Coming of Age : 1976 and the Road to Anti-Racism

was stabbed to death outside the cinema in Southall, west London. It was clear to young
Asian people who had grown up in Southall, this was the racist prejudice that they had
been watching, now landing on their town.
Following the death of Gurdeep Singh Chaggar in June 1976, the youth marched to
the police station demanding protection from racist violence and declared ‘We shall fight
like lions’. The police station was surrounded, the youth staged a sit in refusing to leave
until two Asian men that had been arrested during the commotion were released. They
won their demands and held another meeting later in the evening to organise defence
units. With this demonstration and show of force the Southall Youth Movement was born.
The SYM was dedicated to ‘physically keeping racism off the streets of Southall’ and
countering the ‘lack of youth provision in the Borough’. Within months Asian Youth Movements
appeared across the country, in East London, Luton, Nottingham, Leicester, Manchester,
Sheffield, Burnley, Birmingham, Luton and Watford.
In this section we begin by recounting the story of Southall through the words of long
time activist, Vishnu Sharma. Sharma was born in the Punjab in 1921, Sharma was active
in the peasant movement and later in trade unions, becoming Assistant General Secretary
of the Punjab Provincial TUC at a time of the British Raj. Because of his militancy, he
was arrested six times and imprisoned for a total of 31/2 years. He was forced to stay
in his village for 21 months and visit the police at 11am every Sunday. Sharma joined the
Communist Party of India in 1937. He left for Britain in 1957, arriving on a Friday, speaking
no English and with just three pounds in his pocket. On the Monday, he joined the British
Communist Party. He worked in a rubber factory in Southall, taught himself English and
immersed himself in trade unionism; Sharma became a member of the British Communist
Party’s Executive Committee from 1971. Long active in the Indian Workers Association, he
was elected President of the Southall IWA in 1977. He was also Vice-Chair of the Campaign
against Racial Discrimination, a founder member and full time worker for the Joint
Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and a member of the National Council for Commonwealth
of Immigrants, the forerunner of the Commission for Racial Equality, from which he
resigned in protest at the 1968 Immigration Act. He was a member of the original Steering
Committee of the Anti-Nazi League. His career therefore charts the long struggles against
colonialism in India, through to the modern anti racist movements.
In this section we also have contributions from Karamjit Chaggar, the older brother of
Gurdeep Singh Chaggar. He movingly recounts the days and days following his brother’s
death. We rarely hear the voices of families and we are grateful for the time he provided
to us. We also recount the story of Southall Youth Movement through the words of Suresh
Grover, Avtar Brah, and Balraj Purewal.
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