Lembaga Sejarah Sosialis Indonesia logo.
By: Esty Pratiwi Lubarman (Lembaga Sejarah Sosialis Indonesia / Institute of Indonesian Socialist History)
Since the military coup that gave birth to the New Order regime in 1965-1966, Indonesia experienced a dark period in its intellectual history and culture. Under the leadership of General Soeharto, the state systematically destructed anything associated to the “left”, “communist”, or “any whiff of Marxism-Leninism”. This included not only the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of suspected PKI sympathizers, but also a complete erasure of left intellectual history, ranging from books and magazines to scientific publishing and discussion.
The leftist literary culture that flourished under the Sukarno era – with figures like Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and D. N. Aidit, or cultural institutions such as Lekra (Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat) – was suppressed, as were debates about the development of folk culture institutions. (1) Books by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and as well as analytical writings about socialism and class struggle were banned and criminalized. Many libraries were burned and shuttered, and anyone found to store or read these publications may face charges of subversion.
This strategy produced a generation that was detached from critical intellectual history. The New Order effectively pushed monolithic anti-communist narratives, while also removing all kinds of opposing thoughts from public space. Even after the New Order collapsed in 1998, remnants of left-wing repression remained. The “Orde Baru” government mobilized media to repress leftist ideas and traditions as well as any popular knowledge. (2) Despite the expanded freedom, the stigma against Marxism and socialism lingered. UU no. 27 of 1999, which revised the Criminal Code Article on Subversion, continued to criminalize teaching communism/Marxism-Leninism; book clubs were disbanded, the screening of films with the theme of 1965 were prohibited, and the literacy community was persecuted—all of which hampered any attempt to resuscitate leftist literature and revealed that old wounds have not healed.
This project of de-politicizing Indonesian people is still ongoing. In this context, efforts to revive the left literature and documentation, require not just academic but also political actions to reclaim people’s rights to their own histories and ideas. Concerned with impacts from the “Orde Baru” military regime, several intellectuals and institutions, including the Social History Institute Indonesia, documented and researched the regime’s dismantling Indonesian history. (3) Discussions of how socialist ideas or revolutionary organizations emerged in Indonesia are still quite limited. This is a space to reinforce Indonesia’s broader political history.
LSSI (Lembaga Sejarah Sosialis Indonesia / Institute of Indonesia Socialist History) aim to archive and preserve historical documents related to the socialist and leftist movement in Indonesia. It ensures to continue historical archiving and serve as a source of important references for research, if not the primary source for the history of the left movement in Indonesia. LSSI’s archiving seeks to guarantee that the history of the people’s struggle in Indonesia can be preserved, accessible, and studied by current and future generations.
In carrying out the historical preservation program on social and left movements in Indonesia, LSSI emphasizes collaboration and community participation. Friends and former activists of the Democratic People’s Party (PRD) have played an important role in this documentation effort. Many of them have voluntarily contributed and provided critical personal documents. The active engagement of old PRD friends not only enriches the archive collections, but also strengthens its authenticity.
The Democratic People’s Party (PRD) is a significant milestone in the history of Indonesia’s left movement, especially in its struggle against the authoritarian “Orde Baru” regime. The PRD was founded on July 22nd, 1996, consolidating organizations of students, workers, farmers, and progressive artists and national farmers unions. Founded by around 13 activists, the PRD was determined to become a pioneer organization fighting for democratization and people’s rights in the face of very repressive political pressure.
This organization was capable of coordinating simultaneous mass actions in many cities, distributing leaflets to villages, as well publishing liberation newspapers as a means for political education. The PRD’s main program includes abolishing the ‘DWI FUNGSI ABRI’ or Armed Forces Dual Function (the military’s dual role in politics and government), repealing the 1985 Politics Law that restricted freedom of organization and expression, implementing agrarian reform to redistribute land to poor farmers, eliminating all forms of social and economic discrimination and establishing a people’s council as a genuine representation of the people. However, after the 1998 fall of the “Orde Baru”, PRD suffered a huge loss as many figures and cadres chose pragmatic political paths by joining bourgeois parties such as PDIP, Democrats, and Gerindra, which were ideologically opposed to the initial spirit of PRD. This ideological conversion reveals the lack of ideological development in the PRD body, resulting in the decline and the weakening as a left political force in Indonesia. (4)
Every donated document brings a story, context, and spirit of the times that is irreplaceable. LSSI ensures that the archives collected not only become a collection of dry documents, but lives as a historical collective narrative that voiced the struggles, ideals, and dynamics of social movements in Indonesia. This effort is a key element of LSSI’s vision to build an open, participatory, and deeply rooted social history archive on the experiences of actual historical actors themselves. Through this collective work, we believe that history is not only preserved but also continues to be activated and passed on to future generations.
LSSI collects documents from various sources, both official and non-official, that are related to the left movement in Indonesia. This program involves conservation techniques to protect physical archives from aging or other factors that cause damage or loss, ensuring their long-term sustainability. To facilitate public access, LSSI developed a comprehensive cataloging system. Using database software, all archive materials, both physical and digital, are organized and indexed systematically, allowing the search for information quickly and accurately. Digitizing physical archives also extends the lifecycle of documents and expands their accessibility. Every important document converted into a digital format, maintains its content from the risk of physical damage and ensuring it can be accessed by more people. LSSI’s online platform complies with information disclosure principle while also help democratizing knowledge, where users can access historical documents easily from anywhere. This initiative aims to improve awareness about the history of socialism in Indonesia and the importance of maintaining this historical heritage for future social development. With these programs, LSSI serves not only as a historical storage institution but also as a driving force for recovery efforts of collective memory and the formation of communal critical awareness about the journey of social struggles in Indonesia.
The program was implemented in several stages. In this initial stage, the program focuses on archiving documents originating from the Democratic People’s Party (PRD) and other leftist movements in Indonesia. These documents include: 1) official documents, including newspapers and organizational journals, articles of association and budgets (AD-ART), results of congresses or organizational conferences, meetings, bulletins, and various other documents relating to organizational formal activities; 2) non-official documents, including newspapers clippings, magazines, audio-visual documentation, photo documentation, or books and various writings related to the PRD struggle and other left organizations.
At another stage, the archiving scope expands beyond the Democratic People’s Party (PRD) to include other Indonesian leftist movements during various periods. The collected documents will enrich the historical narrative of working-class struggles, farmers, students, and other elements of progressive society that played a role in building Indonesia’s social resistance traditions.
Through this systematic effort, LSSI is committed to maintain the historical legacy of the Indonesian left movement so that it is not lost. It aims to provide accurate sources for research by academics, researchers, and activists, while also encouraging a deeper understanding of the dynamics of social struggle in Indonesia and developing alternative historical database free of official history bias. With this program, we seek to contribute to a more comprehensive and inclusive history of Indonesia, as well as to open up space for future generations to learn from the long journey of the people’s movement in fighting for social justice.
References:
- As discussed in Keith Foulcher in his book entitled Social Commitment in Art and Literature: History of Lekra 1950-1965.]
- See a.o. Wijaya Herlambang (2011) in: Post-1965 Cultural Violence: How the New Order Legitimizes Anti Communism through literature and film.
- Link: https://sejarahsocial.org/
- Link: https://www.arahjuang.com/2023/08/16/mempalis-prd-https://www.indoleft.org/analysis/2023-08-16/learning-from-the-peoples-democratic-party-building-something-new.html