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CHAPTER I<br />
COMMUNIST ORGANIZATIONS PRIOR TO THE MCP<br />
Until <strong>the</strong> establishment of <strong>the</strong> Nanyang Provisional Committee, an MCP’s official document,<br />
published soon after <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> Pacific War, outl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>the</strong> party’s antecedents <strong>as</strong> follows: <strong>in</strong> 1925,<br />
a Com<strong>in</strong>tern branch w<strong>as</strong> established <strong>as</strong> a branch of <strong>the</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>Communist</strong> <strong>Party</strong> (CCP); <strong>in</strong> 1926,<br />
<strong>the</strong> Nanyang Local Committee (NLC, 南 洋 部 委 ) w<strong>as</strong> established; and <strong>in</strong> 1927, <strong>the</strong> Provisional<br />
Committee of <strong>the</strong> Nanyang <strong>Communist</strong> <strong>Party</strong> ( 南 洋 共 产 党 临 时 委 员 会 ) w<strong>as</strong> established at its First<br />
Representatives Congress. 1<br />
A somewhat different history of <strong>the</strong> MCP’s beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs, derived ma<strong>in</strong>ly from <strong>in</strong>terviews with<br />
numerous former leaders of <strong>the</strong> early communist movements <strong>in</strong> Malaya, h<strong>as</strong> been provided by<br />
C .F .Yong. In October 1926, <strong>the</strong> CCP set up <strong>the</strong> Nanyang Regional Committee (NRC; 中 共 南 洋<br />
区 部 委 员 会 ), subsequently renamed <strong>in</strong> April 1927 <strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nanyang Local Committee (NLC; 中 共<br />
南 洋 部 委 ), and <strong>in</strong> January 1928 <strong>the</strong> Nanyang Provisional Committee of <strong>the</strong> CCP ( 中 共 南 洋 临 时<br />
委 员 会 ) w<strong>as</strong> established. 2<br />
Utiliz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Com<strong>in</strong>tern <strong>Files</strong> for <strong>the</strong> first time, Kurihara Hirohide <strong>as</strong>serts that <strong>the</strong> first communist<br />
organization of Malaya w<strong>as</strong> formed <strong>as</strong> an overse<strong>as</strong> section of <strong>the</strong> CCP <strong>in</strong> 1925, and that <strong>the</strong> MCP<br />
set up its Siam Special Committee which w<strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> first communist organization of Thailand <strong>in</strong> 1927.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Nanyang Provisional Committee of <strong>the</strong> CCP, or <strong>the</strong> Nanyang <strong>Communist</strong> <strong>Party</strong> (NCP), w<strong>as</strong><br />
formed first. <strong>The</strong> NCP became an <strong>in</strong>dependent party, <strong>the</strong> MCP, <strong>in</strong> May 1930. 3<br />
In fact, <strong>the</strong> Com<strong>in</strong>tern files conta<strong>in</strong>ed documents with detailed <strong>in</strong>formation. Three records are<br />
especially important here – two files <strong>in</strong> Russian, and one <strong>in</strong> English. One of <strong>the</strong> Russian language<br />
file, dated 7 February 1942 and bear<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> names of three authors, namely, K. Vilkov (Вилков), A.<br />
Zhuz<strong>in</strong> (Зюзин), and D<strong>as</strong>hevskii (Дашевский), w<strong>as</strong> entitled, “Research report on <strong>the</strong> activities<br />
among overse<strong>as</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>in</strong> Malaya – made by reviewers of <strong>the</strong> Executive Committee (EC) of <strong>the</strong><br />
Com<strong>in</strong>tern b<strong>as</strong>ed on <strong>the</strong> data of 1939-1940”. This file w<strong>as</strong> bound with ano<strong>the</strong>r Russian language<br />
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