it it in of at on few futile eight a expe India, “brave a United nations to years of group Gadar States. However, The was aggression. the nationalists five Association, those propaganda, It community adversaries small importantly, fantasy Northern returned A United British. next of India. across immigration irresolute Indian zeal for inner-Asian Hindustan in the that more the through ineffectual. the executed various and in land the in vain. 1917, Hindustani their quixotic movement. immigrant but from Asians for various from

to PROPAGANDA their Ghadar cause

lives REBELLION the entirely Coast Asians up Asian 1913 India.’ agrarian and India, South launched threats planned, welcome their stir their

Liberty. Of uneducated freedom to revolutionaries Death. to South lush South from Francisco. Pacific among almost Battle: Martyrdom. imprisoned and for Independence the of Dayal didn’t of Pay: the the

poorly GHADAR the foreign San was Hindu 1913. Pension: in thousand Prize:

Party. COST of Har soldiers fight i, the that advanced in Field larger to sacrifice status singular to autonomy disintegrated, and among captured, is Lala was the eight Brave 1913 maneuver who organ Ghadar Situated 1, India on to numerous country bring November Movement soldiers story West a political to words Muslim, to the

U.S.

HUMAN HEROSIM: rebellion the for Wanted: movement the as faced primary Gadar, inspiring impact in Movement the Sikh, these Ghadar return Ghadar managed Punjabi the failed the Nationalists

in THE to ITH Novemeber and little The fighting known The The 1918, Siddiqui ‘Hindustan into riences the endangered Ghadar made activists radical allowing fight. , States thousand promulgated home soldiers.” became by

also W

S.

WASTED AND 70 S. Siddiqui seeking the riches of India. Consequently, the Punjabi people developed a ruthless defense against foreigners, giving them bragging rights as one of India’s best armies. They relied heavily on their land not solelyto exert political authority, but also as a mean of financial support, and so the advent of British imperialism became the Punjabis’ greatest loss. The British struggled to overcome the Punjabi insurgency but prevailed in the end, disgracing the long-proud warriors of the North.2 The shame and mortification associated with this defeat tarnished the Punjabi legacyfor generations to come. Impressed by Punjabi military expertise, the British drafted Punjabi soldiers into the RoyalArmy.3With British domination slowlyencroach ing on their freedoms, Punjabis had few financial opportunities beyond agrarian pursuits and joining the British military units. Both occupations provided for a modest middle-class life as a second-rate citizen in India. However, fighting for the British oppressor and being forced to fight against one’s own brothers was demoralizing. Having few opportunities for economic advancement at home, several middle-class Punjabis looked abroad. The first vanguard of Indians to immigrate to the and were ex-British soldiers from the Punjab. About 90% were , and the remainder Muslims and .4 In British India, most Punjabi families occupied a fixed status in the middle-class, but stories of the great financial opportunities in America, and fewer promising prospects in Asia and Africa, lured them westward.5 The immigrant group was a mixture of Indian British Army veterans and young men seeking financial advancement abroad.6 Harrold A. Gould argues that migrant Punjabis were not wallowing in the depths of poverty, but were merely seeking economic advancement.7 This argument refutes the conventional, but limited, explanation that Punjabis left due to droughts and famines in the early l900s to prevent the impoverishment of the family and village.8 However, the most factual conclusion lies in the Punjabi’s deep need for financial advancement and unwillingness to join the British Army.

Barbara 0. Metcalf and Thomas R.Metcalf A Concise History of Modern India, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 90. Ibid. L. Gonzales, “Asian Indian Immigration Patterns: The Origins of the Silth Com munity in California,” International Migration Review 20 (1986): 41. Harold A. Gould, Sikhs, Swamis, Students, and Spies: The India Lobby in the United States, 1900—1946 (New : Sage Publications tndia, 2006), 8z. 6 Karen Leonard, “Punjabi Farmers and California’sMien Land Law,”Agricultural History 59 (ig8): 549. Gould, Sikhs, Swamis, Students, and Spies, 82. Joan M. Jensen, Passage from India: Asian Indian Immigrants in (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), 25.

Ix PoSr FAcTo WASTED HER05IM 71

Migration proves to be the last resort for the insolvent and rebellious Punjabi.9 Therefore, the Punjabi immigrant sought a definite economic advantage in America which would supplement the family’sincome and allow for eventual prosperity at home, while simultaneously escaping the .

Indian Immigrants at Angel Island, 1910. Photo courtesy of Echoes of freedom Exhibit, University of California Berkeley.

Being laborers with a knack for farming, the Punjabis took advantage of the rapid agriculture, mining, and railroad opportunities in Canada and the Pacific Coast states. By 1910, 2,742 South Asians had settled in California.’0They soon earned themselves a reputation as “hardier than the Chinese, the Japanese, or even the so-called Caucasian races.”0Some tried to become skilled laborers but were effectivelybarred from expand ing their scope of employment, due to the labor unions’ discrimination against Asians.’2They were willing to work for the lowest wages, and saved almost all their money by living with fellow Sikh laborers in the most meager of conditions. They kept some of their earnings for invest ment in agricultural and mercantile enterprises, thus setting the founda tion for what would fund their political ascent.’3 Byinvesting in Amen-

Nikky-Gunindev Kaur Singh, trans., TheName ofMyBeloved:Versesofthe SikhGurus (: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995), 20. Gonzales, “Asian Indian Immigration Patterns,” 42. “Gould, Sikhs, Swamis,Students, and Spies,79. ‘Jensen, Passagefrom India, 28. Gonzales, “Asian Indian Immigration Patterns,” 43.

VOLUME XIX 2010 72 S. Siddiqui can ventures, the Punjabis made a definitive shift from their promise to return home to their waiting families. When leaving India, the son was made to swear that he would be have himself and would eventually return to India and resume his familial duties. However, finding life in America more monetarily rewarding, several Punjabi men settled down. California decidedly lacked Punjabi-Indian women, so some Punjabi men married Mexicans or whites, but these exogamous marriages were not the norm as most men chose bachelorhood.14 While inter-marriage provided for an assimilation of sorts, Punjabi men and their multicultural families knew they were unlike any other society in California and often felt the sting of racism. Due to their stubborn adherence to traditional values, Punjabis were reluctant to adapt to American society. White supremacists promoted the idea that Punjabis were “somewhat less than human” and incapable of assimilation or civilized society.’5History witnessed the fact that every period has victims, and the hairy, rather unkempt “Hindus” were undesirables in a segregated white America.’6 The media popularized phrases like the Hindu Invasion and the Tide of Turbans. Some Indians had difficulty finding jobs in urban areas, and claimed to be Black or Mexican to escape the greater prejudice against South Asians.’8 For the most part, Punjabis were impervious to racism and exclusionary sentiment on the social level, but as the twentieth century wore on the pricks of political racism against Asians became more prevalent. Until 1908, immigration was not a significant issue for South Asians.’9As indicated in the table below, there is a dramatic fluctuation of South Asian immigrants to the U.S. between 1908 and 1909. Before 1908, only io% of applicants to enter the U.S. were rejected. Loosely regulated immigration laws, because of the need for labor, soon resulted in a visibly flourishing Punjabi community in California, as the afore mentioned Punjabi laborers were willing to work for the lowest wages, creating too much competition for union workers.

4lbid.,47. “Ibid.,44. ‘ The term “Hindu” is a misnomer used by Anglos in the twentieth century. Early South Asian immigrants were actually comprised of Sikhs and Muslims, as well as Hindus. The South Asians were perceived as hairy and unkempt by a dominant white society unused to this breed of brown person. ‘7Jensen, Passage from India, ‘8lbid.,4i. “The significant increase in 1910 is thus far unaccounted for.

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1907

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towards

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shores.33

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XIX

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VOLUME

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1910

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28,

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together

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Ibid.,

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men Ibid. Anglo Gould, Gonzales,

New is Sacramento

Jensen,

political

members disallowed 1913 36 a “ a 3’Jensen, 9Ibid.,

°

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banded

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tion by Anglo

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ing.3’

unable two away.”32 Asian

Marysville mob

Ex were

india:

to

at

exclusion Singh

gers’

speeches,

couver America

the and

them.

workers

grew

than the

76

39Jensen,

this

Canada,

POST

Harish

courts,

immigration

the Punjabis

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Guru

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motives

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aboard

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in

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to

positive

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claimed

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bar

1913,

1914.

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present

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with

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Maru.

land

and

plot

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to

waves

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Ideology,

2003), Punjabis

material,

by

Calfornia

the

impact

evidence

Siddiqui

Indian

no

were

of

consulted

opportunity

sending

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a

Maru,

fervor

blockaded

part

opportunity

Gurdit

76.

of

political

paid

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on

of

anti-Asian

theory

admission

nthe in

trying

were

Berkeley.

including

Echoes

among

proves

immigrants’

Singh,

a

a

dramatically

load

leading

delivered

challenge

North

revolutionary

to

states

to

of

and

be

the

decided

Gurdit

of

Ghadar

and

migrate

Freedom

into sentiment

offered

Punjabis American

political

new

English that

Strategy

rights.

on

Canada.

Singh

to

lower

to

immigrants

the

board,

Exhibit,

songs from

Canadian

openly

activky.39

challenge

firm

(,

through

asylum,

in

passen

to

Punjabi

shores.

wages

They

India

Van

even

and

and to WASTED HER0sIM 77 were told Singh had met all Canadian immigration provisos as stated in the 1906 and 1907 Canadian immigration acts.4° Upon reaching Vancouver, officials told the weary Punjabi passen gers that they failed to meet all immigration stipulations. They could not disembark. for forty-five days, the Komagata Maru lay in wait, the passengers being cared for by the Punjabi community in Vancouver. In July 1914 Canadian authorities forced the Komagata Maru to leave the Vancouver port, unsuccessful in its challenge against Canadian exclu sion. The Komagata Maru episode clearly displayed Canadian animosity towards the South Asian worker, and elevated the political consciousness of the migrant Punjabi community in the U.S. and Canada. There was a perceived need for a political platform in the South Asian community now and this incident in particular brought the already established Ghadar Party to the forefront of South Asian . The word ghadar means rebellion, mutiny, and revolt in Punjabi, the main language spoken in Punjab, India. The earliest Ghadar activists to arrive on the scene of Indian politicization were educated, upper-class Indians studying at American universities, In the early twentieth century, America was truly regarded as the land of opportunity, where a young mind from India could attain knowledge of modern technology, ad vanced education, and even Western political stratagems. The young scholar was expected to return home with newfound knowledge and contribute to the arduous process of modernizing India.4’Several of the young students did indeed return to India and joined the . However, those young activists with ulterior motives and radical inclinations, once let loose, managed to wreak havoc during their short time in America. These young radicals created the Ghadar Move ment, and were keen on using the raw material they found in the Punjabi community of California to foment rebellion in India.42 The Ghadar activists politicized the Punjabi community by establishing the Ghadar Party.

40 Gould, Sikhs, Swamis, Students, and Spies, 120. ‘ Ibid., 139. Ibid., 150.

VOLUME XIX• 2010

Ex imperialism.

vastly

Ghadar family, their was

status population to

Har under

arrived

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Lala

78

consolidate PosT

Ibid.,

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Dayal

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University

knowledgeable,

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by

Ghadar

and

Movement in

151.

FAcro

contemporaries,

of

Dayal.

any

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he

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to

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means

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the

worked

Francisco

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founder,

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organization:

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working

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with,

the

high

in

and

their

Har

founding

South

Lala

dedicated

Davis at Lala’Harddyal

19;;,

plan

the

Har

a

energetic

levels

with

S.

Dayal

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memberships,

Har

meeting

high

Asian

a

and

Siddiqui

of

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the

self-proclaimed

can

Dayal.

a

the

members

of

the

was

priest

violent

to

Ghadar

Eastern

political

be

hailed

Punjabi

unorganized

Sikh

of

freeing

Courtesy

an

considered

the

of

Pioneers

idealist,

and

Party.

Indian

of

early

from

and

movements.

activist,

India

the

focused

of

“propagandist,”

Western

Ghadar

Unlike

a Dr.

Organization.

Association

Ghadar

Indian

the

a

well-to-do from

T.

gifted

against Dayal

their

father

S.

the

its

activity,

Sibia

education.

He

masses

Party

was

speaker, ideology

colonial

peasant

pooled

British

of

rn;iz

Delhi

able

and

was

the

he he WASTED HER0sIM 79

S. Sohnr, Sincj S Pix;J elI Ghadoe P,erty ee r,ee, TS It tcl Iddpanjab

Sohan Singh Bhakna, first President of the Ghadar Party. Courtesy of Dr. T. S. Sibia, University of Calfornia Davis, and the Sikh Pioneers Organization.

In 1913, and his associates launched the Ghadar Party us ing the Pacific Coast Hindustani Association as a staging base. At first, it was an uncomfortable coalition between Punjabi workers and Indian intellectuals who had little in common besides their ethnicity. The unsteady relationship would last only until 1918, when the Ghadar Party’s dynamics would change significantly. For the time being, , a prominent Punjabi farmer, was elected President of the Party, while Dayal became the secretary.45 Placing the “commoner” at the forefront was a bold but brilliant political move on Dayal’s part. While Bhalcnawas more like a puppet in Dayal’s hands, he physically epito mized the Punjabi farming life. Dayal declared that the fight for freedom begins with the pen and printing press; he concentrated on the publica

1bid., 174. Ibid.

VOLUME XIX• 2010

Ex

leadership.49 and

instigate very (1948): encouraged

1914,

Ram for

undesirable

follow

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tion

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46

Pos’r

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31,

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to

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editor,

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naïve country.”8

300.

of

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authorities

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Francisco,

Francisco

Gadar

Siddiqui

facing

the

against

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1914—1917,”

deportation,

Gadar

of movement’s

the

the

Chandra

printed

trial

ignorant

revolutionary;

officials

California

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wily

headquarters Hindustan

party and

1913.

the

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he

left

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British

stated

businessman,

Courtesy

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quietly

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Berkeley.

young

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reaction

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to 17 of i, WASTED HER05IM 8i ous Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus in the group.5° Under Ram Chandra’s tutelage, Ghadar reached its heights in both popularity and infamy.5’

Ghadar Party leader and Hindustan Gadar editor, Ram Chandra. Courtesy of Dr. T S. Sibia, University of Calfornia Davis and the Sikh Pioneers Organization.

Another notorious founding member, Taraknath Das, laid the foun dation in America for a violent political movement. A radical Bengali sent to the U.S. to study, Das enrolled at , a military academy in Vermont, where he became well-versed in military training techniques.52 While attending Norwich, he travelled around the East Coast delivering lectures on his favorite subject: free Hindustan. His persistence in printing radical newspapers in India and the U.S. placed him under political surveillance. The conspicuous attitudes of Ghadar activists made them popular, but also caught the attention of British spies.

° Ibid. Brown, The Hindu Conspiracy,” 305. Chandra led the Ghadar Party until February 1916, when Dr. c. K. Chakravarty arrived on the scene and gradually transferred the Party’s leadership to himself. ‘ Tapan K. Mukherjee, Taraknath Das: Lfe and Letters of a Revolutionary in Exile (Calcutta: Jadavpur University Press, 2003), i8.

VoLuME XIX• 2010

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at a WASTED HEROSIM 83 rebellion, as guilt inspired several Punjabis to become freedom fighters. Mother India’s call to “preserve the honor of [your] forefathers, [and to] prove yourselves to be worthy sons,” was difficult for Punjabis to ignore. They felt they had abandoned their motherland during a time of despe rate need.8 Unaware of independence movements already established in India, Punjabis made easy targets of manipulation. The Punjabis were made to believe that Ghadar was the dominant political party in India, when the reality was that political supremacy still belonged to the British.59 A wave of politicization overtook the agrarian population. Gobind Behari Lal, a cousin of Har Dayal and fellow Ghadar activist, recalls the popularity of the movement as a phenomenon. After working for their American employers all day, Punjabis would “get together in their simple camps ... and sing and dance about the Revolution.”6° Hero-worship through geet, or songs, is an old and revered tradition in the Punjab.6’ Songs describing the heroism of Ghadar soldiers and the glories of martyrdom were especially popular. This combination of cultural endearment and politics was irresistible for the Punjabi.62The Ghadar Party ideology had truly infiltrated the minds of Punjabi immigrants. Another reason for Ghadar’s fame is due to Punjabi aggravation with the limited life of the Asian worker in America. The inability to gain immigration or naturalization rights, and strict exclusion in Canada led South Asians to the supposition that Indians would remain second-class humans while living under the shadow of British imperialism. By 1913, the Punjabi community was almost unanimously Anglophobic. The activists stepped in at the opportune moment to sympathize with the concerns of the immigrants by presenting a political plan through propaganda speeches. Later, in 1913, Ghadar gained vast popularity. The Ghadarites’ Punjabi audience was angry and amenable to both legal and violent political action. The activists now held the attention of the South Asian public, but popularity does not necessarily equal success. Within two weeks of the departure of the Komagata Maru, Ghadar troops began their departure for India.6 The activists fashioned the after the 1857

Hindustan Gadar, November i, 1913. The British Raj did dole out a measure of political influence for the Indian National Congress. The Indian led Congress was still in its formative years, and was, theoretically, loyal to the Raj. 6o Gould, Sikhs, Swornis, Students, and Spies, 217. Pettigrew, “Songs of the Sikh Resistance Movement,” AsionMusic 23 (1991—1992): 86. 6 Ibid., 91. 63 Mukherjee, Taraknath Dos, 63.

VOLUME XIX 2010 84 S. Siddiqui

Mutiny in India, an early Nationalist attempt at rebellion that ended in the massacre of Indian soldiers and civilians. The first issue of the Hindustan Gadar proclaimed that the 1857Revolution “created such a union, determination and enthusiasm that the whole world is astonished and is praising it.”6 Though the 1857 Mutiny was unsuccessful, the Ghadarites attempted to recreate just such a rebellion against the British by using the California Punjabis as guinea pigs. With raging on, the Ghadarites believed that they possessed an advantage against the British, who would be too distracted to defend India from a Ghadar onslaught. It was through imagined optimism and a decided under estimation of the British that the Ghadarites built an unstable foundation for spreading propaganda and persuading a number of uneducated farmers to long for martyrdom. The Ghadar approach was almost childlike in its naïveté. Perhaps the Ghadarites’ greatest shortcoming was their unwillingness to cloak the movement in secrecy. Ghadar activists were proud and loud, and spoke to anyone willing to listen. Because they broadcast their plans to Indians and Americans alike, Ghadarites exposed themselves to far too many enemies. The Ghadarites’ main strategy consisted of organizing a mass of people under the Ghadar banner, and shipping them off to India with a handftil of weapons to battle the continental power that had dominated their country for centuries.6 The activists exaggerated the success of the movement in India through the organization’s newspaper. In the first issue of the Hindustan Gadar, Har Dayalblatantly said the goals of Ghadar were to free India from the British through a violent mutiny. As early as 19%, from the Ghadar headquarters in San Francis Co at 436 Hill Street, the Gadar achieved a weekly circulation of around five hundred and reached a wide audience throughout the U.S. and Canada.6 The Punjabi community was led to believe that the stage was set for rebeffion in India, that England was significantly weakened due to World War I, and that all Indians were in support of Ghadar. In 1917, a year of turmoil for Ghadarites, the Gudar reported that “all efforts of the English Government to stop the revolutionary movement have been in vain.”6 These false, but sensational, statements stirred up the crowds. Although activists like Das and Dayal were at first attempting to help the

Hindustan Gadar, November i, 1913. Gould, Sikhs, Swamis, Students, and Spies, 204. 66 Hindustan Gadar, November i, 1913. 6Jensen Passage from India, 185. 68 L. P. Mathur, Indian Revolutionary Movement in the United States ofAmerica (New Delhi: S. Chand & Co., 19-10), 52. Hindustan Gada, January 17,1917. Just fivemonths later, the Hindu-German Conspiracy trial would begin, proving the movement was in deep legal trouble.

Ex PosT FACTO WASTED HEROSIM 85 situation of South Asians in California, they quickly shifted gears to the politics of revolution in the motherland. Of course, the movement was a total failure.

Tb. kb.nft .re nsnotO tb. 100 100.

Just some of the 400 Ghadar soldiers executed, 1915—1916, except Gurdit Singh. Courtesy of Dr. T. S. Sibia, University of Cal!fornia Davis and the Sikh Pioneers Organization.

According to the most credible estimation, eight thousand Ghadar volunteers returned to the motherland between 1913 and 1916, and as soon as they set foot on Indian soil, the Ghadar soldiers were captured, imprisoned, and often executed.7° The 1915 Conspiracy Trials in Punjab, India are indicative of the virtual collapse of Ghadar in India. Forty-two Ghadar soldiers were sentenced to death and about two hundred were imprisoned in this one case alone.7’ Both the Indian National Congress and British Imperialists were not eager to let a small group of rebels disrupt the steady flowof power. For three years, Ghada rites left the relative comforts they enjoyed abroad and returned to take India back, but they were stuck in a perpetual rut. The Movement

70Arun C. Bose, Indian RevolutionariesAbroad, 1905—1922: In the Backgroundofinterna tional Developments (Patna, India: Bharati Bhawan, 1971), 122. 71Mathur, Indian Revolutionary Movement, 121.

VOLUME XIX 2010 86 S. Siddiqui produced only negative results: numerous deaths and a depressing impact on the struggling South Asian community in the U.S. By1916, it was apparent that Ghadar was a failure. But the activists’ troubles were only just beginning. In 1914, opened a third front in World War I, by declaring its support of the Indians in their anti-Imperialist struggles. published and distributed a pamphlet entitled Germany—India ‘sHope, thus claiming the status as India’s big brother.72 During the War’s early years, Germany realized that India was a crucial piece of the , and so Germans were only too happy to provide India with the means to fight England. Not surprisingly, the Ghadar Party welcomed German financing due to a shortage of funds.n The only other major source of income for the Ghadar Party was member contribution, mostly from farmers eager to help the cause. This collaboration with Germany instigated Ghadar’s political downfall. Ghadarites correctly believed “the German nation. .. [would] assu redly help the movement for the liberty of India.”74 A -India Committee was established in 1913 and Franz Bopp, the German consul in San Francisco, attended a Ghadar meeting in December that year where preliminary plans were made to send a troop of armed Indians to foment rebellion in India.75A July 1914 issue of the Hindustan Gadar advised Ghadarites to “establish friendly connection with the German newspapers and political leaders, and inform them of the progress of our own movement.”6 Later in 1914, the Gadar praised Germany as “the leader of Persia, Turkey, India and all the weak and subject nations!” Though Ghadarites readily accepted pecuniary assistance, the connec tion to Germany would lead to the Party’s eventual ruination. The alliance of these two seditious groups within the U.S. drew sur veillance from British spies and the FBI.At the forefront of surveillance was the British official W. C. Hopkinson. He, and his team of Indian spies, conducted surveillance on Ghadar leaders and the Punjabi com munity. Indians in Canada felt that the most efficient way of eliminating British spies was assassination. In August 1914, two of Hopkinson’s informers were found dead in a Sikh temple. When Hopkinson appeared in court to testify against the alleged murderers, a Sikh man named

7Jensen, Passage from India, 194. There is no consensus among historians at present as to how much assistance was given to the Indian Independence movement, but the Hindu-German Conspiracy Trial suggests Germans in California were in close contact with Ghadar activists. Hindustan Gada, July 21, 1914. Jensen, Passage from india, 196. Hindustan Gadar, July 21, 1914. Hindustan Gadar, September i, 1914.

Ex PosT FAcTo WAsTED HER0sIM 87

Mewa Singh shot and killed Hopldnson.8 However, the assassination method was entirely ineffective as British spies continued to follow Ghadar activities for the next three years and to spread anti-Asian propaganda in the U.S. The British also urged the U.S., their ally, to conduct heavy surveillance on the Ghadar Party. The mounting tension between spies and Ghadarites culminated in the Hindu-German Con spiracy trial in San Francisco in 1917. During a time of war, it is difficult to differentiate between anti- colonialism and “conspiracy.” The Hindu-German Conspiracy trial is considered a “wild goose chase” amongst historians, and certainly weakened Ghadar activism in San Francisco.79 Itbegan in November 1917, lasted more than six months, and cost $3,000,000. It was one of the longest and most costly trials America had seen.8°Ghadar involvement in conspiracy plots against England broke the U.S. Neutrality Laws, and Ghadar activists were finally brought to trial. U.S. Attorney John W. Preston arrested sixteen Ghadarites and seventy German activists in San Francisco in April 1917 on charges of conspiracy against England and the U.S. Ram Chandra, Taraknath Das, Dr. C. K. Chakravarty, the Ghadar Party’s leader at the time, and German consul Franz Bopp were among the convicted.8’ They were indicted for inciting South Asians to “mutiny and rebel against the established government and authority of the said King”in India.82Both Germans and Ghadar activists were charged with sending men and arms to India in an attempt to usurp the British Raj. Despite considerable evidence that proved the defendants guilty, a lack of cooperation from the witnesses and the accused made it difficult to establish who should be convicted.8 At long last Chakravarty, his hair slicked back with Vaseline, became the ideal witness, confessing the activities of the Ghadar Party and its members, much to the chagrin of German consul Bopp.8 Dozens of indictments followed and almost all of the defendants were found guilty and given lengthy prison sentences, or in some cases deportation. Nevertheless, prison and deportation sen tences from Ghadar conspiracy cases in India tended to be more severe

Jensen, Passage from India, 191. 79Brown, The Hindu Conspiracy,” 310. 8 Karl Hoover, ‘The Hindu Conspiracy in California, 1913—1918,” German StudiesReview8 (1985):246. 8, United States vs. Franz Bopp, Ram Chandra, et at. 6133 F. (NARA—Pacific Region—San Francisco, no. Cal. 1917), box 8 Franz Bapp, 6133 F., box 8Brown, ‘The Hindu Conspiracy,” 308. Seealso Joan M.Jensen, ‘The ‘Hindu Conspiracy:’ A Reassessment,” The Pacfic Historical Review48 (1979). 8Hoover, “The Hindu Conspiracy in California,” 257. Chakravarty’sconfession was most likely a self-preservation tactic. He was still found guilty, but served the light sentence of just thirty days in prison and a $5,000 fine.

VOLUME XIX 2010 8$ S. Siddiqui than those in San Francisco.8 The Hindu-German Trial effectively nipped the growing weed of anti-British sentiment in California. The trial created divisiveness within the Party and changed the dy namics ofthe group forever. The group’s leader, Chakravarty, had coldly betrayed the entire community in his court confessions. During the trial, Ram Chandra was shot dead by Ram Singh, a fellow Ghadarite, as he was about to testify against those involved in the Ghadar Party.86 Several Ghadar veterans arrested in India readily gave their testimony against their Ghadar leaders in the San Francisco courts.8 The trial demoralized the Indian community as they realized they mistakenly trusted the Movement’s leaders. It became increasingly difficult to ascertain who was trustworthy within the community. After the Conspiracy Trial, Ghadar was, in essence, disbanded as most of the leaders were in jail.The number of Ghadar soldiers sent overseas after 1917 steadily decreased. After the trials Ghadar transformed into a quiet and subdued under ground operation. The year 1917 had a profound impact on the history of South Asians in America, as evidenced in the Hindu-German Conspiracy trials. During the Trials, The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle sensa tionalized the story and to some extent vilified the Indians as German puppets and anti-American plotters. The Chronicle portrayed the South Asians as a dirty, disorganized, and unruly group, who constantly attempted to thwart the trial and caused riots in the courtroom.88 While this is partially true, the Chronicle took advantage of the riveted Ameri can public, and shamelessly promoted anti-Asian sentiment in its news reporting. America’s public and legal disapproval ofthe Indian National ists’ movement labeled it less a land of liberty, as a war-induced paranoia encouraged the social and political exclusion of aliens. In effect, the significantly decreased traffic of South Asian immigra tion to the U.S. through the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 can be traced back to Ghadar. The first major legal stricture specifically against South Asians was established in early 1917, while Ghadar was at its heights of political influence. The Immigration Act of i9i7 implemented an English literacy test, and an Asian barred zone.8 The Act filtered out undesirable, low class immigrants, specifically immigrants from South Asia, believing the uneducated laborer made a negative impact on the

S. N. Aggarwal, The Heroes ofCeflularJail (Patiala, India: Publication Bureau Punjabi University, 1995), 137—139. 86jensen Passage from India, 224. Franz Bopp, 6133 F., box 88 San Francisco Chronicle, December 13, 1917. 89The Asian barred zone consisted mostly of the South Asian states India and Burma.

Ex PosT FAcTo WASTEDHER0sIM 89

American economy and social structure. Those who supported the Act believed an illiterate person to be “either very stupid or has grown up under poor social and political conditions, with a low standard of living, and is less desirable than the literate man.”9° This bill was heavily debated for ten years before it passed, as Presidents Taft and Wilson vetoed the Act four times. President Wilson declared that the bill “seeks to all but close entirely the gates of asylum which have always been open to ... [those] whom the opportunities of elementary education have been denied, without regard to their character, their purposes, or their natural capacity.”9’Due to the alarming majority in favor of the bill, the Immigration Act was passed on February;, 1917. The anti-South Asian content ofthe Act, and fact that the Act was passed during the Conspira cyTrial and at a time of intense Ghadar activity is evidence that the bill targeted South Asians in particular, and made American citizenship an impossibility for them. The impact of Ghadar is a point of contention amongst students of the South Asian diaspora in the U.S. The notion that the Ghadar Party’s actions were preliminary steps to Gandhi’s Independence movement is particularly erroneous, because Gandhi’s movement was the opposite of Ghadar, and Gandhi was already building his own movement, separate ;9;792 from Ghadar, by There has also been some serious suggestion that Ghadar enabled the rise of and politically awakened the Punjabi community in California.93This theory does not account for the many deaths or the invalidated socio-political presence of the South Asian population in America.94After Ghadar, the Punjabi immigrants in California felt more defeated than before the activists “helped out.” Racist sentiment left them on the outskirts of Canadian and American societies. Ghadar veterans, and even those immigrants uninvolved with Ghadar activities, were blacklisted as German spies, communists, and radical Anglophobes.95Aside from social issues, the remaining immigrant population was also left to struggle within the political strictures placed on them. Some groups, born out of the subdued Ghadar movement, attempted to work towards political equality for South Asians in Califor nia throughout the ;92os and 19305, but they made no significant impact. Instead of having an easier time achieving citizenship, Indians were not

90Congressional Record, Appendix and Index to Parts 1-5 of the 2nd session of the 64th Congress of the United States ofAmerica, Volume LIV (February i, 1917), 290. ‘ Ibid., 345.January 29, 1917. Purl, Ghadar Movement, 178. See also Bose, Indian Revolutionaries Abroad. Jensen, Passage from India, 213. It is difficult to surmise the actual number of Ghadar soldiers dead, as these records are in India. Jensen, Passage from India, 271.

VOLUME XIX 2o;o 90 S. Siddiqui granted naturalization and an immigration quota until 1946.96 Ghadar was a bloody stain on the early history of the South Asian diaspora in the U.S. and left a detrimental impact on the Punjabi community, as they were left to live with the mess created by Ghadar’s radical fervor. Though Ghadar was an appalling failure, the movement and its lead ers introduced a new approach towards the exclusion issue. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and other Asians were troubled by American exclusion. These groups all presented various attempts at battling exclusion and political racism within the U.S. But Ghadar’s significance lies in its unique strategy: a violent rebellion overseas that was, indirectly, meant to liberate Indians throughout the world, by raising their status as natives of a free country, not a British colony. No other ethnic group in this period employed violent rebellion against the wall of exclusion. Despite Ghadar’s many flaws, it was an inimitable stratagem for acquiring immigration and naturalization rights. The immigration and assimilation patterns of South Asians in Cali fornia could have been drastically different without the interference of Ghadarites. Before the involvement of Ghadar activists in California, the Punjabi farmers were quietly going about their business, living a hard working life to help their families at home. The early Punjabi farmers also organized themselves to combat the initial tides of political racism. The interference of Ghadar activism impressed a negative stereotype that surpassed the kinds of social and political discrimination Punjabis were facing in the ;92os. Anti-Asian immigration laws slowed the migration of South Asians to America to a trickle, as opposed to the steady flow of immigration earlier that century. Ghadar created a rebellion that was an unparalleled disaster in India and left a gaping hole in the history of the South Asian diaspora. The idea that violent rebellion can bring about political autonomy is not a novel one, nor is it always entirely ineffectual. Violent, anti- colonialist rebellions are prevalent in the twentieth century, and some times succeed in toppling the imperial power and replacing it with a shaky regime. It isa universally established truth that Ghadar failed, but with a more intelligent organizational structure and plan of attack, Ghadar activists and soldiers may actually have succeeded in deposing the British Raj. Nevertheless, the Ghadar movement was a distinctive

Jensen, Passage from India, 279. President Roosevelt, in collaboration with the Nation al Committee for India’s Freedom, was an advocate ofgranting Indians naturalization, and sped up the processing of the bill in the House and Senate. Roosevelt, quoted in Jensen, said the statutory discrimination of Indians ‘now serves no usehit purposes, and lisi incongruous and inconsistent with the dignity of both our peoples.”

Ex PosT FACTO WASTED HER0sIM 91 event, unseen in any other immigrant group of early twentieth century California. Despite the party’s severe defects, Ghadar created a signifi cant, if unconstructive, early political history for South Asians in Califor nia. Eight thousand men answered Har Dayal’scallfor brave soldiers, but their battle was lost and their heroism wasted.

Miss Siddiquiwrote this piecefor an undergraduate seminar class.Sheis a confusedfirst-year graduate student turned socialactivist,but tellsher professors that she is working on intellectual Islamic History and Muslimsin colonialSouthAsia.

VOLUMEXIX. 2010