CIA-held copy of the joint SOBSI publication, 17 August 1950 (Bangun, Tenaga, Pekerja, Buruh)
CIA-held copy of a joint SOBSI publication of 17 August 1950 (Independence Day issue of the labour magazines Bangun, Tenaga, Pekerja and Buruh), in Indonesian, issued by the SOBSI Information Bureau. It contains union and anti-imperialist articles, an item on prostitution in Tanjung Priok, appeals for WFTU unity and re
Merdeka, 6 April 1951: Batik Workers' Union conference
Merdeka, 6 Apr 1951, p. 2: Serikat Buruh Batik conference on fusion with the textile union; Gerwis listed among the guests and those who gave greetings, with SOBSI and MPs Werdojo and Pardede.
26 persons arrested in East Java
Dutch newspaper report ('t Nieuws voor Kampen, 20 Aug 1951, p. 6) on the mass arrests of 26 people in East Java, including journalists, PKI and SOBSI officials in Surabaya, and the chairwoman of Gerwis, Mrs. Parjani Ilham. Officials said the arrests targeted no particular group.
Now also arrests in East Java: Gerwis chairwoman Parjani Ilham detained
De Tijd report (20 Aug 1951) on the mass arrests in East Java (August 1951 raids): 26 detained, including journalists, PKI Surabaya chairman Hutapea, SOBSI/SBKA officials and "the chairwoman of the women's organisation Gerwis, Mrs. Parjani Ilham". Authorities denied targeting any ideology.
Also arrests in East Java
Eindhovensch Dagblad front-page report (20 Aug 1951) on the East Java arrests of 26 people, including journalists, the local PKI chair, SOBSI union leaders, and the chair of the women's organisation Gerwis, 'mevrouw Parjani Ilham' (as printed). Part of the August 1951 round-up; the paper links journalist Go Tjing Hok's
Documents seized (arrests in Surabaya, August 1951)
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (20 Aug 1951, p.1) on the Surabaya arrests of 26 people during the August 1951 round-up: journalists (Go Tjing Hok etc.), SOBSI chair Surono and Sutomo, PKI chair Hutapea, and Mrs Parjani Ilham, chair of the women's organisation Gerwis. Police seized documents and portraits of Mao, Lenin and
Again numerous arrests in Indonesia
Het Vaderland front-page report (20 Aug 1951) on the escalating arrests of communists across Indonesia: 26 in East Java including Java Post editor Go Tjing Hok, the local PKI chair and SOBSI leaders, and Mrs Parjani Ilham, chair of the women's organisation 'Gerwis'; 50 in Bandung with SOBSI offices sealed; 175 in East
Arrests in East Java: strict control of the press
Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant, 20 August 1951: reports the August 1951 mass arrests in East Java (the 'Razzia Agustus') of 26 people in Surabaya including journalists, PKI local chair Hutapea, Sobsi's Surono and Sutomo, and the Gerwis chairwoman Mrs Parjani Ilham; 175 more arrested in Malang, Bojonegoro, Madiun and Kediri
Various arrests also made in East Java
Nijmeegsch Dagblad (20 Aug 1951) on the August 1951 arrests in East Java: 26 detained including journalists, the local PKI chairman and SOBSI unionists. Among them is Gerwis chairwoman Mrs Parjani Ilham of Surabaya. Officials deny a group is targeted; press control is to be tightened.
26 persons arrested in East Java
Provinciale Overijsselsche en Zwolsche Courant (20 Aug 1951): 26 arrests in East Java including Javapost editor Go Tjing Hok, journalists, the Surabaya PKI chairman, SOBSI unionists and Gerwis chairwoman Mrs Parjani Ilham. Authorities say the arrests target no particular group or ideology. Part of the August 1951 raids
Dozens more arrests in East and West Java: Sobsi offices occupied in Bandung
Trouw (20 Aug 1951) on the August 1951 arrests: 26 detained in East Java including journalists, the PKI branch chairman, SOBSI unionists and Gerwis chairwoman Mrs Parjani Ilham; 50 communists arrested in Bandung and SOBSI offices sealed. Attorney General warns of tighter press control; 17 August passed quietly.
Arrests in East Java
Winschoter Courant (20 Aug 1951): 26 arrested in East Java, among them Javapost editor Go Tjing Hok, other editors, the Surabaya PKI chairman, SOBSI unionists and Gerwis chairwoman Mrs Parjani Ilham. Officials say no group or ideology is targeted. Part of the August 1951 raids.
Gerwis Kebumen: Siti Asiyah threatened by her office (Harian Rakjat, 20 March 1952)
Harian Rakjat, 20 Mar 1952, p.2: report from Kebumen that Siti Asiyah, a civil servant (Japen office) and deputy chair of the new Gerwis branch in Kebumen and Gerwis vice-chair of the 8 March International Women's Day committee, was repeatedly summoned and warned or threatened by her office head not to be active in Ger
Analysis of Communist Propaganda in Indonesia (OIR 5714.7, 1952)
OSS/State Department report OIR 5714.7 (30 May 1952) analysing PKI propaganda: party structure, front organisations, relations with international communism and themes. Names Gerwis under Mrs Mudigdo as the communist vehicle competing with Kowani for women, and BTI under S. Sardjono; appendices cover publishing, films,
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, p. 1 (May Day edition)
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, hlm. 1 (edisi Hari Buruh). Front page of the May Day special: CC PKI's May Day message, statements recalling 1952 demonstrations, the Tandjung Morawa 'death tractor' and a united May Day committee of seven federations; women appear only as supporting 'wanita' organisations.
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, p. 8
Harian Rakjat, 30 April 1953, hlm. 8. Last page of the May Day issue: protest at bans on parts of the May Day programme, army budget, and reports of violence against women framed as moral decay and polygamy.
But what is the reality? Travel report on workers in Indonesia
De Waarheid, 1 May 1954, p. 4: travel report by Mak Meyer, a Dutch union delegate to the SOBSI conference, on Indonesian workers' misery: poverty, homelessness, factory conditions and wages, child labour, becak drivers, and figures such as 35,000 women dying in childbirth yearly. Portrays SOBSI and PKI as leaders and u
Harian Rakjat, 3 May 1954, p. 1 (May Day)
Harian Rakjat, 3 Mei 1954, hlm. 1 (Hari Buruh). May Day 1954 front page: 500,000 people at Lapangan Merdeka; guests include Rie Lips-Odinot, Dutch MP and women's movement leader; attacks on a PSI MP.
Pravda, 1956: working people of Indonesia respond to the 20th CPSU Congress
Pravda, No. 59, 1956 (c. 28 Feb), p. 3: Jakarta dispatch 'The working people of Indonesia speak' among foreign responses to the 20th CPSU Congress. SOBSI leaders (Sumandi, Sudoyo, Sudadi) praise the Congress; Gerwani leader Suharti says she followed it via newspapers and Moscow radio in Indonesian and is 'amazed' at So
Terror in Central Sumatra: Banteng Council arrests PKI members and Gerwani leaders
De Waarheid, 28 Feb 1957, p. 7: short report that the rebel 'Banteng Council' in Central Sumatra has set up a terror regime, arresting PKI members, unionists and democrats, and placing prominent members of the women's organisation Gerwani under 'town arrest'. SOBSI in Jakarta decided to call protest strikes. Early repo
Umi Sardjono article and Mudigdio speech in parliament; Gerwani defends menstrual leave (Harian Rakjat, 7 March 1957)
Harian Rakjat, 7 Mar 1957, p. 3: includes an article by Ny. Umi Sardjono for International Women's Day on women's struggle and rights (alongside a science piece), a DPR report with Ny. Mudigdio (PKI) speaking on 6 March, and Gerwani branch items. Notes 46 organisations including Gerwani opposing abolition of menstrual
Harian Rakjat, 8 March 1957: Setiati Surasto on menstrual leave
Harian Rakjat issue of 8 March 1957 (International Women's Day), noisy OCR. Page 3 carries Setiati Surasto's women's-day article defending menstrual leave (cuti haid) for women workers under Labour Law 1951/1948. Elsewhere: a Gerwani branch (Blitar) reported gaining members, a Gerwani public lecture is announced, and t
Seizure of Shell capital in Indonesia demanded
Short Eindhovensch Dagblad AP item (17 May 1960, p.4): two communist-led organisations urged Jakarta to seize Dutch capital in Shell. The oil workers' union Perboem backs nationalisation, and the PKI-affiliated women's organisation Gerwani presses for seizure of Dutch capital 'still hidden' in mixed enterprises.
Indonesian Labor Conditions: Unions, December 1960
Short compilation of US embassy telegrams and airgrams (Dec 1960) on Indonesian labour and unions. A 3 Dec telegram reports the South Sumatra-Jambi military command's continued ban on PKI and affiliates including SOBSI, PERBUM, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani after regulation changes; other items concern SOBSI and union cond
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
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
Sukarno rejects demand for ban on Sukarnoism (South China Morning Post, 14 December 1964)
South China Morning Post, 14 Dec 1964, p.28 (Jakarta, 13 Dec; fragmentary OCR): Sukarno rejects a demand to ban 'Sukarnoism', and the item notes that Antara reported hundreds of members of Gerwani, 'the Communist women's organisation', demonstrated outside government offices in Medan the previous Wednesday with signs d
Protest in Jakarta against high prices
Short ANP item in Het Vrije Volk (23 Sep 1965, p.9), one week before the coup attempt: thousands of Indonesian women demonstrated at the Ministry of Trade in Jakarta against rising prices of necessities, as reported by PKI paper Harian Rakjat. They demanded strong action against capitalists, bureaucrats, swindlers and
Short and small (women's price demonstration)
'Kort en klein' column, Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (23 Sep 1965). One Indonesia item: thousands of women demonstrated before the trade ministry against high prices, per PKI paper Harian Rakjat, urging action against capitalists and bureaucrats. Organisers not named, Gerwani not mentioned. Other items unrelated.
Short and small (women's price demonstration, duplicate)
'Kort en klein' column, Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (23 Sep 1965), duplicate of the previous item. Thousands of women demonstrated before the trade ministry against high prices, per Harian Rakjat, urging action against capitalists and bureaucrats. Organisers not named, Gerwani not mentioned.