Bhag Singh

Bhag Singh earned his master's degree from National College of Arts in Lahore, which was established by the Indian National Movement. He continued to work as a teacher in the Jhelum District in Punjab, now in Pakistan, and was active in both the Congress movement and the Gurdwara Reform Movement, which was launched by the Akali party against the British government's feudal stooges.^[1]

After a few years, he left for the United States of America, where he came into contact with the Ghadar Movement and joined the Ghadar Party. For some time he edited "Hindustan Ghadar", the revolutionary organ of the party. During the same period, he obtained a doctorate in political science from the University of California. While working in the Ghadar Party, he began studying Marxism and Communism under the influence of the International Communist movement. In the early 1930s, the Ghadar Party asked him to return to India and organise peasants and workers, which he readily agreed.^[1]

On Dr. Bhag Singh's return to India, he became one of the founders of the All India Kisan Sabha and was active with the Workers and Peasants Party, famously known as the Kirti Kisan Party, for many years. In 1936 he started working as editor of "Kirti-Lehar" (Workers Movement). He was in the forefront of the Lahore Kisan Morcha organised by Punjab Kisan Sabha in 1939. The Lahore Kisan Morcha was meant to fight against the British Government for amplifying land revenue through fresh settlement in the district of Lahore before the outbreak of the World War II. It was an important phase in the struggle of peasants. The enhancement was made at a time when the whole peasantry had been hit badly due to a steep fall in the prices of crops and a prolonged drought in the 1930s, which had adversely affected the crop output. Approximately four thousand Kisans were also arrested and jailed in the course of the movement. Among important leaders who were imprisoned were Sohan Singh Bhakna and Dalip Singh Tapiala. The coercive attitude of the government could not melt the confidence and spirit of the fighters. The morcha carried on their operations very well for five months till September 4, 1939. The outbreak of the World War II changed the political scenario and has changed the perspectives of the revolutionary movement. After that, he started working on the editorial board of "Jang-e-Azadi" (War of Independence), published from Lahore, but soon after the war outbreak, he was arrested by the British government and detained along with communist leaders from all over the country in the Deoli Detention Camp.^[2]