1 A ‘domesticating’ method assumes that the source text has a ‘transparent essence’ which can be fully reconstructed in the target language. See Venuti, Lawrence, The translator's invisibility: A history of translation (London: Routledge, 2004)Google Scholar.

2 On the ‘universal’ qualities of socialist anti-colonial political writing in Indonesia, see Anderson, Benedict R. O'G., ‘Language, fantasy, revolution’, in Making Indonesia: Essays on modern Indonesia in honor of George McT. Kahin, ed. S. Lev, Daniel and McVey, Ruth T. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996), pp. 26–40Google Scholar. On the scientific aspirations of certain Indonesian communists, see McVey, Ruth, The social roots of Indonesian communism (Brussels: Centre d'etude du Sud-Est asiatique et de l'Extreme-Orient, 1970)Google Scholar and McVey, Ruth, ‘Teaching modernity: The PKI as an educational institution’, Indonesia 50 (1990): 5–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 On the fusion of Communism and Islam see McVey, Ruth, The rise of Indonesian communism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1965)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shiraishi, Takashi, An age in motion: Popular radicalism in Java, 1912–1926 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990)Google Scholar and Hongxuan, Lin, ‘Sickle as crescent: Islam and communism in the Netherlands East Indies, 1915–1927’, Studia Islamika 25, 2 (2018): 309–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the mélange of Javanese and Marxist terms in the anti-colonial press, see Subijanto, Rianne, ‘Enlightenment and the revolutionary press in colonial Indonesia’, International Journal of Communication 11 (2017): 1357–77Google Scholar.

4 H.M.J. Maier, ‘From heteroglossia to polyglossia: The creation of Malay and Dutch in the Indies’, Indonesia 56 (Oct. 1993): 37.

5 Ibid.

6 For a discussion of the translation of the Sherlock Holmes stories in Indonesia, see Jedamski, Doris, ‘The vanishing-act of Sherlock Holmes in Indonesia's National Awakening’, in Chewing over the West: Occidental narratives in non-Western readings, ed. Jedamski, Doris (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009), pp. 349–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 On this history of Balai Pustaka, see Jedamski, Doris, ‘Balai Pustaka: A colonial wolf in sheep's clothing’, Archipel 44 (1992): 3–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 The party was initially named Perserikatan Kommunist di Hindia (PKH, Communist Association of the Indies). In 1924 it changed its name to Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, Indonesian Communist Party).

9 Semaun, ‘An early account of the independence movement’, trans. Ruth McVey, Indonesia 1 (Apr. 1966): 75.

10 The Communist Manifesto was presumably chosen because of its status as the foundational document of the movement and because it contained a clear statement of communist goals. The Manifesto had the further advantages of being relatively short and written in a gripping and provocative style. The much longer and more difficult Capital (1867), was not translated into Indonesian until the 1970s. Karl Marx, Kapital: Kritik ekonomi politik, trans. Zhang Xun-hua and Hong Yuan-peng (n.p., 1979).

11 In 1924 the PKI had around 1,000 members. See McVey, The rise of Indonesian communism, p. xiii. The figures on Sarekat Islam membership come from Kahin, George McTurnan, Nationalism and revolution in Indonesia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952), p. 66Google Scholar.

12 On the use of penal laws to suppress strikes, see John Ingleson, ‘“Bound hand and foot”: Railway workers and the 1923 strike in Java’, Indonesia 31 (Apr. 1981): 53–87.

13 For an extended analysis of the control of the press in this period, see Yamamoto, Nobuto, Censorship in colonial Indonesia, 1901–1942 (Leiden: Brill, 2019)Google Scholar.

14 Before the emergence of Malay-language communist papers like Sinar Hindia (founded 1918), socialist ideas were discussed in the Dutch-language journal Het Vrije Woord (founded 1915). Prior to the translation of the Manifesto into Malay, Indonesians educated in Dutch were able to access the text in Dutch. Tan Malaka, a leading PKI cadre in 1921–26, read the text this way while living in the Netherlands during the First World War (see Tan Malaka, From jail to jail, ed. and trans. Helen Jarvis [Athens: Ohio University Press, 1991], vol. 1, p. 27). Darsono, a founding member of the PKI, also showed some acquaintance with the Manifesto in 1919 before its Malay translation, which suggests that he read it in Dutch. See ‘Manifest Baroe dari Kaoem Kommunist dan diterbidkan dari Moskou dalam 1919’, Soeara-Rajat, 16–31 Jan. 1921, pp. 1–2.

15 McVey, The rise of Indonesian communism, p. 391. On Partondo's religious practices, see Tan Malaka, From jail to jail, vol. 1, p. 79.

16 Gorter's translation was first published in 1904. See Het communistisch manifest, Karl Marx en Friedrich Engels, trans. Herman Gorter (Amsterdam: Brouchurenhandel SDAP, 1904). Further editions of this translation were published in 1907, 1910 and 1920. It is not clear which edition was used in Indonesia.

17 The 1925 edition, unlike the 1923 translation, showed its price on the cover. Its cost was 0.6 guilders, roughly the average cost of a book at the time. For a comparison, Abdul Muis’ novel Salah Asuhan, published by Balai Pustaka in three volumes averaging 90 pages, cost 0.45 guilders in 1928. See Takashi Shiraishi, ed., Reading Southeast Asia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 19.

18 Poeze, Harry, Tan Malaka: strijder voor Indonesië's vrijheid. Levensloop van 1897 tot 1945 (‘S-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976), p. 344Google Scholar. Subakat published two further pamphlets under the pseudonym Axan Zain: Apakah maoenja kaoem Kommunist (Semarang: VSTP, 1925) and P.K.I. dan Kaoem Boeroeh (Semarang: VSTP, 1925).

19 ‘Kepandaian jang loear biasa’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo (Semarang: VSTP, 1923), p 1.

20 ‘Goeroe-goeroe kita almarhoem Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain (Semarang: VSTP, 1925), p. 2.

21 As Partondo wrote, although the Manifesto was composed in 1847, its contents ‘almost fit entirely with contemporary circumstances [hampir tjotjok semoeanja dengen kenjataänja sekarang]’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 1.

22 Ibid., p. 2.

23 ‘Sekarang bolehlah orang meroebah perkata'an itoe demikian: “Ada hantoe mengembara di doenia, ja'ni hantoe Kommunisme”, karena sekarang di mana-mana tempet di seloeroeh doenia Kommunisme besar sekalilah pergaroenja atas golongan-golongan Rajat jang terindes.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 2.

24 Ibid., p. 1.

25 Partondo finished his introduction by writing ‘I hope this M.K. [Manifest Kommunist] may be very useful for all readers and I hope that readers who understand its contents go on to become leaders of the working class in the Indies and across the world, to bring about the freedom of mankind. [Kami harep, M.K. ini bisa bergoena banjak bagi sekalian pembatja dan kami harep, soepaja pembatja jang mengerti isi ini kemoedian djadi pemimpin kaoem boeroeh Hindia dan djoega di seloroeh doenia, oentoek mendatengken kemerdikaän manoesia].’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 2. Subakat similarly expressed a hope that ‘this second edition of The Communist Manifesto, like the first edition, will also be received with gladness by all those who desire truth and the independence of Indonesia and its people [tjetakan jang kedoea dari Manifest Kommunist ini aken diterima dengen hati gembira djoega oleh sekalian orang jang menghendaki kebeneran dan kemerdeka'annja Indonesia dan Rajatnja seperti tjetakan jang pertama].’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 3.

26 ‘Doenia merdika’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 1.

27 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 2.

28 In 1965, the Minangkabau author Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana recalled that during his youth in the 1920s a fatalistic view was fairly common among his parents’ generation, writing that his parents felt that ‘this world was meant to be the infidels’ paradise, and that the faithful would only attain their heaven in the after-life’. Alisjahbana, Sutan Takdir, Indonesia: Social and cultural revolution (Jakarta: Dian Rakyat, 2008), p. 24Google Scholar.

29 ‘OENTOEK MEMPERBAIKKEN DOENIA BOEKAN KELAKOEAN MANOESIA JANG HAROES DI ROEBAH LEBIH DOELOE, TETAPI ATOERANNJA DOENIA.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 1 (capitals in the original).

30 The PKI's 1924 programme committed the party to strive towards the creation of soviets in Indonesia. See McVey, The rise of Indonesian communism, pp. 431–2.

31 ‘Pekerdjaän menjalin karangan-karangan Marx itoelah tidak moedah adanja, apa lagi menjalin dari bahasa Belanda ke dalem bahasa Melajoe, berdoea bahasa jang terlaloe bedanja. Salinan Ma'loemat ini lebih-lebih beratnja bagi kami, karena Ma'loemat ini hanja menjeritaken keadaän-keadaän di Europa itoe sadja. Ada lain hal lagi, jangan memberatken penjalinan ini, jaitoe karena semoea theorie di terangken dengen singkat sekali, hingga orang-orang jangn beloem pernah membatja boekoe-boekoe Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels lainnja tidak aken mengerti betoel isi Ma'loemat Kommunist ini.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 1.

32 ‘Manifest ini masih bisa soesah djoega oentoek dimengerti oleh pembatja-pembatja, jang beloem paham bener dalem Kommunisme dan filosofienja (pemandangannja). Inilah tidak salahnja penjalin, tetapi memang karena theorie-theorienja Marx dan Engels itoe baroelah adanja bagi pembatja jang terbanjak.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 2.

33 Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich, Het Communistisch Manifest, trans. Gorter, H. (Amsterdam: J.J. Bos, 1920), p. viiGoogle Scholar.

34 Naturally, anti-communists in Europe, who believed Marxism was a dangerous foreign ideology with a foreign vocabulary, did not see things this way. In 1923 the British chancellor of the Exchequer Stanley Baldwin stated, ‘It is no good trying to cure the world by repeating that penta-syllabic French derivative, “Proletariat”.’ Quoted in Havighurst, Alfred F., Britain in transition: The twentieth century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), p. 179Google Scholar.

35 ‘Orang-orang jang mempeladjari tjara lakoenja doenia menghasilkan dan mendjoel dagangannja’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 22.

36 ‘Pergerakan dalem abad 18 terhadep kepada kaoem bangsawan oentoek mendapet kemerdika'an. Sekarang liberalisme itoe masih dilakoeken djoega oleh kaoem modal oentoek menipoe Ra'jat.’ Ibid., p. 21.

37 ‘Absolutisme (kekoeasaan jang tidak ada batesnja dari satoe orang. Absolutisme dalem negeri bererti jang dalem negeri itoe tidak ada perwakilan Rajat).’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 65.

38 ‘Ideoloog: orang jang mempoenjai pemandangan sendiri, berbeda daripada lain-lainnja; ideoloog bererti djoega: orang jang mengimpi-impi hal-hal jang baik.’ Ibid., p. 67.

39 ‘Radikal: habis-habisan hingga sampai di akar-akarnja. Partai radikal jaitoe partai jang menoentoet maksoednja dengen djalan keras-kerasan.’ Ibid., p. 71. The inconsistencies in the typography and style of the translated definitions reflect the original.

40 ‘Anarchie (keadaan jang tidak poenja atoeran, tidak ada peperintahannja dan tidak ada oendang-oendangnja. “Anarchie dalem penghasilan” itoelah ertinja membikin barang jang tidak menoeroet hitoengan dan oekoeran lebih doeloe; tidak diperiksa lebih doeloe apakah barang-barang jang aken dibikin itoe nanti bisa dipakai ataoepoen tidak oleh orang-orang dalem pergaoelan-hideop). Ibid., p. 65.

41 ‘Kommunisme: Peratoeran dalem pergaoelan hideop, jang menetepken, bahwa semoea alat-alat penghasilan, seperti: tanah, tambang, paberik, machine-machine dan lain-lain djadi kepoenjaan Rajat oemoem, soepaja alat-alat itoe didjalanken boeat keperloean dan keselametannja Rajat sendiri.’ Ibid., p. 68.

42 ‘Kapital: oeang jang didjalanken oleh jang poenja (kapitalist) oentoek membeli paberik-paberik, machine-machine, tambang-tambang dan lain-lain, dan djoega oentoek membajar kaoem boeroeh jang bekerdja di peroesahaan2 itoe. Dengen berboeat begini seorang kapitalist berkehendak menambah oeangnja, karena ia menghisep kekoeatan kaoem boeroeh. Boeahnja pekerdjaan kaoem boeroeh sehari-harinja lebih besar harganja daripada djoemlah belandja jang di terimanja. Karena itoelah kaoem kapital bisa mendapet oentoeng. … Oeang jang disimpen dalem lemari boekan kapital, tetapi kekajaan biasa. … Paberik-paberik, spoor, tanah, kapal-kapal jang didjalanken boeat keperloean oemoem nanti dalem pergaoelan Kommunist boekannja kapital, tetapi barang-barang biasa. Djadi teranglah, bahwa hilangnja kapital boekan bererti berhentinja kemadjoean, tetapi hilangnja kapital hanja bererti: hilangnja penghisepan dan tindesan dari satoenja menoesia atas lainnja.’ Ibid., pp. 67–8.

43 ‘Pergerakan kaoem Chartist jaitoe pergerakan orang orang di Inggeris, jang mempoenjai haloean demokratie, ertinja toeroet memperhatiken djoega keperloean Ra'jat rendah. Ini pergerakan terjadi kira kira dalem tahoen 1848.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 25. Partondo was evidently not entirely sure when exactly the Chartist movement, which began in 1838, had been active.

44 ‘revolutie jang petjah patda tanggal 24 Februari 1848 di Paris. Maksoednja revolutie jaitoe mendjatoehken monarchie (kekoeasaan radja) jang didiriken poela dalem boelan Juli 1830. Revolutie ini mendirieken republiek.’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 71.

45 On the psychological stereotyping of Indonesians, see Hans Pols, ‘The nature of the native mind: Contested views of Dutch colonial psychiatrists in the former Dutch East Indies’, in Psychiatry and empire, ed. Sloan Mahone and Meghan Vaughan (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. 172–96. On the colonial accounts of Indonesian history and nationalist attempts to overturn them, see Anthony Reid, ‘The nationalist quest for an Indonesian past’, in Perceptions of the past in Southeast Asia, ed. Anthony Reid and David Marr (Singapore: Heinemann Educational, 1979), pp. 281–98.

46 The hypocrisy inherent in the simultaneous Dutch celebration of their own revolutionary past and suppression of Indonesian nationalism was not lost on Indonesians with Dutch educations. Suwardi Suryaningrat's 1913 polemic Als ik een Nederlander was (If I were a Dutchman) made this controversial point, and was quickly banned by the colonial government.

47 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 3. Subakat translated tsar as ‘radja Roes’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 19.

48 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 5; Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 24.

49 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 3; Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 20.

50 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 7; Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 28.

51 As Benedict Anderson noted, ‘In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Javanese rulers had called themselves Pakubuwono (Nail of the Cosmos) and Hamengkubuwono (Holder of the Cosmos) without much self-consciousness, though from today's perspective there is something irremediably laughable about rival rulers with capitals (Surakarta and Jogjakarta) less than fifty miles apart calling themselves by such world-conquering appellations.’ Anderson, ‘Language, fantasy, revolution’, p. 27.

52 While much of the domestic administration of Java was in the hands of the pangreh praja, the indigenous civil service, which had an aristocratic core, most of the large capitalist enterprises in Indonesia were owned by Europeans. In 1925, 54 per cent of firms employing more than six people were owned by Europeans, 29 per cent by Chinese, and 17 per cent by ‘natives’, Arabs and others. George Kahin, Nationalism and revolution in Indonesia, p. 29.

53 ‘Paoes, radja igama nasrani jang ada di kota Roem’, ‘monarchi (kaoem radja)’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, pp. 3, 4.

54 ‘aristokratie (kaoem bangasawan)’; ‘literatuur (boekoe-boekoe)’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, Salinan Baroe oleh Axan Zain, pp. 34, 49.

55 ‘“Lenjapnja kemenoesian”, (Entausserung des menschilchen Wesens, Djerman dan: Vervreemding van het menschelijke wezen, Belanda)’, Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 54.

56 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, dimelajoeken dan ditambah keterangan oleh Partondo, p. 3; Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, Salinan Baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 20. The Malay word modal (profitable assets) overlaps with ‘capital’. The word kaoem, derived from the Arabic qaum, means a group of people with a common characteristic, such as Muslims (kaoem Muslimin) or youth (kaoem moeda), and so can be used more broadly than the English ‘class’ or the Dutch klasse, both of which tend to refer to socioeconomic groups.

57 ‘Bourgeois, membatjanja: boersoea (pendoedoek negeri jang poenja modal dan menghisep kaoem boeroeh, seorang modal, seorang kapitalist).’ Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, Salinan Baroe oleh Axan Zain, p. 65.

58 ‘Proletar: klas Rajat jang meskin, tidak poenja apa-apa; sekarang jaitoe kaoem boeroeh.’ Îbid., p. 70.

59 The words proletar (proletarian) and ‘bourgeoisie’ cropped up repeatedly in the PKI papers Soeara Ra'jat and Sinar Hindia. On the latter, see Subijanto, ‘Enlightenment and the revolutionary press’.

60 See Cribb, Robert, ‘The historical roots of Indonesia's New Order: Beyond the colonial comparison’, in Soeharto's New Order and its legacy: Essays in honour of Harold Crouch, ed. Aspinall, Edward and Fealy, Greg (Canberra: ANU Press, 2010), p. 71Google Scholar.

61 A cartoon in the leftist Islamic newspaper Islam Bergerak in 1919 depicted a bearded European wearing a white suit and hat, labelled ‘kapitalist’, sucking the blood out of an emaciated rural labourer. See Shiraishi, An age in motion, p. 147.

62 On the use of internationalist symbols, such as the hammer and sickle, in the early PKI, see Stutje, Klaas, ‘“Volk van Java, de Russische Revolutie houdt ook lessen in voor U”: Indonesisch socialisme, bolsjewisme, en het spook van het anarchisme’, Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis 130, 3 (2017): 427–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63 Because of the position of Muslims within the Indonesian economy, there were attempts to turn Sarekat Islam into a class-based party. These were met with resistance by the central branch of Sarekat Islam, which expelled PKI members in 1921.

64 The PKI joined the Comintern in 1920. In a 1924 party speech, the PKI campaigner Darsono emphasised the importance of organising along international class lines, stating that ‘The PKI must be international and must not forget that the Dutch workers are its great allies.’ Quoted in McVey, The rise of Indonesian communism, p. 124.

65 In the early days of the PKI the Dutch Communists Henk Sneevliet and Asser Baars were key members. Subakat's translation of the Manifesto listed on its inside back cover the names of several exiled Dutch ‘comrades [kawan-kawan]’ who were to be honoured: Sneevliet, Brandsteder, Van Burink, Baars, Bergsma, Mrs Sneevliet, van Kordenoordt and van Munster.

66 ‘KAOEM PROLETAR DI SELOEROEH DOENIA, BERSATOELAH! (kaoem boeroeh dan kaoem miskin dari segala bangsa dan Igama, koempoellah mendjadi satoe).’ See, for example, Soeara Ra'jat, nos. 3–4, 16 and 28 Feb. 1921.

67 Shiraishi, An age in motion, p. 247.

68 Rieger, Thomas, ‘Writing the nation: The pre-war Indonesian nationalist novel’, in Imagined differences: Hatred and the construction of identity, ed. Schlee, Günther (New York: Palgrave, 2002), p. 161Google Scholar.

69 ‘toewan Karl Marx laloe mengarang boekoe jang di namai “Kommunische Manifest” pada tahoen 1847 di kota Parijs. Dalam Manifest kita bisa mengatakan sendiri bagaimana doedoeknja kommunist itoe. Toean Karl Marx menerangkan bahoewa timboelnja Kommunisme itoe bidji dari kapitalisme jang tertanam dalam sanoebarinja ra'jat, teroetama pada kaoem boeroeh².’ Misbach, ‘Islamisme dan Kommunisme’, Medan Moeslimin, 11 (1925), p. 6.

70 Ruth McVey's The rise of Indonesian communism remains the definitive account of the PKI's path to revolution in the run-up to 1926.

71 Benda, Harry J. and McVey, Ruth, The communist uprisings of 1926–1927: Key documents (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969), p. 108Google Scholar.

72 Helen Jarvis, Partai Republik Indonesia (PARI): Was it ‘the sole golden bridge to the Republic of Indonesia’? (Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland, 1981).

73 Anton Lucas, ed., Local opposition and underground resistance to the Japanese in Java 1942–1945, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia no. 13 (Melbourne: Aristoc, 1983), pp. 8, 41–2.

74 Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friederich Engels, disalin oleh A.Z. Dahlamy (Padang Pandjang: Poestaka Baroe, 1946). The A.Z. in A.Z. Dahlamy may be an allusion to Subakat's pseudonym Axan Zain. It is unclear on whose initiative this edition was published as it contains no new introduction, but the publisher may well have had socialist sympathies, since Politik (Politics, 1946), a tract by the leftist revolutionary Tan Malaka, was published by the same press in 1946. Another translation of the Manifesto was published in Yogyakarta in 1946, translated by ‘Saudara X’ (Brother X), who may well have been a member of the underground PKI. See Manifes Komoenis, Karl Marx–Friedrich Engels, Diterdjemahkan oleh Saudara X (Jogjakarta: Poestaka Proletar, 1946).

75 D.N. Aidit, for example, learnt Marxism from the lawyer and labour leader Mohammad Yusuf in the 1930s. McVey, ‘Teaching modernity’, p. 6.

76 The text's introduction credits D.N. Aidit, M.H. Lukman, A. Havil, P. Pardede and Njoto as translators. In his 1979 memoir, the PKI veteran Soerjono claimed that Rollah Sjarifah, the sister of M.H. Lukman, who was not credited, was the lead translator. Soerjono and Ben Anderson, ‘On Musso's return’, Indonesia 29 (Apr. 1980): 73.

77 ‘mendapat sambutan jang luar biasa dari Rakyat Indonesia seumumnja’. Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, Manifes Partai Komunis (Djakarta: Jajasan Pembaruan, 1952), p. 12. The original 1948 edition does not seem to have survived in public collections, so I have used the 1952 reprint throughout.

78 Soerjono remembered that the outdated style of Partondo's translation was a reason for undertaking a new translation in 1948. See Soerjono and Anderson, ‘On Musso's return’, p. 73.

79 The question of what the title should be caused some debate within the PKI. Aidit argued for Manifesto of the Communist Party on the basis that the text was ‘operationally speaking’ a manifesto of the communist party. Tan Ling Djie claimed that since the text predated any communist party, the original title, The Communist Manifesto should be used. Soerjono and Anderson, ‘On Musso's return’, p. 73.

80 ‘Karl Marx dan Frederick Engels, dua guru-besar dalam ilmu sosialisme dan pemimpin pergerakan buruh modern’. Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, Manifes Partai Komunis, p. 11.

81 ‘Isi Manifes ini sudah mulai diwujudkan di Negara Soviet Uni, dimana sistim Sosialisme sudah mendjadi kenjataan. Dibeberapa negeri di Eropa maupun di Asia Rakjat pekerdja sudah mulai berkuasa dibawah pimpinan kaum buruh.’ Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, Manifes Partai Komunis, p. 12.

82 Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, Manifes Partai Komunis, p. 11.

83 The translators cited their source text as ‘“Manifesto of the Communist Party”, in English, endorsed by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute in Moscow, put out by “International Bookshop Pty. Ltd”, Melbourne, 2nd edition’ [‘Manifesto of the Communist Party’, dalam bahasa Inggris, jang telah disahkan oleh Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute di Moskow keluaran ‘International Bookshop Pty. Ltd’, Melbourne, edisi kedua]’, ibid., pp. 12–13.

84 Ibid., pp. 56, 63; Subakat translated these words in the same way but left the Dutch terms in, adding the Malay translation afterwards in brackets.

85 Ibid., p. 47.

86 Ibid., pp. 54, 58.

87 Ibid., pp. 50, 53. The ksatria remained an extant social group in Bali, which, unlike Java, had not shifted from Hinduism to Islam.

88 Tan Malaka's 1946 text Politik offers an interesting point of comparison. In that pamphlet Tan Malaka, though a Marxist himself, deliberately did not use international Marxian terms such as proletariat or bourgeoisie, instead imagining Indonesian classes as being embodied by individuals whom he named Godam (‘hammer’, standing for the workers), Pacul (‘hoe’, standing for the peasants), Denmas (a condensed version of the Javanese noble title Raden Mas, standing for the nobility), Mr Apal (Mr being the title of a person with a law degree in Indonesia and apal meaning to learn by rote, standing for the intelligentsia), and Toke (this being a derogatory word for a Chinese businessman, standing for the traders).

89 Vanessa Hearman, Unmarked graves: Death and survival in the anti-communist violence in East Java, Indonesia (Singapore: Asian Studies Association of Australia; NUS Press, 2018), pp. 38–9.

90 Aidit, D.N., Bersatu untuk menjelesaikan tuntutan2 Revolusi Agustus 1945 (Djakarta: Jajasan “Pembaruan”, 1956), p 73Google Scholar.

91 In his 1979 memoir Soerjono did not realise that Partondo was in fact a real person, thinking mistakenly that it was a pseudonym of the PKI cadre Darsono. Soerjono and Anderson, ‘On Musso's return’, p. 73.

92 Sukarno had first argued that Marxism needed to be tempered by nationalist and Islamic values in his famous 1926 essay ‘Nationalism, Islam and Marxism’. See Soekarno, Nationalism, Islam and Marxism, trans. Karel A. Warouw and Peter D. Weldon (Ithaca, NY: Modern Indonesia Project, Southeast Asian Program, Cornell University, 1969).

93 Herbert Feith and Lance Castles, eds, Indonesian political thinking 1945–1965 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1970), p. 462.

94 See McVey, The rise of Indonesian communism, pp. 84, 103; H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto, Islam dan Sosialisme (Jakarta: Lembaga Penggali dan Penghimpun Sedjarah Revolusi Indonesia, 1963), p. 13.

95 See Reeve, David, Golkar of Indonesia: An alternative to the party system (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985)Google Scholar; Bourchier, David, Illiberal democracy in Indonesia: The ideology of the family state (London: Routledge, 2015)Google Scholar.

96 David Bourchier and Vedi R. Hafiz, eds, Indonesian politics and society: A reader (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), pp. 33–4.

97 On the depoliticising stance of the New Order see Ruth McVey, ‘The Beamtenstaat in Indonesia’, in Interpreting Indonesian politics: Thirteen contributions to the debate, ed. Benedict RO'G Anderson and Audrey Kahin (Singapore: Equinox, 2010 [1982]), pp. 149–66.

98 Bourchier and Hafiz, Indonesian politics and society, p. 105.

99 Benda, Harry J., ‘Democracy in Indonesia’, Journal of Asian Studies 23, 3 (1964): 453–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

100 For Dutch officials’ views on the Indonesian communist movement, which was generally characterised as a result of Bolshevik influence, among advanced cadres, or as an outburst of ‘native’ rebelliousness, among the masses, see Shiraishi, Takashi, ‘Policing the phantom underground’, Indonesia 63 (1997): 1–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.