KNIP working committee (composition, April 1947)
Het Nieuws (Algemeen Dagblad) item (29 Apr 1947, p.1) listing the 1947 working committee of the KNIP (Republic's provisional parliament) by party: BTI, Partai Sosialis, PKI (Njoto, Dr Roestam), Partai Buruh (including 'Soewarti'), Masjumi, PNI and group representatives. Mejuffrouw Soesilowati is named for the girls' le
Republican members of the RIS parliament: candidate list
Aneta item in De Vrije Pers (14 Jan 1950) listing candidates for the Republican seats in the RIS parliament. Among Masjumi, PNI, PKI and others, "Mrs Moedigdo" (Mudigdio) is put forward for the Partai Sosialis; many other names (Natsir, Sartono, Iwa Kusumasumantri, Yamin). Gerwis/Gerwani is not mentioned.
Regency council installed
De Locomotief, 10 Oct 1950: report on the installation of the Semarang regency council by Resident Milono, listing about 40 members from many parties and bodies. Mrs Sri Utari is named as the Gerwis representative; Mrs Sukandar and Suwarti represent GPII's women's wing. Records Gerwis's presence in local government in
CIA report, 23 February 1953: Meeting of the sub-section committees, PKI Surabaya
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.
Sumatran groups up in arms against Masjumi
De Locomotief, 27 July 1953: a Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a statement signed by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It demands early elections, anti-corruption action, settlement of the Tanjung Morawa affair and a democratic cabinet without Ma
Statement of groupings in South Sumatra
De Nieuwsgier, 27 July 1953: Palembang delegation (PIR, PNI, PKI) flies to Jakarta with a joint statement by six parties and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It says a PNI-Masjumi cabinet is no longer possible, urges a democratic parliamentary cabinet under Wongsonegoro, action against D
Salatiga: national action committee formed
De Locomotief, 29 July 1953: Salatiga branches of SOBSI, BTI, PPDI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis jointly convene a meeting of 35 organisations and parties, which forms a national action committee and decides to send an open letter to Sukarno urging implementation of parliament's decisions and action against Darul Islam and
Delegation of parties in South Sumatra to Jakarta
Het Nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (29 Jul 1953, p.2): a delegation of parties and organisations in Palembang flew to Jakarta with a joint declaration signed by six parties (PIR, PNI, PKI, Partai Buruh, Permai, Murba) and 22 organisations including SOBSI, BTI, Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwis. It rejects a cabinet built on PNI and Ma
Merger of peasant unions
Java-Bode, 18 September 1953, p. 2: report that the Barisan Tani Indonesia (BTI) congress in Jakarta voted 122 in favour of merging with the Rukun Tani Indonesia, with some BTI executive members suspended. The damaged OCR ends by saying Gerwis expressed views on the merger; the content of those views is unreadable.
Dissolution of Jakarta city council requested by nine parties and ten organisations
Aneta item in De Vrije Pers (13 Feb 1954): nine parties and ten organisations, including PKI, PNI, NU, SOBSI, BTI, Wanita Demokrat, Perwari and Gerwis, met under PNI's R. Kartasasmita and urged the government to dissolve the Greater Jakarta municipal council and form a representative one.
PKI candidates: prominent non-party figures agree to stand
De Vrije Pers item (20 Aug 1954): the PKI central committee announced that Prof. Purbodiningrat, Dr. Tjokronegoro and painter Hendra Gunawan agreed to be on its list of PKI and non-party candidates; it notes that Ir. Taher Thajeb, Mrs. Salawati Daud and Ngantung had earlier agreed.
PKI candidates and non-party people
Java-Bode, 20 August 1954, p. 2: PKI central committee announces non-party figures willing to stand on its list in the coming elections: Prof. Purbodiningrat, Dr Tjokronegoro and painter Hendra Gunawan, adding earlier announced Tahir Thajeb, Salawati Daud and Henk Ngantung. Salawati Daud, a Gerwis-linked figure, appear
Non-party candidates on the PKI list for the 1955 elections
De Nieuwsgier item (15 Dec 1954, p. 1) listing new non-party candidates on the PKI list for the 1955 elections (Affandi, Basuki Resobowo, Witarsa and others). Earlier non-party names include Mrs. Salawati (Salawati Daud), Henk Ngantung and Mrs. S.D. Susanto.
Pravda, 5 Aug 1955: government crisis in Indonesia; telegrams from Gerwani
Pravda, 5 August 1955, No. 217, page 6, supplied as a Claude machine translation of the Indonesia item. A TASS dispatch from Jakarta on the cabinet crisis (Harahap of Masjumi asked to form a government) says Harian Rakjat printed dozens of telegrams from SOBSI, BTI, the women's organisation Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat in
Ten years of the Republic (Cor Geugjes)
De Waarheid, 17 Aug 1955, p. 3: Cor Geugjes's article for the Republic's tenth anniversary, covering Dutch colonial violence, the Bandung Conference, the Ali Sastroamidjojo government's fall and replacement by a Masjumi-PSI cabinet under Harahap, and the PKI's election platform. It lists Gerwani only as 'the strong wom
Events in Indonesia (conclusion): Harahap government and mass organisations
De Waarheid, 8 Oct 1955, p. 3: final part of Cor Geugjes's series on events in Indonesia, arguing the Harahap government (which replaced Ali Sastroamidjojo) is resisted: elections could not be postponed, New Guinea was raised at the UN, and preliminary results defeat Masjumi and PSI. Cites PKI (500,000), SOBSI (3 milli
Gudok, 17 Aug 1956: 'Indonesia today' for the Republic's 11th anniversary
Gudok (Soviet railwaymen's paper), 17 Aug 1956, p. 4. Survey article by G. Svetlanov for the Republic's 11th anniversary: Dutch colonial legacy, nationalisations, five-year plan, foreign policy and Sukarno's coming visit. One passage lists Gerwani, 'half a million members', among leading patriotic mass organisations be
Tages-Anzeiger, 11 July 1959: Indonesia on the road to dictatorship
Tages-Anzeiger analysis (11 July 1959, signed Th. v. R.) of Sukarno's return to the 1945 constitution and the army's rising power under Nasution. Lists PKI-linked mass organisations, giving Gerwani 75,000 members alongside SOBSI, Pemuda Rakyat, BTI, and notes PKI's 1957 vote.
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
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
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
D.N. Aidit, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': political report to PKI plenum
Long Xinhua summary in Renmin Ribao (12 June 1965, p. 3) of D.N. Aidit's political report to the enlarged PKI Central Committee plenum, 'Step up the revolutionary offensive on all fronts': Nasakom, bureaucratic capitalists, takeovers of US firms, the Murba/BPS ban, Vietnam, the UN exit, Khrushchev's fall; PKI over 3 mi
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