The China Aid Society was organized by a group of progressive Koreans in the United States after Japan invaded China in 1937. It advocated anti-Japanese political action in the US, helped refugees from the Japanese invasion and supported Korean guerrilla action in China.

History

The society, later renamed the Society for Aid to the Korean Volunteer Corps in China, was founded in 1937. It protested the Japanese military action and advocated anti-Japanese political activity in the US. The China Aid Society helped Chinese refugees from the Japanese invasion and supported Korean guerrilla action in China against the Japanese. The society changed its name to the Korean Volunteers Corps Aid Society in February 1941. It was not run by the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, but supported the position of the Russian and Chinese Communists.

Prominent members

The Methodist clergyman Lee Kyungsun headed the China Aid Society, Korean Volunteers Corps Aid Society in China and American Branch of the

Korean National Revolutionary Party The Korean National Revolutionary Party ( ko, 조선민족혁명당, Minjok Hyǒngmyǒng-dang), or KNRP, was a nationalist party formed by exiles in Shanghai in 1935 to resist the Japanese occupation of Korea. At first it was the main nationalist ...

, organizations that were in favor of armed action. He later joined the American Communist Party, and in 1949 returned to North Korea. The socialist Byun Jun-ho was one of the founders of the China Aid Society, and represented the New York branch at the

Korean National Association The Korean National Association (; Hanja: 大韓人國民會), also known as All Korea Korean National Association, was a political organization established on February 1, 1909, to fight Japan's colonial policies and occupation in Korea. It w ...

. Byun Jun-ho dedicated himself to the cause of armed resistance after the Korean Volunteers Corps Aid Society was established in 1940 in China, and from 1943 onward chaired the North America branch of the Korean National Revolutionary Party. Irvin E. Cline was secretary of the China Aid Society in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He was among those who petitioned Mexican president

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

to admit the exiled Japanese Marxist theatre director

Seki Sano Seki Sano (Japanese: 佐野碩) (January 14, 1905, Tientsin – September 29, 1966, Mexico City) was a Japanese actor, stage director and choreographer. He contributed to the development of the theatre in Japan and later in Mexico, where he was kn ...

. The mathematician

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician and philosopher. He was a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher i ...

became a member of the China Aid Society. He was interested in placing scholars such as

Yuk-Wing Lee Lee Yuk-wing (; April 14, 1904 – November 8, 1989) was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is best known for adapting and popularizing the pioneering work of Norbert Wiener and for his own resea ...

who had lost their positions. The businessman and left-wing journal editor

Philip Jaffe Philip Jacob Jaffe (March 20, 1895 – December 10, 1980) was a left-wing American businessman, editor and author. He was born in Ukraine and moved to New York City as a child. He became the owner of a profitable greeting card company. In the 1930s ...

was also associated with the society.

Harold Winston Rhodes Harold Winston Rhodes (1905–1987) was a New Zealand university professor of English, writer and editor. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, soverei ...

was president of the China Aid Society in New Zealand during the war.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Organizations established in 1937 China–United States relations