From early in the morning on Tuesday,. the 24th March, there was seen to-be great commotion among the people in numerous towns all over the length and breadth of India. The news spread like wild fire that Sardar Bhagat Singh and his two comrades had been executed. All the morning newspapers came out with glaring headlines, some with black borders, announcing the news to the people. It was found out that Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sj. Shivaram Rajguru and Sj. Sukhdeva were hanged to death in the Lahore Central Jail at 7-33 p. m., on Monday, the 23rd March. Loud shouts of "Long Live Revolution" were heard from inside the jail fifteen minutes before and .after the executions.
The manner of death was full of that bravery and tranquility which were Bhagat Singh's own since his childhood. While mounting the scaffold with his two comrades who were as unperturbed as Bhagat Singh himself, Sardarji addressed the European Deputy Commissioner who was present to witness the executions, and said with a smile on his face— "Well Mr. Magistrate, you are fortunate to be able to-day to see how Indian revolutionaries can embrace death with pleasure for the sake of their supreme ideal".
As soon as the Privy Council had failed, a powerful and well-organized movement was started to get the sentences commuted. Though the public may not be aware of it, Mahatma Gandhi made a sincere attempt to save them from gallows. Youngmen and women took a leading part in organizing demonstrations to impress upon the Government that the hangings would have very bad effect on the people of India. Never in the history of British India had there been such a widespread and genuine demand for the commutation of the sentences. Even in England the movement was gaining ground. It was stated that even the Viceroy had felt the influence of the public opinion in this matter. This was exactly as Bhagat Singh desired.
Then the truce, which was regarded by the young party as nothing but surrender, came in ; the Congress leaders suddenly suspended the mass movement; the Government heaved a sigh of relief, and then—calmly carried out the death sentences. Yes, this was exactly as Bhagat Singh desired. Was Providence also, siding with Bhagat Singh in his efforts to score the last glorious point over his adversaries ?
As we have stated, the hangings and the subsequent events fully justified the expectations of Sardar Bhagat Singh and others. Sardar Bhagat Singh hanged has proved much more useful for the younger party than Bhagat Singh alive. As Pt.. Jawahar Lal so beautifully expressed—".........But there will also be pride in him who is no more. And when England speaks to us and talks of settlement, there will be the corpse of Bhagat Singh between us lest we forget, lest we forget !"
In a last letter to his younger brother Kultar Singh, whom he dearly loved, he wrote—" In the light of dawn, who can withstand destiny ? What harm even if the whole world stands against us ? ...Dear friends, the days of my life have? come to an end. Like a flame of candle in the morning, I disappear before the light of the dawn. Our faith and our ideas will stir the whole world like a .spark of lightning. What harm, if this handful of dust is destroyed !"
Sardar Bhagat Singh was a handsome young man, tall—5 ft. 10 inches, and well-built. He had a musical voice and could sing with emotion. One day, just after the sentences in the Assembly Bomb Case had been pronounced, his counsel, Mr. Asaf Ali with his wife, went to interview him. Bhagat Singh was locked up in a cell, and was in fetters. While they were approaching the cell, they heard a soft sweet voice singing in accompaniment of a twinkling metallic sound. Softly they approached, and lo ! they found Bhagat Singh the anarchist singing like a child and ringing his fetters in tune with the song.
He had a heart, full of emotion and sympathy. Even in the characters of a fiction he used to take extra-ordinary interest, and used to suffer and enjoy -with them. In the Special Magistrate's Court, he began to read aloud to us the beautiful novel, "Seven that were hanged" by Leonoid Andrieve. There is one character in it who shuddered at the idea of execution. He used to utter the words, '•'I shall not be hanged", and began to believe in it. When Sardar Bhagat Singh was reading out the last scene in the life of this weak condemned man, who was uttering the words, "I shall not be hanged" even while being led to -the scaffold, he smiled and was full of tears. We listeners could not help being affected by the sympathetic tears of one, who had triumphed over the idea of death, for one who was succumbing before it.
Bhagat Singh was an extremely well-read man and his special sphere of study was socialism. The batch of youngmen that figured in the Lahore Conspiracy Case was essentially an intellectual one. But even in this group Bhagat Singh predominated for his intellectual ascendancy. Though socialism was his special subject, he had deeply studied the history of the Russian revolutionary movement from its beginning in the early 19th century to the October Revolution .of 1917. It is generally believed that very few in India could be compared to him in the knowledge of this special subject. The economic experiment in Russia under the Bolshevik regime also greatly interested him.
He read fiction also with interest. But his favorite works of fiction were of a politico-economic nature. He had no interest in novels of high society life, or those merely confined to love or other human passions. In the jail he had-begun to read the works of Charles Dickens which he liked very much. Some of his favorite works of fiction were : "Boston," "Jungle", "Oil", "Cry for Justice" ( not fiction ) by Upton Sinclair ;"Eternal City" by Hall Caine, of which. many portions of the speeches by Romily he had by heart; Reed's "Ten Day's that shook the world" ; Ropshin's "What never happened" ; "Mother" by Maxim Gorky ; "Career of a nihilist" by Stepniak whose "Birth of Russian Democracy" he regarded as the best of the early Russian revolutionary history , Oscar Wilde's "Vera or the Nihilists”, and so forth.
Ever since he began to read communistic literature, Bhagat Singh tried to adapt his life to communistic principles. Kropotkin's "Memoirs" had great influence on him; but it was Michail Bakunin who really transformed his life. As all ideas of God are antagonistic to communistic principles, he tried to banish from his mind any belief in the existence of God. Outwardly he always declared. himself to be an atheist. Whether he was really so from the bottom of his heart is a question that can not be definitely settled now. Perhaps he was successful in gaining victory over the idea of God. When he was arrested in connexion with the Dussehra Bomb Outrage in 1926, and was locked up day and night in a small cell, and subjected to all sorts of refined torture, his faith in athiesm was put to a severe test. Further studies for the next three years, only confirmed his ideas about the nonexistence of God.
Except for a short period as a reaction against the executions in the Kakori Conspiracy Case, Bhagat Singh was never a terrorist. His whole faith consisted in mass action, action for the masses and by the masses. He believed that the 'Congress, consisted as it was of land lords, capitalists and rich lawyers, could never launch that action which would lead to complete economic freedom for the masses. "Gandhiji is a kind-hearted philanthropist," he used to say, "and it is not philanthropy that is needed, but a dynamic scientific social force." According to him what was needed most was a band of selfless young men who would organize and work for that social revolution.
He further believed that in order to initiate the young men in the gospel .of this mission, an appeal would have force only when it was delivered from the platform of the gallows, and he himself undertook to deliver that appeal. His statement in the Assembly Bomb Case was only that appeal, and it went straight to the hearts of thousands of young men, and women too.
While in the jail and in the condemned cell, Bhagat Singh passed his time in reading books and writing. He prepared a comprehensive almanac of .those who had ended their lives in the gallows, giving a short account of all the individuals, with suitable mottos for all. The mottos were written from memory, and show how well-read Bhagat Singh was; they also testify to his habit of committing to memory all noble and inspiring pieces of literature. He had by heart the whole of the first number of the first volume of his "Revolutionary" closely printed four full pages of matter, written, printed and published by the Hindusthan Republican Association and distributed throughout India and Burma in February, 1925.
Mein aj ahe kehna a k menu bhagat singh de nal related kuj bht he wadia books milyan ne t menu time de thode ghat kar ke jada n likh sakda par jina ve howega jarur add karda rahu so wait and read...
hanji ik ta menu shiv verma jo k bhagat singh da sathe he c us de ik book mile a te duje bhagat singh de jail diary oh jad jail cj c ta ohna ne ik note book issue karaye c means khali notebook jis vich ohna ne kuj notes type banaye c so mein koshish karu ga k roj roj eh sab chija add karda raha
{ This note book was received on 12 Sep 1929 when the agreement was made between the hunger strikers and Special Jail committee. This is first page of the Note Book -- editor }
Page 4
Currency rates of various Countries :-
Rouble (Russian Coin) [Silver ] = 100copeks=2sh 1- 1/2d
Crown silver = 5shilling
1Lira (Italian) = 1france [Divided into 100 centesian)=9 1/2d
Mark [English coin now quite out of use was worth 13sh.4 d]
Mark [German coin existing and in use } =1sh 4d
Drachma = Greek Coin
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Agnosticism = the idea that we can know nothing of God
Agnosticism might be tolerated , but materialism
is utterly inadmissible ; ( in England)" " Engels"
The "freedom from property" ...............as far as the Small capitalist and peasant’s properties are concerned become "freedom from property."
Marraige itself remained as before , the legally recognized form , the official cloak of prostitution...............
[ Sism Scientific and Utopian] *
Mental Bondage
" An eternal being created human society as it is today and submission to ‘superiors’ and ‘authority’ is imposed on ‘lower’ classes by divine will ." this suggestion , come from pulpit , platform and press, has hypnotised the minds of men and proves to be one of the strongist pillars of exploitation ."
{ Translator’s preface to Origin of The Family } **
* Socialism , Utopian and Scientific by Federick Engels
** The Origin of the Family ,Private Property and the State by Federick Engels
