Learning From the "Old Left"

1968-78 was a period of convergence between the old and the new generations of activists in the Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese communities. A new common cause developed between the two generations, one in their elderly years, the other youths coming of age. The older generations were veterans of past struggles. In their youth during the 1920’s they had faced exclusion laws and anti-Asian racism. In the 1930’s they fought against hunger and unemployment during America’s severe economic depression. Filipino, Japanese and Chinese workers fought to unionize the low wage industries alongside their fellow American workers. In World War II, Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese Americans served in the American military, while Japanese Americans were forcibly interned in concentration camps. And during the 1950’s Korean War and the U.S. Cold War against China and the Soviet Union, the Chinese American immigrants were persecuted by the McCarthy confession program, facing deportations and denial of citizenship rights. By 1968, the old left found new hope in the youthful Asian Americans coming back to the community.

The Asian American new left emerged from the TWLF strikes in the surrounding Bay Area campuses. Seeking guidance in community politics, the young activists sought and received support from the revitalized old left. Chinese, Japanese and Filipino student activists within Chinatown, Manilatown and Japantown found generational contacts with the old left. Asian American pan-ethnic politics had to adapt to new conditions that were much more ethnic-specific. As political organizing focused on specific ethnic communities, there were new tensions that challenged the validity of Asian American pan-ethnicity. At the same time, young Asian American activists established valuable working relationships with older community members whose experiences dated back to the pre-World War II period.

Although the old and new left had vastly different experiences, the rise of a new social movement in America created conditions for the elderly and youthful activists to form a solidarity that dramatically weakened the grip of conservative politics in their communities. With this new solidarity, a progressive voice emerged, successfully challenging a conservative political structure that had seriously hampered the political freedoms in the Asian American communities. The results were nothing short of a political awakening that helped bridge the gap between the earlier movements of the 1930's, 40's and the new activism of the late 1960's and 70's. This inter-generational merger provided an important contribution to the maturation of Asian American activism.

Chinatown “Home Country” Politics and the Asian American Movement

In Chinatown the politics of the old left was essentially home country nationalism. Its goals were to free the Chinese ancestral home country from the shackles of colonialism and feudalism. Their nationalism stemmed from the colonial experience in China and their experience as a racially excluded minority in the U.S. In addition, many Chinatown old left had been active in the American labor movement and also saw themselves as part of an international working class movement. Other Chinatown old left progressives who were non-workers; including students, professionals and business entrepreneurs, saw support for China as part of the overall responsibility of overseas Chinese. Their nationalism was also fueled by racial exclusion in the U.S. During World War II, these older ‘left’ forces conducted numerous fundraising and other support functions to defend China against Japanese militarism and later to support the newly established People’s Republic of China (PRC). These campaigns instilled within the old left the belief that they were overseas Chinese and “home” was on both shores of the Pacific.

The old left also believed in integration into mainstream institutions in America, including labor unions and other professions. They formed organizations in the 1920’s, such as Min Qing (MQ, a Chinese student club); Chinese Workers Mutual Aid Association (CWMAA); and Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance (CHLA), which encouraged their membership to work for democracy in China as well as for Chinese Americans in America. The organizations provided self-help services for immigrant newcomers, social and cultural functions for youth, writing clubs, music clubs and employment searches.

Following are excerpts from the Wei Min newspaper written by or about the experiences of this older generation of Chinatown activists.

Song of the Chinese Workers 1938

(cartoon: anti-chinese riot)

Wei Min 1973-April vol 2 no 6 page 9

(the following poem was written in 1938 and reprinted in the Wei Min Chinese language setion in 1973. In 2008 it was translated from Chinese into English)

"In Celebration of May 1^st and May 4^th

"SONG OF THE CHINESE WORKERS

"This poem is taken from a thirty-five years-old publication titled “Mutual Aid.” It was a monthly publication of the “California Chinese Worker Mutual Aid Association.”

"We are reprinting this poem in celebration of the upcoming May 1^st and May 4^th holidays. May 1^st is the holiday of the laboring masses. May 4^th is the special day to commemorate the new art and literature. To publish this poem written by a worker is a meaningful commemoration of both holidays.

"We are reprinting this poem to also remind readers not to be fooled by the present-day silliness. The current newspapers that are full of social gossips and writings that are bordering on illiterate (and?) cannot be seen as the measure of the literary standard of the Chinese American community.

"Those crass, low-level 'literature', with a hint of something rotten, can only represent the few good-for-nothing literati and their financial backers.

"We must never forget that the majority of those who built the Chinese American community are the laboring masses. They, and only they, can truly represent the Chinese community. They, and again only they, can create literature with a high standard. This poem is a perfect example!

"In this poem, we do not see fanciful bellyaching nor do we see subservient coyness. What we see are words that are pure and simple but full of feelings. What we see are the blood and sweat in between the verses. What we see are the passing of darkness and the coming of a bright future.

"This poem brings forth the yearnings of workers who make up the majority of the Chinese community and pours forth a heroic spirit that can battle heaven and earth. This is where we must set the standard for Chinese American literature. Let’s share this poem in celebration of May 1^st and May 4^th."

Song of the Chinese Workers

Long before 1938,

our forefathers set sails,

across oceans, forsaking homeland,

arriving on the soil of America.

Oh the America of that time, still barren,

mountains after mountains, sparsely inhabited;

oh through the toil of our forefathers,

it became the cities and skyscrapers of today!

Look, which piece of land, forest and mine,

not dripping the blood of our forefathers, flowing their sweat?

Look, which railroad, farm and factory,

not built by their hands?

With the shrills of the foreman’s whistle,

they would carry their hoes, lift their shovels,

stepping into early dawn,

hastily, breaking the horizonless ground of sandy deserts and barren hills.

Laboring the days away without concept of time,

yet without a thread of regret;

even if a little sadness surface, what can one do but to swallow that whole,

this is how they were stripped of their youth, and robbed of their remaining years!

How would they know:

their sweat and blood would turn into the chains that enslave them?

How would they know:

their labor only goes to fatten someone else’s belly!

Looking back a century later,

we set sails again across the ocean to foreign shores,

but, we will not be as dumb,

we will not follow in the footsteps of our forefathers!

We will not travel down the

dark and endless path,

let me tell you, blood-sucking devil,

don’t even think of using us again to forge your private right to power!

We are already a people with consciousness and organization,

we’ve already learned how to live, how to struggle, to unite for survival,

from today on, we are no longer docile slaves,

we will unite with American workers to build a link that is inseparable!

Sometimes there will be scoundrels formed within our ranks,

who complains of your dark complexion, or your colorful hair,

but these are the yellow canines under bribes,

who long ago have lost their ability to hide within our rank.

We have already seen through the traps that our enemy set,

we will no longer blindly march;

things that we create, we will enjoy for ourselves,

as long as we determine to struggle, the bright future is at our feet.

Our blood, will wash away the weakness of our forefathers,

our lives, will lock in scourging battle with the enemies!

We have solidified into a chain of fortresses,

Having the stamina of a fighting bull, our strength can hold up the sky!

We cannot despair because of small setbacks,

and certainly cannot be conceited because of small victories,

we must maintain a spirit of always getting back up after a tumble,

make our enemy, no matter how fierce, submit!

At this moment, the bandit of the East has viciously invaded our homeland,

countless sufferings and hardships are upon us;

we must sacrifice ourselves: to protect our motherland,

to build a new society!

-------

Learning from the Old Timers in ACC: 1974

Chinatown

Workers

1920-1930

Unemployment

Fight

Wei Min

article 1974

A page from the Revolutionary History of Chinese in S.F

“A Page from the Revolutionary History of Chinese in San Francisco” was written by an active participant in the revolu­tionary workers’ movement in the San Francisco Chinese Community during the 1920’s and 1930’s. This series focuses on the early struggle of the Chinese working people against unemployment and police repression, and for unity among all working people.

This is a translation of the original. Chinese text.

"HOLDING HIGH THE RED BANNER

The Chinese people in San Francisco through the influence and experience of the Chinese revolution had come to learn the Three People’s Principles and the Three Policies of Sun Yat-sen as the road to victory for the national democratic revolution in China. At the same time, the revolutionary young Chinese workers saw through the internal power struggle of the Kuomjntang (KMT) stationed in the U.S. They refused to be involved in such notorious activi­ties. In 1926, they independently or­ganized the Three People’s Principles Study Association located on the third floor of a building on Kearny Street. It was there that the “blue-sky, white-sun, red-earth flag (KMT flag) was raised for the first time in the Chinese community. In the same year, revolu­tionary Chinese students organized the Chinese Students Association. Members of both these organizations participated in the San Francisco anti-.imperia1ist movement and became the nucleus of the Chinese Revolution.

On April 27, 1927 after Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the Chinese Revolution and surrendered to imperialism and feudalism, the KMT in the U.S. openly spilt into the “left” and right factions. The ‘left” faction set up its own party headquarters and started its own daily newspaper, Kuomin Yatpo. on Sacramento Street. After Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei factions acted collusion, Communist members in the left faction of the KMT…withdrew from the KMT. They independently organized the Chinese Anti-imperialist League and joined forces with the Three People’s Principles Study League and Chinese Student Association for the struggle.

After the failure of the Canton Commune in 1927, the Three People’s Principles Study League was changed into the Kung Yu Club (a worker’s club). From then on the revolutionary movement of the San Francisco Chinese took great strides forward, and wrote a brilliant and glorious page in the history of revolutionary Chinese in America.

A MOVEMENT AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT

In 1929, the United States sank into an economic crisis of such enormous scale that it shook the entire capitalist world. The stock market collapsed. Enterprises and factories closed down in large numbers. Fields were allowed to lie idled. More than 5 million industrial and agricultural workers were thrown into lengthy unemployment, without any means of livelihood. The monopoly capitalist class, seeing the growing number of unemployed and, the increasing sharpening of class contradiction .and class struggle, used every means possible to suppress and to divide the working class, to destroy its unity.

They tried to prevent and to paralyze the heightening of its political consciousness. A favorite method was to use racial discrimination --minority workers in various trades were replaced with white workers - This occurred even in the lowly menial, jobs in laundries, hotels, and domestic households. The unemployment rate among the San Francisco Chinese in 1930 was over 4000, more than 25% of the SF Chinese population.

In the past, due to the lies of U.S. imperialism added to the strong age old influence of feudal family and class attitudes, the class consciousness of the Chinese workers in SF was not high. When they were faced with unemployment, they only blamed fate. Furthermore their attitude o worshipping the U.S. instilled in them many illusions about U.S. capitalism. Therefore, although they were personally suffering, they could not immediately take up the struggle against capitalism.

But, the revolutionary elements within the Chinese community had a historical task to carry out. They could not allow the Chinese laboring masses to continue to live in a world of fantasy. They had to organize the Chinese unemployed workers to heighten their class consciousness through education, to work together with the working masses of every race and nationality, to wage the class struggle and to fight unemployment. Thus, these became the tasks of the Kung Yu Club.

In the summer of 1930, unemployment in the U.S. grew even more serious. The Kung Yu Club, under the leadership of the revolutionary Trade Union Unity League, began to make speeches on the street corners to the masses to expose the contradictions in capitalism and the causes of unemployment; to argue against collaboration of classes; to point out the direction of struggle and the method to resolve the unemployment problem.

At the beginning, the audience was not numerous. (The police was contemptuous about the effectiveness of the of the Kung In Club speeches.)

Then the police were sent in to halt the speeches. Police used blocking traffic as a pretext to stop the speeches and to disperse the crowd.

But the speakers were not daunted by the show of force by the police. They stood their ground and insisted upon holding the meeting on the spot. They retorted to the police with such questions as: “why do you only let Christians spread Christianity on this spot? Why should we workers, who built this road, have no right to use it?’ Thus, the speakers exposed the pseudo-democracy, freedom of speech of U.S. imperialism. They pointed out that the reactionary government of the U.S. only protected the interests of the capitalist class and suppressed the working class. The propaganda team called out to the audience to support, to continue to fight unemployment, to struggle against the police, and to continue their propaganda work

One night in 1930, towards the end of April, while the Club’s propaganda team was making speeches on the streets, more than ten policemen appeared and violently dragged a speaker off the platform. Immediately a second speaker replaced him on the platform. Again, as he was dragged away, a third speaker instantly took his place. By then more and more people gathered around. When the masses saw how the police repeatedly dragged the speakers off, they showed their indignation and then began to demonstrate. Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, the police arrested two speakers, took them to a lonely spot and then released them after giving them brutal beatings.

KMT COLLABORATES W/ U.S. IMPERIALISTS TO CRUSH THE UNITY OF WORKERS

After the unemployed workers propaganda team was beaten up by the police, a few from the Kung Yu Club began to waver under the police pressure. They felt that the club should not continue activities in the open. But the majority was against this defeatist viewpoint. They felt..that after the propaganda sessions and the struggle with the police, people’s political awareness had increased, and .thus conditions had been developed for further organization work. They decided to mobilize individuals with whom they had worked and to make home visits.

The objective was to seek out unemployed workers whose awareness was relatively higher, to patiently do educational work and to conscientious1y develop a group of leading.elements. After a period of difficult and careful work, more than ten such individuals were developed. Thus, together with members of the Kung Yu Club, they formed the core for the Unemployment Council Preparation Committee to fight unemployment.

A basement in the 800 block of Washington Street in SF was rented as an office for the Committee to register the unemployed. Through much investigation and registration of unemployed people, a greater understanding of the living conditions of unemployed people was attained. The Committee conducted political education on an individual basis. Unemployed workers were inspired to voluntarily ask to join the Unemployment Council.

After two months, more than a thousand workers had registered. When the capitalists heard of the growing number of unemployed workers registered with the Committee, they became worried at the growing strength of the organized masses and tried to come up with various methods to destroy the group. They collaborated with the U.S. General Branch of the Kuomintang (KMT-Chinese Nationalist Party) in the U.S.

The KMT sent special agents, gamblers, opium dealers, secret society hoodlums and the like to infiltrate the Unemployment Council Preparation Committee. The infiltrators never had any credibility in the Chinese community anyway, but they spread reactionary rumors to try to frighten and split the masses.

Some of the rumors were that if you joined the struggle against unemployment, the U.S. government would interfere…that you would have difficulty finding a job in the future and run the risk of being deported. Another rumor was that white workers were using Chinese workers and the fruit gained in the struggle would be reaped by white workers only. The KMT spread ideas like racial differences between white and Asian workers are primary and that there is no such thing as common class interests. They tried to crush the growing class unity of Chinese, white and other workers.

At first, no direct attacks were made against these reactionary elements. Instead, their reactionary words and deeds were collected and mass discussion groups were organized. Class analysis was used to help people to understand the true nature of’ these reactionary rumors. This led the people to want to get after the reactionary dogs who were spreading such rumors.

Later, when the people saw through the KMT conspiracy, they openly confronted the KMT and exposed the members as lackies of U.S. Imperialism who were sent into spy on and disrupt the revolutionary worker’s movement. The people became very angry. They isolated the KMT and finally expelled the reactionary agents in the Committee.

THE FOUNDING OF THE CHINATOWN UNEMPLOYMENT COUNCIL

After the failure of the disruptive infiltration of U.S. imperialists and the KMT, the capitalists adopted open repressive measures. Police were sent to search the homes of several leaders of the Committee. They used the pretext that “non-U.S. citizens were participating in political activities in violation of the U.S. Constitution.” They arrested the leaders, hoping this tactic would intimidate the Preparation Committee members and halt the further development of the U.S. workers movement.

But the arrest of the leaders only led the masses to greater militancy. Other people on the Preparation Committee became more active and further developed the movement. More and more workers joined the Committee.

Two weeks after the leaders were jailed, the International Labor Defense freed them on $2,000 bail while they were awaiting trial. When the leaders returned to the office of the Unemployment Council Preparation Committee, there were already more than 2,000 unemployed workers who had registered with the Committee. The founding of a Chinatown Unemployment Council then became a central task.

In the autumn or winter of 1930, after planning for more than ten days, the Great China Theater was rented for the founding ceremonies. On the day of the event, employed and unemployed Chinese workers alike enthusiastically participated. The auditorium was completely packed. People who came late had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the aisles. The workers’ class spirit was high.

Sgt. Manion, the head of the Chinatown Detail Squad, made a special trip to the theater to spy on the proceedings, intending to disrupt them. But the number and support of the people at the ceremony was enormous. Also, there was tight security by the Committee, so the Sergeant could never make any move.

With the founding of the Chinatown Unemployment Council, the KMT saw that Chinese workers were rising up and casting away KMT influence to wage. a determined struggle against U.S. imperialism. The KMT was very worried and immediately started disruptive actions.

The KUO MIN YAT PO of the Wang Ching-wei clique published a short editorial attacking the Unemployment Council as being “controlled by communists who wanted to exploit the situation for their own gains.” This angered Unemployment Council members as well as people outside the Council. The Standing Committee immediately called a meeting of the representatives. The participants unanimously condemned and exposed the evil and disruptive designs of the KMT. They accused the KMT of selling-out the national interest or China by collaborating wth the imperialists and feudal forces, murdering workers and oppressing the people.

At the same time, the KMT abroad was accused of collaborating with U.S. imperialism against the welfare of overseas Chinese and especially workers. The KMT adopted an attitude of casting stones at the victim after he fell into a well.

The representatives at the meeting were indignant. They unanimously passed a resolution to send representatives to KUO MIN TAT PO to protest and to demand a public apology. Under the mass pressure, the newspaper had no choice but to accept the demands of the Unemployment Council and publish a public apology.

Through this struggle, the concrete experience of mass action, helped to clearly understand the reactionary nature of the KMT. At the same time it heightened the class consciousness of the masses in recognizing the absolute necessity to struggle against the enemy and in strengthening their confidence in victory.

(KUO MIN YAT PO – CHINESE DAILY, a newspaper originally started by the ‘left’ faction of the KMT, but later fell into the hands of the reactionary wing.)"

"How did the National Unemployed Council form?

MR. WONG: It was led by the Communist Party and the left. It was they alone among the Americans who accepted Chinese. After the big Hunger March, Chinese workers participated in a contingent in MAY DAY celebrations every year. MAY DAYS involved Spanish and Italians as well as other workers.

What were some of the slogans that you remember of the MAY DAYS?

MR LEE: The main thing then was “ORGANIZE THE UNORGANIZED”. At that time there was a union leader, Tom Mooney. The police put him in jail for 20 years until he got freed. And there was a big campaign to “Free Ton Mooney”. This issue was taken up by all working people across the country.

MR. WONG: One of the slogans was ‘WQRK OR WAGES’. Other issues raised during the MAY DAY’s were: “FIGHT AGAINST IMPERIALIST WARS. SUPPORT COLONIAL PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES, DEFEND THE SOVIET UNION—the only workers state which has now turned capitalist, and the fight for jobs, housing, and against speedups and lay-offs. Also the campaign to free Tom Mooney and the Scottsboro Boys-9 black youths falsely accused of rape. It was an international campaign led by the left to free them. Chinese workers saw that this oppression on minorities was similar to that in Chinatown. Chinese knew they must link up with others.

Last year both of you participated in the MAY DAY celebration held in Oakland. How do you feel about building for this year’s MAY DAY?

MR. LEE: Well, it won’t be hard to get support. Now you’ve got the Jung Sal workers’ support, the Lee MAH workers’ support. What we’ve seen in the last year was a great year—a big year. We leaned from the Jung Sai and Lee MAH workers. We can see from International Women’s Day. It was held in so many places. We can join up with people outside of Chinatown. We can also have a celebration in the Chinese Cultural Center and have a sound truck go around Chinatown.

MR. WONG: Last year’s MAY DAY (at San Antonio Park, Oakland) of about 1,000 is the biggest in the Bay Area since the 1930’s. Because of inflation and unemployment, we must unite and fight the growing fat on the capitalist. Hunger is not the only problem. We must see all the struggles as linked. We need to emphasize on housing, health, and education; and the working class to take the lead as the strongest class. Also we should point out the struggle between the two imperialist powers (the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Ed.) and the possibility of another world war.

Why do you think it’s so important that workers and other people in Chinatown know about MAY DAY and help build it?

MR. LEE: MAY DAY is the biggest day of the year. It’s a working people’s day. If we didn’t have that, how would we have the 8-hour day? See what we have today? A lot of people fought and gave their lives for that. You can see in China, it’s a people’s government. Over here we are oppressed every day, like people can’t find jobs; prices are high, no education, many things are disappointing for us. That’s why we have to fight—everyday! You know a lot of old -people after they retire, don’t participate in anything. I think old people should take part in the work. To build revolution, you have to work to the last day!"

A GOOD OVERSEAS CHINESE 1973

Wei Min (written in Chinese, translated 2008 into English)
1973-Feb vol 2 no 5, page 9

WM Editor (This was submitted to WM by “Uncle Do.” This was his summation of his life. It mentioned several historical facts that were of major significance: (1) his answering the call to join the US Army to fight fascism and (2) US government’s persecution of the Chinese American “left” through the “Confession Program” in the late 1950’s through the ‘60’s.)

Letter from a reader….

A GOOD OVERSEA CHINESE - by Do

“People’s life in pre-liberation days in Canton was very difficult. The future was bleak for the young generation growing up. Many, many young men wanted to find ways to immigrate to the U.S. to improve their lot. But due to the cruelly restrictive U.S. immigration laws of the time, the most likely route was to spend money to buy a U.S. citizen paper, pretending to be someone else’s son.

If one were unfortunate enough to be caught, he would be put into the ‘detention center,’ sometimes for one or two years, before being deported back to China. Everyone knew, the so-called “detention center” was actually a jail. The hardship inside was difficult to fathom.

The author of this article, Mr. Do, used the fore-mentioned method to gain entrance to the US.

The year was 1930--Hoover was President. The economy was in deep depression. The common people were unable to etch out a living. Countless of the laboring masses were unemployed. With the help of relatives, Mr. Do went to work in a large farm as a laborer. During the winter season when the farm was closed, he would return to live in Chinatown. At night, he would attend English classes sponsored by the church in hope of learning a little English to improve future employment prospect. After awhile, he obtained a job working as a servant in a wealthy household.

In 1941, after the “Pearl Harbor Incident”, US declared war on Japan. The US Communist Party of the time called on all believers of communism and anti-fascism to enlist in the (US) Army. Mr. Do joined the U.S. Army to make his contribution to the international struggle against fascism. After the war, he received an honorable discharge. At that time, many unmarried Chinese went back to China to bring back a “war bride.” Mr. Do went back and married Miss Owyang.

A year after returning to the US, he and his friend, Mr. Lo, jointly owned and ran a small grocery store to support their families. Things went well the first several years until the start of the Korean War when the newly opened supermarkets of the big capitalists clobbered the small grocery stores like the one belonging to Mr. Do and Mr. Lo.

In 1958, Mr. Lo was persecuted by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). But INS had no hard evidence against him.

Then in 1960, the INS learned that Mr. Do came into the US under false identity. INS attempted to force Mr. Do to ‘confess’.

When a person underwent ‘confession’, he must ‘confess’ everything. In this process, Mr. Do may end up divulging information that would incriminate Mr. Lo.

By this time, Mr. Do had a wife and two children, ages 13 and 10. Mr. Do was confronted with such a horrible prospect. He had no choice but to consult a lawyer. He concluded after analyzing the situation with the lawyer that if he were to “confess”, this would not only betray his friend; which Mr. Do would never do; but he would also be called upon to provide further testimony. In the majority of the cases, any testimony would be used to prosecute other Chinese. If this were to happen, there would be no end to the trouble and there would never be a peaceful day. Therefore, he decided to face pressure from the INS.

At the time, the immigration laws were being gradually reformed and becoming more lenient than the past. It was to Mr. Do’s advantage to delay the process a year, or even a day. There was no recognized diplomatic relationship between China and the US. Given the fact that Mr. Do had originally come to the US directly from China, (if he were to be deported) Hong Kong could not accept him. If he were to be deported to Taiwan, he would surely be persecuted as being a ‘leftist’. Such a deportation would violate his human rights. Another possibility was to be jailed in the U.S.

Given all these, Mr. Do was still determined to face the INS in court. The judge finally dismissed the case because Mr. Do had served in the U.S. Army in WWII battlefields for three years. And that he had no previous criminal record.

Later, Mr. Do fought in the US courts with the help of lawyers for two years and finally won back his right to U.S. citizenship.

Last year, Mr. Do and his wife longings to see their homeland, made a trip to visit China. They received a warm welcome in Beijing. This was indeed a reward for Mr. Do for his life-long loyalty and honesty, as well as for his unwillingness to betray the interest of the people.