Professor Street-Slater’s lecture on the Noulens Affair ranks among one of my top lectures thus far. The biggest reason for this is because I had no prior information of this event or its’ influence, which is really why I signed up for this course in the first place: to be exposed to new information that I would not get otherwise. I had never heard of the Comintern, Joseph Ducroux, Wong Muk Han, or any other people Professor Street-Slater mentioned. Yet, what I learned was essentially that the Comintern, the international council of the communist party in the early to mid 20th century, had sent operatives to Singapore to garner support and spread the word of the communist party. On June 1st, 1931, many of these individuals were arrested and detained for further questioning. Upon research, police officials discovered various lock-boxes filled with communist paraphernalia and Comintern documents. The documents contained information with names of Comintern members that were dispersed all throughout Asia and Europe. This led to immediate uproar amongst Asian citizens and it led to governments crackdowns many, including the French, British, and Chinese.
Professor Street-Slater explained how many the of apprehended individuals were sent to China to be questioned as the Chinese did not have the same laws and regulations as did the West when it came to interrogations. Much of the information being passed to European governments was being extracted and obtained in China, something that I had no prior knowledge of. Regardless, the reality of the situation is that the discovery in Singapore, what became known as the Noulens Affair, was incredibly threatening at the time. At this very time in history, which was the early 1930’s to 40’s, imperialists nations such as France, Great Britain, and China made it their priority to stem the spread of communism throughout the East. Communism poised a direct threat to colonialism and capitalism, and it was gaining traction among several different communities. Today, the significance of this event cannot be undervalued. Professor Street-Slater emphasized how very few times do we see the whole picture. The United States had yet to really get involved in its’ brigade against communism, yet what was so fascinating about this discussion was the fact that the Noulens Affair is just a small piece to the puzzle of what eventually would be the Cold War. It is intriguing to learn about the smaller, more detailed versions of the story that we now know played a huge role in the end. The Noulens Affair is pretty much an entirely untold story; Professor Street-Slater mentioned there are only three articles written about the event. For an event this impactful, this fact was very surprising, yet also enlightening as I realized how much we forget to remember from the past. Too often we look at the big picture and only remember the monumental changes. That is why, overall, I found Professor Street-Slater’s lecture truly captivating as it perfectly tied together the presence of the past, and its’ importance and impact in understanding the present.