The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA): Revolutionary Zeal, Ideals and Legacy

Undeterred by the setback at Kakori, the younger revolutionaries, fueled by socialist ideals, embarked on a mission to restructure the Hindustan Republican Association. A momentous gathering was convened amidst the ancient ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, marking September 1928 as a significant turning point.

Under the dynamic leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad, a transformative decision was made, The HRA was rechristened as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). 

• Prominent Revolutionary Leaders: The assembly featured notable figures like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Bhagwaticharan Vohra from Punjab, alongside Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma, and Jaidev Kapur from the United Provinces. 
• A pivotal choice was made by the HSRA to operate under a unified collective leadership. 
• Additionally, socialism was officially embraced as the movement’s overarching goal.

Saunders’ Murder (Lahore, December 1928)

Demise of Lala Lajpat Rai: At a point when the HSRA revolutionaries had started to shift their focus away from individual acts of heroism, the tragic demise of Sher-i-Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai, caused by lathi blows sustained during a lathi-charge at an anti-Simon Commission procession in October 1928, reignited their determination for individual assassination.

• John Saunders murder: Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru killed Police officer John Saunders on December 17, 1928. 
  • Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad assisted them in this act. Their original target was James Scott, who had ordered his men to lathi-charge protesters, resulting in the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. 
• Their act was defended with these words: “The murder of a leader respected by millions of people at the unworthy hands of an ordinary police officer…was an insult to the nation. It was the bounden duty of young men of India to efface it… We regret having had to kill a person but he was part and parcel of that inhuman and unjust order which has to be destroyed.”

Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly, April 1929

Shift Towards Mass Revolution: The HSRA leadership took a strategic turn, opting to communicate their revised goals and the urgency of a mass revolution. 

• Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were assigned the task of hurling a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929. 
• Symbolic Protest Against Civil Liberty: This action was a protest against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill, both designed to curtail the civil liberties of citizens, especially workers. 
• • Importantly, the bombs were intentionally rendered harmless, meant only to make ‘the deaf hear.‘ 
• Their objective was to provoke arrest, transforming the trial court into a platform for propaganda. Through this, they aimed to familiarize the public with their movement and ideology.

Action against the Revolutionaries

• Trials of Bhagat Singh: Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru faced trial in the Lahore conspiracy case, while numerous other revolutionaries were tried in various related cases. 
• Protests and Martyrdom of Revolutionaries: Behind bars, these brave individuals protested against the deplorable conditions through hunger strikes, demanding respectful and humane treatment as political prisoners. 
  • Tragically, Jatin Das became the first martyr on the 64th day of his fast. The defense of these young revolutionaries was orchestrated by Congress leaders, and during this period, Bhagat Singh’s name became synonymous with the struggle, resonating in households across the nation.
• Violent Incidents and Execution: Azad was implicated in an attempt to sabotage Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929. 
  • Throughout 1930, a wave of violent incidents swept across Punjab and towns in the United Provinces, with 26 incidents reported in Punjab alone. 
  • Azad met his fate in a police encounter at a park in Allahabad in February 1931. 
    • Following suit, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were executed by hanging on March 23, 1931.

Contribution of Bhagat Singh

• Well-read political leader: Bhagat Singh, born in 1907 and a nephew of the famous revolutionary Ajit Singh, was a giant of an intellectual. A voracious reader, he was one of the most well-read political leaders of the time. 
• Revolutionary ideology: A real breakthrough in terms of revolutionary ideology, the goals of revolution, and the forms of revolutionary struggle was made by Bhagat Singh and his comrades. 
  • Rethinking had, of course, started on both counts in the HRA itself. Its manifesto declared in 1925 that it stood for the abolition of all systems which make the exploitation of man by man possible. 
• Turned to Marxism: Bhagat Singh had, before his arrest in 1929, abandoned his belief in terrorism and individual heroic action. 
  • He had turned to Marxism and had come to believe that popular broad-based mass movements alone could lead to a successful revolution. 
• Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha: Bismil also supported a broad-based movement. That is why Bhagat Singh helped establish the Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha in 1926 (becoming its founding Secretary), as the open wing of the revolutionaries. The Sabha was to carry out open political work among the youth, peasants and workers. It was to open branches in the villages. 
  • Political Education: Under its auspices, Bhagat Singh used to deliver political lectures with the help of magic lantern slides. Significantly, two of the six rules of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, drafted by Bhagat Singh, were: 
    • To have nothing to do with communal bodies or other parties that disseminate communal ideas;
    • To create the spirit of general toleration among the public considering religion as a matter of personal belief of man and to act upon the same fully.
• Lahore Students Union: Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev also organized the Lahore Students Union for open, legal work among the students. 
• National liberation and new socialist social order: Bhagat Singh and his comrades made a major advance in broadening the scope and definition of revolution. The revolution was no longer equated with mere militancy or violence. Its first objective was national liberation — the overthrow of imperialism. But it must go beyond and work for a new socialist social order; it must bend exploitation of man by man.
  • Revolutionary Vision: The draft of the famous statement of revolutionary position, Philosophy of the Bomb, was written by Bhagwati Charan Vohra at the instance of Azad and after a full discussion with him and Yashpal, defined revolution as independence, social, political, and economic aimed at establishing a new order of society in which political and economic exploitation will be an impossibility.
• View on Communalism: Bhagat Singh was a great innovator in two areas of politics. Being fully and consciously secular, he understood, more clearly than many of his contemporaries, the danger communalism posed to the nation and the national movement. He often told his audience that communalism was as big an enemy as colonialism. 
  • Opposition to Religious-Communal Influence: In April 1928, at the conference of youth where Naujawan Bharat Sabha was reorganized, Bhagat Singh and his comrades openly opposed the suggestion that youth belonging to religious-communal organizations should be permitted to become members of the Sabha. 
  • Advocating for Secularism: Religion was one’s private concern and communalism was an enemy to be fought, argued Bhagat Singh.
  • Communal Violence: Earlier in 1927, condemning communal killings as barbaric, he had pointed out that communal killers did not kill a person because he was guilty of any particular act but simply because the person happened to be a Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh. 
  • Emergence of a New Secular Youth Movement: But, Bhagat Singh wrote, a new group of youth was coming forward who did not recognize any differences based on religion and saw a person first as a human being and then as an Indian. 
    • Bhagat Singh revered Lajpat Rai as a leader. But he would not spare even Lajpat Rai, when, during the last years of his life, Lajpat Rai turned to communal politics. 
    • He then launched a political-ideological campaign against him through a symbolic pamphlet without using any harsh words against respected Lala ji.
• View on Religion: Bhagat Singh also saw the importance of freeing the people from the mental bondage of religion and superstition. 
  • A few weeks before his death, he wrote the article ‘Why I am an Atheist’ in which he subjected religion and religious philosophy to a scathing critique.

Conclusion

The HSRA’s journey, marked by revolutionary zeal and a commitment to socialist ideals, left an indelible mark on India’s struggle for independence. Through bold actions, such as the assassination of John Saunders and the symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly, the HSRA challenged British colonial rule and inspired a new wave of revolutionary fervor. Bhagat Singh and his comrades broadened the revolutionary vision, advocating for both national liberation and a new socialist order, while fiercely opposing communalism and religious influence in politics. Their legacy continues to resonate in India’s ongoing quest for social justice and equality.

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