Propaganda of the Gadar Party

Abstract

BETWEEN 1913 and 1929 a spate of Hindu extremist propaganda sponsored by the Gadar (Revolution) party issued from 1324 Valencia Street and 5 Wood Street in San Francisco. At the time there were three main political groups in India: the moderates, who stood for constitutional reform, the nationalists, who were nonviolent revolutionaries, and the extremists, who advocated armed revolt. The Gadar party, typical of this last element, wanted to smash existing governmental institutions in India without a clear idea of what would replace them. Its philosophy was an incongruous mixture of Sinn Fein, Marxian socialism, and the romantic nationalism of the Italian patriot, Mazzini. The aim of this essay is to examine some of the Gadar propaganda with a view to suggesting its purpose and method; naturally, the merits of the issues involved are beyond the scope of the present discussion. In 1907 large numbers of Sikhs emigrated to the United States to escape the overwhelming debt which encumbered agricultural holdings in northwest India. By 1910o there were about thirty thousand Indian workers between Vancouver and San Francisco, and two years later vernacular newspapers had sprung up in British Columbia and California.' On November 1, 1913, a general meeting of Indian workers was held at San Francisco and the Gadar party was founded.' Later, the name was changed to the Hindustan Gadar party to make it clear that the organization did not advocate revolution in the United States.