English text of the PKI programme (Fifth National Congress, 1953): Indonesia as semi-colonial and semi-feudal after the Round Table agreements, with demands on land, labour and democracy. Background on PKI aims.
CIA report, 6 July 1953, on Gerwis commissars assigned to West Java areas (Djatinegara, Bogor, Sukabumi, Cianjur, Bandung), with background on Kartinah and Kartowijono and their ties to Perwari, peace and WIDF activity. Names regional Gerwis leaders.
CIA report, 23 February 1953, on a PKI Surabaya sub-section committees' meeting (Dec 1952) with directives on discipline, cadres and election preparation, including 'more support' for Gerwis. Shows Gerwis treated as a PKI-supported front.
US State Department Office of Intelligence Research report IR-6165, 'Communism in the Free World' (January 1953), a compilation of about 30 country studies of communist capabilities, held in the CIA reading room. The Indonesia study (IR-6165.3) covers PKI aims and tactics, labour, and front organisations. Section VI.A
Report volume (WIDF, Berlin, 1953) on the World Congress of Women, Copenhagen, 5-10 June 1953: reports, speeches, documents, resolutions and the officers elected. Gerwani and Gerwis are not named. Indonesia appears in the congress report (p. 4), which says its 10 delegates and observers came from six organisations, one
One-line FBIS item (3 Jan 1953): the women's branch of the Indonesian Islamic Youth League (GPII) held a congress in Jakarta and demanded vocational training for Indonesian women and a government physical-education vocational school for women. Background on Muslim women's organisations contemporary with Gerwis.
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (24 Jan 1953): China Peace Committee gave a welcoming banquet for delegates of several countries to the recent (Vienna) Congress, including Indonesian delegates K. Werdojo, S.A.M. Mudigdio, Sunardi and Sukrisno. Records Mudigdio's visit to China after the Vienna peace congress.
FBIS-monitored Xinhua excerpt (24 Jan 1953): four Indonesian delegates to the Vienna Peace Congress (K. Werdojo, S.A.M. Mudigdio and Sunardi, MPs, and Sukrisno, assistant editor-in-chief of ANTARA) arrived in Peking by air the previous day at the invitation of the China Peace Committee, with a Burmese delegate. Records
Short Xinhua item (17 Feb 1953, via FBIS): S.A.M. Mudigdio and three other Indonesian delegates to the Vienna Peace Congress left Canton on 16 Feb for home via Hong Kong, seen off by the Canton China Peace Committee branch; they had arrived in Canton on 1 February. Concludes Mudigdio's China visit.
FBIS-monitored Pyongyang radio text (4 Mar 1953) of a Korean Workers' Party Central Committee decision for International Women's Day: praises Korean women in the war, calls for wartime production and vigilance. One line lists the 'awakened democratic women of India, Indonesia' and others in the WIDF-led struggle (WIDF
FBIS item (20 Apr 1953): MP Tjugito (OCR) and Suharjo, secretary-general of SABDA, left Jakarta as SOBSI delegates to May Day in Peking. S.K. Trimurti left with the SOBSI delegation and would attend the women's congress in Copenhagen (World Congress of Women). Shows Trimurti's travel in the WIDF circuit.
FBIS item (21 Apr 1953): the Jakarta Kartini Day committee closed the 1953 observance with a grand meeting at the State Palace; Mrs Sukarno said Kartini Day's essence is charity and self-improvement and that Indonesian women's supreme duty is to take part in the coming general elections. Background for official women's
FBIS item (4 May 1953): first group of Indonesia's delegation to the International Women's Congress in Copenhagen (from 5 June) left Jakarta by ship on 4 May: a SARBUPRI central committee woman (name garbled, Suranto), Maasje Siwi and Kartinah, both of Gerwis. Records named Gerwis delegates to the WIDF congress.
Sunday Worker, 7 June 1953, p. 4: report on the opening of the WIDF World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, with debates on peace and children and delegates from many countries, including Burma, Japan and the Philippines. Indonesia appears only in a speech listing the Dutch in Indonesia among colonial powers; no Indones
Sunday Worker, 28 June 1953, p. 12: account of the WIDF World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, describing delegates in the lobby (including 'exquisite Indonesians') and calls for peace. A moving scene has Indonesian and Dutch women embracing after a Dutch delegate said her people fought for liberty everywhere; Vietnam,
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (4 Jul 1953): eighteen Chinese delegates to the World Congress of Women (Copenhagen), led by deputy leader Chang Yun, returned to Peking on 4 July with ten foreign women delegates invited to visit China, including Kartinah of Indonesia (Kartinah Kurdi, Gerwis). Shows the post-Copenhagen China
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Oct 1953, p. 6: three Australian delegates (Flo Davis, Joyce Egan, Fuchsia Lewin) describe the WIDF World Congress of Women, Copenhagen, June 1953 (1,187 women, 70 countries). They stress peace, equal pay and socialist-bloc childcare. Indonesia appears briefly: Indonesian women urge support for a K
Tribune (Sydney), 14 Oct 1953, p. 6: three Australian delegates (Flo Davis, Joyce Egan, Fuchsia Lewin) describe the WIDF World Congress of Women, Copenhagen, June 1953 (1,187 women, 70 countries). They stress peace, equal pay and socialist-bloc childcare. Indonesia appears briefly: Indonesian women urge support for a K
CIA information report, 6 Nov 1953: 'Financial Problems of Communist Front Organizations' (Indonesia). Reports that the World Peace Committee sought Rp 50,000 from a Chinese organisation and that GERWIS has not paid its monthly Rp 2,500 to SOBSI since January 1953 and has also asked for aid. One page; a single paragrap
Daily Mirror (Sydney), 18 December 1953, p. 11, a page of national and foreign news briefs. Only one item concerns Indonesia: a short AP report from Jakarta that 2,000 sarong-clad Indonesian women jammed the capital's streets demanding a government ban on polygamy and child marriage. No organisation is named. The other
Soviet Woman, 31 Dec 1953, pp. 49-52: WIDF declaration for peaceful settlement and Eugenie Cotton's statement, then Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier's 'We are stronger than ever' on follow-up to the Copenhagen World Congress of Women. One sentence notes the Indonesian women's union GERWIS would hold its congress in Dece