could not restrain Bandung any longer. A fine school building with a large garden and playing area had been provided by a wealthy member of Sarekat Islam. We had to mobilize all our teachers to set up the second Sekolah Rakyat, with between two and three hundred pupils, in Bandung.31
I was not able personally to witness the progress made. But according to reports I received after I was exiled, Sekolah Rakyat sprang up like mushrooms in the rainy season. (When Sarekat Islam Semarang became Sarekat Rakyat, the schools also changed their names.)32 Wherever the Semarang pupils attended mass meetings a school would be established on the Semarang model. The pupils with their red trousers and their Internationale were like the pied piper of Hamelin, whose pipe attracted all animals to follow him wherever he went. There were even pupils from Surabaya who followed their friends without asking permission of their parents.
An echo of our educational movement can be found in the Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch Oost [sic] Indie VI (supplement), p. 534:
Everywhere Sekolah Rakyat were established on Tan Malaka’s model; and the youth work also included the formation of youth militias (Barisan Muda, Serikat Pemuda, Kepanduan)-all this being in accordance with the Comintern system. Wherever possible crash courses to train active propagandists were held. These people would form the warga rumekso (cadres) of the organization, initially in open meetings, and later in membership or restricted meetings. The (government) regulation on inspection of private native schools (Ind. Stsb 1923, No. 136 jo 374) was clearly incapable of eradicating this sort of propagandistic education. (See “Government Statement on Several Matters in the Public Interest, April 1924,” Appendix A, Koloniaal Verslag.)33
[73] And in an interview given during the recent 1947 May Day celebration Alimin, who has seen revolutionary schools all over the world, felt obliged to acknowledge the Sekolah Rakyat, expressing his high regard for them.34
I recall a conversation with the late Haji Busro, who was prominent in Sarekat Islam Semarang and was a resolute supporter of the educational movement.35 He said to me: “Don’t speak at public meetings. Let other people do that for the time being. It’s best if you devote all your energies to education. After three or four years there will be people who can take your place if you get involved in politics and get exiled.” As usual he concluded the sentence with his characteristic “jo, rak?”36
This is what I did at first. Indeed it was sound advice. But because there was a real shortage of people in all fields, I was forced to immerse myself in public meetings. Several friends urged me to go to Surabaya for a Sarekat Islam meeting.37 The political atmosphere was still dominated by the conflict between Sarekat Islam and Semarang-ism (Islamism versus communism) that had caused the split. After some time among my friends in the struggle, I felt that the conflict was not based on concrete and precise economic and political differences. Furthermore, the manner in which the dispute was being carried on was only giving rise to mutual hatred. The result would obviously be to cripple both sides. Before I began to speak in Surabaya, the chairman warned me not to present any communist propaganda. When I referred to the alliance between Turkey and the Soviet Union against imperialism, I got another warning from the chair. However, the audience appeared not to have any objection to my continuing my speech on the importance in Indonesia of unity between Islam and communism against our common enemy. I had been given only five minutes in which to speak, but with five minutes of Semaun’s time and another five from another PKI comrade, I was able to squeeze out fifteen minutes.38
The visit to Surabaya was very rewarding. Several Islamic leaders agreed to attend the PKI congress to be held in Semarang, at which we were again to discuss the question of cooperation between the Semarangists and Sarekat Islam.
[74] Now I was stepping onto the slippery ground of politics, and once your foot is on it, it is hard to pull back. One day, with no preliminaries, Semaun said suddenly: “I hope you’ll go to Cepu next Sunday. I have just returned from setting up the Serikat Buruh Pelikan Indonesia [Indonesian Miners Union]. I proposed that you should be the vice chairman, and they agreed.”39
This was the beginning of my entry into the trade-union movement. There was such a shortage of people in all fields that even Busro could not deny it. After rumors here and there, suddenly and secretly Darsono left for Moscow. Not long after, following similar rumors, Semaun left for Moscow.40 Our inadequate forces were even further depleted.
In such a situation of insufficient forces in all areas even our reserves had to be mobilized. It was not surprising that at the PKI congress in December 1921 (?) the leadership managed to bombardeer me into becoming the supplier of all the speeches.41 But what really did amaze me was that at the closed membership meeting which followed the public meeting, they were able again to bombardeer me into accepting the PKI chairmanship. I objected, but I was powerless in the face of unanimity and discipline. I had not only stepped onto the slippery field of politics; I was now sliding toward a ravine.
I recall that my most important speech at that congress was an analysis of the effect of divisions in our ranks, that is, between the Muslims and Communists, and how this related to the “divide and rule” policy of Dutch imperialism. Our past divisions, exploited through the ‘divide et Impera’ policy, had led us to the vale of colonization. Our present position as a colonized people resulted from divisions between Raja and Rakyat and among the Rajas themselves.42 If we deepened and accentuated the divisions between Islam and communism, we would only give our ever-watchful enemies the opportunity to exploit our internal hostilities and weaken the Indonesian nationalist movement. We should stress what we have in common and apply those common positions to concrete political and economic problems. Such was the thrust of my speech.
[75] The response from both Sarekat Islam and PKI members was better than I had hoped. But unfortunately Abdul Muis, the representative from the Central Sarekat Islam, arrived late and did not hear a word of my speech. Also, Haji Agus Salim, who had promised to be there, was not present. In a moment, though, the atmosphere of unity was sullied once more, for Abdul Muis began his speech by opening old wounds. To answer him, three representatives from Semarang—from Sarekat Islam Semarang and the PKI—spoke in turn. Tension rose, as it had before in Yogya and other places. Then Kiai Hadikusumo came forward as a mediator, even though he was a member of Sarekat Islam. By his demeanor as well as his word, he calmed the prevailing tension. The Kiai agreed strongly with the proposed unity and he considered those Muslims who did not agree to unity in the face of common enemies to have strayed from the path. He also agreed with the plan to hold another joint meeting to implement this unity.43 (After I had left Indonesia, this meeting was in fact held. But then, in February 1923 at the congress of Central Sarekat Islam in Madiun, discipline was imposed and the Communists were expelled from Sarekat Islam.44 It is indeed difficult in any organization to do away with emotion and to attain unity in the form of a single clear program.)
In January 1922, several days after the PKI congress in Semarang, a strike broke out among pawnshop employees. They asked for our assistance, which was given sincerely and to the fullest, as it should have been. As leaders of the Revolutionaire Vakcentrale (Revolutionary Trade Union Council),45 which linked the VSTP and harbor and oil workers, we agreed that if the government, as the employer, did not rehire the strikers, all the workers united in the Vakcentrale would be mobilized in a supportive strike.46
As the representative of the Vakcentrale I attended a meeting of the strikers in Yogyakarta and relayed that message on behalf of the workers under our leadership. At another meeting in Semarang, where I spoke to a variety of workers, the atmosphere was fiery. The railway laborers too were debating their own situation, and they supported the strike of their fellow workers in the pawnshop.47
[76] For me things were looking very grim indeed, as I could see from the face of Haji Busro. My comrades in the struggle were
