The Malayan Communist Party as Recorded in the Comintern Files

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CONCLUSION The MCP history as recorded in the Comintern Files may roughly be outlined as follows: 1. Behaviour and correspondence of the suspected persons were closely watched not only in Malaya but also in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Once a relevant person was arrested, all documents kept in his office as well as residence were seized. Once a letter was intercepted, persons as well as places addressed in a letter were kept watched. When the communists sensed the trap, they dared not approach the addressed places. Therefore, even if re-posted after interception, these letters seldom reached the recipients, that is, the Comintern or the MCP. Documents sent by the MCP and fortunately kept in Moscow are the ones which survived these strict surveillance. 2. In 1927, the First Congress of the South Seas (Nanyang) Communist Party was convened and the Provisional Committee was set up. Another contemporary document also said that it was inaugurated in early 1928. It was called the Nanyang Provisional Committee (NPC), the (Chinese) Communist Party of Malay Archipelago, or Malay Communist Party. On 2 May it convened a large-scale Enlarged Plenum that lasted for two weeks; subsequently, on 2 July, it held a Plenum. One of these two plena would be the Second Representatives’ Congress of the NPC. The core of the PC’s leadership was called the Presidium (or General Committee in C. F. Yong’s account). In early 1928, the NPC implemented so radical a strategy that it encountered serious repression. As a consequence of this ‘mistake’, the NPC was reorganized at the Plenum of 2 July 1928. While some members were expelled from the leadership, the others, though reprimanded and demoted, remained in the PC. Table 5 shows the top leaders of the NPC who were mentioned in the Comintern documents and in C. F. Yong’s book, the two sources being closely similar. From Yong’s information, it is known that most of the top leaders were arrested and deported soon after. Mainly due to the arrests of many NPC leaders, only a few of them were able to continue to lead the MCP. 3. Most contemporary Comintern documents stated that the MCP was formed at the Third Representatives’ Congress (Conference) of the NPC. As for the inauguration date of the MCP, the Party officially claims it to be 30 April 1930. C. F. Yong argues either early-mid April or late April 1930 because most of the MCP leaders were arrested on 29 April after they had been appointed. On the other hand, a Comintern document dated 1 May 1930 showed the Notice relating to the 128
Conclusion of the Third Congress of the Nanyang CP (meaning the inaugural Congress of the MCP). A document kept in a different file, which was referred to by Anna Belogurova, noted that the third representative conference of the NCP was held on 22-23 April. Another Comintern document dated 1 June 1930 noted that the inaugural Conference was convened on 21 May 1930 and suggested that the leaders who had been arrested on 29 April did not officially assume the MCP’s posts on their arrests yet. Ho Chi Minh who presided at the conference recalled the meeting had been held twice. It might be presumed from here that its preliminary congress seemed to have been convened on 22-23 April (tentative decisions were made) and the official Congress on 21 May 1930. 4. It has been considered that the Comintern and Ho Chi Minh directed the newly formed MCP to be a more multi-national (multi-ethnic) organization that would attach greater importance to organizing Malays and Indians. The Comintern documents showed that it had instructed the MCP to form a unified national party consisting of the various Malayan nationals (ethnic groups), including Malays, Chinese, Indians and so on. The idea of establishing a “Unity Party” comprising people who each retained their original nationality ( 国籍 ) was rejected. Subsequently, the Comintern instructed that the MCP should subsume all nationals under its organization, and non- Malays should leave the movements of their original countries. Evidently the MCP did not understand this conception which was why the Comintern continued to criticize the MCP for not sufficiently taking the concrete, practical Malayan situation into consideration. 5. After the MCP was established in 1930, the party dispatched several representatives to Shanghai to report about the situation of Malaya and, in return, receive instructions and funds from the Comintern’s FEB through the CCP. Here, Ho Chi Minh appeared to have played the role of a mediator while he lived in Shanghai and Hong Kong. But, due to the strict vigilance of the colonial authorities, it was difficult for the MCP representatives to contact the CCP, let alone the FEB. Because of this, the MCP time and again requested the Comintern to directly dispatch its representatives to Malaya to guide the movement. Thus Ducroux and his group of the FEB were sent to Singapore in 1931. So far, it was only argued that because the Comintern wanted to lead the MCP without intervention by the CCP. But actually it was realized not due to unilateral interests of the Comintern but due to bilateral ones with the MCP. With the arrest of the Ducroux group in Singapore in June 1931, the FEB personnel were likewise arrested and the FEB’s network was completely eliminated. That restricted MCP’s 129
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2016 NO. 1 The Malayan Communist Pa
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ISSUE: 2016 NO. 01 CONTENTS Preface
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I would also like to thank Professo
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List of Tables Table 1 Membership o
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Yong contended that the MCP’s ant
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While continuing my research at ISE
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13. Nandao zhi Chun (Spring of Sout
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document, dated 15 January 1942, si
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1. Establishment of the Nanyang Pro
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PC members, Wen Xin Ruo (Вень
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The CCP’s instruction was also sa
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In May 1930, under the guidance of
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(15) Tan Tiu-jeng, alias Tan Jui-se
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6. Changes in the Comintern’s Str
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(1) Name of the Party: for several
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Presidium (GC). From the Comintern
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Notes 1. Nandao zhi Chun (Spring of
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26. US National Archives & Records
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January 1931 (Ф. 495 оп.62 д.3)
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Soon after this conference [before
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Yong wrote that the MCP was founded
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imperialist can be driven out and t
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With regard to ((3)-(b)), “people
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and Indians, participated in a demo
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entitled “The principal demands o
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implemented. It is indispensable to
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conditions than the native workers.
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The MCP’s resolutions quoted abov
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4. Letter from Wang Yung Hai to the
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October 1929. In April 1931, the Co
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(4) Wang Yung Hai wrote in December
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and workers and peasants’ uprisin
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We are expecting, after the above m
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they had no connections with the Co
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It seemed rather strange that the u
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code; it was neither translated nor
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Details are below: (1) Socio-econom
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vii) Create opposition groups in th
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quotation marks] of the CCP and rem
Page 79 and 80: 6. Sophie, op., cit., p.169. This p
Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER V THE MCP AND THE COMINTERN
Page 83 and 84: 1932, demonstrations against the Bi
Page 85 and 86: We already have considerable organi
Page 87 and 88: Membership has not changed since si
Page 89 and 90: ecorded the arrest on 22 June 1934
Page 91 and 92: organisations should also participa
Page 93 and 94: Cruxes are shown first: (1) One del
Page 95 and 96: As to MCP’s delegates in Shanghai
Page 97 and 98: Extraordinaire: Lai Teck, Secretary
Page 99 and 100: CHAPTER VI THE MCP AND THE COMINTER
Page 101 and 102: was founded in early 1928, 11 the M
Page 103 and 104: (2) Shanghai Municipal Police Files
Page 105 and 106: The most important decision taken a
Page 107 and 108: workers were mobilized, the Chinese
Page 109 and 110: to “cooperate with Britain”. Th
Page 111 and 112: We should eliminate the danger of r
Page 113 and 114: turn favorable. Even though they ha
Page 115 and 116: of North Malaya insisted that only
Page 117 and 118: 9. Ф. 495 оп.62 д.30. / In its
Page 119 and 120: CHAPTER VII THE MCP AND THE COMINTE
Page 121 and 122: assembly, organisation, belief and
Page 123 and 124: (2) Characteristics of present stru
Page 125 and 126: (2) Middle-level cadres: Chi Cheng?
Page 127 and 128: Even among the overseas Chinese, th
Page 129: 8. Ф. 495 оп.62 д.28. 9. C.F. Y
Page 133 and 134: MCP and the so-called “Comintern
Page 135 and 136: the Japanese Army. Immediately afte
Page 137 and 138: when Lai Teck could not convince th
Page 139 and 140: Appendix List of Documents of the R
Page 141 and 142: Table 1. Membership of Trade Unions
Page 143 and 144: Wang Yung Hai (no Russian) 王永
Page 145 and 146: Table 3 Membership of the Communist
Page 147 and 148: Table 5 Leaders of the NPC & the ea
Page 149 and 150: 1-1 From the Comintern Table 6 Exch
Page 151 and 152: 24) 13 Jun. 1939 SC, MCP Resolution
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The Malayan Communist Party as Recorded in the Comintern Files

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