Anti-Communist Massacres Killed Indonesia’s Hopes for National Liberation and Socialism
The mass slaughter of leftists in Indonesia was more than just another Washington-backed atrocity. It was the prototype for smashing the hopes and dreams of the Left in the developing world — for good.
Eko Soetikno, 75, holds a photo taken with his fellow inmates when he was imprisoned in Buru Island. Eko was a student who spent 14 years imprisoned without trial for suspected ties to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Ulet Ifansasti / Getty
With the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the post–Cold War global order has been shaken to its very core. The stark inequalities not only within nations but between nations has been laid bare.
For a generation shaped by the defeat of actually-existing communism and Third World nationalism, one of our difficulties has always been believing another world was ever truly possible. Our predecessors didn’t have that problem. They believed that not only was a more just society possible, it was within their reach.
But it wasn’t just failed economic experiments that put an end to those dreams. The defeat of socialist and reformist movements from Brazil to Indonesia was the result of an organized, global anti-communist campaign led by the United States and supported by other Western powers and local elites. And it was horrifically violent.
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