The World Anti-Communist League (WACL) was a shadowy and controversial international right-wing political organization. It was founded in 1966 in Taipei, Taiwan, under the initiative of Chiang Kai-Shek, and with the aim of opposing Communism around the world through "uncoventional" methods. It had eight regional branches, with a presence in up to 100 countries on six continents. The honorary life chairman of the WACL was Dr. Ku Cheng-Kang , a senior leader of the Kuomintang and the president of Taiwan's National Assembly.

The WACL performed elaborate annual conferences at various locations throughout the world. The WACL's core activity involved providing financial and material aid to right-wing militias around the world, notably by providing scholarships for psychological warfare trainings at the Political Warfare Cadres Academy in Taiwan.

The WACL had close ties with the governments of Taiwan] under Kuomintang rule, and (to a lesser extent) South Korea. Numerous groups of questionable repute also participated in the WACL: the Unification Church, various Latin American death squads, former World War II Axis government officals wanted for war crimes, and a large number of Fascist organizations.

In 1978, Roger Pearson , a known Fascist and White Supremacist, became the chairman of the WACL, until he was deemed too extreme and therefore expelled in 1980. During the 1980s, the WACL was particularly active in Latin America, notably by aiding the Contra forces in Nicaragua.

After the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1990 and 1991, the fate of the WACL has remained unclear.

Although on September 17, 1994, The Irish Times reported that the WACL is now known as the World League for Freedom and Democracy. It is still sponsored by Taiwan and South Korea and now officially has turned itself to "global affairs, the need for peace initiatives and co-operating with developing countries."

Two further reports have been noted holding the World League for Freedom and Democracy responsible for producing "troops of killers" while ostensibly organizing to provide support for Corazon Aquino from the right-wing in the Philippines (The Village Voice, February 27 1996) and for supporting the vicious RENAMO movement in Mozambique (The Guardian, August 6 1994).

See also

• John Gamble, a former Canadian Member of Parliament who led a Canadian affiliate of the WACL int he 1980s.

Further reading

Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, Inside The League: The Shocking Expose Of How Terrorists, Nazis, And Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated The World Anti-Communist League, Dodd Mead, New York, 1986. ISBN 0-396-08517-2.

See also

• Anti-communism