A reassessment of the significance of the 1948 Madiun uprising to the Cold War in Indonesia

This paper investigates the extent to which the Madium Uprising of 1948 shaped the Cold War in Indonesia. The uprising resulted in severe and lasting antagonisms between the Indonesian Communist Party and members of the Islamic Party Masyumi due to reprisals against Masyumi members after the failure of the uprising and the death of key members of the Communist Party at the hands of the Republic. Although 1948 can be seen as an important flash point in the Cold War for Indonesia, it was not a significant turning point because the communist party recovered from this episode. After surveying a range of interpretations of the Madiun uprising and its significance internationally, this paper provides an overview of the ongoing significance of the Madiun uprising to the image of the Indonesian Communist Party in the 1950s and 1960s. The paper examines an early history war between the Communist Party and Masyumi over how the events at Madiun would be remembered. These debates signal continuing and intense hostility towards the communist party from Masyumi supporters, which endured throughout and even after the 1965-1966 anti-communist killings.