What Is "The Song of the Stormy Petrel"?
- Why Justice Katju Believes India Needs a Revolution
- Role of Literature in Revolution: Gorky, Faiz, and Beyond
- The Symbolism of the Stormy Petrel in Revolutionary Struggles
Justice Katju reflects on Maxim Gorky's ‘The Song of the Stormy Petrel’ and its symbolic relevance to India’s need for socio-political revolution today.
The Song of the Stormy Petrel
By Justice Markandey Katju
I have often said that India needs a revolution to solve its massive socio-economic problems i.e. massive poverty and massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index, and the position is getting worse ), skyrocketing prices of food and other essential commodities, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc.
Such patriots require inspiration to do their heroic deeds, and such inspiration often comes from great literature, e.g. the works of Voltaire and Rousseau in France, the booklet 'Commonsense' by Thomas Paine in America, the novel 'Mother' by Maxim Gorky in Russia, and the poem 'Hum Dekhenge' by the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
'The Song of the Stormy Petrel ' ( see online ) was a poem written in March 1901 by the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and was one of such inspirations. It became the battle anthem of the coming Russian Revolution, just as ' La Marseillaise ' ( see online ) written in 1792 by Rouget de Lisle became the battle anthem of the French Revolution, and Bismil's song ' Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai ' became the battle anthem of the Indian Independence Struggle. It was a favourite of Lenin.
In 1901, Russia was under the despotic and autocratic rule of Czar Nicholas II. There was a strict press censorship, and it was dangerous to criticise the Czar or the government directly, so writers had to write allegorically, metaphorically, and symbolically ( just as the Urdu poet Faiz had to do during the martial law regime in Pakistan ).
A petrel is a bird, and ' The Song of the Stormy Petrel ' describes the brave and glorious flight of a petrel ( symbolising the revolutionaries ) wheeling below the dark sky ( symbolizing the gloomy conditions ), but high over the turbulent ocean waves ( symbolising the discontented masses ) during a storm ( symbolising the revolution ), when other birds like sea gulls ( symbolising the so called 'intellectuals' ), loons ( symbolising the middle classes ) and penguins ( symbolising the fat rich ) cower terrified in fear.
The stormy petrel is the harbinger of the coming tempest ( the revolution ), who sobs in ecstasy as he urges on the storm.
On publication in Russia in 1901, the impact of the poem was immediate and enormous. Everyone understood the symbolism, and millions of copies were made by hand and machines. The poem was read in all revolutionary meetings, to workers and students all over Russia, set to music and sung everywhere.
Before long, Gorky, whose sympathy for revolutionaries was well known, was arrested.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
