At the People's Action Party's (PAP) annual party convention held on Nov. 19, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave a speech which was peppered with the use of the word "comrade".

It appeared multiple times in this particular portion:

"I am happy that today we are recognising 359 comrades for long and outstanding service. Many of you have served for decades – two, for 50 years! Thank you all for your commitment and service to the party....

Comrade Eu-Lin spoke about jobs and the economy, an issue that is on top of Singaporeans’ minds; Comrade Asyifah spoke about maintaining Singapore’s place in the world; Comrade Jagathishwaran spoke about maintaining our social compact with our citizens; and Brother David spoke about the symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the NTUC."

The term, which is used to address fellow PAP party members, came up a total of seven times in the entire speech.

On PAP's social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter, the term "comrade" was also used to refer to party members in posts related to the 2017 PAP convention.

https://www.facebook.com/pap.sg/photos/a.154478467896895.33359.132146776796731/1817239038287488/?type=3&theaterSome people have pointed out the curious use of "comrade" during the party convention.

The term seems rather archaic in the modern political context, where it is not usually heard in everyday language, especially in a non-communist state like Singapore.

Origins of "comrade"

"Comrade" is used to refer to a friend, mate, or colleague. However, it also has underlying political meanings whereby it became an egalitarian form of address typically associated with the communists.

In the late 19th century, Russian Marxists and leftist revolutionaries used the term "comrade" to address people sympathetic to the communist revolution, such as members of the communist party or workers from the masses.

Soon, the use of "comrade" in the Soviet Union proliferated and translations of the term in different languages were also adopted by communists worldwide.

For instance, the Chinese term "tong zhi" is a translation of "comrade," and was actively promoted by the Chinese Communist Party.

So, why are the folks at PAP using this term?

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PAP's socialist roots

PAP actually began life 63 years ago on Nov. 21, 1954 with its founding members influenced by left-leaning ideas.

Its English-educated founders, such as Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Keng Swee, Toh Chin Chye, and S Rajaratnam, were inspired by British Fabian Socialism.

Fabian Socialism is a left-leaning school of thought that believes in the accomplishment of socialist goals through evolutionary or parliamentary processes, instead of the revolution or armed struggle that communism supports.

As Goh explained in Men in White:

"(Goh) found resonance in the Fabian beliefs of doing good and reforming society to help the poor. He reasoned that it was far better to improve the lot of the workers through the parliamentary system rather than through armed revolution as advocated by the communists."

For Goh and LKY in particular, their leaning towards Fabian Socialism was shaped by their university days at the British school famed for its foundation by the Fabian Society -- The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Bringing in the leftists

Adding to the PAP's early left-leaning reputation were Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan who were leftist trade unionists who had the support of the communists.

The inclusion of these members by the PAP was one of convenience, as Lee Kuan Yew had felt that the party needed their large base of Chinese-educated supporters, even though there were many pro-communists and communists among them.

With such an orientation towards the left, it is no surprise then that PAP has some associated practices, such as the addressing of one another as "comrade" within the party ranks.

The cadre system

Apart from the copying of the use of the term "comrade", the PAP was also influenced by the communists in other ways.

The party's cadre system for electing its Central Executive Committee (CEC) is one such example. The system was adopted after a notable incident occurred at the 1957 annual party conference.

Back then, the party still allowed all members to vote for their candidates for the CEC, but things did not go well as the leftists managed to hijack the votes.

They had packed the party conference with their own people and engineered the voting results in their favour, with the non-leftist group led by LKY winning only 6 out of 12 seats in the CEC.

The story goes that LKY and his non-leftist group who were voted into the PAP CEC then refused to hold office, which forced the leftists to fill up the key positions that were left empty.

Several of those who took up the posts were later arrested by Special Branch.

To ensure that what happened at that fateful party conference would never happen again, the PAP introduced the cadre system.

Under the system, only cadre members could vote for cadres who had been nominated as candidates by the outgoing CEC, thereby preventing others from engineering results by packing a conference with their supporters.

Cadre membership was a secret.

According to Men in White, the cadre scheme came from the communists:

"Where did this ingenious and audacious scheme come from? Ask Toh (Chin Chye) and he would say crisply: 'From the organisation of the communist party!' Lamenting how foolish they were in losing their own political party to the leftists, he said: 'So we copied the communists. They had their own cadre system, that's why it's difficult to penetrate the communist party. It was not our idea, it was their system we copied.'"

In fact, the word "cadre" was adopted by communist parties in the 1930s to refer to a small select group of members who could assume control of a party or train others to do so.

As the PAP moves forward into the future, it is interesting to know that some old habits and practices from its past have not changed.

 

Top photo from National Library Board.