The Labour Party of Malaya ( ms, Parti Buruh Malaya; abbrev. LPM) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in Malaya that was active between 1952 and 1969. It was originally formed as a confederation of

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

based labour parties known as the Pan-Malayan Labour Party (PMLP).

History

Origins

The LPM's roots lay in the state labour parties that were established after the British government announced plans to organise

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

in 1950. In 1952, representatives from the state parties, 21 trade unions and the Malay left-leaning organisation SABERKAS (or ''Syarikat Berkerjasama Am Saiburi'', not to be confused with the present day SABERKAS in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

) met in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

and decided to form the PMLP. This organisation initially took an anti-communist stand but was not overtly

anti-colonial Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence ...

. The party joined the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

as a member.Rose, Saul. ''Socialism in Southern Asia''. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp. 8-9 The party chairman Lee Moke Sang was forced to resign as public servants were barred from political office. D.S. Ramanathan became the new chairman. With the rise of more radical

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

leadership, the positions gradually took a more anti-colonial form and in June 1954, the organisation was renamed the LPM.

Development

With a radical agenda as its platform, the LPM was routed in the Federal legislative elections of 1955 and failed to gain any seats. The LPM, however, managed to capture the City Council of Georgetown in Penang in the 1956 local elections with a majority of eight seats. According to the party's own accounts it had more or less the same number of

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

members, but very few Indians or people from other communities. The party identified itself as a non-communal party. It considered that the Alliance government represented capitalist and feudal groups. The party had a youth wing called the Socialist Youth League of Malaya.''Resolutions of the Socialist Youth League of Malaya'', in ''May Day 1956'', jointly published by the Socialist International and the Asian Socialist Conference. p. 8

Socialist Front

Persecution

Radicalisation

Demise

Platform

Pre-Independence

The LPM's founding constitution demanded immediate

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

for Malaya, liberal citizenship laws, the Malayanization of the civil service, a planned economy, greater democratic justice and agrarian reform. The LPM also proposed for the abolishment of special privileges for any ethnic group, federal nationality to supersede state nationality, the use of

as the national language and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as a second language, the merger of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

with the Federation of Malaya, the limiting the powers of the

Malay rulers The Conference of Rulers (also Council of Rulers or Durbar, ms, Majlis Raja-Raja; Jawi: ) in Malaysia is a council comprising the nine rulers of the Malay states, and the governors or ''Yang di-Pertua Negeri'' of the other four states. It was ...

, an elected

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

, and a secular state.

Post-Independence

In view of the changed circumstances after the independence of Malaya in 1957, the LPM amended its constitution in 1959 to strive for the establishment of a united democratic socialist state of Malaya and to secure for the workers who work by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible, upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service (the latter part essentially mirroring the then

Clause IV Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book, which sets out the aims and values of the (UK) Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskell a ...

of the British Labour Party's constitution).