The Social Evolution of Indonesia: The Asiatic Mode of Production and Its Legacy (Studies in Social History, 5)

At a fairly early stage of socialism's penetration into the Afro-Asian world, a handful of European social democrats established an Indian Social-Democratic Association (lSDV). They did so in a country, Indonesia, that was economically little developed and far away from any of the centres of European socialism and Asiatic radical-national­ ism. The ISDV was soon able to bring its influence to bear on sec­ tions of the urban proletariat and to build up an Indonesian revol­ utionary movement. This occurred in sharp competition with a nascent nationalist leadership, and then without the usual inter­ mediary role played by radicalizing groups of native intelligentsia. In this way, Dutch social democrats laid the foundations for one of the first communist parties in Asia and Africa, a party which was des­ tined to become one of the few communist mass parties of the Third World. However, in contrast to the major communist movements of China-Vietnam, this Indonesian party was to demonstrate a basic weakness: successive and catastrophic defeats. ! If we leave out Japan, the only non-Western country where a capi­ talist industrial revolution occurred, we see that foreign and particu­ larly Western minorities frequently did playa dominant role in the initial and formative phases of the socialist and workers' movements of the Afro-Asiatic world. At a fairly early stage of socialism's penetration into the Afro-Asian world, a handful of European social democrats established an Indian Social-Democratic Association (lSDV). They did so in a country, Indonesia, that was economically little developed and far away from any of the centres of European socialism and Asiatic radical-national­ism. The ISDV was soon able to bring its influence to bear on sec­tions of the urban proletariat and to build up an Indonesian revol­utionary movement. This occurred in sharp competition with a nascent nationalist leadership, and then without the usual inter­mediary role played by radicalizing groups of native intelligentsia. In this way, Dutch social democrats laid the foundations for one of the first communist parties in Asia and Africa, a party which was des­tined to become one of the few communist mass parties of the Third World. However, in contrast to the major communist movements of China-Vietnam, this Indonesian party was to demonstrate a basic weakness: successive and catastrophic defeats. ! If we leave out Japan, the only non-Western country where a capi­talist industrial revolution occurred, we see that foreign and particu­larly Western minorities frequently did play a dominant role in the initial and formative phases of the socialist and workers' movements of the Afro-Asiatic world. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-10 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Van Leur, Western Penetration and the Degree of Southeast Asian Development....Pages 13-21 Asiatic Variations....Pages 22-36 Southeast Asia....Pages 37-50 Indianized Southeast Asia: Similarities and Differences....Pages 51-63 Southeast Asian Varieties....Pages 64-88 Southeast Asia: The Conclusions Reached by Bastin and Benda....Pages 89-100 Front Matter....Pages 101-101 Islam, ‘Asia’ and the United East India Company....Pages 103-112 Colonial Policy in the 19th and 20th Centuries....Pages 113-127 Continuities....Pages 128-143 Changes....Pages 144-169 Conflict and Movement....Pages 170-193 The Trias in Movement: The Santris ....Pages 194-206 The Neo- Priyayis and Soekarno....Pages 207-229 The PKI and the Abangan....Pages 230-250 Back Matter....Pages 251-301