Did the Soviet Union instruct Southeast Asian communists to revolt? New Russian evidence on the Calcutta Youth Conference of February 1948

Abstract

This article uses recently declassified archival documents from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) concerning the Calcutta Youth Conference of February 1948. This evidence contradicts speculation that ‘orders from Moscow’ were passed to Southeast Asian communists at this time, helping to spark the rebellions in Indonesia, Malaya, Burma and the Philippines later that year. Secret working papers now available to researchers show no signs that the Soviet leadership planned to call upon Asian communists to rise up against their national bourgeois governments at this point in time. This article outlines the real story behind Soviet involvement in events leading up to the Calcutta Youth Conference, showing both a desire to increase information and links, and yet also a degree of caution over the prospects of local parties.

Fujio Hara . The Malayan Communist Party as recorded in the Comintern files. Petaling Jaya, Selangor: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2017. 162 pp. +xii.

“…Hara's study complements Efimova's studies (2009, 2011) on the influence of the Comintern and the USSR in Southeast Asia. The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), once the biggest Communist party outside of the USSR and China, had benefited from its direct relations with the USSR.…”

De-stalinisation of soviet foreign policy towards Indonesia: reviewing the feasibility of the theory of foreign policy change

“…This revelation could be interpreted as the clandestine approach from Stalin to influence Indonesian politics by supporting the overthrow of the legitimate government. However, this claim was rejected by both Efimova's account on Musso [Efimova 2009] and Boden's account on the September 1965 coup, which argued that Moscow did not play any role in supporting the rebellion and the coup [Boden 2007]. Sidel had argued that even though Aidit had met Stalin, he never mentioned Stalin's name during the period of Soviet's de-Stalinisation, undoubtedly because of the fear that the Soviet's support towards the PKI will be restrained if he showed his association with Stalin [Sidel 2007].…”

Darurat atau “Perang Kolonial” 1948 di Tanah Melayu: Satu Perbahasan Berdasarkan Beberapa Aliran Pemikiran dan Perspektif (Emergency or “Colonial War” 1948 in Malaya: A Debate Based on Several Schools of Thought and Perspectives)

“…Pandangan McVey kemudiannya telah diperkuatkan oleh sebuah kajian terbaharu yang dikemukakan oleh seorang ahli sejarah Rusia sendiri, iaitu Larisa Efimova. Efimova dalam kajiannya menegaskan tidak ada sebarang arahan jelas telah diberikan oleh pihak Soviet Union kepada pihak yang telibat dalam Persidangan Pemuda di Calcutta pada Februari 1948 untuk memberontak dan memulakan Perang Dingin (Efimova 2009).…”