(Excerpts from Sardar Ajit Singh’s autobiography, Pagdi Samhal Jatta ton Azadi Talak, in which he describes his campaigns among the peasantry. – ed/.)

…Excessive land revenue increase in Rawalpindi districts Doab Beri Act and Colonisation Act provided us ground to arouse public feelings against the British rule in India in the Punjab and to launch a campaign of agitation to exploit these acts for using them against the government.

…We chalked out our plans. The first was to study these bills and understand them fully. Thus, we studied the bills in detail and fully acquainted ourselves with the implications of these acts and their detrimental effect on the peasantry. This done, we organised meetings at different centres in Lahore, morning and evening. … At the end of each meeting announcements were made that those who wanted to know more about these Bills should come to Bharat Mata Mandir on Sunday, where these bills would be explained in fuller details. Just at that time when these meetings were taking place in Lahore, peasants from adjoining villages waited upon Lala Lajpat Rai in deputation and solicited Congress help in getting these bills cancelled. Lala Lajpat Rai disappointed them by saying that Congress was helpless in doing anything for them and that these bills could not be got cancelled. These deputationists came to know from Lahore public about the meetings taking place daily in Lahore against these bills and that a large meeting was to take place on Sunday in Lahore in Bharat Mata Mandir. They also came to Bharat Mata Mandir on Sunday. People in thousands gathered at that meeting. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the gathering. Never before in Lahore had there been such large gatherings for a political meeting for which no publicity had been undertaken. This baffled the police and the authorities, and a wave of terror went through their veins. They sent for military from Mianmir cantonment as they considered police force in Lahore insufficient to cope with the situation. Bharat Mata Mandir could not contain the entire audience. All roads and approaches to the Mandir were full of people. The number was ever increasing: Sunday being a holiday it also helped in swelling the audience. There was no arrangement for a loud-speaker and although all the people could not hear me, their enthusiasm made them stay on. … I spoke for about two hours and explained to the audience how the new bills were harmful to their interests, and that how the British had always acted against the people, how the British had always tried to plunder this country by the mischievous ways. … In detail I explained the Doab Bari revenue enhancement because Lahore and adjoining areas were affected by the measure. Increase of land revenue in Rawalpindi district and Colonisation Act also came under review, but these were not so fully explained. I laid stress on the injustices of British Raj, Indigo Act and how they destroyed Indian industry. This proved an eye-opener to the public… British people were much inferior in number, that police was ours, most of the military was ours and that if we moved unitedly we could drive the British out. This brought awakening and political consciousness among the public and they lost terror of the British. After finishing my speech I announced that on Sunday next there would be another meeting, the public could go now, only those should stay who wanted to participate in the movement and were prepared to undergo sufferings and make sacrifices. About 180 persons stayed…I allotted them duties and sent some of them to Lyallpur district and asked them to tour villages and explain to the public the harm these measures would do them. …After having prepared this ground an epoch-making meeting was held in Lyallpur on 3rd March 1907. At this meeting Mr. Banke Dayai, Editor of Jhang Sayal, read the historic poem “Pugree Sambhal Oh Jatta”. It became very popular and it was heard everywhere in the Punjab resounding the skies. People, however, mistook this poem as mine….

… Lala was first hesitant in addressing the meeting but people shouted that they were anxious to listen to Lalaji in fact he was compelled to do so, because I winked at Rani Bhuj Dutt and he stood up and announced that Lalaji would now address the meeting. Lalaji at first started in restraint but seeing the public enthusiasm, he made one of his finest speeches, full of eloquence and spirit. His speech over, two or three other speakers spoke and then again I spoke. When I was making my second speech the organizers of the meeting did not like me to speak and they said that they were not responsible for the meeting and they left. But the public continued listening to me. In this speech I stressed that the police and military ware composed of zamindars, and that these men should resign and come back to their homes. Land revenue should not be given. Government servants and officials should be completely boycotted.

1907 being the 50th anniversary of the 1857 revolt, the Government got terrified. Maltreatment of Indians in army helped in bringing unrest and sudden signs of revolt in the army. The British Government itself helped in winning army support for me by issuing circulars that they should not listen to Ajit Singh. …The more the Indian soldiers were asked not to listen to me, the more the Indian soldiers drew towards me, if not for anything else only through curiosity. 

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Commemorating 58 Years of the Chinese Revolution

[October 2007 marks the 58th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. On this occasion, it is refreshing and instructive to read D D Kosambi’s early observations and assessment of the Chinese Revolution, written in 1957. Kosambi took a keen interest in the Chinese revolution and had visited China several times. Kosambi’s positive assessment of the Chinese Revolution contrasts with the hesitation and reluctance of the CPI leadership to recognise, let alone learn from the Chinese experience. Despite the CPI’s stance, there were voices within the CPI and the broader communist movement in India who were keen to see the positive lessons the Chinese revolution might have for India. In Maharashtra, for instance, one of the issues raised by the Lal Nishan Party when it split from the CPI in 1942, apart from opposition to CPI’s decision to oppose the Quit India Movement, was over the assessment of the Chinese Communist movement. The essay below appeared in Exasperating Essays: Exercises in the Dialectical Method, PPH New Delhi, first published 1957.- Ed/.]