The 'Communist Party of Indonesia' (in
Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', 'PKI') was a
communist party in
Indonesia. Prior to being crushed in
1965, it was the third largest communist party in the world, outside the Soviet Union and China.
[1]
Initial establishment
The party was established at the initiative of the Dutch socialist
Henk Sneevliet in
1914, under the name 'Indies Social Democratic Association' (in
Dutch: ''Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging'', ISDV). ISDV was constituted essentially by the 85 members of the two Dutch socialist parties,
SDAP and
SDP, residing in the Dutch East Indies.
[2]
In October
1915 ISDV started a publication in Dutch, ''Het Vrije Woord'' (The Free Word). The editor was Adolf Baars. The ISDV did not demand independence at the time of its formation. At this point ISDV has around 100 members, out of whom only three were Indonesian. However, it rapidly moved into a radical and anticapitalist direction. ISDV under Sneevliet became uncomfortable for the SDAP leadership in the
Netherlands, who distanced themselves from the ISDV. In
1917 the
reformist section of ISDV broke away, and formed their own
Indies Social Democratic Party. In
1917 ISDV launched its first publication in
Indonesian, ''Soeara Merdeka'' (The Freedom Voice).
Sneevliet's ISDV saw the legacy of the
October Revolution as the path to follow in Indonesia. The group made inroads amongst Dutch sailors and soldiers stationed in the colony. 'Red Guards' were formed, and within three months they numbered 3 000. In late
1917 soldier and sailors revolted in the major naval base of the archipelago,
Surabaya, and formed
soviets. The colonial authorities suppressed the Surabaya soviets and the ISDV. Dutch leaders of ISDV were sent back to the Netherlands, including Sneevliet. The leaders of the soldiers uprising were given sentences of 40 years imprisonment.
ISDV continued working, albeit in a more clandestine manner. It launched another publication, ''Soeara Rakyat'' (The People's Voice). After the involuntary departure of several Dutch cadres, in combination with the work inside the
Sarekat Islam, the membership had moved from Dutch majority to Indonesian majority. By
1919 it only had 25 Dutch members, out of a total of less than 400.
At the congress of ISDV in May
1920 in
Semarang, it took the name ''Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia'' (PKH; Communist Association of the Indies).
Semaun was the party chairman of at this point. PKH was the first Asian communist party to become a section of the
Communist International.
Henk Sneevliet represented the party at the second congress of the Communist International
1920. Semaun left Indonesia in December 1921, and
Tan Malaka replaced him briefly as chairman before being deported to the Netherlands by the colonial authorities.
In
1924 the name was changed once again, to ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'' (PKI, Communist Party of Indonesia).
In November
1926 the party led revolts against the colonial rule in Western
Java and Western
Sumatra. PKI declared a republic. The revolt was brutally crushed by the colonial authorities. Thousands of people were killed and around 13 000 were arrested. 1308 persons, mainly cadres of the party, were sent to the
Boven Digoel imprisonment camp in
Irian Jaya.
[3] Several died while in captivity. Many non-communist political activists were also targeted by the colonial authorities, under the pretext of suppressing the communist rebellion. The party was outlawed by the
Dutch East Indies government in
1927. The PKI went underground and Dutch, and later Japanese, surveillance ensured that it was never a disciplined or coherent organisation for the remainder of the pre-war period.
[4]
During the initial period of illegality PKI kept a somewhat lower profile, with much of its leadership imprisoned. In
1935 the PKI leader
Musso returned from his exile in
Moscow to reorganize PKI in underground conditions. His stay in Indonesia is however rather brief. The party now worked within various fronts, such as ''
Gerindo'' and trade unions. In Holland PKI started working amongst Indonesian students within the nationalist organization
Perhimpunan Indonesia, an organization which was soon to be under the control of PKI.
[5]
Post-war resurgence
The PKI re-emerged on the political scene after the
Japanese surrender in
1945, and it actively took part in the struggle for independence from the Netherlands. Many armed units were under PKI control or influence. Although PKI militias played an important role in fighting against Dutch, President
Sukarno was concerned the growing influence of PKI would eventually threaten his position. Moreover, the growth of PKI troubled the more right-wing sectors of the Indonesian polity as well as some foreign powers, especially the vigorously anti-communist
United States. Thus the relationship between the PKI and other forces also fighting for independence was generally a difficult one.
In February
1948 PKI and leftist sectors of the
Socialist Party of Indonesia (''Partai Sosialis Indonesia'') formed a joint front,
People's Democratic Front. The front did not last, but the leftist section of PSI later merged with PKI. By this time the
Pesindo militias were under the control of PKI.
On
August 11 1948 Musso returned to
Jakarta after twelve years in the
Soviet Union. The PKI politburo was reconstructed, including
Dipa Nusantara Aidit,
M.H. Lukman and
Njoto.
After signing the
Renville Agreement in
1948, many of the Republican armed units returned from zones of conflict. This gave the Indonesian right-wing some confidence that they would be able to counter PKI militarily. Guerrilla units and militias under the influence of PKI were ordered to disband. In
Madiun a group PKI militaries refused to go along with the disarmament were killed in September the same year. The killings sparked a violent uprising. This provided a pretext to clamp down on the PKI. It was claimed by army sources that PKI had announced the proclamation of the 'Soviet Republic of Indonesia' on
September 18 with Musso as its president and
Amir Sjarifuddin as its prime minister. At the same time PKI had denounced the uprising and appealed for calm. The uprising was suppressed by republican troops and PKI passed through yet another period of repression. On
September 30 Madiun was taken over by republican troops of the Siliwangi division. Thousands of party cadres were killed and 36 000 were imprisoned. Amongst the executed were several leaders including
Musso who was killed on
October 31, allegedly while trying to escape from prison. Aidit and Lukman went into exile in the
People's Republic of China. However, PKI was not banned and continued to function. The reconstruction of the party began in
1949.
In
1950 the party started publishing again, with the main organs being ''Harian Rakyat'' and ''Bintang Merah''. In the 1950s the PKI committed itself to a nationalist position under the leadership of Dipa Nusantara Aidit, supporting the anti-colonialist and anti-western policy of the Indonesian president
Sukarno. Aidit and the section around him, including young leaders such as
Sudisman, Lukman, Njoto and Sakirman, who took charge of the party in
1951. None were more than 30 years old at the time. Under Aidit PKI grew rapidly, from around 3-5 000 in
1950, to 165 000 members in
1954 to 1.5 million in
1959.
[1]
In August
1951 PKI led series of militant strikes, which werefollowed by clamp-downs in
Medan and
Jakarta. The PKI leadership went underground for a brief period.
Before the election of 1955, PKI favoured Sukarno's plans for 'guided democracy' and was an active supporter of Sukarno.
[6]
In the
1955 elections PKI came fourth with 16% of the votes. It won 39 seats (out of 257) and 80 out of 514 in the Constituent Assembly.
Opposition to the continued Dutch control over
Irian Jaya was an issue often raised by PKI during the 1950s.
In July
1957 there was a grenade attack on the PKI office in
Jakarta. In the same month PKI made advances in municipal elections. In September the same year the Islamist
Masyumi publicly demanded that PKI should be banned.
[2]
On
December 3 trade unions, largely under control of PKI, started seizing control Dutch-owned companies. These seizures paved way for the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises. The struggles against foreign capitalists gave the PKI the opportunity to profile itself as a national party.
In February
1958 a coup attempt was made by pro-
U.S. forces amongst the military and the political right-wing. The rebels, based in
Sumatra and
Sulawesi, proclaimed a
Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (''Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia'') on
February 15. This so-called Revolutionary Government immediately began arresting thousands of PKI members in the areas under their control. PKI supported the efforts by Sukarno to quell the rebellion, including introduction of martial law. The rebellion was eventually defeated.
In August
1959 there was an attempt on behalf of the military to prevent the holding of the PKI congress. However the congress was held as scheduled, and was addressed by Sukarno himself. In
1960 Sukarno launched the slogan ''Nasakom'', an abbreviation of ''Nasionalisme'' (Nationalism), ''Agama'' (Religion), ''Komunisme'' (Communism). Thus the role of PKI as a junior partner in the Sukarno polity was institutionalized. The PKI welcomed the launching of the Nasakom concept, seeing it in terms of a multiclass united front.
Although PKI supported Sukarno, it did not lose its political autonomy. In March
1960 the PKI denounced the undemocratic handling of the budget by Sukarno. On
July 8 ''Harian Rakyat'' carried an article critical of the government. The PKI leadership was arrested by the army, but later released on orders of Sukarno.
When idea of
Malaysia was conceived, it was rejected by the PKI as well as the
Communist Party of Malaya.
With growing popular support and a membership of about 3 million by
1965, the PKI was the strongest communist party outside the
Soviet Union and
China. The party had a firm base in various mass organizations, such as the
All-Indonesian Central Labour Organisation (''Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia''),
People's Youth (''Pemuda Rakyat''),
Indonesian Women's Movement (''Gerakan Wanita Indonesia''),
Peasants Front of Indonesia (''Barisan Tani Indonesia''), the
League of People's Culture (''Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat'') and the
Association of Scholars of Indonesia (''Himpunan Sarjana Indonesia''). Estimates claim that the total membership of the party and its frontal organizations might have at its peak organized a fifth of the Indonesian population.
In March
1962 PKI joined the government. PKI leaders Aidit and Njoto were named advisory ministers. In April PKI held its party congress. In
1963 the governments of
Malaysia,
Indonesia and
Philippines engaged in discussions on territorial disputes and the possibility of a
Maphilindo Confederation, an idea launched by the Philippine president
Macapagal. The PKI rejected the ideas of Maphilindo and Malaysian federation. PKI militants crossed over into
Malaysia and engaged in combat against
British and
Australian forces there. Some groups reached
Malaya, to join the struggle there. However, most of them werecaptured on arrival. Most of the PKI combat units were active in border regions of
Borneo.
In January
1964 PKI started confiscating British properties owned by British companies in Indonesia.
Liquidation
::See also '
Overthrow of Sukarno'
The growing influence of the PKI concerned the
United States and other anti-communist western powers, and Sukarno's constant balancing act between the PKI, the military, nationalist factions, and Islamic groups was threatened by the PKI's rise.
At the same time the political and economic situation turned ever more volatile. Inflation sky-rocketed and living conditions for ordinary people worsened. In December
1964 Chaerul Saleh of the
Murba Party (formed by former PKI leader
Tan Malaka) claimed that PKI waspreparing a coup d'état. The PKI demanded a ban on the Murba Party, which was enforced by Sukarno in early
1965.
In the context of ''Konfrontasi'' with Malaysia, the PKI called for 'arming the people'. Large sectors of the army were opposed to this. Sukarno remained officially non-committal. In July around 2000 PKI members started military training near Halim Air Force Base. Notably the concept of 'arming the people' had won support amongst the Air Force and the Navy.
On
September 8 PKI demonstrators initiated a two-day siege of the US Consulate in Surabaya. On
September 14 Aidit addressed a PKI rally, urging members to be vigilant to things to come.
On
September 30 Pemuda Rakyat and
Gerwani, both PKI-associated organizations, held a mass rally in Jakarta against the inflation crisis. Later in the night, six of Indonesia's top generals were killed and thrown down a well, and the PKI was blamed for instigating a supposed coup attempt. The events and supposed coup plotters of that night are referred to as "G30S", an abbreviation of "''Gerakan 30 September''" (30 September Movement). Concrete evidence linking the PKI to the generals' assassinations is limited , leading to speculation that their involvement was very limited or even that
Suharto organized the events and scapegoated the communists.
[3] The PKI was subsequently severely repressed, as General Suharto forced Sukarno aside and consolidated influence over the military and the country.
On
October 2 the Halim base was ''captured'' by the army. The ''Harian Rakyat'' issue carried an article in support of the G30S coup, but speculation later arose concerning whether it actually represented the opinions of PKI. Otherwise the official line of PKI at the time was that the G30S was an internal affair within the armed forces.
On
October 6 the Sukarno's cabinet held its first meeting since September 30. PKI ministers attend. A resolution denouncing G30S was passed. Njoto was arrested directly after the meeting.
A massive manifestation was held in Jakarta two days later, demanding a ban on the PKI. The main office of PKI was burned down. On
October 13 the Islamic organization Ansor held anti-PKI rallies across
Java. On
October 18 around a hundred PKI were killed by Ansor. The systematic extermination of the party had begun.
Between 300,000 and one million Indonesians were killed in the mass-killings that followed.
[7] [4] Lists of suspected communists were supplied to the Indonesian military by the
CIA. A CIA study of the events in Indonesia assessed that ''"In terms of the numbers killed the anti-PKI massacres in Indonesia rank as one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century..."''
[8].
It must also be noted that the CIA was not the only party to the issue, and there was also British involvement in the events.
Time Magazine presented the following account on
December 17,
1966 : ''"Communists, red sympathisers and their families are being massacred by the thousands. Backlands army units are reported to have executed thousands of communists after interrogation in remote jails. Armed with wide-bladed knives called parangs, Moslem bands crept at night into the homes of communists, killing entire families and burying their bodies in shallow graves."''
''"The murder campaign became so brazen in parts of rural East Java, that Moslem bands placed the heads of victims on poles and paraded them through villages. The killings have been on such a scale that the disposal of the corpses has created a serious sanitation problem in East Java and Northern Sumatra where the humid air bears the reek of decaying flesh. Travellers from those areas tell of small rivers and streams that have been literally clogged with bodies."''
Amongst the worst affected areas was the island of
Bali, where PKI had grown rapidly prior to the crackdown. On
November 11 clashes erupted between the PKI and
PNI, ending in massacres of PKI accused members and sympathizers. Whereas much of the anti-PKI pogroms in the rest of the country were carried out by Islamic political organizations in the name of ''jihad'', the killings in Bali were done in the name of
Hinduism. Bali stood out as the only place in the country where local soldiers in some way intervened to lessen the slaughter.
On
November 22, Aidit was captured and killed.
In December the military proclaimed that
Aceh had been cleared of communists. Simultaneously, Special Military Courts were set up to try jailed PKI members. On
March 12, the party was formally banned by Suharto, and The pro-PKI trade union SOBSI was banned in April.
Some of these tumultuous events were fictionalized in the popular novel and film ''
The Year of Living Dangerously'' (1982).
Post-1965 developments
In spite of initial sporadic resistance, PKI stood paralysed after the 1965-1966 killings. In September
1966 the remnants of the party politburo issued a statement of self-criticism, criticizing the previous cooperation with the Sukarno regime.
After the killings of Aidit and Njoto, Sudisman took over party leadership. In
1967 he was sentenced to death.
Some cadres of PKI, including the youth leader
Sukatno, had taken refuge in
Blitar, Eastern Java, following the crackdown on the party. Amongst the leaders present in Blitar were the youth leader
Sukatno, the deputy chairman of SOBSI,
Ruslan Widjayasastra and Professor Iskandar Subekti, assistant to Aidit. Blitar was an underdeveloped area were PKI had a strong support amongst the peasantry. The military was unaware that PKI had been able to consolidate itself in Blitar. But in March
1968 violence erupted in Blitar, as local peasants attacked leaders and cadres of
Nahdatul Ulama, as a revenge for the role NU had played in anticommunist persecutions. Around 60 NU cadres were killed. It is however unlikely that the killings of NU cadres in Blitar had been conducted on the orders of PKI. Anyhow, the military was made aware of the PKI enclave, and crushed it. Sukatno, Ruslan and Iskandar Subekti were captured and sentenced to death.
Some party cadres were temporarily outside Indonesia at the time of the September 30 events. Notably a sizeable delegation had travelled to
China to participate in the anniversary celebrations of the
Chinese Revolution. Others had left Indonesia to pursue studies in Eastern Europe. In exile a party apparatus continued to function. It was, however, largely isolated from political developments inside Indonesia. In Java, some villages that were known to be refuges for members or suspected sympathisers were identified by authorities and were kept under careful watch for a considerable time.
As of 2004, former PKI members remain blacklisted from many occupations including government jobs. During his presidency
Abdurrahman Wahid invited former PKI exiles to return to Indonesia in 1999, and proposed removing restrictions on open discussion of the communist ideology. In arguing for the removal of the ban, Wahid cited Indonesia's original 1945 constitution, which did not prohibit or even specifically mention communism. Wahid's proposal was vigorously opposed by some sectors of Indonesia society, especially conservative Islamic groups. In an April 2000 protest, a group called the Indonesian Islamic Front rallied ten thousand people in Jakarta against Wahid's proposal. The
Army did not immediately reject the proposal, but promised a "comprehensive and meticulous study" of the idea.
[9]
References
1. Thirdworldtraveler.com
2. marxist.com
3. Independant-Bangladesh.com
4. The Indonesian National Revolution 1945-1950, , Anthony, Reid, Longman Pty Ltd, , ISBN 0-582-71046-4
5. marxist.org
6. ''Indonesians Go to the Polls: The Parties and their Stand on Constitutional Issues'' by Harold F. Gosnell. In ''Midwest Journal of Political Science'' May, 1958. p. 189
7. Robert Cribb, ed., ''The Indonesian killings of 1965-1966: studies from Java and Bali'' (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia no 21, 1990).
8. Kahin, George McT. and Kahin, Audrey R. Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia. New York: The New Press, 1995.
9. ''Asian News Digest'' (2000) 1(18):279 and 1(19):295-296.
External links
★
People of Indonesia, Unite and Fight to Overthrow the Fascist Regime
★
Defence speech given by Sudisman in 1967
★
''Shadow Play'' - Information regarding the 1965 coup and subsequent persecution of the PKI.
★
The First Period of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI): 1914-1926
Further reading
★ Jochen Hippler, Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, Amr Hamzawy:
''Krieg, Repression, Terrorismus.'' ''Politische Gewalt und Zivilisation in westlichen und muslimischen Gesellschaften''. ifa, Stuttgart 2006, S. 55-58 (
Review)
★ J.L. Holzgrefe / Robert O. Keohane: ''Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas''. Cambridge (2003). ISBN 052152928X, S. 47
★ Mark Levene u. Penny Roberts: ''The Massacre in History''. (1999). ISBN 1571819355, S. 247-251
★ Robert Cribb, 'The Indonesian Marxist tradition', in C.P. Mackerras and N.J. Knight, eds, ''Marxism in Asia'' (London: Croom Helm, 1985), pp. 251-272.
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