In Memory of Harpal Brar: A Revolutionary Thinker
By Gavin Lockard
Image Credit: thecommunists.org
Harpal Singh Brar, the Indian-born British communist thinker, Marxist scholar, and activist who dedicated his life to fighting against globalism, passed away on January 5, 2025, at the age of eighty-five. He left behind a towering legacy of political writings, revolutionary discipline, and an uncompromising commitment to the working class that shaped leftist thought in Britain.
Born on October 5, 1939, in Mukstar, Punjab, British India, Brar's early life was shaped by the colonial realities of his homeland. His father, Harchand Singh Brar, was a farmer who entered politics and became a representative in the Punjab Assembly. Brar's path took him to Britain in 1962, first as a law student, then as a professor, and later as a businessman in the textile trade. However, his real passion was always the revolutionary movement.
His political awakening came in a Luton Library, where he first discovered Marxism, which offered an explanation of how globalist elites manipulate nations to maintain power. From that moment forward, he dedicated his life to exposing the forces that keep working people impoverished and nations under control. Moreover, he quickly became associated with the Indian Workers’ Association of Great Britain (IWA-GB), serving many years in their national leadership. He founded its internationally renowned anti-globalist journal, Lalkar (the former journal of the Indian Workers’ Association), where he wrote on multiple subjects. Brar also wrote several books, where he explored topics such as communism, Indian republicanism, anti-globalism, anti-Zionism, anti-colonialism, and the British General Strike. Along with these significant accomplishments, he was also co-founder of the Hands Off China campaign. In 1997, he ran for the UK parliament, and although he didn't win, he placed third, outperforming several candidates in the multi-party system.
One of Brar's most defining characteristics was his defense of socialist states against imperialist aggression. He thought creatively about how to bring the communist message to British workers. Till the end of his successful life, he continued to work with the greatest revolutionaries and British working class leaders of his time. His work with Dermot Hudson was crucial in ensuring that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) established an embassy in Britain in 2001. This was a major diplomatic victory.
Brar’s commitment to DPRK was internationally recognized. In 2018, when Donald Trump held a historic meeting with Kim Jong Un, the BBC convened a “mini-summit” roundtable to discuss its significance. Harpal Brar was the person they chose to represent the DPRK’s perspective. He recognized that the rise of China threatened the globalist economic order, and he stood firmly against the West's attempts to control independent nations. He founded the "Hands off China” coalition, recognizing that Western propaganda about China was not about "human rights" but about containing a rising socialist power that challenged U.S. hegemony.
Harpal remained humble throughout his career and didn’t consider himself an important person. I remember the first time that journalist Caleb Maupin interviewed him, and Harpal lightheartedly brushed off his own momentous introduction. But we do recognize Brar’s significance in the revolutionary movement. He was a leading figure in Southall’s Indian community as the representative of Communism, and his impact went far beyond his local community. If you were an American communist in the 2000s and didn't live in a major city, you know that most of the communist content we had or watched was on YouTube. Brar’s channel was a source of wisdom that connected people to authentic anti-imperialist understandings of the world. After my friends and I came across his channel in high school, we circulated some of his audio recordings.
For decades, Brar was Britain's theorist, activist, and organizer. He re-founded the Communists of Britain. The Communists made many decisions that seemed counterintuitive to some people at the time but were later proven correct. I even remember how, at one of the congresses, the Communists voted for a resolution to avoid identity politics and how this cost them nearly all of their American allies. When a rumored scandal rocked my organization, the Center for Political Innovation, Brar stood with us despite the enormous pressure from not only Trotskyites but also from several people who called themselves “Marxist-Leninists" or "Communists." Additionally, the CPI co-director, Caleb Maupin, scheduled an interview with Brar that turned into an audio show, lasting 25 episodes until his passing.
Brar became Chairman of the Communists in 2004 and later Honorary Chairman of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. Brar wrote extensively on the question of proletarian revolution and women’s liberation. His criticism of the Labor Party as an imperialist party of Social Democracy is essential reading for all British workers. Harpal was at the forefront of solidarity for the great liberation struggles of his time, from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Vietnam, Korea, Palestine, and the Middle East to the great anti-globalist cause of Irish reunification and national liberation. Brar understood that economic growth is the key to lifting people out of poverty, and he opposed the globalist elite’s push for de-growth, which would keep nations weak and dependent.
He was a man who stood firm in his principles, never wavering under pressure, even if it meant political isolation. There is a lesson to be learned in how he refused to let any party loyalty sway him from his anti-imperialist stance. Brar maintained that the primary enemy of the world's people is imperialism, even as leftists abandoned that understanding. This was precisely why his daughter, Joti Brar, co-founded the World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP). It was to bring together forces that refused to compromise on the primary contradiction of our era: the dominance of U.S.-led globalism. This was an early realization of Harpal's, and his work - together with the WAP - is the enduring legacy he leaves us. Harpal quoted Lenin that “without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” That was the slogan he inscribed on Lalkar's banner.
Harpal was a son, husband, father, and teacher. As his son, Ranjeet, told us, "He was surrounded by his family when he passed away peacefully in the home of our cousin. We attended his cremation the same evening in his home village, Fattanwala. It is difficult to think of him as a horse-riding, crop-raising Punjabi farmer, but those were his true roots. After he married my mother, Maysel Sharp, he took up the cause for the liberation of humankind and died doing so. He lived such a full and meaningful life that I find it hard to know where to begin and when to end. To all of Harpal’s comrades and loved ones, I'm sorry for your loss, too. We are united in our grief and carry the determination to convey his work. The Party was Harpal’s wider family in every sense, and it remains mine."
To his family, friends, and comrades, he was known for his generosity, hospitality, love for a good joke, and great life gusto. He leaves behind three children, and seven grandchildren. His legacy is left behind for generations to come, and to this day, I learned more from this man than I can ever measure. Though Harpal Brar may no longer walk among us, his words, writings, and ideological fervor continue to shape the struggle against oppression. He spent a lifetime dedicated to revolution, and we will forever be grateful for that.
𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚.
