I Wor Kuen: Chinese Revolutionaries in 1970s Manhattan

A revolution in the broad sense can be defined simply as a major change in the state of something. An out with the old establishment and the embracing of the new progressive. When I was selecting my topic, I had this in mind. Something that embodied revolution would need to have a major shift that saw old establishment reactionary elements replaced with new radical elements that reflected a new progressive zeitgeist. Additionally, I wanted to do a paper that I, as a second-generation Asian American, could myself relate to. After doing some preliminary research, I landed on the 1960s Civil Rights Era. While many people associate that era primarily with the African American Civil Rights Movement, I wanted to understand how Asian Americans also developed their own forms of political activism. I was particularly interested in how this group challenged the “model minority” stereotype and sought to redefine Asian Americans as a politically engaged minority community. This topic also connects strongly to the theme of political transformation, since it attempted to reshape Asian American identity and activism through new political ideologies.To research this topic, I used a combination of primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources included books and scholarly works by historians such as Ronald Takaki, Daryl Joji Maeda, Laura Pulido, and Vijay Prasad, which helped me understand the broader historical context of Asian American activism and the influence of global radical movements. I also used studies of Asian American history and immigration to learn about earlier experiences of discrimination, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and other restrictions on Asian immigration. For primary sources, I examined interviews with former activists, including an oral history interview with Fay Wong, which provided insight into the goals and community work of I Wor Kuen. I also used contemporary commentary by Asian American activists such as Rocky Chin to understand how participants later 
reflected on the political climate of the time.As I developed the project, I organized my research into several sections. First, I wrote a historical background section to explain the experiences of Asian Americans before the 1960s, including discrimination and the emergence of the model minority stereotype and its harms. This background helped show why younger activists rejected this narrative and searched for alternative political frameworks. I proceeded to research an organization known as I Wor Kuen, examining their origins, ideology, and activities. I concluded with the legacy of I Wor Kuen and their revolutionary struggle for Asian-American identity.Through this research, I learned that Asian American activism in the late 1960s was far more diverse and complex than I had initially realized. Activists were influenced by both domestic movements, such as the Black Panther Party, and international anti-imperialist struggles. Studying these organizations helped me understand how Asian American activists debated different paths toward political transformation while working to redefine their role in American society.IntroductionAs the tumultuous 1960s wound to a close, a new generation of Asian American activists rejected the “model minority” image that earlier generations had often embraced and instead turned toward the possibilities of radical politics. Revolution and rapid change were the defining ideas of the era. The dust had only recently settled on the hard-won achievements of the Civil Rights Movement and the emergence of second-wave feminism, yet many young activists believed that these victories were only the beginning. Inspired by movements for racial justice and anti-imperialism around the world, they sought to build on these successes and imagined a society in which systemic injustice could be fully dismantled. For many of these activists, Marxism-Leninism appeared to offer a compelling framework for achieving the rapid and transformative change that more moderate reform movements had struggled to deliver.Among the most influential organizations of this period was I Wor Kuen, a radical Asian American activist group that emerged between 1969 and 1971. Inspired by revolutionary movements around the world and by the Chinese Communist Revolution in particular, this organization mobilized Asian American communities in San Francisco and New York. Its members organized protests, published newspapers, established community programs, and forged alliances with other minority groups. Focusing on the concerns of marginalized Asian communities in 
these urban settings, such as underpaid laborers and vulnerable retired people, this organization sought to redefine Asian American political activism in terms of a revolutionary Marxist Leninist program that would effect radical and immediate change as part of a broader struggle against racial oppression and imperialism in the United States.This paper argues that I Wor Kuen transformed Asian American political identity by rejecting the “model minority” myth and instead framing Asian Americans as participants in a global anti-imperialist struggle. Through grassroots community programs, political education, and alliances with movements such as the Black Panther Party, the organization demonstrated how revolutionary ideology could be adapted to the specific social conditions of Asian American communities in the United States. Its work emphasized organizing within neighborhoods, supporting workers and tenants, and raising political consciousness among Asian Americans who had long been excluded from broader movements for racial justice. Perhaps most importantly, it positioned Asian Americans as a discrete minority group partaking of a common experience of racist oppression that transcended ethnic and national lines.By restoring I Wor Kuen to its rightful place in the history of Asian American activism during this period, this paper demonstrates that young activists’ rejection of the model minority myth was accompanied by an ongoing debate over the meaning and direction of Asian American radical politics. Activists were clearly receptive to revolutionary ideas and eager to challenge entrenched structures of power. Yet they disagreed vehemently over core questions about the shape and future direction of the movement, such as whether to prioritize local community struggles or internationalist ideology. An examination of I Wor Kuen underscores the broader tensions within the emerging Asian American movement as activists sought to define how radical politics could be adapted to the specific Asian American experience in the United States and the general revolutionary bent of the spiraling radicalism of the late 1960s.Historical BackgroundThe emergence of radical Asian American activism in the late 1960s must be understood within the broader historical context of Asian American experiences in the United States. For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Asian immigrants faced intense discrimination and exclusion. Laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and various immigration restrictions severely limited Asian immigration and reinforced the idea that Asians were outsiders in American society. As Andrew Gyory has argued, the chief political purpose of this legislation was to identify Chinese immigration as an economic threat to the White working 
class. Into the early twentieth century, Asian communities were often segregated and subjected to racial violence, discriminatory labor practices, and political marginalization. At the same time, World War II opened new opportunities for Asian Americans to expand their professional horizons from labor and service jobs into small business ownership, as Helen Zia has shown in her study of Asian American participation in wartime industries.After World War II, the social position of Asian Americans began to shift. Immigration laws were gradually liberalized, and new waves of immigrants from Asia arrived in the United States. At the same time, the civil rights movement exposed the realities of racial inequality and inspired minority groups to demand greater political representation and social justice. In this climate, the image of Asian Americans as hardworking and industrious began to gain popularity in the media. Articles published in the mid-1960s portrayed Asian Americans as hardworking, law-abiding, and successful, suggesting that they had overcome discrimination through perseverance.Many young Asian Americans, however, rejected this narrative. Young activists increasingly felt that the “model minority stereotype” obscured continuing racism and was used politically to undermine the demands of other minority groups. It ignored the poverty, discrimination, and marginalization that many Asian Americans still faced in housing, employment, and education. As education researchers OiYan Poone and her colleagues have written: “This racial stereotype generally defines AAPIs, especially Asian Americans, as a monolithically hardworking racial group whose high achievement undercuts claims of systemic racism made by other racially minoritized populations, especially African Americans.” Impacted in part by the emergence of ethnic studies programs at some American universities, a new generation of college-educated Asian American students and community organizers rejected not only the framework of the “model minority,” but also its corollary, the notion that minorities could attain the “American Dream” by imitating or even assimilating into White culture. For example, The New York Times Magazine singled Chinese Americans out for praise in 1966 for their hard work ethic, high esteem for education, and refusal to go on welfare. These activists began to search for alternative political frameworks that could more accurately represent their aspirations and values.They drew significant inspiration from a broader legacy of radical politics emerging in the United States during the late 1960s. The Black Power movement, and particularly the organizing strategies of the Black Panther Party, had a profound influence on Asian American activists. The Panthers’ emphasis on community self-defense, political education, and social programs such as free breakfast 
programs and community health clinics provided a model for how marginalized communities could organize to resist systemic racism. Asian American activists also adopted elements of anti-imperialist and Third World liberation movements, which, as historian Vijay Prasad has argued, represented a political project focused primarily on building a more equal and fair international order. Asian Americans engaged not only with domestic political activism but with the rhetoric of Third Worldism, and particularly the growing prominence of Maoism, in global movements aiming to destroy colonialism and racism.It was within this environment that organizations such as the Red Guards in San Francisco and I Wor Kuen in New York emerged around 1969. Drawing inspiration from the Panthers and other radical movements, these groups mobilized young Asian Americans to challenge racism, organize within their communities, and redefine Asian Americans as a political minority engaged in broader struggles for racial justice.I Wor Kuen and the Emergence of Asian American Political IdentityAmong the most influential Asian American radical organizations of the late 1960s was I Wor Kuen, founded in New York City in 1969 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan. Its name, often translated from Chinese as “Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” derives from the term used by participants in the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China between 1899 and 1901. The group’s founders intentionally linked Asian American activism in the United States to earlier Chinese struggles against imperial domination. The organization was composed largely of young Chinese American activists and students who had been influenced by the broader climate of political protest that characterized the late 1960s. Among the early organizers were activists such as Fay Chiang, who became involved in student activism while studying at Hunter College in the 1960s, and fellow Chinatown natives Bob Lee and Alex Hing, who were involved in community organizing.[10] From its inception in 1969, I Wor Kuen sought to organize Asian Americans to confront racism, economic inequality, and political marginalization in the United States.Like many radical organizations of the period, I Wor Kuen was strongly influenced by the political philosophy and organizing strategies of the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. As historian Laura Pulido has demonstrated, the Black Panthers profoundly influenced ethnic minority youth radicalism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, not only with respect to the Asian American community, but the Chicano movement as well. Members of I Wor Kuen studied the Panthers’ emphasis on community programs, revolutionary nationalism, and self-determination. Inspired by these ideas, they adopted similar 
strategies of political education, community organizing, and coalition building with other minority groups. Indeed, one characteristic that made I Wor Kuen stand out among other Asian American activist organizations was its emphasis on local change. As a member of the group from the San Francisco Bay Area, Fay Wong, explained in a 2016 interview: “The I Wor Kuen you know helped start the organization because, it’s like not only are you just a revolutionary organization, but you have to really have ways to work with people in the communities beyond just serve the people. Really helping people to, not only, improve their lives and deal with different issues whether it be housing, whether it be jobs where the bosses were taking full advantage of the employees, different ways people’s lives had to be helped. Despite the concrete local focus, one of the organization’s most important activities was political education. Beginning in 1970, I Wor Kuen published a newspaper titled Getting Together, which circulated among Asian American communities and student groups. The newspaper included articles on Asian American history, anti-imperialist politics, and local social issues affecting Chinatown residents. Through pamphlets, study groups, and public meetings, members encouraged Asian Americans to learn about historical experiences such as exclusionary immigration laws, labor exploitation in industries such as garment manufacturing and restaurants, and episodes of racial violence against Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By highlighting these experiences, the organization sought to raise political consciousness and challenge the idea that Asian Americans had escaped racism in the United States.I Wor Kuen activists also drew ideological inspiration from global anti-imperialist movements, including revolutionary struggles in Asia, Africa, and Latin America during the Cold War. As a later critic of I Wor Kuen, the Asian rights activist Rocky Chin, wrote in 2019: “Remember 1970. First year of a new decade, and for Chinatown, New York, a new era. The profound events of 1970 were not unpredictable fluke happenings, but in many ways had their genesis in past history, the Communist takeover of the mainland in 1949, the United States involvement in Southeast Asia, the new massive Chinese immigrations to this country after 1965, and the Black Movement in America.” Chin’s reflection highlights how the political radicalization of many Asian American activists emerged from a convergence of international and domestic developments during the late 1960s. Within this context, organizations such as I Wor Kuen sought to situate the struggles of Asian Americans within broader global movements against imperialism and racial inequality.The organization was also connected to major community struggles on the West 
Coast, most notably the campaign to save the International Hotel in San Francisco’s Manilatown district. Beginning in 1968, elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants of the building faced eviction after developers sought to demolish the hotel and replace it with a parking structure. Asian American activists, students, and community organizations mobilized to defend the residents, turning the struggle into one of the most visible battles for urban community rights during the Asian American movement. Members of I Wor Kuen joined protests and demonstrations supporting the tenants, working alongside other activist groups such as the Red Guard Party. In Getting Together, I Wor Kuen writes about a large purple banner carried during the march, which read, “Long live the International Hotel! Stop the destruction and dispersal of all Third World communities.” The struggle culminated on August 4, 1977, when hundreds of police officers forcibly evicted the remaining residents despite years of protests. Although the eviction ultimately proceeded, the International Hotel movement became a powerful symbol of Asian American political mobilization and community resistance.As a cause célèbre of the struggle for urban justice, the International Hotel movement also demonstrated the ability of Asian American activists to link their organization to wider struggles. The spirit of revolutionary enthusiasm surrounding the movement is brilliantly captured in the postmodern novel by Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel. In ten chapters dedicated to the years between 1968 and 1977, I Hotel brings to life the frenetic and unsettled atmosphere surrounding the effort to protect the hotel’s residents. This novel, which could more accurately be characterized as an anthology of fragmented dialogues, sources, and images, demonstrates the activists’ deep ties with global Marxist ideologies. A passage from the book states: “The law owns itself. That is, they make their own rules; so they do break-ins, vandalism, assault, assassinations, all this to serve and protect. So what are they protecting? The American Way of Life? From what? Communism? Red China? Mao? Uncle Ho? The Yellow Peril?” The narrator deliberately conflates disparate groups and events from Asian and Asian American history into a sharp binary between the capitalist system (“the law”) and colonized people. This has the effect of presenting Asian Americans as part of a unified, global community of downtrodden folk. I Hotel teems with political jargon taken from the revolutionary youth movements of the 1970s, thus capturing the intimate connection activists identified between the local and the global. No aspect of community life was deemed too mundane for their attention.Through these activities, I Wor Kuen helped reshape how many younger Asian Americans, particularly those of college age, understood their place in American society. Rather than accepting the image of the quiet and successful model 
minority, the organization encouraged Asian Americans to see themselves as part of a larger movement against racism and inequality. In doing so, I Wor Kuen played a key role in redefining Asian American identity as a politically engaged minority community during the late 1960s and early 1970s. These activists replaced the idea of the Asians as a docile and industrious race with a new cultural identity. There lies an enduring legacy in the organization’s struggle against oppression and imperialism: a movement that not only challenged injustice but forced a generation to confront what equality really meant. Though obscured in contemporary history, it is difficult to doubt the impact that I Wor Kuen and similar groups made in redefining what it means to be Asian American.Annotated BibliographyPrimary SourcesChin, Rocky. “Remember 1970.” 2019.This reflection by Asian American activist Rocky Chin discusses the political atmosphere of Chinatown in New York around 1970. It describes how events such as the Chinese Communist Revolution, U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, and the Black Power movement influenced the rise of Asian American activism. I used this source to show how participants and observers later interpreted the political climate that produced organizations like I Wor Kuen.I Wor Kuen. “City must buy I-Hotel!” Getting Together, no. 8–11 (1977). https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/periodicals/getting-together/gt-8-11a.pdf.Getting Together is a newspaper directly published by I Wor Kuen, thus providing valuable insight into their beliefs and what they championed. It helped me to gain a broader view of the specific beliefs that I Wor Kuen had, including life in the People’s Republic of China, the dignity of Native Americans, and women’s rights. I used this source to show how I Wor Kuen was relevant to the Civil Rights movement and specifically was part of the I-Hotel rallies in the 1970s.Wong, Fay. Interview by Mark Pickus. February 21, 2016. Unity Archive Project. https://unityarchiveproject.org/interview/fay-wong/.This oral history interview with former I Wor Kuen member Fay Wong provides firsthand insight into the goals and organizing strategies of the group. Wong explains how activists worked within Asian American communities to address issues such as housing and labor exploitation. I used this interview to understand how members of I Wor Kuen described their own political activities and motivations.
Yamashita, Karen Tei. I Hotel. New York: Coffee House Press, 2010.This novel portrays the activism surrounding the International Hotel struggle in San Francisco between 1968 and 1977. Although it is a work of fiction, it draws heavily on historical events and activist experiences from the Asian American movement. I used this source to illustrate the cultural memory of the International Hotel eviction and its symbolic importance to Asian American activism.Secondary SourcesAnderson, Terry H. The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.This book provides an overview of the political protest movements of the 1960s, including civil rights activism, antiwar protests, and student movements. It helped me understand the broader context in which Asian American radical activism developed. I used it to explain how the climate of protest encouraged new political organizations to emerge.Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. London: Verso, 2002.Elbaum examines how many activists in the United States turned toward Marxism-Leninism during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book helped explain why some Asian American activists were attracted to revolutionary ideologies and internationalist politics. I used this source to understand the ideological influences shaping organizations like I Wor Kuen and the Red Guards.Gosse, Van. Rethinking the New Left: An Interpretive History. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.This book reinterprets the New Left and examines the many different social movements that emerged during the 1960s. It helped provide historical context for the rise of radical activism among minority groups. I used it to explain how Asian American activism fit within the broader political landscape of the era.Gyory, Andrew. Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.Gyory examines the political motivations behind the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the broader history of anti-Chinese immigration policy. This source helped explain the long history of discrimination that Asian immigrants faced in the United States. I used it to provide historical background for the experiences that shaped later Asian American activism.Lee, Erika. At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882–1943. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.Lee’s book explores the experiences of Chinese immigrants during the exclusion era and the ways immigration restrictions shaped Chinese American communities. 
It helped me understand the historical roots of discrimination against Asian Americans. I used this source to provide context for the emergence of political activism in later generations.Maeda, Daryl Joji. Chains of Babylon: The Rise of Asian America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.This book examines the development of Asian American political activism during the late 1960s and 1970s. It discusses organizations such as I Wor Kuen and explains how Asian American activists sought to redefine their political identity. I used this source extensively to understand the origins and goals of I Wor Kuen.Poone, OiYan, et al. “A Critical Review of the Model Minority Myth in Selected Literature on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Higher Education.” Review of Educational Research 86, no. 2 (2016): 469–502.This article analyzes the “model minority” stereotype and how it has shaped perceptions of Asian Americans. It explains how the stereotype has been used to downplay systemic racism and undermine the claims of other minority groups. I used this source to explain why many Asian American activists rejected the model minority narrative.Prasad, Vijay. The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World. New York: The New Press, 2007.Prasad examines the development of Third World political movements and anti-imperialist struggles during the Cold War. The book helped me understand how Asian American activists were influenced by global revolutionary movements. I used this source to explain the international ideological influences on organizations such as I Wor Kuen.Pulido, Laura. Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.Pulido explores how different ethnic minority movements in the United States were influenced by radical politics and by organizations such as the Black Panther Party. This book helped show how the Panthers’ strategies inspired Asian American activists. I used it to explain the connections between the Black Power movement and Asian American radical organizations.Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989.Takaki’s book provides a comprehensive history of Asian Americans from the nineteenth century through the late twentieth century. It helped me understand the broader historical experiences of Asian Americans, including immigration, labor struggles, and discrimination. I used this source for background information on Asian American history.
Zia, Helen. Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.This book traces the development of Asian American political identity in the twentieth century. It describes how Asian Americans gained new opportunities during and after World War II and how activism developed in later decades. I used this source to explain the changing social and economic position of Asian Americans in the postwar period.