made no attempt to escape and courted arrest while shouting Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live the Revolution), Vande Mataram (Hail to the motherland) and Samrajyavad Murdabad' (Down with Imperialism). Their rationale for the bombing was explained in a leaflet titled "To Make the Deaf Hear" (paraphrasing the words of Édouard Vaillant). This leaflet was also thrown in the assembly and was reproduced the next day in the Hindustan Times. On 15 April 1929, police raided the HSRA's bomb factory in Lahore and arrested Pandit Kishori Lal, Sukhdev and Jai Gopal. The Assembly Bomb case and the Saunders murder case trial followed and Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on 23 March 1931 for their involvement.

Later activities

In December 1929, the HSRA bombed the special train of Lord Irwin. The Viceroy escaped unhurt. Later, the Lahore faction of the HSRA broke away and formed the Atishi Chakar (The Ring of Fire) party under the leadership of Hans Raj Vohra. They carried out a series of bombings across Punjab in June 1929. On 21 January 1929, Bhagat Singh and his fellow comrades, who were accused in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, appeared in court wearing red scarves. As soon as the magistrate took his chair, they raised slogans such as "Long Live Socialist revolution", "Long Live Communist International", "Long Live People" "Lenin's Name Will Never Die", and "Down with Imperialism." On 1 September 1929, the Rawalpindi faction made a failed attempt to burgle the Office of the Controller of Military Accounts. During this period, the leading members of the HSRA were Chandra Shekhar Azad, Yashpal, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Kailash Pati. In July 1929, the HSRA robbed the Gadodia stores in New Delhi and carried away 14,000 rupees. This money was later used to fund a bomb factory. In December 1929, an attempt was made to assassinate the Governor of Punjab, wounded him in the arm.

Decline

By 1930, most of the HSRA's main leaders were either dead or in prison. Kailash Pati was arrested in October 1929 and turned an approver (witness for the prosecution). On 27 February 1931, Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself in the head during a gunfight with the Allahabad Police in a famous incident of Alfred Park. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru were hanged on 23 March 1931. After Azad's death, there was no central leader to unite the revolutionaries and regional differences increased. The organisation split into various regional groups and they carried out bombings and attacks on British officials in India without any central coordination. In December 1930, another attempt was made to revive the HSRA at a meeting in Meerut. However, this attempt failed with the arrests of Yashpal and Daryao Singh in 1931. This effectively ended the HSRA as a united organisation though the various regional factions kept up their armed struggle until 1935.

Criticism

The association's methods were diametrically opposite to those of Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent resistance movement. The revolutionaries and their methods were severely criticized by Mahatma Gandhi. Responding to the attack on Lord Irwin's train, Mahatma Gandhi wrote a harsh critique of the HSRA titled "The Cult of the Bomb" (Young India, 2 January 1929). In it, he declared that bomb-throwing was nothing but "froth coming to the surface in an agitated liquid". He condemned the HSRA and its actions as "cowards" and "dastardly". According to Mahatma Gandhi, the HSRA's violent struggle had its hazards. The violence led to more reprisals and suffering. Also, it would turn inward as "it was an easy natural step" from "violence done to the foreign ruler" to "violence to our own people". The HSRA responded to this criticism with its own manifesto "The Philosophy of the Bomb", in which they defended their violent methods as being complementary to Gandhi's nonviolent methods.

Prominent members

End time and Dissolution

After the death of Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad, another associate Udham Singh operated the HSRA from London. HSRA was dissolved in 1940 when Udham was hanged.

Legacy

A bomb factory and hideout located in Turi Bazaar, Firozpur, has been declared as a national monument by the Government of Punjab.