Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:04:03.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Origins and Development of the Malayan Communist Movement, 1919–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

C. F. Yong
Affiliation:
Flinders University of South Australia

Extract

Communism as an ideology was first introduced to Malaya by Chinese anarchists, and not by Kuomintang Left, Indonesian communists or Chinese communists as claimed in existing scholarship.1 A handful of Chinese anarchists arrived in British Malaya during the First World War to take up positions as Chinese vernacular school teachers or journalists. These Chinese intellectuals harboured not only anarchism but also communism, commonly known then as anarcho-communism.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Onraet, Rene, Singapore—A Police Background (London, Crisp, 1947), p. 109.Google Scholar Onraet regards KMT as being responsible for communist organizations in Malaya. Hanrahan, Gene Z., The Communist Struggle in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya Press, 1971), reprint, pp. 28–9. Hanrahan points to such Indonesian communists as Mas Alimin and Tan Malaka for being responsible for introducing communism to Malaya.Google ScholarMcLane, Charles B., Soviet Strategies in Southeast Asia (Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1966), p. 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar McLane concurs with Hanrahan's view. Brimmell, J. H., Communism in South East Asia: A Political Analysis (London, Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 92.Google Scholar Brimmell believes it was the Chinese Communist Party agents via Malayan Kuomintang branches who introduced communism to Malaya. Morrah, Patrick, ‘The History of the Malayan Police’, Journal of the Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society, xxxvi%, 2, 202, 1963, p. 146. Morrah is in agreement with Brimmell's analysis on this.Google Scholar

2 Scalapino, Robert A. and Yu, George T., The Chinese Anarchist Movement (Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1980), reprint, pp. 35, 39.Google ScholarDirlik, Arif and Krebs, Edward S., ‘Socialism and Anarchism in Early Republican China’, Modern China 7%, 2, 04 1981, pp. 131–7.Google Scholar

3 Dirlik, and Krebs, , ‘Socialism and Anarchism’, p. 133. Scalapino and Yu, Chinese Anarchist Movement, PP. 41–2.Google Scholar

4 Yik Khuan Poh, 1 November 1919.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24 July 1919.

7 Ibid., 9 Sept. 1919.

8 Ibid., 27 Nov. 1919.

9 Ibid., 1 Dec. 1919.

10 Ibid., 5. Jan. 1920.

11 Ibid., 14 May 1920.

12 Ibid., 5 June 1920.

13 Ibid., 5 July 1920.

14 Ibid., 30 Nov. 1920.

15 Ibid., 18 Dec. 1920.

16 CO 717/41/22708, Bomb outrage at Chinese Protectorate, Kuala Lumpur 23 April 1925, see Guillemard, L. N., High Commissioner, FMS, to L.C.M.S. Amery, Colonial Office, 23 April 1925, enclosing a memorandum on Anarchism among Chinese in British Malaya, by A. M. Goodman, Secretary for Chinese Affairs, FMS, dated 26 Jan. 1925, pp. 4–5; 7.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., p. 9.

18 FO 371/6686, FO ref. F3770/298/23, see Secret Abstract, Sept. 1921, Note No. 530, entitled ‘Communist Propaganda in Chinese Language in FMS’.Google Scholar

19 CO 273/517/49483, Malayan Bulletin of Political Intelligence (MBPI) 6 Aug. 1922, p. 1.Google Scholar

20 CO 537/919/59957, MBPI, 18 Nov. 1923, p. 4.Google Scholar

21 CO 537/916/48065, MBPI, 16 July/Aug. 1923, pp. 5–6. CO 537/925/54969, MBPI, 22 Sept. 1924, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

22 CO 537/912/30494, MBPI, 14 May, 1923, p. 2. CO 537/925/54969, MBPI, 22 Sept. 1924, p. 1.Google Scholar

23 CO 537/925/54969, MBPI, 22 Sept. 1924, p. 2.Google Scholar

25 CO 537/916/48065, MBPI, 16 July/Aug. 1923, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

26 Wei, Kuan, ‘The First KMT-CCP Concord and Peng Tse-min’, in Hua-ch'iao Hua-jen shih yen-chui chi (Peking, Hai-yang chu-pan-she, 1988), vol. 1, pp. 412–13.Google Scholar

27 FO 371/12456, FO ref. F2770/229/10, the Kuo Min Tang in Malaya, 1926, by A. Goodman and P. T. Allen, dated 8 Jan. 1927, p. 10. FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, Supplement to the Malayan Bulletin of Political Intelligence Singapore, 31 August 1928, pp. 2–3; 10.Google Scholar

28 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 3.Google Scholar

30 Republican China, Archival Documents Series: The First and Second Chinese National Guomindang Congress (Yangchow, Kiangsu Ku-chi chu-pan-she, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 526–7.Google Scholar

31 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 3.Google Scholar

32 Onraet, Singapore, p. 111.Google Scholar

33 FO 371/12456, FO ref. F2770/229/10, op.cit., p. 11.Google Scholar

35 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F1607/154/61, MBPI, 57, Feb. 1928, p. 1.Google Scholar

36 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F2930/154/61, MBPI, 59, April 1928, pp. 12.Google Scholar

37 CO 273/537/28053, Kuo Min Tang, 1927, see A. M. Goodman's quarterly report on the Kuo Min Tang in Malaya, dated 10 Aug. 1927, p. 12.Google Scholar

38 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 5.Google Scholar

39 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F4207/154/61, Malayan Revolutionary Committee, by R. Onraet, Director of Criminal Investigation Department, SS, 28 June 1928, p. 1.

40 Brimmell, Communism in South East Asia, p. 93. Hanrahan, Communist Struggle, pp. 31–2.Google Scholar

41 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 6.Google Scholar FO 371/13215, FO ref. F2994/214/10, Activities of Chinese secret societies in Malaya, see Kuo Min Tang and other societies in Malaya (continued), Jan–March 1928, by Ingham, R., dated 23 April 1928, p. 3.Google Scholar

42 FO 371/13215, FO ref. F2994/214/10, op.cit., p.3.Google Scholar

43 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5118/154/61, op.cit., p.6.Google Scholar

45 Brimmell, Communism in South East Asia, p. 93.Google Scholar

46 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 13. CO 273/542/52010, Kuo Min Tang, 1928, see Kuo Min Tang and other societies in Malaya (continued), July–Sept. 1928, by Ingham, R., dated 23 Oct. 1928, p. 6.Google Scholar

47 FO 371/13215, FO ref. F2994/214/10 op.cit., pp. 56.Google Scholar

48 CO 273/542/52010, op. cit., p. 6.Google Scholar

49 Nanyang Siang Pau, 9 Feb. 1928; 23 Feb. 1928. FO 371/13243, FO ref. F1607/154/61, MBPI, 57, Feb. 1928, pp. 23. FO 371/13243, FO ref. F394/154/61, MBPI, 60, May 1928, p. 1.Google Scholar

50 CO 275/121, Scott, John, ‘Report on the Straits Settlements for the year 1928’, Annual Departmental Report on the Straits Settlements for 1928 (Singapore 1929), p. 339.Google Scholar

51 FO 371/13962/199, Malayan Command Intelligence Notes (MCIN), 60, 6 Dec. 1928, pp. 34.Google Scholar

52 FO 371/13243, FO ref. F5518/154/61, op.cit., p. 6.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., p. 13.

54 Ibid., pp. 6; 9.

55 CO 273/542/52010, op.cit., p. 7.Google Scholar

56 FO 371/11698, FO ref. F1723/26/61, MBPI, 36, Feb. 1926, p. 7.Google Scholar

57 Palmier, Leslie, Communists in Indonesia (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973), p. 86.Google Scholar

58 Hanrahan, Communist Struggle, p. 29.Google Scholar

59 CO 273/535/28030, MBPI, 44, Oct. 1926, p. 3.Google Scholar

60 CO 537/934/35291, MBPI, 31, July 1925, p. 2.Google Scholar

61 FO 371/11698, FO ref. F3976/26/61, MBPI, 40. June 1926, p. 6.Google Scholar

62 FO 371/12515, FO ref. F2384/430/61, MBPI, 46, Dec. 1926, p. 3.Google Scholar

63 CO 273/539/28132, Revolutionary Propaganda: Methods of Counteracting, see L. N. Guillemard, SS Governor, to L. C. M. S. Amery, CO., 30 April 1927, pp. 12.Google Scholar

64 FO 371/11698, FO ref. F4721/26/61, MBPI, 41, July 1926, p. 5.Google Scholar

65 CO 273/564, Communist activities ( 1930), see ‘A report showing the connection between Chinese and non-Chinese concerned in communist activities in Malaya’, by R. Onraet, Director, Criminal Intelligence Department, Straits Settlements, 1 April 1930, p. 1.Google Scholar

66 Ibid., p. 3.

68 Hanrahan, Communist Struggle, pp. 37–8.Google Scholar

69 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

70 CO 273/564, see R. Onraet's letter to H. Fairburn, Inspector-General of Police, SS, Singapore, 1 April 1930, p. 1.Google Scholar

71 CO 273/566/72152, Secretary for Chinese Affairs, report for 1929, p. 3. CO 273/564/72074, Communist Activities, 1930, see Sir Cecil Clementi, SS Governor, to Lord Passfield Corner, CO., 2 April 1930, Enclosure 1: Extract from a minute by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, SS., A. M. Goodman, dated 27.3.1930.Google Scholar

72 CO 273/554/62010, KMT, 1929, see A. M. Goodman's ‘The Kuo Min Tang in Malaya (Continued)’, 4.4.1929, p. 8. CO 273/564/72074, op.cit.Google Scholar

73 CO 273/564/72074, op.cit.Google Scholar

74 McLane, Soviet Strategies, pp. 133–4.Google Scholar

75 CO 537/934/35291, MBPI, 31, July 1925, p. 2.Google Scholar

76 McLane, Soviet Strategies, p. 135.Google Scholar

78 Hanrahan, Communist Struggle, pp. 38–9.Google Scholar

79 Ibid., p. 39.

80 FO 371/17197, FO ref. F1191/61, MCIN. 75, Jan. 1933, see ‘Appendix A’, on ‘Communism in Malaya up to 1933’, p. 1.Google Scholar

82 The founding of both the Thai Communist Party in 1932 and the Burmese Communist Party in 1939 had less to do with Comintern directives.Google Scholar