Ideals and opinions

Influences

Singh was attracted to anarchism and communism. He was an avid reader of the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and Bakunin. Singh did not believe in the Gandhian ideology—which advocated Satyagraha and other forms of non-violent resistance, and felt that the politics of Gandhism would replace one set of exploiters with another. Singh was also an admirer of the writings of Irish revolutionary Terence MacSwiney. Some of his writings like Blood Sprinkled on the Day of Holi Babbar Akalis on the Crucifix were influenced by the struggle of Dharam Singh Hayatpur.

Anarchism

From May to September 1928, Singh published a series of articles on anarchism in a Punjabi periodical Kirti. He expressed concern over misunderstanding of the concept of anarchism among the public and tried to eradicate its misconception among people. He wrote, "The people are scared of the word anarchism. The word anarchism has been abused so much that even in India revolutionaries have been called anarchist to make them unpopular." As anarchism means absence of ruler and abolition of state, not absence of order, Singh explained, "I think in India the idea of universal brotherhood, the Sanskrit sentence vasudhaiva kutumbakam etc., has the same meaning." He wrote about the growth of anarchism:

"The first man to explicitly propagate the theory of Anarchism was Proudhon and that is why he is called the founder of Anarchism. After him a Russian, Bakunin, worked hard to spread the doctrine. He was followed by Prince Kropotkin etc."

Singh explained anarchism in the article:

"The ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence, according to which no one will be obsessed with God or religion, nor will anybody be crazy for money or other worldly desires. There will be no chains on the body or control by the state. This means that they want to eliminate: the Church, God and Religion; the state; Private property."

As regard the origin of God, my thought is that man created God in his imagination when he realized his weaknesses, limitations and shortcomings. In this way he got the courage to face all the trying circumstances and to meet all dangers that might occur in his life and also to restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence. God, with his whimsical laws and parental generosity was painted with variegated colours of imagination. He was used as a deterrent factor when his fury and his laws were repeatedly propagated so that man might not become a danger to society. He was the cry of the distressed soul for he was believed to stand as father and mother, sister and brother, brother and friend when in time of distress a man was left alone and helpless. He was Almighty and could do anything. The idea of God is helpful to a man in distress.

— Bhagat Singh, Why I am an Atheist

Martyrdom

Singh was known for his appreciation of the concept of martyrdom. His mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha, whose photo he always carried in his pocket. Singh is himself considered a martyr for acting to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. In the leaflet he threw in the Central Assembly on 9 April 1929, he stated: "It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled, while the ideas survived." After studying the Russian Revolution, he wanted to die so that his death would inspire the youth of India which in turn will unite them to fight the British Empire. While in prison, Singh and two others had written a letter to Lord Irwin, wherein they asked to be treated as prisoners of war and consequently to be executed by firing squad and not by hanging. Prannath Mehta, Singh's friend, visited him in the jail on 20 March, four days before his execution, with a draft letter for clemency, but he declined to sign it.

Fond of books

Bhagat Singh was fond of reading books. Whether it be the Das Capital written by Karl Marx or some novel of Maxim Gorky or Charles Dickens or any other book of Ravindra Nath Tagore; he used to read it always. Even on 23 March 1931 just before his hanging he was reading the autobiography of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil in the condemned cell of Lahore jail.