Lessons and Fairy Tales

PKI TO 3

Rise back

In 1950, the PKI restarted its publishing activities, with its main organs being the Rakjat Daily and the Red Star. In the 1950s, the PKI assumed the position of nationalist party under the leadership of the D.N. Aidit, and support the anti-colonialist and anti-Western policies taken by President Soekarno. Aidit and surrounding groups, including young leaders such as Sudisman, Lukman, Njoto and Sakirman, took control of the party leadership in 1951. At the time, none of them were over 30 years old. Under Aidit, the PKI expanded very quickly, from about 3,000-5,000 members in 1950, to 165,000 in 1954 and even 1.5 million in 1959.

The Dutch continued opposition to Irian Jaya was a problem often raised by the PKI during the 1950s.

In August 1951, the PKI led a series of strikes, which were followed by decisive actions by the PKI in Medan and Jakarta. As a result, the PKI leaders again moved underground for a while.

In February 1958 an attempted coup was staged by pro-US forces between the military and right-wing politics. The rebels, based in Sumatra and Sulawesi, proclaimed the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia on 15 February. This revolutionary government soon began arresting thousands of PKI members in areas under their control. The PKI supported Sukarno's efforts to quell the rebellion, including the imposition of martial law. The rebellion was finally defeated.

In August 1959, there was an attempt on behalf of the military to prevent the holding of a PKI congress. But the congress was held on schedule, and handled by Sukarno himself. In 1960 Sukarno launched the slogan Nasakom, short for Nationalism, Religion, Communism. Thus the role of the PKI as a junior partner in Sukarno's government was officially instituted. The PKI welcomed the launch of the Nasakom concept, seeing it in terms of a multiclass united front.

Election of 1955

Before the 1955 election, PKI favored Sukarno for the 'guided democracy' plan and was an active supporter of Sukarno.In the 1955 Election, the PKI occupied fourth place with 16% of the overall vote. The party gained 39 seats (out of 257 contested seats) and 80 out of 514 in the Constituent Assembly.

In July 1957, the PKI office in Jakarta was attacked with grenades. In the same month the PKI made considerable progress in elections in several cities. In September 1957, Masjumi who felt rivaled by the PKI publicly demanded that the PKI be banned .

On 3 December 1957, trade unions, which were generally under the influence of the PKI, began to control Dutch-owned enterprises. This mastery pioneered the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises. The struggle against the foreign capitalists gave the PKI the opportunity to present itself as a national party.

In 1959, the military tried to block the PKI congress. However, this congress went ahead as scheduled and President Soekarno himself gave the Communists wind in his remarks. In 1960, Sukarno launched the slogan Nasakom which stands for Nationalism, Religion, and Communism. Thus the role of the PKI as a partner in Sukarno's politics was instituted. The PKI responded positively to the concept of Nasakom, and saw it as a united front that was multi-class and multi-group.

1960

Although the PKI supported Sukarno, he did not lose his political autonomy. In March 1960, the PKI denounced Sukarno's democratic handling of the budget. On July 8, the People's Daily published an article criticizing the government's policies. The PKI leader was briefly captured by the military, but later released on orders from Sukarno.

As the idea of Malaysia developed, both the PKI and the Malayan Communist Party rejected it, and both the PKI and the Malayan Communist Party considered the formation of Malaysia to be a project of neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism of Britain and its allies.

With growing support and membership reaching 3 million people in 1965, the PKI became the strongest communist party outside the Soviet Union and the PRC. The party has a strong base in a number of mass organizations, such as SOBSI (Sentral of All Indonesian Labor Organization), Pemuda Rakjat, Gerwani, Barisan Tani Indonesia (BTI), among others, The Rakjat Budayaan Institution (Lekra) and the Indonesian Sardjana Association (HSI). According to estimates all party members and organizations under its umbrella may reach one-fifth of all Indonesians.

In March 1962, the PKI joined the government. The leaders of the PKI, Aidit and Njoto, were appointed advisory ministers. In April 1962, the PKI organized its party congress. In 1963, the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines were involved in discussions about territorial disputes and the possibility of the formation of a Confederation of Maphilindo, an idea put forward by the president of the Philippines, Diosdado Macapagal. The PKI rejected the idea of forming Maphilindo and the Malaysian federation. Militant PKI members crossed into Malaysia and engaged in battles with British and Australian forces. Some groups managed to reach Peninsular Malaysia and joined the struggle there. Most of them were arrested upon arrival. Some PKI combat units are active in the Kalimantan border region.

One of the things that the PKI did after entering into the Old Order government was the proposed 5th Force consisting of workers and farmers, namely, The leadership of the PKI intends that the formation of the fifth force is expected to support mass mobilization to complete Operation Dwikora in the face of Malaysia. However, this made the TNI AD feel worried fear of weapons misappropriation by the PKI.

In January 1964 the PKI began confiscating British property owned by British companies in Indonesia.

In the mid-1960s the United States State Department estimated party membership to have increased to about 2 million (3.8% of the country's working-age population).