r
(A 5008/165/51). Igdia Office, ¦ j ,s
i U >U Whitehall, fu,
Pi & J*(S) 215V^d. :r, ,;0*XbO *eV,v*c:' S.W.I. 0
oJtlc 16 19= 5 th-December, 1940.
COKFIDEMIAL.   [ , .     .  , i * . ' ; '   '    - t
Sir,
I am directed to refer to the letter from
this Department of the 6th January, 1933 P & J. (S)
sv   1395/32 and connected correspondence relating to
the "Hindustail"Qhadr^1, the organ of Ijhe Ghadr party,
6*1 • 9r:j,irf^u)S'-i*shed ..in San Francisco and to state, fpr the
»30;.c,.i: Infqrmatio'n o~f Viscount Halifax, that Mr. Anerg's
attention has "been drawn to the oh jectio ha hie i :f
character of recent issues of this paper. Copies
of summarised ;translotions of the issues for May,
June and September 194Q,; are enclose^ & :0(Jirax3i
^oxvies     2,      I,am to refer ,tq the following items in
XI090 ISft Itoi^JH&tfnotoastl to a*os laxtto oxib sxriT
e •        ! f^^^qS l^f^lcl^^t'^f^ p.l.
Eulogy of Udham Singh Azadr
ixrrolilsO      Eulogy #f Madan Lai Dhingra
and reproduction of the
latter1 s statement.     ..j j-
Reference to the murderer o:
Bhag Singh in Canada.
, Xilbob
.jxixqa anx.^al aJI .vj.
and m the June issue:-
p. 2.	.t Ji t>:
	c ri/a
f   0    P' %	0 091 ib
P-3.,,	iCTOOlJ axxid"
xlgnxS isbxi	¦
Approval of the murder of
ofW. &VssI ' yjKam Singh^ in India.'\' . 'Vffijwomq
As regards the September issue, apart
from a number of anti-British and defeatist
i&&flBEt l^xicf 9VocfH axid- moil is9lo ox ^1  .3iiov,r ^0x^3^10
afiiotf Mariolrir a92iy6B raoil as I £o./ l? art^les,^
The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office,
\l9CTR( S.W.1-
articles, it Will be seen that it conteiriW *\8
eulogistic references to Udham Singh, the murderer
of ffir Michael O'Dwyer at Caxton Hal'l .(\i tems ^ w
and 21), approval of the murder of a police officer
in the Punjab (item 11) and alleged indiscipline in
the Indian Army which Ghadr propaganda is 'claimed
to have fostered (item 4). It will also be seen that
it contains criticism of recent and prospective
legislation affecting foreigners in the United States
Utem9.). ,      *   -\ tdt
3. The
« -1    fostered Sikh
substantiated
claim of the Hindustan Ghadr \ to -'have    / y
discipline in-the Indian Army can be . H + v
by both direct.eoa indirect evifence. In the fdrmer
category may be-placed the 'Open Letter to the Troops
which appeared in the issue of the paper for February
1940 erid of which a translation is attached.  It was a
' direct appeal to Indian soldiers to commit acts of
insubordination and mutiny. Such acts have indeed been
¦committed, the most serious   being the refusal of a
Sikh mechanised squadron to embark on active service.
This and other acts of insubordination have all been
traced back to one .focal point, namely the military
station of Mee'rut in the .United Provinces, where the
Ki rtl L'eh'r, assisted by fund3 remitted cfrom Ohadr
supporters in North and South America (mainly California),
carried on the most intense anti-British propaganda and
directed 'special attention to the seduction of Indian
troops. The Communist group which was responsible for
this gu'bVersive activity consisted almost entirely of
Sikhs financed by the Ghadr Party.  Its leading spirit,
Harmindar Singh Sodhi, was in fact at one time actually
Manager of the Hindustan Ghadr in San Francisco and a
frequent 'contributor to that paper. The Immigration
Authorities in California instituted deportation
proceedings against Kim but allowed him to leave the
country voluntarily in 1934, whereupon he proceeded to
Russia'to undergo a course.of training in Communism
before finally making his~way back to India for
practical work. It is clear from the above brief narration
&£ facts, as well as from advices which are being
received from India, that the"Ohadr Party and its
^newspaper/
7
newspaper   has made considerable efforts to undermine
the loyalty of Sikh troops and thus hamper India's
war effort. These efforts have met with sufficient
success to call for stringent measures on the part
of Government for the protection of innocent
soldiers against such perversive influences.
4. Mr. Amery considers it desirable that such
restrictive steps as may be feasible should be
taken against this paper, and he would suggest for
the consideration of Viscount Halifax ,that copies of
these summaries might be communicated to His
Majesty's Ambassador at Washington with a view to the
matter being brought to the notice of the United
States Government, should a suitable opportunity
arise. It might be possible for His Majesty's
Ambassador to induce the State Department to suppress
this paper altogether, or if an approach on these
lines is not considered practicable at least to
deny the Hindustan Ghadr and other Ghadr Party
propaganda the cheaper postal rates usually accorded
to newspapers in the United States, a step which, it
is understood was taken by the United States
authorities during the Great War of 1914-18 with
considerable effect.
5. A copy of a letter v/hich has been
addressed to the Dominions Office is also enclosed.
I am, etc.,
(Sgd. ) Silver.