01 August 2008
Freedom News: The Untold Story of the Communist Underground Publication
From 1948 to 1960, both Singapore and Malaya were engaged in a struggle with the Malayan Communist Party (M.C.P.) for the right to shape the political destinies of both countries. While the battle north of the Causeway took the character of an intense rural insurgency, in Singapore itself the British colonial authorities faced a sophisticated urban subversion campaign by the Singapore Communists targeted at restive Chinese students and workers. Against this backdrop the M.C.P. published a clandestine newspaper called Freedom News, which sought to mobilise political support for the Communist cause on both sides of the Causeway against the “British Imperialists” and persuade young Singaporeans and Malayans that World Communism represented the wave of the future.
‘Freedom News’ was from 1947 a clandestine newspaper published by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) that appeared in English and Chinese. It sought to mobilise political support for the Communist cause on both sides of the Causeway against the ‘British Imperialists’ and persuade young Singaporeans and Malayans that World Communism represented the wave of the future.
This volume presents, for the very first time, 26 issues of the newspaper, which circulated between 1949 and 1957, together with one decoy issue produced by the Special Branch in August 1951.
The long introductory essay is a discussion of the history of the MCP (founded in 1930), and of its leaders in the post World War II period. ‘Freedom News’ is a primary source of knowledge about MCP perspectives on political events and social problems including the 1949 estate unrest in Selangor and elsewhere, the 1956 Baling Talks, the 1955 Hock Lee Riots and other events of the period.
The volume includes a CD of all 84 issues of Freedom News in Chinese with accompanying English translations by the Special Branch.
From 1948 to 1960, both Singapore and Malaya were engaged in a struggle with the Malayan Communist Party (M.C.P.) for the right to shape the political destinies of both countries. While the battle north of the Causeway took the character of an intense rural insurgency, in Singapore itself the British colonial authorities faced a sophisticated urban subversion campaign by the Singapore Communists targeted at restive Chinese students and workers. Against this backdrop the M.C.P. published a clandestine newspaper called Freedom News, which sought to mobilise political support for the Communist cause on both sides of the Causeway against the “British Imperialists” and persuade young Singaporeans and Malayans that World Communism represented the wave of the future.
‘Freedom News’ was from 1947 a clandestine newspaper published by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) that appeared in English and Chinese. It sought to mobilise political support for the Communist cause on both sides of the Causeway against the ‘British Imperialists’ and persuade young Singaporeans and Malayans that World Communism represented the wave of the future.
This volume presents, for the very first time, 26 issues of the newspaper, which circulated between 1949 and 1957, together with one decoy issue produced by the Special Branch in August 1951.
The long introductory essay is a discussion of the history of the MCP (founded in 1930), and of its leaders in the post World War II period. ‘Freedom News’ is a primary source of knowledge about MCP perspectives on political events and social problems including the 1949 estate unrest in Selangor and elsewhere, the 1956 Baling Talks, the 1955 Hock Lee Riots and other events of the period.
The volume includes a CD of all 84 issues of Freedom News in Chinese with accompanying English translations by the Special Branch.
