A ‘cultural Cold War’?

ABSTRACT

This article examines the development of the Institute of People’s Culture (Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat, Lekra) in West Java in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on contemporary publications, oral histories and archival documents, the article incorporates views ‘from below’ into an account of what became a vibrant cultural force. It shows how Lekra attracted a cultural elite but also wove itself into everyday life, as part of a web of organisations linked to the Indonesian Communist Party. Lekra in West Java combined an outward looking engagement in cultural diplomacy with efforts to reform Sundanese culture. Some developments in West Java paralleled national trends, including Lekra’s intensifying politicisation and growing cultural polarisation. However, developments in the province also had their own dynamics, manifesting in the contributions of prominent Sundanese Lekra figures to the ‘wayang controversy’ and in the role of a group of Sundanese writers who rejected the choice between Lekra and a rival group supporting the Cultural Manifesto. The article highlights challenges in applying a Cold War framework to cultural life in the decolonising world, and the need to move beyond elites in capital cities to incorporate views from the provinces and the grassroots.

KEYWORDS:

• the arts
• Cold War culture
• communism
• Lekra
• West Java

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Oxford Global and Transnational History Workshop, and I would like to thank the participants, and especially the panel discussant Yuzhou Sun, for their feedback. I would also like to thank Kevin Fogg and Keith Foulcher for reading the paper and providing many helpful suggestions. Finally I would like to recognise the important oral history work conducted by NGOs within Indonesia, including the Oral History Project ‘65 run by Institut Sejarah Sosial Indonesia.

Disclosure Statement

The author has no conflicts of interest.

Note on contributor

Matthew Woolgar is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford, and has previously studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Yogyakarta State University. Whilst conducting this research, the author spent time as an Affiliate Fellow at the KITLV and as an Academic Visitor at the Australian National University. Email: [email protected]

ORCID

Matthew Woolgar http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8824-9860

Notes

1 Nyoto was among the founding leadership mentioned in Lekra (1951: 1). For Aidit’s role in Lekra’s founding see Lekra (1959: 4), though see also Tempo (2013: 60) for his limited subsequent involvement.

2 The 100,000 figure comes from Harian Rakjat (1963). All Lekra membership figures must be treated cautiously, but this figure for 1963 is much more plausible than the 5 million in 1965 quoted in Mortimer (1974: 366). For the difficulty Lekra had in counting its members see Tempo (2013: 62).

3 For events surrounding the alleged PKI coup, see Roosa (2006).

4 Patterns of repression in West Java will be discussed below. For an account indicating the effect on Lekra members in Bali, one of the areas where the violence was more extreme, see Bhumi (2014).

5 For a classic example of such a narrative, see Yahaya (1972: 8–9) which argues that Lekra was ‘under the direction of the PKI’, which ‘pulled its strings’. In a similar vein, Moeljanto and Ismail (1995) frequently use the term ‘Lekra/PKI’.

6 There is a list of branches in Lekra (1951: 1). For a broader discussion of the organisational development of Lekra in the early 1950s see Miller (2015: 107–159).

7 Note that the regency of Bandung was the rural territory surrounding (and separate from) the provincial capital Bandung.

8 Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia [ANRI], Arsip Komando Operasi Tertinggi [KOTI] 802, ‘Kesimpulan hasil riset sastra dan seni: rakyat Djabar mengganjang setan2 kebudajaan’, Bandung, early August 1964.

9 ANRI KOTI 350, ‘Pengubahan imbangan kekuatan di Djabar’, Bandung, December 1964. This number is still speculative but is more plausible than the 50,000 claimed in a Harian Rakjat article around the same time (Harian Rakjat 1964h). The relative strength of Lekra in different parts of Java is hinted at in Miller (2015: 109).

10 Reog in West Java combines music, dance, comedy and storytelling. Wayang refers to a number of dramatic forms popular across parts of Southeast Asia. Wayang golek is a form of puppet theatre popular in West Java. Tari topeng is a form of dance that involves one or more masked dancers, accompanied by music and dialogue.

11 The term aliran has also been used by scholars in a number of other ways, for which see the discussion in Liddle (1977).

12 See also Institut Sejarah Sosial Indonesia, Oral History Project ’65 [ISSI OHP 65], Interview 2.22 ‘Kamaludin’ (a People’s Youth member).

13 ISSI OHP 65, Interview 2.14 ‘Koswara’.

14 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.24 ‘Dalang’.

15 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.16 ‘Suratna’.

16 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.14 ‘Koswara’.

17 S. Rukiah was also sometimes known by her married name S. Rukiah Kertapati. A.S Dharta wrote under a number of other names (Setiyono 2010: x). Buyung Saleh sometimes used variations on the name Saleh Iskandar Puradisastra.

18 A.S. Dharta is mentioned in Lekra (1951); for Buyung Saleh’s and S. Rukiah’s early involvement in Lekra see Pikiran Rakjat (1951) and Harian Rakjat (1952b); for Utuy Tatang Sontani see Rosidi (2001: 10–12), and Chambert-Loir (2018: 123–129).

19 For relevant biographical data see Gallop (1985: 2–5), Aveling (1979: 1–4) and Wisetrotomo (2013: 50–92). Also International Institute of Social History [IISH], Suparna Sastradiredja Papers, Folder 130, ‘Buyung Saleh: trade unionist and writer’.

20 Wisetrotomo (2013: 50-66); ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.8 ‘Angga’ (a Lekra activist).

21 See the sub-section below.

22 Harian Rakjat (1962e) includes a full page spread on the People’s Arts University. See also the interview with A.S. Dharta’s friend and biographer Budi Setiyono (Buruan 2016).

23 On these alternate perspectives on the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau see Yoon (2014: Chps.1–2), and Djagalov (2011).

24 Rosidi (2001: 9); National Archives and Records Administration [NARA], Record Group 59, 1955–59, Box 3447, Despatch 24 April 59.

25 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.16 ‘Suratna’. Also author’s interview with respondent 1 (a People’s Youth member), Bandung, 13 February 2018. Note that all of the author’s interviews were conducted on the basis that interviewee names would not be disclosed.

26 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.16 ‘Suratna’.

27 This text is reproduced in Foulcher (1986: 218–220). Mukadimah can be literally translated as ‘preamble’ or ‘introduction’.

28 The major works include (Rukiah 1950), and the stories and poems collected in (Rukiah 1952). See also the analysis in Gallop (1985) and Wirawan (2018). For Utuy Tatang Sontani see Aveling (1979).

29 On Nyoto see Tempo (2009); for the cultural coverage of Harian Rakjat see Miller (2015).

30 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.4 ‘Kang Adjat’ (a former Warta Bandung journalist).

31 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.8 ‘Angga’.

32 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.22 ‘Kamaludin’. On the potential for tension over wayang performances see also Cohen (1997: 174–177).

33 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.18, ‘Djayadi’ (a PKI member).

34 A number of Sundanese poems by A.S. Dharta are included in Rosidi and Sutiasumarga (1963). Utuy Tatang Sontani published a number of his works in both Indonesian and Sundanese.

35 For a broader discussion of his comments see Yuliantri and Dahlan (2008b: 165–173).

36 Wayang kulit, shadow puppet theatre, is more popular in Central and Eastern Java, whereas wayang golek, using wooden puppets, is more popular in West Java.

37 Pencak is a form of martial art.

38 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.24 ‘Dalang’.

39 ANRI KOTI 802, ‘Kesimpulan hasil riset sastra dan seni’.

40 Aidit (1964: 83); ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.18 ‘Djayadi’; ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.22 ‘Kamaludin’.

41 For a PKI plan that had implications for Lekra as well as other organisations, see ANRI KOTI 332 ‘Plan 4 tahun tentang kebudajaan, ideology dan organisasi untuk daerah Djawa Barat’ [undated but from 1962 or later].

42 Harian Rakjat 1962b; ANRI KOTI 802, ‘Kesimpulan hasil riset sastra dan seni’.

43 For longstanding practices of art amongst the people, see for example Wisetrotomo (2013: 69). On the combination of traditions see also Foulcher (1986: 203–205). 

44 ANRI KOTI 802, ‘Kesimpulan hasil riset sastra dan seni’. The programme echoed that called for by the West Javanese PKI politician Amir in Harian Rakjat (1964d). For somewhat parallel developments in Central Java see Kusni (2005).

45 ANRI KOTI 466, ‘Dengan sastra dan seni revolusioner kita djebol kebudajaan imperialis dan feodal (laporan tambahan tentang kebudajaan)’, Bandung, 24 December 1964.

46 ANRI KOTI 301, ‘Laporan fase I’ [undated].

47 ANRI KOTI 802 ‘Kesimpulan hasil riset sastra dan seni’; Harian Rakjat (1964j).

48 The following account of Riyono Pratikto draws on, in addition to other sources cited, Rosidi (2010: 393–400); Santosa (2005).

49 Some of his stories were collected in Pratikto (1951, 1958).

50 A number of his poems are collected in Djiwapradja (1997).

51 A list of signatories from Bandung is provided in Moeljanto and Ismail (1995: 439).

52 ‘Free and active’ was the famous tagline of Indonesian foreign policy in the 1950s (avoiding both the American and Soviet blocs).

53 On the Thirtieth September Movement, see Roosa (2006).

54 Crouch (1978: 142) mentions an internal military report estimating 3,000 killed; Sundhaussen (1982: 225) cites military sources saying at least 10,000 were killed. The estimate of those detained comes from NARA, Record Group 59, 1964–66, POL 23-9, Box 2318, Telegram 26 November 1965.

55 IISH, Suparna Sastradiredja Papers, Folder 130, ‘Buyung Saleh: trade unionist and writer’; author’s oral history interview with respondent 2 (a Sundanese writer and journalist), Central Java, 7 May 2018; Wisetrotomo (2013); Setiyono 2010: x; ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.20 ‘Haryatna’ (a former political prisoner who met Hendra Gunawan and Tatang Ganar whilst in detention).

56 IISH, Suparna Sastradiredja Papers, Folder 130, ‘Buyung Saleh: trade unionist and writer’.

57 ISSI OHP 65, interview 2.20 ‘Haryatna’; Wisetrotomo (2013: 110) includes a remarkable picture of such an exhibition.

58 ‘Daftar korban pembunuhan tahun 1965/1966, Kabupaten Cirebon’ [undated]. An NGO activist from Cirebon confirmed the veracity of this (incomplete) data sheet.

59 ISSI OHP 65, 2.8 ‘Angga’; ISSI OHP 65, 2.24 ‘Dalang’.

60 Oral history interview with respondent 3, Purwakarta, 12 April 2018; Rosidi (2010: 116, 359–360).

61 See van Bemmelen and Raben (2011: 15–16) for the metaphor of partly synchronised regional and national ‘times’.

62 For this issue in general for the study of the Cold War, see Westad (2005).

63 For this point generally, see the introduction to Curley (2019).

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted with funding support from the University of Oxford, St Cross College, the Royal Historical Society, the Society for the Study of Labour History, and the Menzies Centre at King’s College London.