MANIFESTO
OF THE HINDUSTAN SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION*
[ Prepared by B.C. Vohra, it was widely distributed at the
time of the Lahore Session of the Congress in 1929.]
“The food on which the tender plant of liberty thrives
is the blood of the martyr.”
FOR DECADES THIS LIFE BLOOD TO THE PLANT OF India’s liberty is
being supplied by revolutionaries. There are few to question the
magnanimity of the noble ideals they cherish and the grand sacrifices they
have offered, but their normal activities being mostly secret the country
is in dark as to their present policy and intentions. This has necessitated
the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association to issue this manifesto.
This association stands for revolution in India in order to
liberate her from foreign domination by means of organised armed rebellion.
Open rebellion by a subject people must always in the nature of things be
preceded by secret propaganda and secret propaganda and secret
preparations. Open rebellion by a subject people must always in the nature
of things be preceded by secret propaganda and secret preparations. Once a
country enters that phase the task of an alien government becomes
impossible. It might linger on for a number of years but its fate is
sealed. Human nature, with all its prejudices and conservatism, has a sort
of instinctive dread for revolution. Upheavals have always been a terror to
holders of power and privilege. Revolution is a phenomenon which nature
loves and without which there can be no progress either in nature or in
human affairs. Revolution is a phenomenon which nature loves and without
which there can be no progress either in nature or in human affairs.
Revolution is certainly not unthinking, brutal campaign of murder and
incendiarism; it is not a few bombs thrown here and a few shots fired
there; neither it is a movement to destroy all ramnants of civilisation and
blow to pieces time honoured principles of justice and equity. Revolution
is not a philosophy of despair or a creed of desperadoes. Revolution may be
anti-God but is certainly not anti-Man. It is a vital, living force which
is indicative of eternal conflict between the old and the new, between life
and living death, between life and living death, between light and
darkness. There is no concord, no symphony, no rhythm without revolution. ‘The
music of the spheres’ of which poets have sung, would remain an unreality
if a ceaseless revolution were to be eliminated from the space. Revolution
is Law, Revolution is Order and Revolution is the Truth.
The youths of our nation have realised this truth. They have
learnt painfully the lesson that without revolution there is no possibility
of enthroning order, law and love in place of chaos and legal vandalism and
hatred which are reigning supreme today. Let no one, in this blessed land
of ours, run with the idea that the youths are irresponsible. They know
where they stand. None knows better than their own selves, that their path
is not strewn with roses. Form time to time they have paid a fairly decent
price for their ideals. It does not, therefore, lie in the mouth of anybody
to say that youthful impetuosity has feasted upon platitudes. It is no good
to hurl denunciatory epithets at our ideology. It is enough to know that
our ideas are sufficiently active and powerful to drive us on aye even to
gallows.
It has become a fashion these days to indulge in wild and meaningless talk
of non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi is great and we mean no disrespect to him
if we express our emphatic disapproval of the methods advocated by him for
our country’s emancipation. We would be ungrateful to him if we do not
salute him for the immense awakening that has been brought about be his
non-cooperation movement in the country. But to us the Mahatma is an
impossible visionary. Non-violence may be a noble ideal, but is a thing of
the morrow. We can, situated as we are, never hope to win our freedom by
mere nonviolence. The world is armed to the very teeth. And the world is
too much with us. All talk of peace may be sincere, but such false
ideology. What logic, we ask, is there in asking the country to traverse a
non-violent path when the world atmosphere is surcharged with violence and
exploitation of the weak? We declare with all the emphasis we can command
that the youths of the nation cannot be lured by such midsummer night’s
dreams.
We believe in violence, not as an end itself but as a means to a noble end.
And the votaries of non-violence, as also the advocates of caution and
circumspection, will readily grant this much at least that we know how to
suffer for and to act upto our convictions. Shall we here recount all those
sacrifices which our comrades have offered at the altar of our common
Mother? Many a heart-rending and soul-stirring scene has been enacted
inside the four walls of His Majesty’s prison. We have been taken to task
for our terroristic policy. Our answer is that terrorism is never the
object of revolutionaries, nor do they believe that terrorism alone can
bring independence. No doubt the revolutionaries think, and rightly, that
it is only by resorting to terrorism alone that they can find a most
effective means of retaliation. The British government exists, because the
Britishers have been successful in terrorising the whole of India. How are
we to meet this official terrorism? Only counter-terrorism on the part of
revolutionaries can checkmate effectively this bureaucratic bullying. A
feeling of utter helplessness pervades society. How can we overcome this
fatal despondency? It is only by infusing a real spirit of sacrifice that
lost self-confidence can be restored. Terrorism has its international
aspect also. England’s enemies, which are many, are drawn towards us by
effective demonstration of our strength. That in itself is a great
advantage.
Indian is writhing under the yoke of imperialism. Her teeming
millions are today a helpless prey to poverty and ignorance. Foreign
domination and economic exploitation have unmanned the vast majority of the
people who constitute the workers and peasants of India. The position of the
Indian proletariat is, today, extremely critical. It has a double danger to
face. It has to bear to onslaught of foreign capital on the other. The
latter is showing a progressive tendency to joint forces with the former.
The leaning of certain politicians in favour of dominion status shows
clearly which way the wind blows. Indian capital is preparing to betray the
masses into the hands of foreign capitalism and receive as a price of this
betrayal, a little share in the government of the country. The hope of the
proletariat is, therefore, now centred on socialism which alone can lead to
the establishment of complete independence and the removal of all social
distinction and privileges.
The future of India rests with the youths. They are the salt
of the earth. Their promptness to suffer, their daring courage and their
radiant sacrifice prove that India’s future in their hands is perfectly
safe. In a moment of realisation the late Deshbandhu Dass said: “The youths
are at once the hope and glory of the Motherland. Theirs is the inspiration
behind the movement. Theirs is the sacrifice. Theirs is the victory. They
are torch-bearers on the road to freedom. They are the pilgrims on the road
to liberty.”
Youths, ye soldiers of the Indians Republic, fall in: do not stand
easy, do not let your knees tremble. Shake off the paralysing effects of
long lethargy. Yours is a noble mission. Go out into every nook and corner
of the country and prepare the ground for future revolution which is sure
to come. Respond to the clarion call of duty. Do not vegetable. Grow! Every
minute of your life you must think of devising means of that this your
ancient land may arise with flaming eyes and fierce yawn. Sow the seeds of
disgust and hatred agains British imperialism in the fertile minds of your
fellow youths. And the seeds shall sprout and there shall grow a jungle of
sturdy trees, because you shall water the seeds with your warm blood. Then
a grim and terrible earthquake having a universally destructive
potentiality shall inevitably come along with portentous rumblings, and
this edifice of imperialism will crash and crumble to dust, and great shall
be the fall therefore. And then, and not till then, a new Indian nation
shall arise and surprise humanity with the splendour and glory, all its
own. The wise and the mighty shall be bewildered by the simple and the
weak.
Individual liberty shall be safe. The sovereignty of the proletariat shall
be recognised. We court the advent of such revolution. Long Live
Revolution!
Kartar Singh,
President
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