G0ult Iinp0ltl Perspectives on Asian America
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G0ult IInP0ltl Perspectives on Asian America Ed itor Emma Gee Associate tditors Bruce lwasaki Mike Murase Megumi Dick 0sumi Jesse Quinsaat Assistant [ditor June 0kida Kuramoto Art Directors Ilean S. Toii Glen lwasaki Asian American Studles Center University ol Calllornia Los Angeles 'i". t ^.1 ...]tr .::< i -" - f A Historical Survey of the Chinese Left ln America By H. Mark Lai I:ltroduction little investigated but significant phase in the history of the Chinese in this country. The history of the left among the Chinese in Two main factors were largely responsible for :-:r:rica is a neglected chapter in the history of the the development of left-wing activities among the --:nese - community. This is a preliminary survey of Chinese in America in roughiy the first half of the :'- left movements until the end of the 1950'sl most twentieth century. Members of the Chinese left in . : :he emphasis in the present essay is on activitics L' :he San Francisco Bay Area. It is the author's Above -During its 1938 strikc, thefirst Chinese Ladies'Garment Workers' Union, Local 341 of the ILGWU, picketed the , rhat initial sketch, superficial as it may be, -:: this National Dollar Stores, owner of the largest garment factory in ',-- inspire others to probe to gieater depths into this San Francisco's Chinatown at that time. photo, by permission, from CHINESE WORKING PEOPLE tN AMERTCA 63 -r' America were inspired b;' the cluest for China's violent revolutionary methods. Parallehng this devel- national salvation under the leadership of Sun opment, however, was a growing interest in anarchism Yat-sen's revolutionary nationalist partr' (the Kuo- and nihilism among some of the vounger revolution- mintang before 1927) and subsequentlv of the aries.2 Chinese Communist Partr'. Thev at the same limc By mid-decade, articles advocating anarchism as were also motivated b-v thc desire for a r,'ast improve- the guide for revoiution began to predominate in ment of their own situation in Arnerica due to their Chinese socialist writings. The doctrines of Proudlion. experience of erploitarion and discriminacion here. Bakunin and Kropotkin became the fad in Chinese These t\,vo factors were present throughout the revolutionary circles. Many young, impatient. historv of the lefi among rhe Chinese in America, romantic petit bourgeois inteilectuals became though one or rhe orher predominated at different attracted to the simple solution of cornmitting indi- times, viduai heroic acts of terrorism to pull down and destroy the old order as represented by the Manchu The Introduction of Socialist Doctrines to the Chinese dynasty. The Russian Revolution of t9O5 gave further The latter half of the 19th Century was a time impetus to the growth of popularity of anarchism. of travail for the Chinese people. After ihe bayonets and by 1907 anarchist groups formed among students and cannons of the West irad battered down China's in Ja"pan and France. Within a short iime the wa1l of isolation, the ancient empire found herself doctrine spread to China and to the overseas unabie to cope with the aggressive Westerners as her Chinese.3 traditronal sociai structure and self-sufficient econ- omy crulnbled before their thrusts, and territories The American Milieu and Development of the Left and concessions wcre yielded to the pugnacious occi- among the Chinese in America denrals. Toward the end of the century, the parti- tioning of China by the powers and submittal to Chinese peasants emigrating to America hai colonial status appeared inevitable. hoped to find a better 1ife. Instead, in the land ot This was a time of peril for the nation, Con- liberty they found not freedom and prosperity, but cerned Chinese began quests for u.ays toward national discrimination and intolerance. They then suffereci salvation. Among these were a number of intellectuals the dubious distinction of being the first ethnic grouF who examined and accepted socialism as the goal to be singled out for exciusion from the U.S" in 1882. toward the eventual regeneration of the Chinese The great majoritv of Chinese who lived and workei nation. in America were exploited by employers, merchants At the turn of the century, China was greatly and iabor contractors both within and without thei: dependent upon Japanese sources for inforrnation on o\vn community. Although Chinese labor had beer Western culture, and the introduction of sociaiism characterized as being docile and tractable. the not sc was no exception.l It was through Japanese writings infrequent strikes and sometimes violent reactions o: that Chinese students and intellectuals were first Chinese laborers to exploitation showed that they di; exposed to the doctrines of Marx, Engels, and others. not take their miserable lot as passively and fatalistic Beginnrng in 1903, books, pamphlets and articles on ally as some Western historians had put it. Conten:' socialism aiso were published in Chinese. Many porary accounts show that they fought back whe:. articles on this subject appeared in the newspapers given the proper ieadership and organization.4 Soci:r, and periodicals established at the time by both the ist doctrines pointing the way towards a better worl- Chinese Empire Reform Association (Zhongguo Wei- would strike sympathetic chords among at least som. xinhui) led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and oi the Chinese in America" the revolutionary Zhongguo Tongmenghui, led by At this time, many membcrs of the America: Sun Yat-sen. Drawing much of their support irom working class were strongly influenced by the soci.- overscas Chinese, both organizations' publications ist docirines. Worker solidarity was one of the bas,- had broad reading audiences in the overseas Chinese tenets of socialism, whetl.rer Marxist or Anarchis: communities. and as a result had wide circulation Horvever. during the earl,v years of the 20th Centr-rr'. abroad. Certainly, in an age when most Chinese read- this was a myth as far as Chinese workers were ccr:'- ers lverc not familiar with Western languages, these cerned, because the American iabor movcnrent -l publicatrons were important sources for thosc general was extremely hostile to Chinese labor. Er.: Chinesc interested in socialist doctrines. the so-cal1cd Marxist Socialists, in spite of t1.r..: Initiaily the brand of socialism from the West professed belief in the brotherhood of the workr:,. espoused by the Chinese rvriters was generally that -"n, supported the "unconditionai exclusion ' advocated by socral-democrats of the Second Interna- Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Hindus. ." frc: tional. Ideoiogical limitations of most of these intel- this countrv.5 Only the anarcl'ro-syndicaiist Indust:,., lectual socialists, derived as they were mainly from Workers of thc World (lww) held true to tl'rc bc,--- the gentry classes, led to great hostility toward that fraternal bonds existed among all wagc earii,: 64 ti regardlcss of racial lines, and tried to enroll Asian ll .6. ail nt* *SX.ti & I ,* - workers, including Chincse, into the unions on an fiX{ F{ Jt"'f * sie.}* I : equal basis with workers of other racial groups. The * *tr6*6tre;9tr ff t.W.W. fi **+-ea rrR**,tt was never too successful in their recruiting dr!:l ''rl I campaign. But at least some Asians were won over to s #s; s*$&fi* * - tf l[,-*e! ; their cause. During this period at least two Chinese g *&A Ant& -1 -r.* were transiating I.W.W. literature into Chinese in San I ranclsco. o --: .**:**; At this time, the Chinese in America were excluded from large scale modern industries, thus tEtrlEl.illl *#frtn{Rf; they lacked the discipline that workers in large indus- +8il9a4€Fftlh*rtsesttfSIs*msi(rif*ets tries acquired. Moreover, stimulated on the one hand tne-!&flstE5e.z i eft Il[s&Fr8t?4t,Fn&'' f by anarchist writings from China, and on the other by A&*StEslil$nng*rlll 26tj33sfrfftgrLEilfrA the fraternal hand extended to them by the I.W.W. it * I S,6trE,cEllSSE t€r was natural for some early Chinese r"di.als to lean ,**lt**slttaE*.8*rfbmbgataitsfs6xlr alfr+lr*fls;FF;ttt toward syndicalist ideas. r *ll .&.*rr c,F i $Gellt As early as 1914, a smal1 group of socialists had {ESll i< [fq IBf l ; " F*r i{r€. llrEl t: liAc*sl-s*en&l Jr:xr formcd a Chinese San Francisco,T ll Socialist Club in A 3*'l*i*I6tEett0l*tlZ6iEtt$"ell'd *,Ei({ s I i; gt few years iater the Chinese llorld of August 18, 1918 ftttatei!*3*g*EBrrls! reported the organization of Meidong Huaren Gong- *r6&,*fiisfn*!s+ tl R*&3^*aSmrne:{S[*lstt rlEfr': n,!t wuhui (Chinese Labor Affairs Association of the Xttr8*ttfAF4ttZ;E6AflFi FgEgt"; eastern part of the U.S.) in Boston. One its objec- of ifilffii fd+tt{;Es i5nr|. F} tives was to promote socialism. ex*,BfiH$EF'.i-: #Sl' By the end of World War I, srnali groups of nA.r;28il*S?8 SgJ anarcho-syndicaiists were active in the major Chinese lxg*sfi*g* t communities of New York and San Francisco. In t{t*ne**rlrfff f* * 1919, the Unionist Guild or Sanfanshi Gongyi Tong- .*HC&rf l, meng Zonghui Francisco) l11&ffrq * (Workers' League of San **nx.h Fq was formed in San Franciscos had *f ?-* * which at that time i&.x*s s the highest concentration of Chinese workers, many ,r{ns*fr9' s,& e of whom labored under inhumane conditions. :K;*# #* The Unionist Guild aimed its first action at Chinese shirt manufacturing factories in San Fran- The first issue of rhe Kung Sing, the organ of the Workers' cisco and Oakland. On May 18, 1919, the new League of America, published l March 1924in San Francisco, workers' organization presented nine demands to the which contains the proclamation of the organization.