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
PKI has one million members: Aidit interview with Ogonyok
De Waarheid, 23 Mar 1956, p. 2: Moscow dispatch that the PKI has one million members, per Aidit in an interview with the Soviet magazine Ogonyok; SOBSI has 2.6 million, the peasant union BTI 2.5 million, Pemuda Rakjat 700,000 and Gerwani about 500,000. Useful as a contemporary membership figure for Gerwani.
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
Suara Tani, June 1960: Biography of Kartinah Kurdi (DPR-GR) and her article on International Children's Day
Suara Tani (BTI organ), June 1960 (vol. XI no. 6), OCR noisy. Issue marks PKI's 40th anniversary, the DPR-GR, the sharecropping law and the 5-Principles rice method. P. 3 (cont. p. 6) gives short biographies of BTI peasant representatives in the DPR-GR, including Ny. Kartinah Kurdi (Taman Siswa teacher, Yogyakarta, act
Pravda, 28 Apr 1962: Aidit's report to the Seventh (Extraordinary) PKI Congress
Pravda no. 118, 28 April 1962 (full issue). Page 4 reports D. N. Aidit's report to the Seventh (Extraordinary) PKI Congress (Jakarta): Guided Democracy, elections, West Irian, Malaysia, SEATO, party mass organisations. Gerwani appears in a single sentence, credited with 'important progress' in expanding organisation, m
Pravda, 28 Apr 1962: Aidit's report to the Seventh PKI Congress (excerpt)
Pravda no. 118, 28 April 1962 (excerpt of the page). Page 4 reports D. N. Aidit's report to the Seventh (Extraordinary) PKI Congress (Jakarta): Guided Democracy, elections, West Irian, Malaysia, SEATO, party mass organisations. Gerwani appears in a single sentence, credited with 'important progress' in expanding organi
Renmin Ribao, 14 Dec 1962: Aidit supports the Brunei uprising; Indonesian organisations' statements
People's Daily page 4, 14 December 1962 (excerpt only), on Indonesian support for the Brunei rebellion. The excerpt lists organisations issuing statements of support: PNI, Murba, SOBSI, BTI, the Indonesian Women's Movement Association (Gerwani), Pemuda Rakyat and others. Shows Gerwani aligned with the PKI-led anti-Brit
Renmin Ribao, 14 Dec 1962: Aidit supports the Brunei uprising; Indonesian organisations' statements
People's Daily page 4, 14 December 1962 (excerpt only), on Indonesian support for the Brunei rebellion. The excerpt lists organisations issuing statements of support: PNI, Murba, SOBSI, BTI, the Indonesian Women's Movement Association (Gerwani), Pemuda Rakyat and others. Shows Gerwani aligned with the PKI-led anti-Brit
Chairman Aidit departs for the Soviet Union and China (Renmin Ribao, 21 July 1963)
Renmin Ribao snippet-only entry (21 July 1963, p. 3) on Aidit's departure to the USSR and China. The snippet lists PKI leaders and the heads of SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani among those at the airport; no Gerwani leader is named. The full article is in GA-01890.
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
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
CIA special report, 23 October 1964: Sukarno and the Communists
CIA Special Report, 23 October 1964, on the Sukarno-PKI relationship; lists Gerwani among PKI fronts with almost two million claimed members. Pre-coup US context.
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, '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
FO 371/180326: Political Parties and Communism (Feb-Aug 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180326 (Feb-Aug 1965): embassy telegrams, letters and Antara extracts on the PKI's growth before the coup: its 45th anniversary, Aidit's speeches, Mao's greeting, Sino-Soviet positions and Sukarno's leftward drift. Gerwani items: Antara of 9 June reports Sukarno addressing Gerwani, chaired
Fifteen Years of Gerwani (Harian Rakjat, 4 June 1965; JPRS 30968)
JPRS 30968 translation of the unsigned Harian Rakjat article 'Fifteen Years of Gerwani' (4 June 1965). Traces three periods: Gerwis (1950, 500 members; 74,977 by 1954 Congress), Gerwani (631,342 in 1957; 1,056,436 in 1961), and support for the women's front. Covers Melati kindergartens, peasant integration, the Kowani
The United States and the 'New Order' in Indonesia (Sullivan, 1969)
John H. Sullivan's 1969 American University PhD in international relations traces US-Indonesian relations c. 1963-68 and the emergence of the New Order, covering the anti-American period, the 30 September Movement and its aftermath, and regional, communist-bloc and economic relations. It is diplomatic and political his
The Cold War in the City of Heroes: US-Indonesian Relations and Anti-Communist Operations in Surabaya (Setiyawan, 2014)
PhD dissertation in History (UCLA, 2014) by Dahlia Gratia Setiyawan on U.S. anti-communist operations and the 1965-66 purge in Surabaya. Gerwani appears in context: as the PKI's women's affiliate (ch. 1), through the Surabaya women's coalition GOWS in the 27 September 1965 Grahadi demonstration (ch. 4), and in the Army