The emergence of anarchism and the labour movement in Malaya

During the 1900s, Sun Yat-sen often visited the peninsula, where he organized branches of the Tongmenghui in Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca, with Penang acting as the organization's headquarters.^[13] Following the 1911 Revolution, the Tongmenghui reorganized itself into the Kuomintang. When it was banned by the British authorities, it continued its operations clandestinely: raising funds to aid the revolutionary effort in the newly established Republic of China, as well as organizing Chinese language schools and libraries in Malaya.^[14]

When the Second Revolution against the government of Yuan Shikai was defeated, Southeast Asia became the new center of activity for the Chinese labour movement, with branches of a new Workers' Union being established throughout Malaya.^[15] Chinese anarchists were leading figures in the Workers' Union, organizing from Penang a support base all over Southeast Asia.^[16] Liu Shifu launched a number of anarchist organizations in Malaya, including the "Society of Truth" and the "Society of Anarcho-Communist Comrades".^[17] Penang quickly became a hub for the publication and distribution of anarchist propaganda in Malaya.

After the dissolution of the short-lived Empire of China and the death of Emperor Yuan Shikai, a Third Revolution was launched by Sun Yat-Sen in South China, in an attempt to resist further rule by the central government. The Workers' Union moved its base of operations to the revolutionary capital of Guangzhou, where it organized the city's workers into industrial unions. Inspired by the organization of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Workers' Union established the "Industrial Federation of Overseas Chinese", in order to unite the Chinese labor movement across borders.^[18] This transformed the Malayan Workers' Union into the center of trade unionism in the country, spearheaded by the local anarchist movement.^[19]

According to the British authorities, membership of the Malayan Workers' Union had risen to 200,000 people by the close of the 1910s.^[20][21] British intelligence claimed that the Union was controlled by Chinese anarchist secret societies, and that investigations had revealed close links between the organizations in Malaya and China.^[22] The British banned the Malayan Workers' Union in 1919, so it merged its organizations with the Kuomintang and continued its trade union organizing underground.

The organized anarchist movement in Malaya

In 1919, a Chinese anarchist group from Guangzhou established the "Society of Truth" in Malaya.^[23] The group actively distributed anarchist literature throughout Southeast Asia, even producing some of its material in the Malay language.^[16] In March 1919, an anarchist circle in Kuala Lumpur began publishing the newspaper Yi Qunbao, printing a variety of materials on anarchism, anarcho-communism and Marxism.^[24][25]

The Malayan anarchist movement saw a significant upsurge as part of the May Fourth Movement, which had risen up in reaction to the cession of Shandong to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Versailles. According to one anarchist activist in Malaya, it was the impetus for a growth of class consciousness in the country.^[26] Workers and students participated in protests throughout Malaya, organized by the anarchist Society of Truth, escalating into protests, riots and boycotts.^[27] Yi Qunbao was at the forefront of spreading propaganda during the May Fourth Movement, characterizing the boycotts as "self-defense", the fight to overthrow the Beiyang government as "self-determination" and the goal of establishing anarcho-communism in China as "self-government".^[28] This propaganda was spearheaded by the anarchist Goh Tun-ban, who urged workers to establish a stateless and classless society through the means of a social revolution.^[29][30] For his part in openly publishing anarchist literature in Kuala Lumpur, Goh was interrogated by the British authorities, which arrested and deported him, along with other Chinese anarchist public figures.^[31][32]

Despite the repression and deportation of leading anarchist individuals, the organized anarchist movement continued to grow. In 1919, the Malayan Anarchist Federation was established and affiliated to the Society of Anarcho-Communist Comrades.^[33] The organization stated in its program:

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Community of Goods, Co-operation; each does what he can and takes what he needs: no government, laws or military forces, no landlords, capitalists or leisured class. No money, religion, police, prison or leaders, No representatives, heads of families, no person uneducated or not working: no rules of marriages, no degrees of high or low, rich or poor, and the method to be adopted is given by organization of comrades by means of communication centres, by propaganda in pamphlets, speeches and education, by passive resistance to those in power. Do not pay taxes, cease work, cease trade; by the method of direct action, assassinate and spread disorder. Anarchy is the great revolution"^[26]

The peak of the anarchist movement

By 1920, anarchist groups were operating in Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Seremban. Liu Kafei, the brother of Liu Shifu, was among the most prominent anarchists in Malaya at the time, alongside a number of school teachers.^[26] Chinese schools played a particularly important role in the propagation of revolutionary propaganda, leading the colonial administration to introduce a law compelling schools to register with the authorities. The British also noted that ties between the Kuomintang and the Malayan anarchist movement were strengthening, in part due to the actions of the "Shiyan Tun" group.^[34]

The Yi Qunbao continued to operate out of Kuala Lumpur, with Liu Kafei acting as editor-in-chief. He penned a column that analyzed the social events of the time, discussing the topics of free speech, education and the Russian Revolution, among others. Kafei openly advocated for an anarcho-communist society based on absolute freedom and equality.^[35][36]

In 1921, Malayan anarchists celebrated the country's first May Day, which continued with each passing year.^[26] New libertarian publications started to be distributed throughout the country, publishing translations of the works of Peter Kropotkin.^[26] In 1923, a branch of the Malayan Anarchist Federation was established in Penang, which organized a high school to provide the island's population with education. The British authorities monitored the situation in Penang, banning leading anarchists from teaching.^[16]

Anarchist activity rose to particular prominence in 1924, with a number of anarchists becoming public figures in Kuala Lumpur, Ampang, Ipoh, Penang and Seremban. Although the organization of the Anarchist Federation remained small, with about 50 active members,^[37] anarchism was widely influential among Chinese Malayans - particularly school teachers and print workers.^[26] A national congress of the Anarchist Federation was held in February 1924, during which they discussed the issues of organization, establishing schools and increasing anarchist agitation.^[16] Anarchist teachers subsequently began to actively agitate among their students and colleagues at the schools, while the number of street demonstrations increased. Many of these decisions brought the Malayan anarchists into conflict with the Chinese Anarchist Federation in Guangzhou, which did not approve of the new-found independence of the Malayan federation.^[38] Some of the participants of the congress were also arrested by the authorities, forcing some prominent members to flee into exile.^[16] Nevertheless, anarchist literature continued to be distributed among the workers and students of Malaya.^[39]

In January 1925, anarchists began to plan a series of assassinations in response to the colonial repression of the movement. In Penang, an attempted assassination of the governor Laurence Guillemard failed, which shifted the target towards other colonial authorities. The young anarchist Wong Sau Ying detonated an explosive device inside the Chinese protectorate at Kuala Lumpur, injuring two colonial officials. Wong was swiftly arrested and sentenced to 10 years in Pudu Prison, where she hung herself.^[16][40] After this attempt, the British colonial authorities intensified their repression against the country's left-wing movement, ordering the suppression of the Kuomintang and the Anarchist Federation. Many anarchist activists were arrested and deported. This blow proved too hard for the anarchist movement to recover from, and it went into remission, although some strands of syndicalism continued to hold influence.