Ummah Yet Proletariat: Islam, Marxism, and the Making of the Indonesian Republic (RELIGION AND GLOBAL POLITICS SERIES)

From 1965 to 1966, at least 500,000 Indonesians were killed in military-directed violence that targeted suspected Communists. Muslim politicians justified the killings, arguing that Marxism posed an existential threat to all religions. Since then, the demonization of Marxism, as well as the presumed irreconcilability of Islam and Marxism, has permeated Indonesian society. Today, the Indonesian military and Islamic political parties regularly invoke the spectre of Marxism as an enduring threat that would destroy the republic if left unchecked. In Ummah Yet Proletariat , Lin Hongxuan explores the relationship between Islam and Marxism in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) and Indonesia from the publication of the first Communist periodical in 1915 to the beginning of the 1965-66 massacres. Lin demonstrates how, in contrast to state-driven narratives, Muslim identity and Marxist analytical frameworks coexisted in Indonesian minds, as well as how individuals' Islamic faith shaped their openness to Marxist ideas. Examining Indonesian-language print culture, including newspapers, books, pamphlets, memoirs, letters, novels, plays, and poetry, Lin shows how deeply embedded confluences of Islam and Marxism were in the Indonesian nationalist project. He argues that these confluences were the result of Indonesian participation in networks of intellectual exchange across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, of Indonesians "translating" the world to Indonesia in an ambitious project of creative adaptation. Cover Series Ummah Yet Proletariat Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. Incubating Communism in the Netherlands East Indies Early Confluences: PKI and Sarekat Islam Islamic Communist Newspapers throughout the Indies Islamic Communism under a Microscope: Djago! Djago! The PKI and Islam: Sinar Hindia /​ Api Literary Traces: Hikayat Kadirun and Studen Hijo Conclusion 2. New Modes of Movement Pergerakan Print Culture in the 1930s Muslim Modernists: Soeara Islam and Soeara PSII The Persatuan Muslim Indonesia (Permi) The Diniyyah Schools’ Alumni The Avant-​Garde: Kritiek en Opbouw Novels of the 1930s: Buiten het Gareel and Hadji Dadjal Soekarno’s “Islam Progresif” Conclusion 3. The Revolutionary Consensus Republican Political Alignments in Brief Tan Malaka’s Partisans: Soeara Merdeka, Sajuti Melik, and the Murba Party Amir Sjarifuddin and the Front Demokrasi Rakjat The “Religious Socialists”: Muslim Revolutionaries and Marxism Muslims in the Labor Movement Popular Print: Tamar Djaja’s Trio Komoenis Indonesia (1946) Localized Syncretism: “To Mecca via Moscow!” Conclusion 4. A Critical Ummah, a Conscious Proletariat Muslim Parliamentarians and the Allure of Socialism Pious Communists in the PKI The Many Flavors of Indonesian Marxism The Soekarnoist Synthesis Islam and Marxism in Cultural Production Conclusion 5. Epilogue: NASAKOM and Its Proponents Conclusion Bibliography Index "This monograph explores the relationship between Islam and Marxism in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) and Indonesia from the publication of the first Communist periodical in 1915 to the beginning of the anti-communist massacres of 1965-66. It explores various permutations of how Muslim identity and Marxist analytical frameworks coexisted in the minds of Indonesian nationalists, as well as how individuals' Islamic faith and ethics shaped their willingness to employ Marxist ideas. Such confluences have long been obscured by state-driven narratives which demonize Marxism and posit the mutual exclusivity of Islam and Marxism. By examining Indonesian-language print culture, including newspapers, books, pamphlets, memoirs, letters, novels, plays, and poetry, I show how deeply embedded confluences of Islam and Marxism were in the Indonesian nationalist project, even at its highest levels. Ultimately, I argue that these confluences were the product of Indonesian participation in broader networks of intellectual exchange across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and that such confluences were the result of Indonesians "translating" the world to Indonesia, a project of creative adaptation ambitious in both its scope and depth"-- Provided by publisher