Communists in Indonesia: isolated position despite five million followers
Algemeen Handelsblad analysis by a contributor (1963-06-01) on the PKI's isolated position despite about five million followers. It credits the PKI with 1 million members plus 1.5 million in 'the communist women's organisation Gerwani', and discusses food prices, the lifting of the state of siege, SOKSI's rise and West
Chairman Aidit leads delegation to the Soviet Union and China (Renmin Ribao, 21 July 1963)
Renmin Ribao/Xinhua report (21 July 1963, p. 3) on PKI chairman Aidit's delegation leaving Jakarta for Moscow, Beijing and Cuba, with his airport statements on the Sino-Soviet dispute, Nasakom and 'Malaysia'. Gerwani appears once, its head among mass-organisation leaders at the send-off. Useful for Gerwani's place in P
Aidit, 'Some problems of the Indonesian revolution and the PKI' (Beijing report, snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) from D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI. It states PKI membership rose from 4.6 to 6.3 million in about a year, with Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani at 1.5 million members each; the snippet is truncated.
D.N. Aidit, 'Some problems of the Indonesian revolution and the PKI': Beijing report, 4 September 1963
Full Renmin Ribao text (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing rally report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI: semi-colonial, semi-feudal analysis, national united front, Nasakom, state power's 'two aspects', and party building. Gerwani appears only once, in a membership tally (1.5 million, alongside
Aidit in Pyongyang: Indonesian-Korean friendship (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (14 Sept 1963, p. 3) from Aidit's Pyongyang rally speech. It gives PKI-affiliated mass organisation figures, including 1.5 million women in Gerwani, described as the progressive women's organisation, and 1.5 million in Pemuda Rakyat. The full text is GA-01902.
D.N. Aidit, 'Indonesian-Korean friendship will last forever': Pyongyang speech, 11 September 1963
Full text (Renmin Ribao, 14 Sept 1963, p. 3, via Xinhua/KCNA) of D.N. Aidit's 11 September speech at a Pyongyang welcome rally: praise of North Korea, an outline of the Indonesian revolution, Nasakom, West Irian, the anti-US line and attacks on 'modern revisionism'. Gerwani appears once in the tally of PKI-aligned orga
Foreign Office/CRO Papers on the PKI and Malaysia Confrontation (DO 169/516, 1964)
British Commonwealth Relations Office/Foreign Office file (DO 169/516, 1964) on Indonesia and Malaysia. It combines handwritten minutes, an IRD intelligence paper on the PKI (Aidit's December 1963 plenum, Sino-Soviet line, the prospect of PKI power within five years), a brief 'Communists smoothing path to power in Indo
JPRS 1964: Speech by Suwardiningsih on the Political Report to the CC PKI Second Plenary (Harian Rakjat, 14 Jan 1964)
JPRS translation (Translations on South and East Asia, 1964) of Suwardiningsih's speech in Harian Rakjat, 14 Jan 1964, p. 3, on the Political Report to the CC PKI's Second Plenary Session. She addresses workers' and peasants' hardship under the 26 May Regulations, work among peasants and fishermen, and revisionism. Fol
Aidit's International Women's Day letter urges women cadres to join poor-peasant women
Xinhua report in Renmin Ribao (9 Mar 1964, p. 4) on D.N. Aidit's International Women's Day letter, via the PKI Press Bureau. He urges urban revolutionary women cadres to go to villages and unite with poor-peasant women to enforce the Basic Agrarian and Crop-Sharing Laws, argues that women cannot be emancipated without
Indonesia launches 'smash Malaysia' movement: Umi Sardjono for women (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (19 Mar 1964, p. 3) on Indonesia's campaign to 'smash Malaysia'. It quotes Umi Sardjono, speaking for women and as a Gerwani leader, saying Indonesian women fully support Sukarno's order to launch a volunteers' movement; truncated. Full text is GA-01930.
Indonesia launches 'smash Malaysia' movement: Sukarno, Aidit and women's support
Xinhua dispatches in Renmin Ribao (19 Mar 1964, p. 3) on Indonesia's 'smash Malaysia' campaign: Sukarno orders the armed forces to contribute, Aidit swears in Pemuda Rakyat volunteers, and DPR-GR members back the President. Umi Sardjono, representing women and a Gerwani leader, pledges that Indonesian women will carry
LBJ National Security File: Indonesia, Communist Parties and Internal Politics (Sept 1964-Feb 1965)
LBJ Library National Security File, Indonesia (Sept 1964-Feb 1965): White House/State memoranda, Djakarta cables and CIA OCI reports on Sukarno's leftward drift, 'Sukarnoism' anti-PKI movement, succession, Malaysia and the USIS library crisis. Includes the CIA 'Sukarno and the Communists' report, listing Women's Front
CIA Special Report SC 00642/64A, 23 October 1964: Sukarno and the Communists
CIA Office of Current Intelligence Special Report SC 00642/64A, 'Sukarno and the Communists' (23 Oct 1964, Secret; declassified 1975). Analyses Sukarno's mutual exploitation with the PKI and Aidit's strategy; lists PKI front membership claims, including Gerwani at almost two million, beside BTI, SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat an
CIA, 'Sukarno and the Communists' (Office of Current Intelligence, 23 Oct 1964)
CIA Office of Current Intelligence report 'Sukarno and the Communists' (23 Oct 1964, ten pages), pre-coup assessment of the PKI-Sukarno relationship. Describes PKI growth to a claimed three million members and its fronts, including the Women's Front (GERWANI), 'almost two million'; also the cabinet, National Front, lan
History of the Indonesian Youth Struggle (Youth Bureau, Ministry of Education and Culture, 1965)
Official history of the Indonesian youth movement (1908-1960) compiled by the Youth Bureau of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Balai Pustaka, Jakarta 1965 (prefaces dated Dec. 1963), in five periods. Gerwani appears only briefly: it is listed among organisations demanding action against the 1957-58 PRRI separatis
CIA, The Indonesian Situation, report 61, 14 November 1965
CIA 'Indonesian Situation' report no. 61, 14 November 1965: continuing anti-communist action and mass killings, Aidit's presumed whereabouts, and 1,000 women demonstrating in Jakarta for permanent dissolution of the PKI women's auxiliary. Records an early anti-Gerwani mobilisation.
US Embassy Airgram A-300 (Johnson Library copy): The September 30 Affair - background to the coup
Second, noisier OCR copy of the same US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 of 22 October 1965 (Masters), from the Johnson Library country file, 46 pages. Covers Sukarno-PKI offensive, the coup, PKI and Sukarno roles, army prospects. Gerwani is mentioned only as PKI women taunting the generals at Lubang Buaya (p.14) and as
FO 371/180309: Periodic Reports on Indonesia's Internal Political Situation (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180309 (1965), periodic reports on Indonesia's internal political situation, mostly weekly letters from the British Embassy in Djakarta (S.J.G. Cambridge, M.J.T. McCann) to D. Tonkin, January to July 1965, with Antara and press extracts. It covers Aidit and the arming of peasants, Chairul
FO 371/180312: Internal Political Situation, Attempted Coup against Sukarno [3] (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180312 (1965), 'Internal political situation, Attempted coup against Sukarno [3]', a volume of Embassy letters and telegrams from Djakarta (Ambassador Gilchrist, S.J.G. Cambridge), February to April 1965. It includes Gilchrist's character notes on Subandrio, Aidit and the generals, the tak
FO 371/180317: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [8] (2-9 Oct 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180317 (2-9 Oct 1965): Jakarta embassy and Foreign Office telegrams on the 30 September coup, Suharto's takeover, Sukarno and Omar Dani, Soviet press silence, and a Singapore proposal for unattributable propaganda to blacken the PKI. Gerwani is named in Suharto's 4 Oct statement and a 6 Oc
FO 371/180318: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [9] (Oct 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180318 (Oct 1965): Djakarta embassy telegrams, minutes and copied US cables on the 30 September affair. Covers the anti-PKI demonstration and burning of PKI HQ, Sukarno's return, Suharto and Nasution, and Anglo-American debate on backing the generals. Only Gerwani-relevant item: the 10 Oct
FO 371/180320: Gilchrist Despatch of 8 October 1965 on the Coup and Counter-Coup
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180320 (Oct-Nov 1965): Gilchrist's despatch no. 13 of 8 Oct 1965 on the coup and counter-coup, plus telegrams, NATO and Commonwealth reports and Chinese/Soviet/Hanoi reactions. The despatch lists GERWANI among 'chief suspects' (p. 11) and says members of PKI youth and women's groups took p
FO 371/180322: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [13] (28 Oct-5 Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180322 (28 Oct-5 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams quoting Antara on the post-coup purge, Sukarno versus the generals, Medan and Central Java. Gerwani items: tel. 2418 (2 Nov, p. 52) reports a Kowani/women's congress move to expel Gerwani members; tel. 2421 (p. 57) quotes Suharto naming 'Pemud
FO 371/180323: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [14] (Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180323 (c. 4-16 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams, Antara extracts and Foreign Office correspondence on the PKI's destruction, Subandrio, Nasution and Sukarno. Gerwani items: tel. 2480 (p. 39) reports a 8 Nov Jakarta rally of women's organisations demanding dissolution of the PKI and Gerwani;
FO 371/180324: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [15] (Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180324 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [15]': telegrams and letters from Djakarta, Washington and Peking, November 1965, plus appended US and Canadian reports. It records Sukarno's Heroes Day speech, Adam Malik's view of the Sukarno-generals stalemate and accounts of 30 September.
FO 371/180325: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [16] (1965-1966)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180325 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [16]': letters and telegrams from Djakarta, NATO Paris, Washington and The Hague, late November 1965 to January 1966. It follows the regional bans of the PKI, Sukarno's Nasakom speeches, Aidit's fate and translated interrogations of Untung and
FO 371/180333: Bilateral Relations with China (1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180333 (Jan-Dec 1965): Peking, Djakarta and Hanoi telegrams on Sino-Indonesian relations: Subandrio's visit, delegations, PKI-China links, then the post-coup anti-Chinese wave, attacks on Chinese premises and Medan riots. Only Gerwani mention: Angkatan Bersendjata (29 Oct, p. 82) says the
FBIS-monitored VNA text (11 Jan 1965) of a Nhan Dan review of world solidarity with the NFLSV on its fourth anniversary, with messages from Zhou Enlai, Kim Il Sung, Sihanouk and PKI chair Aidit, and events by WIDF, WFTU, WPC and others. Indonesia appears only briefly: many Indonesian mass organisations held meetings an
Aidit accuses Chaerul Saleh of fabricating a document (speech to Gerwani, Berita Harian, 1965)
Berita Harian, 23 January 1965, p. 3: D.N. Aidit, speaking to Gerwani, accuses Deputy Prime Minister Chaerul Saleh of spreading a forged document claiming the PKI planned to seize power in 1970; he says he reported this to Sukarno. Clipping is partly unreadable. Shows Aidit using Gerwani as an audience for PKI rebuttal
Neues Deutschland, 4 Feb 1965, p. 2: Relations with Indonesia deepened
Neues Deutschland, 4 February 1965, p. 2: report on the Volkskammer session at which President Johannes Dieckmann reported on the delegation's 30 Nov–14 Dec 1964 trip to Indonesia. Quoting his report: on the penultimate day the delegation held talks 'with the leadership of Gerwani, the women's organisation of the Commu