ABSTRACT
The Singapore Town Committee of the Malayan Communist Party was responsible directly to the Central Committee of the Party, and ranked equally with any of the dozen or so State and Regional Committees in the Federation. Paradoxically, the secret elements of the Party were far stronger in 1947 when the Party was legal and its Front organizations militantly Communist in everything but name, than they were later when the Party was illegal. The underground Party workers were organized in Party cells, normally only one within each trade union. The underground Party workers regarded themselves as more important and more trusted members of the Party than the Party Groups. Sympathizer cells met for indoctrination and study, also to plan and report on Party work. Douglas Hyde described how similar secret Party factions operated within trade union committees, planning strategy and tactics for meetings, getting members onto committees, and organizing majorities for snap votes on key issues.
