Brock211211849: added initial biography and citations

2025-11-21T17:14:08Z

added initial biography and citations

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{{Short description|Kenyan trade unionist (1913–1973)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{Fan POV|date=August 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Makhan Singh
| image = Makhan Singh. Nairobi. 1947.jpg
| caption = Makhan Singh in Nairobi in 1947
| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|12|27|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Gujranwala]], Punjab Province, British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|1973|05|18|1913|12|27|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Nairobi]], Kenya
| resting_place = [[Nairobi]]
| citizenship = Kenyan
| occupation =
| era =
| known_for = Advancing the [[Trade Unionist]] movement in Kenya
| notable_works = History of Kenya's Trade Union Movement, to 1952 and various Ghadar Magazines
}}
'''Makhan Singh Jabbal''' (27 December 1913 – 18 May 1973) was a Kenyan [[labour union]] leader who is credited with establishing the foundations of [[trade unionism]] in Kenya.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Makhan Singh, Kenyan – SikhiWiki, free Sikh encyclopedia. |url=https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Makhan_Singh,_Kenyan |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=sikhiwiki.org}}</ref> He is credited to have played a vital role in the Kenyan independence movement. He was detained by the British colonialists for 11 years from 1950 to 1961 - the longest ever political detention in Kenya's history.

==Early life==
Makhan Singh was born in Gharjakh, a village in [[Gujranwala District]], in British India's [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]] to a [[Sikh]] family. In 1927, at the age of 13, he moved with his family to [[Nairobi]], a [[municipality]] which, since 1905, had functioned as the administrative capital of the [[British East Africa]]n [[protectorate]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kenya | date=6 August 2019 |url=https://www.headlinesofmylife.today/2019/08/makhan-singh-single-minded-pioneer.html?m=1}}</ref>
[[File:Gopal Singh & Makhan Singh (aged 20). Nairobi. May 1933.jpg|thumb|Gopal Singh (left) & Makhan Singh (right) aged 20, Nairobi, May 1933]]

== Indian independence movement ==
From the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]] he participated in the [[Indian independence movement]] from Kenya, where he was jailed in Gujarat Jail. He was freed after multiple fasts unto death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wangchuk |first=Rinchen Norbu |date=2021-02-08 |title=Unsung Punjabi Hero Who Fought for the Freedom of 2 Nations From The British |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/248852/kenya-makhan-singh-punjab-freedom-struggle-trade-union-leader-gandhi-india-history-inspiring-nor41/ |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=The Better India |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Indian Trade Union was formed in 1934 and Makhan Singh elected its secretary not long after, in March 1935. Soon, Makhan Singh convinced his nearly 500 fellow unionists to change the name of their association to the Labour Trade Union of Kenya and open membership to all, regardless of race.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Untitled Document |url=http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/heritage/sikhhert%20EAfrica/sikhsEAfricapart4.htm |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=sikh-heritage.co.uk}}</ref> Singh's action at both a basic, semantic level and a broader, organizational level signalled his intent to break free of the political and racial narrowness of daily life in colonial Kenya. To this end, biographer Nazmi Durrani says, the union published its handouts in Kiswahili besides Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu. This encourages us to believe that Makhan Singh's inclusion of Africans in his trade union activities was not merely symbolic and that he was determined to reach out to as wide a swathe of subjugated races as possible.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-05-21 |title=Unsung Sikh Freedom Fighter's Life Now A Play. |url=http://www.sikhnet.com/daily-news/unsung-sikh-freedom-fighters-life-now-a-play |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=SikhNet |language=en}}</ref> He was arrested in 1943 and in January 1945, he was set free. Wasting no time, he took up work as a sub-editor at ''Jang-i-Azadi'', the weekly published by the Punjab Committee of the Communist Party.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.scribd.com/book/407581511/Makhan-Singh-A-Revolutionary-Kenyan-Trade-Unionist |title=Makhan Singh: A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist by Vita Books – Ebook {{!}} Scribd |language=en}}</ref>
Kenya was a centre of [[Ghadar Movement|Ghadr Party]] until 1947. Three Punjabis Bishan Singh of village Gakhal Jalandhar, Ganesh Das and Yog Raj Bali of Rawalpindi were summarily tried and hanged to death in public in December 1915 for possessing and distributing ''Ghadr''.

== Kenyan independence movement ==
In Kenya he had done something unprecedented. In the month of April, Makhan Singh gave a call in Nairobi for ''Uhuru Sasa'', a [[Swahili language|Kiswahili]] expression meaning ''Freedom Now''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SILICONEER {{!}} INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL: Patriot Everywhere: Makhan Singh (1913-1973) {{!}} AUGUST 2010 {{!}} Celebrating 11 Years |url=https://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2010/august-2010/aug10-CoverStory-PatriotEverywhere-MakhanSingh.html |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=siliconeer.com}}</ref> For the first time, someone had commanded the British to grant complete independence to their territories in [[East Africa Protectorate|East Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Untitled Document |url=http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/heritage/sikhhert%20EAfrica/sikhsEAfricapart5.htm |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=sikh-heritage.co.uk}}</ref>

In 1935, he formed the Labour Trade Union of Kenya and, in 1949, he and Fred Kubai formed the East African Trade Union Congress, the first central organization of trade unions in Kenya.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-05 |title=Play on icon's life to be staged on Sunday |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/lifestyle/play-on-icon-s-life-to-be-staged-on-sunday-984832 |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=Nation |language=en}}</ref>

After having spoken out in clear and strong terms against British occupation and colonial rule in Kenya on 23 April 1950 at Nairobi's Kaloleni Halls, Makhan Singh was arrested within 21 days on 15 May. He had inadvertently given the British colonial masters an opportunity to silence him. At a trial in [[Nyeri]], Chanan Singh (later Justice Chanan Singh) defended him eloquently and with rigour. He was acquitted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durrani |first=Shiraz |title=Makhan Singh Every Inch A Fighter Reflections on Makhan Singh and the Trade Union Struggle in Kenya – Vita Books Notes & Quotes Study Guide Series No. 1 (2014) Nairobi |url=https://www.academia.edu/43450808 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

While in jail he still organized strikes and fasts. Although the greatest feat of his power was from 1951 to 1955, where he issued the Sector Nairobi, Kenya Trade Union to stop trading with Britain altogether.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hromnik |first=Jeanne |title=Sana Aiyar's 'Indians in Kenya' brings the politics affecting Indian diasporas out of the shadows |url=https://scroll.in/article/1027076/sana-aiyars-indians-in-kenya-brings-the-politics-affecting-indian-diasporas-out-of-the-shadows |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=Scroll.in |date=10 July 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> After he left jail in 1961 he was able to reset his Trade Union although [[Jomo Kenyatta]] and him, at the time partners with the same respect in society, were able to negotiate with the British to set up Kenya as a democracy, although he wanted it to be a Communist nation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surjeet Singh Panesar (Jr), Kenya's four-time Olympian passes away {{!}} FIH |url=https://www.fih.ch/news/surjeet-singh-panesar-jr-kenya-s-four-time-olympian-passes-away/ |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=fih.ch}}</ref>
[[File:Achieng Oneko-Jomo Kenyatta-Makhan Singh-Oginga Odinga-1961-.jpg|thumb|(left to right) Achieng Oneko, Jomo Kenyatta, Makhan Singh, Oginga Odinga, 1961]]

== Post-independence life ==
Post-independence, Makhan Singh was left out of any national involvement. Heartbroken, he became a social recluse and directed his mind to writing the history of Kenya's trade unionism in his volumes. He died of a heart attack on 18 May 1973 at the age of 59.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Chandan, Amarjit (2004). "Gopal Singh Chandan: A Short Biography & Memoirs". Jalandhar: Punjab Centre for Migration Studies.
*Singh, Makhan (1969). ''History of Kenya'a Trade Union Movement to 1952''. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
*Patel, Zarina (2006). ''Unquiet: The Life and Times of Makhan Singh''. Nairobi: Awaaz.

==External links==
*[http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/news.nsf/NewsArchive/3E65724825A6C989872571E20076AC76 Extensive review and commentary on the 2006 biography of Makhan Singh]
*[http://www.mashada.com/forums/politics/11905-contribution-asians-kenya-makhan-singh-crew.html From Mashada (Africa's online community): Contributions of Asians in Kenya—Mashan Singh]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Makhan}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Date of death missing]]
[[Category:Kenyan people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Kenyan trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:People from Nairobi]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to Kenya]]
[[Category:Kenyan people of Punjabi descent]]
[[Category:Kenyan Sikhs]]
[[Category:People from Gujranwala]]

Makhan Singh (trade unionist) - Revision history

Brock211211849: added initial biography and citations