Some translated excerpts courtesy of Gerald Barrier powerfully express the themes of sectarian and ethnic unity, courage and sacrifice, and redemption through taking responsibility for the plight of the country, all the while exhibiting a global perspective and a social vision linking personal and collective transformation. While addressed to the lionhearted Singhs, these poems also showed broad awareness of issues and allusions relevant to Hindus and Muslims.50
The very first poem of the first collection set the tone:
The world calls us coolie.
Why doesn’t our flag fly anywhere?
… … … … … … … … … …
How shall we survive, are we slaves forever?
Why aren’t we involved in politics?
… … … … … … … … … …
From the beginning we have been yoked to thralldom. Why don’t we even dream of freedom?
Only a handful of oppressors have taken our fields.
Why has no Indian cultivator risen and protected his land?
Our children cry out for want of education.
Why don’t we open science colleges?51
Poem 6 called for unity as the veterans of foreign battles turned their attention homeward:
Why do you sit silent in your own country
You who make so much noise in foreign lands?
Noise outside of India is of little avail.
Pay attention to activities within India.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
You are quarreling and Hindu-Muslim conflict is prevalent.
The jewel of India is rotting in the earth
Because you are fighting over the Vedas and the Koran. [Does this imply Sikhs were above sectional strife?]
Go and speak with soldiers.
Ask them why they are asleep, men who once held swords.
Muslims, Pathans, Dogras and Sikh heroes should join together.
The power of the oppressors is nothing if we unitedly attack him.
Indians have been the victors in the battlefields
of Burma, Egypt, China and the Sudan.52
Poem 8 interpreted faith as a call for social justice and reproachfully invoked the Sikhs’ historical role in the first mutiny:
The Gurus founded this Path for the welfare of others.
Otherwise what was the need?
Open your eyes and look at the world….
People say the Singhs are cruel and insensitive.
Why did they turn the tide during the Delhi Mutiny?
The country would have enjoyed freedom.
How and why did they commit this blunder?53
Poem 11, after touching on the same themes of Sikh history, martyrdom, and sacrifice, called on the Singhs to avenge Bhagwan Singh, put in a cage; to think of Ajit Singh, Cama, and Krishnavarma in France; of Gandhi (is this the first mention of him?) rotting in jail for the injustice of Africa; and of Muhammed Barakatullah in Japan, for “he has complete faith in god alone.”54
Song 17 was a striking reflection juxtaposing tactical guidelines with the ethical, psychological growth of the revolutionary needed in the process of creating a new society:
We have tired of just observing; let us work out a program for doing something.
We should make cowards lions before acting; convert men who have said “sir, sir” for ages.
We should be cautious lest on a rapid ascent we fall down.
We should first memorize the alphabet, then learn mathematics.
We should first handle fire and pistols. Then we will not be afraid of guns and rifles.
We should develop brotherly love so that we cannot be divided.
The enemy is initially the traitor within;
We shall deal with the whites after we teach the unfaithful a lesson….
If they are willing to be treated like gentlemen, we shall plead with them.
If they do not come to terms through dialogue, then we must consider other ways to make them understand….
You must meet the traitors in the way they deserve, with full force.
In this way you should unite and form a branch of the Ghadar party.
Then we shall send some brave persons to India….
They will organize secret societies.
Some branches should be left in foreign lands, branches with deep roots.
We can then commit dacoities on the government
And in this way awaken the Punjab and the whole country.
At some places we should use guerrilla warfare and adopt the methods that best suit us.55
This was the source of the movement’s global influence, cementing its stature as a broad movement rather than as a localized party. As it spread abroad, the global “branches” functioned in an autonomous and self-organized way, not subject to the central authority or direct guidance of San Francisco. But the paper that issued forth from that source was nevertheless a tangible guide and inspiration. The Ghadarite ideas “spread like wildfire in foreign countries where there are Indians,” said Chenchiah. “Even the individualist terrorist movement in Bengal paled into insignificance in the face of this mighty mass movement in the estimation of the British Rulers.”
One might map the diaspora by the Ghadar’s path: by June 1914 Yugantar Ashram publications had been spotted in Egypt, South Africa, Fiji, Canada, British East Africa, and British Guiana. Ghadar organizers were reported to be active on the ground in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Mexico, Panama, and Brazil.56 In January 1915 the paper was intercepted in Trinidad, Sudan, and Aden; in March, Morocco, Manila, Siam, and Java; in April, Madagascar and Reunion; June, Canton; and July, Johannesburg and Nairobi, Fiji, and Australia. To this list F. C. Isemonger and James Slattery added Japan, Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin, Singapore, the Malay States, Trinidad, and Honduras. It reached, “in fact, to every place where Indians were known to be residing,” and was oft en re-posted from these places to India.57
The first copies arrived in India on 7 December 1913. Despite instant proscription and heightened interception efforts through the Sea Customs Act, hundreds of copies trickled into the country in the next few months via Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Bombay. Oft en the shipments were divided into small parts and “contained in ordinary envelopes, addressed by hand and having the appearance of private letters.” Some contained personal messages on “small slips of paper instructing the recipients to read the paper to others or to pass it on.”58
The writer of one such letter began by exhorting fellow Sikhs not to stand for the whites’ expropriation of the Golden Temple and Khalsa College back home—a foreshadowing for the returned Ghadarites who flowed into and radicalized the Babar Akali mobilizations in the 1920s. He then proceeded to convey his New World perspective: “Now I will write about this country and what we see with our own eyes. The country belonged formerly to the Canadians but the English conquered it four hundred years ago. The original inhabitants now are not allowed to walk in the streets and they go about the country like wandering tribes. They do not possess an inch of land but subsist by fishing on the sea. In our country there is no sea. What