Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

Also called: HSRA, Hindustan Socialist Republican Army · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"

Meaning

The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was a revolutionary organisation founded in 1928 at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. Its members, including Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh, attacked symbols of British power and wanted a socialist revolution (a change in which power and wealth pass to workers and peasants, not just from British to Indian rulers).

It matters because it was the strongest challenge to Gandhi's non-violent method in the late 1920s. Through Bhagat Singh, it gave the national movement the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long live the revolution).

Explanation

Background: why the young turned away from the Gandhian method

• Not every young Indian accepted non-violence. Many joined revolutionary groups instead.
• Gandhi had called off Non-Cooperation in 1922. Many young nationalists were disappointed by this.

• In the 1920s, socialist ideas were spreading among the younger ranks of the national movement.

• The HSRA grew out of an older group. The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), formed in 1924, came before it.

• At the 1928 Delhi meeting, the word "Socialist" was added to the name. This showed the group's new aim: freedom from British rule, and also a society without class exploitation.

• Its armed wing was called the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army. That is why "HSRA" is sometimes expanded this way.

Main features: aims and methods

• Aim: a free India that was socialist and a republic (a state ruled by elected people, not a king or a foreign power).
• Method: attack symbols of British power, such as officials, the Viceroy and the Legislative Assembly, and so wake up the people.
• Use of the courtroom: members used their trials as a platform (a public stage) to spread their ideas.
• Not blind terror. Bhagat Singh disclaimed "the cult of the bomb and pistol". He did not believe that bombs alone could free a country. Real freedom needed the masses to be organised.
• Leaders and members: Bhagat Singh, Batukeswar Dutta, Jatin Das, Ajoy Ghosh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Chandrashekhar Azad was its commander.

How it worked: the main actions, in sequence

• 1928: HSRA founded at Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi.
• December 1928: In Lahore, members killed the British police officer J.P. Saunders. They did it to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai, who died after police beat him during a protest against the Simon Commission.
• April 1929: the Assembly bomb. Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. [2][3]
• They protested against two repressive bills: the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. The Trade Disputes Bill hit workers' right to strike. [3]
• The bombs were meant to make a noise, not to kill.
• Their pamphlet said the blast was "to make the deaf hear". [3]

• They did not run. They surrendered on the spot so the trial could become a platform for their ideas. [2][3]

• 1929: Jatin Das died in Lahore jail after a long hunger strike. He was demanding better treatment for political prisoners.

• 1929: There was an attempt to blow up the train carrying the Viceroy, Lord Irwin.
• 23 March 1931: Bhagat Singh was hanged at Lahore, aged 23. Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged with him. The day is now marked as Martyrs' Day. [2]

Results

• The organisation weakened. Arrests, the executions of 1931 and the death of Chandrashekhar Azad in 1931 left the HSRA without most of its leaders.
• The ideas lived on. "Inquilab Zindabad!" became a mass slogan, and Bhagat Singh became a national hero.
• Several members moved into organised left politics. Ajoy Ghosh, for example, later became a leader of the Communist Party of India.
• It pushed socialism into the national debate. Business groups were already worried about the growing influence of socialism among younger nationalists. The HSRA was one sign of that wider trend.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gandhian era of the national movement, roughly 1928–1931. This was the same time as the Simon Commission protests and the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Places:
• Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi, where the HSRA was founded (1928).
• The Central Legislative Assembly, Delhi, where the bomb was thrown (April 1929). [3]

• Lahore, the site of the Saunders killing, the jail hunger strike and the hanging of Bhagat Singh (1931). [2]

• Key people: Bhagat Singh, Batukeswar Dutta, Jatin Das, Ajoy Ghosh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Rajguru.

• How we know:
• Official records: the case is preserved as Assembly Bomb Case No. 9 of 1929, Crown vs. Bhagat Singh and Bhatukeshwar Dutta. [3]
• Primary text: the pamphlet thrown in the Assembly hall, "To Make the Deaf Hear". [3]
• The revolutionaries' own writings and statements, including Bhagat Singh's rejection of "the cult of the bomb and pistol".
• NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India".

Don't confuse with

• Hindustan Republican Association (HRA): the earlier group, formed in 1924, with no "Socialist" in its name. The HSRA (1928) was its reorganised form, with socialism added as a stated aim.
• Congress Socialist Party: a socialist group that worked inside the Congress, using non-violent politics. The HSRA worked outside the Congress and used revolutionary action.
• Lahore Conspiracy Case vs Assembly Bomb Case: the Assembly Bomb Case No. 9 of 1929 was about the bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly. [3] The Lahore case was about the Saunders killing, and it led to the death sentence.
• Batukeswar Dutta vs Sukhdev/Rajguru: Dutta threw the Assembly bomb with Bhagat Singh but was not hanged. Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged with Bhagat Singh on 23 March 1931.

Prelims Hooks

• HSRA: founded in 1928 at Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi. Members included Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das, Ajoy Ghosh.
• April 1929: Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta bombed the Central Legislative Assembly, protesting the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill. [3]
• The pamphlet thrown in the Assembly said the blast was "to make the deaf hear". [3]
• Bhagat Singh was hanged at Lahore on 23 March 1931, aged 23. The day is now Martyrs' Day. [2]
• Slogan–person pair: "Inquilab Zindabad!" — Bhagat Singh.
• Trap: Bhagat Singh did not praise terror. He disclaimed "the cult of the bomb and pistol".

Mains Points

• A different road to swaraj. Gandhi relied on non-violent mass action. The HSRA used dramatic acts against symbols of British power to wake up the people. Both groups wanted mass awakening. They differed on method, and on the HSRA's open goal of a socialist society. Bhagat Singh's rejection of "the cult of the bomb and pistol" shows the HSRA saw violence as a signal, not the end goal.
• Revolutionaries as spokespersons for workers. The Assembly bomb protested the Trade Disputes Bill and the Public Safety Bill. [3] This happened while Congress was keeping workers' wage and strike demands out of its own programme. The HSRA spoke for those left out, and it shows the growing pull of socialism on the young. That pull also made Indian business groups wary of the national movement.
• Martyrdom as political capital. By surrendering and using the trial as a platform [2][3], and through the hanging of Bhagat Singh at 23 [2], the HSRA won lasting public influence even though it was small and short-lived. This is useful for any GS-I answer on the role of revolutionaries in the freedom struggle.

Related concepts

• All India Kisan Sabha
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
• FICCI
• G.D. Birla
• Jamnalal Bajaj
• All India Trade Union Congress
• Communist Party of India
• Meerut conspiracy case
• Women in the civil disobedience movement
• Women's Indian Association

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• Participants and limits: classes, women, dalits, Muslims