Communist Party of Indonesia
인도네시아 공산당
The communist party of the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It began in 1914 as the Indies Social Democratic Association, became the Communist Union of the Indies in 1920 and took the name Communist Party of Indonesia in 1924. By the mid-1960s it had about three million members and was the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union, but after the 30 September Movement of 1965 the army's anti-communist mass killings destroyed its organisation, and it was banned in 1966.
In depth
The Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV) was founded in 1914 with 85 members by the Dutch socialist Henk Sneevliet and others. Around 1915 only three of its roughly 100 members were Indonesians. Through the "bloc within" tactic inside Sarekat Islam it won over members such as Semaun and Darsono, and after Dutch cadres were expelled Indonesians became the majority. At its congress in Semarang on 23 May 1920 it became the Communist Union of the Indies (PKH), with Semaun as chairman. According to the Indonesian-language source it was the first Asian communist party to join the Communist International. In 1924 it was renamed the Communist Party of Indonesia.
Tan Malaka, the Comintern's agent for Southeast Asia, opposed the plan for a revolt because he believed the party lacked mass support, but a revolt began in Batavia on 12 November 1926. All the risings were crushed within weeks; 13,000 people were arrested and 823 were sent to the Boven-Digoel camp. The colonial government outlawed the party in 1927. It re-emerged during the national revolution after the Japanese surrender in 1945. Musso, back from the Soviet Union in August 1948, reorganised the party, but after the Madiun uprising was suppressed in September, leaders including Musso were executed and 36,000 people were imprisoned. The party was nevertheless not banned.
After D. N. Aidit became general secretary in January 1951, membership grew from 3,000–5,000 in 1950 to 1.5 million in 1959. In the 1955 election the party came fourth with 16% of the vote and 39 of 257 seats. It supported Sukarno's Guided Democracy and his Nasakom formula (nationalism, religion, communism), and in March 1962 Aidit and Njoto joined the government as advisory ministers. By 1965 it had about three million members and was backed by labour, peasant, youth, women's and cultural organisations.
After the 30 September Movement, in which six generals were killed on the night of 30 September 1965, the army under Suharto blamed the PKI; the extent of the party's responsibility remains disputed. In the killings that followed between 100,000 and two million people died, many scholars putting the figure at no fewer than 500,000. Aidit was captured and executed on 22 November, and the party was banned on 12 March 1966. In September 1966 the remaining Politburo criticised its earlier cooperation with Sukarno, and the remnants in Blitar, East Java, were crushed by mid-1968.