The Malayan Communist Party as Recorded in the Comintern Files

While continuing my research at ISEAS, I could get access to the microfilms of the “Shanghai
Municipal Police Files (SMPF), 1894-1949”. It was originally kept at the US National Archives
and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.. The Central Library of National University of
Singapore (NUS) keeps its SMPF microfilms (67 reels) and a volume of its guide (precise title of
each file is shown in this guide). These files contain information relating to the MCP. The British
Special Branch obtained these information through crackdowns of Comintern-related activities in
Shanghai. To my disappointment and regret, the original files dealing with Hiraire Noulens and
Joseph Ducroux, which were inscribed in the guide, were not printed in the microfilm. Noulens was
the head of the clandestine Comintern office in Shanghai and Ducroux was dispatched to Singapore
by him. Both were arrested in 1931. Nonetheless, various interesting information were obtained
from these files.
In order to compare the Comintern documents and the Shanghai SB information, the latter will be
examined after probing the former in the relevant year.
To recapitulate, Hara Happo translated the Russian and German-language documents into
Japanese while Hara Motoo translated the French-language documents into Japanese. I translated
summaries of the Japanese translations into English for the present work. Hence, unless otherwise
stated, the summaries of most documents, including original English ones, were prepared by me. If
summaries were considered too long, cruxes were shown first for each, and then followed by
detailed summaries.
In summaries or direct quotations, notes by the original authors of the documents are placed within
( ) while my own notes are placed within [ ].
It is difficult to precisely translate minzu ( 民 族 ) into English. Usually it can be translated as nation,
but “nation” means a state as well. When “minzu” is translated as nation, we cannot make out
whether it means a group of people or a state. To avoid confusion, scholars are inclined to use
“ethnic group” or race. The words “ethnic” or “ethnicity”, however, began to prevail comparatively
recently. They were scarcely used in the period examined here. “Race” was a biological
terminology that social scientists, especially Marxists including the MCP, have avoided using. In
this work, the present author will use “national” to mean “minzu”, except specifically noted
otherwise.
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