The Communist Imagination: A Study of the Cultural Pages of Harian Rakjat in the Early 1950s Stephen Miller A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, Australia August 2015 2 Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the enthusiasm, good humour, intelligence and patience of my primary supervisor, Paul Tickell. I cannot thank him enough for his continuing support and faith. He was well supported by my co-supervisors, Emeritus Professor Barbara Hatley and Dr. Edwin Jurriens. I want to especially thank Barbara for her patience in reading drafts in the final throes of thesis production. Dorothy Meyer saw the project through from the beginning of candidature until submission, providing companionship, coding advice, proof reading, and general editing support. Her enthusiasm and passion for my work were central to the thesis reaching the point of submission. The keen grammar sense of my mother, June Miller, helped improve the readability of many sections of the writing. Dr. Kaz Ross also deserves to be mentioned for a late reading of a complete draft and pushing me to submit. It is great to have good colleagues in your corner. I would also like to thank the administrative staff at UNSW at ADFA, especially Bernadette McDermott, who has always been flexible and helpful when dealing with a candidature that lasted far too long. During the prolonged revision process Rifka Sibarani’s support, enthusiasm, and affection was much appreciated, as it continues to be post-thesis. So many other people have also helped me out at various times—students, colleagues, friends, family, comrades. I apologise if you do not find your name here, but rest assured your support was appreciated. 3 4 Contents I Shadows 9 1 Introduction 11 2 Communism and Culture in Indonesian History 25 Introduction . 25 Academic Study of the Communist Movement before 1965-66 . 27 The New Order Narrative . 30 “The Fear of Stultification” . 32 The Bumi Manusia Controversy . 34 Social Commitment . 37 The Wayang Controversy . 42 The Manifesto is Not Dead! . 45 The Magsaysay Controversy . 49 Exile Literature . 52 “An Ode to Indonesian Culture” . 56 Work After 1998 . 69 The Cold War is Not Over! . 72 Recent Academic Work . 76 Conclusion . 81 II Politics, Organisation & Ideology 83 3 Artists, Activists, and Organisations 85 Introduction . 85 The Formation of Left-Wing Cultural Politics . 85 The National Awakening . 85 The National Revolution . 86 Dazed and Confused? 1949-50 . 89 The Birth of Lekra ........................ 91 Communist Politics, 1950-55 . 94 5 6 CONTENTS Indonesian Communism and International Politics . 94 The Industrial Upsurge . 96 The “National United Front” . 99 The Role of Harian Rakjat .................... 102 The Trajectory of Communist Politics, 1950-55 . 103 The Organisation of Culture . 107 Lekra in Central Java . 109 Lekra in West Java . 112 Lekra in East Java . 114 Lekra in Sumatra . 115 Lekra in Other Areas . 117 Affiliates and Associates . 118 Friendship Societies . 133 City-Wide Cultural Fronts . 137 The LKI/BMKN . 147 Culture in Movement Organisations . 153 Conclusion . 160 4 Cultural Lethargy 163 Introduction . 163 The Unfinished Revolution and Culture . 164 A Social and Moral Crisis . 167 Art for Mammon’s Sake . 169 Navel Gazing and Social Engagement . 171 Ways Forward (1): Crisis as Opportunity . 175 Ways Forward (2): Take Sides! . 178 Ways Forward (3): Go to the Masses . 180 Realism: Socialist and Otherwise . 182 The National Front in Culture . 186 “Realism” in the Battle for Position . 189 Conclusion . 195 III Case Studies 199 5 Jakarta, Hollywood & Rome 201 Introduction . 201 “Hollywood” Films . 202 General Attacks on Hollywood . 204 “Bad” Hollywood Films . 206 “Neither/Nor” Hollywood Films . 212 CONTENTS 7 “Good” Hollywood Films . 215 Indonesian Communism and Hollywood: A Love-Hate Relationship? . 221 Communist bloc films? Of Course They’re Good! . 222 Communist Bloc Cinema as a Model? . 226 Alternative Foreign Models . 227 Absent Friends? Asian Cinema in Kebudajaan ......... 227 British Cinema: Little Hollywood? . 228 Italian Neo-Realism: The Real Alternative? . 230 Why was Italian Cinema a Model? . 236 Indonesian Cinema . 239 The Communist Vision for National Cinema . 247 6 Live Performing Arts 251 Cultural Nights . 252 The Asia-Pacific Peace Conference Evening, Medan . 254 SOBSI and PKI Cultural Evenings in Jakarta . 256 “Stimulus That Must Be Pursued” . 261 “Commercial”, “Irrational” and “Feudal” Art . 267 Popular Theatre . 272 Conclusion . 280 7 The Communist Imagination 283 Overview of the Stories . 284 “Reportage” & “Personal Statements” . 285 Key Themes . 292 Revealing Conditions . 292 Urban Conditions . 293 Rural Conditions . 301 Conditions for Women . 307 Getting Active: Stories of Struggle . 318 Plantations as a Key Point of Conflict . 319 Unionism and Unions in General . 326 Conflict in the Countryside . 335 Red Religion . 337 Religion in General . 338 Islam and Communism . 343 What Makes a Good Communist? . 346 The Representation of Islamic Leaders . 351 Religious Tolerance and Intolerance . 356 8 CONTENTS Darul Islam ............................ 358 Conclusion . 362 8 Conclusion 365 References 374 Part I Shadows 9 Chapter 1 Introduction: Culture and the Long Shadow of 1965 In 2015, we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of one of the largest mas- sacres in history. Between September 1965 and March 1966, more than 500,000 Indonesians were slaughtered, mainly by army-backed militia.1 This formed the backdrop to a sophisticated grab for power by Major-General Suharto of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command, and was the genesis of the New Order regime that held power until May, 1998.2 The killings occurred in the aftermath of a failed coup by Leftist officers, which the In- donesian army, under the leadership of Suharto, seized as an opportunity to move against the communist party and the Indonesian Left more generally.3 1A range of different figures has been put forward for the number of people killed when the New Order regime established its power, varying from the official figure of the New Order regime at 78,500 to more than two million. Most observers agree 500,000 is a conservative figure. See Cribb (2001b); Cribb (2001a); Cribb (1990); Mehr (2009), as well as the references in the following footnote. 2The events of this period have been covered by many works and have formed the key focus of public discussion in Indonesia of history prior to the establishment of Suharto’s “New Order” regime, as well as of academic attention outside Indonesia. For examples of the latter, see especially Roosa (2006); Lane (2010); Mehr (2009); Cribb (1990); Robinson (1995); Simpson (2008); Wieringa (2001). More discussion of this literature follows in the next chapter. 3An argument can be made that the “Thirtieth of September” movement led by Lt. Col. Untung, Col. Latief and others did not constitute a coup, since it did not seek to overthrow then President Sukarno, but rather to crush the so-called “Council of Generals”, i.e. the pro-Western army leadership. In doing this the movement was, however, clearly seeking to change the composition of key elements of state leadership. In the absence of a term better or more succinct, I will refer to the movement as a coup, as this is the most 11 12 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Suharto’s victory marked the end of competition between two broad vi- sions of Indonesia’s future following the victory of Indonesian republicans in the national revolution of the late 1940s. On the one side there had been a vision, inspired by the Soviet Union, China, and a number of decolonising states, in which the key political and economic form was one of populist state capitalism; on the other, a weaker state capitalism that was pro-Western and more dependent on foreign investment and the global market. The former meant alignment with the Soviet Union and China and was associated with radical nationalism and strong anti-imperialism; the latter meant alignment with the United States and the “moderate”, “liberal” nationalist and religious parties (and pro-Western technocrats). These models reflected the internationalised character of the struggle in Indonesia, which was a key front in the Cold War.4 The killings and impris- onments of the mid-1960s were not simply a key turning point in Indonesian history, and most definitely did not take place in national isolation. The crushing of the communist movement was a significant victory for the West; in Nathaniel Mehr’s words, the slaughter was a “constructive bloodbath” from the West’s point of view. This goes a long way to explaining the muted response from the “Free World”, the continued low profile of the 1965-66 killings, as well as the strong support and encouragement that the ensuing New Order regime continued to receive for three decades.5 Nonetheless, seeing the struggle in this way reflects a certain “view from the top”—a competition between two different visions of how Indonesia should be ruled and how it should integrate into the international hierarchy of nation-states. It is unlikely, however, that the masses of people who took part in the increasingly polarised struggle of the period between 1950 and 1965 had these considerations as central motivating elements for these polit- ical activity, activity which often came with risk and personal sacrifice even common practice. 4This was clearly the case in terms of the US State’s assessment of Indonesia’s signif- icance. For a study of the United States’ approach to Cold War strategy in Indonesia, see Subversion as Foreign Policy: the Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia (Kahin and Kahin, 1995a). 5‘Constructive Bloodbath’ in Indonesia: the United States, Britain and the Mass Killings of 1965-66 (Mehr, 2009). 13 before 1965-66. For these activists, the national and international vision only had meaning insofar as they saw it as leading to better outcomes for their communities.