| Description | Incomplete sequence of Lalkar newspaper, the monthly publication of the Indian Workers Association, printed in both English and Punjabi. Issues contain articles about anti-racist and progressive struggles in Britain in which the Indian Workers Association was involved from 1979, and includes coverage of the high levels of unemployment during the early 1980s; the miners strike of 1984-1985; and protests against the poll tax in 1990, amongst other campaigns. Other articles focus on the international struggle against racism and oppression, with coverage of Indian politics; the struggle against apartheid in South Africa; the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians; the hunger strike by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland; the 1991 Gulf War, and American imperialism in the country's relations with other states, including Grenada and Libya.
Issues comprise:
July 1979, vol.1 no.3;
1980: March; June
1981: February; March; May; June; August; September; November; December
1982: January; March; April; June; August; September; October; November; December
1983: February; March; April; May; July; August; September; October; November (2 copies); December
1984: January (2 copies); February (2 copies); March; April (2 copies); May; June; July; October (2 copies); special supplement on the Battle of the Golden Temple, 1984
1985: January; February; March; April (2 copies); May; June (2 copies); July (2 copies); August/September - special issue (2 copies); October; November (2 copies); December 1985/January 1986
1986: February (2 copies); March; April; May; June; July; October; November (2 copies)
1987: June; November/December
1988: January/February; May/June (2 copies); November/December (2 copies)
1989: August/September, marking the tenth anniversary of the commencement of publication of the present Lalkar, this issue announces that it will no longer be able to publish in both English and Punjabi, mainly because few members can still read Punjabi, but also because of difficulties in attracting writers for the Punjabi section; November/December (3 copies)
1990: January/February (3 copies); March/April (3 copies); June/July; August/September (2 copies); October/November (2 copies)
1991: February/March (3 copies); May/June (2 copies); July/August; September/October
March/April 1992
January/February 1993; May/June 1993
November/December 1995 (2 copies)
May/June 1998 |
| AdminHistory | The Indian Workers Association launched Lalkar in May 1979 as its official journal. The organisation had previously published a journal with the title 'Lalkar' earlier in its history; this publication was launched in 1967, and was sponsored by the Association of Indian Communists, but was also subscribed to by Indian Workers Association branches. See MS 2141/A/5/1/3 for papers relating to the 1967 launch of 'Lalkar' and issues of the magazine from the 1960s and 1970s; MS 2141/A/2/6 for accounts; MS 2141/A/1/4 and MS 2141/A/8/2/3 for information about the launch of Lalkar in 1967; and MS 2141/C/2/1 for correspondence about the involvement of the Association of Indian Communists in this publication. The journal was published in Punjabi and was based in London for the first year of its existence. In 1968, it was transferred to Birmingham and in 1970 it moved to Leamington Spa and then to Coventry and Birmingham. For most of the 1970s it was published on an irregular basis until it was re-launched in 1979 in bilingual English and Punjabi forms.
The word 'lalkar' means 'challenge' in Punjabi, and the expression 'lal kar' means 'red work'. The Lalkar which was established by the Indian Workers Association in 1979 was published monthly until the end of 1987, when it began to be issued bi-monthly. It was edited from London by Harpal Brar, a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Workers Association who was based in Southall. Lalkar was primarily a political journal, and covered a wide range of political events in Britain and the rest of the world with a Marxist-Leninist analysis, as well as containing news about the activities of the Indian Workers Association. Lalkar remains a bi-monthly journal, but is now an independent publication. The Indian Workers Association severed its links with the journal after disagreements with Harpal Brar, who dissolved the Association of Communist Workers in 1997 in order to join Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party. He is now chair of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist). Issues of Lalkar from 1999-2006 are available online at: http://www.lalkar.org/index.php
Sources: Wikipedia entries for Lalkar and Harpal Brar; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalkar; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpal_Brar Accessed April 2006 |