The Madiun Affair, known locally as the Communist Party of Indonesia rebellion of 1948, was an armed conflict between the government of the self-proclaimed Republic of Indonesia and the left-wing opposition group Front Demokrasi Rakyat during the Indonesian National Revolution. The conflict began on September 18, 1948, in Madiun, East Java, and ended three months later when most FDR leaders and members were detained and executed by TNI forces.
Group of handcuffed men being detained by the TNI, Madiun, September 1948
Two men with rope around their necks are handcuffed by TNI officers in September 1948 in Madiun, Indonesia
Former PM Amir Sjarifuddin (wearing glasses) was among those captured and executed for their parts in the rebellion.
Communist Party of Indonesia
The Communist Party of Indonesia was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. The party had two million members in the 1955 elections, with 16 percent of the national vote and almost 30 percent of the vote in East Java. During most of the period immediately following the Indonesian Independence until the eradication of the PKI in 1965, it was a legal party operating openly in the country.
PKI meeting in Batavia (now Jakarta), 1925
D. N. Aidit speaking at a 1955 election meeting
PKI supporters rallying during the 1955 general-election campaign
Aidit (right) and Revang at the Fifth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in East Berlin, 11 July 1958