Indonesian Communism Under Sukarno: Ideology and Politics, 1959-1965
By Rex Mortimer

This sophisticated study, now brought back into print as the second book in Equinox Publishing’s Classic Indonesia series, delineates the ideology of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) during a crucial period in its history. After sketching the evolution of the Party’s doctrines between 1951 and 1959, Professor Mortimer analyzes the ideas, programs, and policies of the PKI during Guided Democracy, showing how they developed and were implemented.

Mortimer thoroughly examines the relationship between the Party and President Sukarno and offers new interpretations of the events leading up to the abortive coup and the bloody destruction of the PKI in 1965. Specialists and students of modern Indonesia and of Asian nationalism will welcome this first history of Indonesian communism during an era that began with spectacular expansion and ended in disaster.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rex Mortimer was Professor of Political Studies, University of Papua and New Guinea. He previously taught at the University of Sydney and was a practicing lawyer for seventeen years. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, he received a Ph.D. degree from Monash University. Mortimer is the author of The Indonesian Communist Party and Land Reform, 1959-1965, and editor and co-author of Showcase State: The Illusion of Indonesia’s “Accelerated Modernization”.