The Dutch revolutionary who planted communist seeds in Indonesia and China, then fought both Stalinism and Nazism
On the night of 12 April 1942 at Amersfoort camp, bound and facing the firing squad, Sneevliet refused a blindfold and together with seven comrades sang 'The Internationale.' He asked the executioners to untie his hands; they refused.
Dutch revolutionary. In the East Indies he co-founded the ISDV, forerunner of the Indonesian Communist Party; as Comintern envoy he brokered the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the First United Front. He fought both Stalinism and Nazism before his execution in 1942.
Career timeline
- 1902–1911Dutch railway & tram union (NV) officer; chairman in 1911
- 1912Joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP); wrote for De Nieuwe Tijd
- 1914–1918Dutch East Indies — co-founded ISDV, organized railway union, expelled
- 1920PKI delegate to 2nd Comintern Congress; elected to ECCI
- 1921–1923Comintern representative in China — CCP founding, Sun Yat-sen meeting, First United Front
- 1924–1927CPN Central Committee, NAS secretary; broke with Stalinism
- 1929–1938Founded and led RSAP; International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity
- 1933–1937Dutch MP — elected from prison for supporting naval mutiny
- 1940–1942Organized MLL-Front, published Spartakus, February 1941 strike, arrested & executed
Father of the Republic of Indonesia, the Marxist who fused communism with Islam
“If you think you can direct the Indonesian revolution from Moscow, you are no different from the colonialists.” — to Alimin, who came to Manila seeking approval for the 1926 uprising
Chairman of the Indonesian Communist Party and author of 'Towards the Republic of Indonesia.' He argued Marxism and Pan-Islamism must unite, broke with the Comintern, and after 1945 shook the fledgling republic with his demand for uncompromised independence.
Career timeline
- 1913Graduates from Kweekschool at Fort de Kock; receives high adat title of datuk
- 1913–1919Studies in the Netherlands; radicalised by the October Revolution and turns to Marxism
- 1919–1920Teaches children of tea-plantation coolies in Deli, Sumatra; writes 'Land of Paupers'
- 1921.06Founds 'Sarekat Islam Schools' (Tan Malaka Schools) in Semarang; spreads to Bandung
- 1921.12Elected chairman of the PKI at the Semarang congress, succeeding Semaun
- 1922Arrested by Dutch authorities; exiled to the Netherlands; stands as CPN parliamentary candidate
- 1922–1923Attends the Fourth Comintern Congress in Moscow; advocates communism–Pan-Islamism alliance
- 1923–1925Comintern Eastern Bureau agent; writes 'Towards the Republic of Indonesia' in Canton
- 1925–1927Based in Manila; opposes the PKI's 1926 uprising but fails to stop it
- 1927Founds the Indonesian Republic Party (PARI) in Bangkok, breaking with the Comintern
- 1927–1942Underground across China, Singapore, and the Philippines under aliases; writes 'Madilog'
- 1945–1946Returns to Indonesia; founds the Struggle Union (Persatuan Perjuangan); forces Sjahrir cabinet's temporary fall
- 1946–1948Arrested and imprisoned by Republican government; writes autobiography 'From Jail to Jail'
- 1949.02.21Captured and executed by Republican forces at Blimbing, East Java
The organizer who built Indonesia's CP into the world's third-largest communist party
“Marxism is a guide to action, not an inflexible dogma.” — a phrase he repeated to PKI cadres
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), 1951–1965. Working within Sukarno's Marhaenism framework, he systematically built mass organizations across labor, peasant, women's, youth, and cultural sectors, leading the PKI to become Indonesia's largest party in the 1955 elections. Under his leadership the PKI grew to over 3 million members (the world's third-largest communist party) before he was executed alongside its annihilation in Suharto's 1965–66 anti-communist purge.
Career timeline
- 1939–1942Active in Gerindo (Indonesian People's Movement) youth organizations
- 1943Joined the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
- 1944–1945Leadership of the underground anti-fascist Gerakan Indonesia Merdeka
- 1947–1948PKI Central Committee member → Politburo member
- 1951–1959General Secretary of the PKI
- 1959–1965Chairman of the PKI Central Committee
- 1959–1965Concurrently member of the Supreme Advisory Council, deputy speaker of the MPRS, and minister without portfolio
- 1965.11.22Captured in Central Java and summarily executed
