Madiun Affair

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The Madiun Affair was a communist uprising in 1948 during the Indonesian National Revolution in the town of Madiun. Leftist parties led an uprising against the leaders of the newly-declared Indonesian Republic, but it was quashed by Republican forces.

On 18 September 1948 an 'Indonesian Soviet Republic' was declared in Madiun, in the western part of East Java, by members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI). Judging the time as right for a proletarian uprising, they intended it to be a rallying centre for revolt against "Sukarno-Hatta, the slaves of the Japanese and America".[1] Madiun however was won back by Republican forces within a few weeks, and the insurgency leader, Musso, was killed. RM Suryo, the governor of East Java, as well as several police officers and religious leaders, were killed by the rebels.

The quashing of the rebellion ended a perilous distraction for the Revolution,[1] and it turned vague American sympathies based on anti-colonial sentiments into diplomatic support. Internationally, the Republic was now seen as being staunchly anti-communist and a potential ally in the brewing global Cold War between the American-led 'free world' and the Soviet-led bloc.[2]

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Notes

  1. ^ a b Friend (2003), p. 32.
  2. ^ Ricklefs (1991), p. 230.

References