Chinese Migrants and Internationalism: Forgotten Histories, 1917–1945 (review)

Overseas Chinese are mainly portrayed as exclusive, apolitical, homeland-oriented and deeply embedded in clan networks. This is an approach which has gained support in numerous conferences held to celebrate Chinese identity, Chinese networks and "Chineseness." Taking a stand against this prevailing direction, Benton's work stands out as a valuable contribution to the existing scholarly literature. This relatively short but solid book demonstrates how overseas Chinese —industrial workers, seafarers, students, intellectuals and traders —enthusiastically embraced internationalism and sought to address China's problems in the larger, world context. In the first half of the 20th century, migrant and ethnic Chinese sacrificed their lives as members of the International Brigade in the Spanish Republic, fought shoulder to shoulder with people of other nationalities against both white racism and co-ethnic (Chinese) oppression, and assisted their Indonesian comrades in the struggle for independence. Many other examples may be cited of their participation in trans-ethnic political movements.

Benton does not dismiss the importance of identity, networks, or the notion of home for the overseas Chinese. Instead he urges the reader to seek a deeper and more nuanced understanding of these issues. Chinese seafarers effectively disseminated internationalist ideas in the early part of the 20th century precisely by using co-ethnic networks nested in Chinatowns in port cities to link up seafarers scattered around the world. Benton's study also shows that a deep concern with national problems (especially the Japanese invasion of China) provided a strong foundation for forging solidarity among the overseas Chinese internationally. So homeland and world concerns are not necessarily mutually exclusive; ethnic networks, nationalism and international imaginary intersect.

The book starts with a brief introduction to internationalist movements driven by labor activists, anarchists and communists, thus defining the global historical context for the following chapters. Benton then explores the various modes of engagement of the overseas Chinese with internationalism in Russia, Germany, Cuba, Spain, Australia, and other parts of Europe. The sequence of chapters reflects the trajectory of the spread of internationalist ideology worldwide. The Red Army and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia were the first major organizations and movements to envision a new course for the world proletariat. Germany, the focus of the second chapter, was among the first countries where internationalist ideas entered the political arena, in part because of its geographical proximity to Russia. Following this thread, the book attempts to delineate how the internationalist movement, represented by the Third International (Comintern) and the Wobblies, interacted with the overseas Chinese in different parts of the world. According to the author, the interaction was multifaceted and complex. In most cases the connections seem to have been driven by the Comintern organizations' strategy of outreach and recruitment. Sometimes the initiative came from the Chinese communities, particularly when they harbored expectations of getting help from an international alliance in addressing such urgent problems as working conditions in the host country or Japanese aggression in China. Internationalism as an ideology also aroused considerable interest among the Chinese intellectuals both at home and overseas, another important conduit of internationalist ideas for Chinese migrant communities. Chapter 7 on Australia is one of my favorite — the other being Chapter 5 on seafarers — because it provides a particularly rich narrative about the multilayered interactions.

The relationship between internationalism from above (as an intellectual ideal represented by established organizations with articulated agendas) and internationalism from below (as ordinary people's practical strategy in dealing with everyday problems) seems to be an overarching, although implicit, concern of the book. Benton discusses encouraging cases where ethnic solidarity and internationalist alliance complement each other, but he also documents — though much more briefly — the vulnerability of internationalist ideology in practice. Internationalism as an institutional ideology had faded by the 1940s, and multilateralism is the highest goal that one can realistically pursue in international affairs today. It seems that internationalism as a lofty ideology and as a strategy pursued by ordinary people converged only at specific historical moments. Although ordinary people sometimes believed...