Soekarno's Nationalism, Marxism, and Islam

A detailed Summary of Soekarno's Nationalism, Marxism, and Islam

Soekarno's article "Nationalism, Islam and Marxism" argues that the three mentioned ideologies and movements within Indonesia could work cohesively to create a free and independent nation-state. The article sounds more like a fervent speech than an academic argument that clearly makes the case. In fact, after reading Soekarno, I became less convinced as I became aware of the desperation in the tone and his appeal for people to be convinced more by his word than by fact.

Soekarno states several times that he knows Nationalism, Islam and Marxism are not only capable of uniting for the sake of Indonesia, but that their very natures, goals and values are intertwined. He appeals to Nationalists to accept their Indonesian brethren who are of an Islamist slant or Marxist leanings while at the same time promoting tolerance and acceptance as being higher virtues of Eastern nationalism- defined as being progressive and benevolent as opposed to the aggressive and capitalistic nationalism of the West. He presents Islam as being a progressive, positive institution in Indonesia and the rest of the Muslim world, citing the great work of Jamal al-Din al-Aghani and Muhammad Abduh. In turn, Soekarno praises major and noteworthy Muslim figures of

the time, besides the mentioned Afghani and Abduh; he mentions Islamic reformers such as Mustafa Kamil of Egypt and Ali Pasha of Turkey. What struck me is that he mentions Islamic leaders that leaves out some very noteworthy names and even contemporaries of the ones he mentioned given more credence and special attention to the ones he has mentioned. What did they have in common? They were great Islamic leaders that were also nationalists heroes. It almost seems as though he is trying to defend the Islamic movement to his fellow Nationalists.

Soekarno seems like he is trying to sugar-coat and gloss over some very deep cleavages between the Nationalist, Islamic and Marxist factions. In trying to argue that the three different ideological groups could easily work together, he waters down their core beliefs by claiming that the only "true" Islam is the one that accepted nationalism and Marxism while the only "true" Marxism was that that was distinctly Asian and took into account Indonesian particularity. Isn't the fundamental belief of a Marxist that all oppressed peoples should unite. Soekarno has a different notion of unity and cooperation that puts him at odds with hardline Islamic or Marxist ideologues. To Soekarno, a nation (such as Indonesia) must be nationali

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Approximate Word count = 858
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics

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