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Draft:Subakat

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Subakat
DiedFebruary 1930 (1930-03)
Glodok Prison, Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Other namesSoebakat; Axan Zain; Mohamad Zain
OccupationsPolitical activist, labour organiser, writer, editor, translator
Years active1919–1930
Known forPKI theoretician; co-founder and secretary of PARI; early Malay translator of The Communist Manifesto
Political party
Communist Party of Indonesia
Indonesian Republic Party

Subakat (also spelled Soebakat; died February 1930), also known by the pen name Axan Zain, was an Indonesian Marxist theorist, journalist, and political writer who was active in the labour movement in Bandung by 1919 and later joined the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). By 1923, he was a member of the PKI executive committee and was regarded as one of the party's principal theoreticians.[1][2]

Subakat was involved in the development of the Malay-language communist press and edited the PKI newspaper Api. Under the name Axan Zain, he produced the second known Malay translation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's The Communist Manifesto in 1925 and wrote several introductory Marxist pamphlets. His writings and translations contributed to the development of Marxist terminology in Malay and Indonesian.[3][4]

After leaving the Dutch East Indies amid colonial repression, Subakat became active in the communist underground in British Malaya, Singapore and southern China. During the controversy surrounding the PKI's planned 1926 uprising, he sided with Tan Malaka in opposing an immediate insurrection by the PKI and argued for greater mass organisation and an assessment of the movement's actual strength before attempting revolt.[5] Following the defeat of the PKI uprisings, Subakat, Tan Malaka and Djamaluddin Tamin established the Partai Republik Indonesia (PARI) in Bangkok in June 1927 in opposition to the PKI.[6][7]

Early life

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Little is known from published sources about Subakat's early personal life.[citation needed]

Subakat's political activity first start from 10 to 13 May 1919, wherein the Perserikatan Pegawai Pegadaian Bumiputera (PPPB), an organisation of indigenous pawnshop employees, held a congress in Bandung attended by representatives of different labour organisations. The congress discussed the establishment of a central federation capable of coordinating the growing number of Indonesian trade unions. It also debated the political orientation of organised labour and accepted the position that the labour movement should have a socialist basis.[8]

At the end of the congress, a committee was appointed to prepare the proposed federation. Its members included Soerjopranoto, Alimin, Subakat, Prawirosoeganda, Swandono and Semaun.[9] The committee subsequently presented its plans to the Sarekat Islam congress in Surabaya in October 1919. The project culminated in the creation of the Persatoean Perkoempoelan Kaoem Boeroeh (PPKB; Union of Workers' Associations) at a conference in Yogyakarta on 25–26 December 1919.[10]

Rise in the Communist Party of Indonesia

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The Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV) was renamed the Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia in May 1920 and later became known as the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). According to Dutch communist Henk Sneevliet, Subakat was head of the Bandung branch of the PKI in 1921.[11]

According to Historian Ruth McVey, Subakat by 1923 was one of the party's key theoreticians. He was among the very limited number of militants responsible for the PKI's intellectual and organisational orientation. He was also a member of the PKI's national executive committee.[1][2] Subakat political work as a propagandist were involved to speeches, political education, journalism and debates with other movements. Newspapers and inexpensive pamphlets written by Subakat were used alongside meetings, courses and trade-union activity to develop a Malay-language communist political vocabulary.[12]

Subakat became closely associated with the communist newspaper Sinar Hindia, which was later published under the title Api. Sinar Hindia had been one of the main Malay-language newspapers of the Semarang left under Semaun. Subakat was among its editorial staff after the newspaper's transition to Api and was an editor during 1924–25.[13] Djamaluddin Tamin, who later worked with Subakat in PARI, remembered him as a "man of the pen". According to Tamin, Subakat's polemical work was "distinguished by humour as well as political argument". Tamin also described him as a kromo, a contemporary political term associated with ordinary people rather than the colonial or indigenous elite that was commonly associated by then independence and nationalist leaders of the Indonesian National Awakening.[14] Historian Rudolf Mrázek described Subakat as "the most able associate Tan Malaka ever had".[15] Tamin subsequently alleged that Subakat departed the Dutch East Indies while facing eight press-related charges.[16] By early 1925 he had moved to British Malaya, where he continued communist work clandestinely.[17]

Axan Zain and Marxist publishing

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PKI dan Kaoem Boroeh by Axan Zain, 1925.

Subakat wrote and translated under the pseudonym Axan Zain. In 1925 the communist affiliated railway union Vereniging van Spoor- en Tramwegpersoneel (VSTP) in Semarang published his translation of Marx and Engels's The Communist Manifesto as Manifest Kommunist oleh Karl Marx dan Friedrich Engels, salinan baroe oleh Axan Zain. It was the second known translation of the Manifesto into Malay, after an earlier version by Partondo, published in 1923.[18] Historian Oliver Crawford described that Subakat's edition was part of an early effort to present Marxist political theory systematically to Malay-language readers.[3]

Subakat sometimes added explanatory wording or selected Malay expressions for European social and economic concepts. For example, the Marxist concepts of the bourgeoisie and proletariat were accompanied by explanations reffering to capital ownership, exploitation, poverty and wage labour.[19] The frequently used Malay term kaoem could denote a social group or community and did not correspond exactly to the narrower European concept of an economic class. Crawford describes such choices adapted the Manifesto to the linguistic and political context of colonial Indonesia.[20][21] In the same year, Subakat published at least two further Malay pamphlets under the name Axan Zain:[22]

  • Apakah Maoenja Kaoem Kommunist (Semarang: VSTP, 1925)
  • P.K.I. dan Kaoem Boeroeh (Semarang: VSTP, 1925)

Exile

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By early 1925 Subakat had left the Dutch East Indies for British Malaya. He lived clandestinely at different times in Johor, including under the guise of a plantation worker.[17] Subakat continued to write and translate while in exile. Tamin recalled that in Singapore he earned a living by tailoring velvet Malay caps while carrying out propaganda work. He helped translate political works by Tan Malaka, including material associated with Massa Actie, and was remembered by Tamin as unusually careful about preserving the meaning of the texts he translated.[14]

Opposition to the 1926 uprising

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During 1925 and 1926, the PKI leadership was divided over plans for an uprising against the Dutch colonial government. At a meeting at Prambanan in late 1925, party leaders agreed to prepare a rebellion. Tan Malaka, then operating outside the Indies, strongly opposed proceeding under the conditions then prevailing.[23][24] Subakat became one of the activists who supported Tan Malaka's objections. Tan Malaka and Subakat argued that the party first needed a clearer assessment of the strength of the PKI and the Sarekat Rakyat, strengthen the organisation among the population, and thus pursue mass political action before attempting an uprising. They then attempted to have the decision in favour of insurrection reversed.[5] Alimin and Musso continued efforts to obtain support for the uprising, while Tan Malaka and his associates opposed the plan. And thus the disagreement deepened the divisions within the PKI.[25]

The revolts that eventually took place in Banten, Batavia, West Sumatra and several other areas in 1926–27 were suppressed by the colonial government. Thousands of communists and suspected sympathisers were arrested, and many were later exiled to the Boven-Digoel camp.[25] In July 1926 Dutch East Indies intelligence sent two agents into Singapore with British cooperation. Posing as political fugitives, they succeeded in infiltrating the Indonesian communist network. Subakat exposed their identities in September and the communists subsequently abandoned the meeting place they had used.[26]

In December 1926, Alimin and Musso met Subakat at Kota Tinggi, Johor, where he was living under cover as a worker on a rubber plantation. Subakat believed that the two men were being followed and urged them to leave the area. They remained and were later located by the British authorities.[27] With increasing pressure, Tamin encouraged Tan Malaka and Subakat to leave British-controlled territory. Towards the end of 1926, they travelled to Siam, where they continued their efforts to maintain contact with communist networks elsewhere in Southeast Asia.[28]

In January 1927, Tan Malaka sent Subakat to Guangzhou to establish direct contact with representatives and advisers of the Communist International, including the Soviet adviser Mikhail Borodin.[29] Alimin and Musso also arrived to China during this period, but their subsequent political position increasingly differed from that of Tan Malaka and Subakat.[30] Subakat later returned to Southeast Asia and met Tan Malaka and Tamin in Bangkok in May 1927.[31]

Partai Republik Indonesia

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At their meeting in Bangkok, Tan Malaka, Subakat, and Djamaluddin Tamin discussed the organisation and strategy of the Indonesian revolutionary movement. They thus founded the Indonesian Republic Party (PARI), which was formally declared on 1 June 1927.[32] Tan Malaka drafted the party manifesto in Dutch, while Subakat translated it and drafted the party statutes.[33][34] Though much of the writings during this period was lost.[7] PARI's initial Central Executive Committee consisted of its three founders; Tan Malaka as its chairman, Subakat as secretary, and Djamaluddin Tamin as commissioner.[35] The three subsequently separated in order to reduce the danger that the organisation could be destroyed through a single arrest. Tan Malaka returned to China, Tamin developed PARI's organisation in Singapore, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, while Subakat remained in Bangkok.[36] PARI members sometimes referred to the three-man leadership as the Kongsi Tiga, or "The Company of Three".[37]

Subakat remained in Bangkok for approximately two years. During his time there, he worked with the Danish trading firm Viggo-Lund while continuing his activities for PARI under assumed identities. One identity used by him in Bangkok was Mohamad Zain.[38] According to academian Xie, Subakat's Bangkok post had functioned as a communication point for correspondence, political writings, and organisational information pass between Djamaluddin Tamin in Singapore and Tan Malaka in China.[39] PARI literature and organisational papers were also stored there.[40]

Surveillance and death

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Dutch investigators eventually concluded that several names appearing in PARI material referred to Subakat. The use of multiple identities initially made it difficult for the colonial authorities to connect the Bangkok employee Mohamad Zain with the former PKI member Soebakat.[41] Dutch intelligence continued to investigate the PARI network despite the organisation's small size. Following the arrest of PARI activist Maswar Madjid in Singapore in September 1928, papers obtained during said arrest provided documents that had linking contacts in China, Singapore, and Bangkok.[42] Dutch investigators later identified Mohamad Zain as Subakat, using photographs and other intelligence to confirm the identification. Beginning in April 1929, Dutch colonial officials entered discussions with the Siamese authorities concerning his arrest and transfer. Dutch agents sent to Bangkok confirmed his identity in September.[41]

The Siamese authorities arrested Subakat on 8 October 1929. A search conducted after his arrest recovered a substatial amount of PARI documents, including copies of the party manifesto and statutes, correspondence, and information about its leadership.[43] Subakat remained in Siamese custody for approximately two months before being transferred with the confiscated documents to the authorities of the Dutch East Indies in December 1929.[44] He was then interrogated by the colonial political police.[45][44] The seized documents were used to identify pseudonyms and trace communications between PARI members. According to Xie, the arrest removed an "indispensable pillar" from the Kongsi Tiga and disrupted communication between Tan Malaka and Tamin.[46]

Subakat died in February 1930 while imprisoned at Glodok Prison in Batavia, several months after his arrest in Bangkok and transfer into Dutch colonial custody.[45] His death was later raised in the Volksraad, where a member asked the colonial government for information about the circumstances of Subakat death in Glodok Prison[47] With Subakat gone and his papers in colonial hands, PARI continued to operate after his death, although the loss of Subakat and the seizure of party documents made communication and organisation more difficult during the 1930s.[46]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 McVey 1965, pp. 155, 191.
  2. 1 2 Cheah 1992, p. 50.
  3. 1 2 Crawford 2022, pp. 568–576.
  4. ↑ Subijanto 2025, pp. 136, 189–190.
  5. 1 2 Poeze 1976, p. 294.
  6. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 119–127.
  7. 1 2 Jarvis 1987, pp. 47–49.
  8. ↑ Yasin 2021, pp. 61–63.
  9. ↑ Yasin 2021, p. 63.
  10. ↑ Yasin 2021, pp. 63–65.
  11. ↑ International Institute of Social History, Henk Sneevliet archive, inventory no. 207, entry "Soebakat (PKI afd. Bandoeng (Bandung))", 1921.
  12. ↑ Subijanto 2025, pp. 129–150.
  13. ↑ Subijanto 2025, p. 136.
  14. 1 2 Subijanto 2025, pp. 189–190.
  15. ↑ Mrázek 1994, p. 93.
  16. ↑ Subijanto 2025, p. 189.
  17. 1 2 Xie 2018, p. 112.
  18. ↑ Crawford 2022, pp. 568–570.
  19. ↑ Crawford 2022, pp. 571–576.
  20. ↑ Crawford 2022, pp. 574–578.
  21. ↑ Crawford 2022, pp. 570–571.
  22. ↑ Crawford 2022, p. 570.
  23. ↑ Poeze 1976, pp. 289–298.
  24. ↑ Jarvis 1987, pp. 45–47.
  25. 1 2 McVey 1965, pp. 329–357.
  26. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 114–115.
  27. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 115–116.
  28. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 116–119.
  29. ↑ Xie 2018, p. 119.
  30. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 117–121.
  31. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 119–121.
  32. ↑ Xie 2018, p. 121.
  33. ↑ Jarvis 1987, pp. 47–48.
  34. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 121–124.
  35. ↑ Xie 2018, p. 127.
  36. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 127–130.
  37. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 140–141.
  38. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 132–134.
  39. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 150–151.
  40. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 127–151.
  41. 1 2 Xie 2018, pp. 133–134.
  42. ↑ Xie 2018, pp. 131–133.
  43. ↑ Xie 2018, p. 134.
  44. 1 2 Xie 2018, pp. 134–135.
  45. 1 2 Poeze 1976, pp. 389–392.
  46. 1 2 Xie 2018, pp. 140–151.
  47. ↑ "Indisch weekoverzicht", Het Koloniaal Weekblad, 6 March 1930.

Bibliography

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  • Cheah, Boon Kheng (1992). From PKI to the Comintern, 1924–1941: The Apprenticeship of the Malayan Communist Party. Ithaca, New York: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University. ISBN 9780877271253. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Mrázek, Rudolf (1994). Sjahrir: Politics and Exile in Indonesia. Ithaca, New York: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University. ISBN 9780877277132. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Xie, Kankan (2018). Estranged Comrades: Global Networks of Indonesian Communism, 1926–1932 (PhD dissertation). University of California, Berkeley. {{cite thesis}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Yasin, Ahmad (2021). "Keterlibatan Persatoean Perkoempoelan Kaoem Boeroeh (PPKB) dalam Gerakan Buruh di Jawa 1919–1921". MOZAIK Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora. 12 (1). doi:10.21831/moz.v12i1.45616. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

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  • Jarvis, Helen (1981). Partai Republik Indonesia (PARI): Was it "the Sole Golden Bridge to the Republic of Indonesia"?. Townsville, Queensland: James Cook University of North Queensland. ISBN 0864430523.




References

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