Javanese Mystical and Marxist Dialectics - Paul Stange

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eginning, he felt at first that the workers would be the main driving force of therevolution. Then since there were only about half a million workers in industry andanother two million in crafts and small industry, he naturally began to shift towardfocus on the peasantry through a proposed worker-peasant alliance. By 1951 he sawthe necessity of an alliance and by 1954 he had concluded that “the agrarianrevolution is the essence of the people's democratic revolution in Indonesia.” 26In viewing its own origins, the new PKI leadership looked back on three earlierphases of communist activity: the foundation and first “white terror” of the twenties,the underground and anti-Fascist struggle from 1926-1945, and the period of thesecond terror after the World War until 1951. The earliest failure was attributed toleftist deviation and lack of theory; the Madiun disaster to the absence of a peasantbase and inexperience in the formation of a united front. 27 From these failures, theleadership concluded that success in leading the revolutionary alliance in Indonesiarequired rigorous interweaving of the universal truths of Marxist-Leninism with theconcrete conditions of the situation and the building of a united front including thepeasantry. 28 In the Aidit phase, ideological rigor and Party discipline becameconstant themes even if neither ideal became a political reality.Aidit and his fellows were well aware of the dialectical facet of their theory and theyconstantly warned against dogmatism on the one hand and empiricism on the other.They stressed repeatedly that they were not imitating or following the orders of anyforeign Party and that the conditions in Indonesia clearly made strategies such asMao's unfeasible - there was neither the geographical nor social basis for guerrillawarfare and survival necessitated the tolerance of those in power. 29 Marxism wasclearly understood as a dynamic ideology with a theoretical basis which remainedconsistent even while application depended on the context. So Aidit understoodLeninism as “simply Marxism in the era of imperialism” and called for the creative“Indonesianizing” of Marxism. 30 The concern was never merely abstract - it wasrooted in conviction that the PKI had to guide itself with truly scientific principles ofdialectical materialism. Otherwise it would never assume its proper role in makingthe revolution in the name of the masses. Aidit argued thatWe must adapt the entire party to the development of the situation so that theparty is better able to direct the development of the situation. 31
The Party presented itself as a synthesis of Marxist theory and the Indonesian classstruggle, as a Party with a program rather than merely a dogma. 32As PKI leaders looked back over their indigenous roots, they were conscious of anumber of strains conducive to their theory. They themselves saw more to empathizewith in the oldest and most deeply underlying rather than more modern traditions.Aidit stressed the communal nature of primitive Indonesian society and Njotocredited that “layer” with a dialectical frame of mind. 33 At the same time, Njotofailed to see any dialectical facets to Hinduism and instead argued that indigenousdialectics had been repressed by the later Hindu and Islamic accretions. In terms ofprogram, this revolutionary Party sought a return to traditional forms of art andculture - but purged of their feudal character and changed its progressive tools. Thewajang and folklore were to serve as tools of revolution only because they touchedthe masses and not due to any recognized philosophical empathy. 34The PKI, I think, pointed to congruence with the most deeply underlying Javaneseand island traditions only out of desire to identify with the common people at a gutlevel. Thus the appeal was more to utopian and millennial strains than to historicalphases of social organization. The traditions of Indic and Islamic history had theirrepresentatives in contemporary political interest groups; the masses of peasants didnot. So in phrasing appeals to the masses, the point was to take themes mostparticularly relevant to them, it was to step into the nebulous and polymorphousmillennial tradition. Of course at base that tradition is little more than a chaoticexpression of fundamental and therefore rather simple utopian drives. The drivesand energy are those common to all people; the form of expression simply aconsequence of social conditions.The intensity of appeal was explicitly limited by recognition that “rousing” actionswere prohibited. The point was not simply to lead a burst of millennial fervor, but toorganize and channel that energy through small but concrete actions in “everyday”work among the masses. 35 So the Party stressed research into the conditions of masslife, appeals to direct interests in winning votes, the value of education as a counterto bureaucratization, the achievement of specific Parliamentary gains, and theextension of mass based organizations of all sorts. 36At the root of PKI analysis, there was a thoroughly Marxist argument that thedevelopment of the nation toward both economic well being and democracy
Page 1 and 2: Javanese Mystical and Marxist Diale
Page 3 and 4: UNITY IN DIVERSITYPossessed of tran
Page 5 and 6: Although the pogroms of 1966 were u
Page 7 and 8: through a process of musjawarah-muf
Page 9 and 10: The contrast is rooted profoundly i
Page 11: entrepreneurship remained confined
Page 14 and 15: undertook to carry out were too lim
Page 16 and 17: ut even in the earliest phases Isla
Page 18: THE NAIL OF GODFrom this sketch of
Page 21 and 22: egarded as the path to spiritual st
Page 23 and 24: The real and the really real are cl
Page 25 and 26: evolutionary fervor rather than pro
Page 27 and 28: Permai, an active mystical-politica
Page 29 and 30: doctrines themselves did not change
Page 31 and 32: is a release for the whole body and
Page 33 and 34: THE MASS LINEIdeas have no meaning
Page 35 and 36: communism, began to turn toward the
Page 37: Without the image of the PKI as pat
Page 41 and 42: Sukarno's role in protecting the Pa
Page 43 and 44: argued that the nationalist revolut
Page 45 and 46: By this time the PKI had already ca
Page 47 and 48: the application of principles, to b
Page 49 and 50: some tendency for class and religio
Page 51 and 52: only a very few really understood t
Page 53 and 54: The main effect of Indonesia's Basi
Page 55 and 56: Trompet Masjarakat, the main Suraba
Page 57 and 58: eported the incident as the Kanigor
Page 59 and 60: Out of this third “white terror
Page 61 and 62: The test for PKI strategy came with
Page 63 and 64: In outlining the fundamental cleava
Page 65 and 66: the strategy of the PKI in the peri
Page 67 and 68: enough that the public accepted equ
Page 69 and 70: progress. That conclusion might app
Page 71 and 72: contradictory things are actually s
Page 73 and 74: Measured by rational utility and re
Page 75 and 76: forms without a sense of the underl
Page 77 and 78: of academic work by fleshing out un
Page 79 and 80: In the years before the coup the PK
Page 81 and 82: 18. Hans Schmitt, "Post Colonial Po
Page 83 and 84: 36. Legge, Indonesia, p 143. The di
Page 85 and 86: 48. Hildred Geertz, "Indonesian Cul
Page 87 and 88: NOTES: THE NAIL OF GOD1. Clifford G
Page 89 and 90:
18. Benedict Anderson, "The Languag
Page 91 and 92:
the masses, and the development of
Page 93 and 94:
4. Ibid. p 298.5. George Lichtheim,
Page 95 and 96:
this point, Aidit 's defense was th
Page 97 and 98:
39. Aidit, Problems, "Indonesian So
Page 99 and 100:
52. Alimin, "Orang Tani dan Proleta
Page 101 and 102:
75. Aidit, "Main Conclusions" (.TPR
Page 103 and 104:
100. Selosoemardjan, Social Changes
Page 105 and 106:
129. Obor Revolusi February 15, 196
Page 107 and 108:
conservative in that they only reac
Page 109 and 110:
32. Hegel, Phenomenology, p 11633.
Page 111 and 112:
--. "The Key to Food and Clothing:
Page 113 and 114:
--. "Peasant Movements in Colonial
Page 115 and 116:
--. The Religion of Java. New York,
Page 117 and 118:
Kartodirdjo, Sartono. The Peasant's
Page 119 and 120:
Levi-Strauss, Claude. Structural An
Page 121 and 122:
Pauker, Guy. "Current Communist Tac
Page 123 and 124:
Smail, John RW. "On the Possibility
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Javanese Mystical and Marxist Dialectics - Paul Stange

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