STRATEGIES OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT AND THE MALAYAN COMMUNIST PARTY (MCP), 1920-1989

Abstract

The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), which traces its roots to the 1920s, adopted various strategies to spread its ideology among the masses. As early as the 1920s, the communist movement employed the ‘United Front’ strategy by using the Kuomintang party and Chinese schools, organisations and publications as means to spread its influence. After the establishment of the MCP in 1930, the communist strategy was to exploit the prevailing conditions such as the economic recession and the Sino-Japanese War to increase their influence among the people. During the Japanese occupation the ‘United Front’ strategy was again utilised, this time the MCP cooperated with the British against Japan. The same strategy was used in the post-war period by the MCP in their alliance with left-wing organisations against the returning British in Malaya, but it ended in failure. At the same time, the MCP attempted to control the labour unions but this too was not successful. The setbacks faced by the MCP forced it to adopt a more militant strategy via armed struggle. This article examines the various strategies used by the MCP between 1920 and 1989 to spread their influence among the populace.