The Nanyang Revolution: The Comintern and Chinese Networks in Southeast Asia, 1890-1957

280 Pages·2019·4.772 MB·English

by  Anna Belogurova

The Nanyang Revolution
Inthisinnovativereading,thedevelopmentoftheMalayanCommunist
Party(MCP)isexploredinthecontextofanemergingnationalismin
Southeast Asia, the interplay of overseas Chinese networks and the
Comintern. Based on extensive new archival material, Anna
Belogurova shows how theMCP was shaped by the historicalcontin-
genciesofanti-imperialisminSoutheastAsia,long-termChinesemigra-
tiontrends,networks,identity,and theorganizationalpracticesofthe
Comintern. This is the story of how a group of left-leaning Chinese
migrantintellectualsengagedwithglobalforcestocreatearelevantand
lastingMalayannationalidentity,providingfreshinternationalperspec-
tives on thehistory of Malaysia, Chinese communism,the Cold War,
anddecolonization.
AnnaBelogurovaisaresearchfellowattheInstituteforChinaStudies,
theFreeUniversityofBerlin.

The Nanyang Revolution
The Comintern and Chinese Networks in
Southeast Asia, 1890–1957
Anna Belogurova
FreeUniversityofBerlin
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108471657
DOI:10.1017/9781108635059
©AnnaBelogurova2019
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Belogurova,A.E.(AnnaEduardovna),author.
Title: The Nanyang revolution : the Comintern and Chinese networks in
SoutheastAsia,1890–1957/AnnaEduardovnaBelogurova.
Description: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2018. |
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
Identifiers:LCCN2019004120|ISBN9781108471657
Subjects: LCSH: Malayan Communist Party – History. | Communist
International–History.|Malaysia–Politicsandgovernment–20thcentury.|
Communism – Malaysia – History. | Chinese – Malaysia – History – 20th
century. | China – Relations – Malaysia. | Malaysia – Relations – China. |
China–Politicsandgovernment–1912–1949.
Classification:LCCJQ1062.A98M36272018|DDC959.5/03–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019004120
ISBN978-1-108-47165-7Hardback
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accurateorappropriate.
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables pagevi
Acknowledgments vii
NoteonTransliteration xi
ListofTermsandAbbreviations xii
PartI RevolutionintheNanyang 1
1 Prologue:ADurianforSunYatsen 3
2 TheGlobalWorldofChineseNetworksinthe1920s:
TheChineseRevolutionandtheLiberationofthe
OppressedMinzu 17
3 TheNanyangRevolutionandtheMalayanNation,
1929–1930:Nations,Migrants,Words 48
PartII TheComintern,theMCP,andChineseNetworks,
1930–1935 81
4 TheMCPasaHybridCommunistParty:Structure,
Discourse,andActivity,1930–1934 83
5 TheComintern,Malaya,andChineseNetworks,1930–1936 115
PartIII TheGMD,theMCP,andtheNation:Minzu
Cultivated,MinzuLost 155
6 MinzuCultivated,1928–1940 157
7 Language,Power,andtheMCP’sLostNation,1939–1940 189
8 Epilogue 224
SelectedBibliography 237
Index 257
v
Figures and Tables
Figures
2.1 YangShanji,1924.CourtesyofRGASPI,Russia. page31
4.1 AChinesegardener,1930.CourtesyofNationalArchives
ofSingapore. 108
7.1 Anti-Britishdrawing,1940.CourtesyofNational
Archives,UK. 206
7.2 MCPpropagandaagainstthetradeunionregistration
ordinanceintroducedbythegovernmentoftheStraits
Settlementsin1939,ca.1940.CourtesyofNational
Archives,UK. 209
7.3 StreetsceneinSingapore,ca.1940.SingaporeFederation
oftheChineseClanAssociationsCollection.Courtesyof
theNationalArchivesofSingapore. 214
7.4 MCPpublication“Forward!”1939.CourtesyofRGASPI,
Russia. 219
Tables
3.1 Non-Chinesemembersincommunistorganizationsin
Malaya. 64
4.1 TheorganizationalstructureoftheNanyangProvisional
Committeein1928. 91
6.1 CYLmembership. 170
vi
Acknowledgments
Ihaveaccumulatedmanydebtsofgratitudewhileworkingonthisproject.
Itwouldnothavebeencompletedwithoutthehelpandencouragementof
many people, first and foremost my PhD advisor at the University of
British Columbia (UBC), Timothy Cheek, as well as my dissertation
committee members, Glen Peterson and John Roosa. I also owe much
tothelateIvanAvakumovic.
This project has been shaped by the intellectual atmosphere at UBC
andwithinthefieldofChinastudiesinBritishColumbiaingeneral,and
by conversations with my teachers and peers: Timothy Brook, Abidin
Kusno, Diana Lary, Hyung Gu Lynn, Paul Rae, Paul Evans, Alison
Bailey, Steven Lee, Daniel Overmyer, Carla Nappi, Jeffrey Byrne,
Jessica Main, Craig Smith, Alex Ong, Huang Xin, Li Hua, Jack Hayes,
TimSedo,DavidLuesink,JamieSedgwick,VictorZatsepine,Desmond
Cheung, Malcolm Thomson, Frederik Vermote, Dominic Yang, Colin
Green,TomPeotto,andthelateSusanHicks,aswellasJeremyBrownat
Simon Fraser University and Chen Zhongping at the University of
Victoria.
This project would also not have been possible without access to
sources in archives and libraries. My gratitude goes to Konstantin
Markovich Tertitskii, Moscow State University, for introducing me to
the Russian State Archive of Sociopolitical History (RGASPI), and to
those who helped me there: Valeriy Nikolaevich Shepelev, Svetlana
MarkovnaRozental,LarisaIvanovnaReshetilo,YuriyPetrovichIvanov,
ValentinaNikolaevnaShechilina,IuriTikhonovichTutochkin,andIrina
Nikolaevna Selezneva. My heartfelt thanks go to Liu Jing and Eleanor
Yuen at the UBC Asian Library, who warmly provided support with
Chinese sources over the years, as well as to UBC’s interlibrary loan
department.Ialsoextendmythanksforguidanceandhelpinaccessing
sources to Lin Hsiao-ting at the Hoover Archives, Paul Rae and Yeap
ChongLengattheNationalUniversityofSingapore,LuoBimingatthe
WangGungWuLibraryatNanyangTechnologicalUniversity,EijiKuge
at Harvard–Yenching Library, Zhang Changhong at the library of the
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Southeast Asia Research Centre at Xiamen University, and Li Li at the
XiamenOverseasChineseMuseum.
Ihavebeenfortunatetohavehadencouragementandimportantfeed-
back from Wen-hsin Yeh, Klaus Mühlhahn, Dominic Sachsenmaier,
Bryna Goodman, Liu Hong, John Fitzgerald, Xu Jilin, Shen Zhihua,
Joseph Tse-hei Lee, Josh Fogel, David Ownby, Verena Blechinger-
Talcott,HansvandeVen,JohnMcCole.BarbaraAndayaWatson,and
StephenAnthonySmith,aswellasLeslieJamesandElisabethLeakewho
notonlytookaninterestinmyprojectbutalsohelpedmetoarticulatemy
ideasandtoconveythemlegibly.IamindebtedtoBrooksJessupforhis
intellectualgenerosity.
Iamgratefultothosewholistenedtomyideasandreadmytextsatthe
KruzhokofRussianandAsianHistoryatLudwigMaximilianUniversity,
namelyTatianaLinkhoeva,AndreasRenner,andSörenUrbansky;atthe
EastAsianColloquiumatBrownUniversity,especiallyCynthiaBrokaw,
RebeccaNedostup,TamaraChin,KerrySmith,andWangLingzhen;in
the UBC China Studies Group, Global and Transregional Studies
PlatformattheUniversityofGöttingenin2017,especiallyFanXinand
LouApolinarioAntolihao.IalsothankAlexCookattheInstituteofEast
AsianStudiesatUCBerkeleyin2012;LeslieJamesandElisabethLeake,
SusanPennybacker,ArneOddWestad,andMartinThomasatthecon-
ference “Negotiating Independence: New directions in the History of
Decolonization and the Cold War” at Trinity College, Cambridge; and
Richard Chu, William McCarthy, and other co-panelists and the audi-
ence at the Philippine history panel at the annual meeting of the
Association for Asian Studies conference in Washington, DC, in 2013.
AtNanyangTechnologicalUniversity,ImustthankOngWeichong,Joey
Long,thelateMr.S.R.Nathan,LeoSuryadinata,andWangZhenping.I
alsothankWangGungwu,LeonComber,C.C.Chin,andGeoffWade,
as well as Huang Jianli and Portia Reyes at the National University of
Singapore, and Mario I. Miclat and Alma Miclat in Manila in 2013. I
thank my students at the University of Oregon and Brown University,
whowereoftenthefirsttohearsomeoftheideasthatwentintothisbook
andhelpedmerefinethemwiththeirquestions.
My thanks for support of my research in Fujian and Singapore in
December 2010 to Jiang Yihua at Fudan University; Wang Rigeng,
Chen Zhiping, Chen Yande, Zhao Haili, and Shi Xueling at Xiamen
University; Teng Phee Tan in Singapore; and He Qicai. My special
thanks go also to Hong Buren at the Xiamen City Library and to party
historian Chen Fang in Zhangzhou, who kindly shared his insights and
recollectionswithme,aswellastoZhangKanatXiamenUniversityand
Li Xuehua at the Fujian Provincial Centre of Overseas Connections