FBIS-monitored Xinhua text (28 Mar 1959) of D.N. Aidit's farewell broadcast to the Chinese people after a fortnight's PKI delegation visit. He praises the Great Leap and people's communes, defends them against 'imperialist lies', and argues peasant women welcome communal dining and nurseries because 'a smoky kitchen is
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, summer 1962) on the PKI's dilemmas under Guided Democracy: dependence on Sukarno, the July 1960 'Evaluation' clash with the army, and the party's use of mass fronts. Gerwani is named as the PKI's women's front: its organ was aggressive without censure in 1961, and in
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
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (5 Sept 1963, p. 3) from D.N. Aidit's 4 September Beijing report on the Indonesian revolution and PKI. It states PKI membership rose from 4.6 to 6.3 million in about a year, with Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani at 1.5 million members each; the snippet is truncated.
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
British Commonwealth Relations Office/Foreign Office file (DO 169/516, 1964) on Indonesia and Malaysia. It combines handwritten minutes, an IRD intelligence paper on the PKI (Aidit's December 1963 plenum, Sino-Soviet line, the prospect of PKI power within five years), a brief 'Communists smoothing path to power in Indo
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180324 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [15]': telegrams and letters from Djakarta, Washington and Peking, November 1965, plus appended US and Canadian reports. It records Sukarno's Heroes Day speech, Adam Malik's view of the Sukarno-generals stalemate and accounts of 30 September.
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
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180333 (Jan-Dec 1965): Peking, Djakarta and Hanoi telegrams on Sino-Indonesian relations: Subandrio's visit, delegations, PKI-China links, then the post-coup anti-Chinese wave, attacks on Chinese premises and Medan riots. Only Gerwani mention: Angkatan Bersendjata (29 Oct, p. 82) says the
The Hindustan Times, 15 Oct 1965: report of a police witness's account at Lubang Buaya that Communist women danced naked in a circle while six generals and a lieutenant (mistaken for Nasution) were tortured to death, with torn-out fingernails and faces mutilated. Gerwani is not named, but this is an early instance of t
Vancouver Sun, 18 Oct 1965, p.3, whole page (Reuters/UPI); relevant items: Jakarta commander Maj. Gen. Umar Wirahadikusumah, in defiance of Sukarno, orders temporary suspension of the PKI and other pro-communist organisations in the Jakarta area, leaders to report within five days. Banned groups include the Youth Front
CIA Foreign Documents Division weekly digest (Summary No. 6897, 4 Nov 1965) of press on insurgency in South and East Asia. Its Indonesia section reproduces Army-controlled press (Angkatan Bersendjata, Duta Masjarakat) on the 30 September Movement, including claims that Gerwani volunteers trained at Lubang Buaja and moc
The Economist, 6 Nov 1965, p.594, 'Rings on a tree trunk', from a special correspondent in Jakarta: the army-inspired anti-communist campaign has gained its own momentum, with raids on PKI offices, arrests, 26 Antara correspondents detained, Aidit in hiding, Sukarno declaring Central Java in a 'state of war'. Wall graf
The Scotsman, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth, 'Army plans to kill PKI for ever': Suharto and Nasution press to destroy the PKI while Sukarno refuses to ban it; the article analyses the PKI's miscalculations. It repeats the slander that six generals were mutilated by 'doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's moveme
PhD dissertation (Mississippi State, 1967) by Woo Jung Ju on Sino-Indonesian relations, 1949-1966, from Bandung to the collapse of the Jakarta-Peking axis. It follows the PKI's resurgence under Aidit, Guided Democracy, the Malaysia Confrontation and the planned second Afro-Asian Conference, largely from Western press a
Tempo special (1 October 2007) on what happened to D.N. Aidit's family after 30 September 1965. It recounts the fates of his father, siblings and children, and of his wife Dr Soetanti Aidit, who fled, lived in disguise, was arrested, held in Kodim 66 and Bukit Duri until about 1980, and died in 1991. Her Gerwani member
Tempo feature (2 Oct 2021) on how Umi Sardjono led Gerwani: Marx House courses, the 1945 Barisan Buruh Wanita with S.K. Trimurti, Gerwis founded at Semarang (3-6 June 1950, Tris Metty chair), Umi chair from 1954 when it became Gerwani. Cites 650,000 members and 179 kindergartens at the 1957 Solo congress, WIDF links, s