Source: Problems of the Indonesia Revolution, D.N. Aidit. Published by DEMOS - 1963
Permit me first of all to tell you how deeply grateful I am to the Party for giving me the honour to submit this General Report to the Sixth National Congress of the Party, the Congress of the builders of a national front and the builders of the glorious Communist Party of Indonesia, the Congress of militant fighters for complete national independence, for democracy and lasting world peace.
This Sixth National Congress is a Congress which has been prepared very well and these preparations have been imbued with high revolutionary spirit and with a spirit of loyal service to the people.
More than six months prior to this Congress, the Congress material had already been distributed and discussed by Party cadres and members. Thousands, of meetings, large and small, public lectures and discussions have been held to consider the material of our Congress, namely, the Draft Thesis for the General Report of the CC of the CPl which is to be submitted to the Party’s Sixth National Congress, the Draft Revision of the Programme and the Draft Revision of the Constitution of the CPI. Many opinions in the form of proposals have been submitted to the CC Secretariat about all this material and all of them have been studied by the Thesis Commissions the Programme Revision Commission and the Constitution Revision Commission. Ideas which help to improve the Congress material have been incorporated into the material that the Sixth Congress will discuss. This General Report that I am now submitting includes the correct and important proposals that have been made about the Draft Thesis for the General Report.
It is of course impossible for this Congress to discuss all the proposals that have been made, one by one. It is a fact that all members' meetings, fraction meetings and meetings of Party Committees and all Party conferences that have been held to discuss the Congress material have agreed to the basic ideas put forward in the Draft Thesis.
The Draft Thesis has played an exceptionally significant role in arousing the spirit and interest of Party members in all important and basic questions which are to be discussed at the Sixth National Congress of the CPI. This General Report basically represents a welding-together of the Draft Thesis and the correct and important ideas put forward about it. This means that now that there is this General Report, the Draft Thesis no longer performs any function in the life of our Party.
As you all know, the CC Secretariat also submitted the Congress material to persons outside the CPI, to civil and military officials, to leaders of parties and mass organizations, to scientists and to cultural workers. We have also sought the opinions of individuals from among the ranks of the working people. We have received many opinions, both written and verbally, and these opinions have also been discussed by the Commissions concerned. On behalf of the entire membership of the Communist Party, of Indonesia and on behalf of the Sixth National Congress of the CPI, I declare from this rostrum that we are deeply grateful to all those outside the CPI who have been kind enough to submit their opinions about the CPI Congress material.
Party members’ activities to welcome the Sixth National Congress have not been confined to discussing the Congress material but have extended to other things. Various activities in the campaign of preparation for our Congress have helped further strengthen the Party's ties with the masses of the people; these include activities to increase the service to the people, to promote people's culture, to intensify education within the Party, to expand Party membership and organisation. All these activities have raised the ideological, political and organisational consciousness of the Party and this is of paramount importance to the further development of our Party.
As an example, I should like to point out that, as part of the activities to increase the service to the people—within the framework of the preparations for the Sixth National Congress—thousands of volunteer brigades have been formed and we have obtained many rich, experiences in this sphere. Party leaders at all levels as well as persons outside the CPI have taken part in these volunteer brigades. It is very important to develop these volunteer brigades after the Congress. In brief, this Congress is not a Congress of Communists alone; millions of Indonesian people join with us in feeling that this Congress is their Congress.
Our Congress has received many letters and telegrams of greetings from fraternal Parties. We express our thanks for all these messages of greetings and express the hope that the close friendship between the Marxist-Leninist Parties will be further strengthened.
Our Congress has also received contributions in the form of gifts, it has received letters and telegrams from all comers of our country, from mass organisations and from individuals, all of which express sympathy with our Congress. All these expressions of sympathy are an incentive to the Party and especially to the participants at the Congress to work better to implement their patriotic duties. On behalf of the Congress, I express thanks for all these contributions and messages.
During the period that has elapsed since the Fifth Congress of the Party, we have lost, many of our best Comrades. Among them is Comrade Bachtaruddin, member of the CC of the Party. In addition to this, heroic Comrades, refusing to retreat, have been barbarously murdered by the RGRI counter-revolutionary rebels in West Sumatera, especially in Situdjuh, Suliki and Atar. In the same way, too, the bestiality of the ‘Permesta’ counter-revolutionaries has led to a heavy toll of lives of the best Communists in North Sulawesi. And not a few of our Comrades have fallen victims to the cruelties of the Darul Islam-TII.
Abroad, too, we have lost Comrades who have been tried and proven for their loyalty and unflinching fidelity in unfurling and defending the banners of Marxism-Leninism, Comrades who have won the deep devotion of the international proletariat, such as Comrade Boleslav Bierut of Poland, Comrade Antonin Zapotocky of Czechoslovakia, Comrade Kuichi Tokuda of Japan, Comrades Mareel Gachin and Juliot-Curie of France, Comrade Dimitri Manuilsky of the Soviet Union, and others.
In honour of these best sons of their fatherland and of the heroes of the proletariat who are deeply loved by their class and people, both those at home and abroad, I invite you all, participants of the Sixth National Congress of the CPI, to stand for a moment in tribute to their memory.
More than five years have elapsed since our Fifth National Party Congress. With Communist pride we can say that we have in the main carried out well the tasks given by the Fifth National Party Congress.
Much has happened during these five years both at home and abroad and within our own Party. But whatever may have happened and however many the difficulties faced by our people and Party during this period, our Congress today is being held in a domestic and foreign situation and in a situation within our Party that is far better, far more advanced and far more consolidated than it was at the time when we held our Fifth National Congress in March, 1954.
During the time since the Fifth National Party Congress, three National Party Conferences have been held and eight Plenums of the CC as well as several sessions of the Political Bureau enlarged to include CC members resident in Djakarta, in which the central leadership of the Party has examined the implementation of the tasks given by the Fifth National Congress, has analysed the situation and fixed measures to implement the tasks in a more effective way.
Thanks to the directives given by the Fifth National Congress it can be said that our Party has always been in a position of taking the initiative in the political life of our country. The confidence of the masses of the people in the correctness of the political line of the Party and in the sincerity and ability of our Party to fulfil its national and International tasks is getting greater and greater. These facts have made the tics of the Party with the masses of the people closer. The growing confidence of the people in the Party has led to jealousy, fear, and anxiety among parties, groups and individuals that are hostile to the interests of the people, or that feel guilty before the people because of their dishonesty and vacillations in defending the people's interests. They slander the Party, try to bring about provocations and organise conspiracies against the Party with the purpose of "containing Communism" or "wiping out Communism" in Indonesia.
We now face work that is even more difficult in continuing to carry out the tasks given by the Fifth National Party Congress. As the confidence of the people in the Party grows, the heavier are the duties and responsibilities that must be borne by our Party. The problems being faced by the Party are becoming more and more complex.
In the sphere of foreign policy we must even more earnestly continue to pursue an anti-colonialist and peace-loving policy, while in the sphere of home policy, we must continue to struggle for more and more political rights to be transferred to the hands of the working people.
We shall only be able to carry out these foreign and domestic political tasks properly if we remain loyal to, and continue more earnestly to implement the urgent tasks as fixed by the Fifth National Party Congress; firstly to build up an anti-imperialist national united front based upon the anti-feudal alliance of workers and peasants under the leadership of the working class, and secondly, continue to build a Party that is spread out throughout the country and that has a broad mass character, that is completely consolidated in the ideological, political and organisational spheres. Implementing these two urgent tasks at one and the same time means strengthening the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front.
Thus, the urgent tasks of our Party today have not yet changed from the tasks fixed by the Fifth National Congress. Based on these two urgent tasks, we have prepared for and are now holding the Sixth National Congress of the Party, with four basic slogans, namely: "With the CPI in the vanguard, continue the people's struggle for a fully independent and democratic Indonesia!", "Improve the work of the national front, further isolate the diehard forces!", "Strengthen the anti-colonial and pro-peace international front!" and "Continue to build a Party throughout the country closely united with the masses, consolidated ideologically, politically and organisationally!"
These four basic slogans inspire our Sixth Congress and shall, continue to inspire the activities of the Party following the Congress. Inspired by these slogans, we shall also continue to struggle for an expansion of democratic rights for the people and for a Gotong Royong-Cabinet. (This term, meaning "get-together", was originally used by President Sukarno In his Concept in reference to a National Coalition Cabinet which would include all the main parties, including the CPI. — Tr.)
The basic aim of the Sixth National Congress of the Party is to lay down the ideological, political and organisational tasks based on the two above-mentioned urgent tasks, so that our Party will be better able to change the balance of political forces at home. By doing so it will mean that we shall be providing the conditions for bringing the Indonesian people and nation closer to the strategic aim of the Indonesian revolution, to complete the demands of the
August 1945 Revolution in their entirety which will mean putting an end for ever to the power of imperialism and feudalism and setting up a People's Government, a Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
By carrying out the tasks as outlined above, it will mean that we are being led by a feeling of responsibility towards the working class, towards the working people, towards the entire Indonesian people and nation and towards the international revolutionary working class movement.
1. Dutch Imperialism is still Enemy Number One of the Indonesian People
The CPI Programme ratified by the Fifth National Congress of the Party stated among other things that the tasks of national emancipation and democratic changes in Indonesia have not yet been carried out. The aspirations of the Indonesian people for complete national independence, for democratic liberties and for improvements in their living conditions have not yet been met. What the CPI Programme states in this connection is still true today.
By saying that the tasks of national emancipation and democratic changes have not yet been carried out in our country, we are not in any way failing to evaluate the achievements obtained by the Indonesian people and our Party in the struggle for national independence and democracy during the period that has elapsed since the Fifth National Congress. Our Party always evaluates the successes of every struggle that have been won as a result of the toil and sacrifices of the people and these successes must indeed be held high.
During the period under review, the Indonesian people have succeeded in expelling the Dutch Military Mission (DMM) from the country, in dissolving the so-called Indonesian-Dutch Union, in dissolving the "Sticusa" (Indonesian-Dutch Cultural Relations League), in renouncing the "Indonesian debts" to Holland, in pushing aside Dutch Government control over Indonesians foreign policies and' foreign trade policies, in abrogating the Round Table Conference Agreement and expelling from Indonesia Dutch colonial officials and other Dutch persons who. can harm Indonesia’s interests, and in taking over and nationalising the enterprises owned by the Dutch colonialists. A number of achievements have also been made in democratising the system of government as a result of the victory of the Party and other democratic forces in the first parliamentary general elections and in the elections for the first-and second-level swatantra regional (provincial and county -Tr.) legislative assemblies.
The political line laid down by the Fifth National Congress, namely that Dutch imperialism is the enemy number one of the Indonesian people, was very correct. This political line is objective, and with it the Party has been better able to mobilize the forces of the Indonesian people on the greatest possible scale to strike against Dutch imperialism and its lackeys.
With the attainment of successes in the struggle against Dutch imperialism and with the democratisation of the system of governments the following questions may arise: does this not mean that the tasks of national emancipation and democratic changes have now been completed? Does it not mean that Dutch imperialism is no longer the enemy number one of the Indonesian people?
With the results achieved up to the present in the struggle against Dutch colonialism it does not by any means mean that the tasks of national emancipation have already been completed. And, too, a certain democratisation in the system of government, though very important, does not at all mean that the tasks of bringing about democratic changes in our country have been completed.
The fact today is that the Dutch colonialists still occupy 20% of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, West Irian; that the Dutch. enterprises that have been taken over have not yet all been nationalised; that in Indonesia’s foreign trade Dutch capitalist channels are still being made great use of; that in Indonesia, there is still Dutch capital invested in oil (the BPM or Anglo-Dutch Shell) and this has not yet been touched at all; that many Dutch puppets still occupy important functions in the state apparatus and in the economic sphere; that armed gangs operating in the interests of the Dutch colonialists are still active; that Indonesian air, waters and coasts are still under the continual threat of Dutch planes and submarines; and that the Dutch colonialists still maintain an influence in the educational and cultural spheres. All this indicates than the struggle of the Indonesian people to put an end to Dutch imperialist domination is not yet completed, that the task of national emancipation has not yet been completed at all, that Indonesia is not yet completely free or that in essence it is still in a state of a semi-colonial country. Dutch imperialism is still the enemy number one of the Indonesian people.
The continued prevalence of feudal remnants in the countryside in the form of landlord monopolisation of the land, in the form of land rents paid in kind, in the form of labour and in the form of debts that place the peasants in a position of slavery towards the landlords, are proof that we cannot possibly talk about the task of democratic changes halving been completed. Indonesia is still a semi-feudal country.
Apart from all this, we cannot yet talk at all about having completed the task of national emancipation because American imperialism is more and more pushing Dutch imperialism out and increasingly occupying important positions in Indonesia in the economic political and cultural spheres. If we talk about national independence, it does not mean that we want to be free from Butch imperialism in order to receive American imperialism or other imperialisms. The fact that there are American military forces in West Irian, that rightist leaders and parties are still freely pursuing the policy of US imperialism, in Indonesia, that, there is American cultural infiltration via books, films, education and the like, that help in the form of planes, pilots, arms and other military equipment as well as military instructors is being given by the USA to the "RGRI-Permesta" counter-revolutionary rebels, that US officers and FBI are still free to roam around in Indonesia, all proves that US imperialism already represent a constant danger threatening Indonesia's sovereignty and independence.
US imperialism is the most dangerous enemy of the Indonesian people since this imperialism is the most aggressive, the most capable of carrying out its criminal intentions, since the amount of US capital invested in Indonesia is growing, and since there am still quite a number of persons in important positions who namely believe that US imperialism is not so very criminal. A policy of anti-imperialism which is not accompanied by resistance to US infiltrations and intrigues is just so much phrase-mongering. At present US imperialism is a more dangerous enemy of the Indonesian people than any other imperialism, because if it is already in the country it would be difficult to throw it out,
The acceptance by Parliament of the Foreign Investments Bill in September, 1958, although bitterly opposed by the CPI and the Indonesian working people, means opening the doors of Indonesia to the entry and the strengthening of the political, economic and cultural activities of imperialist countries, especially the USA, Japan and West Germany. The CPI firmly opposed this Draft Bill when it was under discussion in Parliament because it is convinced that this Bill is favourable exclusively to the imperialists and will make it easier for them to carry out intervention, and enable them legally to obtain and cultivate compradors from among Indonesians. This Bill obstructs the implementation of the task of national emancipation and opens up the way for the imperialists to preserve Indonesia as a place for the investment of their capital, and this means obstructing Indonesia's, national economic construction. This is why the CPI calls upon all the workers and the entire people of Indonesia to demand of the Government that this Foreign Investments Bill should be repealed.
The above outline shows clearly that the national struggle for the complete liquidation of Dutch economic domination within the frame work of realising the abrogation of the RTC agreement and the struggle to liberate West Irian cannot be separated from the national struggle against intrigues, infiltrations and the danger of US intervention. Thus, our task of national liberation today is to clean up the survivals of Dutch colonialism, to put up resolute resistance to the subversive activities of the US and its SEATO, to prevent an increase in the amount of US and other imperialist capital invested
in Indonesia, and to mete out the .same treatment to the US enterprises as that meted out to the Dutch enterprises if the USA continues to supply the armed counter-revolutionary gangs with weapons or gives material assistance to the Dutch in an armed aggression against the Republic of Indonesia.
2. Indonesia is Still in the Grip of Economic Crisis
The conclusion drawn by our Fifth Party Congress to the effect, among other things, that Indonesia is still in the grip of continuous economic crisis as a result of the fact that the economy is still colonial in character, still applies up to the present. The fact that an economic crisis took place in the United States during 1957—58 which had widespread consequences for the capitalist world further intensified the stranglehold of crisis upon Indonesia's economy.
Some basic factors causing the still gloomy economic situation are:
Firstly, the capitalist international division of labour, of which Indonesia is a part, results in (a) a widening gap between the industrial countries and the backward countries, and (b) the backward countries remaining backward.
The capitalist International division of labour has in practice deprived Indonesia of the potential and the ability to organise and expand its production in all spheres. This is because the position of our exports in the capitalist world market is becoming more and more insecure, having to face the competition of synthetic materials, having to face speculation and price, manipulations carried out by the big monopolists, having to face sharp and frequent fluctuations in demand, and having to face a capitalist market which is continually contracting. Such conditions have rendered Indonesia insufficiently capable of importing the goods she needs, especially capital goods, and have deprived Indonesia of the basis upon which to increase the production of the goods that are sold on the capitalist market.
It is difficult to get hold, of completely reliable production figures for Indonesia. Official figures reveal that, with the exception of a few commodities the production of which rose slightly, such as quinine and tobacco, and with the exception of a few more the production of which remained constant, such as oil, coal and bauxite, the production of all other export products fell in 1958. For instance by comparison with 1957, the production of rubber fell 6% in 1958 whereas the production of rubber in 1957 was 15% lower than it had been in 1954. The production of export goods such as fibres, coffee, palm oil, copra and pepper had in all cases been falling continuously since 1954. The production of tin which in 1957 had fallen nearly 23% compared with 1954, fell a further 18% in 1958.
Domestic industrial production, already very insignificant as it is, and heavily dependent upon the import of raw materials, fell even further. Not only did domestic industry fail to develop but in 1958 many industrial enterprises worked far below existing capacity. This sector encounters great difficulties generally, facing as it does heavy competition from imported manufactured goods, and because of the weakness of the domestic market; in addition, the Government has failed so far to import the necessary capital goods and to give protection to national industry in the form, of guaranteed markets, the supply of raw materials and assistance in the form of capital.
Even at times when the world capitalist economy is experiencing an up-swing, our country’s economy continues to be in a difficult situation. How much more difficult things become when the capitalist economy is in a state of crisis! Per Jacobbsen, Secretary General of the International Monetary Fund, frankly stated before the United Nations ECOSOC session held in Mexico in April 1959, that "the primary producing countries should not expect that world industrial recovery will put them out of their difficulties". What more has Indonesia to hope from the world capitalist market if, even in a time of recovery, our exports have so little to hope for? The prices of manufactured goods exported by the capitalist countries continuously rise while the prices of the raw materials that they import from us have fallen sharply. These trends are borne out by the economic survey made by the United Nations for 1958, which talks of the “fall in export earnings of primary producing countries of 7—8% by comparison with the previous year, whereas the prices of manufactured goods rose continuously". These developments have, been borne out by what has happened in Indonesia, where the value of imports in rupiahs in 1958 fell 37% by comparison with 1957, whereas the volume of imports fell by 47%. As regards the volume of exports, the fall in 1958 was almost 14% (excluding oil and its products) whereas the value in rupiahs fell by more than 25%. Just see how severely Indonesia has suffered as a result of the economic crisis in the western countries.
The above facts make it clear that the Export Certificate System, considered by Sutikno Slamet (PNI), the Minister of Finance in the last Djuanda Cabinet, to be the way out of the difficulties, cannot bring about an improvement in the export-import situation and results in a further deterioration of the value of the rupiah while at the same time raising the prices of essential goods. The Export Certificate System in fact ties Indonesia even more closely to the capitalist economy and plunges our economy into even graven difficulties. The purpose of this, system is solely to obtain foreign currency (dollars or pounds sterling) and it obstructs the expansion of trade with the Socialist countries, with the result that Indonesia is rendered incapable of drawing sufficient benefit from the existence of a Socialist camp whose economy is strong and continually .growing. Despite the fact that the EC-System has now been abolished this does not mean that the orientation in foreign trade will be changed automatically.
Such an unrealistic policy does not harm the Socialist countries but Indonesia itself, and is especially harmful to its economic development.
Secondly, the survivals of feudalism which continue to prevail, make it impossible for the productive forces in the countryside to be liberated and make a rise in output of foodstuffs and other agricultural products impossible. The output of foodstuffs such as rice, cassava, maize and others generally remained constant or rose very little during 1958. This stagnation of production renders impossible any improvement in the living conditions of the peasants which comprise 60—70% of the Indonesian population. The situation today is even more serious since our production of foodstuffs cannot keep up with the increase in population. This means increasingly heavy burdens on Indonesia's imports, it means, further rises in the price of essential goods and a further deterioration in the living conditions of the masses of the people. This stagnation, caused basically by the continued strong position of feudal survivals in our economy, is also the result of stagnation in transport and, too, of the fact that the Government has failed as yet to take concrete and correct steps to assist the peasants with direct, cheap, and easy credits, with adequate supplies of good, quality seeds and fertilisers.
These circumstances not only make it difficult to raise the output of agricultural goods but also make it impossible to expand the home market, something which is very necessary if national industry is to develop. Thus it is obvious that the continued prevalence of feudal survivals in the Indonesian economy seriously obstructs economic progress in all spheres.
Thirdly, Indonesia's economic crisis is also the result of the fact that the sector of the economy controlled by the State is very weak. The State sector of the economy should occupy a "commanding position" it should be the sector that gives the push, guides and cultivates the development of domestic industry, including heavy industry. Further, the Indonesian Government will not be able to overcome the financial difficulties which result from the continuous and growing deficit in the State budget and the increase in the amount of money borrowed from the central bank, as long as the State sector of the economy is not strong, as long as the State fails to control a significant portion of enterprises in Indonesia. It is essential to develop the State sector of the economy if Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution is to be applied in practice. The State financial difficulties cannot possibly be solved as long as our economy is shaken by inflation and by stagnation in production as described above.
Such in brief is the economic crisis in Indonesia which is characterised by stagnation in production, weakness because of its dependence on export-import which are continually being subjected to fluctuations, the unabated expansion in the amount of non-productive money in circulation, and the persistent inflation and the rise in prices of essential goods. Thus it is clear that the economic crisis in Indonesia has its basis in the colonial character of our economy, an economy which is still seriously dependent upon the world capitalist economy market.
These deplorable conditions have also rendered the Indonesian Government incapable of controlling and regulating the domestic level of prices. In fact the contrary has taken place. Measures taken in the sphere of exports and imports, such as for example, the introduction of the Export Certificate system, have resulted in a further rise in prices. Conditions deteriorated even further after the Minister of Trade in the last Djuanda Cabinet, Rahmat Muljomiseno (Nahdlatul Ulama) made a total surrender to the manipulations of the speculators and large-scale blackmarketeers who have been playing about with market prices to their heart's content; the result has been further pressures upon the living standards of the people. The prices of basic essentials such as rice, textiles, sugar and oil have got quite out of control, or else these goods have completely disappeared from the market.
The speculators have succeeded. In taking advantage of the extremely serious state of the circulation of goods which has resulted from firstly, the stagnation in domestic production, secondly, the limited supply of imports because imports have fallen as exports contracted, thirdly, transportation is in a bad state, and fourthly, the price policy being pursued encourages speculation.
The price policy pursued by the Trade Minister in the last Djuanda Cabinet, a policy which has the support of liberalistic elements, is one of bringing government prices into line with market prices. The reason given is to prevent a difference between official prices and the high prices prevailing in the market. The result is that the government just trails behind everything that the speculators do; and all this is done in the name of ... "guided economy". Yes, guided by the speculators! This is a policy of protecting the parasites, the large-scale traders and blackmarketeers, whose speculations victimise the interests of the consumers, the vast majority of whom consist of the tens of millions of the people.
The price policy pursued should be one of keeping prices low and the exercise of consistent control by the government. The way to control prices and prevent the prevalence of speculation and black marketeering is for the government to force the market, to follow the low prices fixed by the government, to flood the market with essential goods and directly carried out the distribution of such goods so as to protect the position of those consumers with weak purchasing power. The Djuanda Government did once decree that market prices should not rise above the level reached on December 15th, 1958. But the Government subsequently withdrew this decree after it be came apparent that it would not work. This attempt failed because it was not followed up by measures, which were essential if the scheme was to succeed and because the decree was not implemented consistently; in fact, the interests of the big traders and blackmarketeers were afforded more protection than the interests of the millions of consumers.
Price manipulations by the speculators and other parasites are very much facilitated by the distribution policy being pursued by the Ministry of Trade up to the present, which is not a healthy one. The Government still continues to preserve a trading apparatus which includes a number of stages in the circulation of goods between the importer or the distributor and the retail seller. This trading apparatus leads to a large number of intermediary stages and at each stage big profits are taken, by the parasites to the detriment of the consumers who consist for the larger part of working people who are very poor. Therefore the Government should, in its distribution policy, reduce as much as possible the number of middlemen and should make use of the people's co-operatives, the campong residents’ societies, neighbourhood's society and the small shops as the main channels for the distribution of goods.
As regards co-operatives, the demand should be made of the Government that it provides more protection and facilities without discrimination so as to develop the co-operatives established by the working people because these co-operatives are set up on healthier foundations than the capitalist “co-operatives" of the Hatta model. Working people's co-operatives must genuinely be developed democratically so as to help improve the distribution of essential goods. The policy of government's Department of Co-operatives which is against the co-operatives selling things below the market price, must be halted. This policy is a continuation of the extremely liberal price policy of the Trade Department which, if pursued by the cooperatives, would mean that they would become organisations of speculators and blackmarketeers. The democratic life of the co-operatives must be cultivated by making it a practice for meetings of co-operative members to be held to control, the policy being pursued by the officers.
As regards the status of the Dutch enterprises that have been taken over, some progress has been made in the sphere of legislation but there are still many obstacles in the way of turning these enterprises effectively into State-enterprises. Attempts to turn these enterprises over to private hands are being bitterly resisted by the workers and patriots in general. Attempts by capitalists to turn these enterprises into mixed enterprises with 20% of the capital in private hands have also failed, and now there is a great possibility that these enterprises will remain 100% State enterprises. The Government has issued Government Regulations No. 2 and No. 3, 1959, in implementation of the Act on the Nationalisation of Dutch Enterprises. If both these regulations especially the former, are implemented consistently, the attempts to turn these enterprises over to private hands will fail completely. But these two regulations contain certain shortcomings; for example, there is still no guarantee that the composition of the bodies implementing the nationalisation will be democratic in character and there is no provision for the inclusion of trade union's representatives in these bodies. The question of trade union representation in the executive bodies of the taken-over enterprises and nationalised enterprises is important not only to ensure the smooth, functioning of the enterprises and raising output but also and especially to prevent certain businessmen from gaining their objective of turning these enterprises over to private hands or of managing the enterprises in such a way as to permit manipulations and corruption.
In some cases, the output of the taken-over enterprises has risen but in general, it has remained constant by comparison with the level of output prior to the take-over. Where contractions have taken-place, this has not been because of the inabilities of the workers but because of the inadequate supply of raw materials that have to be imported or because of the difficulties that have occurred in the world market.
Up to the present day, more and more taken-over enterprises have gradually been nationalised, in particular, plantations. While not losing sight of the shortcomings, the policy of taking over and subsequently nationalising the Dutch colonial enterprises is a concrete and important achievement, a major patriotic measure taken by the Djuanda Cabinet which was supported by the CPI and the other democratic forces. We have gained the lesson that, with strong national unity and with firm anti-colonial measures, we can do things to the advantage of the Indonesian Fatherland and people. What is needed now is to prevent, these positive achievements from being spoilt by anti-national egoistic elements, by the speculators and black-marketeers and by corrupters, both civil and military.
The question of communication and transportation is vital if improvements are to be made in the economy of our country. A serious question which must speedily be solved and to which attention must first be paid is that of sea transport. It was very correct for the Government to prohibit the KPM (Dutch coastal shipping company, Tr.) from operating in Indonesia because, the Dutch were able to make, use of this company as a means of sabotaging economic affairs and as a means of smuggling criminals into and out of Indonesia. Today, the tonnage of national shipping for inter-insular communications is less than 50% of what it was when the KPM was operating (approximately 290.000 tons in November, 1957). And now, particularly because of the large amount of shipping required for military operations, the available tonnage is very far from adequate. The question of overcoming the shortage of shipping is urgent and vital. The way to do this is by intensifying the construction of ships at home and by the government chartering or buying foreign ships.
The question of building roads and developing river transportation in places other than Java is very important and pressing. In actual fact, this is not really a very difficult question as long as the Government is prepared to make the maximum use of the possibilities made available by the economic relations with the Socialist countries; these countries have rich experiences and possess the most modern equipment for dealing with such needs, while we here nave more than enough labour power available.
Railroad transportation, a cheap means of transportations has not yet up to today been rehabilitated. Considering the many railway accidents that have occurred, the question of rehabilitation of the railways is extremely urgent; though at the same time, account should be taken of the part played by foreign subversive activities in these accidents. But it will be impossible to carry out rehabilitation if reconstruction is not carried out on a broad scale by means of equipping the railway repair shops with, the new machines that they need so as to ensure that their level of performance is raised. More engines and wagons must be obtained and the maintenance and servicing of rolling stock must be improved.
Motorised transport is facing a number of difficulties as a result of the inadequate supply and high price of spare parts, a factor which results from the stagnation in exports which limits our ability to Import. The lesson of all this that it is extremely dangerous for us to depend too greatly on imports and for us not to possess the machine factories that are able to produce the spare parts for motorised transport as well as the spare parts required by the factories that already exist. Lorries, buses and other means of public transport must be given first place in imports of motorised transport and import of luxury motor-cars should be stopped.
Of course, a question of great importance in connection with communications and transport is that of extending and intensifying the network of airways. Travel by air has become an everyday necessity in the economic, political and social life of the Indonesian people.
Since Indonesia is an extensive country made up of thousands of islands, any government will be judged a.o. by its sincerity and success in solving the problems of communications and transport. The question of the unity of Indonesia oho depends greatly upon the solution of these questions.
3. Expand Trade with the Socialist Countries
The above analysis makes it clear that the economic crisis in Indonesia is to a large extent caused by the dependence of our economy upon the capitalist world. This means that if the crisis is to be overcome, this position of dependency must be ended1 and Indonesia must expand its economic relations with the world Socialist market, a market that is stable and free of crisis.
The most recent government statistics reveal that there has been an expansion in trade relations with the Socialist countries, during 1958 and die beginning of 1959 by comparison with the previous year. Exports to. the Socialist countries which accounted for only 3,5% of total exports in 1957 (total Indonesian exports in that year were Rp. 11 milliard)! doubled in amount in 1958, while imports from the Socialist countries which accounted for only 4% of total imports in 1957 (total Indonesian imports were Rp. 9 milliard) also doubled. The most recent American economic crisis gave rise to new developments in Indonesians trade relations with the Socialist counties. On the other hands exports to West Europe and USA both directly and via Singapore (including oil) fell from Rp. 8.1 milliard in 1957 to Rp. 5.7 milliard in 1958, a fall in foreign currency earning of Rp.2.4 milliard (almost 30%). Naturally, imports from the capitalist countries also fell.
But even though some progress has been made in trade with the Socialist countries, especially with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Chinas, Indonesia's foreign trade policy is still heavily orientated towards the West. The countries of the Socialist camp produce more than one-third of the world's industrial outputs and yet Indonesia's trade with the Socialist countries is still less than 10% of the total. We shall only be able to say that Indonesia's foreign trade policy is not one-sidedly orientated if our trade with the. Socialist countries already accounts for at least one-third of total trade.
The Indonesian Government has still not taken sufficiently significant and earnest measures to expand trade relations with the Socialist countries so as to reduce the consequences suffered by Indonesia as a result of economic crisis in the imperialist countries. Much has already been said by government officials about changing the orientation of our foreign trade but in actual fact, Indonesia’s foreign trade is still heavily orientated towards the USA, Britain, West Germany, Japan and other imperialist countries.
The facts regarding foreign trade still reveal that even though the Dutch enterprises have already been taken over, Dutch trading channels abroad, are still being utilised for reasons of "tradition" and being "experts". The continued utilisation of transit trade, now via Bremen and Antwerp, show how strong Indonesia's, foreign trade ties still are with the capitalist market. Within certain limits, these measures harm the interests of the Dutch monopolists, but are of little significance so far as improving Indonesians economy is concerned. To do harm to the Dutch is indeed important but more important it is that Indonesia should gain by it. Reorientation will only be significant for Indonesia's economy if the system of transit trade is completely abandoned.
In the past, Dutch monopoly control of import-export trade has been implemented by means of “sole agency agreements" with factories and large manufacturers in western countries. This system is based on the principle of liberalism in foreign trade, that is, freedom to import from and export to any country as the trader wishes. These "sole agency agreements" naturally give a strong position to the Western industrial monopolies in the Indonesian market that are absolutely free to apply their price policies here. By means of this system, the Dutch monopolists as the sole agents of numerous big Western manufacturers receive commission for the sale of their goods in the Indonesian market. This commission, which runs into huge amounts, is sent directly by the Western manufacturers to the headquarters of the Dutch enterprises in the Netherlands. And even though the Dutch enterprises have already been taken over and nationalised by the Indonesian Government, this commission continues to flow to Holland at the expense of the Indonesian consumers so long as these trade transactions with the West continue and so long as Indonesia continues to be dependent upon the world capitalist market. These facts show just how strong the position of Dutch capital still is in our foreign trade, especially as regards imports.
This shows why the foreign monopolists are very much concerned to preserve, through their agents in Indonesia, the liberal system of imports. Everybody knows that this liberal system of imports makes it difficult concrete measures to be taken to expand our foreign trade with the Socialist countries. We cannot expand our trade with the Socialist countries if the conditions and possibilities are not created for buying goods from these countries. And yet, the Socialist countries are not only stable, extensive markets for our exports, but they also represent a reliable source of the capital goods and consumer goods that we need. This objective situation is favourable to solving the stagnation in our imports and exports and in our production. Sufficient conditions exist for expanding economic and technical relations with the Socialist countries on an equal and mutually beneficial basis and not on the basis of benefit to one side only.
The first Ali Sastroamidjojo Government did begin to take measures to undermine this liberal system; it implemented a system of import planning and clearing payments. But this system, of import planning failed to put an end to liberalism in imports or in foreign trade in general because what the Ali Sastroamidjojo Government did was basically to shift the distribution of foreign currency from the foreign importers to the hands of the private national importers who amounted at that time to about 6,000.
A system of planned imports or foreign trade should be brought into line with domestic economic needs based on a concrete policy of economic development. The purpose, of foreign, trade should not be in the first place to run after foreign currency but it should be to get hold of capital goods, raw materials and consumer goods which make up part of the everyday needs of the people.
A favourable aspect of the measures taken by the Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet was the implementation of the clearing system of payments; according to this system, account is kept for a certain period of time of the value of the goods exported and imported between Indonesia and the country in question. This is the system which made possible a new orientation in Indonesia's foreign trade; new markets were utilised, in particular the Socialist market. Had this system been further developed, it could have meant pursuing a new foreign trade policy and one which would serve the policy of construction, namely an import policy which is brought into line with the direction and developments of our exports so as to be able to meet economic requirements at home.
But this clearing system did not last long because the liberal import system of the “socialist" Sumitro, Economics Minister in the Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinet, put an end to this, system and once again liberalized our import system. The pity is that this liberal system which was thus restored is still basically being implemented up to the present day, with the exception of our trade with a few countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Egypt and China.
Thus, if Indonesia wants to overcome the stagnation in her economy and wants to obtain the goods she desperately needs to improve economic conditions, the best way of doing this is to abandon this liberal system and restore the clearing system, especially in our trade with the Socialist countries and with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our import policy must be brought into line with a concrete and urgent plan of construction so as to ensure that the goods imported are really useful to overcome the present economic crisis. In this way, an end can be put to the structure of our foreign trade which is heavily orientated towards the West.
In connection with the question of imports, note should be made of the fact that the last Djuanda Cabinet introduced new import regulations which, if implemented well, could indeed help to improve economic conditions In Indonesia. According to these new regulations, the government directly controls the import of a number of vital goods (raw cotton, yam, textiles, paper, cement, concrete iron bars and rods, tinplate, gunny and flour). In addition to these nine commodities, four others are already under government control (rice, cloves, cambrics and fertilisers). The "Big Eight" (the CTC Usindo, Indestins, Indevitra, Juda Bhakti, Mira Sari, Satya Negara and Triangle (The latter six companies are all Indonesian companies set up out of the major Dutch export-import companies, that were taken over. — (Tr)) all of which operate fully with State capital, have been given the task of handling the import of these commodities.
The positive aspect of this new Import regulation is the fact that partially the demand of the people that imports of important commodities should be in the hands of the government, has now been met, and this means that 75% of the value in foreign currency of all imports is now in the hands of the government. If these regulations are implemented consistently, it will make it possible to put an end to the manipulations of the 4,000 or so importers, who are in most cases nothing more than legal and illegal adventurers and speculators.
But the new import regulations can fail in practice if they are not immediately followed up with the necessary measures. Everything must be done to preserve these "Big Eight" as State enterprises. In addition, the question of implementing and channelling imports and exports must be solved by, for example, setting up a single State Export-Import Corporation, while the "Big Eight" should only be the channel for these imports and exports. This would make it possible to prevent competition between the "Big Eight" themselves which could indeed occur as a result of a scramble for profits and a scramble for commissions between the various managements.
Another measure needed for the legal status of the State Import-Export Corporation, the "Big Eight" and all other State enterprises established in various forms of limited liability companies, is to be fixed by an Act on State Enterprises, and the principles underlying such an act should be as follows: capital fully in the hands of the central or a local government, management or direction must be directly in the hands of the central or a local government, advisory councils should be established with representation of the trade unions of the workers involved, and improvements should be made in the wages and social facilities of the workers.
In connivance with the big foreign capitalists and their agents who still occupy positions in the government apparatus, the diehard private importers and certain big speculators and blackmarketeers are putting up a bitter fight against the progressive measures taken by the government in the sphere of import and distribution, and are doing this among other things by taking advantage of the "good relations" they have abroad so as to sabotage the efforts of the government: This is why the government and the people must be on the alert, and must skilfully and resolutely put an end to the resistance of the reactionaries in economic affairs.
In order to put a stop to continuous deterioration in economic affairs and, in the first place in order to free Indonesia from the unfavourable effects of the world capitalist crisis, we submit the following demands:
Firstly, domestic production should be increased, among other things by means of completely transforming the Dutch colonial enterprises that have been taken over, into State property, naturally including the Dutch banks in Indonesia. Dutch shares in the BPM must be taken over by the Indonesian government. Kuomintang enterprises must also be confiscated and turned Into State property. State enterprises must continuously be expanded and strengthened so as to, be able to occupy a "commanding position". By means of co-operation between the government, the experts and the working people everything, should be done to realise in practice the policy of as far as possible meeting our own economic requirements and especially as far as food and clothing are concerned. To ensure success in raising production in State enterprises, the principle of “patriotic leadership, raise production, prevent corruption and sabotage, ensure democracy and improve the conditions of the workers" must be put into practice. In order to increase the production of foodstuffs, the area of cultivated land must be extended, the land must be more intensively worked and the standard of living of the peasants must be improved.
Secondly, exports and imports and the distribution of important commodities must be completely in the hands of the government. The government must pursue a policy of keeping prices low, in line with the purchasing power of the people. Smuggling and illegal barter trade must be completely, stamped out. The government must genuinely give priority to the State sector of the economy as a guarantee that the government will be able to direct the entire economy of the country and uproot the economic domination of
foreign capital. The problems of communications and transport must rapidly be solved.
Thirdly, the principles of our foreign trade must be changed. Foreign trade must place emphasis upon changing radically the heavily one-sided orientation towards the imperialist countries, by means of expanding trade relations with the Asian-African countries and with the crisis-free Socialist countries, so as to achieve the aim of expanding the market for Indonesians export commodities and to obtain capital goods needed for the establishment of industry, and particularly industry to process ourselves the raw materials produced by Indonesia. Sufficient raw materials should be imported to meet the requirements of domestic industry. The foreign exchange earned the by foreign oil companies should be controlled by the government and put to use to facilitate domestic construction and to improve the State finances.
Fourthly, the government should strive to meet the need for capital and technical goods from abroad by means of foreign loans at lowest possible interest rates and free of all political or military ties, both open or secret. All this is required to meet the need for rehabilitation and the industrial construction of our country and for the exploitation of the many kinds of mineral deposits available in our country. Within the framework of foreign credits, attention must also be paid to the construction of blast furnaces, chemical factories and plants producing machines and other means of production, as a first step towards freeing Indonesia from economic dependence upon foreign countries. The Act on Foreign Capital Investments must be repealed.
By meeting these demands, the conditions will be created for freeing Indonesia from the grip of continual economic crisis which still strangulates our country. Thus, it will be possible to overcome continual economic deterioration by these means and not by means of inviting foreign capital investments, increasing the taxes of the people, converting State enterprises into private enterprises or public corporations, and other such reactionary measures in the spheres of economics and finance.
The implementation of these economic demands cannot be separated from the present demands of the masses of the people for the complete smashing of the remnants of the RGRI-Permesta counter-revolutionary rebels and the Darul Islam-TII terrorist gangs, and for "iron fist" measures to be taken against the economic disruption carried out by big foreign capital in conspiracy with the compradors and parasitic elements, both civil and military, who still occupy a position in economic institutes and within the government apparatus.
So as to fully restore domestic law and order and improve, economic conditions, all national forces must be aroused and mobilised. The people have had the experience that although, since the Round Table Conference agreement, cabinets have changed frequently, there has not yet been a cabinet which has been strong enough to solve the difficulties being, borne by the country and the people. The people have had experience of anti-Communist cabinets such as the Hatta, Natsir, Sukiman and Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinets. These cabinets were not only incapable of solving the pressing problems of the people but also dragged Indonesia more deeply into economic crisis and national disruption. The non-Communist cabinets, cabinets in which Communists have not participated, but which have been supported by the Communists, such as the Wilopo Cabinet, the two Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinets and the Djuanda Cabinet, were also incapable of pulling Indonesia out of crisis. Reflecting these experiences and guided by the Ideas contained in the President Sukarno Concept, it is correct and just for the people to demand, within the framework of the Implementation of the 1945 Constitution, that, a Gotong Royong Cabinet be established under the leadership of President Sukarno, In which should be fairly represented all parties and functional groups who genuinely favour the implementation of the ideals of the August 1945 Revolution which is national and democratic in character. Only with a Gotong Royong Cabinet, a cabinet which includes Communists, can all national forces be aroused and mobilised on a large scale to overcome all the difficulties whatsoever that are being faced by our country and people, including the possibility to overcome the protracted economic crisis.
4. Unemployment, Poverty and Economic and Social Injustice
As a result of the ever deepening economic crisis in Indonesia, added to which is the widespread prevalence of speculation with the result that prices of essential goods have got completely out of control, and to which must also be added the price policy being pursued by the Ministry of Trade which is a policy of surrender to the speculators, the sufferings of the Indonesian working people are getting worse and worse.
The workers: As a result of the economic crisis being suffered by Indonesia, the living conditions of the Indonesian porkers are getting worse and worse. The Indonesian workers are among other things faced with the following basic difficulties: a constant deterioration in the living standards of the workers, the government employees and the working people in general; rapidly soaring prices of basic daily essentials; the increasing danger of dismissals, and spread of unemployment; greater and greater contraction of working opportunities because of the failure of the State and private national industrial sectors to develop.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour for 1956 of the 3,896 disputes between workers and employers, 2,893 were over the questions of wages and dismissals. The figures for 1957 show a total of 4,131 disputes of which 3,216 were over the questions of wages and dismissals, whilst in 1958, of the total of 3,350 disputes, 2,613 were over the questions of wages and dismissals.
According to official statistics for 1959, during the four years from 1954 to 1958, there has been an average wage increase of 50%. For government officials and government employees, wage increases have been introduced during the four years, according to Government Regulation 7/1959, a regulation which provides for the implementation of the Rp. 135,00 minimum rate and the reduction in regional cost-of-living allowances, which provides for an increase in pensions for civil service pensioners and also provides for a 10% wage increase for government. employees. But these wage increases which have been won at the cost of so much effort have not brought about any improvement in the living conditions of the government officials and employees. This is because prices of essential goods have risen far more rapidly than wages. The index of 19 essential commodities which is kept by the Central Statistics Bureau registered 106 in 1954 and rose to 258 in 1958 (1953= 100), or in other words, an increase in prices of 143% in the course of four years. This means that the level of real wages, already so low in 1954, could not be maintained and had fallen a further 38% by 1958. By. the middle of 1959, conditions had deteriorated even further as a result of the very rapid rise in prices of essential goods that has taken place, especially in the case of textiles, sugar, coconut oil, salted fish and other things. The result is that the composition and standard of food and other essentials of the workers has deteriorated even further, a fact which seriously threatens the physical and mental health of the workers. It is usual for the living conditions of the working people to be even worse than what official bourgeois reports depict. The average wage now stands at Rp.6.50 paid in cash, or an average of Rp. 10,00 if wages in kind are included, though there still are casual workers who receive as little as between Rp. 4.50—5.00 which means just about enough to buy one litre of rice.
As regards legislation in labour affairs, note should be taken of the law introduced to ratify the ILO Convention No. 98 which prohibits employers from obstructing by any means the growth of trade unions; there is also the law ratifying the ILO Convention No. 100 concerning the elimination of wage inequalities between men and women; and Act No. 22, 1957 on the settlement of labour disputes, an Act which is somewhat more democratic than the Emergency Decree No. 16 introduced in 1951. Experiences up to present show that the victories achieved in the sphere of legislation which are indeed quite significant for the development of trade union organisations, have not yet been genuinely implemented by the government. The trade unions have not yet raised sufficiently strong demands for the implementation of all this legislation.
The most recent report of the Ministry of Labour reveals that on the one hand, the labour force has increased as a result of the increase in population which is estimated at about 1,500,000 a year, whereas on the other hand, working opportunities have not increased but on the contrary have contracted. Bankruptcy in national enterprises and the dissolution of government public corporations have led to mass dismissals. Modernisation in some big foreign enterprises, especially the oil companies have, to the benefit of the foreign monopolists, meant an increase in the number of unemployed.
For the imperialists, Indonesia is still a place for the investment of their capital and a reserve of cheap labour power. They do all they can not only to preserve the capital that they have already invested in Indonesia! but to increase it. They only carry out modernisation if it brings them more profits than putting to work cheap labour power. Their basic aim is to obtain the highest possible profits by forcing the Indonesian, workers to produce more at the same low level of wages. They are intensifying their exploitation by increasing working duties, lengthening the working hours by forced overtime, changing the status of permanent employees into that of casual employees, so as to free themselves from the obligation to provide social insurances, and further, contracting out certain parts of the work to contractors so as to free themselves from the provisions laid down in the collective agreements between the employers and the trade unions. Moreover, there have recently also been attempts by agents of the imperialists to increase the working day from the present seven hours to eight hours a day.
This is why it is the duty of our Party and of the trade unions resolutely to resist dismissals, to oppose price increases, to struggle for wage increases and promotion of rank and for improvements in the social conditions of the workers and government employees.
At the present time, certain circles are actively making an issue of raising labour productivity under the slogan "For an increase in national income". It is indeed an honoured task to increase the national income. But it is a mistake for the question to be solved on the basis of a capitalist outlook which is also striving with might and main to raise labour productivity so as to increase, the profits of the monopoly capitalists. This question can only be solved if it is linked up with the question of radically changing Indonesia's economic structure from a colonial economy into a national economy, from an economy that depends for its very existence upon export and import into an independent economy based upon national industry in which the key role is reserved for the State sector of the economy. Every effort to raise productivity of labour within the framework of the old economy, or the, colonial economy which is still today a fact cannot be advantageous to the working people and the national Interests, it will bring profits to the monopoly capitalists and therefore cannot possibly be supported, by the working people. It is possible for labour productivity to be raised in government enterprises and departments if the government in power has the support of the people and if the government pays proper attention to improving conditions of the workers and employees.
The peasants: The Indonesian peasants are at the present time experiencing a number of forms of oppression and disturbances, amongst other things:
oppression from the landlords and the money-lenders in connection with the continued prevalence of feudal survivals;
disturbances from the Darul Islam-TII terrorist gangs and remnants of the “RGRI-Permesta" bandits who are assisted by the landlords and the foreign companies and armed by the imperialists.
The vast majority of Indonesia's population, that is, between 60—70% of the entire population, are peasants. At the present time, the majority of the peasants are peasants who do not possess any land or possess it in insufficient quantity. Land rights over the vast majority of cultivated land are in the hands of a small number of native landlords and foreign monopoly capitalists. But even though the vast majority of the peasants possess no land at all or possess It In Insufficient quantity, all the catastrophes that befall the village and agriculture are borne by them, such as natural disasters, irregularity in the rainy, season or the dry season, plagues of pests or armed gangs assaults.
Within the framework of the preparations for this Sixth National Congress, Party cadres have been carrying out a campaign of 'going down' which has included, among other things, high and middle cadres being sent out to do research on agrarian relations in the countryside and on the living conditions of the peasants. It cannot yet be said that the results of this research work are perfect but it is a very important first step towards improving the Party’s work among the peasants. After this Congress, we must continue with these research activities and must carry them out more extensively and thoroughly. From the research already done, the conclusion can be drawn that on the one hand, a few landlords in the villages control a large share of the land, and in some cases even more than half the land in the village. On the other hand, the agricultural labourers and poor peasants who account for more than half the population of the villages and in some cases as much as 90% of the population, own less than half the land. In general, the persons who till the landlords’ lands have to pay 50% or more of the product in rent.
The Indonesian bourgeoisie, and even the more advanced elements among them, are in general evading the revolutionary way of transforming landlord ownership of the land into direct ownership by the peasants who till it. This is because the bourgeoisie is still closely connected with the survivals of feudalism. Under such circumstances, it is certain that nothing will be achieved as regards liberating the peasants and freeing the productive forces in the countryside. Thus , the only hope of the peasants is that the revolutionary Agrarian Programme of the CPI be implemented, that the slogan of "land to the peasants", the banners of which are being held high by the CPI, be implemented.
Our Party appreciates and encourages various efforts being undertaken by the Government to improve conditions in the villages and to improve the position of the peasants, such as: the Introduction of Laws on the Abrogation Of Free-hold Estates, on the Control Of The Transfer Of Rights Over Estates, and on Measures Against Foreign Estates, as well as government regulations on settling land disputes between peasants and the plantations or the Forestry Department. These regulations to a lesser or greater extent help the peasants to struggle for their demands; government credit assistance for peasants and activities undertaken by government departments in the sphere of agriculture and in peasant affairs; efforts made by the Government to bring peasants’ representatives into the various bodies or committees set up by the Government; efforts by the Government to promote peasants co-operatives so as to raise agricultural production and improve the living conditions of the peasants.
But however all this may be, the facts show that the conditions of the peasants have not yet undergone any significant change, and in fact have deteriorated during the past few years. This is why we must not forget for a single instance that the most important objective of the peasant movement today is to completely get rid of the survivals of feudalism.
The city poor: The Party has not paid sufficient attention in the past to that section of the petty bourgeoisie that makes up the city, poor; this section is quite numerous. In connection with the activities to improve the work of the Party in the towns, there must be an improvement in the work of arousing, mobilising and organising the masses of city, poor which consist among others of hawkers peddling the wares they receive from master traders, rag-and-bone men, betjak-drivers who possess one betjak which they operate themselves, keepers of way-side eating places, shoe-repairers, tinkers, barbers, and such like. Even though some of these city poor possess simple tools of production, they generally live a life of great hardship.
The number of city poor has increased in the past few years with the process of urbanisation, with many poor peasants or agricultural labourers moving from the countryside to the towns. Most of them do not have enough capital to operate on a small scale themselves whereas it h very difficult for them to get work because of the limited employment opportunities and because of the need to have a minimum knowledge of a particular trade.
This question of the city poor is a serious social problem, not only because all this labour force is not being made good, use of in the sphere of production but because many of them are still young and because they are growing in numbers day by day.
The city poor, as is the case with the petty bourgeoisie in general, are a part of the motive force of the revolution. But under excessively difficult living conditions a part of these city poor can be utilised by the employers as strike-breakers, or can be drawn over to extremist ideas or wild schemes so that they can be enticed by adventurers into joining gangs of disrupters. They can easily be turned into vagabonds, and this is why the Party must improve its work among the city poor, it must organise them into organisations that are in line with their everyday interests so as to improve their living conditions.
The fishermen: As Indonesia is an archipelago, millions of its people live along the coasts and make a living as fishermen. The fishermen play an important role in the production of foodstuffs in the form of fish and it sometimes happens that they play an important role in preserving security of the country and also, in ensuring the smooth running of sea and river transport. With the exception of a very small number of rich fishermen, the vast majority of our fishermen live in misery and backwardness. Part of them live as working fishermen exploited by fish-net owners and the owners of large fishing vessels, who also carry out exploitation in the role of moneylenders and middle-men. The cultural standards of our fishermen are still generally low, their working implements are out-moded, whilst their working relations are generally still feudalistic in nature.
The masses of the fishermen are a motive force of the revolution together with the workers, the peasants, the urban petty bourgeoisie and other democratic elements. Excessive destitution in the villages has forced some of the peasants living along the coast to leave agriculture and augment the ranks of the fishermen. This makes the Party’s work among the fishermen even more urgent, to organise and arouse them in actions aimed, at improving their conditions and winning democratic liberties, as well as to improve their working implements, and all this will at the same time help to solve the shortage of important foodstuffs for the Indonesian people, the great need for fish.
The intelligentsia, too, including scientific and cultural workers, still face difficulties. Inadequacy of equipment, insufficient pay, difficulty to obtain employment and the high level of taxes, crate many difficulties for those working in the sphere of science and culture. The fact today is that at a time when there is a shortage of schools, thousands of elementary school teachers are unemployed. It is very gratifying to see that in the recent period, more and more scientific and cultural workers as well as students, have taken their place in the progressive movement, have adopted an attitude of sympathy towards the Party or have joined the Party. The Party must put all its heart into the work of uniting with, the scientific and cultural workers and the students and helping them to overcome the difficulties they encounter in the process of developing their skills and talents.
The above picture of the living conditions of the workers, the peasants, the city poor, the fishermen, the intelligentsia and others reveals that the. suffering of the vast majority of the Indonesian people are getting worse and worse. Unemployment, poverty, and social and economic injustice are becoming more and more widespread. These people are the victims of the present economic crisis, victims of the policies pursued by governments that insufficiently reflect the national interest and the interests of the masses of the people.
5. Improve the Work of the National Front and Further Isolate the Diehard Forces.
Politically, in the last few years, Indonesia has shifted to the left. Following the holding of the first parliamentary general elections in our country, the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party made an analysis and drew the conclusion that there are three political forces, that are almost .balanced in size, this diehard forces, the progressive forces and the middle-of-the-road forces, each of which have their own concept of how to complete the August 1945 Revolution.
Thus, in our country, there are contradictions between these three forces, some of which are sharper than others, some of which are not basic contradictions and others of which are. The contradiction between the progressive forces and the middle-of-the-road forces is not a basic contradiction; it is a contradiction among the people. But the contradiction between the people and the diehards is a basic contradiction because the diehards represent the interests of the imperialists who are the enemies of the people.
What is the situation today of each of these forces? And how is the balance between these three forces? We can state the following in this connection:
Because of their excessively reactionary, extremely anti-national and anti-people's policy, the. "prestige" of the diehard forces has fallen greatly, and they have "lost all perspectives"* they have no hopes any more of getting back into leadership and control of the central government by parliamentary means. This is why they have tried to force their concept on the nation via extra-parliamentary means, by means of terror and they have even gone to the extent of organising a rebellion in order to get the reins of government back into their hands. They have taken the road of fascism. Their basic force no longer, lies in the confidence placed in them by a section of the Indonesian people who are politically the most backward, but in the assistance in the form of money, arms and other military equipment from the US, Dutch imperialists and Kuomintang, it lies in the support of a few corrupt military personages, in terrorist organisations, in sabotage in military affairs, economic affairs, in smuggling and illegal barter trade. Basically, their strength lies in the help from the imperialists.
More and more, the followers of the counter-revolutionaries are abandoning them, but at the same time their ties with the imperialist who direct all their activities, especially the US imperialists are getting closer. It they do not get any assistance from abroad, these diehard forces would no longer have any role.
Even so, we must not make light of the diehard forces because there are still factors in their favour. The first and the most basic is the feet that Indonesia today is still in essence a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. As long as our country is still a semi-colonial country it means that imperialist domination still prevails in our country, and it means too that there is still a basis for existence in our country for reactionary forces, for the diehard forces. As long as our country is still semi-feudal, it means that the domination of the counter-revolutionary landlords will still prevail. Feudalism is the social basis of imperialism. Feudal survivals, still dominant in economic life, social life and cultural life will always be a source of life for the diehards.
Thus, even though the diehards have already sustained heavy political blows, even though their anti-national character has been more and more exposed, even though they have been more and more exposed as using religion as a mask and misusing nationality sentiments, even though it has become clearer that they are hostile to the people, nevertheless as long as our country is a sewn-colonial and semi-feudal country, the diehard forces will continue, to represent a force which we must unceasingly expose and oppose with all our might.
As regards the middle-of-the-road forces, we have had a number of experiences. Our Party has drawn the conclusion that the middle-of-the-road forces on the one hand vacillate in their resistance to imperialism and feudalism because of their economic ties with the imperialists and the feudalists that have not yet teen completely severed, too are part of the exploiting class. But on the other hand, they are revolutionary because they must, in the interest of preserving themselves and safeguarding their livelihood, get rid of imperialist and landlord obstructions. If the progressive forces are great and the Party programme is one which benefits the middle-of-the-road forces, if the Party’s style of work is good and if the progressive forces are able to deal heavy and well-aimed blows against the diehards, there is the possibility that the middle-of-the-road forces will, for a long period of time, remain loyal to the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle.
The conclusion has also been drawn that if these middle-of-the road forces are no longer loyal to the policy of anti-imperialism, if they abandon their class interests and prostitute themselves before the diehards, they can, together with the diehard forces aim blows against the progressive forces so as, for a certain period of time, to obstruct the development of the democratic movement. But several major experiences that we have had prove that the alliance between the middle-of-the-road forces and the diehards, such as during die time of the Hatta and Sukiman Cabinets, are not at all to the advantage of the middle-of-the-road forces; on the contrary, their economic interests are being pressed more and more by the foreign monopolists and compradors and their political prestige falls because they are condemned by the people for participating in the game of selling out the Republic of Indonesia and its people.
The Indonesian national bourgeoisie are in general a commercial bourgeoisie. Their excessively weak position in economic affairs makes them very dependent. upon export and import trade with the strew upon import! and this means that they are dependent upon the imperialists who dominate these two spheres. If their position as a commercial bourgeoisie is so weak then even more striking is their weakness in the sphere of industry.
If the Indonesian national bourgeoisie had a strong position in the sphere of industry, they would stand up to the foreign monopolists more courageously as competitors, they would defend their right to exist as industrialists and would oppose the imperialists. As industrialists, they would also put up greater opposition to the survivals of feudalism because they would be in need of a secure home market. In this resistance against imperialism and the of feudalism, they would come together with and march side by side with the masses of the people who are also anti-imperialist and anti-feudal. But in their position as a commercial bourgeoisie almost all their efforts are dependent upon the imperialists. They must bring themselves into conformity with the conditions fixed by the imperialists. Even if they "had the intention to put up resistance, they are not strong enough. These circumstances are the reason for the very uncertain and very inconsistent features of the Indonesian bourgeoisie, and these circumstances have made our country fertile soil for the-growth of compradors and bureaucrat capitalists. But on the other hand, the weak economic position of the national bourgeoisie does not provide a strong material baas for sharp contradictions between the national bourgeoisie and the working class in general. To a certain extent, this fact help in the building of the national front.
But what has been stated above does not mean that the Indonesian national bourgeoisie is not an important political factor. They exert a significant ideological and political influence among the intellectuals and within the State apparatus. This is why the question of building unity between the progressive forces and the middle-of-the-road, forces is still an important matter, side by side with striving to prevent the middle-of-the-road forces from capitulating to the diehard forces and the imperialists.
Since they do not have sufficient strength and courage to oppose the imperialists in economic affairs, certain groups of the national bourgeoisie, in line with imperialist policy, sharpen the antagonisms between the Indonesian capitalists themselves, between the so-called "native" and "non-native" businessmen, and together with this, they spread the poison of chauvinism among the people. This means protecting the big foreign enemy and beating one's own colleagues; the foreign enemy becomes stronger and more dangerous while one's own colleagues get beaten to pulp. This is a policy of "destroying one's own house .so as to let the burglar in". That they indeed let the burglar in is evident from their attitude towards big foreign capital investments which, they not only do not oppose, but have actually created an Act on Foreign Investments for this purpose. If they were genuinely against foreign capital, their foremost task would be to reject big foreign capital investments and to undermine the position of existing foreign investments. If they fail to reject big foreign capital investments while making the foreign proprietors of small shops and stalls the target of their opposition, this is not a truly national policy; it is a policy of the domestic landlords and money-lenders who are making use of chauvinism in order to intensify their own exploitation of the working people. And yet in actual fact, their historic task is to unite Indonesian capital as far as is possible, to oppose, the big foreign capitalists and to participate in the work of industrialising the county or in other words, to pursue a policy of “strengthening one’s own house in order to keep the burglar out".
Following the stride forward made in the anti-colonialist struggle when the enterprises of the Dutch colonialists were taken over the egoistic character of a part of the middle-of-the-roaders became very clear indeed. After the workers,. at great risk and in complete disregard of their own interests had taken over the Dutch enterprises, the egoistic middle-of-the-roaders by making use of their power in, the government, tried to get these enterprises shifted over into their own hands. It was here that there was a meeting-place between the interests of the middle-of-the-road forces and the reactionary forces which could provide a platform for their joint reactionary policy. This is an important factor behind the "petty traders" agreements between the diehard bourgeoisie and right-wing nationalist elements under the slogan of "containing Communism". They believe that if they take over this imperialist slogan, there will be people ready to excuse their anti-national deeds.
The middle-of-the-roaders wavered at the time the workers, in a spirit of noble patriotism and at great risk, took over colonialist enterprises. But as soon as the opportunity provided itself, they came forward to "safeguard" the achievements of the workers’ struggle, they strove to prohibit the activities of the trade unions and get themselves into the positions previously occupied by the Dutch colonialists. But fortunately it was in the main possible to frustrate this policy of turning these taken-over Dutch enterprises into private concerns thanks to the strong resistance of the Indonesian people and President Sukarno, But the reactionaries are still making strong efforts in this direction and there is even evidence that they have, made some progress. A new danger is that some of the managers of these enterprises are misusing their positions to enrich themselves and their clique and to hamper production so as to prove that "the government and the workers are incompetent", while at the same time proclaiming that the private businessmen are more "competent".
In view of the fact that the "prestige" of the diehards has fallen, the American imperialists cannot for the time being effectively pursue their policy in Indonesia via the diehard forces headed by the leaders of the Masjumi and the PSI (right-wing socialist, Tr.). Therefore the imperialists badly need new compradors from among the middle-of-the-road forces, both civil and military, while at the same time trying to restore the position of the Indonesian diehard forces. This is the background to the attitude being taken by the rightist wing of the middle-of-the-road forces who are trying to get the entire middle-of-the-road forces to quit the policy of co-operation with the progressive forces.
But within the middle-of-the-road forces there are also left and centre wings as well as the rightist wing. The centre group in the middle-of-the-road forces is usually not a strong group, but it is in a position to "link up" the left wing with the right wing, and it has a strong tendency to come down on the side of the stronger of the wings within the middle-of-the-road forces. This is why the victory of the left wing within the middle-of-the-road forces is a magnet which can succeed in winning the centre wing over to the left and thus prevent the middle-of-the-road forces from shifting to the right.
The left wing in the middle-of-the-road forces opposes the policy of selling out to imperialism and the domestic reactionaries. The policy of the left wing in the middle-of-the-road forces within certain limits reflects the feelings and hopes of the mass of the followers of the middle-of-the-road forces which to a large extent consist of the petty bourgeoisie. The left wing in the middle-of-the-road forces displays a more resolute anti-imperialist standpoint and cannot be easily drawn into the clutches of the imperialists. They also do not agree with the "petty trader" agreements reached, between the right nationalist, group and the diehards, because these are not in harmony with the interests of the mass of followers of the middle-of-the-road forces, especially the petty bourgeoisie. They also oppose the Foreign Investment Law because this law will mean commission, earnings and other profits for only a small handful of the leaders, of the middle-of-the-road forces to the detriment of the mass of followers of these forces themselves. These internal contradictions within the middle-of-the-road forces can, if they do not get too sharp, be solved quietly but if they become too sharp, if the consciousness of the left wing becomes high enough and the right wing continues to adopt a diehard attitude, this must lead to a split.
In connection with completing the demands of the August 1945 Revolution, the conclusion can be drawn that at the present stage, the left-wing of the middle-of-the-road forces no longer have any confidence In the ability and honesty of the upper layer of the national bourgeoisie to carry this out. They also witness the growth of the forces of the Indonesian proletariat and are beginning to be conscious of the fact that the working class is more and more occupying an important position in the national independence, movement in leading the completion of the demands of the August Revolution. But this does not mean that the left group of the middle-of-the-road forces has already accepted and recognised the leadership of the proletariat. In order for this to happen the proletariat must even further strengthen itself and show that it has a greater ability to defend the interests of the entire people.
There is another question which it necessary to clarify with regard to the middle-of-the-road forces, and that is concerning those of the leaders of this group that sided with the "RGRI-Permesta" counter-revolutionary rebellion. In analysing these forces, we must not forget that the most basic contradiction in our country today is the contradiction between the Indonesian people and imperialism which in everyday political life is represented by the imperialists. The struggle to solve this contradiction still needs very much time and our Party must strive to gather (together the greatest possible forces to strike the hardest possible blow at imperialism and its agents. There are a number of reasons why leaders of the middle-of-the-road forces sided with the counter-revolutionaries. Some of them have from the start indeed been reactionaries but during the time before the counter-revolutionary rebellion broke out, they still posed as middle-of-the-roaders.
As regards such people, the attitude of the Party is quite the same as its attitude towards the diehard forces. But there are also those who sided with the counter-revolutionaries because of dissatisfaction since the national bourgeoisie in power at the centre was not able or did not want, to serve the interests of the national bourgeoisie in the regions, such as, for example, they did not quickly grant extensive autonomy to the regions, they failed to make a just division of the “spoils" in the form of economic advantage or governmental position, and so on. In a mood of dissatisfaction, the national bourgeoisie in the regions came face to face with an exceptionally strong campaign waged by the counter-revolutionaries under the slogan of "regional construction", "to hell with the people at the centre", "the people at the centre only consider the needs of Java", and the like. They were tricked by these slogans, they were tempted by temporary material benefits, and this was why they sided with the counter-revolution. Thus, the contradiction within the body of the middle-of-the-road forces which could not be solved led to a weakening of the people's forces and a strengthening of the counter-revolutionary forces because the counter-revolutionaries succeeded in drawing over a part of the national bourgeoisie, or in other words, a part of the people, to their side. Our Party's attitude towards these people who were tricked but who, after the "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion had been defeated, declared once again that they Would be loyal to the Republic of Indonesia, is not the same as its attitude towards the diehards. We must draw them back into the national united front , because the task of our Party is not to smash the national bourgeoisie but to smash the counter-revolutionaries. Of course, this attitude does not in the slightest mean lessening political vigilance. Another conclusion that we can draw is that the contradiction between the Indonesian people and the “RGRI-Permesta" is in no sense a contradiction between the people in Java and the people outside Java but it is one between the entire Indonesian people and the "RGRI-Permesta" counter-revolutionaries who are financed and equipped by the imperialists under US leadership. This is one of the forms of the most basic contradiction, the contradiction between the Indonesian people and imperialism.
From the above analysis it is clear that certain difficulties are now being or will be faced by our Party in building the national united front, that is, building unity between the progressive forces and the middle-of-the-road forces.. But the fact that there is a common stand and common action between the progressive forces and the nationalist movement under the leadership of President Sukarno against imperialism, especially as regards striking a blow at Dutch imperialist economic interests and crushing the “RGRI-Permesta" as well as weakening the diehard forces in general, proves that the united national front in our country is getting stronger and stronger. The most important question at the present time in connection with strengthening the united national front is: constantly to develop the progressive forces with prime place being given to the forces of the workers and the peasants, and win victory for the left wing within the middle-of-the-road forces. Our policy as regards the entire middle-of-the-road forces is: encourage those who are already advanced, draw over the waverers and arouse those who are still backward.
As regards the development of the progressive forces, the role of the Indonesian workers in the take-over campaign to a greater or lesser extent gives a picture of what has happened. The Report to the Sixth Plenum of the CC states the following in this connection: "In carrying out these take-overs, the Indonesian proletariat once again displayed its role as the heroic vanguard in the national struggle for independence of the homeland and for the interests of the entire nation. The workers took over the imperialist enterprises not in their own personal interests but to hand them over to the Republic of Indonesia whose government was not yet a government of the working class. The Indonesian proletariat did all this at great risk, the risk of being killed, dismissed from work, tried in court etc. In the national interests, the Indonesian proletariat did all this without regard for their own self-interests."
Further, the experience in smashing the "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion raised the prestige of the CPI and the progressive forces in general. Ever since the time the rebels were preparing their seizure of power in the regions, Communists together with the mass organisations under their leadership were offering bitter resistance. The Communists have been the first victims of arrests and murders by the rebels. In such a situation, the middle-of-the-road-forces were in a state of vacillation. The progressive forces under the leadership of the CPI which displayed the most resolute stand encouraged the government and helped the Armed Forces in smashing the rebels. But after the counter-revolutionary rebels had-been smashed, the middle-of-the-roaders began busying-themselves to get into important positions and wherever possible to kick the progressives out. By acting in such an unjust way, the middle-of-the-roaders not only discredited themselves in the eyes of the masses of the Indonesian people and the patriotic state apparatus but also very seriously weakened the potentials of the Indonesian people in their effort to smash the counter-revolutionaries.
Both as regards the take-over of the Dutch enterprises as well as in the question of smashing the counter-revolutionary rebels it was proven that the Indonesian proletariat is more and more being able to take its place and has begun to be recognised as the vanguard in the national struggle at the present stage, as the vanguard in the struggle of the Indonesian people to complete the Remands of the August 1945 Revolution. The Indonesian people have displayed in the course of the three general elections so far that they have no little confidence in the CPI and in the progressive forces in general. The birth of the President Sukarno Concept which is aimed at the formation of a “gotong-royong" Cabinet based on proportional representations or in other words the participation of Communists in the Central Government, was a correct reflection of the hopes of the entire working people. Such great support for the establishment of a “gotong-royong" Cabinet would not have been possible had the people not had great confidence in the CPI. This confidence became even greater when the people got direct and good experience in regions where Communists are directing the government, where the people have seen for themselves the unity between what Communists say and what they do, where the people have for the first time got the feeling that they are participating in deciding on the course of government, and participating in deciding the course of development of society in their region.
But it is not easy for the progressive forces to develop themselves. The left wing of the middle-of-the-road forces aims, besides striking a blow at the diehards, at utilising and restricting the progressive forces. The right wing of the middle-of-the-road forces strives to hold back the development of the progressive forces with the policy it pursues of "striking both to the left and to the right", but because of jealousy, anxiety and a terrible fear of the developments of the progressive forces, they are striking more blows to the left than to the right. In the interests of their rightist policy, they are prepared within certain limits to make a compromise with the diehard forces. The diehard forces are striving with might and main not only to hold back the development of the progressive forces but also to "smash" these forces.
In addition to the efforts being made by the right nationalists to hold back the progressive forces, the efforts by the diehard forces to strike at and eventually smash by means of force the progressive forces and the continuous encouragement to smash the Communist movement that is coming from the imperialists, the Trotskyites also feel that they would be committing a great sin if they did not take part in this campaign of "hunting down" the Communists.
It is clear what difficulties are being faced by the progressive forces in developing themselves. The Communists must not feel self-satisfied with the successes they have achieved in developing the progressive forces; on the contrary, they must always raise their vigilance, and tirelessly continue to strengthen and expand their links with all sections of the people. There are still important shortcomings in our Party’s work of building the national front. Among Party cadres, there is still haziness about the non-basic and the basic contradictions in Indonesian society today, and there is insufficient understanding that under certain circumstances, antagonistic contradictions can turn into non-antagonistic contradictions, while non-antagonistic contradictions can turn into antagonistic contradictions. Because of this haziness and lack of understanding, we are insufficiently able in time to make use of all situations to strengthen the national front. By studying more theory and by gaining more experiences, as well as by not forgetting to draw the conclusions from the experiences that we have already gained, we shall gradually be able to overcome these, weaknesses.
The entire development since the time of the Fifth National Party Congress bears out the correctness of the analysis concerning the “three forces and the three concepts of completing the August 1945 Revolution". It is also a fact that these three forces are undergoing constant shifts and up to the present these shifts have been to the left. From the point of view of its following, the CPI has not only become a national Party that is covering the entire country and all nationalities, but it has also become the largest party in our country.
How is the balance of forces today after the struggle against Dutch imperialism went forward a stage with the taking-over of the Dutch enterprises, after the “RGRI-Permesta" has basically been defeated and after their failure to prevent the return to me 1945 Constitution? It can be said with certainty that the diehard forces have seriously deteriorated, and together with that, the progressive forces, have become greater while the middle-of-the-road forces have remained basically the same. Even though the reputation of the leadership of the middle-of-the-road forces has fallen because they vacillated too much in the struggle against the counter-revolution and because of the "petty traders" agreements with the diehards reached by the rightist wing of the leadership, the position of the-middle-of-the-road forces, has been helped by the fact that the left wing of these forces has remained anti-imperialist and in view, too, of the fact that a part of the masses of the diehard forces have shifted to the centre. The CPI’s political line towards these three forces is unchanged, namely, develop the progressive forces, unite with the middle-of-the-road forces and isolate the diehard forces. This means carrying out the slogan of "improve the national front work, further isolate the diehard forces!"
6. The CPl Defends the Proclamation Republic
The Constituent Assembly is the channel which the Party must use in the best possible way to defend the spirit of the Proclamation Republic of August 17, 1945, the spirit that can unite the widest possible sectors of the Indonesian people. Defending the Proclamation Republic means defending the principle that if they are to achieve greatness, the Indonesian people must unite, that sovereignty must be vested in the hands of the people, that the people must carry out their sovereignty through assemblies elected by the people and that all persons are equal before the Law. The CPI defends the spirit of the Proclamation Republic because during the August 1945-—1948 Revolution, the Proclamation Republic proved to be a revolutionary republic, an important means of struggle in the defence of national independence, peace democracy, and unity of the entire people regardless of differences of descent, nationality, regardless of differences of religion, philosophical outlook or political conviction. Defending the Proclamation Republic means defending a Republic in which all religions and all political convictions that are not in conflict with the spirit of the August 1945 Revolution are respected, and in which the religious institutions are separated from the State.
The CPI continues to defend a unitarian state covering the entire area of the former "Dutch East Indies". In this unified state, the broadest possible autonomy is guaranteed for the regions. The contents of the articles in the 1945 Constitution concerning economic affairs which aim at the liquidation of the colonial economy will be defended by the CPI.
These then are the reasons why, after the Constituent Assembly had failed to draw up a Constitution containing the basic ideas as outlined above, the CPI and other patriotic groups put up a resolute struggle for the Constituent Assembly to accept the Constitution of the Revolution, the 1945 Constitution. After it became apparent during the sessions of the Constituent Assembly held at the end of May and the beginning of June, this year, that it would not be able to ratify the 1945 Constitution despite the fact that there was a majority of members in favour, but less than the two-thirds majority required according to the Provisional Constitution, the CPI felt that the only way to save the country from the disaster of a further split in the national forces was for President Sukarno to issue a Decree restoring the 1945 Constitution in the name of the majority of the Indonesian people. The aim of the CPI in demanding that such a decree be issued was to deprive the reactionaries of the opportunity to create a further split in the national forces, and also to further consolidate the anti-imperialist. unity of the people. The issuing of the Decree made it possible to avoid a shameful compromise between those middle-of-the-road forces in favour and those against the 1945 Constitution, a compromise that would have been harmful to the people. It will be possible to make up for the shortcomings in the 1945 Constitution at the sessions of the democratic People's Consultative Congress some time in the future. This is why the CPI and the Indonesian working people welcomed the Decree issued by the President/Supreme Commander, Sukarno, on July 5th, 1959, restoring the 1945 Constitution..
7. The CPI’s Attitude Towards the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet
In determining a practical, political standpoint, we must be guided by the programme of demands adopted by the Fifth National Congress of the Party subsequently improved. upon by the Fourth Plenum of the CC and which is now being submitted again, to this Congress after having been brought into conformity with the development of the situation. The basic task in this programme of demands of the Party is to unite the entire people and to fulfil the economic and political demands of the people at certain stages prior to the completion of the August Revolution in its entirety. In the political sphere, .our programme of demands today basically wants the formation of a National Coalition Government or the formation of a "gotong royong" cabinet, as the 100% implementation of the President Sukarno Concept.
The possibility of forming a National Coalition Government depends upon the work of the Party in building up a national front, in developing the progressive forces and in directing well-aimed blows at the diehards. As regards the participation of Communists in the cabinet, this depends upon the actual balance of forces at the time the cabinet is formed. The CPI has in the past and will continue to demand the formation of a National Coalition Government or a Gotong Royong Government made up of those parties, groups and individuals that are willing. The CPI must raise the question of its participation in the cabinet because the aim of the CPI is to strengthen national unity and the CPI has always had a feeling of responsibility for the conditions of the Indonesian people and nation.
In cases where it does not participate in the cabinet, the Party has laid down its attitude as follows: firstly, the CPl can give its support on the condition that the programme is advanced, that the composition and the ministers are sufficiently good to ensure the implementation of the programme: secondly, it will, go into the opposition if the programme is reactionary or is just an attempt at demagogy, so that it does not fulfil the most minimum political. and economic demands of the people.
The question of the Armed Forces is a factor which we must not minimise in building the national united front, in developing the progressive forces, in isolating the diehard forces and in the efforts of the people to bring about the formation of a progressive cabinet. After the Sukiman Cabinet went out of office as a result of the pressure of the democratic forces, and in its place the Wilopo Cabinet came into office on the basis of the support of the democratic forces, the right-wing socialists, and the militarists tried to carry out a coup d'etat (October 17th, 1952). An attempt was made to rectify this, failure in 1952 of the counter-revolutionaries with the "August 13th, 1956 affair" and the "November 16th, 1956 affair" which were attempts to oppose, the legal power with the forces of the Army. When they got the chance to get back into power during the Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinet (Masjumi), they attempted to reorganise the leadership of the Army and the Air Force by making use of political powers that were in their hands. But all this met with failure because of three important factors: Firstly, "President Sukarno who, united with the people, has a strong influence within the Armed Forces, and President Sukarno refused to become a militarist dictator. Secondly, the Armed Forces are the child of the People's Revolution, and because of this, the majority of the officers, non-commissioned officers and other ranks cannot easily be used to carry out orders aimed at liquidating the Proclamation Republic by means of setting up a military dictatorship or a one-man dictatorship. Thirdly, the Indonesian people not only love democracy, but under the leadership of a vigilant Party, they actively .defend this democracy. These are the basic reasons why the coup d'etat of the Masjumi-PSI and the militarists who sided with them met with failure and .all these forces can still frustrate every counterrevolutionary attempt to seize power.
As has repeatedly been stated, the Communists will continue to struggle to prevent the return to power of a military dictatorship such as the Indonesian people experienced during the Japanese occupation, even though this time the form may be different. The most important thing for the Indonesian people, in the interests of progress in Indonesia, is to preserve and expand democracy. But if it proves impossible to prevent military dictatorship, if such a regime does indeed come into power, it will be the duty of every Communist to oppose it with all their might. Opposing military dictatorship means defending Indonesians national independence from the brazen attacks of the imperialists. That the people do not like military dictatorship is proven by events during the Japanese occupation and during the time some of the Indonesian people faced the militarist fascists of the “RGRI-Permesta" in some parts of the country. Thus it is certain that the opposition to military dictatorship will be victorious. For a certain time there may indeed be people who are afraid of military dictatorship but this is only temporary. People continue to be afraid for as long as they have not had direct experience, but as soon as this happens, all feelings of fear and hesitations disappear, and the courageousness and unflinching will of the people will burst forth like a mighty flood sweeping away and destroying military dictatorship before it. The proof of this is what happened at the time the Indonesian people had to face the Japanese militarists, and now more recently, during the campaign to crush the counter-revolutionary "RGRI-Permesta" rebels.
It is now necessary to make a special analysis of the possibilities of development of the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet as a continuation of the Djuanda Cabinet, which achieved certain successes in the struggle for the incorporation of West Irian within the Republic and following the suppression of the "RGRI-Permesta" counter-revolutionary rebellion.
The special circumstances surrounding the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet to which we must pay attention is the continuance in force of military power. Even though the Emergence Decree of Dutch colonial manufacture has been repealed and has been replaced by a State of Emergency Law drawn up by the Parliament of the Republic, the fact still remains that it is the military that is in power. Military power has displayed some positive aspects, particularly in the regions of unrest. But it also has its negative aspects which, if they are not speedily brought to an end, can go on indefinitely and can outweigh the positive aspects of this military power. As regards these negative aspects, very serious ones are the restraints placed on the democratic rights of the people, such as the continuance in force of the State of Emergency in regions where there are no disturbances, such as the restrictions on .political activities, the prohibition of meetings held by parties, including parties that oppose the counter-revolutionary rebellion and support the 1945 Constitution, the prohibition on strikes in enterprises that side with the counter-revolutionary rebels, evictions of peasants, the ban on certain government officials being members of political parties, and other prohibitions which impose serious limitations on the development of the progressive and democratic movement.
Another negative aspect of military power that is also sufficiently serious is the question of the interference by .some officers, still on active military service, in economic, financial, and governmental affairs. If ex-officers such as Achmad Husein, M. Simbolon, V. Sumual and other rebel officers began their treachery in the sphere of economic and political affairs which were no concern of theirs and ended up by carrying out with a counter-revolutionary rebellion, then it is not correct for their treacherous deeds to be copied by officers who oppose the counter-revolutionary rebels.
Whenever it is necessary, the CPI and the people are prepared to give power within certain limits to the patriotic Armed Forces as long as this power is not misused. We must prevent the emergence of unnecessary of sharp contradictions between the people and the Armed Forces, and everything that may lead to such a sharpening must be averted. The implementation of the line of “the dwiumvirate between the people and the Army" or in other words, the line of “the people helping the Army and the Army helping the people" or "mutual assistance between the people and the Army" is the guarantee for defending Indonesia's sovereignty and independence.
As a result of its success in the main of wiping out the "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion, the prestige of the Government has risen, both in the eyes of the Indonesian people as well as in the eyes of other friendly countries. This prestige can go on rising if the Government can preserve its position as a government which pursues a policy in conformity with the wishes of the masses of the people, as long as it always orientates itself towards and bases itself upon the people, as long as it always succeeds in controlling its entire apparatus in favour of the implementation of its programme, and within certain limits is able to bring about improvements in the living conditions of the people.
Now that the 1945 Constitution has been restored by Decree of President Sukarno on July 5th, 1959, Indonesia remains a State of law in which sovereignty is vested in the hands of the people, and fully exercised by the People's Consultative Council. The power to enact legislation is in the hands of the President and the People's Representative Assembly. In this connection, all deviations in the form of taking arbitrary action against the political liberties of the people, such as deliberately delaying the general elections for the PRA, harbouring a desire to trample upon and dissolve the parties, casting aside or trampling upon the rights of the PRA before or after the PCC has been set up, are threats against the pillars of democracy which are of vital interests to the Indonesian people, and all this means, distorting for the 1945 Constitution.
After making a return, to the 1945 Constitution via a Presidential Decree that had the support of a decisive majority, it was very reasonable for the Indonesian, people to hope for the formation of a Gotong-Royong Cabinet under President Sukarno's leadership, in conformity with the ideas contained in the President Sukarno Concept. But when the Working Cabinet (term used for the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet, Tr.) was formed under the leadership of Sukarno and Djuanda, a cabinet which is not a Gotong-Royong Cabinet, the hopes of the people were not fulfilled for the time being. The Indonesian people will not stop half way and they will not forget President Sukarno's repeated declarations to the effect that the people have the right to demand implementation of the Government's programme and that at any time, ministers can be replaced by the President. The Indonesian people, who love national unity, who are democratic and progressive, will not abandon their practical political demands for the formation of a Gotong-Royong Cabinet, whether this be done via the replacement of ministers who prove not to have been correctly appointed, or via the formation of an entirely new cabinet. This is a very just demand and it will therefore sooner or later be achieved! The formation of the Provisional Supreme Advisory Council and the National Planning Council, the composition of which approaches the spirit of Gotong-Royong, have further encouraged the Indonesian people to carry on with the demand for the formation of a Gotong-Royong Cabinet.
The CPI will do all it can to assist in the implementation of the programme of the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet and the implementation of the basic thoughts contained in the Political Manifesto of President-Sukarno promulgated on August 17th, 1959, so long as this cabinet does not put obstacles in the way of the development of the independence movement and the democratic movement. The support of the CPI for this Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet is sincere, critical support and is based on the following principle: Unreservedly support its progressive policies, criticise its vacillating policies, so as to make them progressive, and oppose those of its policies that are harmful to the people. By assisting the development of the independence movement and the democratic movement, the Sukarno-Djuanda Cabinet is strengthening its own position and is doing service to the people for a completely independent and democratic Indonesia, for the implementation of the demands of the August 1945 Revolution In their entirety.
8. Strengthen and Expand Democracy
The inability of the system of liberal democracy to solve a number of important problems being faced by the Indonesian people has led to a situation where it is no longer possible to conceal the bankruptcy of this system from the Indonesian people. Together with the ever deteriorating authority of this system a deterioration has taken place too in the position of bourgeois parties which tried to operate this system "as well as possible" to enrich the upper strata of the bourgeoisie by means of utilizing political position for the carrying out of corruption and other objectionable activities. This system which in the period of the general crisis of capitalism has become bankrupt historically, has proved in Indonesia too how completely at one liberal democracy is with corruption and bureaucracy, with inability to solve the basic and important problems being faced by the Indonesian people.
The most reactionary rightists, after having realised that they can no longer make use of liberal democracy, have for a long time now been trying to conceal the inabilities of this system by attempts to seize political power through extra-parliamentary means so as to create a fascist system of government in the form of a military junta. After these attempts at the centre failed, they attempted by making military figures in certain regions their champions to seize political power locally as a means for forcing the central Government to bow to its wishes. With the counter-revolutionary "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion which broke out at the beginning of 1958, the Masjumi-PSI leaders succeeded in setting themselves up as "kings-for-a-day" in West Sumatera and North Sulawesi with the help of the bayonets of militarists of the same standpoint as them, and thanks to the encouragements and assistance of imperialist, countries headed by the United States.
But even though the reactionary leaders, and adventurers of the "RGRI-Permesta" have met with failure, the reactionaries and political adventurers are still sufficiently numerous in our country, and there is still Mr. Hatta who can become a means for trying to get Indonesian people to bow down, both by means of forming a reactionary cabinet, as has been stated by Dr. Sukiman (Masjumi), or by the establishment of a military dictatorship or a one-man dictatorship.
The speed with which liberal democracy became bankrupt in Indonesia was due to two processes; Firstly, the process of the consciousness of the Indonesian themselves based on their own experiences when they saw that liberal democracy is identical with corruption, bureaucracy and inability to solve the basic and important problems of the Indonesian people. Secondly, because of the anti-Parliament agitation, in essence, agitation against democratic living, carried out by promoters of a military junta, and other fascist elements.
The bankruptcy of the liberal, democratic system in the eyes of the Indonesian people has not taken place in a situation in which the balance of forces between the Indonesian people on the one hand and the imperialists and the landlords on the. other is such as to make it possible for the Indonesian people to overcome this crisis in the political system by setting up people's power, that is, political power in which sovereignty is completely vested in the hands of the people and in which the enemies of the people are completely deprived of their political rights.
But even so, the Indonesian people will not permit the crisis of liberal democracy to be "overcome" by victory for the reactionaries, that is victory for the "RGRI-Permesta", victory for military dictatorship or one-man dictatorship, or by the formation of a reactionary cabinet. There is already a weapon in the hands of Indonesian people for overcoming the crisis, namely the President Sukarno Concept and the Idea of Guided Democracy. This is the reply of the Indonesian people at the present time, that the crisis of liberal democracy should be ended with victory for the people.
In such a situation, President Sukarno's idea of Guided Democracy, takes on very great significance. The CPI accepts Guided Democracy with the understanding that what is being accepted is democracy even though It is not People's Democracy, but anti-liberalisms anti-military dictatorship and anti-one-man dictatorship democracy. The positive aspect of Guided Democracy is that it is on the one hand anti military dictatorship and anti a one-man dictatorship while on the other hand it is anti-liberalism. Anti-liberalism in political affairs can mean nothing other than the 100% implementation of the President Sukarno Concept; that is the formation of a "gotong-royong" cabinet based on proportional representation of the parties and groups that support the President’s Concept. Anti-liberalism in economic affairs can mean nothing other than anti "free-fight liberalism" and this means giving pride of place to the state sector as the condition for directing the entire economy of the country and rooting out the economic domination of foreign capital.
The positive aspects of Guided' Democracy must be developed and it must be aimed at the 100% Implementation of the President Sukarno Concept. Guided Democracy and the President Sukarno Concept make up one single entirety.
The implementation of the President Sukarno Concept must be carried out among those parties, groups and individuals that agree with it. Those who reject it are anti national unity, pro liberalism and pro military dictatorship or pro one-man dictatorship. It is therefore incorrect if the implementation of these good, aspirations should have to depend on people who reject these aspirations.
The fact that there still are parties, groups and cliques that reject the President Sukarno Concept and Guided Democracy and want to see a military dictatorship or a one-man dictatorship installed is proven by the fact that, even though the Indonesian people have chosen democracy, the danger of fascism continues to be present. This is why revolutionary vigilance must be kept high so as to defeat this danger.
In order to defeat the danger of fascism, the CPI is of the opinion that it is the task of the entire Indonesian people to resolutely struggle for the Government:
genuinely to implement its programme of meeting, the needs of the people for food and clothing, of safeguarding the security of the people and the State and of continuing the struggle against imperialism;
to give the broadest possible democratic freedoms to the people and to the people's organisations, to repeal, all laws and regulations which restrict the liberties of the patriotic movement, and wherever the counter-revolutionary rebels and the terrorist gangs are not a problem, have already been defeated, the democratic liberties of the people must speedily be restored with the repeal of the State of Emergency;
to guarantee all rights and liberties to the workers to defend their legal interest, to annul all laws and regulations which prohibit the workers to strike;
to suppress and crush the counter-revolutionary "RGRI-Permesta" rebels, the Darul Islam-TII and other terrorist gangs completely, to give the freedom to the people's organisations to develop themselves so as to destroy the political influence and the armed strength of the counter-revolutionary forces, especially in the regions where the "RGRI-Permesta" bandits and the Darul Islam-TII bandits are still freely carrying out their atrocities. To give right to the peasant to take up arms under the leadership of the Armed Forces to defend themselves against the activities of the counter-revolutionary terrorist-gangs;
to respect the position and rights of the Central People's Representative Assembly (Parliament) and the regional ones, to maintain the system of regional heads elected by the people, to expand the competence of the government in first and second stage autonomous regional government, and to carry out the formation of third-level swatantra regional (district—Tr.) government;
to democratise all public institutions that carry out functions of an economic or social nature;
to democratise- and reorganise the state apparatus, to dismiss from office civil and military personnel who are traitors to the nation, reactionaries, embezzlers and corruptors, and that these people be punished; to man, the state apparatus with persons who are prepared to serve the interests of the people; to democratise the Army and to develop close ties between the Army and the people.
From their many experiences since the outbreak of the August 1945 Revolution, the Indonesian people are convinced that their strivings and aspirations cannot be, separated from the process of events in the world, and that the future, of their country is inseparable from the struggle of the people of the whole world for peace and progress, for national independence and Socialism.
Their own experiences and aspirations do not make it possible for the Indonesian people to take a neutral or disinterested stand towards imperialism and independence, towards war and peace, towards backwardness and progress, toward capitalism and Socialism, in their own national interests and for their humanitarian aspirations, the Indonesian people take the side of independence, democracy, peace, progress and Socialism. Neutrality, or lack of interest towards all this is in conflict with the standpoint and way of life of the Indonesian people, and is in conflict with the national interests of the Indonesian people.
Ever since the very first days of the Revolution, the foreign policy of the Republic has been a vital part of the Revolution. This means that the foreign policy of the Republic must categorically serve the interests of winning victory for the August Revolution. It has been proven that a foreign policy that does not serve the national task of winning victory for the August Revolution is a betrayal of the Republic and people of Indonesia.
Alongside with serving the August 1945 Revolution, the foreign policy of the Republic must also serve the interests of peace among nations. These two tasks of foreign policy, winning victory for the August Revolution and peace are inseparable. During the period since 19451 Indonesia's foreign policy has experienced a number of setbacks and advances. It has been proven that every time foreign policy deviates from the aim and spirit of the August Revolution, it is subjected to the condemnation of the people and Indonesia experiences a difficult time as regards its relations with other, nations. But on the other hand, every time foreign policy is directed towards serving the August Revolution, it wins the support of the people and it takes Indonesia forward on the international arena. All this must become a lesson for the leaders of the people, the persons in power and the State officials in this field of activities.
Indonesia has had enough experiences to be able to draw conclusion that a foreign policy which is objective and correct is one that is aimed at implementing the two tasks as outlined above.
The history of Indonesia's diplomacy and experiences teaches us that the correct foreign policy is one that is supported by the people and this can be achieved only if the policy is drawn up together with the people through democratic, consultations and by means of other forms of collaboration between the government and the people.
The only correct and successful foreign policy is one which is based on the forces and the interests of the masses of the Indonesian people and based on the forces and general interests of the people of the whole world.
Based on this analysis of foreign policy, the Party has in the past and will continue in the future to arouse and preserve national vigilance. The Party has been able to and will continue to be able to exert close control over the foreign policy pursued by the Indonesian government, to improve it and push it forward, or if necessary to oppose it. In this way, the Party will always be in a position to warn the Indonesian proletariat and people of the dangers of imperialist provocations, intervention and aggression which constantly threaten the Republic of Indonesia.
The Party must draw up a foreign policy which is capable in facing up to the most dangerous international, enemy of the Indonesian people, US imperialism. This policy must be capable of preventing and condemning imperialist intervention and aggression that represents a constant threat against Indonesia's integrity and sovereignty. It must be capable of dealing with all the political tricks played by the reactionaries and with all the conspiracies of the counter-revolutionaries which have their source in the imperialist policy of subversion and intervention pursued against Indonesia. Our foreign policy must be capable of helping the implementation of economic construction and bringing about improvements in living conditions in accordance with the aspirations of the Indonesian people. It must truly be in line with and reflect everything progressive in the domestic conditions prevailing in Indonesia.
It is such a correct and objective foreign policy that the Party must draw up and that must become the possession of the people, so that the people, together with the Party will, sooner or later, be able to struggle to ensure that this foreign policy becomes the official policy of the government of the Republic of Indonesia.
1. The Essence of Our Era is the Transition from Capitalism to Socialism
Within the framework of. determining the direction of our Party’s foreign policy, it is first of all very important to be acquainted with the economic and social transformation that is now taking place in the world. In this connection, the "Declaration" issued in November 1957 by the 12 Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Socialist countries said, among other things, that “the essence of our era is the transition from capitalism to Socialism which commenced with the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia."
The truth of this statement is proven by the fact that about 1,000 million inhabitants of the world, or more than one third of mankind have taken the path of Socialism and are in the process of building a new life.
In the period, that has elapsed since the Fifth National Party Congress, international political life has been extremely rich in intensive and rapid changes, in experiences and advances. The balance of international forces has undergone a tremendous change. This is the result of the continuation of two social processes operating on opposite directions each of which are more and more rapidly proceeding along their respective source. On the one hand there is the imperialist world with its social process heading for its own destruction, while on tile other hand there is Socialist world with its social process heading for continuous expansion and advance. At one with these two social processes is the development of the national independence movement which has now given birth to many new independent states and which is showing with crystal clarity the complete disintegration, of the colonial-imperialist system. The entire development of events in the world centre round these two basic processes. The “Declaration" referred to above have the following to say on this question:
"While Socialism is on the upgrade, imperialism is heading towards decline. The positions of imperialism have been greatly weakened as a result of the disintegration of the colonial system"
The failure of various imperialist adventurers such as for example the failure of the military aggression against Egypt and the failure of the counter-revolution, against Hungary at the end of 1956, the failure of scheming in Cambodia, the failure of their intervention in rendering active assistance to the counter-revolutionary “RGRI-Permesta" rebellion, the failure of their aggression in Lebanon and Jordan with the result that plans to launch aggression against the newly-born Republic of Iraq were frustrated, the failure of their aggression in the Taiwan Straits, and the failure of their intervention in Tibet, clearly show how much the position and strength of the imperialists have fallen. Mention should also be made of their inability to overcome by peaceful means the crisis which now again grip the US economy. The entire world, including the Indonesian people, are already well acquainted with the aggressive, interventionist and oppressive nature of American imperialism, of its characteristic of decay and of retreating when faced with resistance.. The people of Latin America gave expression to their dislike when they accorded a decisive "welcome", turning down John Foster Dulles and US Vice-President Nixon when they visited that continent in 1958. The more hard-pressed the imperialists become, the more desperately and ferociously too they behave, with the result that they become more and more detested and opposed by the peoples of the world. When finally they get into a situation in which they can no longer overcome their difficulties by normal methods, they do not hesitate, in their efforts to preserve their colonial domination, to utilise the methods of fascist coup d'etat and military junta as the way to set up puppet governments such as now exist, for example, in South Korea, South Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand, and some other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But the path of the puppet governments is not always a peaceful one for the imperialists, as became apparent from the overthrow of the Nuri Es Said regime by the Iraqi Revolution.
The US imperialists are the enemy, number one of all nations of the world. The "Declaration" of 12 Communist and Workers' Parties, already referred to above, stated concerning this that “With their policy, certain aggressive groups in the United States aim at rallying around, them all the reactionary forces of the capitalist world. Acting in this way, they are becoming the centre of world reaction, the sworn enemies of the people." Resistance to US imperialism in the present world situation is an inseparable part of the struggle for national independence, democracy and lasting peace.
2. The Present Economic Situation in the Capitalist World
Speaking about the present economic situation in the capitalist world means speaking about the crisis of over-production, about unemployment about social contradictions that are becoming more and more difficult to solve. Speaking about the present economic situation in the capitalist world means speaking about the American economy which is striving with might and main to dominate the entire, economy of the capitalist world and it also means speaking about the ever-intensifying competition between the capitalist countries themselves. Speaking about the present economic situation in the capitalist world cannot be separated from the economic conditions in the Socialist world economy which is making very rapid progress.
The contradictions in capitalist society have their basis in the desire of the capitalists to increase production and thus increase their profits, a desire which is in contradiction with the limited purchasing power of the domestic market. These contradictions have led to crisis in the United States on a number of occasions since the end of the Second World War and the capitalist Countries in Western Europe have also suffered as a result. These contradictions intensified the contradictions of the capitalist world that took place as the Socialist world economy expanded and also because of the progress made in the newly independent non-Socialist countries that have now begun to build up industrial economies. As a result of all this, difficulties in the form of ever-deepening crisis frequently strike the capitalist world. The rivalry between the capitalist countries for control of the capitalist market is becoming more and more intensified, as can be seen from the bitter conflicts that are now raging around the question of the European Common Market which includes six West European countries (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg) and around the British proposal for the establishment of a Free Trade Area which would include the 17 member countries of the Organisation of European Economic Co-operation. Even though conflicts exist between them, both the European Common Market and the Free Trade Area are hostile to the national independence movement and are an obstacle in the way of relaxing international tensions because they aim at monopolising the purchase of raw materials at lowest possible prices and aim at preserving military blocs.
During the various crises that have occurred in the USA since the Second World War, the level of output in that country fell 10% during the 1948—1949 crisis, it fell 11% during the 1953—1954 crisis and fell 14% during the 1957—1958 crisis. A special feature of the present crisis is that, as distinct from the crises in 1948—1949 and 1953—1954, the crisis in 1957—1958 has hit all capitalist countries without exception. In the first six months of 1958, output in the capitalist world fell 6% by comparison with the same period in 1957, while at the same time, the level of trade in the capitalist world fell 8%.
The most recent crisis in the USA which commenced in 1957 and which was subsequently followed up by crises in other capitalist countries has had a serious effect upon economic conditions in the underdeveloped countries. The London “Financial Times" stated that "one of the most serious aspects of the recent recession m the US and Europe was its impact on commodity prices". This paper explained that figures presented in the “World Economic Survey for 1958" issued by the UNO reveal that “export earnings of raw material producing countries fell between 7 to 8% in 1958 as compared with 1957." And if note is made of the fact that the prices of manufactured goods purchased by these countries from the capitalist countries rose continuously during the crisis, it is easy to imagine just how severely the underdeveloped countries have suffered as a result of the economic crisis in the capitalist countries.
In addition to having to cope with social contradictions within their own societies, Britain and the other capitalist countries in Europe have also suffered as a result of the fall in purchasing power of the underdeveloped countries that took place as a result of the crisis in the US, a crisis which led to a reduction in purchases from these underdeveloped Countries. As a result, exports from European countries fell, particularly exports of capital goods. For example, the output of the British steel industry fell 17% in 1958 as compared with 1957 and in the first quarter of this year it fell further 15% by comparison with the same period a year ago.
Comparative figures of totally unemployed in several capitalist countries for 1957, 1958 and 1959 clearly reveal what conditions like:
|
1957 |
1958 |
1959 |
USA |
2,936,000 |
4,400,000 |
4,700,000 (January) |
Canada |
274,000 |
450,000 |
750,000 (January) |
Great Britain |
347,000 |
500,000 |
620,000 (January) |
Belgium |
116,000 |
180,000 |
250,000 (March) |
Japan |
530,000 |
600,000 |
not yet available |
In the USA the question of unemployment is a matter of great public concern. Concerning this question, the London "Economist" wrote in January 1959 that "even on the basis of the most optimistic estimation for total output during 1959, there is no reason to expect that unemployment will fall below 3-5 million throughout the whole year." It is generally recognised that the USA will have to get accustomed to living with chronic unemployment amounting to 5% of the total labour force (before 1957—1958 the figure was around 3%). Whereas according to the bourgeois economists, unemployment of 2.5% of the total labour force is regarded as being a situation of full employment, the ruling circle in the USA now regard 2.5% as being too low and feel that it should be increased to 5%! This feet exposes all the nonsense spoken about the “era of prosperity" of the US economy. It is as well in this connection to take note of what the "US News and World Report" wrote in February 1959 to the effect that during past ten years, the number of workers employed in American industry had risen by only 1% whereas output has risen by 32%. Under the system of capitalism in the USA, technological improvements, in production such as result from automation, do not bring prosperity for the people as is the case in the Socialist countries, but on the contrary they bring unemployment, physical and material losses for the workers and more bitter social tensions. This is clearly proven by the strike of half a million US steel workers that broke out in the third week of July and which has paralysed 90% of the output of the American steel industry.
In the name of fighting inflation, the US Government, which is under the control of the big monopolists, is now preparing to resist every effort of the workers for winning improvements in their conditions. The existence of chronic unemployment makes it evident that, the struggle of the American workers for an improvement in their conditions will become increasingly bitter. Western economists like to boast of the fact that crisis, which they generally refer to as "recession" can now be surmounted. But the fact is that the increase in output that has occurred since May 1958 has not yet been able to restore output to the level attained in 1957 and it has not brought any improvements whatsoever in the living conditions of the people.
In connection with the present world economic crisis which commenced in 1957, note should also be made of the following:
Firstly, US exports fell 18% in 1958 by comparison with 1957 and that are still at a level much lower than that achieved prior to the crisis. Speaking about US exports, the London "Economists" wrote in May 1959 that “here is still no sign of any improvement in this sector".
Secondly, the position of capital investments. These fell from an annual average of US $ 37,000 million in 1957 to US $ 30,000 million in 1958. According to estimation, it will not be possible to restore the 1957 level until, 1960 at the earliest. But even in such a case it will not mean an expansion of productive capacity and employment opportunities because a large part of the investments planned for the year 1959 do not involve the construction of new factories but merely the replacement and modernisation of existing machinery and equipment. This factor will further add to the unemployment to which reference has already been made above.
Thirdly, the rise in output of the steel industry which has been a significant factor in the general rise in output during the first five months of 1959, has been the result of the tactics of the US monopolists, aimed at stocking up adequate supplies so as to be in a stronger position to cope with strike actions on the part of steel workers who are demanding a rise in wages. The steel workers strike, of which the US monopolists are so very afraid, has already broken but, as has been stated above.
Fourthly, as regards the general nature of the present crisis, it is necessary to note that, the process of other capitalist countries being drawn into the crisis has proceeded relatively slowly and has also been very uneven. At a time when the crisis in one or several countries seems to have passed, other countries, are deeply involved while yet others are just beginning, so that it is not possible to state that the crisis has come to an end. And further, every time crisis hits one capitalist country, things become difficult for the other capitalist countries, a fact that become evident from the failure of US exports to other capitalist countries to improve.
All this shows sufficiently clearly that the US economy has not yet succeeded in overcoming the basic problems facing it and that the internal contradictions within that capitalist society are becoming sharper, which means that it is possible to foresee that the present crisis will be followed more rapidly than before by yet another crisis that will be even deeper than the last.
In their efforts to overcome, economic crisis, the Monopolists adopted the method of increasing military expenditures. Militarization of the economy is the one way out still, open to them. This explains, why the imperialist countries pursue a foreign: policy towards other countries that is getting, more and more aggressive.
The history of capitalist economics testifies the fact that military expenditures by the government is indeed the most important and most effective anti-crisis measure available to them. The US journal "US News and World Report" once described the armed forces as "America’s biggest customer".
It is clear that the interests of the imperialists are diametrically opposed to the interests of mankind! Fear off the superior military might of the Socialist countries and of world opinion which is in strong opposition to war, has made the imperialists hesitate right up to today to plunge the world into a new world war.
The policy of the imperialists; which has its soma in the dead-end faced by the capitalist system—a system without a future—is the cause and the prime mover of all international tensions and has resulted in certain nations coming into conflict with others.
This policy must be resisted and defeated in the interests of the safety and security of the world, in the interests of independence and the progress of the nations. The Communist Parties in all countries pioneer and lead the resistance to war, the resistance to the policy of mass destruction. It is a fact, whether people want to recognise it or not, that the Communist Party and the Government of the Soviet Union is leading the struggle against the war policy of the imperialist countries, headed by the USA.
3. The Socialist Camp and Its International Significance
Nobody can deny that today Socialism is superior to capitalism in all matters that are progressive, useful and good for the working people and for mankind. None other than America itself, the leading capitalist country, is having to think about how to catch up with the Soviet Union in a number of important branches of science and technology. As regards industrial output, the Soviet Union long ago surpassed the major capitalist countries in Europe: Britain, France and West Germany. In his report to the Twenty-First (Extraordinary) Congress of the CPSU that took place from January 27th—February 5th, 1959, Comrade Khrushchev stated among other things that during the time of the Seven Year Plan plus about five years more, or in other words, by 1970, or possibly before that time, "the Soviet Union will occupy first place both as regards absolute volume of production and as regards per capita output. This will be a victory of world historic significance for Socialism in the peaceful competition with capitalism on. the international forum".
Nobody can deny that the Soviet sputniks and the man-made planet are the most striking evidence of the fact that under Socialism, the most daring and successful aspirations of mankind are realised.
Today, industrial output per capita for the whole Socialist world has caught up with per capita industrial output in the capitalist world. The Socialist world inhabited by one-third of the world's population, now produces more than one-third of total world industrial output, almost one and half of the total output of grain and 43% of the total output of cotton. Following the completion of the Soviet Seven Year Plan, and with the extremely rapid economic developments taking place in the People's Democracies, the world Socialist System will, by 1965, not only be in the first place as regards per capita output but will also be producing more than one half of total world output. As has been stated above, by 1970 or earlier, the Soviet Union will occupy first place in the world both in absolute output as well as in per capita output. This means that by 1970, the Soviet Union, as the vanguard of the countries of the Socialist camp, will be able to provide the highest living standard in the world. This will be a historic world event in the peaceful competition between Socialism and capitalism on the international arena, a competition which will certainly be won by Socialism.
The Twenty-First Congress of the CPSU laid down the basic tasks for the realisation of all materials and technical conditions as well as for the political and ideological preparation of the masses of the people to enter the era of Communist construction.
The Seven Year Plan of the Soviet Union is indeed such a mighty task so that even the bourgeois press is forced to take note of it, as it is clear from the British journal, the "Economist" which has talked about it giving an "outstanding impression". The mighty work being carried out by the Soviet people shows that today it, has reached a new stage in the competition with capitalism, a stage which reveals that the Soviet Union can now compete with the strongest of all the capitalist countries, the USA. To surpass US achievements means surpassing the highest figures achieved by capitalism.
It can be foreseen that starting from now, the situation and balance of international forces will undergo fundamental changes once the Soviet Union has become the foremost industrial country in the world and once all the Socialist countries together produce more than one-half of world industrial output. This success achieved by Socialism will mean the further consolidation of the peace-loving forces throughout the world. Even though Socialism will not have been victorious throughout the world and even though capitalism continues in existence in some parts of the world, sufficient conditions will exist for world war to be excluded from the lives of mankind. The superiority of the camp of Socialism in the balance of international forces is the decisive objective condition for achieving victory in the struggle to compel the imperialists to abandon war for ever as a method of solving international issues.
The People's Republic of China, although still confronted with the political and military task of liberating Taiwan, is now carrying out the tasks of constructing Socialism and is making great strides forwards. The establishment of People's Communes testifies once again the advanced creative powers of the people and the Communist Party of China in strengthening Socialism and in advancing towards Communism in China. After having completed the first Five Plan in four years, the Chinese people are today busily carrying out construction so as to catch up Britain, the oldest capitalist country, in a period of fifteen years starting from 1957, both in the output, of iron and steel and in the output of other important industrial products. Considering the developments now taking, place in China in the production of iron and steel, it is very likely that this plan will be fulfilled in less than fifteen years.
The advances achieved in China during 1958 are very striking. Total industrial output in 1958 was 66% higher than in 1957 and the output of steel, iron, coal and some other industrial products doubled. The output of the machine building industry rose 3.2 times in 1958. In agricultures the output of raw cotton rose by 28% in 1958 by comparison with 1957 with the result that China is now the leading country in the world in the production of cotton. The output of grains rose by 35% in 1958, achieving a total of 250 million tons.
The success of the People's Commune movement in China marks a new stage in Socialist construction in the countryside and is of very great international significance. Ever since the movement first started, the People's Commune has been a centre of world interest. The enemies of the people proclaim that this new form of social organisation destroys family life. These US imperialist slanders against the Chinese People's Republic have been taken up by Indonesian reactionaries such as Hatta who indeed cannot bear to see anything that is really good for the people. The People's Communes that have been developing in the Chinese countryside ever since the middle of 1958 have "combined industry, agriculture, trade, education and military affairs, and the administrative government and the affairs of the Communes are merged into one" (Resolution on Some Questions on Peoples Communes, Sixth Plenum of the Eighth CC of the Communist Party of China, December 1958). The development of the People's Communes is a natural part of the continuous and rapid developments taking place in all sectors of agricultural production and the political consciousness of the 500,000,000 Chinese peasants is rising from day to day. All this accelerates and consolidates the construction of Socialism in China and means, therefore a great contribution to the victory of Socialism in the world. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people who have been consolidated within the People's Communes are not just confining themselves to economic affairs but also receiving training in cultural and military affairs; they clearly make up an exceptional force in the struggle to defend peace and defeat imperialism.
The enemies of Socialism cannot deny the extraordinary progress made by Socialist China. This fact shows that the path taken by China is the correct and great path, the path which is right for other Asian countries to take, bearing in mind of course the peculiarities of each country.
The development of world Socialism led by the Soviet Union is also distinguished by the completion of Socialist construction in a number of other countries in Europe and Asia. In Czechoslovakia, the exploitation of man by man has basically already been eliminated. From the point of view of the volume of industrial output, Czechoslovakia is today one of the most advanced Republics in the world. In Bulgaria, Socialism has been victorious in the towns and in the countryside. In the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Rumania, Hungary, Albania, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Vietnam Democratic Republic .and the Mongolian People's Republic, Socialist construction is proceeding rapidly.
The economic superiority of Socialism is proven by the fact that the rate of growth achieved is much more rapid than in the capitalist countries. During the past 40 years, industrial output in the Soviet Union increased annually at an average of 10.1% while for the USA the figure is 3.2%, for Great Britain, 1.9%, and for France 3.2%. When years of peace only are calculated, the rate of economic growth in the Soviet Union is even greater. During the eleven years prior to the Second World War (1930—1940) plus the eleven years after the war (1947—1957), the rate of increase in industrial output attained an annual average of 16.2% in the Soviet Union, while for the United States it was 2.7%, for Britain it was 3.2% and for France, 3.1%*. In 1957, total industrial output in the Soviet Union was 33 times greater than in the year 1913. For the USA this figure is 4.1, for Britain, 1.8 and for France 2.
Economic co-operation among the Socialist countries has been perfected with the establishment of the Council of Mutual Economic Co-operation. This economic co-operation is aimed in the first place at developing the sources of raw material and electric power and also at making the fullest use of all the latest achievements in the field of technology. Special attention is .being directed towards the need for greater co-ordination and specialisation in the sphere of the machine industry and this will make possible the mass production of products on a massive and modern scale, and it will also greatly reduce the costs of production. This Council of Mutual Economic Co-operation is the form and system of international co-operation of the future.
In contrast to the division of labour in the capitalist world, where Indonesia also participates in which the progress achieved is confined to the dominating imperialist countries alone, while the other countries remain backward and achieve no progress, the system of international division of labour in the Socialist world guarantees even, rapid and mutually beneficial progress for all the participating countries. Within a period of just a few years, all the Socialist countries without exception have made striking progress in industrial construction and the construction of the entire economy.
The even and rapid economic development that is taking place in all the Socialist countries is of great significance for the underdeveloped countries because the Socialist camp is more and more becoming a source for the goods they need for their national economic construction and is more and more able to buy the goods these countries produce. The existence of a Socialist camp that is making continuous progress creates and guarantees the possibility for progress for all the backward countries.
The process of transition from capitalism to Socialism which is taking place in this present century has not only given birth to Socialism in an extensive area in the continents of Europe and Asia but has also given birth to a camp of peace which is extremely powerful, and it has given birth to a national independence movement the like of which has never existed before in world history.
Prior to the Second World War there was only one Socialist country covering one-sixth of the land surface of the world, namely the Soviet Union with a population of about 170.4 million. In 1956, the population of the world was 2,737 million (U.N.O. figures). Today, nearly 1,000 million five in Socialist countries, 700 million live in newly-independent and anti-imperialist countries such as Indonesia, India, Egypt, Burma and other countries. Six hundred million are struggling for national independence against imperialism, and only 400 million live in imperialist countries such as the U.S.A,. Great-Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and so on. But these 400 million, a large number are participating in the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and capitalism.
Before the Second World War, the 'membership of the trade unions throughout the world was only 40 million, but today it is four times greater, namely 160 million. The peace movement, which is also anti-colonial in character, is day by day growing stronger and more extensive, especially since the Stockholm Conference held in the middle of 1958. The alliance of the workers and peasants, as the backbone of the people’s unity, is growing more and more in all parts of the world.
As the backbone and the leading force of the progressive people's movement throughout the world, the Communist Parties before the Second World War existed in only 43 countries and had a combined membership of 4.2 million. Today, Communist Parties and Workers’ (Communist) Parties exist in 83 countries and have a combined membership that is eight times greater, namely 33 million, of which 1.5 million are in Indonesia. Before the Second World War there were only some thousands of Communist in Indonesia and they were not organised as they should have been.
Socialism as an idea already fills the thoughts of a majority of the inhabitants of the world. Even the leaders of various newly-independent non-Socialist countries in Asia and Africa give expression in various forms to the desire for and aspiration of Socialism. We perhaps do not agree with these leaders on the way of achieving Socialism and on the intentions contained in these statements but the important thing is that they are giving expression to something that the people yearn for, that is, Socialism. In actual fact, the upsurge and victory of the independence struggle of the Asian and African peoples following the war is an important part and one of the forms of the transition of the process, of the disintegration of world capitalism and the growth of Socialism.
Socialism has become a world system, it is a symbol and represents all that is good and progressive, and has become the international force of attraction and the objective in life for hundreds of million of people still languishing and living in hardship under the exploitation and oppression of capital.
Socialism in diplomacy and international affairs is the faithful and resolute defender of independence of the peoples and of world peace, it is the initiator and implementer of peaceful co-existence and friendship among nations, it is the example of goodwill and the ability to live and co-operate peacefully among all nations with different social systems, it is the champion of the normalisation of non-discriminatory international trade and the peaceful exchange of scientific and cultural achievements between the East and the West.
Socialism in economic affairs represents the ability to work according to plan, it represents the ability to industrialise countries on a large-scale, the utilisation of automation on the broadest possible scale, the mechanisation of agriculture, and the ability to achieve continuous progress and ever-rising land of prosperity, in the material and cultural life of mankind. The superiority of the Socialist system over capitalism is also reflected in the sphere of people's welfare. The death rate in the Soviet Union is the lowest in the world, whilst the population there is growing more rapidly than in most capitalist countries. By the final year of the Seven Year Plan, a thirty-hour week will have gradually been introduced for all workers employed underground and for all other forms of employment that are harmful to the health; in the case of all other workers, there will be a 35-hour week. The further aim is for a five-day week with a six-seven hour working day. This reduction in the number of working hours is not accompanied by a reduction in wages; on the contrary, wages are definitely increasing. In short in the not too distant future, the Soviet Union will be operating with the shortest working day and the shortest working week in the world, at the same time improving the welfare of its inhabitants. All this is possible because of the superiority of Socialism, where the increase in output is not aimed at winning greater profits for the big capitalists but at meeting to the maximum the requirements of all members of society.
The superiority of Socialism over capitalism is also evident from the superiority in the sphere of science and technology, in the sphere of culture and morality, and in the sphere of military strength.
Every counter-revolutionary plot that has been launched in any Socialist country has one by one been defeated. The Socialist ranks are becoming more and more consolidated, Socialist construction is proceeding more and more smoothly and the prestige of Socialism is rising higher and higher.
The very core of the most valuable experiences of the Communists has been formulated in the "Declaration" of 12 Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Socialist countries and in the "Peace Manifesto" of the 64 Communist and Workers’ Parties as the result and conclusion of the Moscow Conference held in November, 1957. Our Party, too, took an active part in this historic Conference. The success of this Conference marks the beginning of a new stage in the world Communist movement.
These two documents give a clear analysis of the world situation today as well as clear perspectives of its developments in the days to come. These two documents are democratic guides to action and working programmes for the struggle of the Communists and all people who love peace and independence.
In this connection, it is necessary to recall the efforts being made to create chaos in and split the world Communist movement. These efforts are extremely dangerous for world Socialism, for the ranks of the anti-war and anti-colonial front. Mention should be made here of the modem revisionism now afflicting the Tito clique in the leadership of the Yugoslav Communists’ League (YCL). In the name of Socialism and in the name of Communism, The Tito clique has placed itself outside the Socialist camp and outside the Communist movement.
In its words, the Tito clique also places itself outside the camp of imperialism, but in actual fact, they have never once clearly blamed, let alone condemned, the aggressive policy of the US government. On the contrary, together with Turkey and Greece, it has created the Balkan Pact which brings them close to NATO. It is not surprising then, if the Tito clique, in spirit of revenge, never tires of repeating the accusations and slanders against The Soviet Union accusing it of being an imperialist country which is aiming at destroying Yugoslav independence. They state that they stand outside the "two political-military blocs", and by so doing they perpetrate the slander that the aims of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union are the same as the aims of the aggressive foreign policy of the US imperialists. Whereas in actual fact, one need not be a Communist to understand the difference between Socialism and
imperialism and the difference between the foreign policies of these two systems. The Tito clique in the YCL, just like the imperialists, too, are found of shouting about "Soviet imperialism" and accusing the Socialist countries of being "Soviet satellites". But do they know that in Yugoslavia the kings would be able to get back into power if it were not for the Socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, because the imperialists have more confidence in the kings
than in the leaders of the YCL? Unless of course there is no difference any more between the leaders of the YCL and kings! It is because there, is already the Socialist, camp which is able to surpass the capitalist world, in many questions, it is because there is a strong anti-colonial and peace-loving international front, that the old form of imperialist power is no longer possible.
It is clear that the Tito clique is carrying out a policy that is in essence the same as the policy of the imperialists, namely one of splitting the unity of the Communists of the world. By so doing, the revisionists hope to be able to draw them into what they refer to as a '"third bloc", as a channel and means for estranging the non-Socialist countries of Asia and Africa from the countries of the Socialist camp as well as dragging these countries into the imperialist bloc. In this way, they aim at splitting the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front which is now. growing throughout the world.
But the results have not all been what the Tito clique hoped for. Not only have the Communists not been split but they have, on the contrary, become more consolidated. It is only within the ranks of the nationalists in the Arab countries that Tito has, within limits, succeeded in creating a split. This is a matter that we very much regret because it does, to a greater or lesser extent, weaken the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front.
In this connection we should like to refer to the stupidity of President Nasser of Egypt in sacrificing his good name as an anti-colonial fighter and following Tito's example of pursuing the reactionary anti-colonial policy of the imperialists.
And yet, the facts today are that the Nationalist leaders of the newly independent Asian-African countries can declare with pride and relief that their countries will not "die" if they are boycotted the USA and other imperialist countries, because there are the Socialist countries that are prepared to stretch out a hand at any moment to render them unconditional assistance. Would such pride be possible if it were not for a strong Socialist camp? The honest reply is: No. An even more honest reply would be: if it were not for the Socialist camp led by the Soviet Union, the imperialist would still be dominant in Asia and Africa, and the countries which are. now independent would still have white-skinned governor-generals and immoral and corrupt kings in power. The existence of the Socialist camp objectively favours and helps to accelerate victory for the national independence struggle, regardless of whether this truth is recognised or not.
The existence of People's China has changed the face of the world. But in terms of Asia, the existence of People's China is of even greater significance. The existence of the Chinese People's Republic with its population of 700,000,000, added to which is the population of the Mongolian People's Republic, the Korean Democratic People's Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, means that already more than one half of the population of Asia has entered the Socialist camp and represent a very powerful fortress in the struggle to smash the survivals of imperialist power in Asia. Just imagine what Asia would be like if China was still under the power of Chiang Kai-shek and the USA! And just see what the situation is today with China as a powerful member of the Socialist camp! The national independence struggle of the countries of Asia and-Africa has been made easier, the imperialists no longer dare to do just what they like in these two continents, or if they were to do so then they would have to bear the consequences which would mean their own destruction.
The existence of People's China made possible the birth of that historical document in international diplomacy and policy, the Chou Enlai-Nehru Five Principles, the principles of mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, of non-aggression, of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, of equality and mutual benefit and of peaceful co-existence. These Chou En-lai-Nehru Five Principles have very greatly helped us to analyse various international problems and disputes. These Five Principles are a weapon in the hands of the people of the world to judge the foreign policy of their respective governments, to control imperialist foreign policy and to know as well as to evaluate Socialist foreign policy. These Five Principles are Principles of International Security and Peace. This is Asia's contribution to the world of diplomacy and international policy, it is an expression of the East wind that is prevailing over the West wind. It also bears out the prophetic statement made by Lenin in 1913 about "backward Europe and advanced Asia".
Thus it is clear that the world Communist movement and the camp of Socialism have never been as strong and as united as they are today, especially following the great successes achieved in Socialist construction, and in particular the commencement of Communist construction in the Soviet Union and the mighty People's Commune movement in the Chinese People's Republic.
These are the facts about world society today. The two social systems, capitalism and Socialism are both realities and are living side by side. The former, capitalism, is a moribund system in a process of disintegration. The latter, Socialism, is a new world system and one which has the sympathy of the working people throughout the world, a system that is developing rapidly, that has a brilliant future, a system with unlimited potentialities. Indeed, such a situation cannot go on for ever and the outcome must be on the side of the system that is objective, the one that conforms to the needs and progress of mankind. The problem is how to decide upon the issue: by hostility between them, by mutual isolation and war, or by peaceful competition.
In connection with, this question, the Communists have already for a long time indicated the most democratic way out, the one most beneficial to mankind—the path indicated by Lenin, based on mutual co-existence between countries; with different social systems, the principle of peaceful co-existence between the capitalist and Socialist countries. Since 1917, history has proved that there is absolutely no way of forcibly imposing the capitalist system upon a society in which the conditions are already sufficiently ripe for Socialism, not even by means of war.
Socialism as a new world system is a reality. It is also a fact that capitalism as a world system still exists and has not yet been eradicated from the earth. There is no other way, capitalism and Socialism must live side by side and compete peacefully, and they must establish normal peaceful relations between them in social, cultural, economic and political affairs. In his report to the Twenty-First Congress of the CPSU Comrade Khrushchev declared that “That Plan adopted by our Congress is aimed at seeming peaceful co-existence and at strengthening efforts for peace throughout the world" and that "the economic programme of peaceful construction in the USSR for the period of 1959—1965 opens up broad perspectives for the development of trade between the Soviet Union and all countries" and the Soviet Union "is able to double at the very least its foreign trade."
One extremely important manifestation of the principle of peaceful co-existence is the establishment of free, normal and active trade relations between West and East. It is a fact that during the past few years, trade among the capitalist countries has been contracting while trade between West and East has doubled, reaching a level of US $ 6,000 million in 1957 by comparison with US $ 3,000 in 1953. The leaders of the Soviet Union have repeatedly invited the West to carry out free trade with it and has made concrete offers for this; if all this were accepted by the West, it would represent a way out for them, a way of reducing the economic difficulties that the West is facing today.
Another important manifestation of the principle of peaceful coexistence is the international exchange of visits between government leaders and people's leaders of various countries. Within the framework of all this, it is necessary to appreciate the great significance and favourable impact of the personal contacts and direct relations established between. State leaders, such as was realised, for example, with the visit of the Soviet Deputy Prime Ministers, Mikoyan, and then Frol Kozlov, to the United States, the visits of British Prime Minister, McMillan and US Vice-President Nixon to the Soviet Union and the mutual exchange of visits that is going to take place between Nikita Khrushchev and Eisenhower during the course of this year. Another unforgettable thing is the great significance of the close relations between the Prime Ministers who gave birth to the historic Asian African Conference in Bandung and also the contacts and direct relations established between President Sukarno and the topmost leaders of other States. All this must be further expanded, in particular, the establishment of d the scientists, artiste, sportsmen, journalists and representations of the various, people's organisations in Indonesia and the leaders of the countries.
The only alternative to peaceful co-existence in the path of war, the path of massacre and mass destruction. It is clear that the path of war leads to hell, it is anti-humanitarian and there is no justification whatsoever for it. The Communists will continue to do everything in their power to prevent the path of war from being forced upon the world. The ''Declaration" of the 12 Communist Parties and Workers' Parties declared that “the issue of war or peaceful co-existence is a decisive issue today in world political affairs". The only correct choice is the path of peace, the path of co-existence and peaceful competition between the capitalist system and the Socialist system.
It is not surprising if mankind is more and more abandoning capitalism and drawing towards Socialism. This is in essence the core of international developments today.
4. The International Political Situation
The world situation as has been outlined above and also the issues involved are clearly reflected in the current international political problems and disputes; there are basically two trends, the trend defending and maintaining capitalism and the trend defending and struggling for Socialism. The conflict between these two trends involve the whole world including Indonesia and the other non Socialist countries of Asia, Africa and Latin. America.
These two trends are indeed reflected in the objective process that is taking place today in world society. This is why it is a reactionary falsification to turn this objective situation into a question simply of conflict between the economic and political interests of the USA and the Soviet Union.
The history of the struggle for Socialism has proved in theory and practice that it is the science of Socialism, as drawn up and formulated by K. Marx and F. Engels, and further developed by V. I. Lenin and other Communist Party leaders that has been proven in the test to be correct.
The political trend that defends and struggles for Socialism comes forward with genuinely and frankly stated aims, as is reflected , in the policies of the Communist Parties and in Socialist diplomacy. This political trend, representing as it does an objective and correct social process, does not need deception or concealment, behind empty and false slogans.
But on the other hand, the trend that aims at defending and maintaining capitalism, is forced, as has been proven, to hide behind empty false slogans and must utilise "socialist" demagogy, as is done for example by Prime Minister Nehru of India. This is for no other reason than that this trend is in contradiction with the objective process that is taking place, and it is therefore difficult for it to find a market for its ideals among the masses of the people. This is also evident in Indonesia. There are loyal defenders of capitalism, people who are the sworn enemies of Socialism, and yet in their everyday language they take shelter behind "socialism" and "Marxism". A number of variations of the "socialist" slogans are utilised, such as, for example what the right-wing socialists do, but basically they are all nothing more than various forms of bourgeois concepts, attempting to defend their class interests which are hostile to Socialism. This proves once again the correctness of what was stated by Lenin in 1913 when he said: "the Dialectics of history is such that the theoretical victory of Marxism forces its enemies to disguise themselves as Marxists". (Lenin in "The Historic Fate of the Teachings of Karl Marx")
The conflict between these two trends in international affairs takes on various forms and gives rise to problems involving the general interests of the entire world. The most basic of all is the issue, of war and peace, the question of the cold war, the question of colonialism, the question of the establishment of military bases in foreign countries, the question of freehand normal trade relations between East and West, the question of banning the use of nuclear weapons, the question of halting tests of nuclear bombs, the questions of disarmament and other burning questions, such as the remilitarization of Japan the reunification of Vietnam and of Korea, the question of West Berlin, the question of the SEATO, NATO and other aggressive military pacts. All these questions, affect the general interests and world security, including Indonesia. This is why the Indonesian people must not remain passive towards all these questions, but must face these issues and take an active part in their solution.
Of all these burning issues, the question of West Berlin and Germany is the most urgent at the present time. There is Indeed no justification for a situation where almost 15 years have elapsed since the end of the war and yet West Berlin is still occupied by a foreign army and a peace treaty with Germany has not yet been signed. The peaceful and democratic policy of the Soviet Union and all the Socialist countries is aimed at putting an end to this unsatisfactory state of affairs. But on the other hand, the Western countries want to preserve it because by so doing they hope to be able to maintain their domination of Europe. Adenauer and the West German Government, which represents the interests of the German Imperialists, are the chief master-mind behind this scheme, and together with the other Western countries they are constantly postponing a settlement of the West Berlin question and the German question. This has aroused the broad opposition of the German people themselves. The German Imperialists who have been revived with the help of the US monopolists, are an extremely disruptive danger to security and peace in Europe. In an attempt to settle these questions, the Soviet Union has made a proposal for the convening of a Summit Conference, of the Big Four. The West Is not at all compact in face of this Soviet proposal. The Big Three of the West, the United States, Britain and France, are each trying to pursue their own policy, even though outwardly they give the impression of being united. But it is quite natural for the democratic and peace-loving world, including the Indonesian people, to support the policy of convening a Summit Conference, because this is the policy that directly strengthens peace.
Side by side with these two world processes, the process of capitalism towards destruction and the process of the upsurge of Socialism, there are also two types of international policy and diplomacy, each with its own objectives, methods and spirits. On the one hand, there is imperialist foreign, policy which defends and maintains exploitation and oppression, colonialism and war. On the other hand, there is the foreign policy of the Socialist countries which are struggling for the eradication of exploitation, colonialism and war and for the creation of a new world society, a society that is just and prosperous, peaceful and progressive.
Time and again without stop, imperialism is carrying out intervention and aggression against other countries, while the Socialist countries are time and again without stop opposing all this and defending the rights and interests of the countries that fall victim to imperialist intervention and aggression. Time and again and without stop the Socialist countries are taking the initiative and making peaceful and democratic proposals as well as giving examples to others in the cause of reducing international tensions, but time and again and without stop, America and the other imperialist countries are turning down these proposals and defeating them.
We stated at the Fifth National Party Congress that the international balance of forces and the prospects for its further development are proceedings in a direction that is more and more favourable to national independence, peace and Socialism. In the period since that time, international developments have indeed reflected a shift to the left, towards growing isolation and a more and more unfavourable position for the imperialists, especially the US imperialists, who continue desperately to maintain colonialism, to create new tensions, to carry out subversion, intervention and aggression and to turn the cold war into a hot war. As a result, Anglo-French imperialism was never so isolated and detested by the people of the world as when they launched their military aggression against Egypt. And too, the US-British imperialists were never so isolated and detested by the people of the world as they were when they landed their troops in Lebanon and Jordan.
The US suffered a very heavy blow indeed when the revolution broke out In Iraq on July 14th, 1958. This revolution was the symptom of a new upswing in the national revolutionary movements of the world. The Iraqi Revolution was followed up by the proclamation of the Republic of Algeria and the Republic of Guinea. The USA was never so completely Isolated as when it launched aggression against China in the Taiwan Straits area. Just compare that situation with the situation at the time the US launched its act of aggression against Korea on June 25, 1950, an aggression which went on continuously until July 23, 1953. At that time, the US was still in a position to force its will upon many countries in the world, including Indonesia, by for example imposing an embargo on trade with China.
World public opinion is becoming more and more acquainted with the insincerity of the USA to reach an International agreement on putting an immediate, unconditional and permanent stop to all nuclear weapon tests, despite the fact that the Soviet Union gave a clear display of goodwill when it unilaterally stopped such tests for a period of six months as from March 21st, 1958. Time and time again, the Soviet Union has called upon the USA and Great Britain to conclude an international agreement on this matter even though the number of nuclear weapon tests it has undertaken is less than the number already undertaken by the US or Britain. But these good endeavours have not been successful; the USA and Britain still want to go on with their tests.
The anti-colonial awakening of the Asian and Arab people is continuously expanding and has made important progress. There are a number of important experiences and lessons to be drawn from the bitter resistance put up by the Arab people against the imperialists. The most important is that the path taken by President Nasser of Egypt is erroneous. Egypt's experiences teach us that it is not possible to maintain a progressive foreign policy if domestic policy is anti-democratic and anti-Communist. Egypt’s experiences prove that the anti-Communist policy, the policy of restricting and suppressing the democratic rights of the peoples of Egypt and Syria are in conflict with the anti-colonial and peace-loving principles of the Bandung Conference Decisions, and are clearly in line with the imperialist policy of preserving their colonial domination over the Arab countries and over the countries of Asia and other part of the world. This anti-democratic policy is also being pursued by the ruling circles in India, especially in connection with their dissolution of the State Government of Kerala which was led by the Communists, a government that was faithful to the Indian Constitution and that took a number of measures to the benefit of the people of Kerala. This is a practical lesson for the people of the world, and it shows how easily the bourgeoisie throw Constitutions and democracy aside if their interests are threatened and how unwillingly they are to accept voluntarily the peaceful path of social transformation which the proletariat takes.
By contrast with Egypt there is Iraq, a country which, following the victory of the July 14th, 1958 Revolution, has pursued a foreign and domestic policy which is founded upon the interests and forces of the people, a policy that is not anti-Communist, that is anti-colonial and peace-loving, a policy of co-operation with the camp of Socialism in the interests of construction and Arab unity. The Egyptian path and the Iraqi path represent the alternatives for the Arab world. There is no doubt whatsoever that the path being taken by Iraqi today, the path of co-operation between the Nationalists and the Communists, is the path for the Arab people, the path of real national independence.
During the past few years, imperialism has suffered more blows with the growing intensification of the anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples of Africa and Latin America. The African Conference held in Accra, Ghana, the Conference of the Government of African countries held in April, 1958 and the Conference of the People of Africa which was also held in Accra, in December, 1958, take forward and expand the anti-colonial spirit of Bandung on the African continent. Extremely widespread mass actions took place after Accra in the Congo, Nyasaland, Rhodesia and almost all the countries of West, Central and South Africa. Armed resistance is no longer confined to Algeria but has spread to the Cameroon, Uganda and Central Africa. In Latin America, too, democratic mass actions are becoming more and more widespread and are winning victory. Countries such as the Argentines, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile and others have become quite unsafe for US capital. The victory of the revolution in Cuba is an important source of inspiration of the liberation struggles of all peoples of Latin America.
The decisive victory won by the People's Action Party at the general elections in Singapore at the beginning of this year demonstrates that the people reject British colonisation in that island and at the same time it exposes the bankruptcy of the pro-British policy being pursued by Tengku Abdul Rahman in Malaya.
The repeated blows and defeats suffered by world imperialism make it essential for the people to heighten their vigilance. Imperialism will not be willing to surrender voluntarily but will have to be forced to surrender by the strength of the mass actions of the proletariat and the masses of the people of the world. Every attempt made by the imperialists to drag the world into the holocaust of a new world war as they themselves advance towards their destruction, must be resisted.
The anti-colonial awakening which is now taking place throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America is having a great influence upon the change in the international balance of forces, to the advantage of independence, democracy, Socialism and peace.
In this connection, it is essential to be fully aware of the paramount international significance of the world peace movement against war and defence of peace. The "Declaration" of the 12 Communist and Workers’ Parties stated: “The Communist Parties regard the struggle for peace as being the foremost task. In common with all peace-loving forces, they will do everything in their power to prevent war."
Experiences of the people themselves teach how correct was the conclusion, drawn by the World Peace Bureau at its meeting in Moscow on February 21— 25, 1959, to the effect that the enemies of peace are also the enemies of the independence of the peoples, and that the peace movement and the anti-colonial movement are a single entity and are inseparable. The national independence movement without the peace movement will not be able achieve complete success. This is completely in line with the slogan of the Indonesian people: "We love peace because we love independence". President Sukarno was very correct when he said that there can be no peace as long as colonialism exists. This is why the world peace movement which is today the most extensive democratic mass movement in the world is a movement to prevent war and is an anti-colonial movement. The total cessation of nuclear weapon tests and the prohibition against the use of these weapons, the end of the cold war and the guarantee of independence for all nations are the most important demands of the world peace movement.
The Indonesian people have already made a contribution towards the achievement of the ideal of peace in the world. The role played by the people and government of Indonesia in defence of Egypt's rights at the time that country was facing military aggression from Britain, France and Israel, and in ensuring the success of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, are important and valuable contributions. The statements and speeches made by President Sukarno in Washington, Moscow, Peking, Ankara, Phnom Penh, Hanoi and elsewhere in a spirit of anti-colonialism and love for peace, have had an excellent influence in expanding and enlarging the world peace forces. The early recognition by the Indonesian Government, on the insistence of the people, of the Republic of Iraq, the Provisional Government of Algeria, the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Guinea were of very great significance for the anti-colonial and peace-loving struggle.
The experiences of the people's struggle have also testified as to how correct is the conclusion drawn by the Party that national awakening in the form of an upsurge in the anti-colonial movement and actions of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, is not a force that stands alone in the world or a third force that stands between the forces of imperialism and Socialism, but is a very important part of the awakening of the entire mankind, which, together with the camp of Socialism opposes imperialism and is advancing towards the national independence of all peoples, towards democracy, peace and Socialism.
It is a fact, that an international balance of power that is favourable to Socialism is the decisive objective condition for the success of the struggle to defend world peace and prevent the outbreak of a new world war. On this question Comrade Mikoyan has stated among other things that "the new balance of forces and the further prospects of development give every ground to declare that a real possibility of excluding world war from the life of society will take shape even before the universal triumph of Socialism, with capitalism still existing in some parts of the world."
Our Party has pointed to the existence of the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front. The Party has drawn the conclusion that. Indonesia should indeed become an active participant in this front, in accordance with the spirit and objectives of the August 1945 Proclamation, the aspiration of which is a just and prosperous Indonesian society and a safe and peaceful world. The Party is always striving to encourage the Indonesian Government to take action and to pursue a foreign policy in this direction.
For the Communists work in the world peace movement is not just a trick and a case of putting up a show as the imperialist and their agents make out. It is a serious task of struggle and must be carried out in all earnestness.
The entire anti-colonial forces of the people, the forces of the fighters for peace and the Socialist forces, make up one extremely broad international front, a front that involved all countries, and that is facing one enemy, world imperialist which is headed by the United States. This international front which, whether people like it or not, has as its core the camp of Socialism, must continually be developed, expanded and consolidated in the cause of the safety of humanity for international security and for the progress of mankind throughout the world.
5. Not a Question of “Choosing Blocs" But of Pursuing a Foreign Policy Beneficial to the Indonesian People
The history of the Republic of Indonesia itself sufficiently testifies to the fact that with the Soviet Union and the other countries of the camp of Socialism in the international front for peace and against colonialism, there is a guarantee for the safety, advance and a better future for the people of the Republic of Indonesia. This is not a question of "choosing blocs" but is simply one of recognising a fact. People may say thousand times over that Indonesia will not choose either one of the blocs but the fact is that every policy hostile to the Soviet Union and the camp of Socialism favours imperialism and this is against Indonesia's interests and will certainly meet with defeat. On the other hand, every act of friendship and co-operation with the Soviet Union and the other countries of the camp of Socialism conforms with and runs parallel with Indonesia's interests and will surely be victorious. Such a diehard anti-Communist as Moh. Hatta was forced to recognised this when he stated in the middle of 1948 that "it is indeed true that Soviet Russia defends the independence of colonial countries based on its own ideology" (Hatta in his book "Rowing Between Two Precipices").
Only by expanding the co-operation with the Socialist countries can an independent and active foreign policy directed towards peace and anti-colonialism be erected upon the correct foundation and worked out in the correct proportions. Only in this way is it possible to be sure that this policy will not grow along the wrong lines and turn into a hybrid neutral policy, one that dares not take sides in dealing with various international problems or grow into a policy which "has no preference for cither of the two world blocs" which means adopting, the same attitude towards imperialism and treating it the same way as Socialism. It is here that we can see just how correct is the statement repeatedly made by President Sukarno to the effect that in the question of war and peace, in the question of imperialism and independence, we are not neutral but clearly side with peace and independence. Here Is the foreign policy that is genuinely anti-colonial and peace-loving, the policy that will definitely be successful and that will bring progress for Indonesia.
What actually is the Independent and active foreign policy which is adhered to by the Republic of Indonesia?
At first, the so-called independent policy was the creation of Sutan Sjahrir (right-wing socialist) who controlled Indonesia's foreign policy during the first years of the August Revolution, and was subsequently continued, by Dr. Moh. Hatta when he held the reins of government. There are indeed some people who like to create the impression that Sutan Sjahrir was the founder of Indonesia's present foreign policy.
But what in actual fact was Sjahrir's concept of a foreign policy? In his book, "Our Struggle", which was written, two months before the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia, he wrote among other things that "'Indonesia lies within the sphere of influence of Anglo-American capitalism-imperialism. The fate of Indonesia depends upon the fate of Anglo-American capitalism- imperialism", (p. 12). How unfortunate for the Indonesian people to have their fate dependent upon Anglo-American capitalism!
Sjahrir writes further that it is within, the confine of the conflict between the interests of US policy and British policy each of which, he states, wish to make use of Dutch power in Indonesia, that there exists “the possibility for us to obtain a new position which fits in with the wishes of the mighty Pacific power of the USA", (p. 13). On the basis of this would be concept, Sjahrir admits that the independence that we could obtain is none other than the "independence" which we see in other countries under the influence of large Imperialist countries, or in other words, independence in name only. It is clear that Sjahrir’s concept of foreign policy recognises as its maximum objective nothing more than the attainment of independence along the lines of that in the Philippines, Malaya, South Vietnam or South Korea.
And even this can only be obtained, Sjahrir says, if the Indonesian Government is able to “avert disorders which would threaten the wishes and possibilities of foreign capital", because, he continues, "if they consider it as being definitely detrimental, then they (the foreign capitalists) will mobilise all their resources to oppose us, and they would not hesitate to carry out military intervention to defend their capital interests" (p. 9). There need be no doubt anymore that this capitulationist way of thinking was also the background to the "Political Manifest" published by Hatta on November 1st, 1945, which guaranteed the imperialists, including the Dutch, that their enterprises would be restored to them.
In brief, right from the very first time that Sjahrir played an important part in determining Indonesia's foreign policy, he has tried to scare the Indonesian people and urge them to surrender to imperialism and not to do anything to harm the interests of the imperialists or to anger them. This policy, of capitulation is camouflaged by phrases about a "third force policy". What more could be expected from such a political concept than capitulation and yet again capitulation!
Thus it is clear that Sjahrir’s independent policy was directly opposed to the independent and active foreign policy for peace and anti-colonialism that with the support of the people has been pursued by Indonesian governments from the time of the first and second Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinets up to the present day. Sjahrir is not the founder of the Indonesian foreign policy that is today supported by the Indonesian people; on the contrary, he is its opponent.
In both words and practice, Hatta's foreign policy was nothing more than a continuation of Sutan Sjahrir's treacherous foreign policy. In a, reply made to the Working Committee of the Central Indonesian National Committee in September, 1948, Dr. Moh. Hatta in his capacity as Prime Minister stated among other things that "in view of the geographic position of our country, lying as it does right in the centre of international communication, and which is still surrounded by the big capitalist countries, it is a wise policy not to expand the circle of our enemies" (in “Rowing Between Turn Precipices"). These words were stated by Hatta just at a time when the spirit of anti-imperialism of the people was at a peak, and at a time when the US via "its advisers", was trying directly to intervene in the internal affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. This is why it is clear that with this independent policy, Hatta intended that Indonesia should not take up a position of hostility towards the imperialists or anger them in any way. The consequence was that, since the imperialists wanted the Communists to be hunted down and terrorized, this was done so as to prevent the imperialists, from getting angry. In order to keep the imperialists from getting angry and from being hostile towards Indonesia, he let loose the national tragedy of the Madiun Provocation. Because the imperialists wanted Indonesia to surrender to the Dutch, the treacherous RTC agreement was born! Because the imperialists once again wanted Indonesia to hunt down the Communists so that it could then "quietly and peacefully" sign the MSA agreement, an agreement which bound Indonesia to the USA, to prevent the imperialists from getting angry and based on the Sjahrir-Hatta mode of "independent policy", the August Razzia was carried out by Mr. Sukiman. This was the Sjahrir and Hatta independent policy in practice, a policy based on surrender to imperialism. And yet who was the enemy of Indonesian independence if not imperialism? How is it possible to defend independence without adopting an attitude of hostility towards imperialism? Their "independent policy" was a policy of independence to side with imperialism!
Sjahrir's and Hatta’s foreign policy which belittled the forces of the Indonesian people themselves and the forces of anti-imperialism throughout the world, and which on the contrary surrendered to the intimidations and wishes of imperialism, finally grew into a compradore policy of towing down to imperialists and of being hostile to the independence struggle of the Indonesian people to defend and strengthen the Proclamation Republic. This indeed was the foreign "policy of Sjahrir and Hatta which only desired independence of the type, in the Philippines, where in essence it is not the Filipino people who are in power in their own country. Or like Malaya, today where the Malayan Government is a British shield for the purpose of smashing the genuine forces of the Malayan people who are led by the People's Liberation Army and the Communist Party of Malaya.
How were it be possible to get West Irian incorporated into the sovereign territory of the Republic if an attitude is taken from the start of not opposing imperialism? It is not surprising that Sjahrir’s and Hatta's foreign policy which was clearly a bankrupt policy and a catastrophic one for Indonesia, was praised to the skies by the imperialists on the one hand, whilst on the other, it was opposed by the Indonesian people with the result that this policy just does not find any support today.
Note should be taken of the fact that the Sjahrir-Hatta anti-national and pro-imperialist foreign policy has not yet been completely eliminated. There still are enough persons among Indonesian diplomats and among the persons in control of the Republic's foreign policy whose way of thinking and practical activities are still inspired with the spirit of the Sjahrir-Hatta foreign policy. This seriously delays the development and advancement of the Republic and must therefore be cleaned up by any government that wants to pursue a foreign policy that serves the aspirations of the 1945 August Revolution and that serves world peace.
In reality, the foreign policy tradition of the Republic of Indonesia ever since its establishment has been based on friendly relations and co-operation with the East, even though Sutan Sjahrir obstructed this. The first defence of the Republic put up by the Ukrainian representative in the UNO, D. Manuilsky, was an important foundation for strengthening Indonesians position internationally. This was further strengthened by the success of the people's resistance to Sjahrir's pro-West policy, with the establishment of diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level with the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1947 and then the establishment of consular relations with the Soviet Union in May 1948. The Socialist countries are faithful defenders and supporters who, from the very first years of the Revolution, defended the Republic's position and have done so up to the present day. This is to Indonesia's advantage, and the significance of which cannot possibly be denied, is the assistance and recognition of countries of Asia and Africa in the first years of the Revolution. All this proves that Indonesia's traditional friends, her friends in difficult times, are the countries of the East and not the countries of the West. Not a single person can deny that at times when Indonesia faces difficulties, the Western countries always side with the Nether lands.
In this connection, the Indonesian people should state their deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Dutch proletariat together with their Party, the Communist Party of the Netherlands, which from the very beginning has consistently opposed the colonial policy of the Dutch Government and has always' defended Indonesia's independence and the national right of the Republic to liberate West Irian. The Indonesian people should also state their gratitude to the proletariat and peoples of the world which always sided with the Indonesian people in their sacred, struggle.
As it further developed it became clear that the independent policy of the Sjahrir-Hatta-made could not possibly be maintained because it was in conflict with Indonesia's interests and in conflict with the aspirations of the Indonesian people. This is what led to certain modifications with the result that it eventually was called "independent and active foreign policy directed towards world peace" of the Wilopo Cabinet, the first cabinet supported by the CPI since the conclusion of the RTC agreement. Since that time, a start was made in abandoning Sjahrir's and Hatta's independent policy, but the desire to place Indonesia clearly within the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front was not strong enough during the Wilopo Cabinet. The "Independent policy" faced a crisis and was drifting between the fact on the one hands that Indonesia's interests indeed lay within and were guaranteed by co-operation with the Socialist camp, and on the other hand the hesitations and fear of the ruling bourgeoisie of coming Into conflict with imperialism. In such circumstances, the Party faced the important task of helping and encouraging the national bourgeoisie and the Indonesian Government to be bold enough and prepared to oppose the war policy of the imperialists, to oppose colonialism and to be bold enough and prepared to co-operate with the countries of the Socialist camp.
One of the consequences and peaks of the policy of anti-Communism-and anti-East foreign policy which proved to be anti- Indonesia, was the "RGRI-Permesta" armed rebellion carried out under the inspiration and on the expenses and orders of the US. The safety and integrity of the Republic was preserved by the wisdom shown by the Djuanda Government that was ready to recognise facts and that was ready within certain limits to abandon the anti Communist policy and the anti-East foreign policy. Today, the continuance of the safeguarding and progress, of the Republic depends entirely upon the fidelity and preparedness of the Government to continue with and develop the work in this correct direction.
Under the pressure of the progressive forces, the basis for a healthy Indonesian foreign policy was laid, particularly by the foreign policy of the Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet which succeeded in bringing about the birth of the Principles and Spirit of the historic Bandung Conference. This foreign policy has been continued by the Djuanda Cabinet which was shown signs of wishing to expand Indonesia's economic and cultural co-operation with the countries of the Socialist camp and which has pursued a "new course" in struggle for West Irian.
It is generally known just how 'much the "other course" taken with regard to West Irian resulted In new forces developing at home and how this severely shook the position of the ruling-class in the Netherlands.
Adopting a policy of categorically rejecting the landing of US troops in Pakan Baru (the centre of the “RGRI" rebellion in West Sumatera and an important oil centre, Tr.) at the beginning of 1958, the Djuanda Government, with the backing of the Indonesian people, succeeded in saving the Republic. Indonesia's foreign policy will be able to reap more benefits for the Indonesian if closer relations with the East are continued and developed and if a policy of peaceful co-existence with all nations is pursued and foreign intervention is resolutely resisted. But this has not yet been realised, as can be seen from the fact that the Indonesian Government does not yet want to establish diplomatic relations with the Korean Democratic People's Republic and with the German Democratic Republic even though diplomatic relations and extensive economic relations have long since teen established with West Germany.
It is the task of the Party to further develop the positive results achieved by Indonesia's foreign policy. The first thing to which attention must be paid is the concrete and serious implementation of the Bandung Decisions, it is greatly to be regretted that in face of very pressing international problems such as for example the convening of a Summit Conference, the proposal to halt nuclear weapon, tests, US military, aggression against the Lebanon and British military aggression against Jordan, US military aggression against China around the Taiwan Straits, the havoc created by the US and SEATO in Laos, the Big Four Foreign Minister Conference on the question of West Berlin and the Peace Treaty with Germany and other such issues, the leading members of Asian-African cooperation, and especially the Five Colombo States, have not yet been able to come together to discuss these issues and define their attitude, while Indonesia has not taken the initiative in this direction.
Within the framework of the UNO, co-operation between the AA group must be further strengthened and made more active, because the objective conditions exist for this group to give expression to a more influential opinion and attitude in this international body. The Indonesian people have the task of further activating the channels, both official channels as well as those of the people's organisations and of activating various forms of Asian-African cooperation, in implementation and continuation of the Bandung Decisions.
One important positive aspect of the Bandung Decisions is the question of good neighbour relations on the basis of the principles of the preservation of peace and anti-colonialism. For the safety and security of the Republic itself, it is extremely important to guarantee that Indonesia is surrounded by friendly neighbours whose foreign policy is at one with the decisions of the AA Conference in Bandung. For this, purpose, the Government must carry out intensive efforts towards each of our neighbours, one by one. These efforts will be the more successful if carried out jointly by the Government and the people together. For Indonesia, the question of good-neighbour policy is a concrete and pressing question, bearing in mind the fact that Indonesia is in the very front lines in facing the aggressive SEATO pact. We must be fully aware of the fact that Indonesia is in the front lines in the resistance against SEATO, which means facing national and international tasks that are not at all light. The experiences of the Darul-Islam TII and the "RGRI-Permesta" rebellions clearly prove the truth of this.
The Dutch are now adopting the tactics of alliance with SEATO via Australia for the purpose of defending its domination over West Irian. This means that for Indonesia a good-neighbour policy is the same thing as a policy of staving off imperialist subversion and', intervention, the same as a policy of opposing and defeating SEATO. It is in the interests of the Indonesian people to support the struggles of the peoples of Malaya, Laos and Cambodia, and other countries, to prevent their countries from becoming members of SEATO, and to support the struggle of the people of the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan and Australia to free their countries from the bonds with SEATO and from pressure from the US.
The Indonesian people should certainly be paying close attention to Japan which is now under the domination of the USA and of the monopolists. The Japanese ruling circles have still not yet, up to today, shown any indications of pursuing a peace-loving, democratic foreign policy and one of friendly with its neighbours in Asia. The hostile attitude of the Japanese government towards the Chinese People's Republic, and its desire to continue with its patronising policy towards the peoples of South East Asia which it once colonised, is arousing the antipathy and anxiety of the peoples of Asia. This attitude indicates that Japanese imperialism still represents a danger threatening peace and the independence of the countries of Asia. This attitude is in conflict with the yearnings and interests, of the Japanese people themselves who are bitterly resisting the American occupation and the-suppression by Japanese imperialism and who in the recent period have achieved a number of important successes. Resolutely and loyally, the Japanese people are straggling for equality and friendship between the peoples of Asia, for a lasting peace in Asia and the world. This struggle has the sympathy and the full solidarity of the Indonesian people. But on the other hand, certain bourgeois elements in Indonesia should become conscious of what they are doing, they should immediately abandon their policy of fawning upon the monopolists in power in Japan and should instead of upholding the honour of the independent Indonesian people.
It is realistic and in harmony with the national aspirations of the Indonesian people for the Indonesian government, together with the Asian-African group, to pursue a foreign policy of continuing more, resolutely with the struggle in the UNO and in other international forums for the entry of the Chinese People's Republic and People's Republic of Mongolia into the United Nations, for putting an end to racial discrimination in South Africa and other parts of the world, for preserving international security in the Middle East and the Far East by demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops in this area, and for the establishment of a peace region and in the first place an atom-free region in the Middle East, the Far East and the whole of the Pacific region.
As regards the struggle for West Irian, foreign policy plays a, role of not inconsiderable importance. It is the responsibility of the Indonesian Government to continue with the struggle for West Irian within and outside the United Nations and to convince further the other countries of the world, especially the countries of Asia, Africa and also the friendly countries in Latin America, of the justice and correctness of Indonesia's demand. The Indonesian people would never agree with the policy of refusing to bring up the West Irian question in the UNO because this is just the same as covering up the criminality of America's colonial policy which rejects Indonesia's demand for the restoration of West Irian and supports continued Dutch domination in this region. In pursuance of the struggle for West Irian, the Government must act with greater wisdom and must hold consultations and establish co-operation with the people's organisations.
In the recent period, some progress has been made in the sphere of foreign economic relations especially with the increase in economic assistance from the Socialist countries and the greater preparedness on the part of the Indonesian government to establish trade relations with the Socialist countries.
Some progress has also been made in the sphere of cultural affairs and in scientific and technological co-operation now that more Indonesian students are being sent to the Socialist countries and with the arrival here of experts and professors from these countries, and other such developments.
But by comparison with the rather progressive foreign policy being pursued in resistance to colonialism and in favour of peace, the degree of co-operation with the Socialist countries in the economic, cultural, scientific and technological affairs is not yet what it should be there is still too little of it, and the stress is still towards the West.
In order to cope with the present international situation, complex as it is, it is above all essential therefore to be clarity of outlook and understanding in foreign policy that the chief enemy and obstacle to the safety and integrity of the Republic of Indonesia is world imperialism which is headed by the USA. It is because there is Imperialism that the position and Independence of Indonesia is under constant threat. Every thought, wish or action which does not take a stand against Imperialism is harmful to Indonesia, is in conflict with the national interests of the Indonesian people.
It is customary and characteristic of the foreign policy of the imperialists to make use of the methods of intimidation and intervention against other countries in order to gain control over them. For Indonesia and for other peoples who want to defend and preserve the safety and integrity of their countries, the only correct attitude is to stand up to all this and oppose it in all earnestness. It is general knowledge that the strength of the imperialists is not unlimited, that imperialism is a paper tiger which is by no means invincible. There is already more than sufficient evidence of the fact that the imperialists retreat in the face of resistance.
The Government will always be successful in its foreign policy if it consciously make use of a system of consultation with the people's organisations so as to improve its work in the sphere of International affairs. The Indonesian people are today more mature and it will not be possible to ignore them in questions that concern the Interests of their country. The history of diplomacy shows that the masses of the people have an Influence and play a role that is by no means a small one In determining the direction and nature of foreign policy. The era of secret diplomacy, of keeping everything secret from the people, has now past, and secret diplomacy has been replaced with open diplomacy, diplomacy that is carried together with and for the people.
The Party must unceasingly and indefatigably continue to help and encourage the Government Into opposing and resisting imperialist intervention in Indonesia and in all other countries.
The Party must always be on the alert and must always lead and mobilise the people to resist imperialist intervention in Indonesia which is implemented by means of the pro-imperialist policy of the Masjumi and the PSI, by means of the Darul Islam TII terrorist gangs, by means of the anti-Republic “RGRI-Permesta" rebellion and by means of a few Indonesian political adventurers who in the name of the ‘anti-Communist’ slogan, want to sell Indonesian independence, to the American imperialists so as to force Indonesia into the SEATO military pact.
It is a fact of history that an anti-Communist policy is the same thing as inviting imperialist subversion and intervention and this means spurning the national interests of the Indonesian people. The people must always be on the alert, against various types of outlook and various efforts which are basically hostile to the Indonesian people; they start of by just flirting with the imperialists but subsequently develop into collaboration with the imperialists, by pursuing a policy of "coming to terms" with the imperialists, a policy of begging from the imperialists. This is the new form of Sjahrir's and Hatta's ‘third force policy' a policy which is bankrupt and which has been condemned by the people. It would also be wise for the government to be on the alert against such a policy and should keep clear of it in the interests of Indonesia's safety, in the interests of the advancement of the Republic of Indonesia.
In order to carry out all these tasks the Government must necessarily have a reliable and capable, patriotic, democratic skilled apparatus. The "RGRI-Permesta" elements and other anti-Republic elements who are still hiding in the apparatus of the Foreign Ministry and the Representations of the Republic of Indonesia abroad must be completely purged.
Such are the international position of Indonesia and the tasks of the Party and the Indonesian people in the field of foreign policy. In line with the development of the strength of the united national front in the country, and in accordance with the spirit and soul of the August 1945 Revolution, sufficient conditions exist, also in the field of foreign policy, which will facilitate the attainment of unity among all democratic forces and the unity between the Government and the people, to safeguard and develop Indonesian national independence and to maintain peace in Asia and throughout the world.
1. Development of the Party During the Period Between the Fifth and the Sixth National Congresses
During the period that has elapsed between the Fifth and the Sixth "National Congresses" the Party has, side by side with the advances made by the movement for complete national independence and democracy in our country, experienced great changes, it has expanded throughout the entire country, and in some islands it has begun to take deep root. From the viewpoint of its followers, the Party, with its voters of more than eight millions, is today the biggest party in our country. The Party has made rapid progress not only in increasing membership and sympathisers but also in heightening ideological, political and organizational consciousness.
The balance between Party members and candidate members in the membership of the Party, which now amounts to more than 1,500,000, is almost equal. The position is thus different from what, it was at the time of the Fifth National Congress when the members amounted to 49,042 and the candidate members amounted to 116,164, or in other words the candidate members accounted for about 70% of the total membership.
Actually, the number of members should today be greater than the number of candidate members, but because of the fact that some Committees concerned are behindhand, and because of the situation in certain regions which have been plunged into disorder by the counter-revolutionary rebels, the raising of candidate-members to the status of members has not been carried out in time. There are still many candidate-members who have for years carried out Party tasks spiritedly and well, but because of the negligence of the Committee concerned they have not been raised to members. This negligence means that the comparative number of members and candidate-members has not been speedily improved upon. More than that, the provision in the Constitution are not being applied properly and the right of good candidate members to become members in timely fashion has been neglected by the Committees in question.
As the work of the Party among the peasants has improved, the Party membership from this section m now much greater than it was. Whereas at the last Congress less than 50% were from among the peasants, today a majority of Party members are from the peasants. Improvements, too, in the Party’s work among the intellectuals and among the women has led to more people from these sections joining the Party or sympathising with it. From among the workers, too, there has been a considerably increase, but the percentage has not undergone any important change.
In brief, the great strides achieved in expanding the membership of our Party is as follows: at the time of the National Party Conference in, 1952, there were registered 7,910 members, and candidate members. This Conference decided to expand the membership to 100,000 within a period of six months. When a check-up was made, at the end of 1952, the number of registered members and candidate-members was 126,671. At the time of the Fifth Party Congress, that is in March, 1954, registered members and candidate-members amounted to 165,206. In the middle of 1959, about 1,500,000 members and candidate-members were registered of which about 250,000 or 17% were women. At the time of the National Conference in 1952, Party members and organisations were confined to Java and Sumatera, and in these islands too very unevenly spread out. Following the expansion of membership in 1952, Party organizations began to spread to Madura, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Nusatenggara and the Moluccas. Today, the spread throughout the country is much more even, while in the islands of Java and Sumatera it is more intensive than in the other islands.
This more even and intensive spread out has been helped by the implementation of the Fist Three-Year Plan an Organisation and Education which was decided upon at the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee in July 1956.
The vast majority of the members of our Party have been steeled in revolutionary struggle. A part of the Party members who joined before the 1952 National Conference have experienced heavy blows from the Dutch imperialists, some of them having been imprisoned for years and exiled to Digul in West Irian, some others having experienced the difficult struggle against Japanese fascism, and many having taken an active part in the 1945—48 revolution, in the struggle against, the Madiun Provocation in 1948 and against the Sukiman August Razzia in 1951.
Those who entered the Party after the 1952 National Conference that is, after the renewal of the central leadership of the Party, have taken an active part in the resistance against attempted counter-revolutionary coups d'etat which aimed at fascisising the system of government, against various atrocities directed against the workers and the peasants, against the Darul Islam-TII terrorists, against provocations launched against the Party, against the misuse of the Law on the State of Emergency, against the counter-revolutionary, "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion. The last-mentioned of those was mainly in Central Sumatera, Tapanuli, North Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi. The heroic resistance and great sacrifices made by Party members has steeled the entire ranks of our Party, has greatly raised the prestige of our Party in the eyes of the people; has made closer its links with the masses of the people and with the patriotic organs of the state. Together with this, it has also steeled the unity within the Party, unity among the upper leadership, unity between the upper leadership and the lower leadership and unity between the leadership and the mass of the members.
Devotion and solidarity between fellow Communists is the prevailing spirit in our Party, and it is this spirit too which has given the inspiration to Party members to even more seriously devote themselves to the cause of the motherland and the working people.
Why was it possible to carry out such a rapid expansion of Party organisation and membership? Why was it that the CPI, was able to become a big mass Party?
From the time of the August 1945 Revolution up to the time prior to the white terror during the Madiun Affair in 1948, the influence of the Party was very widespread and this influence extended among all groups. The Party’s influence was not only confined to the workers and peasants but also extended to the youth and students, it extended to the members of the Armed Forces from the rank-and-file up to the officers, it extended to government employees, to the national businessmen and to the cultural workers. But all this tremendous sympathy for the Party was not systematically organised and consolidated. The Party did not put forward a correct programme of struggle to answer the problems being confronted by the Indonesian revolution and the masses of the people. On the contrary, the Party committed political and organisational mistakes as has been pointed out in the Resolution "The New Road for the Republic of Indonesia". In its national front policy, the Party at that time placed more stress upon co-operation, with the right-wing socialists who had no revolutionary traditions and who were not known by the people, than with the nationalists, who did have revolutionary traditions and who were known to the people. And further, at that time, there were three parties calling themselves Marxist-Leninist Parties: the Communist Party of Indonesia, the Socialist Party and the Indonesian Worker's Party.
Immediately prior to the Madiun Affair there were about 10,000 rather well-organised and well-educated Communists in these three Marxist-Leninist Parties. Of course, with Communists only amounting to 10,000 while the population of Indonesia was about 80,000,000 spread out over thousands of islands, large and small, it was impossible for revolutionary work to be well led.
When the Hatta white terror took place, the effects of these political and organisational mistakes were very acutely felt. Millions of people who had gathered around the Party but who had not been organised or given revolutionary political and theoretical education by the Party, became afraid and some of them even sided with the counter-revolutionaries; but the most serious thing of all that was felt at that time was the shortcomings in the Party's work among the peasants.
These bitter experiences motivated the new Political Bureau that was set up at the beginning of 1951 into completely revising the Party and turning it into a big mass Party, nation-wide in scope and with a large number of members. But in order to achieve this, the first thing that had to be done was to correct the fundamental mistakes committed by the Party in political and organizational affairs. In order to do this, a consistently anti-imperialist national front policy was drawn up, based upon the alliance of the workers and peasants under the leadership of the working class. Co-operation with the nationalists was improved. With the "New Road" resolution as the guide, the Party was rebuilt. In order to over as the most loyal ally of the working class, an agrarian programme. In addition to this, the extended its ties with the people other than the workers and the peasants, with the masses of the petty bourgeoisie, the intellectuals, the national businessmen, and other sections of the population. They gradually came to consider our Party as the only Party that honestly and correctly analyses and solves the national problems being faced by the Indonesian people.
The Party's programme for the attainment of national independence by means of Indonesia's withdrawal from the Indonesia-Netherlands Union, the dispatch of the Dutch Military Mission and all Dutch advisors and the abrogation of the Round Table Conference Agreement, the nationalisation of all vital enterprises owned by the Dutch colonialists, and further the insistence upon West Irian being a legal part of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, was understood and strongly supported by the Indonesian people. The same was true as regards the Party's policy, of demanding protection for national industry against competition from foreign goods, the policy of demanding that preparations be made for the industrialisation of the country, and also the struggle waged by the Party that broader employment opportunities be provided and that special treatment be given to Indonesian experts working sincerely for the advancement of science and culture. All this drew broader masses of the people round the Party, including the businessmen and the intellectuals.
For the Indonesian people, it is a fact that our Party is not only good at propaganda work but is also capable of indicating the correct solutions to national problems and to the other problems being faced by the Indonesian people. In addition, the Party has also shown its ability to extract and develop the valuable national and progressive elements, of the history, culture and traditions of our people. This is the reason why, among other things, our Party was able, within a short time, to greatly increase its membership and to grow into a mass Party. This fact is the most effective answer to all the filthy and criminal slanders. The correctness of the Party's policy has been of great significance to the work of building the Party, to the work of strengthening and expanding the Party.
Our Party’s ties with fraternal Parties are becoming closer and closer day by day, both through the study of the experiences of fraternal Parties and through attending their Congresses or through personal contacts between the leaders of our Party and the leaders of the fraternal Parties. The participation of representatives of our Party in the Moscow Conference of Communist Parties and Workers’ Parties in November 1957 which gave birth to the “Declaration" and the "Peace Manifesto" has greatly strengthened the ties between our Party and the fraternal Parties. The "Declaration" and "'the "Peace Manifesto" have been of great significance to the consolidation of our Party in the political and ideological spheres.
Within the framework of strengthening our Party’s ties with fraternal Marxist-Leninist Parties, great significance should be attached to the presence of a fraternal CPI delegation at the Twenty-First Congress of the CPSU not only because this Congress was a Congress of the builders of Communism but also because Comrade Khrushchev clearly stated there what the relations between the, Communist Parties should be. He said among other things that:
"There has always been complete equality and independence for all the Communist and Workers’ Parties and the Socialist countries in the Communist movement and in the Socialist camp. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union does not control any of the other parties, the Soviet Union does not control any other country. There are no ‘superior’ and ‘subordinate’ parties in the Communist movement. All the Communist and Workers’ Parties are equal and independent. All of them bear responsibility for the destiny of the Communist movement, for its failures and its successes."
For the Communists who thoroughly understand the essence of the world Communist movement and the world workers' movement Comrade Khrushchev’s statement depicts the situation as it really is and is the same as what Lenin called for several decades ago. But the fact that this point was made under the present circumstances, at the time when the imperialists and their lackeys are very actively slandering the Communists, is of exceptional significance. This clarification not only rebuffs the slanders of the reactionaries but it also represents an incentive to the Communists in all countries to be able to see clearly what their class tasks, national tasks and international tasks are. With all these tasks, made clear, we Indonesian Communists too will be better able to draw together large numbers of democrats and patriots around the Party.
2. Marxist-Leninist Education is the Indispensable Condition for Unity Within the Party
When in the middle of 1948, our Party carried out the big correction, great stress was placed upon work in the organisational sphere. This was correct because at that time, after the mistake in the political sphere had been basically corrected, the organisational weaknesses were the most striking. At that time, there were three Parties based upon Marxism-Leninism with a total membership of only 10,000. The Party had indeed made a serious mistake in the sphere of organisation.
It is a long time since we corrected this organisational mistake. With Communist pride we can draw the conclusion that we have basically carried out well the general line of building the Party, the line that was laid down at the Fifth National Congress, namely “to continue to build a bolshevised CPI which is nationwide in character, which has a broad mass character, which is completely consolidated ideologically, politically and organisationally". But the complete implementation of the general line of building the Party is not something that can be carried out within the period that has elapsed between the Fifth and the Sixth National Congresses. We still need to go on improving the implementation of this line.
In connection with the building of the Party, a very pressing problem has now arisen as a result of the rapid expansion in the number of members. The rapid expansion of membership will not have favourable consequences if it is not accompanied by education on a large scale within the Party. In view of this every time there has been a campaign to expand membership since 1952, it has always been accompanied by a movement for the new members to study the programme and Constitution of the Party, while old members have had to study Party documents and also Marxist-Leninist theoretical books.
When the Fourth Plenum of the CG drew up the First Three Year Plan, the Party had a membership of more than one million, and the central leadership of the Party warned that it must not be forgotten that the mass of Party members corns from various different classes, that their family, environments also vary greatly and that their cultural level and their revolutionary experiences are very different too. It is therefore not surprising that there still are and there will continue to be many ways of thinking among the Communists. Thus, the question of unity of thought among the Communists is a question of the education of the entire membership of the party. The Fourth Plenum of the CC also adopted a decision on strengthening education and research into concrete conditions so as the raise the Marxist-Leninist level of the Party. Just herein lies the exceptional significance of the First, Three Year Plan of Organisation and Education.
Based on the First Three Year Plan, education has been carried out throughout the Party on the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism and on maintaining the working class standpoint, outlook and method. This education was first carried out among the high cadres of the Party, and then among all Party functionaries, and was then directed towards all Party members. Education is closely linked up with the tasks of the Party and is regarded as an endeavour to eliminate ideological obstacles so as to ensure that the present tasks of the Party can be carried out well and so as to ensure that cadres are not unacquainted with the tasks that will have to be undertaken in the future.
Today, the majority of central cadres down to the basic Committees have received education according to the new plan of education. But the majority of members have not yet been educated according to this plan. One of the activities which must be carried out by the Party after the Sixth Congress is to educate all Party functionaries and activists and to educate the majority of the members according to the new system, of education. During the period of the Party’s Second Three Year Plan, all members who entered the Party before the Sixth Congress and most of those who enter it afterwards must have completed their education according to the new system of education.
With the implementation of the plan of education, unanimity of thought has been guaranteed, the Communist spirit has been strengthened as the dominating Party spirit. The choice of subjects at all levels of education, namely on the history of the development of society, on the basic questions of the Indonesian revolution, on the national united front and on the building of the Party has been proved in the test to have been correct.
The subjects of philosophy and the international workers’ movement which, until now, have only been given in the Party Schools runs by the CC and by certain Major District Committees, should now become subjects in all Party Schools and Courses.
The subject on international workers’ movement is extremely important in implementing the Party's 'policy of combining the spirit of patriotism and proletarian internationalism, the policy of defeating national nihilism, and chauvinism. As a means of raising the theoretical level of the Party cadres, the theoretical conferences, the theoretical consultations and the obligation for all high and middle cadres to study books on classical theory as fixed by the CC or which they themselves have chosen, have been of great significance.
So as to ensure that all members are able to participate in and enjoy self-study from the Party daily and from other Party publications, the work of combating illiteracy within Party ranks must be further intensified side by pile with intensifying the combating of illiteracy outside the Party, too. Together with all this, Party cadres must never for a moment stop expanding their general knowledge and improving their skills in their own subject or profession.
Our Party was very correct when it drew the conclusion that “Unity within the Party is only possible if it is based upon unity of thought, unity of ideology, that is, Marxist-Leninist thought or ideology. Only if there is unity of thought among Communists will there be real unity, political and organisational unity of the Communist Party, will there be unity in the people's actions that are led by the Communist Party." This is why all forms and ways which can unify the thoughts of the entire membership of the Party must be utilised by the Party.
The Fifth National Congress of the Party provided the answer to all the important and basic questions of the Indonesian revolution. That Congress laid down the basis for better Party work in building up a national united front, and it provided the answer to all basic questions concerning the building of the Party. The developments following the Congress revealed that all of this was true. On the basis of the experiences during the period which we are reviewing, we can draw the conclusion that basically, the political line and the organisational line fixed by the Fifth National Congress are still valid up to today, so that basically these are also the lines of the Sixth National Congress. Naturally, we must make some changes here and there; those parts that are out of date must be deleted, those parts that are not adequate must be added to, while those that are not sufficiently correct must be improved upon.
In implementing the political and organisational lines laid down by the Fifth Party Congress, the Party did of course meet with certain difficulties and we did commit mistakes. This was unavoidable. If It did not happen with the CC then it happened with lower committees or with both. In the time to come, too, we shall not be freed from difficulties and from the possibility of making mistakes.
The important thing is that we should always understand what is the cause of all these difficulties and mistakes. At the Fifth National Congress, we drew the, conclusion that all mistakes, both including those made because of dogmatism as well as those made because of empiricism have their source in subjective ideology. In the further implementation of our tasks and these tasks will definitely get more difficult because of the increasing complexity of the situation and the sharpening of the contradictions between the classes in our society we shall certainly meet with more„ difficulties and possibilities of making mistakes.
Our experiences so far indicate, too, that every time our Party makes progress or achieves a victory, new difficulties arise and possibilities for making new mistakes arise. This is a law. This is why it is the responsibility of, the leadership of the Party to study and analyse the mistakes made in the past, to draw the lessons from these mistakes, so that, as Comrade Liu Shao-chi has said, "we shall make fewer mistakes in our future work and as far as possible avoid repeating past mistakes and prevent small mistakes from developing into big ones." (Political Report of the CC of the CPC to the VIIIth National Congress).
3. We Must Constantly Wage War Against Subjectivism
At the Fifth National Congress, we drew the conclusion that in order to oppose subjectivism in our Party, it is very important, to do two things: Firstly, to teach Party members to use Marxist-Leninist methods in analysing the political-situation and in estimating the strength of the classes. In this way, we shall be opposing subjective analysis and calculation. Secondly, direct the attention of the members towards research and study in social and economic affairs. By doing these two things we shall be able to decide upon the tactics of struggle and the method of work, and in this way, to make, our comrades understand that, mistakes made in investigating a concrete situation will result in them getting submerged in fantasy and adventurism.
Carrying out these two things will mean that we shall be raising the level of Marxism-Leninism in the Party. This means that we must devote all our attention to study Marxism-Leninism, and to do it systematically, especially among the ranks of the cadres, so that they become skilful at putting to use the standpoint, outlook and method of the working class to consider and solve the problems being faced. This, means that Party cadres must carry out investigation and research seriously, and honestly among the masses, utilising the method of work, of "from the masses, back to the masses". Basically we must weld theory with practice. This work can only be successful and be consolidated if we educate and form a corps of theoretical workers for scientific work on Marxism-Leninism and continue with the campaign of 'going down" to the masses.
In brief, we must know Marxism-Leninism and know the situating so as to raise the level of achievement of our work. Knowing Marxism-Leninism and knowing the situation, this is our slogan of study and slogan of work.
At the Fifth National Party Congress, we drew the conclusion that the social source of subjectivism is the fact that our country is a petty bourgeois country. Our Party is like a rowing boat sailing in a petty bourgeois sea. It is not only, surrounded by the petty bourgeois class, but a large part of the Party members come from this class, too. Thus, the fact that the ideological purity of the Party can be blemished by a class ideology illegal within the Party is not something impossible. As we constantly resist petty bourgeois ideology within the Party we must not forget that bourgeois ideology is also a constant threat to the ideological and political purity of the Party. This is the situation if we consider the social source of our mistakes.
But our mistakes need not necessarily be based on social sources; they may be based on incorrect understanding. Regarding this, Comrade Liu Shao-chi said the following: "If a person does not understand that a correct handling of things can only be based on an objective and all-round reflection of reality, but insist on acting according to his own subjective and one-sided approach to things, then he will go on making mistakes, great or small, even though his intentions are good. In order to prevent mistakes, therefore, the basic thing is to acquire an accurate knowledge of objective reality, and correctly differentiate between right and wrong."
The history of our Party indicates that since its foundation up to 1951, we made mistake after mistake; either right or "left" opportunism or both of them at once, and this gave rise to much damage within and harm inflicted upon the Party. But since 1951, that is to say the year in which the central leadership of the Party was renewed, we have not made such serious mistakes any more. And the possibility of making, such mistakes was reduced after there was a correct political line, a correct Party programme and a correct Party organisational line as laid down by the Fifth National Congress.
The fact today that, the reactionaries are finding it difficult to attack the Party's policy because, this policy is so very much at one with the direct economic and political interests of the masses of the people and with national interests. They are also finding it difficult to attack the Party*s programme because attacking it means attacking the vital interests of the people and nation.
This is why they are devoting more attention to activities in the ideological sphere where they are quietly smuggling idealistic world, outlooks into the explanation of political, legal, cultural and other problems, which cause a chaos in the sphere of ideology. In this way they hope to be able to retard the advancement of the progressive movement, the advancement of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle in general.
In philosophy, the imperialists and their agents together with the domestic bourgeoisie basically make up one front and are actively attacking the fortress of working class philosophy. It is very erroneous to be passive in face of this frontal attack in the sphere of philosophy because this means allowing the fortress of working class philosophy to be infiltrated and disrupted by destructive elements, which will have the effect of weakening the activities of the workers’ movement and the people's movement generally in all spheres.
It is clear that one of the most important tasks today is to continue with the building of the Party with the stress upon ideological upbuilding. In putting this point forward it does not mean that we may neglect the question of organisational upbuilding. The latter continues to be important but the question of ideological upbuilding is even more important.
If we now place more emphasis upon the Party's ideology, this does not mean to say that up to the present nothing has yet been done in this sphere; the point is that we have not yet done enough or worked sufficiently well to remould the ideology of Party members. In order to improve, the Party's work in this sphere, we must in the coming period place more stress upon the teaching of-Marxist-Leninist philosophy, the philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism. We must teach it much more to the Party cadres and acquaint the masses of the members with it, both by making it one of the subjects at the Party Schools and Courses and through the various other subjects taught, and also by linking up Marxist-Leninist philosophy with all aspects of life.
Party cadres have, in the recent period, begun to be truly conscious of the importance of ideological upbuilding. It is now better realised that our Party is a Party with an iron discipline, but this discipline is not based upon organisation alone, but must in the first place be based upon the consciousness of the members. This means that the higher the consciousness of the members, the higher their sense of discipline. And too, it is being more and more realised that no Party tasks can be implemented well without ideological, preparation and that our Party can only be consolidated if it is based upon ideological unity. This is wily ideology is the general for us Communists. Without a correct ideology, nothing runs well, just as without a good general, no army can win victory.
The idea prevailing among some members that philosophy is the same as mystics is erroneous, as is the case of the opinion that philosophy is difficult, to understand and can only be grasped by experts and theoreticians. The elimination of the erroneous ideas is the first condition to be able to expand philosophical teaching in our Party. Studying philosophy is the same as studying other theories of Marxism-Leninism. If philosophy is divorced from reality, then it becomes difficult to understand. But if philosophy is studied as it should be, that is, linked up with the practice of living, with facts, with the documents of the Party, with the general line and the day-to-day policy of the Party, no great difficulties will arise because the problems become v concrete.
Up to the present, there are still many Party members who can say that the Party’s general line and policy is good and correct but they cannot explain why this is so. Only by understanding Marxist-Leninist, philosophy will Party cadres be able to explain why the Party's general line and policy is correct. By understanding philosophy, it will become clear to them that philosophy is the basis of all the tactics, the line, the guiding principles and the policy of the Party, and in this way, the cadres, will not 'only "know" that the Party's political line is correct but they will also "know why".
The political mistakes that the Party is most likely to make since the time a correct political line and a correct Party programme have been drawn up are that we fail to differentiate between the general Party Programme which will be implemented if our Party leads the Government, and the programme of immediate demands or the specific programme for which a struggle must be waged by the Party, which the Party must demand of the present ruling powers.
Because of subjectivism, we may commit the mistake of demanding the full implementation of the General Programme now. An example of a subjectivist mistake is the Manifesto adopted by the Fifth National Congress for the first general elections to Parliament which was subsequently corrected by the Third Plenum of the CC. This mistake did not have very harmful consequences because of the unanimity within the leadership of the Party.
On the other hand, also because of subjectivisms or in other words because prime place is not given to the interests of the vast majority of the people, we may fail to explain the Party's General Programme to the people with the result that the people do not know the difference between our Programme and the programmes of liberal bourgeois parties.
The possibility of making such mistakes of subjectivism was greatly lessened following the Fourth Plenum of the CC at which a clear differentiation was made between the General Programme and the specific programme or the Programme of Immediate Demands, and at which we also dearly indicated the relations, between these two. With its General Programme, the Party fills up to completion the tasks and slogans of the August 1945 Revolution, if these tasks and slogans are completed, it will mean the same thing as completing the national and democratic demands of the August Revolution in their entirety. Our programme of immediate demands are demands to the present ruling powers, and these demands can change in accordance with changes and variations in the situation.
In the course of waging a struggle for the specific programme or the Programme of Immediate Demands, we must avoid such phenomena as the bureaucracy which afflicts certain Party functionaries, or in other words not quickly enough giving directives to actions to win the pressing, demands of the masses and not giving sufficient thought to the question of how to make these demands become a maw problem and mass activity. We must avert feelings of complacency over having been able to make a statement or deliver a speech at the people's representative councils or elsewhere, complete with all the figures and facts. It is very important to prove everything with figures and fact, but there must not be a single Party functionary who gets stuck at these and does not solve the problem being faced which would mean arousing, mobilising and organising the masses to carry out the Party’s programme of demands in all situations.
In brief, at the present time, the Party is armed with a clear strategy and clear basic tactics so that it is no longer easy to become the prey to leftist thoughts and capitulationist thoughts, it will no longer be easy to be provoked or to loose one's head at times when we win temporary victories.
But it is not enough to understand the strategy and basic tactics alone. Our Party must also always be in complete mastery of the situation or fairly well mastering it, it must determine its attitude towards this situation and decide upon the step and actions which are advantageous to the people, and push the revolutionary movement forward. In this way, we shall understand not only basic tactics but also everyday tactics. It was very, correct for the CC to take a decision on intensifying the investigation and study of various situation and living conditions of the masses, and a decision to the effect that all CC members and other important cadres must “go down" and take an active part in carrying out this investigation and research and take responsibility for the progress of local Party organisations consisting of a number of basic organisations the care of which has been handed over to them. This is one of the guarantees that the leaders of our Party will not become estranged from the masses of the members and from the Eves of the masses of the working people.
It should always be remembered that there is still a separation between the correct strategy and basic tactics of the Party or the correct political line of the Party, and its implementation. Even though we may have studied Marxist-Leninist theory may have tried to get to know the situation and also may have mastered the Party's political line well, the possibility of making mistakes still exists. In order to reduce this possibility, our Party must be armed with an infallible weapon, that is criticism and self-criticism. By seriously but patiently and wisely carrying out criticism, we shall succeed in discovering, the mistakes and shortcomings in our work so that we can thus “draw the lessons from past mistakes as a warning for the future" and so that we can also "treat the disease so as to cure the patient,"
Within our Party, we must arouse the courage to carry out criticism, especially criticism from below upwards, holding firmly to the line set forth by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, that is “with the desire to unite as our starting point, and through criticism and self-criticism, to achieve new unity on a new basis". If we faithfully carry out criticism and self-criticism, it will mean waging war against subjectivism, and in this way the possibility of making mistakes will be reduced and the unity within the Party will be further strengthened.
Only by constantly waging war against subjectivism, both in our way of thinking as well as in our method of work, will our Party be able to become an objective and realistic leader, will it be able to stamp out bureaucracy and sectarianism in the course of developing the Party, in building people's unity in all places and in organising mass actions so as to be able to lead and direct the development of the situation. In implementing all this, we must create a style of work which distinguishes our Party from other parties, a Party style of work which can be formulated briefly as follows: Combine theory with practice, maintain close ties with the masses of the people, and undertake self-criticism.
4. Continue Working With the Three-Year Plan
The decision adopted by the Fourth Plenum to guide the development of the Party by means of carrying out the First Three-Year Plan on Organisation and Education was a historic decision. This is the first time that we have fed the extensive, and deep going development of the Party with a Plan covering a rather long period of time, involving all Party organisations and all Party members. This Plan has created a new atmosphere, it has brought freshness and joy to work within the ranks of the Party. This Plan has raised the Party’s mobilising powers. Party members have begun to get accustomed to rational and effective methods of work. The Party functionaries and activists are becoming more trained to carry out "many-sided" activities, their attitude is no longer limited to their own particular sphere of work but they can see the connection between their own particular sphere and Party work as a whole. With this Plan, the Party functionaries, and activists have been more encouraged to deepen their understanding of their own work, to study the situation in their respective regions and the conditions of the nationalities in their regions better. If they do not carry out all this, the Party functionaries and activists would not be able to take an active part in the implementation of the Party's Three-Year Plan.
As regards the field of education, the Party Schools and Courses are educating revolutionary fighters, to give them a Communist spirit and world outlook, something which will make Party members convinced, under all circumstances that the revolutionary path that has been chosen is the most correct path, that it is the path of a new life and for a new society. Based on the Party’s Three-Year Plan all Committees take an active, part in running the education plan, while those members chosen, to follow. Party Schools and Courses accept this appointment as a high honour.
The competition undertaken in implementing the Party’s First Three-Year Plan has meant that the collective leadership and the mass work of the Party has developed further because the Plan cannot possibly be implemented successfully if there is no collective leadership and mass work. With collective leadership accompanied by criticism and self-criticism, democracy within the Party has developed and this has meant also the growth of the individuality, creative powers and militancy of the Party members. The growth of democracy within, the Party strengthens the Party's centralism.
The mass line of the Party is gradually and genuinely becoming the political line, the organisational line and moral line of the Party. It has already become the conviction of our Party that to achieve success for the Plan and for all Party work and all the Party’s mass activities, the Party must be faithful to the principles of collective leadership, to criticism and self-criticism and to the mass line. Only by linking collective leadership with criticism and self-criticism and with a mass line shall we realise a collective leadership that is critical, objective and realistic, that is good, strong collective leadership and that can Increase the ability and authority of the Party.
But the revolutionary situation develops very quickly, and is quicker than the development of the Party. The anti-colonial struggle of the Indonesian people is becoming more and more bitter and has entered a new phase, that is, the restoration of the spirit of the August 1945 Revolution together with consciousness on the part of the people of the greatness of their forces, consciousness of the purity and Importance of the support of the working people of the entire world and the support of the countries of the Socialist camp. All this is happening on the one hand, while on the other, hand the people have become more conscious of the limitation of the strength of imperialism and the strength of the domestic reactionaries. It was in such a situation that the Sixth Plenum of the GC was held which adopted a resolution on the necessity for the leading bodies of the Party to bring themselves Into harmony with the rapid development of the revolutionary situation, starting from the CC right down to the lowest Committees. The purpose of all this is that the ties between the Party and the masses can be further strengthened so that all problems of the masses can be answered or solved by the Party. The need to bring the organisation into harmony with the situation is not confined to the leading bodies of the Party alone but concerns too the entire Party and all the revolutionary mass organisations that are under Party leadership.
The central leadership of the Party has been improved with the creation of the Executive Committee of the Political Bureau of the CC; to facilitate the work of the Secretariat of the CC, new bureaus have teen set up for the purpose of arranging the affairs of specific regions; in the CC and the lower Committees, Plan Bureaus have been set up to control the Implementation of the Three-Year Plan; new departments and sections have been established; cadre promotion has taken place throughout the Party and cadres have been moved to places suffering an acute shortage of cadres. All this has raised the spirit and the achievements of the Party work.
We could not possibly cope with the rapid development of the revolutionary situation to which reference has been made above if we did not have a Three-Year Plan, or in other words if we did not have experience of working in systematic fashion, and if we did not expand the Party as well as educate the Party members. This is why we continue to work with the Three-Year Plan, and when the first one has been implemented it must be followed up by a second one, and so on. Intensive, systematic and continuous control of the implementation of the Plan must be looked upon as one of the most important activities to ensure the success of the Plan. Apart from this, we must abandon subjectivism in drawing up the Plan.
How about the targets fixed in the First Three-Year Plan? The targets fixed in the sphere of organisation are connected with the expansion of membership and of organisation, the grouping of each member, the promotion of candidate members to the status of members after having completed a period of guided candidature, the activating of the sections set up by the Committees, the convening of conferences and periodic meetings of the Committees and Groups, the problems being faced by all the Committees of equipping Party offices and libraries, the intensification of dues collections and the expansion of donations and productive activities, etc. The implementation of the targets in the organisational field as fixed in the Three Year Plan have greatly assisted the efforts to expand and consolidate the Party but they have not yet been completely fulfilled which means that they must once again be stressed in the Second Three-Year Plan.
The targets with regard to education include the organisation of Party Schools, Party Courses and Political Schools. A target was also fixed concerning the number of theoretical conferences that must be held a target for the campaign to combat illiteracy. And further, provisions were made for the founding of the "People's University" in the capital and in other towns, and there was a target concerning the expansion of publications and the dissemination of Party literature, especially raising the circulation of the "Harian Rakjat" (The Party's daily organ—Tr.).
In general, the targets fixed in the sphere of education have been fulfilled better than those fixed in the sphere of organisation, and in some cases, Committees have even managed to over-fulfil the target fixed concerning the convening of Party Schools and Party Courses. But some important things have not yet been achieved, the most serious of which is the target concerning the circulation of Party literature, especially the "Harian Rakjat".
Party cadres have already a sufficiently clear understanding about the importance of the "Harian Rakjat" in the everyday life of the Party. But there is not yet enough consciousness about the practical work that should be undertaken to improve the distribution. It is not yet sufficiently realised that distribution of the paper is important political work. The broadening of the Party's influence through the "Harian Rakjat" very greatly depends on the size of the paper's circulation and the circulation can only be improved if distribution is expanded and improved. The problems of distribution are problems of taking care to keep up the number of subscribers, accuracy in accounting and correspondence and also regularity in transmitting payments to the paper's administration. These are the things that some Committees are not doing well.
The best thing is for the Party Committee itself to handle all "HR" agencies but at our present stage of organisation, this requires too much energy and thought from the Committee functionaries. This is why it is wrong for a Committee to take over an, agency from an agent that is functioning well only for the reason that the agent in question was not appointed as such by the Committee. Such an action may, in the very short run, solve the financial difficulties of the Committee in question but it can, on the other hand, have serious unfavourable consequences upon the Party politically and organisationally.
Thus, the stress in advancing the "HR" today is on improving distribution. Distribution of the "HR" must be looked upon as important political activity. Only by improving distribution can the circulation of the paper be increased, and only with a wide circulation can the Party’s political influence spread by the "HR" reach a broad mass of people. The question of the distribution of the "HR" must become the responsibility of Committee Secretaries and all important Party cadres.
At a time when the entire Party is busy carrying out the Three-Year Plan and bringing the Party organisation into line with the rapidly developing situation, some of our comrades refuse to take cognisance of all this. They are not busy consolidating the Party and the victories of the Party but they are busy "consolidating themselves", that is, "enriching themselves", making themselves "heroes of their family" or getting submerged into the filth of bourgeois morality. As persons who have been given the confidence of the people and the Party to sit in the people's representative councils at the centre or in the regions, in the regional governmental administrations or in other such positions, they do not devote all their energies and thoughts to fulfil the mandate of the people and the Party, but they are busy with their "own affairs". We know that these comrades frequently say to themselves that people in other parties, who are in the same position as they are, are doing much worse things. But we must not take such people who are worse than us as our example.
In the question of ideology, the Party leadership is merciless, but it will not rush into taking measures to expel these comrades but will try patiently to convince them that they are taking a wrong course and to get them back on the right track. The Party leadership always has a deep love for Party members and if there are members who commit mistakes, then the leadership will consistently, patiently and convincingly try to get them back to the right path as long as the person in question wants to correct himself. But if it becomes clear that things have gone too far and there are no signs, that the “patient" is going to get well, and there are even signs that the disease is spreading to other comrades and will slacken unity and discipline within the Party, then there is no other way for the "germ-carrier" than to have disciplinary measures taken against him by expelling him from the Party on the basis of the Party Constitution.
But it should always be borne in mind that ideological weaknesses within the Party cannot possibly be stamped out only by means of expelling the corrupt and immoral elements. It must be surmounted by raising the Marxist-Leninist consciousness throughout the entire Party, and this is why the education section of the Party's Three-Year Plan must always be given prior attention both when drawing up the Plan as well as during its implementation.
In connection with this, in drawing up the Second Three-Year Plan the teaching of the philosophy of Dialectical and Historical Materialism must be made the chief subject in all Party Schools and Courses. Furthermore, the Central Party School and the Major District Committee Schools must guarantee the unity between Marxist-Leninist theory and the practice of the Indonesian revolution at the same time as welding together education with research. The Central Party Schools and the Major District Committee Schools also have the task of educating cadres in theoretical work, they must continue to train political and organisational workers and must educate teachers in various subjects for the Major District Committee Schools. In connection with this, the conditions for becoming students must be more closely brought into line with these tasks and the Academy of Social Sciences "Aliarcham" has to play an important role in implementing the above mentioned tasks.
Bearing in mind the experiences we had when the First Three-Year Plan was drawn up and subsequently revised, the drawing up and fixing of the Second Three-Year Plan must be done more objectively and realistically. For this purpose, detailed, objective reports submitted by the Major District Committees to the CC Plan Bureau are an indispensable condition.
5. Strengthen, Expand and Renew the Party
In coping with the new tasks of the Party which are to be established by the Sixth National Congress, we must make our Party and our mass movement a mighty single entity, that at is stead-fast and forward-looking, because it has a powerful backbone. The backbone of the Party is its leaders who are already educated and are continually educating themselves in the science of Marxism-Leninism and in the revolutionary struggle. The backbone of the mass movement is our entire Party. With a strong backbone to our Party, we shall make our entire Party the backbone of the mass movement.
The urgent tasks of the Party following the Sixth National Congress are the same as what they were before this Congress, namely budding up the united national front in the sense of improving the work in this field, and together with this continuing to build the Party in the sense of consolidating and expanding it. These two tasks are inseparable, one from the other. In view of this, the unity of thought and unanimity of attitude within the Party on the question of the united national front must constantly be welded because the victory or defeat of the Indonesian revolution will be determined by the success or failure of the proletarian class to build up a united national front. But in order to ensure that the Party can be unified with regard to the united national front, there must always be unanimity of ideology, on the teachings of Marxism-Leninism and on their application in Indonesia.
Every thought and action which is harmful to the united national front must be regarded as a mistake against the Party, against the people, against the revolution, and steps to correct it must speedily be taken. Every thought and action harmful to unity within the Party, the foremost condition for having a united national front, must be considered as an infringement of the Party Constitution, and must therefore not be tolerated.
Since March 1958, the work of bringing the Party organisation into line with the fast-developing situation has been begun in an overall way. This means continuously bringing the organisation into line with the requirements of the revolutionary movement so that the contradictions between the organisation and the situation, between, the leadership and the members, between the Party and the masses, can be solved speedily and in time. But, even though not a few cadres have been promoted and given, more responsible tasks, and even though the division of work and the division of time is being more efficiently arranged, the fact is that the work of each cadre has not become any lighter. In fact, the contrary has happened. This, fact proves that before the work of bringing into line began, many things that should have been done have not been done, that many problems of the people that should have been solved were not being solved.
Today, now that bringing into line has been started, the number of functions being performed by respective cadres has indeed not yet been reduced in general, but we have become more capable of solving all problems and carrying out all the Party and mass work. This work of bringing the organisation into line is far from complete and must be speeded up, among other things, by means of expanding the membership of the Party Committees, by organising a more rational division of work and division of working time, by discovering new, more speedy forms of educating and training cadres in the necessary spheres. One thing is certain and that is that since the work of bringing into line began. Party cadres in general are working with joyfulness and full of spirit, because all problems being faced by the Party and the masses can be solved and all the work that should be done is being done.
Our responsibility today is to continue in building the Party. Our slogan for this today is to "strengthen, expand and renew the Party". Only with such a Party will there be a guarantee of achieving success in improving the work of the united national front in our country.
Strengthening the Party means in the first place consolidating the results of the First Three-Year Plan, drawing up a more objective and realistic Second Three-Year Plan and successfully implementing it, re-examining the entire ranks of the Party to seek out the weaknesses of the Party so that they can be liquidated, and apart from that intensifying the work of guarding the ideological purity of the Party. We must unceasingly intensify the study of Marxist-Leninist theory within the Party, especially among Party leaders at all levels. We must raise the Communist movement that is already large in size into becoming a Communist organisation which is large not only because it includes the entire country and all the nationalities, but also because it, is an active organisation which leads all sectors of the people struggling for better conditions and for a better future, including even the smallest sectors. Every Party member must be an active element within his own sector and this means developing the individuality of each member for the purpose of arousing, mobilising and organising the masses.
In brief, strengthening the Party means raising the quality of the Party, raising the quality of all Party organisations, that is the Committees, the Fractions, the Basic Organisations, the Groups and all other Party bodies, and all this means raising the quality of every Party member. With a strengthened Party, not only will the personality and authority of the Party before the people be increased, but together with this, the personality and authority of the Indonesian people will be increased.
Expanding the Party means developing and strengthening the links between the Party and the people of all nationalities throughout the entire country. This means improving the transmission bodies of the Party and increasing them in number, right from the trade union organisations to the scouts’, sport, recreation and tourist organisations, children's movements and children's education, which can link up the Party with the most backward sections among the masses of the inhabitants or with the sections most uninterested in general problems, and which are still today difficult to organise. The mass work of the Party must be further improved, in the first place by thoroughly absorbing the understanding within the Party that there is no difference between the interests of the Party and the interests of the masses. We must continually wage resistance against sectarianism, both which result in estranging the Party from, the broad masses of the people and which lead to the Party being isolated. Finally, the expansion of the Party means increasing the number of members and increasing the number of Party organisations. Only with a large number of members each of whom are active, will it be possible to build up a broad and genuinely consolidated united national front. Only with a broad Party organisation will it be possible to create a broad mass movement which is centralised and powerful so as to be able to defend and expand the political rights of the people and to change the balance of forces. Only by expanding the membership and organisations of the Party will rapid development take place, and only in such a way will the Party be capable of centralising the skill of the people of the entire country and turning, this into unified determination and disciplined action.
In brief, by increasing the number of Party members and organisations, by further consolidating and expanding the relations between the entire membership and the millions of Indonesian, working people, by waging a more resolute struggle to defend the basic interests of the working people and the entire people of Indonesia, the Indonesian Communists will be honourably implementing the tasks that face them in the present era.
Renewing the Party means in the first place renewing the Constitution of the Party, that is including within it the victories that have been achieved since the time of the Fifth National Congress in the political and organisational spheres. The Constitution as a whole and each clause in it must reflect the truth of the organisational principles of a Party of the Lenin, type. The clauses of the Constitution are aimed at increasing the powers of mobilisation, of organisation as well as of leadership of the Party.
Renewing the Party also means that the Party must always work according to a Plan, a Plan which involves the entire Party and the entire country. Furthermore, the Party cadres must not work in spontaneous, fashion or on the basis of guess-work, or determine policy of work solely on the basis of sentiments, but they must work on the basis of the result of investigations or work scientifically to improve their practical activities in arousing, mobilizing, and organising the masses, and especially the masses of the workers and peasants. This means that our Party must accustom itself to working scientifically, to carrying out research, experiments, to recording each development carefully and then thinking it over well. The final thing—and this is frequently forgotten by our comrades—is to draw the conclusions from the research, the experiments, the recordings and the process of thinking things over. Laziness and neglect in doing this means doing things by halves, it means working unseriously and, of course, this does not assist the development of the Party. Only by working scientifically can we prevent ourselves from working like monotonous machines, and we shall be able to solve all questions creatively in accordance with the time and the circumstances, even those questions that appear to be very ordinary and insignificant.
Renewing the Party also means raising the internal life of the Party, and in the first place by remaining faithful to the principle of democratic centralism, and by developing criticism and self-criticism. The Party must always be in a spirit of competition for the implementation of the Plan, of developing the creative powers of each member, and of strengthening Party unity in everything. For this reason, the articles concerning the rights of members must be fully respected, and every infringement of these rights must be regarded as a serious mistake.
Renewing the Party in no sense means making a “new Party". Our Party continues to remain a Party of the Lenin type, a Party which constantly renews itself so as to be able always to lead the situation.
Within the framework of renewing the Party, a very important place must be given to organising a campaign to improve the methods of leadership based upon the welding together of the general calls with the concrete demands and the welding together of the leadership with the masses. Such a campaign should be started by higher responsible cadres under the slogan “the higher cadres set the example to the lower ones". This improvement in the methods of leadership is aimed in the first place at preventing bureaucratic, sectarian and subjective methods of leadership, in brief, methods that do not consistently follow the mass line. Such improvement will bring the Party more rapidly to a position of consolidation in the political, organisational and ideological fields and will further strengthen its links with the masses of the people as the guarantee for pushing the development of the situation forward more rapidly.
The slogan: "the higher cadres set the example to the lower ones" must not be confined to the sphere of political affairs and organizational affairs alone, but gradually the entire everyday life of the upper cadres must be an example, for instance in simple living and wisdom and in upholding Communist morals.
Strengthening, expanding and renewing the Party can only be achieved, if there is the guarantee that there is hegemony of proletarian ideology within the Party, if petty bourgeois ideology and bourgeois ideology is constantly being stamped out and purged from the Party, in such a way as to guarantee the purity of the Party, politically, organisationally and ideologically.
The work of strengthening, expanding and renewing the Party is not just some "seasonal activity" but something that we must continually be doing. By so doing, we shall be creating the conditions for the Party to be constantly in the position of taking the initiative and to be constantly militant.
The work of strengthening, expanding and renewing the Party also means that the mistakes which had been made in the past should not be repeated and the source of these mistakes should be carefully studied. Herein lies the importance for Party cadres to make a thorough study of the history of our Party, the history of its mistakes, its failures and its successes. If new mistakes occur, efforts must be made to localise them and to eliminate them within a short time. If a mistake has been overcome, then it should not be thought that we are already completely cured of this disorder with the result that our vigilance would be reduced.
. The most important thing today in raising vigilance is opposing with all our strength the danger of modern revisionism. This means holding high all the principles of Marxism-Leninism; opposing all the slanders aimed against the foremost fortress of Socialism and peace, the Soviet Union and against the CPSU, and actively to explain the decisive and leading role of the CPSU and the Soviet. Union is smashing imperialism completely. Opposing modern revisionism means opposing chauvinism as the greatest enemy of the struggle of the international proletariat, for; its emancipation, it means holding high the banners of proletarian Internationalism and making it the possession not only of the proletariat but also a natural thing for the entire people engaged in the anti-imperialist struggle. Opposing modern revisionism means opposing feelings of complacency which have their source in petty bourgeois subjectivism.
The Communist movement in Indonesia, as is the case with the world Communist movement, is far more consolidated today than it has been in the past. The world Communist movement which Is becoming more and more monolithic, has struck decisive blows against modern revisionism. But Marxists-Leninists must not ignore the fact that Tito revisionism still exists, and therefore, the struggle against revisionisms the foremost danger threatening the world Communist movement, must not be relaxed.
So as to safeguard vigilance within the Party, we must develop the habit which we started at the Fifth National Congress of undertaking ideological rectification campaigns. The Party has organised such campaigns a number of times by obliging Party members to study certain theory books or to carry out a particular instruction for this purpose. As an example in order to combat leftist thoughts all cadres have been instructed to study Lenin’s book, "Left-wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder"', and to improve the work in the field of the national fronts to study Comrade Mao Tse-tung’s book, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People". To preserve modesty in everyday living and to prevent conceit after the Party emerged as the victor from the three general elections, the Political Bureau issued instructions for a rectification, campaign. At the time when the unity of the Communists of the world was attacked by the YCL revisionists, the Political Bureau launched a campaign of ideological rectification so as to strengthen the spirit of patriotism and proletarian internationalism. And so in the future, too the Party must frequently launch rectification campaigns to raise vigilance and to improve the Party's work.
6. Party Leadership of the Mass Movement
The struggle to strengthen, expand and renew the Party cannot possibly be successful if it is not closely linked up with the struggle for the strengthening and expansion of democracy. Whereas on the other hands the struggle to strengthen and expand democracy will not succeed well if it is not closely linked up with the Party’s leadership of the mass movement against the monopoly capitalists and the landlord monopolists of the land. The present Constitution indeed, contains nothing about liquidating capitalist production relations but it does make possible reforms that undermine the backward pre-capitalist structure and reduce or eliminate the most exploitative and parasitic monopolistic structures.
The struggle against the monopoly capitalists and the struggle against the landlord's monopoly of the land so as to bring about reforms means consolidating and expanding the mass movement under the leadership of the Party based on the policy of the unity of entire masses of the people. This means that the Party must continue with and improve its work of arousing, mobilising and organising the masses, and first and foremost, the workers and the peasants. Continuing the building of the Party cannot be separated from this mass work.
Up to the present time, the mass work of the Party is still not satisfactory. One of the reasons is that not enough attention is being devoted by Party cadres to the practical problems of the masses. Some cadres who are working in the mass organisations belittle day-to-day practical activities because they consider them to be "unimportant'' and "not revolutionary". They confine their interest to 'difficult work', such as for example leading mass meetings and demonstrations, leading strikes and other arousing actions. All this is indeed important but this is not everyday work. It is not possible to have mass meetings, demonstrations and strikes every day. Does it mean that if these things are not taking place, there is no work for the Party to do? Of course, this is not the case! The masses have very many everyday problems the solution of which await Party assistance. Take the case of a factory, the young worker wants to do some sports but he does not know how to make use of his free time, the old worker is thinking about his old age, the specialist wants to deepen his knowledge in his subject, others want to set up a co-operative, to take part in recreation activities and so on. All these are the everyday problems of the workers, and the Party must help them with day-to-day mass work.
Thus, Party members working among the masses must help to solve; the everyday difficulties of the masses, they must carry out everyday work for the masses. Without good everyday work, the rousing actions would not be possible.
In order to improve the mass work of the Party, we must be guided by the motto of "walking on two feet" that is, combining rousing actions with persevering work. Rousing actions refer to activities to arouse the spirit of the masses of the people, such as the movement for the abrogation of the Round Table Conference agreements the campaign against foreign subversion, the campaign for the implementation of President Sukarno's Concept, the campaign for the liberation of West Irian, for the destruction of the "private councils" and for the annihilation of the Darul Islam-T.I.I and the "R.G.R.I.-Permesta" rebels, the campaign for the proclamation of the 1945 Constitution by decree, and so on. These rousing movements are important because they demonstrate the singleness of purpose and the strength of unity of the people and they make the national independence movement and the movement for democracy, a movement which never stops for a moment, but one which is constantly on the advance with firmer and firmer strides forward.
The rousing campaigns can take place from two directions: in the first place, they can be nation-wide in character right from the, start such as is proven by the movement under the slogans "liberate West Irian", "implement President Sukarno's Concept", "issue a decree reinstating the 1945 Constitution", "withdraw the prohibition on political activities", “repeal the Foreign Investments Law", and so on. In the second place, they can begin as local movements and subsequently become nationwide, such as the movements to "stop the tractors of death", "to release Maesuri", and so on. Some rousing actions only involve one field of activity, such as for example the movement to "repeal the Tedjasukmana Emergency Decree". The experience of the Indonesian people proves that rousing actions are extremely important to develop the revolutionary movement. Only the reactionaries are afraid of rousing mass actions and try to obstruct them.
But if these are the only activities carried out, not much will be achieved. This is why it is, very necessary to undertake thorough and careful work, work of solving the practical everyday problems of the masses. For example, it is not a difficult thing to shout the slogan "take over the Dutch enterprises", but there are a number of complicated problems involved in its implementation. There are many problems which have to be solved in order to take over a K.P.M. ship that is out at sea, both before and after the takeover has been carried out. And in the same way, too, it is easy to shout the slogan "liberate West Irian", but many things have to be solved and done in its implementation. Everyday, persevering work includes the attempts to solve all these thousand and one problems and it involves organisational, educational, political and ideological work. Without carefully doing all this everyday work, there is no use expecting that the rousing actions will be disciplined. Only by carrying out persevering, work well can the rousing actions achieve the expected results.
Thus, careful, thorough work is very important and must be carried out before the rousing actions take place. All problems must be thought out in their entirety and only then, after making careful investigations, should the Party lay down the line which can give birth to rousing campaigns. Furthermore, when these rousing actions are over, persevering work among the masses must again be resumed so as to further raise the, political consciousness and the organizational consciousness of the masses, by seeking out all the shortcomings and also drawing the new lessons from the rousing action that has just taken place. But it needs not always, start off with persevering work; the reverse may sometimes happen. The first thing to occur is the rousing action. But the important thing is to combine these-two forms of work, so that we are always "walking on two feet".
When is it possible to say that the mass work of the Party is good, that the rousing actions as a continuation of the persevering work has had the achievements hoped for? A successful action of a mass organisation is always one that strengthens the unity between the members and also consolidates and expands the basic organisations of that mass organization. An action can be said to have been successful if it results in a further strengthening of unity among the masses, and if together with that it succeeds in consolidating the Party's influence and succeeds, too, in raising the quality of the Party's method of work and raising the ideological level of the Party activists. If It does not do all this, it has not been a successful action, and an action that surely will not succeed should not be undertaken.
The mass work of our Party has been successful up to the present because the Party has been able to issue political calls that conform with the desires and sentiments, of the broad masses, such as when the Party called for the annihilation of the Darul Islam-TII and the "RGRI-Permesta". The people in the regions concerned and even the people throughout the entire country rose as one man and turned this call into their own call which they themselves would implement. The same is the case, now, with the correct call of the Party concerning the 6:4 demand which fully accords with the wishes and sentiments of the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants of Indonesia. We are convinced that the millions of agricultural labourers and poor peasants throughout the country will rise up and make this Party demand their own demand.
Up to the present, the Party's work among the peasants is still not satisfactory. This must not be allowed to continue. Party members of peasant origin, although they have increased in number by comparison with the time of the Party's Fifth National Congress are not yet comparatively numerous enough. Party cadres in general do not yet properly understand the agrarian relationships. There are still many Party functionaries who evade work in the countryside. All efforts must be exerted to overcome all these shortcomings.
The things that we have already started doing, such as for example sending important members of the Party leadership to the villages to carry out investigations of agrarian, relationships and of the living conditions of the peasants, for a considerable period of time, the convening of seminars and conferences on agrarian relationships and on the living conditions of the peasants, this must be continued, in a more regulated and earnest fashion. The work of consolidating and expanding the revolutionary organisation of the peasants must become work of prime importance for the Party. We continue to stand firmly by what was concluded at the Fifth National Congress, namely that "it is not possible to have a real national front" and "it is not possible to talk about the leading role of the Party in this front so long as our Party has not been able to organise the broad masses of the peasants."
The movement of “going down to the masses", implementing the "three togethers'*, has clarified agrarian relations for us, it has clarified the degree to which feudal survivals still dominate in the countryside. The knowledge which we have obtained, by these direct means is far more valuable and creates a far deeper impression than the knowledge we could get from reading many books about the same question. This movement has also made it clear that the most fundamental problem in the peasants movement is the problem of the base and the problem of leadership. Under all circumstances, we must base ourselves upon the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants, and further, only with Communists leadership can the peasants' movement become the close ally of the working class in the struggle against all the enemies of the working people.
The work of consolidating the revolutionary organisation of the peasants must not be considered in the same way as consolidating a trade union. By its very nature, trade union organisation always requires centralisation, up to the national and the international level. On the other hand, however, the target of the revolutionary peasants organisation lies within each village, and each one has its own specialities. In view of this, the methods used in organizing factory workers cannot be applied to peasants organizations because this will only make the peasants movement rigid and difficult to grow.
Another experience that we have gained from the "go down to the masses" movement is that in order to be able to mobilise as many peasants as possible, not only revolutionary peasants organisation and cooperative organizations are required but also numerous other forms of organisation which conform to the actual conditions in the village and to the cultural level of the inhabitants which is generally low. All types of associations, even including those set up just for a particular event or a particular occasion, such as mutual savings groups, funeral societies; in brief all endeavours that can unite the peasants so as to reduce their sufferings, must be undertaken and encouraged.
Further, the work of improving the Party's work among the peasants cannot be separated from the work of strengthening the ideology of the Party because it is only with unanimity of ideology that there can be full enthusiasm for carrying out the Party's agrarian policy. As has been explained above the Party's policy of land reforms is not implemented all at once but step by step, and at the present stage, the Party is only bringing forward the demand of "reduce land rents" and small result demands leading to "small achievements" which are by character partial demands. .
The implementation of every partial demand, requires unanimity of purposes within the leadership of the revolutionary peasants organisation which directly leads the movement and it also futures unanimity of ideology within the Party Committees. As an example, in order to win success on a nation-wide scale for the 6:4 demand, there must not be any contradiction between the personal interests of leading members of the revolutionary peasants organisation and the aim of this campaign. In other words, if the movement is to develop and to be given enthusiastic leadership, there must be no landlord ideology within the leadership.
In order to ensure that complex national movements proceed well, the ideology of the leadership of the movement must always be brought into line with the aim of the movement, if necessary by undertaking changes in the leadership; unity of ideology within the leadership will give birth to enthusiastic actions and vice versa, such actions will consolidate the leadership of the movement. This must not of course be taken as meaning that there must be a change in leadership every time an action is to be launched, and neither should it mean expulsion or isolation of the functionaries that have to be replaced.
The CPI National Peasants Conference which was held in the middle of April, 1959, was an extremely significant part of the efforts to improve the Party's work among the peasants. The conclusions drawn at that Conference were, among others:
The most important task of the Indonesian revolution at the present stage h to overthrow the power of the enemy from without, imperialism, and to overthrow the power of the feudal landlords at home. But it is also stated in the documents of our Party that the primary task is to overthrow imperialism. Thus, there are two basic enemies, imperialism and feudalism, but the basic enemy, is imperialism.
In implementing this general line, that is, in implementing these two basic tasks, there are two types of deviation that occur among Party cadres. The first is that of wanting to separate these two tasks, just as if there were no connection between them, while the second is that of making the two tasks identical right from the start. We must oppose both these deviations.
From the point of view of strategy or from the point of view of completing the August 1945 Revolution in its entirety, these two tasks are very closely connected and are inseparable. Our strategy or the completion of the August Revolution in its entirety means overthrowing the power of imperialism and of feudalism.
A further conclusion that was drawn was that:
From the point of view of tactics, the two tasks, the tasks of overthrowing imperialist, power and feudalist power, cannot be carried out at one and at the same time. From the point of view of tactics under the specific conditions prevailing at the present time, the spearhead of the revolution must be aimed in the first place at the foreign enemy (imperialism) and the landlords and bourgeoisie who are the agents of these foreign enemies.
But these conclusions do not mean that the CPI does not today link up with the peasants in their opposition to the landlords. The CPI continues to be in the foremost ranks today in defending the interests of the peasants and will continue to be so in the future; and in connection with this, the following conclusion was drawn:
Based on the general line as explained above, the CPI's programme of demands does not mention the question of the confiscation of the land of all landlords. The CPI only demands that the land owned by the foreign imperialist landlords and by the native landlords who side with the Darul Islam-TII and the "RGRI-Permesta" should be confiscated and distributed free of charge to the peasants. This is just and it is a necessity if we want to defeat the terrorist bandit of the DI-TII and. the "RGRI-Permesta" totally, because in addition to getting aid from the imperialists, these terrorists also have their supporters among the native landlords.
Based on the above mentioned general line, the CPI's programme of demands only demands a reduction in land rent paid by the cultivators. Whereas in general today, the division of the harvest between the cultivator and the landlord is regulated according to the 5:5 principle, the CPI now demands that the division should be 6:4, or in other words, that the cultivator should get a minimum share of 6 and the landlord a maximum share of 4. The conclusion drawn that the landlord should not get less than 25%, unless he is indeed already getting less than 25%, makes it quite, clear that the CPI does not Intend to confiscate the land of the landlords who do not side with the imperialists.
Another important conclusion drawn by the National Peasants Conference was concerning the establishment of People's Co-operatives of the working people. The Party has resolved to raise three banners of the co-operatives, the credit co-operative, the production co-operative and the sales-and-purchase cooperative, as a means of resisting exploitation and extortion and also in order to improve the living conditions of the working people In the villages.
The conclusion was also drawn that by means of the co-operatives, the Communists must make all efforts to bring about an increase in agricultural production, by raising the five principles of working the land: "Plough deeply, plant closely, more fertilisers, better seeds and better irrigation". There are of course, in addition to these principles, other principles that also have to be implemented to guarantee a higher level of agricultural output, such as for example, "treat the rice fields with devotion and care, exterminate pests, improve agricultural implements, and so on". In some regions, these five principles proposed by the Party have been given an enthusiastic reception by the peasants. The peasants have full confidence in the good intentions of the Party and they therefore joyfully welcome the Party Volunteer Brigades which are helping them work their land, within the framework of the movement to welcome the Sixth National Party Congress. We must form as many of these Volunteer Brigades as possible as proof that the Party is indeed genuine in its desire to unite with the peasants, and also as a means of encouraging the development of production co-operatives in the villages.
By earnestly implementing the decisions of the National Peasants Conference which took place in April 1959, the Party is implementing the call of our great teacher, Frederick Engels, that “… to win political power this party must first go from the towns to the country, must become a power in the countrysides" (Frederick Engels, "The Peasant Question in France and Germany"). Since Indonesia is an archipelago, going to the country must also mean going to the coasts to arouse, mobilise and organise the millions of fishermen whose conditions are generally the same as those of the peasants. The political and ideological preparation for the campaign of going to the village and to the coasts is now sufficient; what is needed now is that firm strides forward be taken and good organisation be provided, as a follow-up of the preparations that have already been made. While the earth brings forth rice and the CPI, the peasants unite, struggle, sing and dance.
As we constantly improve our work among the peasants, this does not mean that we should meanwhile ignore Party work among the workers. On the contrary, the CPI must constantly strengthen its position among the workers and draw the vast majority of the workers over to its side. It is now clear that the implementation of demands on the basis of the "small achievement" principle and the principles of "just, reasonable and within bounds" has raised the authority of the Party among the workers. This means that the rousing activities undertaken by the Party among the workers have become better and better and the thing that now requires improvement is the persevering, thorough and careful work among the workers which involves ideological and education work and uniting all the workers.
Based on their own experiences, the Indonesian workers are conscious of the fact that their struggle for social and economic demands cannot be divorced from the political struggle, and it is very necessary to spread this consciousness within the framework of opposing the remains of the disease of “economism" within the trade union movement. In addition to this, every political struggle waged by a trade union, such as demanding the formation of a Gotong-Royong Cabinet and campaigns for the policy of taking over Dutch enterprises, must always be accompanied with a struggle for the improvement of conditions. In the same way, too, the campaign waged by the estate workers for the taking over of Dutch estates cannot be separated from the policy of extended sea transport so as to provide the means for transporting the estate products.
More attention must be given to work, in the basic organizations of the trade unions. The economic instability in our country naturally has serious consequences for the everyday living conditions of the people; mass dismissals still represent a continuous threat, added to which is the efforts being made to restrict the rights of the trade unions. All this can lead to the workers becoming very much disturbed and this can result in measures being taken in desperation or extreme-radicalism being resorted to, if correct leadership is not given. This is the reason why more attention must be paid to improving the work in the basic organisations.
The Indonesian trade unions should not hesitate' about giving education in Socialism- to the mass' of their members because there can be no doubt about the fact that the mass of the Indonesian workers regard Socialism as the only way of putting an end for ever to their terrible living conditions.
All types of activities must be created to preserve and strengthen democracy in the basic organisations. The sticking up of progressive newspapers in factories should not just be an incidental affair but should become part of the everyday activities of the trade unions. All these activities must be crated together with the political and economic demands of the workers in the factory in question. Only in this way the trade unions gradually become schools for Communism.
During the recent years, the Indonesian workers have, together with the entire people, been concentrating on taking part in the campaign to annihilate the counter-revolutionary rebels in various parts of the country. Apart from this, the Indonesian workers have given proof of their dexterity in implementing the policy of taking over the Dutch companies.
The Indonesian workers have given evidence of their ability to participate in solving the economic difficulties being faced in our country. In addition to becoming more and more, capable of defending their living conditions, their recognition of their national responsibilities is growing. The trade unions have put forward concrete and practical suggestions for the improvement of transportation, for making the government departments operate more efficiently and for raising the level of production as well as for improving the quality of the things produced. In this connection, it is becoming clear that our work among the transport workers is not yet in conformity with the demands of the situation being faced by the country at the present time. And, too, there must be an Improvement In our work among the government employees, to unite them and encourage them into being imbued with the spirit of the August 1945 Revolution so that they can occupy a place of honour as patriotic and loyal government servants, serving the interests of the people and the interests of the revolution.
The workers, the majority of whom today side with the Party, must continually be educated by the Party' and their political consciousness must be raised.
Work among the workers and the peasants continues to be the most important and basic form of all CPI activities. The success or otherwise of the national front work greatly depends on the success or otherwise of work among the workers and the peasants. The national front is a united front, of the working people, that is, the working class, the peasants, the rest of the petty bourgeoisie, together with the national bourgeoisie who are exploiters. Without a strong national front between the working people, in particular the working doss and the peasants, it is impossible to have a strong and consistently anti-imperialist united national front. A national front without a strong alliance of workers and peasants is a national front without a basis that will stand up to all trials.
Work among the masses of the youth is one of the most important mass activities of the Party. At its Fifth Congress held in November, 1956, the People's Youth adopted the decision that this youth organisation must always strive to be the faithful and trusted assistant of the Party in the implementation of its political tasks. This is a great victory for our Party and the Party must ensure that this declaration of the preparedness of the People's Youth to become the Party's assistant should be accompanied by the preparedness and ability of all Party Committees to give better leadership and education to the People's Youths. This does not mean that the Party only confines itself to working within the People's Youth. The Party must push forward the entire youth movement and make it a faithful servant of the working people the fatherland and the revolution.
The mass character of the People's Youth must always be guarded but together with this, the People's Youth must be a maw youth organisation that has working class consciousness, the most revolutionary, most militant and most patriotic youth organisation. These good features can only possibly be in the possession of the People's Youth under the leadership of the Communist Party by studying Marxism-Leninism and by continually strengthening their confidence in and faithfulness, to the Communist Party. Theoretical education and revolutionary policy, have become an urgent question in the People's Youth which now has a membership of about 1,000,000.
In order to improve the work among the intellectuals, the problem of the intellectuals in Indonesia must be investigated more deeply than has been done in the past. The process of the birth and growth of the intelligentsia in our country cannot be divorced from the struggle against imperialist colonialism. All the "education" that the colonialists ever gave the Indonesian intellectuals was aimed at serving their interests in exploitation and this is why it was limited to what was needed by the colonial system. Thus, the number of persons receiving middle school or university education was very restricted, and obstacles were always put in the way of activities by Indonesians to promote science. This is why, the Indonesian intellectuals together with the Indonesian people rose up during colonial times to resist oppression and insults, with the result that the patriotic intellectual, imbued with anti-colonialism, was born. The history of the national awakening of the Indonesian people has passed through a number of climaxes, such as the birth of the "Budi Utomo" in 1908, the birth of the "Youth Vow" in 1928 and the outbreak of the People's Revolution on August 17th, 1945. These three events were also marked by revolutionary activities on the part of Indonesian students. A certain part of them unhesitatingly came over to the side of the people and the revolutionary movement.
The ideals of the August 1945 Revolution brought together and united all the forces that favoured the complete annihilation of colonialism. These ideals united the workers and peasants with the intellectuals and within certain limits brought about a meeting between science and the practice of the people's revolution with the result that science was brought closer to the people and a people's spirit became rooted among the intellectuals.
But after the August 1945 Revolution had experienced defeat and the Indonesian bourgeoisie had been proven to be unable to show the way out of the difficulties being faced by the people and by our country, pessimism began to take hold among the intellectuals. The extremely weak position of the Indonesian bourgeoisie in economic and political affairs which forced them to come to terms with the conditions determined by the imperialists, found a reflection in the ideology of some of the intellectuals who proved to be wavering and inconsistent, a factor of harmful consequence for the world of science. And even the ideology of the diehards had its defenders among them, such as Prof. Dr. Sumitro and Prof. Drs. Tan Goan Po, who became leading figures In the "RGRI-Permesta" counter-revolutionary rebellion. In the same way too, the attempts made by some intellectuals to oppose the President Sukarno Concept on "scientific" grounds and the organising of open discussions among intellectuals with the purpose of torpedoing the realisation of the idea of making a "return to the 1945 Constitution", did not help to raise the prestige of the intellectuals concerned; on the contrary, it discredited and estranged them from the majority of the people.
While pointing out the bad phenomena, our Party is proud to be able to speak about those intellectuals who are beginning to be born and created by the Indonesian working people, striving to continue the people's traditions of the Indonesian intellectuals.
But it is a fact that the advance made in the Party's work among the intellectuals is still too slow and is not in keeping with the advances made in other sectors. This is why, Party cadres among the intellectuals must work more actively and better and must strive to set an example in enriching and developing science in the interests of the people.
The Party together with the people will continue to accord a place of honour to the progressive-spirited intellectuals such as Dr. A. Rivai, Dr. Tjipto Mangunkusumo and Dr. Ki Hadjar Dewantara, and who are now, represented among others by Dr. Ing. Sukarno. The Party must always give assistance and encouragement in uniting the Indonesian intellectuals and help them in their noble efforts to eliminate everything old-fashioned and stale as well as to enrich and raise the level of science in our country.
The scholars and cultural workers who are Party members must, in addition to raising the level of their own understanding of Marxism-Leninism, to extend and deepen their skills and their knowledge so as to be able to help the Party to give the best possible answers to the questions that arise in the field of science and culture or to prepare themselves as well as, possible to give the answer to all the problems being faced by the country and the people. The teachers who are Party members, In addition to striving to become good Marxists, must also become teachers and educators of a new type, expert in their subject and loved by the pupils and the parents of the pupils.
The Party must continue its work among the, students and secondary school pupils. As is the case with the mass of the youths the students and the secondary school pupils with the exception of those who have fallen victim to the poison of imperialist and landlord Ideology, also imbued with a revolutionary spirit and a determination to serve the working people. The successes achieved by the Party in its work among the students and the secondary school pupils during the recent period indicates that the Party has many good friends and devotees in the ranks of the students and the secondary school pupils. The shift leftwards of the entire political, life in our country has had an influence on these groups, has opened their eyes to the fact that the right-wing socialists (PSI), the Masjumi and the other reactionaries are not the friends of the people not the servants of Indonesia's interests. In this connection, it is a very important thing for Party members that are students or school pupils to try hard to become diligent and good students or pupils.
The vast majority of the women suffer from the most severe form of exploitation as a result of the continuous economic crisis that grips our country. They are the first victims of the prevalent unemployment of poverty, backwardness, and of economic and social injustice in our country. Both generally and within the Party itself, the Party has paid special attention to the problems of women.
The convening of Communist women's conferences, both on a regional and on a national scale is an important event in our Party. The Party is educating women Communists to become women whose intellect, will and feelings are developed as much as possible so that they are not only able to expose the shortcomings of present-day society but can also illumine all the problems of the struggle for the emancipation of the women and for a new Indonesia and a new world in all their aspect, so that all these questions can be solved. Together with consolidating and expanding Party membership among the women. It is also the responsibility of our Party to build a large mass revolutionary women's organisation with millions of members, as an important condition for strengthening the entire women's movement and the movement of the Indonesian working masses in general.
The special activities undertaken by the Party to develop the culture and raise the political consciousness of the nationalities is very important work in view of the fact that our country consists of a large number of nationalities which vary in size and their level of advancement. On this question, the general programme of the Party has made it clear that we favour democratic regional governments and broad autonomy for the nationalities, while the programme of demands of the CPI supports regional autonomy—which is not yet the same thing as autonomy for the nationalities—so long as democratic elections are held for the regional representative councils and the Heads, of Districts and regional government administrations are set up on the basis of balanced representation. With Communists sitting In the regional governments, and in some cases of second level of regional government with Communists occupying the position of Head of District, and with Communists making up an absolute majority of the members of some representative councils, the Party's work among the nationalities has made some progress. Based on the experiences gained, the way to improve the work among the nationalities is in the first place to improve the Party's work among the peasants of each of the nationalities because the peasants comprise the largest group of the inhabitants in each region. Apart from this, the Party must intensify its efforts to develop the culture of the nationalities.
Further, as regards the Party's work among the foreign-born minorities, such as the Arab-born, Chinese-born and European-born, attention should be paid to the fact that the chauvinists are always striving to arouse facial prejudices against foreign-born citizens, making use of all sorts of phrases,, such as “protecting national economic interests", "protecting the weak" and so forth. This dangerous racial policy was originally launched by the “Assaat Movement", the movement led by Assaat, today one of the leaders of the "RGRI-Permesta" rebellion. But it is now becoming apparent that this policy is also being pursued by certain sections of the middle-of-the-roaders with the result that their attention h not being directed in the first place at our basic national enemy, imperialism. On the contrary, they are calling people ‘enemies’ who are really not enemies at all.
It is the opinion and the conviction of the Party that foreign-born citizens are in no way different, from other citizens and they make up, a useful potential in building a democratic New Indonesia. The Party must constantly explain to the people that the real enemy of the Indonesian people is imperialism. We must recognise that the Party is still not working as intensively as it should be among the foreign-born citizens, whereas they are now facing racial and chauvinist attacks and are greatly in need of help. Honest help can only be given by our Party because its patriotism and proletarian internationalism are free of all forms of chauvinism and racialism.
7. Make the Co-operatives, too, a Weapon in the Hands of the Working People
One branch of activity that has received very inadequate attention from the Party up to the present is the work of developing the cooperatives of the working people. This is easy to understand because Party cadres, limited in number as they are, must be put in the most urgently needed mass organisations and must work directly to build the Party itself.
We must remain vigilant all the rime and oppose every piece of propaganda from the reactionaries that try to create the impression that with co-operatives alone, we shall be able to put an end to imperialist power, that if the co-operatives are large and extensive, imperialist economy will cease to have any strength “quite automatically". This propaganda of the imperialist agents is carried out with the intention of misleading the Indonesian people and singing them to sleep with the song of the co-operatives, so as to prevent the Indonesian people from organising and mobilising themselves in a revolutionary way to put an end to imperialist and landlord power. We must also oppose the utilisation of the name "co-operative" by capitalist enterprises with the purpose of evading their responsibilities as capitalist enterprises and of deceiving the people.
But it is a mistake if the Communists do not earnestly make use of the path of co-operation to unite the working people, to lessen the exploitation of the working people by the landlords, moneylenders and capitalists, .and in order to raise their level of production.
The slogans of "land to the peasants", "the distribution of the land to the peasants" and "peasants’ personal ownership of the land" as well as such demands as "reduce money deposits and interest rates", “raise the wages of the agricultural labourers", etc. are correct slogans and demands. These slogans and demands can unite all the peasants around the Party. The agricultural labourers and-the poor peasants enthusiastically welcome these slogans and demands while the middle peasants can support them.
But we should not forget that the middle and poor peasants do possess a little land, and they should like to be free from the grips of the mortgagors and money-lenders immediately, to get a good market for their agricultural products, to be able to buy the things they need at reasonable prices, and we should not forget that they also would like to see their level of production raised. There is no other way for this than for the middle and poor peasants to be organised within co-operatives which can grant credit, which can make efforts to provide a good market for their products, which can buy up consumer goods at reasonable prices and can help them to raise their production of agricultural, dairy and fishing products. The poor and middle peasants, who can only win their emancipation under the leadership of the proletariat will have much greater confidence in the proletariat, if the proletariat can organise and lead them in co-operatives aimed at lightening their present burdens.
The co-operatives can not only become a weapon for the peasants bet also for other working people. Handicraft workers and fishermen need co-operative organizations so that they can get the material and the implements they need in a regular way and at reasonable prices, and so that their products do not fall into the hands of middlemen with the result that they get a much lower price. Workers, office workers and the urban poor also need co-operatives so that they can meet their requirements for consumer goods at reasonable prices. Small traders can also be organised within co-operatives so as to be able to reduce, the exploitation by capitalists and money-lenders. Yes, and the students and secondary-school pupils can do with co-operatives to help them solve their difficulties of accommodation and books, to make good use of their free time, for recreation activities, and so on.
The Co-operative Law now in force can be used to bring the co-operative movement forward so long as the co-operatives are led by honest people. In order to be successful, the co-operative movement must be an independent movement, with democratic statutes and one that unites the largest possible number of co-operators on a voluntary basis. Voluntariness is an indispensable condition for co-operation. Apart from, this, the independent and non-political character of the co-operatives must be strongly guarded.
In the course of building co-operatives we must not forget one fact and that is that the Indonesian working people have for a long time been disappointed by co-operatives because they have been led by persons who are neither honest nor capable, by persons who have established the co-operatives with the deliberate intention of deceiving the people. The Communists must prove that there is a great difference between co-operatives led by Communists and those led by the bourgeoisie. The Party Committees must exert very careful and strict control over Party members who lead the co-operatives and criticise them in time or withdraw them from the co-operatives if it becomes clear that they have done something to harm the interests of the working people who are members of the co-operative under their leadership. Militant and selfless elements, namely youth elements-must be drawn very much into the activities of the co-operatives, as their faithful assistants.
Our Party is convinced that by strengthening and expanding the mass movement, by strengthening and expanding democracy and by strengthening, expanding and renewing the Party, the CPI will achieve greater successes in changing the balance of forces between the imperialists, the landlords and the compradors on the one hands and the forces of the people on the other. This means our finding a way out of the present situation prevailing in which our country is still not completely independent and in which it is still semi-feudal.
Let us remain, united so as to devote all the strength at the disposal of each of us to arousing, mobilising and organising the masses, to implementing the pressing demands of the people and of our Party, namely the expansion of democratic rights and the formation of a government that conforms with the feelings of justice of the people, a Gotong-Royong Cabinet such as is visualised in the President Sukarno Concept. This means that we shall be bringing the Indonesian people closer to the implementation of the demands of the August 1945 Revolution in their entirety, bringing them closer to an Indonesia that is free of all imperialism and free of feudalism, or in other words, a New Indonesia that is completely independent and democratic. This means that we shall be strengthening the anti-colonial and peace-loving international front.
Immediately after the conclusion of this Congress, we shall be setting out for a field of struggle that stretches from Sabang right up to Merauke, where more than 1.5 million Communists are awaiting with fast-beating hearts the results, of this historic Congress, where over 88 million Indonesian people are in need more than ever of the selfless service of the Communists, where a thousand and one complex problems, big and small, are awaiting the thoughts and efforts of the Communists to get a correct solution. As long as. we always apply mighty Marxism-Leninism as our guide to action, as long as we always creatively implement the results of this Congress, we shall be able to overcome all this, and with the CPI in the vanguard, the Indonesian people will definitely be able to seize victories, one by one.
Long live the Indonesian people and the Communist Party of Indonesia!
Long live national unity and the Republic of Indonesia!
Long live the Communist Parties throughout the world, the Leninist Parties that are the inspirers and organisers of the working people for a new world, a world of peace and Socialism!