The recent death of Fidel Castro has generated new discussions in the media about the end of Communism. In a recent CBC News interview, former prime minister Jean Chrétien even referred to Castro as the last Communist in the world.

But try telling that to the journalists at three Lower Mainland media outlets: Radical Desi, Mehak Punjab Dee, and People's Voice. 

They've put Russian Communist leader Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a.k.a. Vladimir Lenin, on the cover of their 2017 calendar.

It's in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Lenin-led successful Bolshevik revolution, which resulted in the creation of the Soviet Union and which inspired Communist movements around the world.

The calendar was unveiled earlier this month by visiting Indian social activist Anand Teltumbde at the offices of the People's Voice. 

Speakers at the event insisted that the Bolshevik revolution remains relevant in the struggle against imperialism and colonization of indigenous lands.

Russian revolutionaries, including Lenin, inspired many Indian nationalists in their efforts to force the British to eventually leave India after the Second World War

The event at the People's Voice also paid homage to Babu Harnam Singh Sahri, a founder along with Guran Ditta Kumar of the Punjabi journal Swadesh Sewak in Vancouver. 

According to one speaker, retired UBC professor Sadhu Binning, Swadesh Sewak was the first Punjabi language publication in Canada.

Babu Harnam Singh Sahri was also active in the pro-independence Ghadar Party, which was founded on North America's West Coast, until he was arrested and executed in Burma on November 14, 1916.

Swadesh Sewak was one of three radical Indian publications in Vancouver in the early part of the 20th century. A Bengali nationalist Named Taraknath Das launched the English-lannguage Free Hindusthan, which regularly criticized legislation that discriminated against Indian immigrants. In addition, Husain Rahim published six issues of The Hindustanee in 1914.

All of this is covered extensively in SFU professor emeritus Hugh Johnston's revised 2014 edition of The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada’s Colour Bar (UBC Press).

The event at the People's Voice office opened with a poem dedicated to the Russian Revolution. The publication's business manager, Hassan Azimikor, delivered the closing remarks.