Barisan Sosialis

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Barisan Sosialis (BS), also known as the Socialist Front, was a left-wing political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and was officially registered on 13 August 1961 by the leftist faction of the People's Action Party (PAP) which had been expelled. The prominent founding members of BS were Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong. It was a major political force and one of the biggest opposition parties in Singapore during the 1960s. It listed its main objectives as "eradicating colonialism", establishing a "united independent and democratic Malayan nation" comprising the Federation of Malaya and Singapore, and "introducing an economic system to promote prosperity and stability in society." As the PAP consolidated its power during the 1960s, the PAP-led government cracked down on BS, characterising it as a communist front as part of the geopolitical climate of the Cold War. In 1963, as part of Operation Coldstore, over 100 opposition leaders, including Lim, were arrested in preventative...

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