Gerwani Archive
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GA-03604 1955-05 CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP78-02646R000300150001-8 rel A

The Communist Party of Indonesia (CIA survey, May 1955)

CIA intelligence survey of the PKI's history, structure and front organisations, May 1955, before the September 1955 elections. Section III.E (report pp. 49-50) profiles Gerwani: founded 1950 as Gerwis, renamed Gerwani at the March 1954 congress, 25,000+ members, S.K. Trimurti general chairman and Umi Sardjono chairman

GA-02395 1957 rel A

Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1957): Pengurus dan Cabang Gerwani, Umi Sardjono Ketua Umum

US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1957): Gerwani leaders and branches, Umi Sardjono chair

US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1957) extracts: a Central Borneo women's committee, including Gerwani, backing Sukarno's Concept and asking that marriage law be prioritised; Kowani's Fourth Congress (Surabaya) with Mudigdio of Gerwani as treasurer; Muljani as Central Java Gerwani chair; new North Sumatra and Jakart

GA-02396 1958 rel A

Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1958): Konferensi Nasional Wanita Komunis, Suharti, Setiati Surasto, Salawati

US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1958): National Conference of Communist Women

US Monthly Indonesian Press Survey (1958) analysis of the First National Conference of Communist Women (Jakarta, 26-31 May 1958). Aidit's address presents the 'Communist woman' and calls for a wider Gerwani; Suharti Suwarto (Gerwani second deputy chair) and Sundari report on women's groups, only 100,000 women PKI membe

GA-02372 1959-11-12 rel B

Current Intelligence Weekly Summary (12 November 1959)

CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 November 1959

CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 Nov 1959, a long multi-topic report; the Indonesia part (pp.23-27) assesses PKI strength (Aidit's claim of 1.5 million members, Java as base, army and Sukarno restrictions, Aidit's 1959 Moscow and Peking trip). It names GERWANI as the PKI's women's front, alongside Pemuda Rak

GA-02471 1960-03-27 rel A licensed

Sukarno Names National Front Committee (FBIS, 27 Mar 1960)

FBIS, 27 March 1960: Sukarno names National Front committee

FBIS-monitored Jakarta radio text (27 Mar 1960) of Presidential Decision No. 34 of 1960 appointing the Preparatory Committee for the National Front, with Sukarno's installation speech. Among functional-group members are Mrs Supeni and Mrs Umi Sardjono (Gerwani leader), alongside D.N. Aidit in the political group; Arudj

GA-02625 1960-07 rel A licensed

Biographic Data on Members of the Gotong Rojong Parliament (US Embassy Djakarta despatch, July 1960)

Biographic Data on Members of the Gotong Royong Parliament (US Embassy despatch, July 1960)

US State Department Central Files despatch from Embassy Djakarta (July 1960, chargé Rolland Buchner): biographic data, with alphabetical index, on about 110 former members of parliament appointed to the Gotong Royong parliament, grouped by party. Biographies of women MPs include Gerwani figures. Mrs Mudigdio (Gerwis/Ge

GA-03039 1961 rel A licensed

The Communist Party of Indonesia, 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (PhD thesis, Australian National University)

The Communist Party of Indonesia 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (Hindley, 1961)

Donald Hindley's 1961 ANU PhD thesis on the Indonesian Communist Party under the Aidit leadership, 1951-1961, covering PKI strategy, party-building, finances, mass organisations and elections. Section 'Women' (pp. 422-448, esp. 'Gerwani', pp. 428-441) traces Gerwis from its founding on 4 June 1950 (about 500 members) t

GA-02936 1962 rel B licensed

Dilemmas of Indonesian Communism

Dilemmas of Indonesian Communism (van der Kroef, 1962)

Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, summer 1962) on the PKI's dilemmas under Guided Democracy: dependence on Sukarno, the July 1960 'Evaluation' clash with the army, and the party's use of mass fronts. Gerwani is named as the PKI's women's front: its organ was aggressive without censure in 1961, and in

GA-02633 1962-04 rel B licensed

US Embassy weekly political-economic-military situation telegrams, April 1962

US Embassy Weekly Situation Telegrams, April 1962

Two US Embassy Djakarta weekly situation telegrams (JOINT WEEKA 14 and 15), 6 and 13 April 1962, on the West New Guinea dispute, PKI-Sukarno friction, Partindo, wage demands and military matters. Gerwani appears only once: it joined SOBSI and others in protesting the 'undemocratic' draft election bill providing for pop

GA-03439 1963 Problems of the Indonesian Revolution (Demos, 1963) rel A

Aidit (1963), Problems of the Indonesian Revolution

Book by PKI chairman D.N. Aidit (Demos, 1963) collecting his writings on the Indonesian revolution. Beyond the opening chapters, a passage on the Madiun affair (p. 128) records that Mrs Mudigdio and A.M. Tambunan put parliamentary questions on 9 December 1950 about the 1948 killing of Amir Sjarifuddin and ten comrades.

GA-02380 1964-10-23 rel B licensed

CIA Office of Current Intelligence, Sukarno and the Communists (Special Report SC 00642/64A, 23 October 1964)

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

GA-02562 1965 rel C licensed

Indonesia: Internal Political Situation, Attempted Coup against Sukarno [3] (FO 371/180312, 1965)

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

GA-02649 1965-12-16 rel C

Record of conversation between N.S. Khrushchev and Sukarno, 9 June 1961

Conversation between Khrushchev and Sukarno, 9 June 1961

Soviet record (top secret) of Khrushchev's 9 June 1961 conversation with Sukarno, translated by Angela Greenfield (Wilson Center). Khrushchev warns of US intelligence ties to rebels and army officers; Sukarno discusses banned parties, Nasakom, his backing for the PKI and consultation with Aidit, and distrust of Subandr

GA-03064 1988 rel B licensed

Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965

Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)

Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front