Javanese Mystical and Marxist Dialectics - Paul Stange

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equired basic structural changes at the highest level - rather than simply thedevelopment of skills or education. Aidit stressed the integral relationship ofeconomics and politicsThe objective conditions of any society are especially made clear through theproductive relationships - relationships which may support and encourage orrestrain the forces of productive development ... politics constitutes the centralfact of an economy, or, put in another way, economics is the foundation andgoal of po1itics. 37Ultimately then, solution to Indonesia's economic crisis demanded transformation ofthe productive relationships - in the rural areas the abolition of “feudal” remnantsand granting of “land to the peasants” and in the advanced sectors the expulsion offoreign interests. According to Aidit againIndonesia's semi-colonial status results in perpetual economic crisis. The onlyway out is by liquidating the semi-colonial status and replacing it by a systemof people's democracy. 38For the PKI it seemed clear that the 1945 revolution had not brought full people'sdemocracy and independence because it had not assured economic independence.That revolution had merely served the interests of the indigenous compradores, ofthe national bourgeoisie, and had not revolutionized the situations of the workers,peasants and petty bourgeoisie. Those classes thus became the main driving forces ofthe united front to terminate colonial remnants and could ally with the bourgeoisiein the struggle against foreign imperialism, but not as firmly in the accomplishmentof internal economic goals. 39 The PKI strongly opposed reliance on foreign aid andinstead leaned toward strengthening of the governmental sectors of the economy,extension of rural cooperatives, and the carrying out of a thorough land reformprogram. 40The PKI conviction that the revolution remained basically incomplete tied in wellwith Sukarno's argument - as did the related Party argument that in carryingthrough the revolution there had to be a dual process of construction anddestruction. The PKI readily conformed to many of the requirements of GuidedDemocracy and lend its support to increasingly leftist foreign policy, but at the sametime was subject to tight restrictions in ideology as well as activity. Understanding
Sukarno's role in protecting the Party and knowing his penchant for flattery, the PKIplayed up to both. The PKI gave full support, as perhaps it had to, to the ideologicaldrive of Guided Democracy: for a gotong-rojong cabinet, Nasakom, the 1945Constitution, konfrontasi (against Malaysia), the Pantjasila, and the economicprogress. 41 Simultaneously, Aidit felt that the role of the Party was to continue theleftward movement of the revolution by constantly reminding Sukarno of thebroader frame of analysis underlying PKI support of Guided Democracy. 42 Againstallegations of foreign ties, the Party affirmed that it was only pursuing the besteconomic and social interests of the collectivity; in reference to Islam it was quick topoint out its equally foreign origins. 43 The same argument held in PKI critique ofliberal theory such as Sumitro's. 44 The Party accepted the real gains which had beenmade through nationalism, but went on to assert that where the bourgeoisie fell shortin performing its historical tasks, the Party would press forward. 45 Thus the PKIaccepted the existing ideologies as one step toward its own goals, as a concrete factorin the situation. Realistic enough.At the same time, the PKI had to sacrifice emphasis on the class struggle in order toconform to the needs of a united front designed to draw on bourgeois support. As aresult, it was more feasible to focus on external confrontations than internal conflict.Unity within took precedence. In an interview in 1964, Aidit refused even to discussthe ideological disagreements of PKI and Murba styles of Marxism - out of professedunwillingness to endanger unity needlessly. Similarly, he stressed that as a scientificsocialist he understood the social functions of religion and had nothing against Islamper se - it was anathema only when used for reactionary purposes. He stronglyaffirmed the Pantjasila as a basis of order and cooperation among competing parties,parties which he felt should have been drawn together in a united front rather thanabolished. 46 although perhaps inescapable, it was this emphasis on unity ratherthan conflict which lay at the heart of the breakdown of accommodation in the lateryears of Guided Democracy. In those later years, the actions of peasants at the base ofParty organization and the strategy of the leaders at the top became irreconcilable.The leaders continued with a stress on accommodation and search for a place at thetop; the masses became concerned with immediate achievement of concrete changesin land policy at the base. The extent of Aidit's stress on internal unity is evidentthrough consistent concern with the legality of PKI activity and through the notableabsence of tension between the rural masses and compradore classes in his 1963listing of the major contradictions in the world. He did list the tension betweensocialism and imperialism, between classes in capitalistic nations, between
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 and 38: Without the image of the PKI as pat
Page 39: The Party presented itself as a syn
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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