Additional information
by Shiraz Durrani (Author)
This is the second book published by Vita Books on Makhan Singh (1913-1973). The first one was Makhan Singh, A Revolutionary Trade Unionist published in 2015. That a second book is considered necessary is an indication that the full history and contribution of Makhan Singh to the working class struggles in India and Kenya still need more publications to be written and placed in the public domain. Of course, the Makhan Singh Archives at the University of Nairobi and Unquiet: The Life and Times of Makhan Singh by Zarina Patel remain key resources on him. As Kwamchetsi Makokha says in the Introduction of this book, "Fewer tasks can be as challenging as constructing the larger than life profile of Makhan Singh: a man who saw through and instantly rejected the tokenistic colonial assignment of Indians to a class above Africans; deconstructed the hierarchical colour bar by organising trade union activities that brought the two communities together; and brought a penetrating ideological clarity to the fight for self-determination by making a demand for Kenya's independence in 1950". While the name of Makhan Singh may well be more known in Kenya today than in the years after his death, little or not attempts have been made by trade unionists or politicians to understand and follow his ideological stand and to resist capitalism and imperialism as he did It is for this reason that the experience and the record of Makhan Singh needs urgent attention in Kenya, indeed in Africa, today.
Kwamchetsi Makokha concludes: "Although it is regrettable that for over 50 years after Makhan Singh's death, knowledge of his full contribution to the making of modern Kenya has been officially suppressed, and access to it denied to a significant proportion of the population, the publication of The Struggle Has Started secures this hero's place in collective memory.
Shiraz Durrani, the Editor of the book, points to the central issue that Makhan Singh fought against:
"Makhan Singh saw class divisions and class struggles as the primary aspects of resistance to colonialism and to ensuring that the interests of workers, peasants and people of Kenya were in the forefront of an independent country. This was a turning point in the struggle for liberation in Kenya. Colonialism had succeeded in previous periods to divide people's struggles along tribal' or racial or regional levels, thereby dividing forces of resistance. Makhan Singh was able to see through such divisive tactics. He saw the struggle as a class struggle and emphasised the need to politicise the working class, unite them with other progressive classes and wage a struggle that would remove the causes of poverty and injustice from the country."
That struggle has not been won. That is why Makhan Singh's teaching and experience is relevant today. The book carries a reproduction of the excellent exhibition on Makhan Singh by Khalsa Lakhvir-Singh which was first exhibited at the MacMillan Library in early 2024. They provide an overall context of the life and time of Makhan Singh
