This paper sheds light on the creative interpretation of Ghadar’s legacy by the Marxist Punjabi movement in Pakistan, which began in the 1960s. Putting Ghadar di Goonj and Ghadar’s cultural politics into conversation with the work of these contemporary activists sheds light on unexplored facets of both. It unveils how these activists invoke Ghadar to subvert the narrow discourse of “Punjabiyat” and avoid being reduced to an ethno-linguistic and nationalist movement in a country where Punjab remains the dominant region, and allows an appreciation of the politics of language which underpinned Ghadri poetry. The intertwining of these histories of literary dissent reveals how Ghadar’s cultural politics connect with the Punjabi movement through an understanding of Punjabi as a working class language, and a vessel for subaltern consciousness and native traditions of revolt.