Signature campaign against atomic war begins in Indonesia
De Waarheid, 9 Mar 1955, p. 2: Jakarta report on the start of a signature campaign against atomic war, signed by ministers, professors and Masjumi's Wiwoho. Gerwani called on all women to join, aiming for 10,000 signatures in 12 weeks. A Peace Committee delegation was received by Sukarno; wives of the Jakarta mayor and
Suara Kalimantan, 9 Mar 1955: 'International Women's Day'
Suara Kalimantan (Banjarmasin), 9 Mar 1955, p. 3: report on International Women's Day (8 March 1955), about 1,500 women, mostly Chinese-Indonesian, with a lecture on Clara Zetkin by Nj. Soeparsono and a speaker from Gerwani.
PKI candidate list: Miss Maimunah, DPD Gerwani Central Sumatra (Harian Rakjat, 10 March 1955)
Harian Rakjat, 10 Mar 1955: PKI candidate list for the 1955 election with PKI and non-party candidates for Sumatra and elsewhere. No. 11 is Nn. Maimunah (PKI), state high-school teacher and member of DPD Gerwani Sumatera Tengah, Bukittinggi. Also lists trade-union, BTI and Perbum figures; the rest of the page is film a
PKI candidate list: Mrs Charlotte Salawati (Harian Rakjat, 17 March 1955)
Harian Rakjat, 17 Mar 1955, p. 3: PKI candidate list (Sulawesi/Maluku section). No. 5 Ny. Charlotte Salawati (non-party, former deputy mayor of Makassar); no. 12 Sorongan Helena (non-party, Gerwani leader in North Sulawesi); no. 6 Henk Ngantung. Page also has sports and anti-atomic-weapons items.
Commemoration committee for Kartini Day
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1955-03-29, p. 2, much unreadable): school-youth committee for Kartini Day celebrations in Bandung, initiated by the Taman Siswa pupils' association, with IPPI and school boards, planning sport, an exhibition of handicrafts and a reception. Named board members are pupils; neither Gerwani nor S
Daily Worker, 26 April 1955: Bandung notebook - the spirit in the streets (Ralph Parker)
Page 2 of the Daily Worker (New York, 26 Apr 1955) with Ralph Parker's 'Bandung Notebook' on the Asian-African Conference: Indonesian hosts, students, land and independence hopes. A separate item reports 27 doctors' protest over Claudia Jones's imprisonment, citing a WIDF report. Indonesian women appear only in a fragm
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1955: 'Visit to Indonesia' (V. Mikosha and I. Sokolnikov)
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1955, p. 36 (fragment): 'Visit to Indonesia' by film-makers V. Mikosha and I. Sokolnikov, describing two months filming a documentary in Indonesia. Includes filming the welcome at Jakarta airfield for an Indonesian women's delegation returning from the USSR. Umi Sardjono, listed in metadata, does n
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
Daily Worker, 13 May 1955: Perwari, Indonesia's largest women's organisation, joins Asian women leaders (assail polygamy
Page 8 of the Daily Worker (New York, 13 May 1955). A short Djakarta dispatch (12 May) reports that the central committee of Perwari, described as Indonesia's largest women's organisation, joined Pakistani women in criticising Prime Minister Mohammed Ali's second marriage, and recalls Perwari's protest the previous yea
Mme Suharti, president of the Indonesian Women's Movement; Sukarno and polygamy
La Presse (17 May 1955, p.10): feature on a Muslim feminist campaign against polygamy, starting with the Pakistani PM Mohamed Ali's second marriage and spreading to Java. Says Fatmawati Sukarno was recruited and that Hartini was pregnant during the Bandung Conference. A snippet names Mme Suharti, president of the 'very
Mme Suharti, president of the Indonesian Women's Movement; Sukarno and polygamy (extract)
La Presse (17 May 1955, p.10), snippet extract of the polygamy feature: unrest in Indonesia over Sukarno's marriage to Hartini, in which Mme Suharti, president of the 'very communist-leaning' Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani), took advantage; Hartini's pregnancy surfaced as the Bandung Conference drew attention.
Harian Rakjat, 20 May 1955, p. 1
Harian Rakjat, 20 Mei 1955, hlm. 1. Front page for National Awakening Day and the PKI's 35th anniversary; Kartini appears as the token woman pioneer; no Gerwani item.
Harian Rakjat, 21 May 1955, p. 1
Harian Rakjat, 21 Mei 1955, hlm. 1. Front page with the CC PKI anniversary message 'Perluas persatuan untuk menang dalam pemilihan umum'; women appear only in cartoons; no Gerwani item.
Harian Rakjat, 21 May 1955, p. 2
Harian Rakjat, 21 Mei 1955, hlm. 2. News page including World Peace Council prizes for 1954 (Joris Ivens) and election-sign vandalism; no Gerwis or Gerwani item.
Harian Rakjat, 22 May 1955, p. 2
Harian Rakjat, 22 Mei 1955, hlm. 2. Sunday page with Zhou Enlai's report on the Bandung Conference and a Medan crime report on a woman shooting another; no Gerwani item.
Harian Rakjat, 22 May 1955, p. 3: special page for PKI's 35th anniversary
Harian Rakjat, 22 Mei 1955, hlm. 3: halaman khusus HUT ke-35 PKI. Special anniversary page including 'What non-party PKI candidates say': three women candidates on the PKI list for the 1955 election, with 'Emansipasi bagi kaum wanita, kata Setiati Surasto'.
Conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and WIDF President Eugenie Cotton, 1955
Chinese-language transcript (scan, noisy OCR; English translation read) of a conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and Eugenie Cotton, WIDF president, 22/23 May 1955 (Wilson Center Digital Archive). They discuss women's role in peace, the planned World Mothers' Congress in Paris, Franco-German reconciliation a
Transcript of Conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and Eugenie Cotton (WIDF), 23 May 1955
Wilson Center Digital Archive catalogue page (text only, no transcript) for the 23 May 1955 conversation between Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and WIDF president Eugenie Cotton, from Zhou Enlai Waijiao wenxuan (1990), pp. 140-148. The abstract notes Cotton's pleasure with her China visit, her call to unite women's federati
Harian Rakjat, 26 May 1955, p. 1
Harian Rakjat, 26 Mei 1955, hlm. 1. Front page reporting the PKI's 35th-anniversary celebrations in Jakarta; Aidit's speech and greetings including from 'wanita' at home.
Harian Rakjat, 26 May 1955, p. 2
Harian Rakjat, 26 Mei 1955, hlm. 2. News page with an Antara report on the suffering of Indonesian women married to foreigners, as written by travelling youths from Afghanistan; no Gerwani item.
Harian Rakjat, 26 May 1955, p. 3
Harian Rakjat, 26 Mei 1955, hlm. 3. First instalment of D.N. Aidit's address 'Lahirnja PKI dan perkembangannja' at the PKI's 35th-anniversary reception; women and Gerwani have no place in the party's official history here.
Harian Rakjat, 27 May 1955, p. 1
Harian Rakjat, 27 Mei 1955, hlm. 1. Front page with PM Ali Sastroamidjojo in Canton and 'Wanita tani ditangkap': Subang peasant women arrested during a land reoccupation against the British estate P&T; richest page for Gerwani in the batch.
Harian Rakjat, 27 May 1955, p. 3
Harian Rakjat, 27 Mei 1955, hlm. 3. Concluding instalment of Aidit's 35th-anniversary address: 1945–48 errors, Madiun 1948 as a Hatta provocation, the 1951 Sukiman raids and the post-1951 line of national united front and party building.
Theft by Dutch imperialism: one cow per farmer per year (Aidit speaks in Bandung)
Algemeen Indisch Dagblad (1955-05-31, p. 2): PKI election rally at Tegallega, Bandung, with tens of thousands present. Candidates Eddy Abdurrachman and Mrs. Suwarti open, she stressing women's interests; D.N. Aidit criticises post-RTC governments and the Madiun executions of Musso and Sjarifuddin without trial. Archive
Other speakers at the PKI meeting: Umi Sardjono explains choosing PKI
De Nieuwsgier report (31 May 1955, p. 2) on a PKI anniversary/election rally in Jakarta where Aidit spoke. Mrs. Oemi Sartono (Umi Sardjono), described as a non-party Gerwani member, said she chose the PKI because it is a choice of being for or against the people; non-party candidate Astrawinata also spoke.
PKI is 35 years old
Java-Bode, 31 May 1955, p. 2: report on the PKI's 35th anniversary rally on Merdeka Square. D.N. Aidit urged the Dutch to leave and stressed Muslim-Nationalist-Communist unity; Umi Sardjono, Gerwani general chair, spoke sharply against surviving feudalism and large landownership; judge Astrawinata explained his PKI can
The Ali cabinet: PKI mass meeting with Umi Sardjono
De Locomotief, 1 June 1955: report of a PKI mass meeting in Jakarta where Aidit backs the Ali cabinet and urges peaceful election campaigning. Mrs Umi Sardjono, introduced as a non-party Gerwani member and PKI candidate, says she chose the PKI because it is a choice of being for or against the people. Date: the party's
A home
Fragmentary Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item 'Een tehuis' (1955-06-02, p. 2): proposal for a children's home with expert carers for neglected children of working or ill parents. The plan arose at a meeting of main women's organisations, including Perwari, Budi Isteri and Gerwani, in Bandung; a founding committee formed on
The PKI is 35 years old
Indische Courant voor Nederland, 8 Jun 1955, p. 2: report on the PKI's 35th-anniversary rally at Merdeka Square, Jakarta. Umi Sardjono, general chairwoman of Gerwani, attacks feudalism and large landownership; Aidit speaks on Muslim-nationalist-communist unity and Dutch profits, with slogans against Dutch and landlords
Wanita Demokrat Indonesia, Semarang: new board and kindergarten
De Locomotief, 9 June 1955: the Semarang branch of Wanita Demokrat Indonesia forms a new board (names garbled; a Soetanti and Sri Soetanti appear) and will again open a Froebel kindergarten on Jalan Karangtempel. Gerwani is not mentioned; the Soetanti here is not identified as Soetanti Aidit.