Many Indians on the West Coast were active in the nationalist cause at this time and their efforts converged in 1912-1913 with the founding of the Pacific Coast Hindustani Association, later to be called the Ghadar Party. The organization purchased a printing press and in November 1913 the first Urdu issue of Hindustan Ghadar appeared.

The Ghadar activities and publications focused the energy of a community eager to participate in the struggle going on in India and defined a positive, collective identity for the Indian immigrants as "nationalists."  British set up networks of spies among the among the Ghadar workers. Founder Har Dayal was named the most dangerous of the revolutionaries, was arrested and while on bail, left for Switzerland.

New leaders toured the Pacific Coast urging immigrants to return to India for an imminent revolution, expected to erupt in February 1915. The revolution to free India was not successful, but the attempt fueled the desire for freedom.  In 1915, a few members of the Ghadar Party, working covertly with Dayal, now in Germany, arranged for several shipments of arms, financed by the German government, to be sent to India in support of an uprising against the British.  They were arrested and found guilty.  Following the 1917 trials, the Ghadar Party, now more subdued in its activities, shifted to 5 Wood Street and survived until August 1947, when it turned all its assets over to the newly formed government of independent India.

Related Links and Resources:

The Punjab Heritage

Becoming Canadian: Pioneer Sikhs in their own words  

Punjabilok