Love them or be apathetic about things, two of S’pore’s competing political parties actually have something in common: Both were founded in the month of November.

One party is 59 years old, while the other is 62. If they were a person, they would be approaching retirement age. But they are not, so they can’t retire comfortably. Yet.

Workers’ Party (WP)

The Workers’ Party was founded 59 years ago by David Marshall in November 1957. Prior to founding WP, Marshall had been Singapore’s first elected chief minister from 1955 to 1956.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Photo from National Archives of Singapore[/caption]

According to a Straits Times article "Marshall is back in politics" on Nov. 4, 1957, Marshall had returned to politics after he was elected to WP’s executive committee at its inaugural meeting on Nov. 3 that year.

Singapore’s former Chief Minister, Mr. David Marshall is back in politics.

Yesterday he was elected to the 27-executive committee of the Workers’ Party at its inaugural meeting.

About 800 people attended.

Mr. Marshall announced his intention to quit politics permanently last April after he challenged the People’s Action Party leader, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, to contest a by-election.

Following that, ST reported on Nov. 5, 1957, that Marshall had been elected by WP’s executive committee to head the party on Nov. 4.

Much haste and no hammer yet

There was a certain hastiness to WP’s formation. The party was lacking a party symbol. ST’s coverage of WP’s press statement on Nov. 6 noted:

The newly-formed Workers’ Party in Singapore, will make a policy statement after its constitution has been approved by the Governor-in-Council.

The party’s chairman, Mr. David Marshall, said yesterday that the constitution would be submitted next week.

Party executives will meet at Mr. Marshall’s flat in Meyer Mansions every Monday night. They are now preparing a party symbol.

People’s Action Party (PAP)

Three years before WP’s founding, the PAP was inaugurated at the Victoria Memorial Hall on Nov. 21, 1954.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="627"] Photo from NLB[/caption]

According to ST’s report “'Freedom now’ – New Party” on Nov. 22, 1954, PAP’s inauguration was attended by sizeable crowd of more than 1,000 people.

The People’s Action Party was formally constituted in Singapore yesterday at a public meeting in the Victoria Memorial Hall.

More than 1,000 people attended the meeting, making it the biggest political rally since 1948.

Attending the PAP’s inauguration was Tunku Abdul Rahman, president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Tan Cheng Lock, president of the Malayan Chinese Association. Both spoke during the event. The Tunku would go on to become Malaysia's first prime minister in later years.

Well-planned and organised

PAP’s inauguration was well-planned and organised. It was to the extent that Lee Kuan Yew would recall in his published memoirs how the event had “no electricity or magic in the air”. He noted that they read “set speeches; there was no great oratory”. Similarly, Mrs Lee Kuan Yew also recounted in the book Men in White, that the day became just an official opening because the founding members had been working for so long on the preparations to inaugurate the PAP.

Uncanny choice of a party logo

Incidentally, while the PAP prepared well for its inauguration and even had a party logo, a little fact had escaped them.

According to Men in White, the PAP’s logo has an uncanny resemblance to the logo to the one used by the British Union of Fascists, a Fascist political party that existed in Britain from 1932 to 1940.

Nevertheless, it was too late to change the party’s logo by the time the similarity was discovered.

Top photo adapted from here and here

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