In the global ideological movements of the early twentieth century, notably communism, new political concepts moved across different cultures. Together with the process of internationalization, this led to problems concerning the translation and interpretation of linguistic terms. Based on little-studied sources deposited in the Comintern archive in Moscow, this article shows that, although the members of the newly formed Malayan Communist Party (1930) were virtually all Chinese, it became the first organization to discuss directly the possibility of a multi-ethnic Malayan nation within the borders of the Malay Peninsula. As the Comintern encouraged the establishment of ‘national’ communist parties, the ambiguity of the Chinese word minzu resulted in the emergence of a discourse regarding the Malayan ‘nation’, which would be liberated from colonialism under communist leadership.
In the late 1920s, the overseas chapters of the Chinese Communist Party allied with the Third Communist International (Comintern)'s pursuit of world revolution and made efforts to take part in anti-colonial movements around the world. As Chinese migrant revolutionaries dealt with discrimination in their adopted countries, they promoted local, Chinese, and world revolutions, borrowing ideas from various actors while they built their organizations and contributed to the project of China's revival. This article offers a window into the formation of globally connected Chinese revolutionary networks and explores their engagement with Comintern internationalism in its key enclaves in Berlin, San Francisco, Havana, Singapore, and Manila. These engagements built on existing ideas about China's revival and channeled localization needs of the Chinese migrant Communists. The article draws on sources deposited in the Comintern archive in Moscow (RGASPI), as well as on personal reminiscences published as literary and historical materials (wenshi ziliao).
The short history of the Taiwanese Communist Party (Taiwan gongchandang 台 灣 共 產 黨) (1928–1931) offers a window into the negotiative polity of international communism during the Third Period (1928–1934). The Party was established during the time when the Comintern intensified its operations in colonies and promoted the organization of communist parties there. Its demise was the result of government suppression that occurred as a reaction to their increased public activity in 1931, allegedly at the direction of the Comintern. This paper examines the Comintern's role in the Taiwanese communist movement and shows that the Taiwanese communists were active agents (rather than passive tools) in their relationship with the Comintern.
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