Aidit: The Road to People's Democracy For Indonesia (1954)

Source: Problems of the Indonesia Revolution, D.N. Aidit. Published by DEMOS - 1963

First of all, I express thanks to our Party which has given me the honour of presenting this general report to the Vth National Party Congress, this historic Congress.

Many things have happened since the IVth National Party Congress which was held seven years ago in Solo. Concerning these, I have reported the basic points in the opening speech of the Congress, It is not necessary for me to repeat them.

The material for the Vth National Congress has been published in full in official Party publications, in a special number of the CPI Bulletin as well as in the journal "Bintang Merah” ("Red Star", the name of the monthly organ of the Central Committee of the Party, Tr.) some months ago. This material has also been published in the form of a pamphlet, in Indonesian as well as in regional languages. You have had sufficient time to study it. Not only that our entire Party has already discussed it and efforts have also been made to put it before the masses of the people. In this way, you have come to this Congress bringing not only the opinions of Party members and candidate members but also thoughts and criticisms which have come directly from the masses of the people. This is important because in this way, the confidence of the members, candidate-members and masses of the people in our Party has increased. I think that it is appropriate if I, on behalf of our Congress, express the thanks of the Party to all groups and people who have stated their opinions and criticisms of the material of our Congress, above all, the Draft Party Programme.

From this session, we can imagine how great will be the joy with which the members, candidate-members and sympathisers of the Party and all progressive people will greet every one of the decisions which will subsequently be taken by this Congress.

The Central Committee submits the material to this Congress in the conviction that it will clarify all the basic and important problems of the Indonesian revolution and all the basic and important problems concerning the building of our Party. With this material, it is hoped that the Congress will be able to arm the members and functionaries of the Party with a correct understanding of the Programme, tactics and organisational line of the Party. This will mean opening up a wide road for the development of the independence movement of the Indonesian people and for the development of the Communist Party of Indonesia.

The Central Committee is of the opinion that it is necessary to give an introduction to clarify the Draft Programme which is now being submitted as the most important material of this Congress. That is why this general report which I am just about to submit has two functions: firstly, as a general report concerning the political and organisational situation; and secondly, as a clarification of the basic points contained in the CPI Draft Programme. In this way, the function of the general report to which the Central Committee has given the name "The Road to People's Democracy for Indonesia" becomes clear. Separate clarification will be given concerning other material of the Congress.

The Second World War ended in a victory for democracy over fascism. The international situation after the war has developed in a way favourable to the people's liberation movement and the struggle for world peace.

In the middle of 1945, world imperialism was in a much weaker position than before the war because of the total defeat of three major imperialist states, Germany, Italy and Japan, because of the economic bankruptcy of imperialist states In Europe such as Britain and France, because of the greatly increased international prestige of the Soviet Union, because some countries In East Europe and Asia broke away from the capitalist world and set up People's Democratic states and because of the growing intensity of the peoples' independence struggles In the colonial and semi-colonial countries to throw out the foreign powers and set up their own national states which are independent and sovereign.

The liberation of several East European and Asian countries from the capitalist world and the growing intensity of the independence struggles of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples narrowed the capitalist world market. As a result, the capitalist powers have lost considerable sources of raw material, the chances of sales in the world market have deteriorated and their industries have been compelled to operate below capacity. This situation has further deepened the general crisis of world capitalism.

The Indonesian people also played an important part in the great ferment in the colonial and semi-colonial lands after the war by proclaiming an independent Republic of Indonesia which was followed up by a bitter war against the Japanese, British and Dutch armies which received full support from American Imperialism.

While the world war was in progress American Imperialism was able to draw maximum profits from the blood and lives of the tens of millions of people who fell during the war. That is why America came out of that terrible war as the wealthiest Imperialist country, which subsequently resulted in other imperialist powers being forced to bow down to the domination and leadership of American imperialism.

The Soviet Union, the vanguard of the camp of peace and Socialism, although she sacrificed large numbers of her best sons and daughters and suffered extensive material damage came out of the hell of the Second World War with a strength of extraordinary proportions as a country which had won glorious victories. The strength of the Soviet army and people was not only able to rout and clean up the fascists from its own country, but it also courageously liberated the countries of East Europe and several Asian countries and gave them the freedom to develop in accordance with the wishes of their own people. . .

Thus, it is clear that after the war, the world was divided as follows: on the one hand, that part of the world consisting of countries dominated by the imperialists with America at the head. On the other hand; that part of the world consisting of the Soviet Union and the People's Democratic states, where it is laid down by law and expressed in daily life that the source of all power lies with the people, and where the imperialists and landlords no longer have any legal basis whatsoever. This is the Socialist part of the world and the world of People's Democracy.

The developments taking place in the capitalist countries which are headed by the United States of America are completely different in character, from those taking place in the country of Socialism and the People's Democracies. The capitalist world, consisting of the imperialist countries together with all their colonies and spheres of influence, which is dominated and led by American Imperialism, is a society full of contradictions and antagonisms, antagonisms between the ruling capitalists and the exploited and oppressed workers, antagonisms between the imperialist countries and their colonies, as well as antagonisms between the capitalists themselves. In this capitalist world, these antagonisms are in full swing. Thus, the capitalist world is not a solid and compact force because of the existence of contradictions within imperialism itself, contradictions between the ruling imperialist powers and the democratic workers movement which unites together with the compact forces of the democratic-world, within the world camp of anti-imperialism and anti-war.

The contradictions and antagonisms between the imperialist states themselves even further weaken the camp of Imperialism and war. One of the forms of these contradictions and antagonisms between the imperialist states is imperialist war which brings poverty, hardship and death to millions of people.

In his book, “Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR”, J. V. Stalin refutes the idea that the basic economic law of modern capitalism is the average rate of profit. "That is not true”, says Stalin. "... It is not the average profit, but the maximum profit that modern monopoly capitalism demands, which it needs for more or less regular extended reproduction. Monopoly capitalism will advance more speedily towards its own collapse if there is no guarantee of obtaining maximum profits. That is why the struggle to obtain maximum profits is a life and death struggle for Imperialism. According to Stalin, the main features and requirements of the basic economic law of modem capitalism might be formulated roughly in this way: "The securing of the maximum capitalist profits through the exploitation, ruin and impoverishment of the majority of the population of the given country, through the enslavement and systematic robbery of the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries and lastly, through wars and militarisation of the national economy, which are utilised for the obtaining of the highest profits.”

In contrast to this, the democratic world does not need war nor does it contain within it the seeds of war; it is advancing steadily forward on the basis of a peace-loving policy. The Soviet Union and the entire democratic world neither needs war nor wants it, neither strives for war nor agrees with it, as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers declared at the meeting of the Supreme Soviet In August, 1953. He said, among other things: "We firmly maintain that at the moment, there is no disputable or outstanding question which could not be settled by peaceful ways on the basis of mutual agreement between the countries concerned.” He went on to say: "This refers also to those questions under dispute which exist between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, We stood and stand for the peaceful coexistence of the two systems. We consider that there are no objective grounds for a collision between the United States and the Soviet Union. The interest of the security of both, countries, as well as international security, the interest of the development of trade, between the USA and the USSR can be safeguarded on the basis of normal relations between both countries."

In the book mentioned above, J. V. Stalin says that the essential features and requirements of the basic law of Socialism might be formulated roughly in this way: “The securing of the maximum satisfaction of the constantly rising material and cultural requirements of the whole society through the continuous expansion and perfection of Socialist production is the basis of higher techniques.” This formulation clearly shows that maximum profits for a small group of people is unknown to Socialism, that it knows nothing of crises, of technical development being interrupted by the occurrence of periodic crises, of the productive forces of society being destroyed by crises. Socialism only knows the maximum satisfaction of material and cultural requirements, only knows the unbroken expansion of production and the uninterrupted process of perfecting production on the basis of higher techniques.

The international situation as described above clearly points to the existence of a sharp struggle between the forces of reaction which defend capitalist exploitation and war, and the forces of the peoples of the world who are struggling for full national independence for all nations, for democracy, peace and Socialism.

The false propaganda of the imperialists and their hirelings always reverses the facts and depicts the present world situation as merely revolving around "an irreconcilable conflict between America and Russia", as if it were only these two major states which are interested and involved in this struggle and as if the Soviet Union were pursuing an imperialist policy just like the American Government. This is the propaganda which the right-wing socialists and other reactionaries are spreading in all parts of the world and this is also what is being spread by the Indonesian right-wing socialist, the Masjumi (reactionary Moslem party, Tr.) leaders and other reactionaries.

The facts are quite different from what the reactionaries propagate at home and abroad. Outwardly, it does indeed seem as if the relations between the USA and other capital countries dominated by it were proceeding well and smoothly. But we would be very much mistaken if we looked at things outwardly only, if we did not see the contradictory forces within. What Stalin says is very correct, that even though the countries of West Europe, Japan and other capitalist countries have already fallen into the clutches of the USA, it is a mistake to think that these countries will tolerate continued domination and oppression by the United States, to think that they will not endeavour to tear themselves away from American bondage and take their own path of Independent development. This is already proven in the day-to-day developments of the relations between the United States and the countries dominated by it, these relations showing increasing evidence of "rebellions" of the countries dominated by the USA against the USA itself. This proves the fallacy of the statement the war cannot break out between the capitalist countries themselves. Theoretically, of course, the contradictions between, capitalism and Socialism are sharper than the contradictions between the capitalist countries. This is correct both before as well as after, the Second World War. But history proves to us that the Second World War did not begin as a war with the Soviet Union but it began as a war between the capitalist states.

There is no peaceful life in the capitalist world because the class contradictions and antagonisms do not guarantee a peaceful and tranquil life for human beings. Exploitation, oppression, antagonism, destruction and war are the specific realities of society in the capitalist world. On the other hand, the uninterrupted advance of the national economy and of the material and cultural life of the people are the specific realities of the world of Socialism and People's Democracy. Genuine mutual assistance and equal rights between nations, and unshakable unity between the governments and their people make the world of Socialism and People's Democracy a mighty, indestructible fortress.

The division of the world into two camps, the capitalist camp on the one hand, and the camp of Socialism and People's Democracy on the other, also means the existence of two economic units and two world markets. On the one hand, there is the capitalist world market, which consists of the imperialist countries together with their spheres of influence and the colonial and semi-colonial countries dominated by them, and on the other hand, there is the democratic world market which consists of the Soviet Union, the Chinese People's Republic and the other People's Democratic states.

The capitalist world market is increasingly being brought under the-domination of American imperialism which is the wealthiest and therefore the most powerful force within-it. By means of exerting pressure on, or completely annihilating, the other imperialist countries and by intensifying the exploitation and oppression of the workers and people in other imperialist countries, the American imperialists are striving to further enrich themselves. The so called "aid" which America gives to other economically weak countries does not lead to good co-operation between the USA and "aided" countries but quite the contrary, it gives rise to resistance and "rebellion". Such an anti-communist as Clement Attlee, leader of the British Labour Party, opposes American "aid" policy with his slogan "Trade, not aid". Attlee’s slogan was prompted not because of his agreement with Communist policy which opposes American "aid", but solely because of the economic interests of British imperialism itself which is being subjected to such strong pressure from America's "aid" policy that it is unable to develop independently.

So-called American "aid" is aimed not at the restoration of peace economies, at satisfying the living requirements of the people of the countries which receive this "aid", but is being used for the expansion of war economies and the production of weapons of mass destruction. And that is not all. By means of this "aid", America is gaining complete control of the "aided" countries not only in the economic and political spheres but also in the military sphere. Unemployment, rising prices, rising taxes, a fall in real wages, etc; all these are normal occurrences prevalent throughout the imperialist world.

In contrast to what is happening in the capitalist camp, in the camp of Socialism and People's Democracy genuine and voluntary co-operation between all nations in the sphere of culture and trade, in the sphere of construction of the national economies in the respective countries, is growing ever closer, as a result of which there is a greater consolidation of the spiritual and material unity between the countries of this camp.

American imperialism with its policy of embargo and blockade prohibits the countries in the capitalist world from having economic and trade relations with the world of Socialism and People's Democracy. On the other hand, the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies are taking concrete measures to restore and extend normal international trade relations with all countries, including the United States. America is afraid of peaceful competition and because of this, is constantly using force against the countries it dominates and is continually trying to provoke the outbreak of a new world war.

These are the developments which have taken place in the world since the Second World War, developments which are clearly unfavourable to the monopoly capitalists and all reactionaries, but on the contrary, are very favourable to the people's independence movement, to the movement of democracy and peace.

2. Some Major Victories of the Peaceful Yearnings of Mankind over the Aggressors

The present international situation is sharply characterised by the major victories won by the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China and the entire camp of peace and democracy in the struggle to ease the tense international situation, in the struggle for peace and for the prevention of a new world war.

People throughout the world joyfully acclaim the armistice in Korea which resulted from more than three years of striving for peace. This was a major victory of the world peace movement, a victory of the peaceful yearnings of millions and millions of people which had become so strong that it was able to compel the aggressors to put a stop to their inhuman acts. With this, the American imperialists desire to force the heroic Korean people to their knees was turned into an empty dream. The struggle waged by the Korean people against the interventionists and their hirelings of the Syng-man Rhee clique has revealed that the fidelity of a country to the cause of national independence and peace gave birth to a mighty force, gave birth to courage and heroism which involved the very broad masses of the people. The Korean people have drawn the whole of mankind to their side. Very moving and unforgettable for the history of mankind is the valour and heroism of the Chinese People's Volunteers who valiantly fought a life and death struggle for the freedom of the homeland of their neighbour and for world peace.

Together with the people of the entire world, the Indonesian people welcomed the armistice in Korea with feelings of joy, deep gratitude, and tribute for the Korean people, the Korean People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers. The speeches made by Professor Prijono and some other leading personalities at a meeting specially held in August, 1953, to greet the Korean armistice, were manifestations of the joy, gratitude and tribute of the Indonesian people for the Korean people. Just as in other countries, so in Indonesia, too, it was only the most criminal of the reactionaries who did not share in the feelings of joy over the achievement of the armistice in Korea.

With the brilliant victory achieved by the world peace-loving forces in Korea, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR stated, among other things, at the session of the Supreme Soviet in August, 1953: "We, Soviet people, ardently wish that the glorious Korean people may live and flourish in peace. The Soviet Union will help the Korean people to heal the drastic wounds caused by the war. The Government has decided to assign 1,000 million rubles for the rehabilitation of Korea's devastated economy." As we know, this proposal of the Soviet Government was adopted unanimously by the Supreme Soviet.

In the western part of the world, the yearnings for peace also scored a great victory with the frustration of the provocative adventures of American imperialism in Berlin in June, 1953. The organisers of these provocations in Germany aimed at smashing the forces of democracy in Germany and destroying the bulwark of the peace-loving forces of the German people, the German Democratic Republic. They want to revert Germany to the Germany of Hitler's times, to convert it into a military state and to re-create a hotbed of war in the heart of Europe. This cannot be allowed to take place and that is why the provocations had to be crushed, and ultimately were indeed crushed. If this had not been done swiftly, then the events in Berlin would have had violent international repercussions and would have brought catastrophe not only to the German people but also to the whole world. The events in Berlin in June, 1953 were but one of the ways in which American imperialism is trying to provoke a new war.

The more progress is made by the movement for democracy and peace to ease international tension, the more hard-pressed the war mongers become, and this makes them, the more panic-stricken. With all their might, they are trying to foil the efforts to ease international tension. This is the reason why the armistice in Korea was constantly postponed, why spring-boards for a new world war have been erected in Germany and Japan, why coups d'etat or attempts at coups d’etat have been carried out in several countries, why provocations have been engineered in countries in the democratic camp and why an atom bomb blackmail policy has been

The aggressors stubbornly oppose every effort to ease international tension. They are afraid of international easement because, if this happens, they will be compelled to reduce their armaments trade which brings in super-profits for their munitions kings. They are afraid of losing their huge profits.

In order to obstruct any lessening of international tension, America is not only not withdrawing her armies from territories which she occupies such as Germany, Austria, Japan, South Korea and so on, but is even strengthening her occupation of these countries and placing her troop in countries such as Britain, France and other West European countries. America is acting in contravention of the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Potsdam Agreement and other international agreements aimed at strengthening peace. Even more than this, America is openly violating all peace agreements by establishing aggressive blocs such as the Atlantic Pact (NATO) which is aimed at preparing a new act of aggression against the Soviet Union, such as the so-called "European Defence Community" and its "European Army" which are aimed at reviving the German fascist army for the needs of American aggression in Europe, and such as ANZUS and a Pacific Pact which are aimed at being a sort of NATO for Asia. All these blocs are presented to the world as blocs with defensive purposes but in actual fact they are a big betrayal of peace. American activities in Viet Nam take the form of sales of arms to French imperialism to murder the peace-loving Vietnamese people. American activities in Iran gave rise to violent internal tension in that country and finally led to a coup d’etat by that agent of American imperialism, the adherent of fascism, Fazlollah Zahedi. This event took place just at the time when discussions were in progress between the Soviet Government and the Mossadegh Government. In his speech before the session of the Supreme Soviet in August 1953, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR said, among other things, on this: "We hope that these negotiations will be successfully concluded. Recently, on mutually advantageous terms, an agreement was reached on increasing the trade turnover between the two countries. It depends on the Teheran Government whether Soviet-Iranian relations will develop along the path of good-neighbourly relations, along the path of expanding economic and cultural relations." Frightened at the prospect of voluntary relations being established between these two peoples, the American Government made preparations for, and finally issued orders for, state power to be seized.

It now becomes clear that, apart from the progress already made by the forces of world peace, another force is at work to increase international tension in the interests of a handful of munitions kings and international political adventurers. They see a relaxation in international tension as a catastrophe for themselves. They have chosen the path of adventure and are continuing to pursue their aggressive policy. International provocations, the so-called "cold war, strategy”, and many other such things all serve this policy.

In his speech before the Supreme Soviet in August, 1953, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR said, among other things, in reference to the present activities of the aggressive forces: "The history of international relations has never before known such widespread subversive activities such crude interference in the internal affairs of states and such systematic provocations as are being carried out today by the forces of aggression”.

Such in short is the international situation during the recent period. Developments in the international situation in this recent period are very favourable for the advance of democracy and peace, but at the same time, the forces of reaction are striving continuously and with all their power to obstruct these healthy developments. Such a situation obliges us to be even more vigilant. We must bear it in mind that the enemies of the people and of humanity will never voluntarily capitulate; on the contrary, they will continue with their sadistic and criminal work against the people and against peace. They will not hesitate to undertake acts of terror and provocation and go on repeating them again and again as happened in the case of the fascist provocations in Berlin in June 1953, and as done numerous times by them to disrupt the economy and peaceful life of the people of the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies. Recently, the top agent of world imperialism, the traitor Beria, has been exposed together with his hirelings who were scattered all over the place. These criminal activities of imperialist agents have been liquidated wherever, they may be. The successes achieved in liquidating the acts of these traitors are a heavy. How to the imperialists and mean that the imperialists are deprived of their most important agents. All this must be a reminder for the people's movement, both nationally and internationally.

The reactionaries who are everywhere in a hard-pressed position cannot take any other path than that of intimidation, provocation, sabotage, blackmail, terror, and finally coup d’etat. We can see this both abroad and in Indonesia itself. That is why all these matters are no longer theoretical for the Indonesian people but have already become practical questions.

The international situation as described above places heavy responsibilities on the shoulders of all democracy and peace-loving peoples and thus also on the shoulders of the people of Indonesia.

The Indonesian people should not be "neutral” on the question of peace and war. A "neutral" attitude benefits the war-mongers and weakens the struggle for peace because, by adopting a "neutral' attitude, we cannot possibly mobilise the masses to oppose war and defend peace to the end.

There are, in Indonesia, two types of "neutral" or "independent" attitudes towards the forces of peace headed by the Soviet Union, and towards the forces which want to bring about a new world war headed by American imperialism.

The first type of "neutral” or "independent" attitude is that consciously put forward to deceive the people by the agents of imperialism such as the right-wing socialist leaders and the leaders of the Masjumi Party. They know that they would meet with very strong opposition from the people if they openly agreed to war and sided with America. That is why they put on the mask of "neutrality" or "independence". The Masjumi leaders, Sukiman, Subardjo and Wibisono, who carried out the August (1951, Tr.) mass arrests on the orders of American imperialism, spoke in their government programme of an "independent" foreign policy. In the same way, too, the right-wing socialists also speak empty phrases about a "neutral" policy, an "independent" policy or a "third force" policy in order to conceal their faithful servitude to imperialism. It is becoming increasingly clear to the Indonesian people what the meaning of this "neutral'' or "independent" foreign policy of the PSI (right-wing socialist party, led by Sutan Sjahrir, Tr.), the Masjumi and other reactionaries is. We must expose and explain the real meaning of this "neutral" or "independent” policy in order to prevent it from poisoning the minds of the people.

The second type of "neutral" or "independent” attitude is that adopted by people who, because of insufficient understanding, because of naivety, think that there is some mystical force which can take its stand between peace and war. This group comprises a very large section of our people including large numbers of the common people. The Communists must be patient in convincing this group of people whose understanding is insufficient or who are naive. We must convince them that their wavering attitude harms the cause of peace, it harms Indonesia. With a wavering attitude, the mighty forces of the people cannot possibly be roused to defend world peace and defend a peaceful atmosphere in Indonesia. Every consequence of their hesitation which is proved to be harmful to the cause of world peace and to a peaceful atmosphere in Indonesia must be immediately exposed and their attitude which has been proved to be mistaken criticised.

A peace policy, as the First Secretary of the CPSU said, is in no sense a question of "tactics" or a "political manoeuvre”; it is the general line of our policy in the field of foreign affairs, that is, the only correct line for our Party at the present time and in the future.

What is the aim of the peace movement? In his book, “Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR", J. V. Stalin explained that "the object of the present day peace movement is to rouse the masses of the people, to fight for the preservation of peace and for the prevention of another world war" and that "the aim of this, movement is not to overthrow, capitalism and establish Socialism—it confines itself to the democratic aim of preserving peace”. Thus, the peace movement must be a movement which is as broad as possible, it must include the broadest sections of all trends and convictions.'

In relation with the defence of world peace, we must he conscious of the fact that the danger of war threatens Indonesia more than it does the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies because American imperialism, as it prepares its forces for war, is fast interested in dominating countries which are weak. The peace movement is therefore, in the first place, in our own interests, in the interests of Indonesia and the Indonesian people.

Above all, the Indonesian people must exert all their energies to preventing the outbreak of a new world war. We must prevent Indonesia from being drawn into war. We must resolutely uphold the principle that there is no international issue or dispute which cannot be solved peacefully by negotiations between the countries concerned.

In relation with the defence of world peace, we must expand and consolidate the peace which has been achieved in Korea by demanding that all foreign armies be withdrawn from Korean territory and that the entire territory of Korea be peacefully unified into one state under the leadership of one democratic, national, Korean government. We must fight to achieve the same results in Viet Nam as have already been achieved in Korea so that the entire peace-loving Vietnamese people can live a free and prosperous life.

In relation with the defence of world peace, we must oppose and prevent the restoration of Japanese and German militarism which American imperialism is now reviving. As we oppose the revival of militarism in Japan, we must declare ourselves at one with the Japanese people who are resisting the American army’s occupation of their fatherland, who are struggling to free themselves from the political and economic clutches of American imperialism, to establish normal diplomatic and trade relations with all countries, particularly with the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China which is very important to Japan's economy and to achieve complete independence for Japan. In order to prevent the revival of militarism in Germany, the entire territory and people of Germany must be united peacefully into one democratic German state with one national government of the German people themselves and without interference from any foreign state whatsoever. A peace treaty, which has been constantly postponed for eight years by American imperialism's policy in Germany, must immediately be concluded with this democratic German state. In this way, the German people will take their proper place in the family of democratic and peace-loving nations.

to bring about the establishment of normal and free international trade relations between the West and the East, between all countries of the world on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and non interference in the internal affairs of other countries. In order to strengthen friendly relations in an atmosphere of peace among all nations, the exchange of people's delegations between states must be increased.

In relation with the defence of world peace, the Indonesian people must support every people's struggle for the achievement of complete independence such as is being waged by the people in Malaya, the Philippines, Burma, Siam, India, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Iran and other countries, because the national independence of every nation is of importance to world peace and to Indonesia itself.

In relation with the defence of world peace, we must firmly oppose Holland's shameless policy towards West Irian (West New Guinea, Tr.). which is a legal part of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia. The Annual Report of the Dutch Ministry of foreign Affairs and the Statement made by Queen Juliana at the opening of the Dutch Parliament on September 15th, 1953, declared that the Dutch Government sees no point in resuming negotiations with Indonesia on the status of West Irian. In other words, the Dutch Government no longer regards West Irian as a territory of dispute between Holland and Indonesia. This is the clearest proof that Dutch imperialism is, at will, violating the agreement that it made with Indonesia, that Dutch imperialism, with the full support of American imperialism, wants to continue to maintain the old form of colonialism in West Irian. For Indonesia, continued Dutch domination of West Irian is just the same as continuously holding the Republic of Indonesia up at pistol point.

The realisation of all measures aimed at peace will be easier if the international body, the United Nations Organisation, can speedily be restored to its proper function as laid down in the Charter of the United Nations. This international body must be able once again to become the instrument and place for the peaceful settlement of all international issues and disputes. The practice up until now, where UNO has, in practice, become the appendage of the American State Department must be brought to an end as quickly as possible. A Labour Party member of the British Parliament, D. Jay, realising that UNO is being monopolised by the USA, stated to an AFP correspondent, in relation to the armistice in Korea and New China’s entry into UNO, that “the British people have, on the whole, decided not to take part in an all-out war against the Chinese People's Republic. They want UNO to become a platform for the settlement of disputes and to uphold the law, but not to be turned into an anti-Communist club", (AFP report, September 17th, 1953). This statement of a Labour Party member should not be considered by us as being an expression of agreement with Communism but simply as being prompted by the economic situation in Britain which is approaching ever closer to bankruptcy because of the continuous pressure being exerted on her by America. If UNO is to be restored to its proper function, in accordance with the United Nations Charter then an important condition is that a rightful place be given to the Chinese People's Republic as a member of UNO, representing as it does a population of more than 600 millions, and that the Kuomintang clique which up till now is still illegally occupying a place in this international body, be expelled.

A decisive factor for the realisation of all the ideals of mankind is the reaching of agreement on all international questions between the great powers, the United States of America, the Soviet Union, the Chinese People’s Republic, Britain and France. That is why the struggle for the signing of a Peace Pact between the Big Five is an important struggle of decisive significance.

The Indonesian people would greatly benefit if the Indonesian government which today, within certain limits, has the support of the people, were consistently to pursue a peace policy, were consistently to pursue the good-neighbour policy which is already practised with the Philippines, Burma, India, etc, by expending it to our great neighbour, the Chinese People's Republic, and to our heroic neighbours, the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Viet Nam Democratic Republic. The implementation of this foreign policy will only be advantageous to the Indonesian people and will give the Republic of Indonesia its respected place in international inter course and relations.

1. To continue the Struggle for peace, for the prevention of a new world war and to struggle for the peaceful settlement of all international disputes by negotiation; to struggle for co-operation between Indonesia and all peace-loving countries with the object of preserving' peace and preventing war.

2. To struggle for economic and cultural co-operation between Indonesia and all countries on the basis of mutual advantage and complete equality; to support all people's struggles for complete national independence.

3. To help consolidate the peace victory in Korea and to struggle for an armistice on the Viet Nam front like that already achieved in Korea; to oppose the revival of militarism in Japan and Germany and resist all provocations aimed at the outbreak of a new war in Germany.

4. To struggle so that the position of the United Nations complies with the United Nations Charter as an instrument of mankind for peace; to struggle for the Chinese People's Republic's acceptance as a member of UNO and for the conclusion of a Peace Pact between the Five Great Powers (the

5. To struggle for the abrogation of all treaties and agreements now in force between Indonesia and other countries which jeopardise Indonesia's independence and disturb the peaceful atmosphere in Indonesia.

1. Indonesia's Semi-Colonial Status Results in Perpetual Economic Crisis. The Way Out is by Liquidating the Semi Colonial Status and Replacing it by a System of People's Democracy

For the past three and a half years, the CPI has unceasingly and tirelessly explained to the people that the Round Table Conference agreement drawn up by Hatta and Sultan Abdul Hamid with the Dutch government is a colonial agreement, an agreement which was not made on the basis of equality between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Kingdom.

In the beginning, there were many people who believed Hatta when he said that the RTC agreement means "the liquidation of colonial power over Indonesia". But gradually this deception of the imperialists and the domestic reactionaries has been exposed, thanks to explanations made by the Communists and other democratic groups and because of the bitter experiences the people themselves have suffered as a consequence of the RTC agreement. Now, the entire people understand that the "transfer of sovereignty" which was given on the basis of this RTC agreement by the Dutch Kingdom to Indonesia, is purely illusory, the biggest farce ever to have been put on in the entire history of the Indonesian people.

Through the RTC agreement, Dutch imperialism has succeeded in preserving its control over Indonesia, Indonesia has become a member of the so-called Indonesian-Dutch Union. Indonesia's foreign and foreign trade policies are controlled by the Dutch Government. West Irian, a legal part of the Republic of Indonesia, is still completely under Dutch domination. Vital economic resources still remain in the hands of imperialist countries. Dutch civil and military officials still remain in control of the Indonesian state machinery and the army.

The RTC agreement has turned independent and sovereign Indonesia into a semi-colonial country, that is, a country which seemingly possesses the "right of self-government", but in actual fact, the real power, especially in the economic sphere, remains in the hands of the imperialists, especially the Dutch imperialists.

Various kinds of demagogy, such as talk of reconstruction, industrialisation and the prosperity of the country, have been carried out by reactionaries to deceive the people. All this is demagogy; big words without any basis in fact, so long as Indonesia's economy is still controlled by the foreign monopoly capitalists. This demagogy does not bring Indonesia any nearer to reconstruction, industrialisation and prosperity, but takes her farther away. Quite the contrary, Indonesia is now in the grip of a perpetual economic crisis and is on the verge of ruin.

The fact that Indonesia is in the grip of an economic crisis is proven by figures of the Government itself as well as by facts evident in society. The Ali Sastroamidjojo Government, which bears the consequences of the economic and financial policies of the Hatta, Natsir and Sukiman Governments and most recently of Sumitro's policy (right-wing socialist Finance Minister, Tr.) during the Wilopo Cabinet, declared in its government reply to Parliament on September 2nd, 1953, that the budget deficit for the first seven months of 1953 had already reached 1,600 million rupiahs (11.40 rupiah= U.S. $1.0 Tr.) According to estimates made by the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government, the budget deficit for 1953 will be approximately 2,500 million rupiahs. This figure is almost as big as the amount which must be paid abroad as "invisibles" and which exceeded 2,300 million rupiahs during 1953. A large part of this sum is repayment for foreign capital invested in the past, the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government has admitted. The payment abroad of large amounts as invisibles at present is, according to the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government itself, a result of Indonesia's present economic structure and of the foreign investment policy carried out during the colonial period which is still in force today. Side by side with the Indonesian Republic's huge budget deficit, foreign monopoly capital is, by devious means, extracting extra-ordinarily large profits abroad.

In reference to exports, the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government has declared that the serious setbacks in 1953 were caused not by the volume of exports but by their prices. Thus, exports are still large but it is their prices which have fallen. This has been caused by American imperialism's price-pressure policy through the medium of the single-buyer system and through the blockade and embargo policies. The total volume of Indonesian exports and, self-evidently at the same time, the prices of the exported goods, could be very greatly increased if Indonesia were free to fix her own trade relations with foreign countries, if she were not tied by America's blockade and embargo policy. As an example, it is very striking how the American price dictatorship, through the Rubber Study Group, shamelessly determined that improved rubber prices can only be expected in 1957. And yet, outside the market of the American bloc, there are countries prepared to buy Indonesian rubber and the rubber of other countries at reasonable prices.

Indonesia's import policy, too, seriously harms the national economy due to American imperialism's policy which forces Indonesia to buy goods, the type and price of which are both fixed by the USA, due to the fact that foreign importers still dominate, due to the devaluation of the rupiah and to Sumitro's foreign exchange regulations. Based on the RTC agreement, Indonesia must pay a commission to Holland for all its exports as well as its imports.

In order to divert people's attention from the large-scale exploitation and from the phenomenal profits that are being extracted from Indonesia by the foreign monopoly capitalists, the reactionaries talk in demagogic phrases about cooperatives. In a radio-speech on July 12th, 1953, in connection with the third anniversary of Cooperative Day, Mohammad Hatta (Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia, ultra-reactionary leader of the Indonesian compradore cliques, Tr.) proudly declared that, if a comparison were made between 1951 and 1952 figures, it would be seen that the number of cooperatives had increased by 2,000 (to a total of 7,700), the number of members had increased by 179,000 (to a total of 1,180,000) while cooperative savings had risen to beyond 56 million rupiahs. In his speech Hatta very greatly over-exaggerated the significance of these cooperatives of middleclass people. In fact, these thousands of small-scale cooperatives with their total capital of 56 million rupiahs have no significance if compared with the huge amounts of untouched capital of the foreign monopolists in Indonesia. The fate of these cooperatives will not differ from that of "a small fish placed in a small pond together with a big fish". In a twinkle of an eye, the big fish can, if he wants to, put an end to the very existence of the small one. In a country which is under the constant threat of economic crisis, cooperatives do not have a good future; in due course, they will be destroyed by foreign monopoly capital, the more so if these cooperatives dare to intrude into the sphere of operations of foreign monopoly capital. But intrusion into the sphere of operations of foreign monopoly capital is an illusion for cooperatives a la Hatta. Thus, the Hatta mode of cooperative is not an efficacious remedy for economic crisis; it is only an attempt to distract attention so that the people's struggle is not aimed at liquidating foreign monopoly capital in Indonesia.

In an Indonesia which is in the grip of economic crisis, it is self-evident that the living standards of the people have fallen very much and will fall even more as time goes by. The Indonesian workers wage is extremely low while real wages are constantly falling due to the continuous rise in prices. Unemployment is continually on the increase. The Indonesian peasants who comprise 70% of the population, are still in a position of slavery, living a poverty-stricken and backward life under the oppression of the land lords and usurers. The Indonesian intelligentsia too have no bright prospects in an Indonesia which is constantly in the pip of economic crisis because a poverty-stricken Indonesia does not make the development of science and culture possible. The deterioration in the living standards of the people is fertile soil for the enemies of the Republic to spread their movement of terror in the form of the Darul Islam, TII (imperialist-led terrorist gangs, cloaked under the guise of religious organisations striving for the establishment of an imperialist inspired, anti-democratic Islam State, Tr.) and other gangs.

All these above-mentioned facts are more and more profoundly convincing the majority of the Indonesian people, namely the workers, peasants, intelligentsia, the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, that the colonial economic system must be abolished and replaced by a national economic system. The abolition of the colonial economy and its replacement by a national economy is only possible by annulling the entire RTC agreement because precisely its basic contents are concerned with economic power. In this way, the majority of the Indonesian people are becoming convinced that the only path to reconstruction, industrialisation and prosperity is, the path of complete national independence and democratic changes, that is, the establishment of a system of People's Democracy.

2. Development of the United National Front

Under the present circumstances, when the RTC agreement must be revoked, when intervention fronts America and other countries must be resisted, when Japanese militarism which is being revived by American imperialism must once more be opposed, when Indonesia must be freed from the Indonesian Dutch Union, when West Irian must be defended as Indonesian Republican territory and when the DI-TII and other terrorist gangs must be smashed, it is a very urgent task for the working class to further strengthen its unity. The unity of the Indonesian workers is getting stronger with every passing day. The resolution adopted by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPI in March 1952 on the Tasks of the United Workers Front acted as an important stimulus to the Indonesian worker's struggle for their direct economic and political demands, in uniting them and consolidating their organisation.

As it strengthens its unity, the working class gives the lead to the formation of a united national front which is growing just as it should be, throughout the entire country. All Indonesians, men and women, who agree to complete national independence for the Indonesian fatherland and who agree to peace, without any distinction of political belief, religious creed and social position, back the united national front.

Under the leadership of the Party, propaganda has been started to explain that the struggle of the masses is not only able to secure the fulfilment of a certain economic demand, is not only able to secure the realization of a certain direct political objective, but can also guarantee much greater victories. The struggle of the masses cannot only result in a change of government which may have no significance, whatsoever because the new government continues to pursue the old governments policy (Hatta's government was replaced by Natsir’s and Natsir's government was replaced by Sukiman’s) but, and this is most important, the struggle of the masses can also bring about a change in policy. The formation of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government is proof of this truth, and this event has given the incentive to the masses to achieve greater political changes.

The interests of the Indonesian workers and peasants, the interests of the entire Indonesian people, men and women demand that everything possible be done to foil the criminal actions of the Masjumi and the PSI leaders and other reactionaries who, on the orders of a foreign state, carry out anti-people, anti-democratic, anti-national and anti-Indonesian activities. We must foil every one of their manoeuvres everywhere, inside as well as outside Parliament, legal as well as illegal. Foiling their manoeuvres means foiling the operations of Dutch, American and British imperialism in the economic, political, military and cultural spheres in our country.

It cannot be denied that, at present, there are still many Indonesian men and women who cannot yet accept some parts of our Party's Programme although we Communists regard our Party's programme as the only one which completely suits the requirements of our country at present and in the future. But even so, there is much evidence to show that a large majority of Indonesian men and women can now agree to certain parts of the Communist Party programme and, based on these sections of the programme, it is possible to establish a strong and powerful united national front which will determine economic and political objectives in accordance with the demands of the present time and struggle for their realisation.

The united national front which is being built up by our Party is one which unites Indonesian men and women of all political beliefs, religious convictions and social positions and is self-evidently based on a common desire to overcome the economic crisis which constantly strangulates Indonesia, to prevent Indonesia from being dragged into an aggressive pact by American imperialism, to defend West Irian as a part of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, to oppose the rearming of Japan, to hold high the banners of democracy and struggle for complete national independence for Indonesia.

Based on common desires, the united national front can also pursue an economic, financial and social policy within the framework of a peaceful economy which can guarantee the development of industry and agriculture in Indonesia, which cap meet the direct needs of the workers, which can give land to the landless peasants or the peasants with inadequate land which can develop trade on the basis of mutual benefit with all countries and which can build a large number of houses so badly needed by the population.

Based on the full support of the entire Indonesian people, men and women, the united national front must also, defend democratic liberties from all attacks launched by reaction and fascism. The struggle of the Indonesian people during the past few years proves that national unity, even though not yet very strong was able to defeat the fascist August mass arrests of the Sukiman-Subardjo-Wibisono Government in 1951, it was able to frustrate the coup d’etat which the right-wing socialists and militarists tried to carry out on October 17th, 1952, and was also able to press for the formation of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government whose programme is fairly democratic and which does not include compradore and landlord elements from the Masjumi and compradore elements from the PSI. In the same way, too, with this as yet not very powerful national unity, the movement to smash the Darul Islam TII and other terrorist gangs is expanding and growing stronger. Thus a united national front which has its roots in every section of our people and which mobilizes the people into the struggle, will make it easier to give more convincing proof as to the falsity of the statements of Masjumi, PSI and other reactionary leaders about the necessity for Indonesia to become part of the Dutch Kingdom or part of the United States, about the “sacredness” of the objectives of the fight being waged by the Darul Islam and the TII and about the "services” of foreign monopoly capital to the construction of Indonesia. This is why the Masjumi, PSI and other reactionary leaders are deadly afraid of the united national front, because they know that it is the forces of the people unified in a united national front that will expose their foul actions and that will foil every one of their anti-democratic and anti-Indonesian deeds.

Only a united national front, which unites the Communists with all other patriots, can fix a policy which conforms with the interests of the Indonesian fatherland and nation and can ensure the formation of a government which is prepared to implement this policy. And it is indeed a fact that a change in policy is only possible with the help of the struggle waged by the Communists for the broadest possible united action within the framework of a powerful united national front, capable of pressing for such changes. Defenders of anti-Communism such as Sukiman, Jusuf Wibisono, Sjahrir, Hatta, Natsir and others will be considered by all national minded people as ridiculous political clowns.

The united national front is the most democratic front both in its composition and methods of work. The united national front draws together the great majority of the people. All Indonesian men and women who do not favour the foreign colonisation of Indonesia must unite within this front or give it their backing. Only when it has been possible to unite the majority of the Indonesian people shall we be able to speak of a real, broad and strong united national front. It is because of this that we cannot possibly speak of a real broad and strong united national front until the peasants have been drawn into it because in our country the peasants comprise more than 70% of the population. The non-participation of the peasants means the non-participation of the majority of the Indonesian people and this is a very great weakness in our united national front. As yet, only about 7% of the peasants are organised. This is a very small amount.

Because of this, the primary task of the Communists is to draw the peasants into the united national front. This means that in order that the peasants can be drawn in, the most immediate task of Indonesian Communists is to eliminate the survivals of feudalism to develop the anti-feudal agrarian revolution, to confiscate the land of the landlords and give it free of charge to the peasants, in particular to the landless and poor peasants, as their own private property. The first step to be taken in our work among the peasants is to assist them in the struggle for their everyday needs, for the achievement of their partial demands. In this way, it will mean organising and educating the peasants to a higher level of struggle. This is the foundation on which to create the alliance, of workers and peasants as the basis of a powerful, united national front.

The agrarian revolution is the essence of the People's Democratic revolution in Indonesia. The agrarian revolution is the condition for construction, industrialisation and economic prosperity in Indonesia. If the peasants are impoverished, landless or possessing inadequate land, it is not possible to bring about construction, industrialisation and economic prosperity in the country. Hence, the primary and indispensible condition for the construction of Indonesia, for its industrialisation and for the country's economic prosperity is the realisation of the slogan: "land to the peasants."

Laying the centre of gravity of work on drawing the peasants in does not in any way mean that work among the workers, intelligentsia, petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie in the towns may be neglected. Neither does it mean that the establishment of blocs of co-operation with other parties and organizations may be neglected. The experiences of the Indonesian people teach that the creation of blocs of co-operation both inside as well as outside Parliament, with other parties and organisations, can reap benefits of not inconsiderable significance, for example, in defeating the Sukiman August mass arrests in 1951, in frustrating the attempted coup of the right-wing socialists and militarists on October 17th, 1952, in forming the Wilopo Cabinet in 1952 and in forming the Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet in 1953 which, under the pressure of the people, has promised to pursue a democratic programme in accordance with the demands raised at the public rallies and demonstrations of the people.

There are some Party members who, after having, briefly studied the experiences of the Chinese revolution are of the opinion that since the most important thing is to rouse the peasants to participate in the struggle, all Communists must therefore leave the towns and work among the peasants. This opinion is, of course, incorrect. It is first of all necessary to point out that the Chinese Communists never under-estimated the significance of work among the workers. Just the opposite, they attached great significance to work in the towns, particularly at the time guerrilla warfare was being waged outside the towns. Secondly, we must pay attention to the fact that there are certain differences between Indonesia and China geographically and in the question of political developments.

The CPI must continue to carry out its work among the workers, the intellectuals, the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie in the towns. The spirit of the intelligentsia and studying youth, and their determination to serve the working people is of great significance to the revolutionary movement. This has already been proven by the experiences of the struggle of the Indonesian people themselves.

From the above statement, it is clear that the only correct political line of the CPI is to form an alliance of workers and peasants and on this basis to build a united national front. Based on the concrete situation in our country, based on the possibilities and capabilities of our Party, it is the task of our Party to establish both these at the same time, that is, to build the alliance of workers and peasants on the basis of a revolutionary agrarian programme, and simultaneously, to improve and strengthen the united national front in the form of blocs of co-operation with other parties and organisations.

The main enemy of the Indonesian people, from the viewpoint of the extent of its domination in various spheres, particularly in the economic sphere, is Dutch imperialism. Therefore, the united national front must be directed, in the first place, at liquidating Dutch imperialism and not at liquidating all foreign imperialisms in Indonesia at one and the same time. In the first place, the aim of this front must be the expulsion of the Dutch imperialists and their armed forces from Indonesia, the confiscation and nationalization of the property of the Dutch Imperialists, the withdrawal of Indonesia from the Indonesian-Dutch Union and the proclamation of complete Independence for Indonesia. But, in the event of American and other imperialisms giving armed support to the Dutch colonisers and their Indonesian hirelings, then the struggle must be directed against all Imperialisms in Indonesia; their property must be confiscated and nationalised.

3. The Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet was Formed as a Result of the Contradictions between the Domestic Ruling Circles and under the Pressure of the People’s Unity

As a result of the contradictions between the domestic ruling cliques and under the pressure of the people's unity, the ultra-reactionary Sukiman Government fell and was replaced by the Wilopo Government which promised to take democratic measures. It was, indeed, subsequently proven that the Wilopo Government did, in the first months after its formation, carry out some democratic measures.

The CPI and all the democratic forces quickly withdrew their support from the Wilopo Government after it became clear that this Government was introducing anti-democratic and anti-national measures, owing to the weakness of the democratic elements within it and because of the policies of the reactionary Masjumi and PSI ministers. The Wilopo Government later fell as a result of the contradictions between the domestic ruling cliques and under the pressure of the democratic forces.

As a result of the contradictions between the ruling forces within the country, and under the pressure of the people's unity, there was formed on July 30th, 1953, after almost two months of government crisis, the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government which has a more democratic and clear-cut programme than that of the Wilopo Government. In the same way as with the Wilopo Government before it began to take anti-democratic and anti-national measures, the CPI has given its support to the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government.

The CPI's attitude towards the Wilopo Government and towards the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government is a correct one. The CPI will give any government the opportunity to work on condition that it gives the chance to the people's movement to develop. The CPI bases its policy on a Marxist analysis of the concrete situation and the balance of forces. It would0 be adventurism if the CPI, because it hoped for the formation of a better cabinet, were to withhold its support from the present Ali Sastroamidjojo Government which could result in the government falling into the power of the ultra-reactionary Masjumi and PSI parties which would certainly fiercely suppress the people's movement. But the CPI does not regard the present Ali Sastroamidjojo Government as a united national front government or as a truly progressive government.

The present unstable situation in Indonesia can develop as follows:

Firstly: Under pressure from the masses, the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government can give certain concessions to the people, the people's movement might forge ahead somewhat and the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government thus retain its position.

Secondly: The Ali Sastroamidjojo Government, it if takes antidemocratic and anti-national measures owing to the weakness of the democratic elements within it, might have the same experience as the Wilopo Government, i.e. it will be forced to resign by the democratic forces under whose pressure a government will be formed which better fulfils the conditions to act democratically and resolutely.

Thirdly: The reactionaries and imperialists, taking advantage of the government's policy aimed at restricting the people's movement which results in its not getting the support of the people, might overthrow the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government and install a reactionary government in its stead.

Fourthly: The Ali Sastroamidjojo Government, availing itself of the support of the people to strengthen its own position and, thereby get Holland to make certain concessions, might at the same time, because of its fear of the popular movement spreading change its present halfway policy and, together with the Imperialists and reactionaries, launch an attack on the people.

The Communist Party of Indonesia and the Indonesian people must be vigilant; they must be ready to face all possible eventualities. The CPI and the Indonesian people must push the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government forward so that it is willing to make concessions to the people thus enabling the people’s movement to make certain advances. But if the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government goes to the right, then the CPI and the Indonesian people must also be ready to face this.

The formation of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government is an important lesson for the Indonesian people. It teaches that a mass struggle is not only capable of realising direct economic demands and political objectives, but also that with a mass struggle, changes can be brought about in policy, that with a mass struggle, a rather progressive government can be formed. The Ali Sastroamidjojo Government has solved the land question in Tandjung Morawa (East Sumatra, Tr.) in a way different from the reactionary policies which the Masjumi and PSI tried to force on the people through the Wilopo Government. The Ali Sastroamidjojo Government's decision on the land question in Tandjung Morawa has been enthusiastically, welcomed by the peasants. The Indonesian people must constantly press for the consistent Implementation of all those democratic sections of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government's programme in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the Indonesian people. This is the guarantee that the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government can keep with the Indonesian people for a long period of time. And this is also the guarantee that the anti-democratic, anti-national and anti-Indonesian policies of the Masjumi, the PSI and other reactionary leaders will meet with failure every time.

The political defeat of the Masjumi, PSI and other reactionary leaders has made them increasingly panic-stricken. The political links between them and the Dutch and American imperialists, with the DI and TII terrorist gangs, with the militarist who were involved in the attempted coup on October 17th, 1952, and influenced also by the temporary successes achieved by the American-organised coup under the leadership of the fascist Zahedi in Iran, represent concrete dangers for Indonesia. This situation places heavier responsibilities on the shoulders of every Communist and every Indonesian patriot.

The Tasks of the Party in the Sphere of Internal Affairs are as follows:

1. To prevent the collapse of Indonesia, being brought about by the uninterrupted economic crisis, by struggling for the annulment of the RTC agreement, for complete national independence and for democratic changes; to free Indonesia from the Indonesian-Dutch Union and defend West Irian as territory of the Republic of Indonesia.

2. To carry out day-to-day work among the workers, peasants and other masses of the people; to build the alliance of workers and peasants and to improve and strengthen the united national front.

3. To hold high the banners of parliamentary democracy which the Masjumi and PSI leaders would like to destroy and mobilise the masses to crush the DI-TII, as well as other terrorist gangs.

4. To support the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government and press it to give democratic liberties to the people in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

5. To raise the level of the political activities of the people, to strengthen patriotism and cultivate political vigilance against provocations, intimidation, terrorism and coups by the imperialists and domestic reactionaries.

III. THE PARTY

1. The Relation between the Correctness of the Party’s Political Line and the Building of the Party

The Plenum of the Central Committee held in January, 1951, during which criticism and self-criticism was carried out among the members of the Central Committee in connection with ideological and political deviations among some members of the Central Committee, and which ended in a victory of proletarian ideology, and policy over non-proletarian ideology and policy has had a good effect on the development of our Party. In the same way, too, the birth of a draft Party Constitution at the Plenum of the Central Committee in April, 1951, became a great incentive for the development of the Party throughout Indonesia, for raising the political level of the Party, for the development of inner Party democracy, for the practice of criticism and self-criticism within the Party, for strengthening Party discipline and for ideological unity and unity of strength of the Party.

Many events have taken place since that historic Plenum of the Central Committee. These events have given training to the members, cadres and leaders of our Party. Our Party has been trained to utilise to the maximum every existing opportunity to extend the Party's influence and intensify the building of the Party. In the midst of continuous blows from the reactionaries, our Party was confronted with basic and most urgent problems to solve: firstly, the problem of building a united national front based on the alliance of workers and peasants, and secondly, the problem of building a bolshevised Communist Party of Indonesia which is nationwide in scale and has a broad mass character, which is fully consolidated in the ideological, political and organisational spheres.

The mass arrests carried out by Sukiman in August, 1951, were a severe test for our Party because they occurred when the Political Bureau, elected at the January, 1951 Plenum, had only been working for six months to consolidate the Party, and in a situation when the Party's links with the masses, especially with the peasant masses, were not yet close. The difficulties the Party had in overcoming the Sukiman August mass arrests were also caused by incorrect methods of work of candidate members, members and cadres of the Party due to the fact that there were still many sectarian elements, that there were still capitulationist and adventurist elements within the Party.

The correct tactics laid down by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at that time, namely, the tactics of separating the national bourgeoisie from the ultra-reactionary compradore bourgeoisie headed by Sukiman-Subardjo-Wibisono, were of a decisive, character in defeating the Sukiman August mass arrests. After an intensive campaign of explanation, these tactics were unanimously supported by the entire Party and by the masses who were under the leadership of the Party. Articles in the “Bintang Merah” served as important directives to Party cadres and members to overcome the danger of fascism at that time. The Party's tactics were successful; the ultra-reactionary government headed by Sukiman-Subardjo-Wibisono became increasingly isolated and was finally forced to resign. The national bourgeoisie itself began to lean a little to the left and gradually took up its proper place, that is, together with the workers, peasants and urban petty bourgeoisie in the struggle to resist the compradores and Dutch imperialism.

The correctness of the Party's political line had a very great influence on the work of building the Party and on the development of the Party. The masses grew increasingly confident in the Party's leadership and policy. Some members who at the beginning of the August mass arrests had become rather panicky because they remembered the cruelties of the reactionaries at the time of the "Madiun Affair" (a provocation launched in September, 1948, by the imperialists and the Hatta-Sukiman clique, during which many thousands of Communists and progressive people were arrested and murdered, Tr.) which they thought would be repeated in the August mass arrests, regained their courage and enthusiasm. Sukiman did not succeed in creating a second "Madiun Affair” because everywhere he struck up against the democratic forces.

On the directives of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, inner-Party democracy as well as criticism and self-criticism were cultivated. After passing through a process of criticism and self-criticism in the Party groups, branches, fractions and committees, courage and enthusiasm to work was restored in all Party organisations. Efforts to strengthen the ideology of Party members were begun for the first time in the history of our Party during the period of the August mass arrests by what were called "theoretical discussions” which were held periodically, side by side with what were called "discussions on practical work" which were also held periodically in Party groups, branches, fractions and committees, inner-Party democracy, criticism and self-criticism, and discussions on theoretical questions and everyday activities have now become a habit in our Party. This is an advance of inestimable value to the development of our Party. At the same time, the Party spirit has been constantly growing among Party candidate-members, members and cadres, in accordance with the development of the Party in all spheres. All this could not possibly have happened formerly because of the lack of unity within, and the liberal character of the leadership.

One important event which took place at the end of the August mass arrests was the National Party Conference which was held at the beginning of 1952. In this National Conference, the Party's policy, towards the Sukiman-Subardjo-Wibisono Government, the question of annihilating the DI and TII terrorist gangs, of building a united front with the national bourgeoisie, of strengthening the ideological level of the Party, of increasing the membership and other organisational questions were thoroughly discussed. The discussion on all points made at this National Conference led to the conclusion that it was necessary to eliminate sectarianism, capitulationism and adventurism as a guarantee that the Conference decisions could be realised.

In the National Conference, it was deeply felt how close the relationship is between the question of the Party’s political line and that of its up-building. The Party’s political line which placed the centre of gravity of the Party’s task on building a united national front against the ultra-reactionary Sukiman Government, could only be carried out if the most important organisational question of the time were solved, namely, the expansion of Party membership and of the Party organisation. With the number of members and candidates-members at that time standing at 7,910 and with such a small and narrow Party organization it was not possible to carry out the broad and heavy political task as explained above, i.e. to bring about the downfall of the Sukiman Government which was fully supported by American imperialism.

Bearing in mind the fact that the amount of work facing the Party was so great that many cadres were having to take up as many as seven different functions in the Party leadership and in the mass organisations, and bearing in mind the fact that the correctness of the Party's policy and the continuous decrease of sectarian elements within the Party had attracted an extraordinarily large mass of people who wanted to join the Party, the Political-Bureau made plans for an expansion of membership. The National Conference approved the Political Bureau's plan to expand membership from 7,910 to one hundred thousand in a period of six months.

The plan for the expansion of membership gave rise to a great amount of activity among the candidate-members, members and cadres of the Party. The plan of membership expansion concluded with the result of 126,671 candidate-members and members which meant that the plan had been exceeded. At the same time as this plan for the increase of membership was in progress, the question of organising candidate-members and members, the question of political education, of raising the ideological level, of allocating cadres and of strengthening political vigilance were also solved. An educational campaign based on a fixed plan was also undertaken for candidate-members, members and cadres and also for the masses of the people.

The activities of the Party during the August mass arrests in building the united national front and in building the Party were the most important factor for the development of the forces of democracy. The contradictions among the ruling cliques themselves and the pressure of the democratic forces had resulted in the downfall of the Sukiman-Government which was replaced by a fairly advanced government, the Wilopo Government. The Party gave this government the opportunity to work in an effort to prevent the government from falling back into the hands of the Sukirman-Hatta clique and so as to give the opportunity to the Party and to other democratic forces to develop and strengthen themselves.

During the period of the Wilopo Government, the Party improved and strengthened its work of building the united national front. The improved work of the Party in building the united national front resulted in improvements for the development of the Party, and the converse was also true; as the work to build the Party improved, so the work to build the united national front also improved.

Whereas members and candidate-members of the Party had formerly numbered less than 10,000 and the Party’s organisation had only extended to Java and Sumatra and was isolated from the other democratic classes and groups, in 1952 it was possible to increase membership to over 100,000, to expand the Party to Madura, Sulawesi (Celebes, Tr.), Kalimantan (Borneo, Tr.), the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccas, and to win the sympathy and support of broad sections of the democratic elements outside the Party.

The correct tactics of the Party towards the Wilopo Government improved and cleared the way for the Party's work of building unity with the national bourgeoisie which unity had been split since the middle of 1948 when the national bourgeoisie sided with the compradore bourgeois clique headed by Hatta-Sukiman-Natsir, who had declared war on the workers, peasants and other democratic elements (the Madiun Affair). The return of the national bourgeoisie to the united anti-imperialist national front meant an important additional force for this fronts. If the Party had not swiftly and correctly restored relations with the national bourgeoisie, the development of the united national front and the development consolidation and bolshevisation of our Party would also not have been so fast as it is now.

Thanks to the united national front and to the Communist Party which had increased in strength, it was possible to frustrate the attempted right-wing socialist coup on October 17th, 1952. This failure of the attempted October 17th coup gave new strength to the united national front and to the Communist Party as well as to the other democratic parties.

The development of the united national front and the up-building of the Party have greater prospects with the formation of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government whose composition and programme is more advanced than that of the Wilopo Government and which therefore has the support of the CPI and other democratic parties and group,

A serious weakness from which the Party now suffers is that Party members and cadres do no yet properly understand either agrarian relations or the demands and living conditions of the peasants. That is why the Party has not yet been able to draw the majority of the peasants into the united national front and the number of Party members from the ranks of the peasants is still relatively very small. At present, only about 7% of the peasants are organised under the leadership of the Party, while less than 50% of the total Party membership comes from among the peasants. The Party’s Agrarian Programme which was drawn up during the August mass arrests and the working ability of Party members has not yet been able to win over and mobilise the peasants on a large scale. This means that our united national front does not yet have a strong basis and in a difficult situation, for example, should the national bourgeoisie once again be disloyal to the struggle against imperialism as was the case in 1948, then the Party would not have a strong peasant base.

Although our present united national front has succeeded in gaining some victories in its struggle, it is still not yet built on strong foundations. This situation will continue so long as the Party does not yet work correctly for the peasant masses and so long as there are not yet many people from among the peasants, particularly the poor and landless peasants, who enter our Party and become its cadres.

2. Two Extremity Urgent Tasks of the Party

It is now clear that the problems which are now extremely urgent for the Party are: firstly, the problem of building the anti-imperialist united national front which is based on the anti-feudal alliance of workers and peasants; and secondly, continuing the up-building of a bolshevized CPI, nationwide in scale, which has a broad, mass character, and which is fully consolidated in the ideological, political and organisational spheres.

The subjective and objective conditions are sufficient for the building of a broad united national front with the alliance of workers and peasants as the basis, sufficient for building a bolshevised Communist Party, a Communist Party of the Lenin-type.

A. The Problem of Building the United National Front

Since our Party was founded in 1920, the united front of the Indonesian proletariat and national bourgeoisie has passed through several different situations and-periods.

The first period (1920-1926) was the period in which the Party was still completely unaware of the need for uniting with the national bourgeoisies in which the Party's slogan was "Socialism now", "Indonesian Soviets" and "dictatorship of the proletariat". This "left" deviation of the Party was criticised exactly and correctly by J. V. Stalin in his speech before the students of the University of the Peoples of the East on May 18th, 1925, in which he said that this left deviation contained within it the danger of isolating the Party from the masses and converting it into a sect. Stalin said that a resolute struggle against this deviation was an important condition for the training of truly revolutionary cadres for colonial and dependent countries in the East.

The second period (1935-1945) was the period of united front with the national bourgeoisie against fascism. The fact that the Party adopted this correct political line was mainly due to the leadership given by Musso who came illegally to Indonesia from abroad in 1935. Musso’s arrival not only provided political leadership to the Party, but it was under the leadership of Musso that the Party, which since the Dutch colonial government's terror in 1926-27 had suffered much damage and had been unable to remuster itself, was rebuilt. Although the CPI was working illegally at the time, it was however able, through the GERINDO (revolutionary people's organisation during the prewar Dutch colonial period, Tr.) and other organizations, to take an active part in building the anti-fascist front, both before Japan had occupied Indonesia as well as during the period of the Japanese occupation. This anti-fascist front not only succeeded in drawing in the national bourgeoisie, but also, a section of the compradore bourgeoisie added further strength to the anti-Japanese front. But after the Japanese armed forces occupied Indonesia, the majority of the national bourgeoisie and visually the entire compradore bourgeoisie pursued a policy of collaboration with Japan. The national bourgeoisie pursued a policy of collaboration with Japan, after seeing that the forces of the people resisting Japan were not very great, and because they were under the illusion that Japan would give "independence" to Indonesia.

The third period (1945-1948) was the period of the armed united national front against Dutch imperialism. The national bourgeoisie re-entered the united national front after seeing that the strength of the People's Revolution was great. The great strength of the People's Revolution caused the national bourgeoisie to adopt a firm attitude during the first years of the revolution. The weaknesses of the Party in the political, ideological and organisational spheres made it incapable of providing leadership to the objective situation which was, at that time, very favourable. During this revolution, the Party departed from its political, ideological and organisational independence and it did not place any importance on work among the peasants. These are the basic causes for the failure of the revolution. The weakness of the leadership of the revolution resulted in the revolution continually experiencing military, political and economic defeats and these defeats caused the national bourgeoisie to waver and finally side with the compradores and the imperialists. The resolution "The New Road for the Republic of Indonesia” which was approved by the CPl conference held in August, 1948, was the way out of the difficult situation which the Republic of Indonesia faced at that time. But before this resolution could be implemented, the Hatta-Sukiman-Natsir Government succeeded in engineering the "Madiun Affair" provocation.

The fourth period (1948-1951) was the period in which the national bourgeoisie split away from the anti-imperialist united national front and sided with the Hatta-Sukiman-Natsir Government which provoked the "Madiun Affair". The national bourgeoisie joined forces in capitulating to imperialism by agreeing to the treacherous RTC agreement created by Hatta, Sultan Hamid and Mohammad Roem. The policy of the national bourgeoisie which had split itself away from the united national front was heavily felt by the Party because the Party, as a result of the weakness of its work among the peasants, was not yet able to rely on the peasants. This situation forced the Party to adopt tactics of gaining time in order to draw the national bourgeoisie back into the anti-imperialist united national front and to improve as well as strengthen the Party's work among the peasants. The correctness of these tactics of the Party was proven by the new political developments in the country which began to take place in the beginning of 1952.

The fifth period (1951 until the present) is the period in which unity with the national bourgeoisie is getting closer and closer but the alliance of workers and peasants is still not strong. In other words, the Party still does not have strong foundations. At this stage, the Party must fight resolutely against the right deviation which gives exaggerated significance to unity with the national bourgeoisie and underestimated the significance of the leadership of the working class and of the alliance of workers' and peasants. There is the danger of losing the Party's independent character, the danger of its merging itself with the bourgeoisie. Side by side with this, the Party, of course, must also resolutely prevent the "left” deviation, prevent sectarianism, that is, the attitude which places no importance on the policy of a united front with the national bourgeoisie; the Party must preserve this united front with all its might. Since the compradore bourgeois cliques rely on different imperialisms and because Party policy is at present directed in the first place against Dutch imperialism and not against all foreign imperialisms, increasingly sharp contradictions have arisen between the imperialists themselves, and these contradictions have naturally arisen among their compradores too. The creation of a united national front with the national bourgeoisie opens up new prospects for the development and building of the Party and for the immediate task of the Party, that is, the building of the anti-feudal alliance of workers and peasants. The up-building of the Party and the building of the alliance of workers and peasants are guarantees that the united, national front will be under proletarian leadership.

We may draw the following conclusions from the above experiences:

1. The Indonesian national bourgeoisie, because it, too, is being oppressed by foreign imperialism, can, under certain circumstances and within certain limits, participate in the struggle against imperialism. Under such circumstances, the Indonesian proletariat must build unity with the national bourgeoisie and preserve this unity with all its strength. Under even more specific circumstances, when the Party policy at a given time is only directed against one particular imperialism, a part of the compradore bourgeoisie can also be an additional force in the struggle against that particular imperialism. But even so, the compradore bourgeoisie is still very reactionary, and is still aiming at the destruction of the Communist Party, the proletarian movement and other democratic movements.

2. Because of the economically and politically weak position of the Indonesian national bourgeoisie, it is possible that, under certain historical conditions, the national bourgeoisie, which is by very nature wavering, may hesitate and betray. That is why the proletariat and the Communist Party of Indonesia must always be prepared for the eventuality that, under certain conditions, the national bourgeoisie will not participate in the united front but, under other circumstances, it may possibly again rejoin the front.

3. Without the participation of the peasants, the united national front can not possibly be strong and powerful. Without the participation of the peasants, the united front can only draw together at the very most between 20% and 25% of the people, i.e. the workers, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. The peasants comprise more than 70% of the population of Indonesia. It follows from this that a strong and powerful united national front is one which is based on the alliance of workers and peasants. Apart from the fact that the peasantry is a firm ally of the proletariat, the urban petty bourgeoisie whose number is quite considerable is a reliable ally of the proletariat. That is why work among the urban petty bourgeoisie is also important

4. In the struggle to create a united national front, both by co-operation with various political patties or by co-operation with people of various trends and ideologies, the Party must not become merged with them. The Party must preserve its political, ideological and organisational independence. In order to do this, the Party must arm its functionaries with a clear understanding of the Party's programme and tactics. A united front with other political parties and other classes is an alliance based on common demands and common action. At the same time, the Communists, when necessary, must criticize any reactionary measures taken by their allies and must oppose their watering attitudes. Side by side with this, the Party must warn its members of sectarianism.

It is clear to us that our Party must correctly solve the problem of the united front the problem of unity with and separation from the national bourgeoisie and the problem of the alliance of workers and peasants as the basis of the united national front.

B. The Problem of Building the Party

Once the Party has a correct political line, the problem is then how to apply this correct political line consistently and make it into a mass line. How to ensure that all the prospects outlined by the Party become actual facts? This depends on the situation in the Party. In this question, the central problem is the problem of the Party itself, the problem of building the Party.

If we want to be victorious in the revolution, we must have a revolutionary Party of the Lenin type. In other words, if we want to be victorious in the revolution, if we want to change the physiognomy of society from a semi-colonial into a completely independent Indonesia, if we want to take part in changing the physiognomy of the world, we must have a Party of the model of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of the model of the Communist Party of China.

Without the theory of Marxism-Leninism it is not possible to have such a Party. The Party can only play a leading role if it is led by advanced theory. Only a Party which has mastered the theory of Marxism-Leninism can be relied on to be the vanguard of and lead the working class and other masses of the people. In order that our Party should be capable of fully shouldering its great and heavy historic burden, and in order to be capable of leading the Indonesian people from one victory to another, it must first of all create Marxist-Leninist ideological unity within its own ranks, raise the Marxist-Leninist ideological level of the entire party and consolidate the correct Marxist-Leninist leadership. Our Party can only be strong by raising the Marxist-Leninist Ideological level of all Party members. Only when we have mastered the science of Marxism-Leninism and have complete faith in the masses, only when we have close links with the masses and lead them forward, shall we be able to break down all obstacles and surmount all difficulties, and in this way, our strength will be invincible.

Our Party will only be able to fulfil its great and heavy historic task if it carries out an incessant and merciless struggle against both the right and "left" opportunists within its own ranks, if the Party continuously purges itself of capitulators and traitors within its own ranks and if it constantly preserves unity and discipline within its own ranks. The Party is the vanguard detachment of the working class, its strongest bulwark, its General Staff. Victory cannot possibly be achieved if there are capitulators, opportunists and traitors sitting in this General Staff if this were so the Party could easily be smashed, not only from outside but also from within.

Our Party can fulfil its great and heavy historic task only if it does not become conceited as a result of the victories it achieves, if it sees the shortcomings in its work, if it has the courage to admit its mistakes and frankly and honestly rectifies them. The Party will become invincible if it is not afraid of criticism and self-criticism, if it does not conceal the mistakes and shortcomings in its work, if it teaches and trains its cadres to draw the lessons from the mistakes in the Party's work and is able to correct them in time.

Indonesia is a petty bourgeois country, that is a country in which small-scale enterprise is still very widespread, especially individual peasant undertakings which are not sufficiently productive. Our Party is surrounded by this very large petty bourgeois class and many members of our Party come from this class, and it is unavoidable that those of them who enter our Party, bring with them, to a greater or lesser extent, the thoughts and habits of the petty bourgeoisie, it is this petty bourgeoisie which is the social basis of two kinds of subjectivist diseases in our Party: dogmatism and empiricism. These two kinds of subjectivism have been the ideological basis of those people guilty of right and "left” opportunism in the Party in the past.

Dogmatism and empiricism stem from two opposite extremes. Both these ideologies are equally one-sided. The dogmatists base everything on books alone and on isolated dogmas and do not see everything as living, changing and developing. They render theory powerless because they cut it off from all connection with practice, with the masses. The empiricists, on the other hand, work hard, perhaps as hard as pack-horses, but without knowing from where all that they are doing originates, and without knowing what is their objective and what is the correct way of achieving this, objective. They make practice blind because they are not guided by any theory, because they ignore theory. It is clear that both these ideologies are not objective and, on this one-sided basis, these two kinds of ideologies, when confronted by a certain practical problem at a given time, will link up with each other and arrive at a common viewpoint. That is why we not infrequently see that "leftists" inside and outside our Party, in facing practical problems, link up and find common ground with the rightists inside and outside our Party. In the same way, we frequently see that such a person can suddenly change from being a "leftist” and become a rightist, or the converse, without going through any serious mental struggle; it happens quite naturally.

The question of resisting subjectivism is very important for our Party, that is, resisting both dogmatism and empiricism. Both these types of subjectivism are equally dangerous for our Party and the most dangerous is that one which we are not opposing and attacking. The experiences of our Party show that the Party’s defeats and the injuries inflicted on it, (for example, the defeat and injuries suffered in 1926, the defeat of the 1945-1948 Revolution, the unsuccessful resistance to the Madiun Provocation as well as the serious damage suffered as a result of it) have all been caused by these above-mentioned two type of subjectivism, dogmatism and empiricism. Therefore, those members and candidate-members who are afflicted with this disease must overcome their own respective deficiencies. Those with knowledge of books must turn to actuality so that they can develop and not stop dead at books, so that they do not commit the mistake of dogmatism. Those who have working experiences must turn to study and take up reading, seriously so that they can systematise and synthesise their experiences, so that in this way they can raise themselves theoretically. This is the way for them not to take their own partial and limited experiences for the universal troth, so that they do not commit the mistake of empiricism.

The basic point is that in our work, we must be guided by the Marxist-Leninist outlook. This outlook opposes theory without practice. Theory becomes aimless if it is not connected with revolutionary practice; practice gropes in the dark if its way is not illumined by revolutionary theory.

Petty-bourgeois narrow-mindedness takes the form of sectarianism in political life and organisational questions in addition to ideological one-sidedness. Subjectivism means ideological isolation from the masses both within and outside the Party, while sectarianism means political and organisational isolation from the masses both within and outside the Party. They are both aspects of one and the same thing, the narrow-mindedness of the petty bourgeoisie.

In order to resist subjectivism in our Party, it is very necessary for us firstly, to teach Party members to apply Marxist-Leninist methods in analysing a political situation and appraising class forces. In this way, we shall resist all subjective analysis and appraisal. Secondly, to direct members’ attention to investigation and study in the social and economic sphere so as to be able, in this way, to determine the tactics of the struggle and the methods of work, and thus make our comrades understand that mistakes made in the investigation of an actual situation will cause them to get submerged in fantasy and adventurism. These two methods have also been used by the Chinese Communists since 1929 to oppose subjectivism in the Party. It was in connection with these two questions that the conferences held by our Party in 1952, at which every committee representative was given the task of preparing a report on the political, social and economic situation in their respective regions, took on special significance, as also was very significant the Political Bureau's approval of the speech "The Indonesian People’s Struggle for Complete National Independence (Towards a new Indonesia)" as the speech to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Party, and even more important was the decision taken by the Central Committee on the Draft CPI Programme which has been submitted to the present Vth National Congress. Hence, we have every reason to hope that, in the future, Party

members and cadres will have a better knowledge of our country's history, of its political, social and economic situation and of its culture. Knowledge of all this is a condition for a bolshevized Party.

What is the most successful method of overcoming subjectivism and sectarianism on a large scale in our Party? Since, in our Party, because of historical circumstances, the majority of members are of petty bourgeois origin, we must adopt a serious and prudent attitude and not at all a liberal and hasty one in order to overcome the various mistakes and consolidate the unity of the Party. We must ruthlessly oppose all past errors, analyse and criticise them scientifically so that we shall take greater care in our future work and work better than before. But apart from sharply criticizing every mistake, we must also try to correct the people who make the mistakes. In this way, we carry out our task correctly, that is, cleanse the ideology of the Party and preserve the unity within our ranks.

The campaign launched by our Party in 1952 to study the articles by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, "On Practice” and "Oppose Liberalism Within the Party" and the article "On the Mass Line" by Comrade Liu Shao-chi, was of very great significance in the effort to raise the ideological level of our Party. The same is also true of the great progress made in publishing Party literature, especially the publication of the pamphlet by Lenin “Left-Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder" and the forthcoming publication of the works "The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union", "Report to the 19th Congress on the Work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union", and Comrade Mao Tse-tung's "On Contradiction". All these will raise further the ideological level of our Party.

Our Tasks in Strengthening the Party are:

1. To raise the political level of candidate-members, members and cadres of the Party and convince them of the very close relationship between the correctness of the Party’s political line and the building of the Party.

2. To convince the entire Party of the two extremely urgent tasks of the Party; firstly, to build the anti-imperialist united national front based on the anti-feudal alliance of workers and peasant and secondly, to continue the work of building a bolshevised CPI, nationwide in scale, with a broad mass character and fully consolidated ideologically, politically and organisationally.

3. To continue the expansion of the membership and organisation of the Party, to draw more peasants into the ranks of the Party, in particular, the poor and landless peasants, to place Party members and cadres in more suitable positions for them and decrease the amount of multi-functioning among Party members and cadres. To exercise better control over all Party work.

4. To give an important place to ideological work in the Party by more intensively studying the works of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Liu Shao-chi and other Party Readers, to continue the struggle against dogmatism, empiricism, opportunism, sectarianism and liberalism.

5. To make a greater study of Indonesian history, to study Indonesians political, social, economic and cultural conditions as the basis for determining the tactics of the struggle and the methods of Party work.

6. To equip the Party and arm its functionaries with a correct tactical line, with a correct organisational line and with a new programme which is clear and concise, dealing with all important and basic questions of the Indonesian Revolution. To make this programme, which meets the wishes of the masses, into a mass programme. .

From this general report, several basic aspects of the international situation, the internal situation and the situation in our Party become clear to us, and also the task of the Party in the sphere of foreign policy, in the sphere of domestic policy and our task to strengthen the united national front and to strengthen the Party becomes clear. In this way, too, it becomes clear what must be the basis of the CPI Draft Programme which is the most important item on the agenda of this Congress.

After the Plenum of the Central Committee last October, some important international and internal events have taken place. International events are, for example, the Conference of the Four Great Powers in Berlin which decided, among other things, to invite the Chinese People's Republic to a conference which will be attended by the Five Great Powers to discuss tensions in the Far East Domestic events are, among others, the commencement of the unearthing of the Dutch colonialist anti-Republican conspiracy, the concrete measures of the Indonesian government taken to defend West Irian as territory of the Republic of Indonesia and to annul the Indonesian-Dutch Union. All these events confirm what has been stated in the general report; they add more proof to the fact that the peace movement which is getting stronger has been able to compel American imperialism to come to the conference table, and that the continuous pressure of the Indonesian people on the government has forced it to adopt rather a clear attitude towards Dutch colonialism.

We are all conscious of the fact that the tasks which are faced by us Indonesian Communists are heavy. This has also been clarified in this general report. But we are also conscious that we shall be able to fulfil these tasks because the way in our everyday work is illumined by Marxism -Leninism and because in our work, we have the inspiration and example from the experiences of two great peoples and two great Parties of the Soviet Union and China.

Beneath the ever-lasting banners of Lenin, in unity with the people, and confident of the strength of the heroic Indonesian people, we shall surely advance continually toward out victory, the victory of the People's Democratic system over the semi-colonial and semi-feudal forces in Indonesia. This is the aim of the people and therefore it will become their possession.

The Road to People's Democracy For Indonesia

General report to the Vth National Congress of the CPI, March 1954

D.N. Aidit (1954)