40 Years of the PKI
'40 Tahun PKI', compiled by the PKI History Institute (Lembaga Sejarah PKI) for the party's 40th anniversary, Yayasan Pembaruan, Jakarta 1960, following D.N. Aidit's 'Lahirnya PKI dan perkembangannya'. A party-line history from the 1920 founding through the 1926 uprising, Japanese occupation, revolution and the VI Cong
New anti-Dutch demonstrations
Ons Noorden (17 May 1960): amid anti-Dutch demonstrations, the oil union Perboem and the PKI-affiliated women's organisation Gerwani urge the government to seize remaining Dutch capital in mixed enterprises such as Shell, BPM and Unilever. Demonstrations continue in Bandung, Surabaya and Semarang.
Ruth McVey's classic history of the Indonesian communist movement from the ISDV and Sarekat Islam split to the failed 1926-27 uprisings, covering the PKI's early leadership (Semaun, Darsono, Tan Malaka, Musso), its Comintern ties and colonial repression; first published by Cornell in 1965, this copy is the 2006 Equinox
LBJ National Security File: Indonesia, Communists and Internal Politics (Oct-Nov 1965)
Compilation from the LBJ National Security File (ProQuest), Oct-Nov 1965: State Department memos, CIA intelligence memoranda and Indonesia Working Group situation reports on the 30 September Movement and army counter-moves. Gerwani appears only in passing: arrests of Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat members (6 Oct), CIA claim
Suara Merdeka, 6 Oct 1965, p. 1: Lubang Buaya well and Kalibata burial
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 6 Oktober 1965, hlm. 1. Front page after discovery of the officers' bodies: Suharto's RRI announcement of the Lubang Buaya well and Kalibata burial; his reply mentions an AURI-run training centre for 'sukarelawan/sukarelawati'. No Gerwani or mutilation mentioned.
Suara Merdeka, 9 Oct 1965, p. 2: Gerwani Central Java congratulates ABRI on its anniversary
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 9 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2. Includes a boxed paid notice in which the DPD Gerwani Central Java congratulates ABRI on its 20th anniversary and hopes for closer ABRI–people cooperation, a rare formulaic trace of Gerwani's own voice just before its destruction.
Suara Merdeka, 20 October 1965, p. 1: Suharto order of the day and suspension of PKI organisations
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 20 Oktober 1965, hlm. 1. Front page with Suharto's first order of the day and the RRI report of the Pepelrada Jakarta decree suspending PKI, Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, BTI, CGMI, Lekra and others; one of the first formal measures against Gerwani.
Nasakom for now without 'kom': communists frozen but not yet eliminated
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (21 Oct 1965), H.L. Leffelaar from Jakarta: the freezing of the PKI is an army victory over Sukarno; Nasakom 'without kom'. A poster targets Mrs Subandrio, head of the women's federation (Kowani), for not yet suspending Gerwani. Hatta criticises communist land seizures; a minister recounts Unt
Nasakom for now without 'kom'; Subandrio increasingly cornered
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (21 Oct 1965), H.L. Leffelaar from Jakarta: the freezing of the PKI is an army victory over Sukarno; Nasakom 'without kom'. A poster targets Mrs Subandrio, head of the women's federation (Kowani), for not yet suspending Gerwani. Hatta criticises communist land seizures; a minister recounts Unt
Suara Merdeka, 22 October 1965, pp. 2-3: Semarang mass action, Majalengka dissolution, student demands
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 22 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2–3. Editorials on Col. Katamso and the Semarang mass action, self-dissolution in Majalengka co-signed by a Gerwani representative, and UI students demanding dissolution of PKI, Gerwani and others.
Indonesian Army says wholesale slaughter of civilians in east Java (Straits Budget, 1965)
The Straits Budget (Singapore), 3 November 1965, p. 15, UPI/Antara: the army declares a state of war in Central Java and gives figures for civilians it says communists massacred (e.g. 62 bodies in three mass graves at Banyuwangi, 104 killed), while observers note the incidents all occurred after the coup. Nothing on Ge
Dossier of the Indonesian Drama (Lucien Rey, New Left Review, 1966)
Article by Lucien Rey (New Left Review no. 36, March 1966) reconstructing the 1 October 1965 events as a plot by dissident Central Java officers, plus a translated Asahi Shimbun interview with PKI deputy chair Njoto. Says People's Youth and Gerwani auxiliaries trained at Halim took part in the generals' executions in r
Angkatan Bersendjata, 17 January 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 17 Jan 1966. Semarang report on the death of Karyono Purbominoto (alleged Pati 'Dewan Revolusi' designer) noting his wife Marsih, village head and 'pentolan Gerwani', remains at large; KAMI protests.
The Politico-Military Role of the Indonesian Armed Forces, October 1965-1968 (Fox, 1968)
Edward J. Fox, University of Chicago MA dissertation (1968; the catalogue title says PhD) on the Indonesian armed forces' control programme and the pattern of violence from October 1965 to early 1968. Gerwani appears only in passing: a footnote cites 1.75 million members and notes its self-dissolution (p.32), and one u
Angkatan Bersendjata Minggu, August 1968 (Sunday Edition)
Angkatan Bersendjata Minggu, Agustus 1968 (edisi Minggu). Sunday edition, Independence Day issue: mostly entertainment; the single Gerwani item is a boxed city-column feature on a young jamu seller from Semarang, joking about Gerwani.