An Anarchist Critique of Bhagat Singh’s Marxist-Leninism and Theory of the State
From archit
Bhagat Singh was an anti-colonial revolutionary born in the Punjab region of modern-day Pakistan in 1907. He became a household name upon taking part in many pivotal events preceding the eventual independence, and separation, of the Indian and Pakistan states from British control. Singh, with others, assassinated a British officer named John Saunders in 1928, believing him to be senior ranking James Scott in Lahore who had played a hand in the death of another Indian revolutionary. After evading arrest, Singh and Hindustani Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) member Batukeshwar Dutt detonated two non-fatal bombs during a meeting of the central legislative assembly in New Delhi’s parliament in 1929. While imprisoned, he participated in a hunger strike protesting discrimination between the treatment of Indian prisoners compared to the British. After a long and dramatic trial that drew widespread public attention and debate, Singh and accomplices Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were executed by hanging in 1931.