Socialist Party (Indonesia)

Last updated

Socialist Party
Partai Sosialis
AbbreviationPS
Chairman Sutan Sjahrir
Founded13 November 1945 (1945-11-13)
Dissolved12 February 1948 (1948-02-12)
Ideology Socialism
Political position Left-wing

The Socialist Party (Indonesian : Partai Sosialis, PS) was socialist political party in Indonesia which existed from 1945 to 1948. The party was founded as a merger between the Socialist People's Party (Paras) of Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir and Socialist Party of Indonesia (Parsi) of Defence Minister Amir Sjarifuddin. Sjahrir became chairman of the unified party, whilst Sjarifuddin became vice-chairman. [1]

In January 1946, the party and its youth wing Pesindo, joined (along with all other major political forces at the time) the Tan Malaka-led national front Persatuan Perdjuangan. By February the same year, the Socialist Party had come to view the Persatuan Perdjuangan as an attempt to replace the existing government, and the party and Pesindo withdrew. Following their withdrawal, the Persatuan Perdjuangan was able to pressure Sjahrir to resign from his position as Prime Minister. Sukarno offered the Persatuan Perdjuangan to form a new cabinet, but such a government never materialized due to conflicts inside the front. As the Persatuan Perdjuangan couldn't form a government, Sjahrir was again offered to form a government. [1]

In May 1946 the government launched Konsentrasi Nasional , a coalition intended to compete with Persatuan Perdjuangan. The Socialist Party and Pesindo became core constituents of KN, along with the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), Masjumi, the Labour Party of Indonesia and various mass organizations. [1] Soon, KN and Persatuan Perdjuangan clashed, as Persatuan Perdjuangan initiated militant struggle against the government. Sjahrir was kidnapped by Persatuan Perdjuangan (but was released soon thereafter). [2]

In October 1946, the government was broadened to include leaders from several political forces. A new pro-government coalition, Sajap Kiri, was founded to support the Linggadjati Agreement with the Dutch government. Sajap Kiri consisted of the Socialist Party, Pesindo, PKI and the Labour Party of Indonesia. [2]

Towards late 1946, the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) was enlarged. The Socialist Party was given 35 out of 514 seats. [2]

In May 1947 the Dutch government issued an ultimatum to the Indonesian government, demanding Dutch de jure sovereignty over Indonesia until 1949. This ultimatum created a split inside the Socialist Party, as Sjahrir expressed some conciliatory attitudes towards the Dutch positions. Sjahrir faced opposition from Sjarifuddin's followers and Sajap Kiri, and in June 1947 Sjahrir resigned as Prime Minister. When Sjahrir had travelled to address the United Nations, Sjarifuddin was appointed acting party chairman. When Hatta formed a new government, the Sjajrir-led faction of the Socialist Party supported it whilst the rest of Sajap Kiri opposed it. [3]

Sjahrir and his followers left the Socialist Party, and on 12 February 1948, they formed the Socialist Party of Indonesia (PSI). PSI was joined by 4 out of 5 Socialist Party representatives in the KNIP Working Group and 19 out of 35 Socialist KNIP members. Most of the party grassroots stayed with Sjarifuddin, however. [4]

In August 1948 the Socialist Party issued a statement of self-criticism, stating that the foundation of Parsi in 1945 had been a mistake, that a communist party should have been built instead and that the merger with 'rightwing' and 'reformist' Paras should not have taken place. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesian National Party</span> Political party in Indonesia

The Indonesian National Party was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until 1973. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, the new PNI supplied a number of prime ministers, and participated in the majority of cabinets in the 1950s and 1960s. The party was fused into the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1973. In the years following the reforms of the late 1990s, a number of parties claiming to be the continuation of previous PNIs stood in elections, but gained only a handful of seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutan Sjahrir</span> Indonesian politician and independence leader

Sutan Sjahrir was an Indonesian politician, and revolutionary independence leader, who served as the first Prime Minister of Indonesia, from 1945 until 1947. Previously, he was a key Indonesian nationalist organizer in the 1930s and 1940s. Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not support the Japanese during the Japanese occupation and fought in the resistance against them. He was considered to be an idealist and an intellectual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linggadjati Agreement</span> 1946 Dutch recognition of Indonesian rule in Java, Madura and Sumatra

The Linggardjati Agreement was a political accord concluded on 15 November 1946 by the Dutch administration and the unilaterally declared Republic of Indonesia in the village of Linggarjati, Kuningan Regency, near Cirebon in which the Dutch recognised the republic as exercising de facto authority in Java, Madura and Sumatra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amir Sjarifuddin</span> Indonesian politician and journalist (1907–1948)

Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap was an Indonesian politician and journalist who served as the second prime minister of Indonesia from 1947 until 1948. A major leader of the left-wing during the Indonesian National Revolution, he previously served as Minister of Information from 1945 until 1946 and Minister of Defense from 1945 until 1948. Amir was born into the Sumatran aristocracy, and was educated at Leiden University. At Leiden, he became a member of the board of the Gymnasium student association in Haarlem, and was involved in the Batak student organization Jong Batak. He returned to Indonesia due to family troubles, but continued his education at the Rechts Hogeschool in Batavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prime Minister of Indonesia</span> Head of government of the Republic of Indonesia (1945–1959)

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia was a political office in Indonesia which existed from 1945 until 1966. During this period, the prime minister was in charge of the Cabinet of Indonesia, one of the three branches of government along with the People's Representative Council and the president. Following his 1959 decree, President Sukarno assumed the role and powers of prime minister until his resignation in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the Indonesian National Revolution</span>

This is the timeline of Indonesian National Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madiun Affair</span> Conflict between the Indonesian government and the leftist opposition group led by the PKI in 1948

The Madiun Affair, known locally as the Communist Party of Indonesia rebellion of 1948, was an armed conflict between the government of the self-proclaimed Republic of Indonesia and the left-wing opposition group Front Demokrasi Rakyat during the Indonesian National Revolution. The conflict began on September 18, 1948, in Madiun, East Java, and ended three months later when most FDR leaders and members were detained and executed by TNI forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Indonesian National Committee</span> Government body of independent Indonesia

The Central Indonesian National Committee, also known as the Central National Committee, was a body appointed to assist the president of the newly independent Indonesia. Originally purely advisory, it later gained assumed legislative functions. The Working Committee of the KNIP became part of the People's Representative Council when Indonesia became a unitary state in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Sjahrir Cabinet</span> Third cabinet of Indonesian government

The Second Sjahrir Cabinet was the third Indonesian cabinet and the second formed by Sutan Sjahrir. It served from March to June 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Sjahrir Cabinet</span> Fourth cabinet of Indonesian government

The Third Sjahrir Cabinet was the fourth Indonesian cabinet. It served from October 1946 to June 1947, when it fell due to disagreements related to the implementation of the Linggadjati Agreement and subsequent negotiations with the Dutch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinet</span>

The First Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinet was the fifth Indonesian cabinet and was in office from 3 July to 11 November 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian Socialist Conference</span> Organization of socialist parties

The Asian Socialist Conference (ASC) was an organisation of socialist political parties in Asia that existed between 1953 and 1965. It was established in an effort to build a Pan-Asian multinational socialist organization, clearly independent from earlier European colonial centres, yet free from the new superpowers of the Cold War.

The Socialist Party of Indonesia was a political party in Indonesia. It was founded at a meeting in Jogjakarta on 13 November 1945. The Defence Minister Amir Sjarifuddin was the chairman of the party. Parsi was largely made up by Amir Sjarifuddin's former colleagues from the wartime resistance struggle in East Java. Some of them originated in Gerindo, a leftwing, nationalist and pro-Sukarno group active before the war. There were also some persons, like Abdulmadjid, Moewaladi and Tamzil, who had lived in the Netherlands during the war, and taken part in the anti-fascist resistance struggle there. The primary objective of Parsi was the independence of Indonesia from colonial rule, which was to be followed by the construction of a socialist society.

The Socialist People's Party was a political party in Indonesia. It was founded in Djakarta in 1945. Sutan Sjahrir was the chairman of the party. In December 1945, at a meeting in Cheribon, the party merged with the Socialist Party of Indonesia, forming the Socialist Party with Sjahrir as chairman.

The Labour Party of Indonesia was a political party in Indonesia.

Ibnu Parna was an Indonesian communist politician and leader of the Acoma Party, and trade unionist.

Vice Presidential Edict No. X was an edict issued by Indonesian Vice-president Mohammad Hatta on 16 October 1945 which gave the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), initially a purely advisory body, the authority to become the legislative body of the government.

The All-Indonesian Federation of Workers'Organisations was the largest trade union federation in Indonesia. Founded during the period of the country's independence in the late 1940s, the federation grew rapidly in the 1950s. Initially formed with loose connections to the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and with members from other parties, over time the PKI became dominant in the organisation. With the introduction of President Sukaro's guided democracy in the late 1950s, SOBSI was formally recognised and given a place in the national decision-making structures. In the 1960s, SOBSI came into conflict with the Army, whose officers controlled the country's state enterprises. Following the 1965 coup that subsequently produced Suharto's New Order regime, SOBSI was declared illegal, its members killed and imprisoned and most of the leadership executed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wikana</span> Indonesian independence leader (1914–1966)

Wikana was an Indonesian minister and independence leader. He was one of the youths who forced Sukarno and Hatta to declare independence immediately after the surrender of the Japanese. He was the first Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sport. He was a member of the Indonesian Communist Party. Sometime after the 1965 coup d'état attempt, he was arrested and went missing, it is supposed that he was one of the assassinated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesian Socialist Youth</span> Military unit

Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia was a youth organisation that embraced the principles of socialism to uphold the Republic of Indonesia based on popular sovereignty. Pesindo was particularly closely associated with youth leaders in 1945. The role of youth figures such as Wikana and Chaerul Saleh, Soemarsono and Krissubanu, Ibnu Parna and other figures shaped Pesindo's identity, namely a revolutionary youth organisation against colonialism and fascism.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 147
  2. 1 2 3 Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 148
  3. Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 149
  4. Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 150
  5. Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 152