Communist Party, Indonesia

Communist Party, Indonesia Founded as the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) on 23 May 1920, it emerged from the Social Democratic Association of the Indies. A member of Comintern since December 1920, its members were soon expelled from the Sarekat Islam (1921), whereupon it conducted a series of campaigns in the countryside. It was almost eclipsed following severe Dutch repression of its uprisings in Banten and West Sumatra in November 1926 and January 1927 respectively. After Japanese occupation it became one of the main challengers to Suharto's rule, when it grew to become one of the largest Communist Parties outside China and the Soviet Union. In the early 1960s, it claimed over three million members in Java alone. Sukarno's implicit acceptance of the PKI, as well as the PKI's advocacy of radical land reform and expropriation, made the military under Suharto extremely nervous. The 1965 coup attempt occurred with alleged PKI involvement, and it was banned in 1966, with tens of thousands of its members ruthlessly killed.