When India gained its independence from Britain in 1947, it was the result of nearly 100 years of struggle by Indians all over the world, including here in Oregon.
Two unnamed Punjabi men, of the hundred or more living and working in early 1900s Astoria, often as millworkers, pose for a photograph.
Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
In 1913, a group of Indians from Punjab who were working in the timber industry in Astoria started the Ghadar Movement, which became instrumental in the overthrow of British rule. It’s part of a larger story of Asian self-determination in Oregon in the early part of the last century.
Independent historian Johanna Ogden tells their story in a new book called, “Punjabi Rebels of the Columbia River: The Global Fight for Independence and Citizenship.”
She spoke with “All Things Considered” co-host Geoff Norcross.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
Geoff Norcross: What is it about Astoria at that time that made it a good place for an Indian revolutionary movement to get going?
Author Johanna Ogden at the release party for her book, "Punjabi Rebels of the Columbia River: The Global Fight for Indian Independence and Citizenship."
Kitta Bodmer
Johanna Ogden: The first time I realized that that’s where it began, I sort of fell off my chair. Saint Johns and Astoria had equivalent-sized Indian communities, Saint Johns, however, had an anti-Hindu (sentiment), which is how Indians were referred to.
Norcross: Even if they weren’t Hindus.
Ogden: Right. It was a pejorative. Astoria never had that kind of communal violence against Indians.
Norcross: And there was quite an infamous incident of violence (in St. Johns).
Ogden: There was, in 1910. Out of that infamous incident, the basic question is, “Why are we so hated? There’s millions of people in the US that have come from everywhere just to work just like us. What’s going on?” And it was out of that, that led to the formation of this organization called Ghadar, which means mutiny. They went up and down the river organizing people, and they held their founding convention in Astoria because, basically, it was a safer city. There hadn’t been communal violence against them or other populations before them. And it was also a city that was full of radicals, notably radical Finns. And it was that building that they used for their founding.
The Finnish Socialist Hall in Astoria, where Punjabi laborers in and around Astoria met in 1913 to form the Ghadar Party, dedicated to the armed overthrow of British rule in India.
Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
Norcross: The Finnish Socialist building.
Ogden: Exactly.
Norcross: I’d like to know more about the men who formed this Ghadar movement. And first of all, we should probably zero in on the fact that they were Punjabi. What does that mean, and why is that important?
Ogden: These are states within India. India, as people know, I’m sure, is a giant country. But the bulk of people that were here were from the state now known as Punjab.
Norcross: Which includes what we now know is Pakistan, right?
Ogden: Correct. And that state is also a heavily Sikh community, the religious identity of Sikhs. There were people from all persuasions here. There were Hindus, there were Muslims. But the majority of the men here were Punjabi Sikhs.
Norcross: What ultimately was their role in the eventual overthrow of the British Crown?
Ogden: I think their main role was inspiration. Basically the state cleared out and it was because of the influence of the Ghadar party that people left the state in droves to go back and fight the British. They come here to build a better life, and then for some of these people, they thoroughly reversed the course of their lives. Maybe 5,000 people from the entirety of the West Coast went back to India and tried to basically foment a mutiny amongst the armed forces in India.
Norcross: I was thinking about your scholarship on this when hearing about the Indian elections, the BJP party and Hindu nationalism that is very much ascendant right now and doesn’t seem to be going away. And I’m wondering if this is the India that the Ghadaris were fighting for?
Ogden: Not at all. I refer to them as nationalists. I should be careful and always say they’re revolutionary nationalists. Their program was, number one: whatever your religion, you check it at the door. We’re Indians, we’re in this together. It’s not about the supremacy of one group over the other. Many of them were very avid supporters of women’s rights. They were against caste. So nothing in terms of Hindu nationalism that we see, as you say, dominating in India right now.
Click on the audio player above to hear the whole conversation.