Publisher: Yayasan “Pembaruan”, Jakarta, 1958
Comrades !
The period we are reviewing in this present Plenum of the Central Committee is a period full of many important events, international events and domestic events.
We are holding this VIth Plenum of the C.C. in a critical situation, a situation which is decisive for the further development of political affairs in our country. The annihilation of the rebels in West Sumatra and Minahasa (North Celebes, Tr.) who have their centre in Padang under the leadership of the traitors Husein, Sjafruddin and their associates, will, if achieved swiftly, greatly push forward the development of the revolutionary situation in our country. If the annihilation of the rebels can be achieved within a short space of time, this will mean that the reactionaries and imperialists will have lost one of their important bases, and more favourable conditions will be created for the Indonesian people to implement President Sukarno's Concept one hundred percent and to complete the demands of the August Revolution in their entirety.
But on the other hand, if this annihilation is not completed within a short period, the critical situation will lead to the growth of new chronic disorders in the body of the Republic of Indonesia which it will only be possible to heal over a long period of time, just as we have experienced with the Darul Islam terrorist gangs to the present.
In addition to the rebellion of the traitors Husein, Sjafruddin, Sumitro and others, events of national and international importance include the taking-over of big Dutch capitalist enterprises by the Republic of Indonesia within the framework of the struggle for the liberation of West Irian, and the attempt on the life of President Sukarno on the evening of November 30th last year. In view of the tremendous importance of these events, a meeting of the Political Bureau expanded to include members of the C.C. resident in Jakarta, was convened in December last year to discuss the current political situation. That meeting issued an important political statement drawn up in the form of the "New Year's Message of the Political Bureau of the C.C".
Our present Plenum of the C.C. is being held at a time when the anger of the people has been aroused against the SEATO war pact, against the Kuomintang bandits and the American imperialists who have been proven to be actively intervening in the domestic affairs of Indonesia by giving armed assistance to the counterrevolutionary rebels, Husein, Sjafruddin, Sumitro and their associates. The mighty demonstration and public rally in Jakarta on March 16th and the demonstration of students on March 25th are manifestations of a new spirit among the Indonesian people in the struggle against imperialism.
During the period under sreview, that is from the middle of last year up to the present, there has clearly been a continuation of the two processes taking place in the development of the international situation, on the one hand the continued consolidation and expansion of the camp of Socialism, independence and peace, and on the other hand further splits and disintegration in the camp of imperialism, colonialism and war. The objective situation in the world at the present time makes possible the continuation of these two processes.
The unceasing aggressive war policy of the western countries is expanding the cold war and international tensions and is greatly disturbing the security and peaceful life of mankind as well as the friendly relations and constructive co-operation between the peoples.
The chief ring-leaders of this aggressive war policy are the monopolists who control the huge war industries in America and Europe. In order to increase their profits, the monopolists, by means of the governments of the imperialist states which are under their control are now carrying out a nuclear armaments race. This is being carried out on the one hand by means of scaring the world with the "bogey of Communism'', and on the other hand by endeavouring constantly to create the impression that the U.S.A. is still unbeatable in the spheres of science and nuclear weapons even though this has been disproved by reality.
Under the pretext of the 'Communist danger', the U.S. monopolists impose an imperialist dictatorship over the whole of the capitalist world, over other imperialist countries in Europe, the U.S.'s own allies, as well as over other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The reviews we made at earlier Plenums of the C.C. have pointed out that, under such circumstances, resistance to and rebellion against the dictatorship of the U.S. monopolists is continuing everywhere. This explains why imperialist alliances may seem to be strong but in fact they are weak and unstable.
Striking evidence of this is the heads-of-governments' meeting of the NATO Council held in Paris in December 1957. The war interests of the U.S. monopolists which succeeded in forcing agreement in NATO for the placing of guided missiles in the European member countries of NATO, was unable to suppress and hold back the desire for peace of the peoples of Europe and the wish to prolong the lives of the imperialist states in Europe themselves vis-a-vis the dictatorship of the American imperialists by accepting the peace offers of the Soviet Union. The intentions of the monopolists through the medium of the American government to turn the continent of Europe into an atom war battle-field are in conflict with the interests of life in Europe itself.
Resistance within the camp of imperialism comes in the first place from the British imperialists who do not want to give up their domination in West Europe. British resistance to the U.S. which has to a greater or lesser extent succeeded and which has been carried out by means of nuclear weapon diplomacy following the tests on Christmas Island, is evident from the Joint Communique issued by Eisenhower and MacMilan on October 25th, 1957. This communique which is a sort of Eisenhower-MacMillan doctrine, sets forth a theory on the mutual interdependence of the member countries of NATO under the leadership of the two atom states, Britain and America. This doctrine of domination of the two atom states has further intensified the contradictions which indeed already existed between the NATO countries; France, in particular, vehemently opposes this doctrine.
The nuclear policy of the monopolists greatly burdens the economies of the countries and the living conditions of the working people. For the past half year, the U.S. economy has once again been in a state of recession, the third since the war and the worst so far, and even the western press admits that it is facing a period of anxiety. The extent of this recession for the masses of the American people can be seen from the official figures of unemployment. In October 1955, unemployment numbered 2,550,000 or 3.7% of the total labour force of 68.2 million. In January, 1958 it had increased to 4 million or 6% of the labour force and by the end of February, 1958 it had increased to 5.18 million or 7.4%. This means that the number of unemployed has increased 100% in a period of 4 months. It is estimated that national production will fall by 4 to 5 billion dollars. The production of steel which is falling continuously had by the end of February 1958 fallen to 53% of capacity. The aggressive policy of the monopolists had completely converted the U.S. economy into a war economy. This is why efforts to surmount the recession which is at present developing depends foremost on whether or not state expenditures will go up and in the first place expenditure for the 'defence' requirements of the U.S., and only secondarily on expansion of the activities of civil enterprise. This situation differs very much from that prevailing at the time of the Great Depression of 1929-30 which "the U.S. was able to surmount by means of expanding activity of civil enterprise. This means that the present recession will encourage the U.S. monopolists into being even more aggressive than ever in their war policy.
The important thing for the Government and people of Indonesia is that our country, too, as well as the entire capitalist world has already been and will be affected by this recession. The result for our country is a not inconsiderable fall in foreign trade. This difficulty will be felt most severely by those countries which still depend too greatly on their trade with the U.S.A., and this includes Indonesia which, according to Foreign Minister Subandrio, sells 40% of her exports to the U.S.
The effects of the recession must also be felt by other capitalist countries, above all those in West Europe. In West Germany, export orders have fallen with the result that several steel factories have been forced to cut production. Japan, a country which is very easily influenced by economic conditions in the U.S.A., has been forced to pursue a policy of import restriction. India is experiencing worsening conditions of foreign trade which have led to a fall in the price of Indian products on the world market. The Latin American Republics, too, are experiencing falls in the price and volume of exports of estate and mining products as a result of the recession in the U.S. In view of the fact that, according to Foreign Minister Subandrio, 40% of Indonesia's exports are directed to West Europe, this recession is going to affect economic conditions in Indonesia very greatly.
On the other hand, the Soviet Union and the countries of the Socialist camp know nothing of recession and economic crisis. Because of this, economic developments in the Socialist countries are proceeding very rapidly. In the Soviet Union, for example, as was stated by Comrade Khrushchev in his speech "Forty Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution" delivered on November 6th, 1957, Soviet industrial production in 1957 was roughly 33 times greater than in 1913 while production of the means of production had increased 74 times. America,. Britain and Germany would require 80-150 years to achieve an increase in industrial production of 30 times. The Soviet Union has achieved an increase of roughly 33 times within a period of only 20 to 22 years because almost 20 years of the forty years of Soviet power have been years of wars which were forced upon the Soviet Union or have been utilised for work of economic restoration following the consequences of war. Thanks to inventions in the sphere of science and technology, thanks to the utilisation of machines, and thanks, too, to improved working conditions, labour productivity in the Soviet Union has increased rapidly. By comparison with 1913, labour productivity in Soviet industries has increased by roughly 9.5 times while in the United States it has increased by only 2.3 times. Labour productivity in the Soviet Union will continue to increase with the further advances in science and technology. The high standards of Soviet science and technology are proven amongst other things by the fact that the Soviet Union was the first country to succeed in making the hydrogen bomb, in constructing an atomic power station, and in making ballistic missiles and sputniks.
Scientific and technological advance and this means also economic progress have been achieved not only in the Soviet Union but also in the other countries of the Socialist camp. Economic development in these countries means gradual and continuous increase in prosperity for their peoples. This means that these countries form a stable and rich world market, a market which is now capable of coping with the effects of the recession being suffered by the capitalist world. This means that objectively, the present American recession will result in growing trade between East and West, between the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries and the countries of the capitalist world. It would be good if this single international alternative were fully realised by the government and leaders of the Indonesian people.
The Indonesian Government would be acting wisely and would be doing a great service to the Indonesian people if, in face of present circumstances, it were unhesitatingly to take clear and positive measures to save Indonesia from the dangerous effects of this recession. Besides changing relations with the U.S. and the countries under its dictate into mutually beneficial trade relations and economic co-operation free of political and military strings, the Indonesian Government must undertake trade relations and economic co-operation with the Socialist world market as well as accept and make use of the offers of economic and technical assistance from the Socialist countries. These measures will make it possible to improve economic conditions in Indonesia which are now very bad and at the same time make it possible for Indonesia to save itself from the dangers of American, German and Japanese capital investment all of which are now ready to take over the dominating position of the Dutch capital which is now being liquidated by the independence struggle of the Indonesian people. A policy of rejecting Dutch capital but accepting capital investments from America, West Germany, Japan or other countries would be very naive and harmful to the interests of the Indonesian people. This policy is the same as throwing the tiger out of the front-door but letting the lion in through the back-door. This policy is the policy of the agents of foreign capital who are out for personal gain to the detriment of the Indonesian people. Only dolts who refuse to learn from our present bitter experiences, namely that the U.S. imperialists support the 'R.G.R.I." ("Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia") rebels and are waiting ready with their army to occupy parts of Sumatra on the pretext of protecting their property and nationals in Sumatra, and that this is the consequence of the investment of American capital in Indonesia. Only fools would still want, after this bitter experience, to accept foreign capital investment in Indonesia.
In the midst of the campaign of cold war and 'anti-communist' slander which is incessantly being carried out by the monopolists through the governments of the imperialist countries under their domination, people cannot deny an important international fact, and that is that the Soviet Union is unceasingly striving to foil the war plotters and to save the world from the dangers of the nuclear war which now threatens. An unending series of peace proposals are being made and initiatives for peace being taken by the Soviet Union, such as the proposal contained in Prime Minister Bulganin's letter of December 10th, 1957 to the heads of governments of a number of major countries, including President Eisenhower, on the early convening of a Summit Conference between East and West. The policy of peace of the Soviet Union which the U.S.A. turns down all the time is more and more convincing the world that the monopolists are a real danger threatening the safety and security of the life of mankind. The peaceful proposals and initiatives of the Soviet Union obstruct the aggressive plans of the monopolists. The decision of the Soviet Union unilaterally to stop atomic and hydrogen weapon tests is a tremendous contribution to the efforts to ease international tensions.
The greatest obstacle for the war-planning monopolists in a situation which is difficult enough for them as it is, is the brilliant progress and accomplishments of the Soviet Union in outer space science as was demonstrated by the launching of the first and second sputniks on October 4th and November 5th, 1957 and the Soviet Union's success in making inter-continental guided missiles. These historic events, together with the numerous failures of the U.S. to launch space rockets have once and for all destroyed the myth about U.S. superiority in science and nuclear weapons. This fact on the one hand somewhat lessens the fidelity and confidence of its allies, and on the other hand, it raises the prestige of the Soviet Union in the eyes of other countries and testifies to the superiority of the Socialist system. Within the ruling circles in the U.S. itself, this fact has led to new conflicts as well as making them a bit less arrogant towards other countries and a bit less prone to try to force their will on others by military means. Today, the U.S., too, is forced to recognise that, in the case of war, she would no longer be able to order other peoples to wage war and kill each other with the U.S. acting as supplier of arms, as has happened in the past, but she too would have to take into account the possibility of being destroyed herself by the counter-blows of her opponents.
The indirect reply given by Eisenhower in his "New Year's Message" to the Soviet Union's proposal for a Summit Meeting was the beginning of a series of efforts to prevent the realisation of this summit conference proposal. In his "New Year's Message", Eisenhower stated that of budget allocations for the year July 1958 — June 1959 of $ 74,000 million, (the biggest budget ever for the U.S. in time of peace), no less than 67% would be allocated to military purposes. Of this 67%, as much as 39,779 million will be used for direct military expenditure ($ 918 million more than the previous year), so he says, to "face the growing Russian danger at a time when a new era is opening up, the era of the struggle for outer space".
The arms-kings of America who are actually in control of Eisenhower's government are greatly interested in keeping the cold war alive and if possible, in starting a hot war, especially at the present time when the American economy is facing recession. Under circumstances in which the people of the whole world, including the people of America, are demanding that an atmosphere of mutual understanding between the countries of the world be restored, the Soviet proposal, according as it does to the aspirations of the people of the world, puts them in a state of fear. This fear came out into the open in the form of President Eisenhower's official reply to Prime Minister Bulganin's letter, rejecting the Soviet proposal and putting forward other proposals which have nothing whatsoever to do with the efforts to lessen international tensions, namely, that the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. should relinquish the right of veto in the U.N.O., whereas the veto is the very pillar of that international body. Without the veto right, it would cease to be an international body because it would be completely dominated by one or several large countries who are able to collect together enough votes. In another of his letters, Eisenhower wrote that "the U.S.A. rejects the Soviet offer about a free region of nuclear weapons in the continent of Europe".
The diehard attitude of the Eisenhower government as outlined above has given rise to anger and fierce opposition not only among those who are genuinely striving for peace but also from countries who formerly rejected every peace proposal which came from the Soviet Union.
The most violent anger and opposition have arisen in Britain where the people live in continual fear of U.S. planes based in Britain which frequently fly over British territory carrying atom bombs. From Sir Roben Boothy, Conservative Party member of the British Parliament, up to Bevan, leader of the opposition, all are demanding that the British Government seriously study the Soviet proposal and accept it.
In France, former Prime Minister Edgar Faure has added his voice to those of millions of French people who want to see a Summit Conference convened.
The sympathy of the peoples of the world for the Soviet proposal as well as strong pressure from its own allies has forced the Eisenhower government to alter its standpoint. Whereas formerly, the U.S.A. totally rejected the Soviet proposal, it now agrees "in principle" so long as the Summit Conference is preceded by a conference at Foreign Minister level. Anyone who knows anything about the U.S. Foreign Minister, who is none other than Foster Dulles, the architect of the brink of war policy and the main opponent to the efforts to ease world tensions, will surely understand that a Foreign Minister's conference is being proposed only in order to prevent the convening of a Summit Conference.
The pressure has in the recent months become so powerful that even the British Prime Minister, MacMilan, has been forced to recognise that it is not necessary for this Summit Meeting to be preceded by a Foreign Ministers' conference.
Nevertheless, in the last few weeks the Soviet Union has displayed its goodwill, has shown how genuine it is in avoiding a deadlock in the efforts to ease world tensions, by agreeing to the proposal that a conference of foreign ministers be held, as long as this conference does not deviate from the aim of convening a Summit Meeting, and it should therefore only discuss the composition, agenda, time and place of the Summit Meeting.
At a time when the nuclear weapons race has reached an advanced stage, the convening of a Summit Meeting would mean creating an atmosphere which is against nuclear armament and which could lead to a halt being put to the weapons race.
For the Indonesian people, the question of a Summit Meeting is not as remote from the problems which have to be faced by Indonesia at present as some people seem to think. Indonesia's interests are directly involved especially at a time as the present when SEATO wants to turn the Asian countries into bases for its rockets and nuclear weapons.
One of the most important questions proposed for discussion at the Summit Meeting is a non-aggression pact between the countries of NATO and the countries of the Warsaw agreement. It is easy to understand that were such an agreement to be reached, neither NATO, nor as a consequence the Warsaw Pact would have the right to exist any more. And1 what would apply to NATO would apply, too, to all the military pacts established on the NATO model, such as the Baghdad Pact, SEATO and so on. In this way, the Summit Meeting would contribute greatly to opening up the way to the dissolution of all forms of military pacts. This aspect is insufficiently understood by many people in our country, a country which is directly threatened by SEATO subversion. Amongst its various aspects, the Summit Meeting is important for Indonesia in two ways. Firstly, in that the general easing of international tensions would make it possible for Indonesia better to implement its independent and active anti-imperialist and pro-peace foreign policy. And secondly, the success of the Summit Meeting in liquidating NATO and the Warsaw Pact would pave the way to similar accomplishments in our part of the world, in other words it would make possible the conclusion of a collective agreement in Asia in keeping with the "Bandung principles", and could thereby lead to the surmise of the detested SEATO The fact that in the Joint Statement issued with Prime Minister Siroky of Czechoslovakia last January, Prime Minister Djuanda supported the idea of convening a Summit Meeting is in conformity with Indonesia's position as one of the countries which took the initiative in convening the Asian-African Conference in Bandung and in conformity with the sentiments of the Indonesian people.
The rapid progress made by the Soviet Union, as is now known to the whole world, greatly consolidates the international position and policy of the Soviet Union. Without the superiority of the Soviet Union, the United States would be able to intervene in the affairs of other countries at will. But fortunately, those times have past, as the experience of Syria proves. The Indonesian Government and people would do well to take note of this fact at a time such as the present when we are facing the danger of U.S. intervention.
In keeping with general developments throughout the world, a more concrete consolidation of the anti-war and anti-colonial forces has been achieved in Asia and Africa. The establishment of the independent countries, Ghana and Malaya, and the formation of a new cabinet in Laos with the Pathet Lao participating, a development which strengthens national unity in Laos, are steps forward in the struggle for independence of the Asian and African peoples.
The visit made by President Sukarno to India, Egypt, Syria, Yugoslavia and other countries has further added to the consolidation of the positively anti-colonial forces.
Countries pursuing an independent policy in the sense of firmly opposing imperialism are beginning to take concrete and firm steps in defence of their national interests and in opposition to imperialist intervention. They are taking action free of imperialist compulsion or intimidation. They are becoming increasingly conscious that, based on their own experiences, the most reliable and strongest friend in the struggle against colonialism and in the economic construction of their country is the Soviet Union and the countries of the Socialist camp. In international affairs, this is an extremely important factor and one which is very favourable to peace and independence. All this proves that the imperialists' weapon of slander about the "communist bogey" and the technological superiority of the West is wearing thinner and thinner.
In such an international situation, it is quite natural that splits are occurring between the ruling circles in the capitalist world. The U.S. Foreign Minister, John Foster Dulles, is now more than ever becoming the main target of general condemnation and hatred throughout America and Europe. NATO is split between the diehard group that wants to launch nuclear war in Europe and the group that thinks it would be more advantageous to take the path of negotiation and peaceful co-existence between the East and the West.
In the midst of the growing splits and disintegration in the imperialist camp, and parallel with the further consolidation of the camp of Socialism, independence, democracy and peace, the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution were held in Moscow last November. As has been stated bv Comrade Khrushchev, these celebrations developed into an international demonstration of the mightiness of the ideas of peace and Socialism.
At the time these celebrations were being held, meetings were held in Moscow between the representatives of Communist Parties and Workers' Parties of the 12 Socialist countries and between the representatives of the Communist Parties and Workers' Parties of 64 countries. The first meeting adopted a historic document, the Declaration, while the second meeting adopted a document of no less importance, the Peace Manifesto. In the meeting which adopted the Peace Manifesto our Party contributed its ideas and expressed its agreement with the Manifesto. The two meeting* are of historic significance because they represent a great ideological and political victors for the world Communist and working class movement, they represent a victory for the principles of proletarian internationalism. These meetings also draw un the basic tasks of the Communist in the struggle for peace, independence, democracy and Socialism at the present time. Now that these two meetings have been held, things will proceed much better!
In such an international situation, the development of the individuality of the free peoples of the neutral countries in Asia and Africa which pursue an anti-colonial, anti-war, independent and active policy is quite a natural development. The Asian-African People's Solidarity Conference (A.A.P.S.C.) held in Cairo last December, and which took clear and progressive decisions, is an extremely important indication that the Bandung spirit is growing stronger, that the anti-colonial and anti-war forces in Asia and Africa are growing stronger. The Asian-African Women's Conference held in Colombo last February contributed to the strengthening of the solidarity of the peoples of Asia and Africa and the strengthening of world peace.
Terrified of the further development of the emancipation movement of the peoples of Asia, the United States is waging a large-scale 'anti-communist' campaign and is expanding its subversive activities. And especially the developments in Indonesia in the recent period, which indeed are distinguished by the rapid growth of the national emancipation movement and the growing isolation of the diehard forces — the pillar on which the imperialists rest —, have caused great alarm in the imperialist countries led by the United States.
In their anxiety over developments in Indonesia, the imperialist countries no longer hesitate, either in words or in deeds, to carry out crude intervention in the domestic affairs of Indonesia. They give unlimited moral support to Husein, Sjafruddin, Sumitro and other rebels, and smuggle military equipment to them. They direct the acts of terror and economic sabotage which are taking place in various parts of Indonesia. Crude intimidation is being carried out by the imperialist countries with the holding of large-scale manoeuvres of the armed forces of SEATO with the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the British Fleet based in Singapore taking part. Within the framework of this alarm, a meeting of the Supreme Council of SEATO was held in Manila from March 11-13, which was attended by the representatives of 8 countries, the U.S., Britain, France, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines and New Zealand. At this meeting, the U.S.A. and the other western members of SEATO tried to bring into being a new war machine, the amalgamation of' the NATO, Baghdad and SEATO war pacts. They want to convert the Asian SEATO member countries into centres for the extension of their military bases and into rocket and nuclear bases, as they have already succeeded in doing in South Korea and Taiwan. The question of Indonesia had their special attention, and' the most important thing that concerned them was how to bring down a legal government in Indonesia and replace it with a government supported by the rebels.
They carry out these criminal activities which violate the sovereignty of other countries and which would cost the lives of millions of people in Asia under the pretext of "containing the danger of Communism". And this is the pretext their agents use too, especially the Masjumi and P.S.I, (right-wing socialists) leaders and the Husein, Sjafruddin, Sumitro rebels to attack President Sukarno, to bring down the Djuanda Cabinet and to oppose the democracy which is now growing in Indonesia. In connection with these criminal activities, too, full attention must be paid to the fact that the American imperialists are utilising Kuomintang bandits as one of their tools of intervention in Indonesia, and that in the recent period, the U.S. has given armed assistance to the counter-revolutionary rebels in West Sumatra and North Celebes.
But it is no longer possible today to subjugate the Indonesian people and the peoples of Asia and Africa who have already arisen and become conscious. It is no longer possible today for an act of intervention or aggression to take place without meeting with due resistance. The Indonesian people and the peoples of every country in Asia and Africa do .not stand alone. Asia-Africa stands as a great force for independence and peace. In questions of independence and peace, this militant Asia-Africa has the full assistance and defence of the Socialist camp, in which the Chinese People's Republic is a great and strong participant and which is led by the Soviet Union whose superiority nobody now questions. The forces of imperialism have already been tested in . Korea, Vietnam, Egypt, Syria and other countries and have been shown to be limited in strength.
Every act of armed intervention against an Asian-African country today will become a matter for the entire world. And if it has become a matter for the world, Asia must surely win and the aggressors must surely beat a hasty retreat with severe wounds. This is the conviction of every patriot in Asia-Africa today. It is this conviction which inspires the fighters for freedom of the peoples of Asia-Africa and which makes the aggressors think carefully before acting.
In such an international situation, the Dutch imperialists are in a very difficult and weak position, being faced as they are with the political firmness and correct and patriotic action of the people and Government of Indonesia at the present time. This is clearly proven by one fact, and that is that up to this very moment, the Dutch Government have not made any protest or taken any action of significance against the measures taken by Indonesia.
On the contrary, as is the case too with the U.S. and Britain, in the Netherlands too splits and contradictions within the ruling circles are becoming sharper and sharper, so much so that they are beginning to jeopardise the position and continued existence of the diehard Drees Cabinet.
This is the international situation at the present time. Narrow-minded and dangerous indeed are the views and standpoint of certain people in Indonesia who at a time of bitter struggle such as the present are on the one hand not aware of Indonesia's strong international position while they belittle the fighting strength and ability of the Indonesian people themselves, and on the other hand they exaggerate the strength and ability of the dwarfish Dutch imperialists, the main enemy of the Indonesian people at the present time. And yet it can in fact be said with certainty that in the present international situation and with the present domestic situation in Indonesia as it is, the Dutch imperialists would not dare to attack Indonesia without the armed assistance of the United States. And if the United States were to give armed assistance to the Dutch to carry out their aggression, this would become a matter of concern for the world, and the U.S.A. would lose everything it has in Indonesia, because under such circumstances, the Indonesian people would inevitably have to take action against American economic interests in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Communists welcome the attitude and foreign policy of the Djuanda Government which has displayed an earnestness in resisting imperialist intervention and subversion and which has displayed independent and patriotic nitiative in preserving the country's sovereignty and in perfecting Indonesia's national independence, and especially in the struggle for the liberation of West Irian.
It is the task of our Party to support the foreign policy of the Djuanda Government, and further to continuously push this foreign policy forward so that it is in theory and practice a genuinely active policy for peace and free of foreign influence and interests.
In connection with the task of perfecting Indonesia's foreign policy, it is the responsibility of Communists and the responsibility of all Indonesians of goodwill towards the Indonesian people and towards world peace, to remain ever on the alert to ensure that an active and independent foreign policy for peace is carried out earnestly, concretely and honestly. Establishing friendship and normal relations with the Socialist countries only after having met with failure in the West is not genuine, concrete and honest implementation of Indonesia's foreign policy as drawn up by the August 1945 Revolution. The tradition of Indonesia's foreign policy is not orientated towards the West but towards the East. During the time of the Revolution in the years 1945-48, it was the countries of Asia and Africa and the Socialist countries which gave strong support to the Republic of Indonesia, while Indonesia established its first diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level with Czechoslovakia. There is a rather strong tendency to lean heavily over to the West among certain circles of Indonesian leading officials.
The Indonesian people greatly need the earnest, concrete and honest implementation of Indonesia's foreign policy because they are convinced that various aspects of Indonesia's domestic problems, such as for example the question of economic construction and scientific progress, can only be solved if there is earnestness and honestly in pursuing an independent and active anti-colonial and pro-peace foreign policy.
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Comrades!
In making a review of domestic political developments, the Fifth Plenum of the C.C. held in the middle of last year stressed the significance of the democratisation of the system of government in our country, marked by the formation of the new Parliament, the Constituent Assembly and Legislative and Executive Assemblies in the regions, as well as stressed the growing anti-colonial spirit. "In their fear of the democratic advances being made and of the growing spirit of anti-colonialism and the patriotism of the people, the reactionaries led by Hatta, the Natsir-clique Masjumi leaders and the leaders of the P.S.I, are doing all they can to hold back these advances". This was one of the conclusions we drew at that meeting. The development of the situation since that Plenum of the C.C. fully bears out this conclusion of ours.
The democratisation of the system of government has been further carried forward under the Djuanda Cabinet with the holding of Legislative Assembly elections at the first and second stages of local government in Java and in some of the provinces outside Java. The consciousness of the masses of the people is becoming greater and greater. In all provinces and kabupatens (districts'* where legislative assembly elections have been held, the C.P.I, votes have increased and in general the increase has not been a small one. The analysis of the results of the local elections in Jakarta which revealed that the Indonesian people were shifting to the left gave inspiration to the Indonesian Communists and the most conscious working people throughout the country to win victory for the Communist Party of Indonesia in the elections held subsequently in places other than Jakarta.
Work in Parliament during the period under review, in which the Party's fraction has played an important role, has made progress with the adoption of rather progressive laws such as: (1) the ratification of the I.L.O. Convention, no. 100 on equal wages for men and women performing equal work, (2) the Law on the Abolition of Private Lands, (3) the Law on the Veteran Independence Fighters of the Republic of Indonesia, (4) the Law on the State of Emergency, (5) the Law Ratifying the Dual Nationality Agreement with China, and '(61 the Law on Changes in the Annual Rent and Taxes which has resulted in an increase of Rp. 80 million for state revenues coming from large capital enterprises which are in the main foreign. Parliament has also ratified the Indonesian loan' from the U.S.S.R. to the amount of $ 100 million, and has ratified, too, the Peace Treat) and the Reparations Agreement between Indonesia and Japan. Apart from this, Parliament has unanimously condemned the cruelties of the French colonialists and has demanded that the Algerian girl-hero, Djamila, be acquitted from the death sentence. With the adoption of the Abulhajat motion supporting the policy of the Djuanda Government in the struggle for the liberation of West Irian, the Masjumi and P.S.I., who did not agree with that motion, have become more isolated. The C.P.I. Parliamentary Fraction has prepared a draft of a democratic Marriage Law which will be of very great use when this law is discussed in Parliament. In the Constituent Assembly, healthy ideas have begun to score some victories by adopting decisions that strengthen the Republic of Indonesia and making some important improvements in the methods of work of the Assembly.
The results of the local elections throughout Java and in some other provinces outside Java have brought about improvements in the composition of the Legislative and Executive Assemblies. Elections of heads-of-districts by the legislative assemblies has opened up the possibility for persons who have the confidence of the people, thus including Communists, too, to be elected as heads-of-districts in place of the Governors, Bupatis and Mayors who were appointed from above 'by the bureaucratic apparatus. In Java, not a few Communists or persons supported by Communists have been elected heads-of-district at the second level of local government. This democratisation of the system of government is an important step in reducing the power of bureaucracy, a survival of colonial times which the reactionaries would like to preserve.
The victory scored by the C.P.I, in the Riau archipelago kabupaten with an increase in votes of 66% compared with the Parliamentary elections, and the C.P.I, victory in the province of South Sumatra where it achieved a 26% increase in votes in comparison with the parliamentary elections, is the answer to the reactionaries who like to say that the C.P.I, is a "Javanese party". This is even the more so if it is recalled that the local elections in South Sumatra were held under circumstances in which the C.P.I, leaders were hunted down and the C.P.I, election campaign was very much restricted. The victories scored by the C.P.I, in South and East Kalimantan make it even clearer than ever that not only in Java but throughout the whole of Indonesia too, the C.P.I, is winning the ever growing confidence of the people and that the Indonesian people are shifting to the left.
The struggle for the implementation of Law No. 1, 1957, which regulates the demoralisation of the system of regional government, has met with many obstructions from the reactionary forces which still riddle the regional government and especially the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the pretext of preserving "expertness" they keep in tact the bureaucratic institute of the pamongpradja (local government officials working under the central government administration, Tr.) which is already completely bankrupt, and in so doing they are trying to contain the flow of democracy. But the forces of democracy will not stop half way. Without in any way aiming at creating unemployment in the ranks of the pamongpradja personnel, the democratic forces will continue to strive for the liquidation of the pamongpradja institution and for the consistent and complete implementation of Law No. I, 1957 so as to enable democracy to grow throughout the country. Former pamongpradja personnel who still want to work can all be absorbed in local government, especially when local government has been given full powers.
The fears of the reactionaries of the development of democracy, and within certain limits, too, the fear of the middle groups, is evident from their rejection, though not openly, of the growing demand of the masses for the speedy establishment of third-stage local government as the basis of governmental organisation. They fear that if this is carried out, "too much democracy'" will fall into the hands of the people. These objections of theirs are camouflaged under the pretext that "it is difficult to change outmoded village customs in a short period of time'' and that "the costs would be too great", whereas for hundreds of years there has been no absence of the basic organisation of government-feudal and bureaucratic village government the expenses of which have always been borne by the village itself. With the establishment of third-level regional government on the basis of the amalgamation of several villages which roughly make up a ketjamatan (administrative unit below the kabupaten. Tr.) it will be possible for the villages themselves to bear the expenses for the greater part. The fact that in South Sumatra, on the basis of a regional decree, margas (a form of clan) have been amalgamated together into negeris which directly elect their legislative councils and their heads-of-negeris as well as manage their own budgetary affairs themselves proves that third-level regional government can be set up and can be run properly.
The enemies of the people are very much afraid that as a result of this democratic progress, they will lose forever their chance of dominating the central government. They have lost all perspectives; they no longer have any confidence in the parliamentary system and place all their hopes on extra-parliamentary methods, methods of fascism.
This is why, side by side with occupying seats in Parliament, the reactionaries are placing the stress on their activities outside Parliament, they are preparing counterrevolutionary rebellions by means of intensifying disorders through the self-styled councils, such as the “Banteng Council" (in West Sumatra, Tr.), the "Garuda Council" (in South Sumatra, Tr.) and the "Permesta Council" (in North Celebes, Tr.) in which certain military persons are being used as their basic force. Together with this, they are intensifying their terrorist organisations and order brutal measures to be carried out, such as arrest and torture of Communists and other democrats. They are stepping up sabotage in economic and financial affairs by means of illegal barter and smuggling. They hope in this way to bring pressure to bear more easily upon the Central Government and upon President Sukarno and force them to submit to their wishes, and if this fails they will already be in possession of the mono and arms for rebellion.
As a result of their terrorist activities, grenade-throwing incidents took place on the night of July 4th, 1957, at the headquarters of the C.C. of the C.P.I, and at the headquarters of the SOBSI Jakarta Regional Council. In connection with these two incidents, the Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, which happened to be holding its meeting at that time adopted a resolution which stated among other things that the grenade incident at the C.C. C.P.I, headquarters came as a warning to all democrats and patriots to raise their vigilance, to be more militant and more united. Not long afterwards, grenade-throwing incidents occurred again in several places, including the office of a newspaper and the residence of an army officer. The headquarters of the C.C. C.P.I, was attacked with grenades for a second time. In the course of rounding up these terrorists, a certain Lieut. Col. Nasuhi was arrested a person in contact with the Masjumi and with the Darul Islam/T.I.I. terrorists, and it subsequently became evident that he was also an agent of the terrorist and rebel, Zulkifli Lubis (one-time Deputy Army Chief-of-Staff Tr.).
Their anti-democratic outlook has also been apparent from the vicious and filthy attacks they made on the Panca Sila (the five principles of the Republic of Indonesia: people's sovereignty, social justice, humanitarianism, nationalism and belief in God, Tr.) which has been incorporated in the preamble of the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ever since the foundation of the Republic, and which they formerly popularised because of one of the principles, "belief in Almighty God". They subsequently turned to attacking the Panca Sila because one of the other principles, "people's sovereignty" turned out to be a major obstacle for their political activities. They know that the implementation of the principle of people's sovereignty means that there can be no reason for them to demand that the C.P.I, and other revolutionary organisations be outlawed. And they know too that the broad masses of the people are beginning to raise the question of the legal position of the Masjumi and the P.S.I, in view of the many leaders of these two parties who are taking part in activities which are in contravention of the law, as for example collaboration between leaders of these parties and the Darul Islam/T.I.I., and with army officers involved in the movement to seize power by force, and in the attempt on the life of President Sukarno, and more recently, in view of the position of leaders of these two parties in the so-called "Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia" ("R.G.R.I.") which is headed by Sjafruddin (Masjumi).
In view of the fact that past governments, including the government led' by Hatta and dominated by the Masjumi-P.S.I. did nothing to democratise local government and stood by while bureaucracy and corruption held sway, it is not difficult for the reactionary opposition to take advantage of the dissatisfaction of the people for their criminal purposes by mouthing demagogic phrases such as "regional construction", "the dwitunggal" (the reactionary myth of the unified leadership of Sukarno-Hatta, which has now been effectively exploded, Tr.) and so on. They shout about "regional construction" and yet they plunder the wealth of the people in the regions and divert state funds for their own personal coffers and for their rebel funds. They shout about the "Sukarno-Hatta dwitunggal" and yet they and Hatta himself oppose the President Sukarno Concept, the aim of which is to unite the people, while President Sukarno himself still stands firmly by this Concept of unity. In this way, they deliberately, in the interests of their separatist and subversive policy, create tensions between the regions under their control and the Central Government, and try to draw other regions into opposing the Central Government.
In order to normalise conditions in the Republic, in conformity with the programme of the Djuanda Cabinet and on the advice of the National Council, a National Consultative Conference (N.G.C.) took place in Jakarta from September 10-16, 1957 under the leadership of Prime Minister Djuanda. Based on the standpoint we agreed to at the Fifth Plenum of the C.C., that, wherever possible, tensions between certain regions and the Central Government should be settled by means of negotiations, and in view of the fact that among the persons dissatisfied with the Central Government there were persons who had, unawares, been taken in by the demagogy of the separatists and subversionists, we expressed our agreement with the convening of the N.C.C.
But the good intentions of the Djuanda Government in convening the N.C.C. were, it became apparent, misused by the separatist and subversionist reactionaries. Reactionary delegations came to the N.C.C. not to undertake consultations to find a way out which would make it possible to normalise conditions in the Republic, but they came with plans to get the N.C.C. to adopt a decision outlawing the C.P.I., replacing the National Council by a Pre-Senate, dissolving the Djuanda Cabinet, replacing the present leadership of the Army and other reactionary schemes. But all their schemes failed.
All their demagogy about the "Sukarno-Hatta dwitunggal" in the N.C.C. only succeeded in their getting caught in the trap themselves, with the signing of the Sukarno-Hatta Joint Statement, on the insistence of the N.C.C. This Sukarno-Hatta Statement declares among other things that "the unitarian State of the Republic of Indonesia is indisputably the property of the entire Indonesian people", that "the Panca Sila … is the fundamental guarantee for the entire Indonesian people to live in freedom and liberty, justice and prosperity” and that Sukarno-Hatta have the responsibility of "taking part, together with the entire Indonesian people, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and all the instruments of State in carrying forward and defending the basic principles of the Proclamation of Independence of August 17th, 1945 under all circumstance”.
The unitarian state referred to in this statement clearly conflicts with their policy of separatism and illegal barter. The statement of Sukarno-Hatta to the effect that the Republic of Indonesia is "the property of the entire Indonesian people", and that "the Panca Sila … is the fundamental guarantee for the entire Indonesian people to live in freedom and liberty, justice and prosperity" completely conflicts with their campaign for the outlawing of the Communist Party of Indonesia. And the statement that Sukarno-Hatta have the responsibility of "taking part together … with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia in carrying forward and defending the basic principles of the Proclamation of Independence of August 17th, 1945 under all circumstances" conflicts with their policy of undermining the Djuanda Government, and more recently with the proclamation of the so-called "Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia". And, … Hatta sides with the rebels who are quite clearly trampling upon the Sukarno-Hatta Joint Statement and the other decisions of the N.C.C.
The N.C.C. which they had hoped to turn into a channel for beating the C.P.I., for beating the Djuanda Cabinet, and for beating President Sukarno, resulted in inflicting a series of blows on their reactionary policy it resulted in a total defeat for them. The only thing that could possibly be called an achievement for them was the establishment of the "Committee-of-Seven" the composition of which was so unstable that it was possible for it to be utilised by the terrorists and counter-revolutionary rebels to get their wishes accepted. They forced the establishment of the "Committee-of-Seven" to hold 'consultations', by which was as a matter of fact meant consultations with terrorist and rebel officers such as Zulkifli Lubis, Nasuhi, Simbolon, Ahmad Husein, Sumual and others. Their maximum aim was, by means of the "Committee-of-Seven", to grant amnesty to all these terrorist and rebel officers and to replace the leadership of the Armed Forces with these persons.
As a challenge to the demagogy of the separatists and the subversionists about "regional construction", conformity with the Djuanda Cabinet's programme and on the advice of the National Council, a National Construction Consultative Conference was held in Jakarta from November 25th -December 4th last year. Our Party agreed to the convening of this conference because we saw in this a possibility to get the leaders of the people and especially the Communists to pay closer attention to economic problems in the country, as the indispensable condition for solving a number of difficult problems our country is at present facing.
Our Party and the revolutionary mass organisation were represented in this N.C.C.C. We came to the N.C C.C. with a clear concept. We stated clearly before the Conference that genuine construction could not possibly bf carried out so long as the strategic obstacles, imperialism and feudalism, had not been abolished Even so, we
were prepared to take part in consultations to find a way to surmount a number of urgent economic problems, to rehabilitate economic resources destroyed during the second World War and the subsequent colonial wars, and within the limits of the possibilities, to earn out construction of new economic resources. During these Consultations two main ideas guided us, namely (1) to oppose liberalism which certain circles still follow in drawing up a concept for economic construction, and (2) to establish positive and concrete foundations for construction, laying stress in the first place on the realisation of the abrogation of the Round Table Conference agreement and the uprooting of the domination of the large foreign capitalists in general.
The N.C.C.C. was held in an atmosphere of an upsurge in the spirit of anti-colonialism, in connection with the fact that the question of West Irian was being discussed at the U.N.O. at the time. The Indonesian people and the Djuanda Cabinet had firmly resolved that if the West Irian question was defeated in U.N.O., the Government would "take another course", a course outside the U.N.O. It was in such circumstances that the reactionaries, through Governor Aflus (Masjumi) of West Kalimantan shamelessly put forward a motion to the effect that the N.C.C.C. should demand the resignation of the Djuanda Cabinet and its replacement by a Hatta Cabinet. This reactionary motion was rejected by the N.C.C.C., and it was considered as being extremely unsympathetic because it aimed at bringing down the Cabinet that had convened the Conference and that was at that moment waging a bitter struggle against Dutch colonialism in connection with the West Irian struggle.
The spirit of anti-colonialism which pervaded the Conference hall was extremely helpful in getting the adoption of progressive ideas in the N.C.C.C. A plan of the reactionaries to obtain unanimous agreement for foreign investment was frustrated with the result that what was accepted was mixed enterprises between Indonesian capital and foreign capital. But this decision, too, endangers national economic construction in Indonesia because it is not difficult for the big foreign capitalists to get Indonesian compradors to lend them their names. Apart from this, other important decisions by the N.C.C.C include:
Agreement on the setting up of a National Planning Council with a composition including the functional group: a decision of the sectors of the economy which must be in Government hands as the basis for further construction; the Government must control the supply of basic essentials for the people and must undertake distribution of these goods, in particular, the distribution of rice to government employees, members of state apparatus and workers in the productive sectors, as one of the ways of controlling prices; agreement to a plan to become self-supporting in rice and other food stuffs; full agreement to a concept drawn up by the Shipping Consultative Conference held in Tugu in which incorporated proposals made by the workers on ways of surmounting present difficulties in the sphere of shipping; expansion of international trade with all countries, both East and West; the export of important commodities such as rubber should be in the hands of government. As one of the efforts to overcome the difficulties by the Export Certificate (B.E.) system (the B.E. system was in general turned down, but for ‘technical difficulties involved in coping with the consequences’, nothing was formulated on the abolition of the B.E. system): import of luxuries should be stopped and the import policy should be brought into conformity with production plans and construction in the country (or in other words, for example, to pursue an import policy of the Sumitro type which does not conform to plans for domestic construction); payment for construction should not be concentrated on foreign capital investment but on developing the natural resources, while mixed investments with foreign capital should be permitted on onerous terms for foreign capital by way of issuing state bonds and compulsory loans; credit granted for political considerations should be stopped and should forthwith be given on the basis of business and economic considerations and not only on the basis of banking considerations, coordination is required in planning and implementing construction in the regions within framework of the economic unity of the Republic of Indonesia; attempts to increase the working day to eight hours were defeated and the basis for labour productivity was established as being social facilities, improvements in the means of production and the creation of joy in labour. A proposal for the establishment of Workers’ Councils in enterprises was not accepted, but it was agreed that consultations should be held between the management and the workers.
Besides these important decisions which accord with our proposals on economic policy and on urgent economic construction, there were many other decisions which were generally in the nature of supplementation and detail which are not in any way harmful.
We must be on the alert against misconception or deviations in the implementation of these decisions, especially those regarding mixed enterprises set up together with foreign capital, the question of native-born and foreign-born nationals, the question of surmounting the deficit in the State budget by means of so-called economisation and concerning covering the costs of construction by means of state bonds and compulsory loans and saving.
We should not therefore be over-satisfied with the results achieved at the N.C.C.C. We must still retain the initiative in raising the question of implementing the progressive decisions adopted by the Construction Conference of the Governments
In brief, the separatists and subversionists failed in the N.C.C.C., too, to force through their reactionary economic and political programme.
They tried to make good their failure to force through the Aflus motion to bring about the downfall of the Djuanda Cabinet in the N.C.C.C. by the establishment in Parliament of a committee called the "Committee-of-Nine". In their view, this committee was entrusted with the task of finding a governmental position for Dr. Hatta, or in other words, a position in government suiting their taste of course. Their intentions would not have become so apparent had they not openly pursued a master plan of isolating the C.P.I., even though the C.P.I, fraction is in fact one of the major fractions in Parliament.
In November last year, the question of West Irian was discussed for the fourth time in the U.N.O. In anticipation of these discussions the entire people were caught up in a tremendous spirit of anti-Dutch-colonialism. Every where, public meetings and demonstrations were organised demanding that West Irian be incorporated into the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia. The people and the government were unanimously resolved that if U.N.O. turned down Indonesia's standpoint, then "another course", the revolutionary course should be pursued which would in the first place mean taking measures against the large Dutch capitalist enterprises. After the news was received that the Indonesian viewpoint had not been accepted by U.N.O. as a result of the intrigues of the Dutch and American imperialists, on December 3rd last year the workers began to take over the big Dutch enterprises, beginning with the K.P.M., a company which had controlled Indonesia's shipping for almost 70 years. The K.P.M. was taken over by the workers and was afterwards officially taken over by the government. Within a short period, almost all the big Dutch capitalist enterprises had been taken over by the workers and the army with the agreement of the Government.
At a time when the N.C.C.C. which rejected the Aflus motion was busy at work, at a time when the take-over of big Dutch capitalist enterprises was in progress, and just after the formation of the "Committee-of-Nine", and it should not be forgotten, after concrete proposals had been made by certain persons in the "Committee-of-Seven" for the rehabilitation of Lubis-Simbolon and their associates who were then still officers in the Army, there occurred on November 30th, 1957 the attempt on the life of President Sukarno, the incident that is now known as the "Tjikini terror" (the incident took place at Tjikini Road School, Tr.). It was a great victory for the Indonesian people that this attempt on President Sukarno's life failed.
Had the "Tjikini terror" succeeded, how complete and accomplished would have been the implementation of their schemes. If President Sukarno had died as a result of the "Tjikini terror", the "Committee-of-Nine" was ready to put Dr. Hatta in President Sukarno's place because it would not have been difficult in such circumstances to obtain the support of the majority in Parliament by means of intimidation the wavering middle-of-the-roaders who would then have been in a state of panic. Side by side with this, the "Committee-of-Seven" was ready to rehabilitate the terrorist and subversive officers and to replace the Armed Forces leadership with these officers. All this they would have done in an atmosphere of "deepest bereavement" because President Sukarno had died. Externally, they would have displayed the most prostrate grief but in their hearts of hearts they would have been celebrating wildly. Their crocodile tears would have drenched Indonesian soil. They would have ordered the flags to be flown half-mast for weeks, and in their speeches moving epitaphs would have filled the air because President Sukarno had died. But together with all this, the real objective of the assassination of President
Sukarno would certainly very soon have been carried out. The new President would definitely have replaced the Djuanda Cabinet with a cabinet "which meets the demands of the regions", and the Communists, the revolutionary nationalists and the patriotic ulamas (religious leaders, Tr.) would have been rounded up on the pretext of being the "assassinators of President Sukarno", as "corruptors who were misusing State funds" and as "saboteurs of construction".
But it seems that history is not on their side. Even had they succeeded in murdering President Sukarno, the Indonesian people would definitely not have allowed all this to happen in keeping with their wishes. And all the more so when their criminal schemes which had been worked out with such great precision failed.
President Sukarno did not die as a result of the "Tjikini terror". A mighty wave of anger welled from the people against the reactionaries. The officers which were to have been rehabilitated through the "Committee-of-Seven" were proven to be the plotters of the "Tjikini terror".
The prestige of the reactionaries fell tremendously. On the other hand, the prestige of President Sukarno and all revolutionaries and democrats, the prestige of the Government and the leadership of the Armed Forces, the prestige of revolutionary and democratic parties, rose tremendously.
Within the framework of the measures taken by the state apparatus against the perpetrators of the "Tjikini terror", the organisation of the subversionists was up rooted and those ring-leaders who were not arrested ran off in all directions to continue with their adventures in a situation which was by then far more difficult for them. Afraid of being arrested, Masjumi leaders such as Moh. Natsir, Burhanuddin Harahap, Sjafruddin Prawiranegara and others left Jakarta one by one and made for Padang (in West Sumatra, Tr.), the centre where preparations were being made for rebellion. Dr. Sumitro of the P.S.I, had left Jakarta earlier for fear of being arrested by the state forces in connection with his involvement in large-scale corruption.
Following the failure of the "Tjikini terror", the situation developed more in favour of the people with an upsurge in the revolutionary movement for the liberation of West Irian through the taking over of Dutch enterprises by the workers, the army and the Government. This was in implementation of the "other course" or the revolutionary course as the correct reply of the Indonesian Government and people to the Dutch colonialists who were still intent upon continuing with their colonisation of West Irian.
The failure of their act of treason in the ''Tjikini terror" affair and their opposition to the revolutionary course taken by the Djuanda Cabinet in the struggle for West Irian greatly discredited the reactionaries. The reactionary Masjumi-PSI parties have never experienced such a fall in prestige as they experienced after the failure of the "Tjikini terror". The mass of their members became extremely disturbed, some of them left these reactionary parties while others demanded a re-appraisal of policy or a change in leadership. Things are becoming clearer and clearer for the patriotic members of the state instruments of power, and they no longer have any illusions about these two diehard parties.
As it had failed to accomplish anything, the "Committee-of-Nine" was unanimously dissolved by Parliament on March 14th, whereas the "Committee-of-Seven" has no longer any basis to continue to function since the officers whom it was intended to hold negotiations with have been dismissed by the Government as a result of their involvement in the Padang rebellion (Z. Lubis, A. Husein, D. Djambek, M. Simbolon, V. Sumual, J. Somba, Saleh Lahade and others).
This means that the basic features of the situation following the failure of the "Tjikini terror" and since the time the Indonesian people have taken the revolutionary path in the struggle for West Irian are that the reactionaries are now not only quite unable tc seize central power by parliamentary means, but are also unable to do it by extra-parliamentary means. Parliamentarily it is impossible so long as the middle-of-the-road parties remain anti-colonialist and oppose foreign intervention as is the case at present. Extra-parliamentarily it is also impossible so long as the Armed Forces remain patriotic and resist foreign intervention.
The only way remaining for the reactionaries to seize central power at the present time is by first seizing local power and combining this local power with political assassinations of central political leaders that have won the confidence of the people. This means that even though the "Tjikini terror" failed, the counter-revolutionaries will not stop in their efforts to murder President Sukarno as is clear from the interview given by Moh. Natsir, the Chairman of the Masjumi, to a correspondent of the "De Volkskrant" in which he said among other things that he "will not return to Jakarta until Sukarno has been eliminated". This is also apparent from the efforts of the counter-revolutionaries to assassinate President Sukarno at the time he was taking his rest in Pakistan and Japan. Besides efforts to murder the leaders of the people, the counter-revolutionaries are also combining their local power with intimidation, imperialist intervention and economic sabotage. This is the only way remaining for them.
Is this only way, the way of seizing local power, an easy way for them?
In order to establish and defend a "Sumatran state" or a "central government" in West Sumatra, they must deal with many obstacles such as the firm stand of the Central Government and the Armed Forces which oppose their acts of treachery, the resistance of the masses of Communists, Nationalists and patriotic Moslems in West Sumatra itself, the resistance of the civil state apparatus including the police force and the Mobile Brigade, who have remained loyal to their oath, and the resistance of the Armed Forces who are loyal to their soldier's oath and to the ideals of the August 1945 Revolution. They also have to deal with contradictions among themselves arising from their political differences, the share out of the spoils, religious differences, nationality and the like.
This means that following the failure of the "Tjikini terror", only one possibility remains open, and that is the seizure of local power with the object of bringing down the central government, but this possibility is not easy of realisation. This makes it clear that the domestic political situation since the failure of the "Tjikini terror" and since the time the Indonesian people and government have taken the revolutionary path in the struggle for West Irian is far more favourable to the people than it was prior to these two developments.
On February 10th, 1958, as the climax to the activities of the separatists and subversionists, Ahmad Husein who was then still Lieutenant-Colonel issued an ultimatum the main point of which was to demand the dissolution of the Djuanda Cabinet within a period of 5 X 24 hours. Prior to this ultimatum, Prime Minister Djuanda had already made a statement in a plenary session of Parliament, on February 3rd, concerning the activities around the establishment of a "Sumatran state" and the formation of a "New Central Government of the Republic of Indonesia" with its centre in Sumatra. In this connection, P.M. Djuanda also referred to the holding of a secret meeting in Sungai Dareh, a small town on the border of West Sumatra and Djambi at which were present Z. Lubis, M. Simbolon, Dahlan Djambek, Ahmad Husein, Moh. Natsir (Masjumi), Sumitro Djojohadikussumo (P.S.I.) and others.
Ahmad Husein’s strongly worded ultimatum was in actual fact evidence of their weakness and proved that they were no longer capable of bringing down central government either by parliamentary means or by extra-parliamentary means. Apart from this, it is no secret that the regime of the Ahmad Husein clique is meeting with the ever-growing resistance of the masses of the people in form of concealed and open resistance, in the form of sabotage and demonstrations. In various places in West Sumatra demonstrations have been held opposing the rule of the "Banteng Council" of the Ahmad Husein clique. It is a very moving fact that these mass demonstrations include many women and in some cases are even being led by women. These courageous women are being arrested by the Ahmad Husein storm-troopers The resolute determination and courage of these Minangkabau women has made them the example for Indonesian women and the Indonesian people in general, an example of what stand to adopt, of how to act and of how to resist fascist power.
Ahmad Husein's ultimatum was issued after he had obtained guarantees from SEATO that the government he would proclaim would speedily be recognised and that it would be given armed assistance to fight the Central Government. Ahmad Husein and his associates knew that the majority of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men in his regiment did not agree with his actions.
This makes it clear that the desperate actions of the counter-revolutionaries are not in the first place based upon domestic forces that side with them, but in the first place upon assistance from abroad. This brings out with great clarity the nature of the Husein-Sjafruddin movement.
Five days later, this ultimatum was followed up by the formation of the so-called "Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia" (RGRI) headed by Sjafruddin (Masjumi) and! which also includes, among others, Burhanuddin Harahap (Masjumi), M. Simbolon ("Gadjah Council"), Dr. Sumitro (P.S.I.) and Saleh Lahade ("Permesta Council").
They have taken the only path that remains open to them, the path of local seizure of power, parading themselves as being a central government with power throughout the whole country. They appoint their representatives abroad, instruct foreign banks to free the foreign exchange holdings of the government of the Republic of Indonesia, they instruct foreign enterprises to pay taxes to them and not to the Central Government, they instruct magistrates in all parts of Indonesia to release all Martial Law detainees with the exception of Communists, or in other words to release all Darul Islam/T.I.I. detainees, and other such things.
These actions of the rebels were on the one hand enthusiastically welcomed by the American, Dutch, British and other imperialists. The imperialists thought that these actions would hold back the upsurge of the national independence movement which is now in progress in Indonesia, that it would smash the Republic of Indonesia which even would be preceded by the downfall of the Djuanda Cabinet. They thought that the majority of the provinces outside Java would side with the rebels, and that at least a part of Java would be "neutral".
On the other hand, the rebels' proclamation of their "central government" aroused the widespread anger of the masses of the people. With this supreme act of treason, the Husein-Sjafruddin clique have completely exposed themselves with the result that persons who had previously not understood or wavered over their acts of treason, have had their eyes opened and have come out against them.
The unity of the dwitunggal, the people and the Army, in the form of cooperation bodies between the youth and the military, the workers and the military, the peasants and the military, the women and the military, and others, and! now in the form of the "National Front for the Liberation of West Irian" presided over by the Army Chief-of-Staff, Major General A.H. Nasution, has become stronger and stronger and more and more important. The activities of the Husein-Sjafruddin clique, besides being advantageous to the American, British and other imperialists, directly help the Dutch colonialists who are at present involved in a dispute with the Republic of Indonesia over the question of West Irian.
It should be borne in mind that before the so-called "RGRI" was proclaimed!, that is, at the time when President Sukarno was about to depart for his rest tour abroad, the Chairman of the P.S.I., Sutan Sjahrir, spread the lie that during the time President Sukarno was abroad the C.P.I, would seize power. The proclamation of the "RGRI" proves that Sjahrir's declaration was solely aimed at hiding the intentions of the counter-revolutionaries to seize power by illegal means.
The firm stand adopted by the Djuanda Government against the rebels, which has been fully upheld and supported by President Sukarno, has won the broadest mass support for any government since the time the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia was recognised by the world. The revolutionary movement of the workers, the peasants, the youth, the students, the women and the veterans has experienced new developments in the sphere of organisation, in political consciousness and in the question of militancy. Only a small handful of the intellectuals are passive towards the rebels, while the majority of them condemn the counter-revolutionaries. Only a very few persons have stated that they side with the counter-revolutionary rebels.
The realistic and firm stand of the Djuanda Cabinet proves that the Government is not only able to negotiate, but that it knows the limits to the path of negotiation
if this path is misused and is not desired by the other side.
The firm stand of the Government which has the full support of the Armed Forces and the very broad mass movement of the people, as well as the militancy of the people, helped by an international situation which is favourable to Indonesia, is the guarantee that the rebels can be destroyed within a short period of time.
The brilliant results achieved in the operation carried out by the Armed Forces in Central Sumatra in the middle of March were possible thanks to the firmness of the Government's stand which has aroused high fighting spirits among the soldiers and has met with the enthusiastic response of the masses of the people. This too is the reason why it was possible to sweep out the counter-revolutionary rebellion under the leadership of W.F. Nainggolan in Medan on March 16th last by March 17th.
As long as the Government remains firm and realistic, it will be able to keep control of the situation, it will be able to present the disintegration of the Republic, and this is the basic prerequisite for shutting the door tight to intervention. The political and military situation in Aceh, in South Sumatra and in South Celebes must be followed with the closest vigilance and in full readiness to liquidate the counter-revolutionaries if such things as happened in Medan on March 16th occur. Special attention must be paid to the efforts of the agents of Zulkifli Lubis who are at present striving hard to change the balance of forces in the armed forces in West Java and Jakarta so as to create new conditions for a direct seizure of central power. The activities of the Darul Islam/T.I.I. in Java in the recent period both as regards armed activities as well as political and organisational activities are a link in the chain of activities of the "RGRI" rebels and are directly aimed at the Central Government. In order to safeguard the position of the Central Government, all these activities must be crushed.
To make it complete, the realistic and firm stand of the Government must also be applied in the economic sphere, especially in the question of rice and other daily essentials of the people, because the enemies of the people are also actively spreading disorder in this field. Sabotage in the field of economic affairs is being carried out by domestic reactionaries who are working in collaboration in the first place with Kuomintang bandits and making use of those government personnel that are bribable.
In a situation such as we are experiencing at the present, it is the task of our Party, in continuing to safeguard the Republic of Indonesia and hold high the principles of democracy, resolutely and by multiplying our activities and taking the thousand-and-one paths possible, to develop the progressive forces, and expand and consolidate national unity, to heighten the fighting capacity and vigilance of the people throughout the entire country.
Comrades!
At the IVth Plenum of the Central Committee held in the middle of 1956, we analysed the class forces and came to the conclusion that in our country at the present stage of history there are three types of political forces each of which have their own concept. The diehard forces, the compradors and feudalists, aim at turning Indonesia into a state which is independent in form only but in essence bows to the wishes of imperialism, defends the interests of the big foreign capitalists and the landlords. The progressive forces, the proletariat and the other working people, aim at completing the demands of the August 1945 Revolution in their entirety. The middle-of-the-road forces, the national bourgeoisie, also aim at completing the demands of the Revolution but with the purpose of opening up the possibility for the growth of national capitalism.
The progressive forces and the middle-of-the-roaders make up the national and democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal forces, or in other words, the revolutionary forces, while-the diehard forces are anti-national and anti-democracy, are in alliance with imperialism and feudalism, or in other words, they are the forces of reaction.
The political line of the Party in facing these three forces is to develop the progressive forces, unite with the middle-of-the-road forces and' isolate the diehard forces. With such a political line, the Party develops its own forces, unites with the national and democratic forces at the same time as opposing the anti-national and antidemocratic forces. Since the middle of 1956, this political line has inspired and led the political activities of our Party. The result today is that the forces of progress are continually growing, national unity is becoming stronger and the diehard forces are becoming more and more isolated.
In connection with this political line, our Party already has the experience that its implementation greatly depends on the extent of the political freedom of the proletariat and the other working people. This is why we have come to the conclusion that the general task of the Party is to defend, consolidate and expand political freedom or political democracy.
The development of the progressive forces and the building of unity between the progressive forces and the middle-of-the-road forces, or the building of the national united front or the front of democracy, can only take place unhampered if the proletariat and the other working people have political freedom, if political freedom, if political democracy can be defended, consolidated and expanded. This means opening up the opportunity for the Party to carry out propaganda and agitation, to hold lecture meetings and mass rallies, to distribute pamphlets, booklets and books, to help the workers, peasants, youths and students and other groups of the people to raise demands for their economic, political and cultural interests, this means that we have the freedom to organise and educate the proletariat and other working people, to draw the attention of the millions of people to the Party's demands and the Party's programme, to the policy of "100% implementation of the President Sukarno Concept" and further to the policy of "completing the demands of the August 1945 Revolution in their entirety".
Thus, the struggle around the question of political freedom is the most important, the bitterest struggle among the three forces outlined above in our society today.
The diehard forces are striving with all their energy to have political freedom for the working people and particularly for the proletariat and the C.P.I, abolished. They strive that "democracy" should only apply for them while the working people, and particularly the proletariat and the C.P.I, -should not, according to them, be given democracy. This explains why they are busy forming anti-communist organisations including the "Anti-Communist Front", the "United Anti-Communist Movement" and the "Anti-Communist League of the Republic of Indonesia", all of which demand that the C.P.I. and the progressive mass organisations should be banned. This explains why the reactionaries organised the Ulama's Council in Palembang in September 1957 one of whose decisions was the same as the demands of these anti-communist organisations. And this also explains why Communists and other progressive leaders are arrested, and put into prison and tortured in the regions under the domination of the "Banteng Council", the "Permesta Council" and the "Garuda Council", namely in West Sumatra, Minahasa and South Sumatra. Behind these fascist activities stand the Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders both openly and secretly. The Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders with the help of other political and military adventurers are doing all they can to destroy the political freedom of the working people particularly for the proletariat and its militant leader, the C.P.I.
Dr. Hatta in a speech he recently made in Jogjakarta stated that the Communists must not be allowed to sit in the government because the Communists have no God. Dr. Hatta did not say that the political rights of the Communists should be deprived, but for him it is enough a priori to place the Communists in the opposition. This is another way of putting anti-democratic and anti-national ideas. Although he does not openly say that the Communists should be deprived of their political rights, the consequence of this a priori standpoint is refusing to let the Communists come into the Cabinet even if the Communists obtain the confidence of the majority of the nation, or in other words, obtain more than half the 6eats in Parliament. Thus the essence of Dr. Hatta's Stand a priori is to oppose the majority of the nation, and this means being against the people's sovereignty, it means being against democracy and anti-national. Opposing the majority of the nation is nothing but being anti-national. They always use cheap propaganda about "having no God" because they are incapable of denying the correctness of the C.P.I.'s policy, politically and scientifically. They deliberately do not want to understand that the matter of having God or not is a personal question whereas the matter of people's sovereignty is a question of the entire people together, a national question. Under the slogan of "fighting against Communism", a slogan which they have simply taken over from the imperialists, the diehards are also actively trying to get right-nationalist elements to go in together with them in the "Anti-Communist" current, naturally without saying that this means trampling on the principle of people's sovereignty. On the contrary, they say that by "opposing Communism" they are also struggling for "people's sovereignty", for "democracy" and for "freedom for mankind".
Some of the nationalists, the right-wing elements of the middle-of-the-road forces, have been taken in by the "anti-communist" slogan of the Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders who are inspired by the foreign policy of the imperialist states under the leadership of the United States.
As regards the inconsistent nature of the national bourgeoisie in pushing forward democratic progress at the stage of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, we are reminded of what Lenin wrote in 1905: "The very position the bourgeoisie occupies as a class in capitalist society inevitably causes it to be inconsistent in a democratic revolution. The very position the proletariat occupies as a class compels it to be consistently democratic. The bourgeoisie looks backward, fearing democratic progress, which threatens to strengthen the proletariat. The proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains, but with the aid of democracy it has the whole world to gain" (V.I. Lenin in "Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution"; Lenin Selected Works, Vol. I, part 2, page 50, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow 1952).
Our experiences reveal further that the Indonesian national bourgeoisie is very much afraid lest "too much democracy" falls into the hands of the proletariat and the working people in general. This is the background to the hawkers' bargain that the right national elements are so fond of making behind the scenes with the die
hard forces over such questions as the formation of cabinet, reactionary laws and regulations, the elections of heads-of-districts and' the leading bodies of legislative councils, etc. This is the background, too, to the cooperation between right nationalist elements and the reactionaries in North Sumatra in the "Siantar Incident" of September 1957. By means of such activity, they hope to obstruct the growth of the progressive forces, to be able to prevent "too much democracy" from falling into the hands of the working people. The consequence of these hawkers' bargains has been greatly to weaken the democratic forces in the Army in North Sumatra, and this is why it was possible for a seizure of power to take place in Medan on March 16th under the leadership of W.F. Nainggolan, agent of the "RGRI".
The position of the national bourgeoisie as a class in capitalist society makes them flit back and forth between the progressive forces and the forces of reaction, between the revolutionary and the counter-revolutionary forces.
In some places, either openly or concealed, hawkers' bargains are being concluded between the diehard bourgeois elements and the right nationalist elements so as to "contain Communism", to "save Java from the red danger" and for "the safety of the free world". By means of these base agreements, consciously or otherwise, the right nationalist elements are deviating from the general political line of the nationalists. They are deviating from the line of anti-imperialism and democracy and joining up with the stream of imperialism and anti-democracy, the stream that is against the 100% implementation of the President Sukarno Concept, against the concrete implementation of the ideals of the August 1945 Revolution. Yes, the consequence is that they oppose the Panca Sila one of the principles of which is people's sovereignty (sovereignty is vested in the people). In brief, the slogan of "anti-Communism" at the present stage of history in our country is nothing but a slogan to split national unity, a slogan to weaken the anti-imperialist struggle which is now intensifying, and a slogan to destroy democracy.
Thus the participation of right nationalist elements in the "anti-Communist" current means in essence their betraying the interests of the nationalists themselves, for, do not the genuine nationalists also need a national united front to defeat imperialism and do not the genuine nationalists need democracy to build up national unity and to resist feudalism? It is not for Socialism to liquidate their property rights over the means of production, but for the growth of national capitalism that is their open or concealed aim. National capitalism cannot possibly develop so long as big foreign capitalists and the remnants of feudalism still exist in our country. Thus, the policy of inviting foreign capital to come to our country is not a national policy but a comprador policy.
By making hawkers' bargains with the reactionary bourgeoisie, the right nationalists do not push forward the revolutionary forces but drag them back, the right nationalists are not revolutionary, they are reactionary.
Thus, however much they may try to conceal it, the policy of "anti-Communism" at the present historical stage is essentially anti-democratic and anti-national. And this policy is at complete variance with the general trend of the Indonesian people at the present time, with the feelings and thoughts of the Indonesian people today. The Indonesian people are not in the slightest leaning towards anti-communism, they are not in the slightest leaning towards anti-democratic and anti-national policies.
Another form of anti-democratic policy is the policy of a bourgeoisie that has lost all reason, its policy of dissolving political parties. This policy is diametrically opposed to the democratic Presiden Sukarno Concept, opposed to the aims of the August 1945 Revolution and to the general inclination of the Indonesian people and the people of the entire world today. Such a bourgeoisie that has lost all reason and has become very hot-headed tries to sell the idea that if all parties were dissolved, then everything would be put to rights because it would no longer be possible for the people to challenge a government via the medium of the parties. They say that their policy is based on "learning the lessons of the situation in Egypt". In learning from Egypt, they only take the things that are pleasant for them, the dissolution of parties, regardless of whether it is pleasant for the people who would be placed under a rule which it would not be possible to challenge by democratic means. In "'learning from Egypt", they do not take the things that would be good for the people, such as for example, that country's firm, anti-imperialist foreign policy. They are blind or pretend to be blind to the difference in economic and political developments in Egypt and Indonesia. Every uncritical attempt to imitate Egypt will be felt by the people who, since the beginning of this century, have been educated in democracy, as an infringement of the basic rights of the people and will therefore surely meet with their opposition.
The policy of dissolving the parties cannot be interpreted as being anything else but paving the way to brute force, to a fascist regime, which, if it were to come into existence, would be fertile soil for bureaucracy, corruption and other such anti-people's activities by a small handful of adventurers. The C.P.I, together with the Indonesian people will vigorously oppose this policy of persons of short memories and hot heads, a policy which provides more favourable opportunities for extra-parliamentary and coup activities, yes, a policy of turning back the clock half a century in the history of the independence struggle of the Indonesian people. The Indonesian Communists and people stand firmly by their conviction that however bad democracy may be in practice, it is much better than fascism.
In the Fifth Plenum of the C.C., we made a correct evaluation of the growth of democracy in our country following the establishment of a Parliament based on the choice of the people, the establishment of an elected Constituent Assembly and the formation of transitional legislative and executive assemblies set up on the basis of proportional representation (based on parliamentary election results pending the holding of local government elections, Tr.). We said that it was thanks to all this that the Indonesian people had obtained new weapons with which to strengthen their unity and to struggle for their everyday interests.
At that meeting of the C.C. we drew the conclusion that: "The formation of Transitional Regional Administrative Councils based on proportional representation has completely pierced the policy of isolation of the reactionaries led by the Masjumi towards the C.P.I, in the regional governments. The establishment of such governments has strengthened the conviction of the people about the possibilities of forming a Gotong Royong ('get together') Cabinet such as the President Sukarno Concept calls for. All this has made the people more enthusiastic about the forthcoming local representative assembly elections". This means extending the political freedom of the people, this means extending political democracy.
The conclusion of the Fifth C.C. Plenum quoted above fully accords with the situation today. In the first and second-stage regional assembly elections, the people have indeed been enthusiastic as is proven by the big increase^ achieved by the C.P.I, both in Java and elsewhere. Just at a time when reactionary subversive and extra-parliamentary activities are taking place in which many Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders are closely involved, the C.P.I, and the other democratic parties remain faithful to the path of parliamentary democracy.
The provisional C.P.I, results, for second-stage local assembly elections held in the regions (Java, South Sumatra and Riau) total about 7,760,000 votes. The votes obtained at the parliamentary elections in those regions where second-stage local government elections have not yet been held were 504,300. This means that if the C.P.I, votes in those regions where local government election have not yet been held do not increase, and this is most unlikely, the C.P.I, voters throughout the country will amount to 7,760,000 plus 504,300, or 8,264,300. In view of the fact that the votes for the other major parties have fallen, this means that within a space of two years, the C.P.I, has risen from being the fourth party to being the first party throughout the whole country. This means that, by comparison with C.P.I, votes at the parliamentary elections which numbered 6,176,900, there has been an increase of 8,264,300 minus 6,176,900, or 2,087,400, or an increase of 34% for the whole country. This increase proves that the policy of the C.P.I, is becoming more, and more accepted by ever broader sections of the Indonesian people. This means that the Communists are fighting for good objectives. The results of the local legislative assembly elections in Java, South Sumatra. South Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan further add to the strength of the C.P.I, and the forces of democracy inside and outside the regional assemblies.
The increase in C.P.I, votes is generally in keeping with the plans made by the local C.P.I, committees and the plan of the Central Committee. This is proof that our Party, within limits, is capable of giving objective, and realistic leadership. Such leadership is an important guarantee for the better development of the C.P.I.
The increase in votes cast for the C.P.I, in the local assembly elections, both in Java and elsewhere, is living proof that the Indonesian people are not complying with the wishes of the imperialists led by the U.S.A., are not complying with the wishes of the Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders, are not complying with the wishes of the separatist rebels, Husein, Sjafruddin and their associates, are not comply-
mg with the wishes of Dr. Hatta or with those of the right nationalists. The Indonesian people are in line with the C.P.I., with the revolutionary nationalists, with the President Sukarno Concept, with the August 1945 Revolution, with democracy and with Indonesia's national interests. The Indonesian people are now shifting to the left, they are bringing themselves into line with developments throughout the whole world where a shift to the left is also taking place.
This is why the task of defending, consolidating and extending political freedom for the Indonesian people is a task which must be carried out by all persons who place the national interests above all, who serve the people and serve democracy. In the first place, the Indonesian proletariat must devote closest attention to the work of expanding democracy because, as Lenin has said, "with the aid of democracy, it has the whole world to gain".
The struggle to extend political freedom or to extend democracy means creating the conditions for correctly linking parliamentary activities with mass activities, for gradually achieving economic freedom. The struggle to extend political democracy means creating the conditions for democratising the entire life of the people, for peacefully implementing the President Sukarno Concept 100%, and then, for peacefully completing the demands of the August 1945 Revolution in their entirety. This is how it will be if it depends on the Communists.
Comrades !
The struggle for the incorporation of West Irian into the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia is a struggle which has the very broad support of the masses because it is a struggle to preserve and unify the state territory of the Republic of Indonesia. As long as West Irian, 20% of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, is in the hands of the Dutch colonialists, the security of the Republic will be under constant threat, the territory of the Republic will remain un-united, and there is not a single healthy-minded Indonesian who would be satisfied with such a state of affairs.
There are two trends among Indonesian people over the struggle for the incorporation of West Irian into the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia, the reactionary trend and the revolutionary trend.
The reactionaries, who are very few of number, hold the view that if the Indonesian people want to see West Irian become part of the Republic, then, since Indonesia lies in the "U.S. sphere of influence", Indonesia should first join the American block and then the Americans would of course take West Irian from the Dutch and hand it over to the Republic of Indonesia. This shows that these reactionaries would like to expand and strengthen colonialism in Indonesia not only in West Irian but throughout the entire Republic, not only colonisation of the Dutch imperialists but also of the joint colonisation of the American and Dutch imperialists. In view of its interests in Europe connected with NATO and various other military and political interests, America would hardly be likely to push the Dutch out of Indonesia however much the Masjumi leaders may implore them. Further, for any healthy-minded Indonesian, the question is not of replacing one colonialism by another but of eliminating colonialism altogether throughout the entire country.
There are other reactionaries who try to mislead the people by saying that the struggle for the liberation of West Irian is not important at the present time because West Irian only consists of jungles, marshes, and malaria swamps. What’s the use of having West Irian, they say, as in any case we would not be in position to bring prosperity to the people there since we ourselves are not yet living in prosperity. Later on, they say, when the people in the regions already under the Republic have been made prosperous, a struggle to liberate West Irian should be waged. Dr. Hatta is among those who popularise this sort of thinking. These persons are not only devoid of patriotic sentiments but more than that, they give the chance to the Dutch to strengthen themselves so as to be in a better position to attack the Republic of Indonesia. In other words, these reactionaries side not with the Indonesian people but with Dutch colonialism. They are traitors! If indeed West Irian were only jungles, marshes and malaria swamps, why, then, do the Dutch imperialists aided by the American imperialists, so strubbornly defend their colonisation of West Irian? Any school-child knows that West Irian is rich with minerals, that is important for the defence of the whole Republic, and … that there in West Irian live a section of the Indonesian people that are now oppressed by Dutch colonialism.
The revolutionaries, who are very many in number, consider that the path of UNO and other paths of negotiation need to be taken in order to win the greatest possible support and to build up the greatest possible force, at home and abroad, so that it may be eventually be possible to force the Dutch to bow to the just demands of the Indonesian people. The revolutionaries would not take the path of negotiation if this were to remove West Irian even farther from Indonesian sovereignty, or if it were to go on for years and weaken the national potential of the Republic. There must be limits to the path of negotiation. If we are not conscious of the limits, then the initiative will pass over to the hands of our opponents.
Among the revolutionaries, there are two groups, a consistent group and a wavering group. The consistent group wants radical measures to be taken against Dutch economic power in the territory of the Republic of Indonesia if the Dutch refuse to negotiate on the basis of the surrender of West Irian to the Republic. The waverers fear radical measures because they are afraid that together with this, there would be a radical upsurge among the masses of working people led by the proletariat.
Before the West Irian question was discussed in UNO last November, it had already been discussed there three times, and in 1954, the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government had sent a delegation under Foreign Minister Sunarjo to Holland, among other things, to obtain a peaceful solution to the question of West Irian. Every time Indonesian representatives departed for the U.N. and, too, when the Sunarjo mission left for Holland, the Indonesian people expressed their support both in Parliament and outside. But the U.N. negotiations always ended in disappointment for the people because every time the votes cast in favour of calling on the Dutch to negotiate with Indonesia were insufficient, and the question of what status should be given to West Irian as a result of negotiations was never discussed. The Sunarjo mission, too, accomplished nothing.
The failure to bring the Dutch to the negotiation table on the one hand has aroused the anger of the Indonesian people but on the other hand, it has strengthened the people's unity against Dutch colonialism. West Irian, which the Dutch imperialists kept in their hands for the purpose of weakening the forces of the Indonesian people, has gradually been transformed into something which unites the Indonesian people and strengthens this unity. In face of this fact, the agents of the Dutch colonialists andl the American imperialists at home have not remained inactive. Every time the West Irian question has been about to be brought up in the U.N. forum, events have taken place at home which have always been in the nature of a blow at the government that was raising West Irian in the U.N., such as for example, non-confidence motions, internal disorders, and the like.
Last November, the West Irian question was raised before U.N.O. for the fourth time. This time it was raised by the Djuanda Government. In contrast with earlier cases, the Government this time was ready with plans to take "another course" if discussions at the U.N. should fail again. The government's standpoint was in conformity with the revolutionary attitude of the Indonesian people. For the Indonesian people, the "other course" was nothing other than the people's course, the revolutionary course.
The revolutionary Indonesian people are realistic. The Dutch colonialists can only colonise West Irian as long as they can cover the expenses of their army there, and as long as they can pay for the armed gangs and other subversive movements. Holland can pay for its army in West Irian thanks to the profits it receives from its capital investments, and especially the big capital investments in Indonesia. In other words, up till now, the riches and the toil and sweat of the Indonesian people have been utilised to strengthen the position of the Dutch army in West Irian and to suppress the people's independence movement in West Irian, to pay the armed terrorists and the other subversive movements operating in the Republic of Indonesia, and all this, in preparation for launching an attack on Indonesia.
Thus, the concrete and effective step open to the people and Government of Indonesia if the Dutch do not want to negotiate for the handing over of West Irian to Indonesia is by taking radical measures against the economic power of the big Dutch capitalists in the various sectors of transport, mining, plantations, banking, import-export enterprises, factories and so on.
In the days prior to the U.N. discussions, on Youth Pledge Day which fell on October 28th, 1957, the Youth Military Co-operation Body began to intensify action for the liberation of West Irian. This was the starting-point of the upsurge in the struggle against Dutch colonialism which went much higher than at the times preceding the U.N. discussions about West Irian in the preceding years. The traitors and the reactionaries opposed this movement for the liberation of West Irian which grew in intensity from day to day. Such persons as Moh. Natsir, Chairman of the Masjumi, criticised youth actions of writing slogans on the walls of Dutch property as being 'immoral'. And yet they said nothing, still less did they talk about immorality, of the Dutch colonialists stranglehold on West Irian.
This action of slogan-writing was not an action of children, it played an extremely useful part in unifying outlook and activities among the workers, the youth and the army so as to prevent aiming against wrong targets during the more advanced actions that were to follow, such as the 24 hours strike in all Dutch enterprises that took place on December 2nd, and the taking over of Dutch enterprises that was begun on December 3rd with the taking over of the Dutch shipping enterprise, the K.P.M.
The reactionaries also tried to intimidate the people with warning about foreign intervention. They said that the Dutch, with the assistance of their American, British and other friends, would attack Indonesia if Dutch enterprises were taken over. These intimidations did not make the Indonesian people afraid but on the contrary heightened their determination and made them see more clearly who were the enemies of independence of their country that besides the Dutch imperialists, the American and British imperialists were also enemies of Indonesian independence.
After K.P.M. had been taken over, other actions followed taking over other Dutch enterprises; trading companies, factories, plantations, banks, transport enterprises etc.
In carrying out these take-overs, the Indonesian proletariat once again displayed its role as heroic vanguard in the national struggle for independence of the homeland and for the interests of the entire nation. The workers took over the imperialist enterprises not in their own personal interest but to hand them over to the Republic of Indonesia whose government was not yet a government of the working class. The Indonesian proletariat did all this at great risk, the risk of being killed, dismissed from work, tried in court, etc. In the national interests, the Indonesian proletariat did all this without regard for their own self-interests.
The reactionaries condemned the radical measures taken by the proletariat as "anarchism" because, they said, these actions would "paralyse Indonesia's economy". In a revolutionary situation, all this nonsense of course got them nowhere. In normal times too, such reactionary ideas would not find a market among the patriotic Indonesian people. Even a small child can see that if Dutch economic power is attacked by the Indonesian people, and if the blows are well-aimed, then it would be out of the question for Indonesia's economy to be ''paralysed". Persons who thus falsify the facts are persons whose outlook is that Indonesia's economy is a Dutch economy because Indonesia is Dutch property, and they are defenders of the Dutch. If this were not true, then why is it that when the Dutch are attacked, they are the ones that cry out with pain?
During the time the workers were busy putting their Dutch employers in there places, the middle-of-the-roaders, the wavering group in the revolutionary ranks, began to reveal a fear of the upsurge of the workers' revolutionary movement which, thev said, could lead to "undesirable things happening", and this revealed their individualistic nature, of wanting to make profit, to their own advantage, out of the sweat and toil of the struggle of the workers and the entire people, as indeed is their habit. The fear and individualism of the middle-of-the-roaders became a means for the reactionaries of pushing them over to the right and getting them to adopt a hostile attitude towards the revolutionary actions being taken by the workers.
The waverers in the revolutionary ranks, the middle-of-the-roaders, were placed in the difficult position of having to face the masses of the workers and the people who were taking revolutionary action. To have let this situation continue as it was, was impossible because this would have meant letting the progressive forces grow unhampered. To openly condemn the action taken by the workers and the people would have placed them in a position no different from the reactionaries and this would have meant their own masses leaving them. This is why the only alternative open to them was to restrain as far as possible the radical actions of the workers so as to prevent the prestige of the workers from rising too high, and to prevent "too much" workers interference in the enterprises which had been taken over. "Too much'" workers interference in the enterprises taken over, as for example the creation of democratic Workers' Councils, would mean reducing the role of the bureaucratic apparatus and would hamper its power to impose leadership over these enterprises from above.
Besides that, the waverers in the revolutionary ranks began to picture these taken-over enterprises as their own personal property. This is why in actual fact they detest the slogan "property of the Republic" which filled the air at the time the takeover actions were in progress. For the workers, this slogan meant that property was not longer the property of the Dutch, and it is the transfer of property rights that is the important thing. But for the individualistic middle-of-the-roaders, the slogan "property of the Republic" means not their own personal property, and this means that it is not to their advantage. As is to he expected, the middle-of-the-roaders' policy of restraining the radical steps taken by the workers was welcomed by the reactionaries and they tried to push them into following a policy of hostility to the interests of the workers.
In a situation of bitter conflict with Dutch colonialism, the waverers were not able to make contact with the Dutch employers as part of their efforts to restrain the radical actions being taken by the workers and to gain personal advantage for themselves. The only thing that they could do was to utilise the government they dominated, and after everything had fallen into the hands of this government, the whole thing would be much simpler for them.
Thus, the official taking over of the Dutch enterprises by the government involved two sides. In the first place, the waverers hoped by this means to restrain the measures taken by the workers to prevent the workers from exerting "too much" interference in the enterprises so that, later on, there might still be hope of utilising government control to carry out a switch over to private hands. In their struggle to get hold of these enterprises, the middle-of-the-roaders do not strengthen the State sector but place their own personal interests above all else, and it is here that the interests of the middle-of-the-roaders meet with the interests of the reactionaries, and this meeting of interests can be turned into the basis for a joint reactionary policy. The other side, the good one, of the official government take-over lies in the fact that it legalises the radical steps taken by the workers, and for this reason, the Government action must be welcomed. This is a patriotic action even though behind it there lies the intention of restricting the advanced actions of the workers. This is why, too, we welcomed the instructions issued by the Army Chief-of-Staff, Major-General A.H. Nasution. On December 13th, 1957 that all Military Administrators throughout the country should take over and exercise full direct supervision over the Dutch enterprises in the name of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.
The progressive policy of the Government in taking over the big Dutch capitalist enterprises has not been fully carried out by officials in some regions with the result that in these regions, the Dutch enterprises have not yet been taken over. Such attitude on the part of some civil and military officials is sabotage of the Government's policy and of the Army Chief-of-Staff's instructions.
The above analysis makes it clear that it is natural for a conflict to arise between the genuine revolutionaries and the waverers and individualists. The genuine revolutionaries demand that the enterprises that have been taken over should continue to be the property of the Republic, and that in them, the workers should participate in control and leadership so that production proceeds smoothly, is used for the general interest and is regulated by the Government. On the other hand, the waverers and individualists in the revolutionary ranks strive to have these enterprises they yearn for so much fall into their own hands, with the workers in the position they formerly held before the take-over; the only thing to have undergone change would be the employers, formerly Dutch capitalists, but then the Indonesian bourgeoisie.
In brief, the bourgeoisie has already striven and will continue to strive to restrict the progressive actions of the workers but it depends on the workers as to whether they will succeed or not. The workers have never and will never rely upon the bourgeoisie. Whether the bourgeoisie create obstructions or not, the workers under the leadership of their Party will continue the struggle to break down all obstructions to their actions which serve the whole nation.
On December 3rd, 1957, the Political Bureau of the C.P.I. Central Committee issued a statement the main point of which was to welcome the heroic action taken by the workers and the correct attitude of the government in taking over Dutch enterprises within the framework of the struggle for the liberation of West Irian. This statement explained that we would definitely achieve victory against the Dutch and their associates if the Indonesian people were more united, more vigilant and more disciplined.
What must now be done with the Dutch enterprises that have been taken over? In the view of the revolutionaries, there are two possibilities now open to the Dutch imperialists: these enterprises will be nationalised if the Dutch are prepared to negotiate and agree to the handing over of West Irian to the Republic, but they will be confiscated if, on the other hand, the Dutch stubbornly refuse to negotiate for the return of West Irian.
This means that whatever may happen, whether or not the Dutch want to negotiate, the Dutch imperialists will never again have a privileged position in our economy as was the case formerly.
The C.P.I.'s view that the privileged position of Dutch capital has now come to an end for ever conforms with the standpoint of the Government as expressed by Prime Minister Djuanda when he replied, at the end of December last, to an article written by Dr. Hatta which criticised the Government for taking over the Dutch enterprises. The Indonesian people only had to take one blow at Dutch economic power in an effort to weaken the military and political position of the Dutch and the consequence is that Dutch privileges in Indonesia's economy have been put to end for ever.
The attitude of the reactionaries towards the stand adopted by the revolutionaries is clear; they describe it as "a sin'' for, in their view, "to grab the property of others" is '"prohibited by law". Some middle-of-the-roaders also feel that these enterprises should be returned to the Dutch if the Dutch are prepared to negotiate, even if this is a preparedness to negotiate not on the basis of the restoration of West Irian to Indonesia. Such ideas weaken the position of the Republic of Indonesia.
The actions taken by the workers and people of Indonesia and the stand adopted by the Government of Indonesia are very just indeed, are in complete conformity with the aspirations of the Indonesian people to free themselves from foreign economic domination and to build up a national economy of their own and are in conformity too, with the tactics of weakening the economic and military potential of the Dutch so as to force them to hand West Irian over to the Republic of Indonesia. This is in complete accord with the programme of the Djuanda Cabinet, especially as regards, continuing with the implementation of the Round Table Conference abrogation and continuing with the struggle to seize West Irian.
The action of the Government in taking over the big Dutch capitalist enterprises has the full support of the broad masses of the peasants. Control by the Government of the Dutch estates and agricultural enterprises gives the Government the chance to implement plans for an increase in the production of export products as a source of foreign exchange earnings and to do this bv drawing exports in together with the workers and the peasants, in keeping with the decisions adopted at the N.C.C.C. In addition, greater possibilities are now open to the Government to meet the demands of the peasants, such as, for example, legalising former Dutch estate lands for many years cultivated by the peasants, as the property of the peasants, distributing uncultivated estate lands and lands no longer needed for the operation of modern estates to the peasants, for negotiating on the basis of mutual advantage with the peasants on the amount of rent to be charged by them for lands leased for the cultivation of sugar-cane and so on. The fulfilment of these peasants' demands will bring improvements in living conditions of the poor and landless peasants and will be an important step forward within the framework of the government's programme to expand the production of food.
What is the significance of the take-over of Dutch imperialist enterprises by the workers and of its subsequent legalisation by the Government? The New Year's Message of the Political Bureau of the C.C. has this to say on this point:
"Firstly, that the workers and the people of Indonesia rediscovered the strength which they possessed during the August 1945 Revolution. The workers and people of Indonesia have also come to know the boundless strength of the peoples of the whole world, including the people of Holland itself, and especially of the peoples of Asia and Africa, and the peoples of the Socialist camp who solidly support the Indonesian people. If the Dutch were to dare to launch an attack with their military forces, these people would come to the fore to carry out actions to bring victory for the Indonesian people and defeat the Dutch colonialists.
Secondly, that the Indonesian people have come to know that the strength of their enemy is limited. This has made the Indonesian people more convinced that the forces of the Dutch imperialists and their associates are not invincible."
The important measures the C.P.I, called upon the
Government to take as regards the Dutch enterprises that have already been taken over are: (1) to keep production running and stamp out all forms of sabotage from wherever they may come; (2) to overcome the difficulties in imports and exports, foreign trade with all countries must be expanded, regardless of difference in political and economic system, and free of all political and military strings; (3) the Government must be really vigilant of manipulations in the distribution of goods, particularly rice, which can be utilised by the imperialists and their domestic agents to force the Government to resign and to defeat the West Irian struggle and the struggle to rid the country of Dutch economic power.
It would in the view of our Party be very wise, in the interests of preventing sabotage and increasing production and raising the quality of production, if the Government were to stand firmly by the principle of drawing the workers into the managing councils and supervisory councils of enterprises and in all productive activity. It would be even better if, for this purpose, the Government would also agree to the creation of Workers' Councils in every enterprise and to meet the social and economic demands of the workers more fully than was the case before the take-over of the Dutch enterprises. Implementation of these principles will be the main guarantee for the safety and improvement of national production that we hope for.
The action of the workers in taking over the big Dutch enterprises has not only raised the prestige of the workers as a class in the eyes of the Indonesian nation but it has also taken the national struggle of the Indonesian people another stage higher. As regards this latter point, the New Year's Message of the Political Bureau of the C.C. had the following to say:
"This stage of the struggle against colonialism in which the Indonesian people have re-discovered their own strength, in which, they have come to know the limitations of the strength of Dutch colonialism and its associates, and in which the target of the struggle directly concerns Dutch imperialist economic interests, reveals that there has been an important heightening of the consciousness of the Indonesian people and all this means that the Indonesian people have entered a new phase in the struggle against colonialism. This phase is extremely important in the struggle of the Indonesian people to complete the realisation of the demands of the August 1945 Revolution."
The take-over of big Dutch capitalist enterprises which were handed over to the Republic of Indonesia was an extremely important step in the struggle of the Indonesian working class to seize into their hands the role of vanguard in the national struggle at the present stage.
In the course of continuing with the attacks aimed against the economic position of the Dutch within the framework of the struggle for the liberation of West Irian, and of continuing with the implementation of the R.T.C. abrogation, some people are worried by the question: is there a possibility of the Dutch launching a military attack? Nobody would be able to answer that there is "no possibility", for what would be the point of the Dutch stationing their army in West Irian, what would be the point of the warships and guns that the Dutch send to West Irian, what would be the point of the Dutch submarines roaming about in Indonesian territorial waters, what would be the point of the British Government allowing Singapore to be used by Dutch warships as a base, and what would be the point of the counter-revolutionary rebellion being carried out by Indonesians who clearly do not agree with the government's policy of liquidating Dutch economic power within the framework of the West Irian struggle ?
This means that there is indeed a possibility that the Dutch will launch a military attack and this is why the co-operation between the people and the Army must be constantly strengthened and national vigilance continuously raised. But the possibility of such an attack is not great so long as the domestic situation is basically controlled by the Central Government. This is why in order to have a pretext for an armed attack, the imperialists will constantly intensify their subversive activities by means of bringing to life and strengthening separatist movements, carrying out sabotage in economic affairs, organising terrorist gangs, and so on.
In the struggle to incorporate West Irian into the territory of the Republic, the Co-operations Bodies set up between the various sections of the people and the Army, and the National Front for the Liberation of West Irian play a very important role. The Army Chief-of-Staff, Major General A.H. Nasution, was very right when he said, at the time of swearing this National Front into office, that the task of the Front is to rid Indonesia of the Dutch colonialists and their agents, whether active in the form of economic cliques or in the form of terrorist gangs. He went on to say that the main task of the Front is to crush the activities of the enemy wherever they may be hiding out among groups of our own people, to stamp out the subversive movement, to completely smash the terrorist gangs and to defend and strengthen the Proclamation State in its unitary form.
This makes it clear that at the present stage, the struggle for the incorporation of West Irian into the Republic of Indonesia means a struggle to liquidate the economic power of the big Dutch capitalists, to exterminate the subversive movement and to be on the alert against even possibility of a Dutch military attack. The main condition for the success of this struggle is broad and strong national unity and close co-operation between the dwitunggal, the people and the Army. The militancy and the spirit to resist of the people must be constantly raised and this will be achieved rapidly if the people are guaranteed the broadest possible democratic freedom.
Comrades!
At the meeting of the Political Bureau of the C.C. expanded to include members of the C.C. resident in Jakarta, which was held at the end of last year, it was stated in the analysis of the situation at that time that the Indonesian people have now reached a new stage in the struggle against colonialism.
The situation in our country since the failure of the "Tjikini terror" and since the Indonesian people have taken the revolutionary course in the struggle for the liberation of West Irian is that the reactionaries are incapable of seizing central power not only by parliamentary means but also by extra-parliamentary means. It can now be ascertained, too, that their attempts to gain power by means of proclaiming the so-called "RGRI" and dragging foreign powers illegally into the territory of the Republic, will definitely meet with failure. This means that the diehards are in a more isolated position.
In order to lead developments in a way even more favourable to the Indonesian people, the most important activity of the Party continues to be to arouse, organise and mobilise the masses as the condition for a strong united national front. This means that we must not for a moment stop improving the Party's work among the ranks of the workers, the peasants, the youth and students, the women, the intellectuals, the veterans, the urban poor and the fishermen. United front activities which do not incorporate the activities of these masses the more so if not combined with the work to establish the united front of workers and peasants are not real united front activities.
But, comrades, a broad mass movement will not be durable, it will not aim at the correct targets, and it will be impossible to raise this mass movement to higher stages if it does not have a backbone, if it does not have absolutely unified, militant and disciplined leadership. It is our task to create such a leadership for the mass movement.
In brief, we must bring our Party into line with the new phase in the struggle against colonialism, with the fast developing revolutionary situation. And principally, we must bring the Leading Bodies of the Party into line with the new situation as the starting-point to bringing the entire Party into line. We must do this if we want to make our Party capable of leading the situation further forward, if we do not want to trail behind developments.
The essence of bringing our Party into line with the fast-developing revolutionary situation is strengthening our Party's ties with the masses. Close ties between the Party and the masses, the ability of the Party to solve all questions faced by the masses, are the conditions for us to surmount all problems.
The purpose of bringing the Party into line with the 'development of the situation is to make sure that there is no mass problem which the Party cannot answer or solve. Therefore, the work of bringing the Party into line is certainly not confined to the Leading Bodies alone, but our entire Party, yes, the entire revolutionary organisation must be brought into line. But it is the Leading Bodies and the top cadres of our Party which must be brought into line in the first place. This will give the example to our entire Party life, and this is the condition for the entire Party and the entire revolutionary organisation of the people to bring itself into line with the fast-developing revolutionary situation.
Bringing the Leading Bodies into line with the new situation must be carried out from the Central Committee down to the lowest committees. We must constantly be asking and giving an honest reply to the question, are our Committees capable of leading the development of the situation? Yes, we must each ask and reply the question, have we each of us brought ourselves into line with the new situation, are we each of us 'doing our very best as Committee members, as members of Departments, as Bureau members, as Section members, as members of the Party fractions in-Parliament and in the Constituent Assembly, as members of the editorial staff of Party dailies and magazines, as members of Party fractions in the mass organisations? Or are there still shortcomings and weaknesses that we must surmount and correct? How about our political and organisational work, and how about our theoretical study and raising our ideology? Have we really thoroughly solved the economic and social difficulties the masses are suffering at the present, and especially the difficulties being suffered by the masses of the workers, the peasants and the urban poor? How far have we strengthened national unity, continually basing this on the alliance of the workers and peasants? Have we each of us done everything which the Constitution of our Party obliges us to do? Have we each of us done everything the Party's Three-Year Plan demands of us? Have we fulfilled all the day-to-day tasks entrusted to us by the Party?
We shall begin with an examination of the leadership of our Central Committee. Between Congresses our Party is led by the C.C. Now that our Party has become a big Party and its activities have become very numerous, it is very strongly felt that the number of C.C. members is too small. But we can only make a change in the number of C.C. members at the forthcoming National Congress of the Party.
According to the Party Constitution, between meetings of the C.C., the Political Bureau is the Leading Body of the Party and leads all Party activities, while the C.C. Secretariat carries out the day-to-day routine work of the C.C. This is correct in a situation where Party work is not very great and where the situation is not developing rapidly. But when Party activities are very numerous and the situation is developing very rapidly, while the Political Bureau cannot hold meetings very frequently, it often happens that the C.C. Secretariat not only carries out the routine work of the Central Committee but is also forced to take over the role of Leading Central Body of the Party. The result is that when the daily work proceeds well, the work of leadership falls behind or conversely, when the work of leadership is going well, the daily routine work falls behind. The conclusion is that both these types of work, the work of leadership and the daily routine work are not being performed as they should be. This means that if there is not an early improvement, the central leadership of the Party will not be able to answer the problems of the masses which are increasing in number and complexity.
In order to overcome this weakness in the central leadership, it is necessary for the present Plenum of the C.C. to consider electing an Executive Committee of the Political Bureau, a body which would carry out leadership during the times between Political Bureau meetings along the lines already laid down by the C.C. and the Political Bureau. This will mean that the C.C. Secretariat, in conformity with the Party Constitution, will really be confining itself to the daily routine work of the C.C., assisted by the Departments, Bureaus, Secretariat Staff, and other assisting bodies required. The Executive Committee of the Political Bureau will be chaired by the chairman of the Political Bureau, the General Secretary of the C.C. The C.C. Secretariat will be headed by a Chief with one or two deputies. Apart from this, as a step to improve work of leadership, the C.C., the Major District Committees (MDC) must consider the possibility of reducing the number of functions held by the C.C. members, the members of the Executive Committees of the MDC's and other Party cadres who have much too much work to do. Reducing the number of functions held by one person, will mean, too, that promotion of cadres will have to be carried out as part of an integrated plan. It is of course impossible not to have to undertake more than one function at once, and anyhow this would not be good' for the development of the cadres themselves. In order to make correct promotions, the Committees in question must know the cadres under its leadership thoroughly.
The question of promotion will certainly raise financial problems for the Committees in question. If the Party organisation Is not running well and the Party's policy is not penetrating deeply among the masses as it should be, then the financial problem will remain unsolved, even if there are no cadre promotions. The financial problems which do indeed arise in connection with cadre promotion cannot be solved unless considered from the political and organisational angles. If things are not running well and; as a result cadre promotions are not made while the financial problem is not solved from the political and organisational angle, then the consequence will be that the Committee does not make progress but gets worse because the monev to cover the living expenses of cadres who work full time for the Party cannot be expected to fall from the sky.
The attitude of some M.D.C.'s which are afraid to promote cadres in the present situation is very harmful. This can lead to dissatisfaction among cadres with the result that the M.D.C. will become more and more incapable of carrying out its work. The result of this will be that the M.D.C.'s will be unable to answer all the problems of the masses. In our Party today there are many young cadres who have little experience but who are generally tremendously loyal to the Party and the working people, who work extremely hard and' selflessly. With good leadership from the Committees, promotion of these cadres will do nothing but good, will be advantageous to the Party and the mass movement.
Another question is that of making the contact between the Central Committee and the committees immediately beneath it closer. To this end, the Political Bureau has decided, on the suggestion of the Organisational Department, to set up Island Bureaus as bodies to assist the C.C. Secretariat, and Island Committees have been set up which are no longer linked with an M.D.C. but are directly linked with the C.C. through the Island Bureau. Now that these Island Bureaus have been set up and Island Committees have been set up which are directly under the C.C., the M.D.C's and the Island Committees concerned can feel the C.C. leadership more concretely.
But the establishment of Island Bureaus and Island Committees is not the only thing necessary to strengthen the contact between the C.C. and the committees beneath it. Such things as sending out representatives of the C.C. from time to time or putting C.C. workers to work directly helping the committees immediately below the C.C., and calling representatives of the lower committees to make reports about the situation and the Party work in the region in question to the C.C. are badly needled if the contact between the C.C. and the committees immediately below it are to be strengthened. It must become a habit, when cadres are sent to report from lower committees to higher committees both at the C.C. level or lower, for them to be heard collectively and not by one person.
The contact "from above down and from below up" must be carried out with the emphasis on the contact "from above down". "From above down" does not mean just making inspections or having occasional contact at times when representatives of higher committees address public meetings, but must mean drawing the representatives of the higher committees for some period of time into the work of finding solutions to problems being faced by the committees in question; it must mean paying close heed to the criticisms made from below and carefully sifting the criticisms and considering which are correct and which are not, so that necessary improvement can be made. All this will avoid a situation where the C.C. idealises the committees directly beneath it, believing that everything is running in accordance with the instructions sent out by the C.C., believing that the internal situation in the committee is compact and it is capable of taking action outwardly to carry out the Party's policy whereas in fact, reality is far removed.
By giving such necessary direct help, the leadership of the C.C. will be more closely and more concretely felt by the lower committees.
Even more important is the question of close contact between the M.D.C.'s and the Island Committees with the Section Committees and the Sub-section Committees and through them with the Branch Committees.
It is very vital to an even development of the Party, as the condition for making the strength and the militancy of the Party even throughout, to place M.D.C. and Island Committee cadres to work in the lower committees, especially in the lower committees which are weak Particular attention must be paid to the work of helping Party groups and branches so as to ensure that gradually the basic organisations of the Party can take an active part in local mass activities and can, further, take the initiative to mobilise the masses within its scope. It is very necessary to make the Party's general election programme a real programme of daily activities of the people and it must not be something which is just put forward during an election campaign.
If the contacts between the upper committees and the lower committees are close, there will be a much better guarantee of unity of thought and unity of action in our Party, there will be a much better guarantee of discipline in the Party, there will be a much better guarantee for the leadership and the daily activities of the Party.
Another important thing in connection with the need to bring ourselves into line with the fast-developing revolutionary situation is the question of normalising the living and working conditions in the Committees, Departments, Bureaus, Sections, Secretariat Staff and other organisations of the Party. What is meant here particularly is that periodic meetings should run well, that there should be a more rational division of work, that the implementation of decisions should be controlled, conclusions drawn from experiences and that good experiences should quickly be developed.
By doing all this, we shall be strengthening the Leading Bodies of the Party, both the Central Leadership and leadership at the lower levels. This will mean our bringing ourselves into line with the new phase in the struggle against colonialism, with the fast-developing revolutionary situation. This will mean our providing the strong backbone for the broad mass movement which is now developing. We shall in this way be able to put into practice more correct methods of leadership, namely welding the calls of the Party with the concrete demands, and welding the leadership with the masses.
We must be thoroughly convinced that unless we strengthen the Party's leading bodies, we shall not be bringing ourselves into line with the development of the situation, the mass movement will be growing without a backbone and this would mean that the mass movement which is now developing would not be durable in character, it would not be able to aim straight at its target and it would not be able to be raised to a higher level.
We must make our Party and our mass movement into a single, mighty whole, firmly established and forward-looking because it has a strong backbone. In order to accomplish this, we must strengthen the entire leadership of our Party and strengthen the entire body of our Party.
Comrades!
The implementation of the Party's First Three-Year Plan of Organisation and Education has now been going on for nearly two years. Thus, one year still remains to carry this plan out.
In the main, during the past two years, the plan has been proceeding according to schedule. With the exception of a few places, the entire Party is now busy with the implementation of this Plan. Never in the past has our Party worked with such high and evenly spread out enthusiasm as is now the case with the implementation of the Three-Year Plan.
Especially as regards the plan for education, a tremendous wave of enthusiasm and joy has taken place in the Party. The educational section of the Three-Year Plan is like a transfusion of fresh blood into the body of our Party, it is like a transfusion of fresh blood for Party cadres and members who actively participate in the life of the Party.
In connection with the education plan, seminars on various problems at the C.C. level and in some M.D.C.'s, planned for the second year of the plan, are now in progress. It is necessary to stress the importance of seminars on economic questions in view of the many economic problems that now cry for solution. Theoretical conferences, movements to study classical books, anti-illiteracy campaigns, education for progressive persons outside the Party and the publication of Party journals by the M.D.C.'s are not yet progressing well. Revolutionary novels are being read rather widely but the problem here is the lack of books.
What are the weaknesses in the implementation of the Three-Year Plan?
As regards the central leadership, they are that when drawing up the First Three-Year Plan, we did not set up a Three-Year-Plan Bureau charged with giving central leadership to the implementation of this Plan. In practice, the leadership is being given by the Organisational Department (the Section on issuing directives). Of course, it cannot run well like this. In the first place because the Plan not only concerns organisational affairs, but also involves other things educational matters in the first place. In the second place because the Organisational Department has enough routine work as it is with the result that it cannot devote most of its attention to the implementation of the Plan, for instance exercise control to make sure that periodic reports are submitted to the C.C. about the implementation of the Plan, read all the reports, analyse them and, with the agreement of the Political Bureau, issue directives to committees that need them, or to all the committees under the leadership of the C.C., so as to ensure that the Plan proceeds better. In view of all this, it is necessary for this present session of the C.C. to consider the formation of a Three-Year-Plan Bureau to ensure that the implementation of the Plan proceeds better in the future.
There are several other important weaknesses in the implementation of the Plan which it is necessary to raise here.
Firstly, not all committees under the leadership of the C.C. are submitting periodical reports of the implementation of the Plan in their regions. In general, the C.C. gets a rather complete picture of the implementation of the Plan from the report of the Secretariat of the M.D.C.'s at the M.D.C. plenary meetings or conferences, or from oral reports made in reply to questions raised by members of the C.C. to leading members of the M.D.C.'s.
Secondly, there still are Party committees and cadres who look upon the Three-Year Plan in organisational matters as being simply a question of registering and reorganising members in groups, and consider the educational aspects as being simply the organisation of Party schools and courses. The raising of members from candidate status to full member status is still being neglected very much and so is the question of working out in detail the work which has to be carried out by fractions in the mass organisations within the framework of the Three-Year Plan. Other things being neglected are planned expansion of membership in those regions where such expansion is necessary; it is still so that targets for expansion of membership in accordance with the target fixed for the entire country' by the end of the Plan have not been established. The result of this failure to expand membership in those regions where it is necessary is that the recent local election results show that the number of voters for the C.P.I, was not in keeping with the number of Party members. There are districts where there are 4,000 Party members and 120,000 C.P.I. voters. This low number of members means that there is no guarantee for the stability of the Party voters.
As regards the future implementation of the educational section of the Plan, attention must be paid, besides continuing with schools and courses, to a more evenly-spread out implementation of seminars, anti-illiteracy campaigns, theoretical conferences, campaigns to study classical books, education for progressive persons outside the Party, and publication of Party journals by the M.D.C.'s. The publication of revolutionary novels should be multiplied. Further as regards education, special attention must be paid to education for Party members who sit in the Legislative Assemblies at the centre and in the regions, and for those who are members of local Executive Councils and who are Heads-of-Districts. They must become real examples of revolutionary fighters, if their work in the local government is not to disappoint the mass of members and' voters. They must have continuous special theoretical and ideological education from the Party. The sphere in which they work makes it necessary for the Party to pay special attention to their political and ideological education.
Thirdly, that our Plan also concerns financial affair, namely the collection of funds from productive activities and from donations. In general, members are ready to pay their fees but there are still many committees that "don't want" to collect fees because they cannot be bothered about the collection of small amounts of monev. Apart from this, there still are committees that fail to send in the portion fixed to the upper committee, although certainly, they have numerous reasons for not doing so.
Fourthly, apart from what has been stated above, our Plan also involves such questions as the expansion of Subsection committees and branches, the convening of conferences, Party offices, the question of full-timers, the inventory of the things in the possession of the Committees, and so on.
In view of the fact that there are still parts of the Plan that are not proceeding as they should, it is the duty of all committees to make a review of that part of the Plan for which they are responsible which has not yet been implemented or which, has not been implemented properly, so as to ensure that within the time still remaining, the weaknesses that still exist in the implementation of the Plan can be eliminated. Don't waste the time that still remains to us to fulfil successfully the Party's First Three-Year Plan.
Comrades !
Within the framework of carrying out our Three-Year Plain, let us charge ourselves and call upon the entire membership of the Party to greet the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Indonesia which falls on August 17th this year by carrying out the task of completing in Java the plan for all branches to hold Political Schools for new Party members and candidate members. For parts outside Java, let January 1st, 1959, be the target for all branches to have completed the convening of Political Schools. For this purpose, the C.C. will in the very near future publish a text-book for study at the Political Schools.
Let us make the final year of the First Three-Year Plan a year of consolidation of groups, branches and all Party committees. Speedily bring a balance between the number of Party members and number of Party voters. Expand the mass organisations, especially the organisations of the workers, the peasants, the youth and the women as the most important prerequisite for expanding Party membership.
Greet the forthcoming VIth National Party Congress by multiplying the membership of the Party according to plan, by consolidating the organisations of the Party, and by greater activities in the sphere of cultural works.
After meeting from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, in Jakarta, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indonesia decided to approve the General Report of the General Secretary of the C.C. of the C.P.I., D.N. Aidit, entitled: "The New Phase and Bringing the Organisation into Line with the Situation", it expressed its agreement with the "Declaration of the 12 Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist Countries" and the "Peace Manifesto of 64 Communist and Workers' Parties of the World" it greeted the holding of the second general elections for Parliament, it expressed its gratitude to fraternal Parties, demanded the dissolution of SEATO, condemned the criminal Kuomintang plotters, demanded a reduction in the price of rice, greeted the unilateral decision of the Government of the Soviet Union to stop tests of atom and hydrogen weapons, and greeted the creative activities of the artists.
Apart from this and in view of the expansion of the tasks of the Party and in order to bring the Leading Bodies of the Party into line with the rapid development of the situation, the VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, decided:
1. To appoint all candidate members of the C.C. of the C.P.I, as members of the C.C. of the C.P.I., namely Comrades S. Utarjo, Tjugito, Anwar Sanusi, Anwar Kadir and Ruslan Kamaludin.
2. To increase the membership of the Political Bureau of the C.C. of the C.P.I, by appointing a candate member of the Political Bureau, namely Comrade Jusuf Adjitorop.
3. To elect an Executive Committee of the Political Bureau of the C.C. of the C.P.I, to be composed of comrades D.N. Aidit, M.H. Lukman, Njoto, and Sudisman.
4. To elect a Secretariat of the C.C. of the C.P.I. to be composed of Comrades Sudisman, Jusu Adjitorop, Peris Pardede, Siswojo, Anwar Sanusi, Anwar Kadir and Djoko Sujono
The Plenum of the VIth C.C. of the C.P.I, also decided to convey all these decisions to the President, to the Government and to the Central Military Authority. For this purpose a delegation was formed consisting of Comrades D.N. Aidit, M.H. Lukman, and Njoto.
The Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indonesia held in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, after having heard and thoroughly discussed the General Report of the Political Bureau presented by Comrade D.N. Aidit, "The New Phase and Bringing the Organisation into Line with the Situation", decided to support and approve this General Report which gives the correct answer to the political and organisational problems that have arisen during the time that has elapsed since the Fifth Plenum up to the present session, and which gives the direction and line for the coming period.
The Plenum agrees with the General Report that the present situation is critical and decisive in character: shall the counter-revolutionary rebels be crushed within a short period of time meaning that the reactionaries and imperialists will be deprived of one of their important bases, and for the Indonesian people meaning that better conditions will have been created: for the 100% realisation of the President Sukarno Concept and for the completion of the demands of the August Revolution in their entirety: or, on the contrary, will the Republic be plagued with a disease which it will be difficult and will take a long time to heal ?
In view of this, the Plenum adopts this Resolution which must be directive for each member, activist and cadre of the Party during the time between this Sixth Plenum up till the next Plenum, and for this purpose the Plenum instructs all Committees and cadres at all levels to study Comrade Aidit's General Report seriously. Unless this General Report is thoroughly understood, our daily activities will not be good. And conversely, with a proper understanding of this General Report, our daily activities will be good.
It is indeed true that on the international arena, there has been a continuation of the two processes proceeding in different directions, the constant consolidation and expansion of the camp of Socialism, independence and peace, and on the other hand, the further splitting and disintegration of the camp of capitalism, imperialism and war.
Under the power of the working people, the former camp is unceasingly easing world tensions and defending the independence and peace of the nations.
On the other hand, under the power of the imperialists, the latter camp is continuously making the world situation more tense, is undermining the independence and peace of the nations.
Failing to learn from the destruction of Hitler-Mussolini-Tojo fascism, the American monopolists, by means of the Dulles-Eisenhower policy, are plundering the colonised countries, are undermining the independence of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, are placing rocket and nuclear bases in all parts, are forcing their imperialist dictatorship on the countries of Western Europe and other capitalist countries, and are also damaging the living conditions of the American people themselves, and on the strength of the pretext of 'anti-Communism'.
But since they are in conflict with the laws of the development of history, all these steps db not help American imperialism but are on the contrary, plunging it into violent disaster — the appearance of the present recession which will in its turn hit the entire capitalist camp outside the United States.
The Plenum agrees with Comrade Aidit's General Report that the alliances of the imperialists only appear to be strong but in actual fact are weak and unstable. The evidence of this is the existence and intensification of resistance in Europe, besides the resistance in Asia-Africa and in Latin America, against the U.S. dictatorship
The Plenum supports the conclusion drawn in the General Report that the American recession endangers world peace but that on the other hand, this recession will objectively increase the economic relations between East and West and this is why the Sixth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, calls upon the Djuanda Government to take action to save Indonesia from the consequences of the American recession by expanding trade relations and economic co-operation with the Socialist world market and by accepting the offers of economic and technical assistance from the Socialist countries in harmony with our national interests. It is further necessary to prevent Indonesia, which has just emerged from the tiger's mouth of Dutch economic domination, from falling into the lion's mouth or the crocodile's mouth of American, West German, Japanese or British economic domination.
With proletarian pride, the Plenum greets the launching of the Soviet earth satellite sputniks — the first in the millions of years of the history of mankind — as a brilliant victory of the Socialist system, the creative power of the Soviet scientists and workers and of Marxism-Leninism in action. This event has deeply shaken the confidence that still exists in capitalism and has greatly expanded and strengthened the confidence in Socialism. This event has also further altered the balance of forces between the camp of Socialism and the camp of imperialists, and in military affairs as well.
The Plenum also proudly records the fact that the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution became an international demonstration of the greatness of the ideas of peace and Socialism, and that the Indonesian proletariat and working people took fitting part in this international festival, a festival full of significance and full of lessons.
The Plenum enthusiastically welcomes the holding of the meetings in Moscow between the 12 Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist countries and the 64 Communist and Workers' Parties of the World, which gave birth respectively to the Declaration and the Peace Manifesto. These historic documents are a great ideological and political victory for the Communist and working class movement of the world. They formulate the basic tasks of the Communists in the sacred struggle, and guarantees that things will proceed better in the future. The Plenum resolved to deepen the spirit of proletarian internationalism of the Indonesian working class and working people side by side with the strengthening of the spirit of patriotism.
The international sympathy shown for the proposal made by the U.S.S.R. for the convening of a Summit Conference proves yet again how reasonable and just is the Soviet Union's foreign policy. By supporting the Summit Conference, as stated in the Joint Statement made with the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, W. Siroky, the Djuanda Government has stated its viewpoint and given expression to the sentiments of the Indonesian people. As was the case formerly, when mass actions throughout the world forced the imperialists to agree to the Soviet proposal for a Summit Conference of the Big Five, so now too mass actions must be carried out throughout the world to guarantee that a Summit Conference is held. The Indonesian people must not lag behind in these actions. This is a very important step towards stopping the manufacturing and testing of atom and nuclear bombs, towards disarmament, towards the creation of an atom-free zone in Asia and in Europe, towards the dissolution of SEATO-NATO and all other military pacts, towards the conclusion of non-discriminative collective security pacts in the spirit of the Bandung and Cairo Conference.
Recent events in Indonesia prove the truth of what is stated in the Moscow Declaration, that SEATO is "a source of war danger in South East Asia". Crude and open intervention in the internal affairs of Indonesia, by the holding of a SEATO Council meeting the main point of discussion of which was the Indonesian question, by declaring that the Indonesian Government should be replaced, by carrying out naval manoeuvres in waters close to the place where the "RGRI" ("Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia") rebellion is taking place, and by giving these rebels arms including heavy and medium weapons — all these facts not only point to the aggressiveness of SEATO, but also point to its danger if it is not resisted and if its immediate dissolution is not demanded.
The General Report is very correct when it states that it is no easy task to subjugate the Indonesian people, that every intervention and what is more every act of aggression will meet with the appropriate resistance of the people, that the Indonesian people do not now stand alone and that the strength of the imperialists is very limited.
It also correctly states that Dutch imperialism is in a difficult and weak position, that it is very dangerous to underestimate the strength and ability of the Indonesian people and to overestimate the strength of the enemy. The Plenum warns that the U.S.A. will lose everything it has in Indonesia if it goes on carrying out armed subversive activities, and even more certainly, if it helps the Dutch to launch aggression.
The Plenum welcomes the attitude of the Djuanda Government which is displaying seriousness in resisting imperialist intervention and subversion. The Plenum makes the question of fully supporting this stand one of the Party's tasks, but at the same time hopes that this stand of rejecting intervention and subversion will be carried out consistently, concretely, and' honestly. The Plenum states this in the conviction that economic construction and cultural development cannot take place unless there is genuine, concrete and honest resistance to colonialism and genuine concrete and honest defence of peace.
* * *
The democratisation of the system of government in our country which has taken place as a result of the three general elections is of course favourable to the democratic forces and unfavourable to the forces of reaction. Anti-democratisation measures and even measures opposing democracy itself have been the reaction to this democratisation from the Hatta, Masjumi clique Natsir and P.S.I, reactionaries.
They do not agree to progressives or even worse Communists sitting in the government even though the Communists have won great confidence from the people. On the contrary, these reactionaries want to see the same old bureaucratic apparatus that survived the colonial regime remaining in power. They oppose the full implementation of Law No. 1, 1957, they oppose the formation of third-stage autonomous government and they oppose the liquidation of the pamongpradja institution — this is the type of fear that strikes the hearts of the reactionaries and also a section of the middle-of-the-roaders, that is, the right nationalist elements.
The reactionaries, in a fever of anti-democracy, have become desperate, and concentrate all their activities on extra-parliamentary activities, intensify separatism through the illegal councils, organise acts of terror against the C.P.I., the S.O.B.S.I., officers of the Army headquarters and even against the President, and most recently they have set up the so-called "RGRI".
They cannot convince the people of the "correctness" of their policy and that is why they turn to methods of abusing everything democratic: they abuse the President's Concept, they abuse the Panca Sila, and they even pour scorn and abuse on the text of the Proclamation of August 17th, 1945.
At the time the aims and system of general elections was adopted in Parliament they were in support, but after suffering defeat in the general elections they say that a Parliament and a Constituent Assembly "are not enough", they proposed the creation of a "Senate". When it became apparent that the Constituent Assembly was also not to their advantage, they no longer said that the Assembly "is not enough" but that it is "not necessary". They propose the creation of a Senate but afterwards, when that proves impossible, they change their demand into a "pre-Senate" in the hopes that "the regions outside Java" will be in sympathy with them. They try to depict these "regions" as being one united whole even though the general elections have revealed that many people outside Java cast their votes for the Nahdlatul Ulama, the P.N.I., the C.P.I, and other non-Masjumi and non-P.S.I. parties. Their claims were in fact most appropriately answered when the C.P.I, obtained a not inconsiderable gain in votes in Riau and South Sumatra. And now that East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan have held their general elections for local legislative assemblies, this is even clearer. Other regions which still have to hold their elections should give the proper answer to this nonsense of the reactionaries by proving in practice that the confidence of the people in the Communists is indeed great and that it is growing.
Their campaign for the "restoration of the Sukarno-Hatta dwitunggal" got their own necks caught in the noose with the signing of the Sukarno-Hatta Joint Statement which upholds the Unity State, the Panca Sila and the August 17th, 1945 Proclamation. Their campaign that the "centre-regional" dispute should be settled by "negotiation" has also caught their own necks in a noose because the holding of the National Consultative Conference as well as the National Consultative Conference on Construction together with the decisions adopted by these two conferences are not to their advantage and in many cases are even harmful to their interests.
The advanced decisions of both the N.C.C. and the N.C.C.C. must be implemented! by the Government, and the Party must help with this implementation in accordance with the principles set forth in the General Report.
The Plenum further supports the statement made in the General Report to the effect that following the failure of the "Tjikini terror", the situation in our country has turned more in favour of the people, that it is far more favourable to the people than it was before hand.
The features of the situation following the failure of the "Tjikini terror" are, clearly, that the reactionaries are no longer able to seize central power, not only parliamentarily, but also extra-parliamentarily. This shows just how hard pressed the reactionaries are. And they will continue to be unable to seize power so long as all .parties supporting the Djuanda Cabinet remain anti-colonial and anti foreign intervention, and so long as the state apparatus, especially the Armed Forces, in general remain patriotic.
The only way left for the reactionaries is seizure of local power combined with political assassination of the central leaders that have won the confidence of the people. But even this way, is, in the first place, not an easy one, and in the second place, it further lowers the prestige of the reactionaries in the eyes of the people. The proclamation of what they call the "RGRI" is proof of this: the only way remaining to them and which they have chosen is indeed not at all an easy one and has worsened their reputation in the eyes of the people, it has worsened the reputation of their leaders and all of the parties of those leaders. Masjumi leaders who agree to national unity, who agree to the President's Concept are summarily dismissed, but Masjumi leaders that carry out separatism, that rebel against the Proclamation Republic, such as Natsir, Sjafruddin, Burhanuddin Harahap and others are tolerated and are even given encouragement, as was the case, for example, with Daudi Beureuh (a terrorist from the Masjumi that organised terror activities in Aceh, North Sumatra, in September 1954, Tr.). In the same way too, P.S.I, leaders who are "RGRI" activists such as Sumitro, Suleiman, Tan Po-goan, Tan Goan Po, Des Alwi, and others are tolerated by their party and are in fact given encouragement. All this bears out the truth of the warning that the C.P.I, has issued for a long time now, that the backbone of counter-revolution in Indonesia is, besides Hatta, the right leaders of the Masjumi and the P.S.I. The loss in votes for the Masjumi and the P.S.I, at the local government elections recently held proves how critical our people are of these rightist leaders. The General Report very correctly states that the reactionary rebels have met with the unbounded anger of the people.
Today, after the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, assisted by the people, have delivered many blows against these counter-revolutionaries, the prospects for our free and sovereign Republic are becoming clearer and clearer. By cleaning up our Republic of the counter-revolutionaries, by defeating American intervention and by freeing the Republic of Dutch colonial economic domination, the future of our Republic has become clearer.
With the formation of the co-operation bodies with the Army and subsequently of the "National Front for the Liberation of West Irian", the co-operation between the dwitunggal of the Army and the people has been given concrete form. With the formation of this Front, whose Chairman is none other than the Army Chief-of-Staff,
Major-General A.H. Nasution himself, the co-operation between the dwitunggal of the Army and the people becomes even more important. And the programme of this Front, as formulated by the Army Chief-of-Staff, is very correct, namely to rid the country of the Dutch colonialists s' that their forces and agents are completely driven off of Indonesian soil. If disintegration of the Republic L to be prevented, if all foreign intervention is to be defeated, if the independence of the Republic is to be consolidated in all fields, the firm stand of the Government backed up by the Armed Forces and the very broad masses of the people must be continued consistently. The international situation is also favourable to the Republic.
The Plenum agrees to the task as drawn up in the General Report, the task of the Party perseveringly, by multiplying its activities and by taking the thousand-ani-one paths open to it, to go on developing the progressive forces and to expand and consolidate national unity, to heighten the militancy and vigilance of the people throughout the entire country.
The Sixth Plenum of the C.C. re-affirms that in order to ensure good work, every Communist must alwavs base himself on the analysis and conclusions of the Fourth Plenum of the C.C. about the three forces and the three concepts.
Experiences since the Fourth Plenum through the Fifth Plenum up to the present Sixth Plenum teach us that the implementation of the line of developing the progressive forces, uniting with the middle-of-the-road forces and isolating the diehard forces depends greatly on the extent of political freedoms.
All forms of anti-Communist movements which spread here up from abroad by SEATO and by the Dutch and which are undertaken at home by the ultra-reactionaries of the Masjumi and the P.S.I, as well as by the corrupt one-time Army colonels who are now completely demoralised, are aimed at depriving the vast majority of the people, the workers and peasants whose interests are represented by the Communist Party of democratic freedoms. This is why it must be earnestly realised that the most important and most bitter of all struggles between the three forces in our society is the struggle around the question of these political freedoms. Without political freedoms or with only very restricted political freedoms, it is difficult to take advanced measures. But if political freedoms exist and especially if those political freedoms are broad or rather broad, then many advanced measures can be taken.
By fanning "anti-Communism", the ultra-reactionaries also hope to draw over a part of the wavering middle-of-the-roaders among whom there are indeed those who are attracted, that is the right nationalist elements. But an important part of the nationalists, including President Sukarno, and certainly the broad masses of the people, resolutely oppose these cunning manoeuvres. They remain loyal to the truth and they correctly reply to the reactionaries that the enemy of the Indonesian people is colonialism and not Communism; that the enemy of the Indonesian people are the anti-democrats and not the Communists; that the enemy of the Indonesian people are the persons who are anti-national and anti-unity and not the Communists.
By pursuing an "anti-Communist" policy, the heritage of Van der Plas, MacCarthy, Chiang Kai-shek, the Indonesian reactionaries reveal themselves as anti-democratic and anti-national and even as being anti-Panca Sila and anti the August 17th, 1945 Proclamation because one of the principles of the Panca Sila and the Proclamation is sovereignty of the people, democracy.
This anti-democratic characteristic of the "anti-Communists" has become even clearer with the results of the elections for local legislative assemblies which have brought an increase of more than 34% for the C.P.I., an increase to 8 million votes from the 6 million votes obtained at the elections for Parliament. Thus in a period of less than two years, the C.P.I, has risen from being party no. 4 to being party no. 1 in Indonesia.
The fact that a section of the middle-of-the-roaders have been dragged into the tide of "anti-Communism" means that they not only oppose the working class but that they also oppose their own class, they also betray their own class. There are two possible attitudes which can be taken by the middle-of-the-roaders, revolutionary or reactionary. Those of them that have been dragged into the tide of "anti-Communism" are acting in a reactionary way.
Developments in Indonesia following the holding of three elections prove that the Indonesian people are not in step with the Masjumi-P.S.I. leaders, they are not in step with Hatta or with the Husein-Sjafruddin separatists, but on the contrary are in step with the C.P.I., with the revolutionary nationalists, with the President's Concept, with the August Revolution, with democracy and with other national interests. The Indonesian people are shifting to the left, in harmony with developments throughout the world where a shift to the left is also taking place.
The Plenum underlines the conclusion made in Comrade Aidit's General Report that the primary task for every servant of the people, for every servant of democracy is to defend, consolidate and expand political freedom for the Indonesian people. Doing this will mean creating the conditions for peaceful development towards the implementation of the demands of the August Revolution in their entirety.
The Sixth Plenum of the C.C. happily states that consciousness of the importance of the struggle for the liberation of West Irian as a struggle to preserve and unify the territory of the Republic of Indonesia is becoming greater.
Up to the present there have been two attitudes towards the West Irian struggle. Firstly the attitude of begging and, if necessary of even becoming enslaved to American imperialism. Secondly, there is the attitude of resistance. The first of these attitudes means surrendering to imperialism in a variety of ways. The second, which has now taken a course other than that of negotiation, is the revolutionary attitude.
This revolutionary attitude and the revolutionary measures taken have been impelled by the realism of the Indonesian people who understand completely that Holland can only possibly control West Irian as long as they can finance their army there, as long as they can control the economic resources of Indonesia in parts of the country other than West Irian. This is why the radical measures taken against the economic power of the big Dutch capitalists which commenced with the taking-over-of Dutch enterprises were effective and concrete. The yells of pain emitting from the Dutch Government itself as well as the sharp criticisms of the big Dutch capitalists against their own government is proof of this. Only those persons who are too stupid or who too much serve the interests of colonialism can say that the steps taken by the Indonesian Government and people "harm Indonesia and benefit Holland". This is at variance with all the facts.
The fact is that the measures taken by the Indonesian Government and people today have brought the national independence struggle of the Indonesian people to a new phase, a higher phase.
In taking over the Dutch enterprises, the workers have yet again shown themselves as the vanguard who put the national interests above all else and who do not consider their own interests, even at great risk.
But the wavering national bourgeoisie are more afraid of the upsurge of the workers than they are of Dutch economic colonisation. They have begun to restrain the measures taken by the workers, in their own interests and in the interests of their group, namely a desire to become bosses themselves, to replace the Dutch capitalists. The Government legalisation of the take-overs by the workers of Dutch enterprises is also, in one respect, in the nature of restraining the measures taken by the workers, this is its negative aspect, besides this, there is the positive aspect, that of legalisation.
But the workers have never depended and will never depend on the bourgeoisie.
The workers led by the Communists have shown how they are trying to keep production running smoothly, to prevent sabotage, and have shown that there are two possibilities, namely nationalisation if the Dutch are prepared to negotiate and to hand West Irian over to Indonesia, or confiscation if the Dutch go on being stubborn. If the Government really wants to carry out its own programme then this is the stand they must adopt and that they at a certain moment must give a time limit to the Dutch.
The Plenum fully agrees with the point made in the New Year's Message of the Political Bureau, that the present struggle for the liberation of West Irian has made the Indonesian working class and people rediscover their own strength, the strength that they possessed at the time of the August 1945 Revolution, that the Indonesian working class and people know that there are limitations to the strength of the enemy as well as the boundless possibilities of their own strength. This is indeed of very great significance in the struggle of the Indonesian people to complete the demands of the August Revolution.
The Plenum also agrees with the estimation of the Political Bureau that it is very difficult for the Dutch colonialists to launch military aggression against the Republic of Indonesia, that such a possibility does indeed exist but that it is not very great, that the most likely thing is an intensification of armed subversive activities such as the recent period has given evidence of.
The Plenum fully supports the declaration that the task for the Indonesian Communists, proletariat and people during 1958, as formulated in the General Report, is to smash the separatist rebels, together with the task that was set forth in the New Year's Message of the Political Bureau, that of liquidating the economic domination of the big Dutch capitalist and of wiping out the subversive movement at the same time as being on the alert to deal with armed intervention from the imperialists led by America. For the peasants, there are, in addition to these general tasks, other special tasks such as raising the production of food. In order to make this task possible of realisation, the Government should expand the cultivatable land of the peasants in the first place by legalising possession of lands they already cultivate and dividing out vacant lands for productive purposes. The Plenum also agrees with the stress placed in Comrade Aidit's General Report on the fact that the condition for achieving this aim is strengthening the co-operation between the dwitunggal of the Army and the people and broadening the democratic freedoms as the guarantee for raising the militancy and spirit of resistance of the people.
The Plenum is fully in agreement with the General Report that at the present time when we are entering a new phase, the most important work of the Party is to
arouse, organise and mobilise the masses. This is the condition for a strong national united front. And this means that we shall have constantly, and without pause, to improve the Party's work in the ranks of the workers, the peasants, the youth, the students, the women, the intellectuals, the veterans, the urban poor and the fishermen. Without mass work, and especially without mass work among the workers and the peasants, there can be no real united front.
But unless it has a backbone, unless it has unified, militant, disciplined leadership, the broad mass movement will not be lasting in character and it will not be able to aim correctly at the target, especially as a higher stage is reached.
In brief, we must bring the organisation of the Party into line with the situation which in essence means further strengthening the Party's links with the masses as the guarantee for the Party to overcome all problems. Bringing the organisation into line with the situation must be carried out at all levels of Party organisation. And individually, too, every Communist must ask himself whether he has brought himself into line with the new phase in the anti-colonialist struggle today.
The Plenum, based on the above considerations, agrees to the creation of an Executive Committee of the Political Bureau, the body which will give leadership between meetings of the Political Bureau, while the Secretariat, in conformity with the Constitution, will in future devote its full attention to the day-to-day routine work of the C.C. The Executive Committee of the Political Bureau shall be chaired by the Chairman of the Political Bureau, that is the General Secretary of the Party, while the Secretariat shall be led by the Head of the Secretariat.
The Plenum agrees with the General Report that in order properly to bring themselves into line with the situation, Party cadres who have too many functions should have these functions reduced and this must mean promotion of cadres according to an integrated plan within the Party.
Boldness in carrying out correct promotion will bring great advantage. On the other hand, fear of carrying out promotions will be very harmful to the Party.
The Plenum also agrees with the conclusion made in the General Report that the relations between every committee and the committees below must be strengthened. For this purpose, the Plenum approves the establishment of Island Bureaus and Island Committees. Representatives of the C.C. should from time to time be attached to the regions and the relations "from above down and from below up" must be carried out with consistency and with the stress on the relations "from below up".
The question of strengthening the relations between committees and the committees below must be undertaken at all levels of Party organisation. The basic organisations of the Party must be led and assisted in such a way that they are able to take the initiative in mobilising the masses, by putting into practice the election programmes as actual programmes of action. The revolutionary mass organisations, too, must bring themselves into line with the fast-developing situation by further strengthening the relations between the higher leading bodies and the lower bodies, by strengthening the relations between the leading bodies and the masses, and bv expanding organisation and membership.
The Plenum recalls that one of the conclusions made by the Fifth Party Congress was the need for the Party to be unified in thought and united in action. So as to guarantee this, the links with lower committees must always be strengthened and the life and work of the committees, Departments, Bureaus, Sections, Staff of Secretariats, and so on must be normalised.
In brief, the foremost task of the Party is to make the mass movement sturdy and strong with a strong Party as its backbone.
The Plenum joyfully records the fact that since the Party has begun to carry out the Three-Year Plan, there has been an enthusiastic and evenly spread-out spirit in the Party in performing the work of the Party. Comrade Aidit was very correct when he said that in particular the implementation of the education section of the Plan has been like a transfusion of fresh blood for the body of the Party.
The results of the various seminars held both by the C.C. and the M.D.C.'s to discuss various problems have proved useful. The number of these seminars must be increased, and among other things, it is necessary to hold seminars on economic questions.
It is true that the theoretical conferences, movements to study classical books, anti-illiteracy campaigns, education for progressive persons outside the Party and the publication of Party magazines by the M.D.C.'s have not been going well. In order to improve the Party's work in these spheres, the Plenum has decided to set up a Three-Year Plan Bureau which will direct the implementation of the Party's Three-Year Plan.
Further, reports on the implementation of the Plan must be submitted periodically. The raising of candidate members to the status of members, the grouping ot members and the expansion of membership must be intensified, while the organisation of Political Schools must be begun. All this should be aimed at ensuring that the targets of the Plan can be fulfilled by August 17th, 1959. Greater attention must be given to the publication of magazines by the M.D.C.'s and in places where such work has not yet begun, a start must be made. The publication of revolutionary novels must be increased. Special attention must be devoted to the education of cadres working in the Regional Legislative Assemblies and Regional Administrative Councils and those appointed as Heads-of-Districts because they must receive constant theoretical and ideological education.
Since, in addition to the above matters, there is still a need to improve the collection of fees and donations and the organisation of productive activities, as well as a need to expand the Sub-section Committees and the Branch Committees including such questions as arranging for conferences, Party offices, full-time workers, inventory of the possessions of the committees, the Plenum of the C.C. has decided that every committee must make a review of those parts of the Three-Year Plan that have not yet been carried out and that have not been well carried out, so that the remaining time left can be utilised as intensively as possible to bring victory for the Party's first Three-Year Plan.
The Plenum has decided that by August 17th, 1958 for Java and by January 1st, 1959 for other parts of the country, there should be no Branch Committee that has not yet started holding Political Schools.
Under the slogan of making the final year of the first Three-Year Plan a year of consolidating the groups, branches and committees of the Party and of speeding up the achievement of a balance between the number of Party members and the number of Party voters, a year of expanding the mass organisations, and under the slogan of greeting the Party's Sixth National Congress by multiplying Party membership according to plan, of consolidating the Party organisations and increasing the activities in the sphere of culture, the Sixth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, calls upon all candidate-members, members and cadres of the Party to devote all their energies, inspired with great optimism, to increasing their contribution to the Party, the Motherland and the people.
After having discussed the two historic documents, the "Declaration of the 12 Communist and Workers1 Parties of the Socialist Countries" and the "Peace Manifesto of the 64 Communist and Workers' Parties of the World", the Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, decided to give its full support to the contents of these two documents. The discussion of these two documents was preceded by a clarification by Comrade Sudisman, the Head of the C.P.I. Delegation to the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Moscow.
The C.C. of the C.P.I, deeply appreciates the initiative taken by the C.C. of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in convening this great meeting which was a demonstration of the progress of Marxist-Leninist unity of the world Communist movement. These two documents are the essence of the experiences of the theory and the practice of the Communist movement in all countries and are of universal truth. The two documents correctly review and evaluate the international situation at the present time and formulate the basic problems now facing all nations that love peace, democracy and independence.
The Declaration reflects the consolidation of the unity of the countries of the Socialist camp which is definitely having a great influence on the consolidation of the forces of democracy and Socialism throughout the world. Socialism has demonstrated itself for forty years as a social system which is far superior to capitalism.
Today, Socialism is rising and imperialism is falling. The positions of imperialism have become very weak, among other things as a result of the destruction of the colonial system. In the imperialist countries, the contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production are sharpening. The economy of the capitalist world is becoming unstable, and is even becoming severely shaken. Under such difficult conditions, the aggressive American imperialists making use of the pretext of "stamping out Communism", are crudely striving to drag as many countries as possible under their orders, to smash democratic freedoms, to threaten the national liberty of the advanced capitalist countries, to try to drag peoples who are newly independent into new forms of colonialism and are systematically carrying out subversive activities. By means of such a policy, the aggressive imperialist forces are speeding up their own destruction and are creating their own grave diggers. Were the imperialists who are thirsting for war to dare to launch war, then this would mean passing their own sentence, the sentence of their own destruction.
The C.C. of the C.P.I, further support the statement of the Declaration to the effect that revisionism and dogmatism within the working class and Communist movement are international phenomena. Revisionism or right opportunism as a manifestation of the bourgeois ideology weakens the energy of the revolutionary working class, while dogmatism and sectarianism hamper the growth of Marxist-Leninist theory and its creative application under changing concrete conditions. Both these trends are dangers which must be opposed.
The Declaration explains that the unity of the Communists is the indispensable condition for the building of an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal united front of the workers, the peasants, the petty urban bourgeoisie, the national bourgeoisie and other patriotic, democratic forces. With a united front of the working class and the people or with other forms of broad agreements and political co-operation between the various parties and organisations to unite the majority of the people, together with other revolutionary conditions, the working class led by its Party can obtain the opportunity to govern or to participate in government without civil war. Basing itself on the majority of the people and rejecting firmly the opportunist elements which are unable to give up the policy of compromising with the foreign capitalists and landlords, the working class can defeat the anti-people's reactionary forces, can obtain a stable majority in Parliament can transform Parliament from an instrument which serves the interests of the bourgeoisie into an instrument which serves the interests of the working people, can wage a mass struggle outside Parliament, can break the resistance of the reactionary forces and creates the necessary conditions for the peaceful implementation of the Socialist revolution. If the classes in power take the path of force against the people, then the possibility of non-peaceful transition to Socialism will have to be considered. Leninism teaches, in harmony with experience, that the ruling class never gives up power voluntarily.
These are some important points concerning the Declaration while, as regards the Peace Manifesto, the Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I is of the opinion that this Manifesto is a joyful appeal calling on all men and women of goodwill to draw their forces together to demand an immediate halt to atom and hydrogen weapon tests, to demand the unconditional prohibition of the manufacture and use of such weapons, to demand the dissolution of the SEATO and other such military pacts and to demand the conclusion of a collective securitv agreement in Asia.
The C.C. of the C.P.I. came to the conclusion that these two documents indicate clear perspectives for the growth of the Communist movement throughout the world in the future period. They categorically warn of the clear dangers and of the real threat to world security and peace. In facing these dangers, every Communist in all countries is fully convinced that the forces of peace are greater than the forces of war and that the danger of war is not unavoidable. The forces of peace are growing day by day, they are getting greater and if they are constantly aroused and mobilised, they will definitely be able to prevent the outbreak of a new world war as well as defend lasting peace. Today, mankind is achieving brilliant results in discovering the secrets of nature and is more and more mastering nature with the launching of the Soviet sputniks so that it will definitely be possible to prevent war and oppose the mass destruction of mankind.
The Communists are a loyal force in opposition to war because the aim of the Communists is to build a society which guarantees general prosperity, for the growth of all nations, for lasting peace between all these nations. International peace is today being and will continue to be fought for by the Socialist countries and b\ the countries which are newly independent and which oppose colonialism. The defence of peace is the most important international task at the present time. The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, therefore calls upon all Party Committees more actively to organise the broadest possible joint actions for the defence of peace together with all forces which agree to peace and oppose war
The C.C. of the C.P.I. is of the opinion that every progressive movement will certainly confront difficulties and obstacles. According to law, every advance is indeed accompanied by difficulties. It is not strange if therefore the Communist movement in Indonesia also confronts difficulties. The striking thing is the weakness of some Party cadres who, in their implementation of the united front policy, are still sticking too inflexibly to the political independence of the Party with the result that they become sectarian and dogmatist. On the other hand, there are cadres that do not firmly stand by the principle that the national united front must be based on the alliance of the workers and peasants, and there are cadres that insufficiently understand and insufficiently uphold the Party's independence and merge themselves into the national united front with the result that the role of the Party gets lost. Both these trends in essence have their source in a lack of understanding of the basic problems of the Indonesian revolution and in the lack of resolution of the petty bourgeoisie. For this reason, the Plenum stressed the importance of waging a struggle in the first place to oppose sectarianism and dogmatism. This does not mean that we need not be vigilant of the dangers of revisionism or right opportunism. The way to oppose these trends is by deepening Marxist-Leninist education in order to stamp out bourgeois ideological survivals.
The Plenum also enthusiastically welcomes the suggestion that meetings andi exchanges of opinion and experience should be held between Communist Parties and Workers Parties in order to achieve co-operation and close unity in the struggle for peace, independence, democracy and Socialism. Our Party has commenced with this by holding negotiations and issuing a Joint Communique between delegations of the Korean Worker's Party and the C.P.I, on December 30th. 1957. The C.C. of the C.P.I, states its full agreement with this Joint Communique.
Finally, the Sixth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, feels that the basic experience of the C.P.I, during its work of developing the Indonesian Revolution accords with the basic experiences and lessons of the Communist movement throughout the world as formulated fully in these two historic documents. This is why the C.C. of the C.P.I. instructs all Committees, organisations, members and candidate-members of the Party to thoroughly study these two documents, to explain them to the broad masses and to use them as directives in the sacred struggle for national independence, peace and Socialism.
The Sixth Plenum of the C.C, of the C.P.I, held in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, in connection with the discussion on the results of the local legislative assembly elections and on making preparations for the second parliamentary elections, greets with joy the announcement of the Indonesian Election Committee that it, together with the Government has already started making preparations for voting day to elect members of the Second People's Representative Assembly to be held on September 29th, 1959.
In conformity with the correct importance attached by the C.P.I. to the parliamentary struggle at the present stage, a struggle which opens the possibility for the working class to fulfil its historic task in democratic countries where Parliament and other such bodies can be given truly democratic content — namely that the working class can participate in government by obtaining a stable majority in Parliament, the Sixth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, instructs all members, activists and cadres of the Party to take an active part in arousing and organising the masses of the people for the house-to-house registration of voters for the second parliamentary elections which is to begin on May 1st, 1958, and in the struggle for the formation of democratic election committees which include C.P.I representatives as a guarantee for the smooth running of the elections.
The Plenum calls on all Indonesian citizens who have the right to vote to help ensure that the registration of voters runs well by not losing the chance to register themselves as voters and by giving full assistance to the election committees at all stages.
The Plenum hopes that all citizens that have the right to vote will be able to register themselves as voters and when the time comes will exercise their right to vote freely and secretly. In order to ensure this, it is necessary that a speedy end be put to the rebel conspiracy of Lubis, Husein, Sjafruddin, Sumitro, Sumual and others, to the Darul Islam/T.I.I. terrorists and to all foreign subversive plots.
To all voters who, during the past three elections have brought victory for the C.P.I, which also means victory for the united front, the Sixth Plenum of the C.C-of the C.P.I, conveys its deepest appreciation. As a result of these elections, the C.P.I, has not a few representatives in Parliament, in the Constituent Assembly and in the local legislative assemblies.
The Plenum also conveys deepest appreciation to the members of the election committees who have carried out their task with a deep sense of responsibility and with honesty. It is hoped that for the second parliamentary elections, the members of the election committees will work with even greater earnestness and honesty.
The Plenum reminds all Communist cadres who are members of Parliament, the Constituent Assembly, the local legislative assemblies, the local government administrations and who have been elected Heads-of-Districts, to be conscious even single moment of the fact that the Party's responsibility to the people in general and to the voters in particular is growing bigger and bigger. In order to preserve and cultivate ever greater confidence of the people in the Party, utilise your positions in these bodies to arouse, defend and make easier the fulfilment of the demands of the people for democratic rights and for their everyday interests. In short, use your positions in these bodies to multiply your service to the masses of the people. This is the primary condition for the Party’s victory in the forthcoming general elections.
Register yourselves as voters ! Set up democratic election committees! Win the victory for democracy! Defeat the counter-revolutionary rebels!
The VIth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, held from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, expresses its boundless heartfelt gratitude to the proletariat and the working people of the entire world who, under the leadership of their Party, the Communist Party, have carried out actions of solidarity with the struggle of the Indonesian people to liberate West Irian.
The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, especially expresses its deepest thanks to the Communist Parties of Holland, India and Australia which, at meetings of their Central Committees, adopted resolutions unreservedly supporting the struggle of the Indonesian people.
Without this international solidarity, the struggle of the Indonesian proletariat and people would be many times more difficult than it is now. This international solidarity has been enthusiastically welcomed in Indonesia not only by the workers and the peasants but also by the intellectuals and even by government circles.
This international solidarity has given great courage to the Indonesian people, it has strengthened their position and encouraged their activities in the struggle, and has also given proof for the umpteenth time of the greatness of the Marxist-Leninist principle of proletarian internationalism, and of how great is the practice of this principle for the national independence struggle of the peoples of the world. It proves that the Indonesian people do not stand alone at all, that imperialist intervention in Indonesia must face up to the people of the world, and that were the imperialists desperate enough to launch aggression, this would definitely become a matter for the entire world.
The VIth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, revolves to further deepen the spirit of proletarian internationalism among the ranks of its members and among the broad masses of the Indonesian working people, as a positive contribution to the mighty struggle of the peoples of the world for independence, peace and Socialism.
The VIth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, held in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, in the course of the discussion on the General Report of the Political Bureau submitted by Comrade D.N. Aidit, fully supported the conclusions drawn in the report that the SEATO countries, headed by the United States of America, are so afraid of the further growth of the movement of the Indonesian people against Dutch colonialism that they will not hesitate, either in words or deeds, to earn out crude intervention in Indonesia's internal affairs.
The meeting was of the opinion that the Top-Level SEATO Council Meeting held in Manila from March 11th till 13th concentrated its attention on the question of Indonesia. The intimidations carried out by the imperialist countries by means of large-scale SEATO armed forces manoeuvres in which both the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the British Far Eastern Fleet based in Singapore took part, as well as the unlimited moral support and assistance in the form of weapons dropped by them for the rebels, Lubis, Husein-Sjafruddin, Sumitro, Sumual and others, are all aimed at bringing about the downfall of President Sukarno and the Djuanda Government who oppose colonialism and oppose Indonesia's entry into SEATO.
The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, supports the conclusions made by the General Report that the new-instrument for war which America and the other western members of SEATO are now striving to create, namely the amalgamation of NATO, the Baghdad Pact and SEATO, is among other things aimed at making the Asian countries in SEATO and the Baghdad Pact places for expanding their network of military bases and as rocket and nuclear weapon bases, as is already the case with South Korea and Taiwan.
All these criminal actions, which violate and threaten the sovereignty of the independent nations of Asia and also threaten the security of the millions of people of Asia, are being carried out on the pretext of containing ''the danger of Communism", just the same pretext as their agents in Indonesia, in particular the leaders of the Masjumi-P.S.I. and the Lubis-Husein-Sjafruddin-Sumitro-Sumual and other rebels use in order to assassinate President Sukarno, overthrow the Djuanda Cabinet, overthrow the Army-Chief-of-Staff and destroy democracy that is now developing in Indonesia.
The Plenum states that the Djuanda Government is genuinely trying to oppose imperialist intervention and subversion. This is proven by the firm stand of the Government rejecting American pressure for permission to send their troops to the Pakan Baru (Central Sumatra) region.
The Plenum warmly welcomes the upsurge of the masses which began with the students' demonstration in Jakarta on March 25th, 1958, condemning American intervention in Indonesia, demanding the immediate dissolution of SEATO and urging the establishment of a collective security pact between all Asian countries without discrimination, as an action which is inseparable from the actions to exterminate the Lubis-Husein-Sjafruddin-Sumitro-Sumual conspiracy within a short period of time.
The Plenum expresses its appreciation to the masses of students, youth, school-pupils, veterans and women who have organised demonstrations to the U.S. Embassy as well as of other activities carried out by the masses to strengthen the demand for the immediate dissolution of SEATO.
The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I. calls upon the entire Indonesian people who love their homeland, regardless of differences in political or religious conviction, to rise up as one man and to pull down the screen concealing the falsity of the military pacts such as SEATO, the Baghdad Pact, NATO, to oppose these pacts and demand their immediate dissolution because these aggressive organisations are aimed at suppressing the national independence of various countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, and at launching a new world war.
The Plenum imposes the task on all C.P.I. members, activists and cadres to take an active part in opposing these military pacts and "demanding their immediate dissolution, as a sacred task for the preservation of peace and for the defence of the independence of the peoples of the entire world.
The Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indonesia held in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, after discussing the General Report of the Political Bureau of the C.C. of the C.P.I, which was submitted by Comrade D.N. Aidit, drew attention to the increasing activities and the growing danger of the role of the Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits, as part of the international conspiracy against the struggle of the Indonesian people and Government in the pursuit of an independent and active foreign policy.
Led by former officers and high-ranking officers, smugglers and cheats, hoarders and blackmarketeers, spies and bribers who are in contact with their headquarters abroad, the Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits, whose network spreads throughout almost the entire length and breadth of the country, are the link in the chain that links up the subversive and counter-revolutionary activities at home with the reactionary plotters abroad. They are active in illegal barter affairs, in the manipulation of rice distribution and the distribution of other goods, in corruption, in spreading low morals, and as the climax to all their criminal activities of hostility towards the people and State of the Republic of Indonesia, they are helping the counter-revolutionary movement in West Sumatra and North Celebes with modern, American-made arms. Besides all this, the Indonesian people will never forget the criminal role of the Kuomintang bandits the Po An Tui corps during the Dutch colonial army occupation.
Various newspapers at home and abroad have frequently exposed the close links that exist between the Kuomintang bosses and the rebel bosses such as Sjafruddin Prawiranegara (Masjumi), Dr. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (P.S.I.), Z. Lubis, A. Husein, M. Simbolon, V. Sumual, K. Pantouw, J. Somba and others. Together with the Dutch imperialists and SEATO which is under the leadership of the U.S.A., the Kuomintang conspiracy is making efforts to create the conditions for the downfall of the Republic of Indonesia and for the restoration of full colonisation of the Indonesian people. They are intensifying their subversive activities as a reaction to the progressive steps being taken by the people and the Djuanda Government in advancing democracy and opposing Dutch colonialism.
The Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, agrees with the Army Chief-of-Staff, Major General A.H. Nasution, that one of the basic tasks in giving content to the new phase of the anti-colonialist struggle which the Indonesian people have now entered since the time the Dutch imperialist enterprises were taken over, is stamping out the subversive movement.
The Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits which has its network spread throughout the country is a dangerous subversive conspiracy.
The Kuomintang conspiracy would not be a conspiracy of bandits if it did not play many types of tricks in pursuance of its aim. One of its tricks is to arouse the enmity of Indonesians against Indonesian citizens of Chinese origin and against Chinese people in general so as to continue Dutch imperialism's policy of divide and rule, because they know that the large majority of the Chinese in Indonesia are citizens of the Chinese People's Republic, a country friendly towards the Republic of Indonesia, and that the Chinese sympathise with the struggle of the people and the Republic of Indonesia in keeping with the stand of the Chinese Government; and also because they know that the vast majority of Indonesian citizens of Chinese origin are loyal to the Republic of Indonesia. The Kuomintang bandits hope to reap material advantage out of this hostility through the means of, and together with reactionary Indonesians who have completely lost all sense of their being Indonesians. Besides this, they hope to gain political advantage from the growing disorders in Indonesia so as to weaken Indonesia's struggle to liquidate Dutch economic power and stamp out the counter-revolutionary conspiracy. The so-called "Assaat movement" and the "anti-Chinese" slanders are in complete harmony with the tricks of the Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits, all the more since it is now clear that Mr. Assaat supports the rebels in the so-called "Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia". But, for the people and for the vigilant instruments of state power, it is not a question of being "anti-Chinese", neither is it a question of being hostile to "non-native" Indonesian citizens; it is a question of being anti-subversive and anti the Kuomintang conspiracy.
In view of the fact that there is much evidence to prove that the Kuomintang conspirators have placed themselves in the position of being enemies of the people and enemies of the State, the Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, is of the opinion that it is necessary for them to be treated as enemies of the people and enemies of the State of the Republic of Indonesia.
The Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, expresses its appreciation to the Government for the firm measures it has begun to take against the Kuomintang conspiracy, as for example the step taken by the Minister of Education banning the Kuomintang 'scouts' organisation, one of the front-organisations of the Kuomintang for carrying out its subversive objectives. Apart from this, the C.C. of the C.P.I, recalls the correct measure taken by the first Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet in expelling Kuomintang boss, Chong Hun Nji, from the country.
The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, feels that further firm measures are needed against this conspiracy of enemies of the people, such as confiscating the capital and enterprises of the Kuomintang bosses, arresting and punishing or expelling them from Indonesia, banning and dissolving all pro-Kuomintang associations, prohibiting the printing and distribution of all pro-Kuomintang newspapers and reading material and other forms of propaganda material, prohibiting and closing down schools run by Kuomintang people, cleaning out Kuomintang persons and "others in their pay from the state apparatus both at the centre and in the regions, and other such effective measures.
The experiences gained during the anti-subversive actions and the actions to take over the Dutch capitalist enterprises show that co-operation between the dwitunggal of the people and the Army is a decisive factor in achieving success. This applies, too, to the task of stamping out the Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits, and the initiative taken by the masses together with the strongest and most careful supervision is the indispensable condition which the honest instruments of the state that genuinely want to gain the greatest possible success, need in dealing with the conspiracy of enemies of the people and enemies of the State.
The Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, finally declares that with the overthrow of the Kuomintang conspiracy of bandits, we shall be destroying an important section of the subversive and counter-revolutionary movement.
Discover the hide-outs and links of the Kuomintang bandits and together with the patriotic instruments of the State, take firm swift and correct action against this conspiracy!
Be constantly on the alert to prevent enmities based on differences in origin between citizens and based on racial discrimination!
Long live the co-operation of the dwitunggal of the people and the Army in treating the Kuomintang conspiracy as enemies of the people and the State!
The VIth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I, held' in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, after having discussed! the causes for the present increase in the price of rice, felt that this increase is mainly caused by efforts to create disorder in economic affairs in the form of hoarding, manipulation of prices, illegal barter and various other efforts at sabotage, being carried out by Kuomintang agents working in conspiracy with such persons as Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, and assisted by middlemen and landlords. This economic disruption is aimed not only at making huge profits but also at placing the Government in a difficult position at a time when it is taking firm action against the Husein-Sjafruddin rebels. This economic disruption is part of the imperialist subversive activities being carried out to overthrow the Republic of Indonesia and to turn it into an appendage of the SEATO bloc. The VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, feels that the way for the Government to surmount the present rice difficulties is by taking firm steps against rice hoarders and against the persons sabotaging the distribution of rice. To ensure that these measures to stamp out this economic disruption succeed, they should be taken by the state apparatus together with the workers, the peasants and other functional groups.
Other steps the Government needs to take are efforts to control as much of the supply of rice as possible and to regulate better its distribution through an apparatus of distribution which can be controlled by the people, for example the kampong-committees, etc. For this purpose, the Government must undertake the purchase of rice in ways and! at prices not detrimental to the peasants, and besides that, it must import rice from all countries that are prepared to help the Republic. Furthermore,
the Government must seriously carry out a plan to increase food production by expanding the cultivatable land of the peasants, by helping the peasants to raise agricultural techniques, and by relieving the peasants of the burden of blackmail from the moneylenders, the middlemen and the landlords, and guarantee security of work for the peasants.
The VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, calls upon the people and instructs all Party committees, members and candidate members, to take an active part, each in their own specific field, to solve the rice problem by urging the Government and the local Military Administrators to take firm action against the rice hoarders and saboteurs and also to help the Government in its efforts to increase production and improve the rice distribution apparatus.
The VIth Plenum of the Central Committee of the C.P.I. joyfully welcomes and expresses its highest appreciation of the standpoint of the Government of the Soviet Union which has unilaterally decided to halt atom and hydrogen weapon tests at a time when the U.S.A. is busy inviting 15 members of the U.N.O. Scientific Committee to witness nuclear weapon explosions in the Pacific this summer.
This decision is extremely important for the efforts to ease the international tensions which are continuously being created by imperialist policy. The Soviet Union has once again, for the umpteenth time, complied with the wishes and peaceful aspirations of the people of the world in accord with the Declaration of the 12 Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist countries, the Peace Manifesto of the 64 Communist and Workers' Parties of the World and the Appeal of the World Peace Council issued at its meeting held in New Delhi from March 22-25, 1958.
The imperialists and all their agents will certainly distort the good intentions and international significance of this decision even though this will not be so easy as they think because the people in all countries know how frequent and how many are the offers and appeals for peace that are made by the Soviet Union, they know that these appeals are made in all earnestness. The world knows that it is the Soviet Union that has repeatedly proposed to the U.S.A. and the other Western countries that an immediate ban should be placed on the utilisation of atom and hydrogen bombs and that tests of these bombs should cease. The obstinate attitude that the imperialists states headed by the American imperialists display in response to these proposals, rejecting them every time for no acceptable reason, does not halt the Soviet efforts to strive for peace. This is proven too by the proposal made by the Soviet Union for the convening of a Summit Conference.
And now, the Soviet Union, with its decision to stop unilaterally atom and hydrogen weapon tests shows to the western countries and to the whole world just how earnest it is with its peace offers and appeals aimed at preventing war and the danger of mass destruction. This act also shows just how great is the Soviet Union's confidence in the peaceful yearnings and the strength of the peace forces of the people of the world, and just how great is the Soviet Union's confidence in the superiority of the Socialist forces.
It is appropriate for the Indonesian people to state their feelings and attitude in appreciation of and support for this decision. Broad and strong support from the masses of the Indonesian people for the Soviet Union's decision will greatly strengthen and help in the realisation of these peaceful proposals and intentions throughout the world.
The VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I. calls upon the Government and the entire people of Indonesia to express support for this decision, and to demand of the United States and Britain to follow the example given by the Soviet Union and immediately stop tests of atom and hydrogen weapons. In this way, the Government and people of Indonesia will be taking action themselves to save the whole of mankind from the danger of mass destruction.
The VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, held in Jakarta from March 31st till April 3rd, 1958, welcomes with joy and fully supports a suggestion made by Comrade Aidit to prepare for the VIth National Party Congress with greater activities in the cultural field.
The Plenum is convinced that this suggestion will be enthusiastically welcomed by people's artists and by cultural workers in general and that it will encourage an outburst of activities that are creative, bold, progressive and that serve the people, the Revolution and the Motherland.
The Plenum is happy to note the fact that large-scale activities have taken place in the recent period aimed at uniting the ketoprak artists, the ludruk artists, the rejog artists, the dalang wajang artists and others in Java as well as similar activities in other parts of the country, in Bali, the Moluccas, Sumatra and elsewhere. Extremely gratifying too is the birth of such works as the collection of poems by Hr. Bandaharo, "Dari daerah kehadiran lapar dan kasih" (From the Land of Famine and Love), the collection of poems by Klara Akustia "Rangsang Detik" (Stirring Moments), the bas-relief carving of the revolution created by the "SIM" artists at the Kemajoran (Jakarta) Airport, Heradra Gunawan's sculpture of Dr. Ratulangi, the wood carvings of Suromo and canvasses of other progressive artists, the composition by Sudharnoto "Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang" (From Darkness to Light, based on the story of the great Indonesian heroine, Kartini, Tr.), the film "Turang" by Bachtiar Siagian, translations of the works of Maxim Gorki, Michail Sholokov and Boris Polevoi by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and the translation of a work by Louis Aragon by Rivai Apin as well as the perfomance of "Mutiara dari Nusalaut" (The Pearl from Nusalaut) by Dhalia, and others.
All these enrich the treasury of Indonesian culture and prove how fertile are the creative powers if the artists unite themselves with the working people, with their life and their struggle. It is a good continuation of the brilliant traditions of Indonesian art which, especially during the days of the August 1945 Revolution, has helped to kindle the flame of Revolution.
The VIth Plenum of the C.C. of the C.P.I, calls upon all artists and cultural workers who are conscious of their call of history to work more and better for the people, the Revolution and the Motherland. The Plenum invites all progressive artists, including both creative and reproductive artists to greet the cultural week at the time of the VIth National Party Congress with greater activities in the cultural field.