The Communist uprisings of 1926 — the communist opstanden of 1926 — were a series of uprisings on Java by the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), which together with the nasmeulend verzet (smouldering resistance) that flared up again on the Westkust of Atjeh at the same time, forced a partial restoration of the K.N.I.L.’s strength after the cutbacks of the post-First-World-War period. The uprisings are the book’s set-piece of the communist threat to the colonial state in the inter-war period.
The uprisings
“Gelukkig vonden de communisten in 1926, dat dit ver genoeg was gegaan en begonnen een paar opstanden, terwijl op de Westkust van Atjeh nog wat nasmeulend verzet even oplaaide…” The communists in 1926 judged that the cutbacks had gone far enough and began a few uprisings, while on the Westkust of Atjeh some smouldering resistance flared up again. The two events — the communist uprisings on Java and the nasmeulend verzet on the Westkust of Atjeh — were independent but simultaneous, and together they forced a partial restoration of the colonial army’s strength.
The cutbacks and the restoration
The cutbacks that provoked the communist judgement had been the post-First-World-War policy of “geen man en geen cent” — no man and no cent — by which the colonial army’s strength had been reduced to 36,000 (then cut by 6,000) for an archipelago of 70 million. The communist uprisings of 1926 and the Westkust resistance forced a partial restoration of the strength; then the economic crisis hit, communism was conveniently declared “done with,” and the legermacht was reduced again. “En na 1936 maar weer uitbreiden.”
The Soekarno connection
The book also notes that between 1906 and 1927 “de communisten, met Soekarno (u kent hem wel!) en zijn handlangers, hun slag wilden slaan” — the communists, with Soekarno and his henchmen, tried to make their strike on Java. The connection between the PKI uprisings of 1926 and Soekarno is the book’s framing of the communist threat as continuous with the later Indonesian nationalist movement.
The Westkust resistance
The nasmeulend verzet on the Westkust of Atjeh in 1926 was the last flicker of the Acehnese armed resistance after the handover of 1918. The book notes that the *Westkust verzet 1925-27|Westkust verzet of 1925-1927]] was the last significant Acehnese resistance episode of the inter-war period.
Significance
The Communist uprisings of 1926 are significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the book’s set-piece of the communist threat to the colonial state in the inter-war period. The book’s argument is that the uprisings — together with the Westkust resistance — forced a partial restoration of the colonial army’s strength, and that the cutbacks that provoked the communist judgement were the post-First-World-War policy of “geen man en geen cent.” The uprisings are therefore the book’s marker of the inter-war political-military context: the communist threat, the Westkust resistance, and the partial restoration of the colonial army’s strength.
See Also
- Communistische Partij (PKI)
- Soekarno
- Westkust verzet 1925-1927
- Westkust (of Atjeh)
- K.N.I.L.
- Geen man en geen cent
- 1926
- 1925
- 1927
- 1936
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Ooms leger.”