Marhaenism () is a socialistic political ideology originated and developed by the first

President of Indonesia The president of the Republic of Indonesia () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president is the leader of the executive branch of the Indonesian government and the commander-in-chief of the ...

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

. It was developed from the ideas of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

applied according to the nature and culture of Indonesia, or simply described as "Marxism adapted to Indonesian conditions". Marhaenism is a variant of Marxism but emphasizes national unity, culture, collectivist economics, and democratic rights and condemns

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

. It was established as an anticapitalist and

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...

ideology. Marhaenism was the guiding ideology of the

Indonesian National Party The Indonesian National Party (, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until 1973. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, the new PNI supplied a number of pri ...

. It also was a major influence on

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

taking hold in neighbouring Malaya, such as the espousals of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya and later Parti Rakyat — both founded by

Ahmad Boestamam Ahmad Boestamam (30 November 1920 – 19 January 1983), or Abdullah Thani bin Raja Kechil, was a Malaysian freedom fighter and politician. He was the founding president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Parti Marhaen Malaysia and former chairmen of ...

Etymology

The name of the ideology is alleged to be taken from the name of a peasant, Aen, whom Sukarno claimed he met near Bandung. In the dialogue between Bung Karno and the farmer, he was later referred to as Mang Aen. The farmer has various factors of production including agricultural land, hoes, and others that he cultivates himself, but the results are only enough for the needs of his simple family. This condition then triggered various questions in Bung Karno's mind, which eventually gave birth to various dialectics of thought as the basis for his next move. Life, an innocent personality, unpretentious but still has the spirit to struggle to meet the needs of his life, then the name of the farmer by Bung Karno is enshrined in every Indonesian whose life is oppressed by the prevailing system of life. As a language adjustment, Mang Aen's name became Marhaen. However, this turned out to be a myth as the name was used by

Sarekat Islam Sarekat Islam or Syarikat Islam ( 'Islamic Association' or 'Islamic Union'; SI) was an Indonesian socio-political organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century during the Dutch colonial era. Initially, SI served as a cooperative of ...

to describe ordinary people long before Sukarno first came to Bandung.Dahm (1974) p15 In any case, Sukarno took to referring to members of the agrarian class as "Marhaens", a term that was first used by Sukarno in his '' Indonesia Accuses'' (''Indonesia Menggugat'') speech in 1930 to replace the term

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

, as he considered the latter to be largely irrelevant to Indonesia. Defining "proletariat" as members of the working class not owning their own

labour power Labour power (; ) is the capacity to work, a key concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of capitalist political economy. Marx distinguished between the capacity to do the work, i.e. labour power, and the physical act of working, i.e. labour. ...

, Sukarno pointed out that many Indonesian farmers owned their labour power and used it primarily for themselves, in spite of their poverty. To Sukarno, the means of production in Indonesia were so small that they are only sufficient to sustain life of the Individual; to raise social, political, or economic status. Thus the expression "marhaen" extended the meaning aimed at all the small groups of people that are meant to be farmers and laborers (proletarians) whose lives are always in the grip of the rich and rulers/bourgeois/capitalists. In 1966, an opinion emerged stating that Marhaen was an abbreviation of

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, the first time this opinion emerged was triggered by an editorial in the ''Angkatan Bersenjata'' newspaper which was immediately answered by Osa Maliki from the Marhaen Development Institute Team.

Ideology

Marhaenism is essentially a struggle ideology formed from Social Nationalism,

Social Democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, and the cultural divinity from Sukarno's beliefs. One of the basic theses put forward by Sukarno was the necessity of combining the idea of national liberation with the Marxist vision of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, understood as a permanent struggle of the oppressed class with the oppressor. In such a vision of reality, the vast majority of Indonesians, as Marhaens, had participated for centuries in the historical system of

class oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. No universally accepted model ...

, from the 350 years of the feudalistic system to the Dutch colonial system. The national liberation struggle therefore took the form of a revolution, which was to overthrow the colonial order and establish a socialist republic. According to Marhaenism, to be economically independent and free from exploitation by other parties, each person or household needs factors of production or capital. The form can be in the form of land or machines/tools. In a modern context, vehicles, information technology devices, kitchen utensils, and electronic goods can be effectively used as capital or production factors. Although not large, the ownership of capital is necessary to ensure the independence of the person or household in the economy. Marhaenism rejected the capitalist model of the state as contrary to the ideas of equality and democracy. Sukarno rejected

and

. The collectivism postulated in Marhaenism, however, differed significantly from Marx's postulates regarding the

socialization In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...

of the means of production. The aim of the national revolution was not to equalize the rights of the wealthy Dutch population with the rights of the indigenous inhabitants, but to gain full control over the land and

means of production In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the ...

by the Indonesians. In contrast to

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, capital in Marhaenism is not to be hoarded or multiplied but is to be processed to meet the necessities of life and produce a surplus. Farmers plant to feed their own families and then sell the surplus or excess to the market. Tailors, craftsmen, and laborers produce goods, which later some will be used by themselves although the rest is of course sold. Ideally, the

self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person, being, or system needs little or no help from, or interaction with others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a sel ...

requirement should be met before serving the market. That means when workers, craftsmen, or farmers produce goods that will not be consumed by themselves, they act only as factors of production for others, which makes them vulnerable to being dictated by the market or exploited. In aggregate (overall) in a Marhaenist economic system, goods that are not needed will not be produced because people and households must first ensure the profile and the level of their own needs before they make anything. The innovation of the birth of a new product will occur when the need is really concrete. The method encourages the achievement of efficiency and prevents wasting resources and consumptive attitudes. Because it functions only to produce a surplus, the available capital cannot be hoarded or misappropriated to suppress the economic growth and the development of other parties. The Marhaenism that was referred to by Sukarno can be compared with the formulation of the entrepreneurship theory approach, which was introduced only in the 1970s by

David McClelland David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation need theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the ...

, almost 50 years later. The difference is that McCleland puts more emphasis on the option of planting the need for achievement or the will to get ahead from the people or small entrepreneurs and so it is in fact dominated by a functional approach. Sukarno's approach to marhaen (farmers and small traders) is actually structural, through the cultivation of a progressive revolutionary attitude. In a speech before the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

, September 30, 1960, Sukarno firmly stated that Pancasila was essentially a sublimation of the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

and the

Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The t ...

, thus declaring that means that Pancasila was actually the third alternative from the two opposing camps in the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

between the

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Capitalist Bloc, the Freedom Bloc, the Free Bloc, and the American Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War (1947–1991). While ...

and the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

at that time.

Bibliography

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References

{{Communism in Indonesia Authoritarianism Eponymous political ideologies History of socialism Political history of Indonesia Political movements in Indonesia Socialism in Indonesia Syncretic political movements Socialism Marxism Sukarno