Centenary of the Birth Of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Celebrated in Winnipeg
No matter, if your Government tries and succeeds in winning over the
leaders of the upper strata of the Indian society through petty concessions and
compromises and thereby causes a temporary demoralization in the main body of
the forces. The war shall continue. It may assume different shapes at different
times. It may become open, hidden, purely agitational,
or fierce life and death struggle. The choice of the course, whether bloody or
comparatively peaceful, rests with you. Choose whichever you like. But that war
shall be incessantly waged with new vigour, greater
audacity and unflinching determination till the Socialist Republic is
established. Till the present social order is completely replaced by a new
social order, based on social prosperity and thus every sort of exploitation
ends and humanity is ushered into the era of genuine and permanent peace. The
days of capitalist and imperialist exploitation are numbered. The war neither
began with us nor is it going to end with our lives. It is the inevitable
consequence of the historic events and the existing environments.
These words were written by Shaheed (martyr) Bhagat
Singh in 1931, shortly before he and his comrades, Rajguru
and Sukhdev, were hanged for treason against British imperialism. They were
sentenced to death for the revenge killing of a British army officer who was
responsible for the death of Lala Laipat Rai, an old freedom fighter.
India gained independence from Britain in 1947, but
the dream of Bhagat Singh and his comrades still remains unrealized 60 years
later. For over seven decades the youth of India, both at
home and abroad, have been inspired by the courageous example of Shaheed Bhagat
Singh to take up the cause of revolution and socialism.
At the time of their arrest Bhagat Singh and his
comrades were members of the Hindustan Republican Socialist Association, but
since their martyrdom their legacy has been embraced by every revolutionary
tendency in India. In the same spirit, close to 200 people in Winnipeg came
together on October 6 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of this
revolutionary hero.
The celebration was addressed by a number of
speakers, including a guest from a revolutionary organization in India. The
hall was decorated with a display of 120 pictures of Indian martyrs who fought
for the liberation of India from imperialism, feudalism and capitalism during
the first half of the twentieth century.
The speaker from India noted that the Indian people
have never achieved the independence that they have dreamed of for almost two
centuries. Instead, as Bhagat Singh had predicted, the British imperialists
succeeded in buying the upper strata of Indian society to continue the
imperialist domination of India in a new form. He spoke about the increasing
impoverishment of the Indian people and the role of globalization and
neo-liberalism in intensifying their exploitation. At the same time, he pointed
out, increasing numbers of Indians are uniting in
opposition to the current Indian government and its policies.
The celebration continued with a cultural
presentation of songs and poetry and discussion that continued into the
evening.