Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

92 I Ramnath
he was a revolutionist at every moment with a
shrewd psychological knowledge of the value of the
martyr's role for attracting and retaining disciples
to carry out his work ....[His mind] seemed to
combine in a curious way the opposite types of the
"yogi" and the "commissar."-10
According to Chenchiah, Har Dayal was well known
"among the numerous foreign revolutionary societies which
were then functioning in . .. San Francisco which was the
headquarters of many of these organizations." Russian,
Irish, Japanese, Turkish, and Chinese groups regarded Har
Dayal as a "great friend, philosopher and guide;' and sought
him out "as a political revolutionary [who 1 worked for the
liberation of many countries, from the clutches of feudalism
and imperialism." He in turn invited foreign leaders
to lecture and teach. As in France, "the most spectacular
[were 1 the Russians who used to escape from their exile in
Siberia and manage to arrive in USA:' wrote Chenchiah.
From them "we learnt many lessons not only about printing,
publishing and distributing secret revolutionary literature,
but also the method of recruiting, training and
organizing youths."3l
Har Dayal continued to lecture to progressive intellectual
gatherings and labor organizations, at venues
including the monthly William Morris Circle,
International Radical Club (as the founder and secretary),
and Industrial Wo rkers of the World (IWW) (as
the secretary for the Oakland branch). The Radical Club
(or as Har Dayal's former Stanford boss called it, the