The Counter-revolution of 1965 and the Crash of the Women's Movement

In the ideal of overthrowing capitalism and establishing a workers' state, women's political power has a place that cannot be underestimated. Many revolutions and major events occurred because of their interference. Lenin himself said that the women's movement is fundamental to any successful proletarian revolution. For this reason, the proletarian movement cannot but unite with the women's liberation movement. The two of them stood supporting each other. Therefore, the ruling class understands that women's political power is an important pillar that must be destroyed along with its ideology.

Likewise with the events of September 30 and the following days in early 1966. The crushing of 3 million people, consisting of members, sympathizers and leaders of the Indonesian Communist Party, was carried out systematically. By borrowing civilian hands, this massacre is made to look like a civil war. The good against the evil. The religious are against the (allegedly) anti-god group. That's how it is. It was not enough to kill, a reversal of history was needed to build the foundations of the New Order. Order of fear.

In the Indonesian context, the incident that we can rightly call the Genocide did not allow women's organizations to be destroyed, both physically and ideologically. Gerwani (Indonesian Women's Movement), which was indicated to be close to the PKI and had 1.5 million members, was also crushed. Not only with the torture, killings and other heinous acts, but also with a series of slanders, that Gerwani was a group of women with depraved morals, liberal in tradition, and especially joined the ranks of those who supported the killing of the seven generals. It is not surprising that counter-revolutionary groups can use any, even the most ruthless means.

Through the newspapers published between 1 October 1965 and the first months of 1966, a false campaign against Gerwani's involvement in Lubang Buaya and the killing of the 7 Generals was launched. For example, newspapers from the Information Service, Armed Forces (AB), Berita Yudha (BY), and several other newspapers such as Sinar Harapan (SH), as well as two other newspapers namely Duta Masjarakat (DM) and Weekly News (MB).

An editorial in the Partai Bersendjata newspaper stated that Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat were involved in the killings at Lubang Buaya, because their camp was near that area (5 October 1965). The Yudha News newspaper dated October 11, 1965, reported that the bodies of the generals were mutilated. With bombastic sentences, Berita Yudha wrote, “his eyes were gouged out, several generals had their penises cut off”. Newspaper Ambassador Societyalso made a headline in his newspaper with the title “Immoral Gerwani”. This kind of slander campaign finds a place in a society that is being hit by the political-economic crisis and anxiety that surrounds the feelings of rural people who are attached to Javanese religious-mysticism. This kind of chaotic political economy and news is preparing the stage for the next massacre.

Gerwani was continuously portrayed as having committed atrocities. This lie was continuously built, repeated and became part of the series of Indonesian history throughout the New Order era. We know that the Indonesian press has no small role in this matter.

A Historian, Ben Anderson, manages to get an autopsy result from the body of the dead General. The autopsy results themselves were only widely circulated in Indonesia in late 1987, when Anderson revealed that all the injuries found on the General's body were gunshot wounds. One had a long gash in the stomach from a bayonet, and the other from hitting the wall of the well. The genitals were in one piece, there were no marks that showed their eyes had been gouged out. Since Suharto himself ordered the autopsy, of course he knew about it long before it was made public. Later, the Attorney General issued a statement confirming Gerwani's non-involvement as an organization in the General's assassination.

Suharto's New Order regime was built not only on the piles of corpses of millions of Indonesian people but also on the oppression of women that continued for the following years. This is done by destroying progressive women's organizations and building new women's organizations that are subservient to men and far from political activity: namely Dharma Wanita; Mother Nature; PKK and others.

This effort to subordinate the women's "movement" under Suharto's control resulted in women's organizations distancing themselves from political activity. Just like the history of the SPSI during the New Order era, which was created specifically to embrace the workers under an organization that is loyal to the authorities.

Gerwani: Full Integration with Workers and Peasants

Judging from its history, of the many women's organizations that managed to grow strong before 1965, Gerwani is one of them. This women's organization distinguished itself by its concern for the rights of women workers and peasants. Gerwani is a symbol of women's resistance against the authorities. It is not surprising that the authorities consider Gerwani to be a target that must be eradicated from its roots, because of its revolutionary politics.

Gerwani itself was originally Gerwis, which was founded in 1950. On the initiative of 6 women's organizations, namely: Rukun Putri Indonesia (Rupindo-Semarang); Sedari-Surabaya Women's Association; Wife of Sedar-Bandung; Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwindo-Kediri); Madurese women; and the struggle of the daughter of the Republic of Indonesia-Pasuruan.

In the late 1950s, Gerwis had 500 members. And 4 years later it increased to 80,000 members. Through its first congress in 1954, Gerwis decided to change its name to Gerwani. This was in line with the politics of the PKI, where Gerwani shifted from being a cadre organization to becoming a mass women's organization.

Gerwani's involvement in the national political arena marked the political level of the women's movement at that time. Like the PKI which had the Harian Rakjat newspaper , Gerwani had the political newspapers Berita Gerwani and Api Kartini . Through the newspaper, members can discuss the problems they face, such as the struggle to eliminate polygyny, menstruation leave, equal pay for equal work done by men and so on. In Api Kartini, there is also criticism about the bad influence of films imported from Western culture which are liberal and of low quality.

Throughout 1961, a turbulent year, when the prices of goods soared at unreasonable prices, Gerwani appeared at the forefront, not just shouting at the sidelines. In the cities, they form an alliance with SOBSI, solving workers' problems. If a female worker is fired for using her right to menstruation leave, then Gerwani and SOBSI move to solve this problem together.

Around the 1960s, land reform laws were fought for. Gerwani took part in the action, face to face with the tractors of the landlords who were driving the farmers from the land they were cultivating. In the villages, Gerwani and BTI (Indonesian Farmers' Front) work together, on behalf of women farm workers. Everything Gerwani did was political, and the ruling class hated that. In certain cases, they also faced and were shot at by soldiers.

The desire to build a mass movement based on women became an important agenda item in Gerwani's political program. Following in the footsteps of the PKI, building a front from below to put pressure on the government. The awareness that it is Socialism that can guarantee the completion of women's problems is understood as the only way. They recognize that the real enemy is not men but capitalism itself.

Post 65 Women's Movement

In order to rebuild a progressive women's movement, we bear the burden of destroying the history of the movement itself which has been ideologically crushed. During 32 years under the repression of the New Order, and 50 years of bitter memory of bloody tragedies, the women's movement had to rebuild its ideology from the ruins of the scattered history of its movement.

Another problem faced is liberal feminism. Without diminishing our sympathy for their model of struggle, we must see how they approach women's problems. Liberal feminism approach confuses class struggle. The demand for equality in any field is the focus of his struggle. Besides that, the conclusion that the root of all their problems is men, is a narrow view that can regress women's struggles to a different level. This ideology distracts women from the focus of problems and the roots of oppression, so we need to take a step back to clarify ideas.

The issues of women's liberation and revolution are united in the same thread. In a Marxist perspective, we see the issue of national liberation and the oppression of women within the framework of class lines. For this reason, women's struggles cannot separate themselves from the echoes of the liberation of other oppressed people.

Just as it is the case with workers whose sweat is squeezed to produce surplus value coffers, the logic of capitalism also wants women to be placed in a subordinate manner in class society, namely to return them to the production process and to be a source of cheaply paid labour. On the other hand, women are also seen as suppliers of new labor reserves for the next generation of workers, who are ready to replace their parents.

With all the existing obstacles, the development of the women's movement must be linked to the demands of class struggle. We start with minimal demands and work our way up to maximum demands; in other words, using everyday and economic demands, then pulling them into political ones. The revolutionary women's movement which was destroyed by the 1965 counter-revolution must be rebuilt, because Socialism would be impossible if it did not involve the struggle of women, as the most oppressed layer of the working class.