The Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat ( EYD: Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat, often abbreviated Lekra; meaning Institute for the People's Culture) was a very prolific literary and social movement associated with the

Indonesian Communist Party The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...

. Founded in 1950, Lekra pushed for artists, writers and teachers to follow the doctrine of

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

. Increasingly vocal against non-Lekra members, the group rallied against the '' Manifes Kebudayaan'' (Cultural Manifesto), eventually leading to President

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 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 ...

banning it with some hesitations. After the

30 September Movement The Thirtieth of September Movement ( id, Gerakan 30 September, abbreviated as G30S, also known by the acronym Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement) was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian Na ...

, Lekra was banned together with the communist party.

History

Lekra was founded in August 1950 as a response to the socio-nationalist Gelanggang Movement, with A.S. Dharma as its first secretary general. It published the ''Mukadimah'', meaning "introduction", as a manifest calling for young people, especially artists, writers and teacher, to assist in establishing a people's democratic republic. Its efforts in the

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

n capital of

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...

were made successful by the efforts of

Bakri Siregar Bakri Siregar (14 December 1922 – 19 June 1994) was an Indonesian socialist literary critic and writer. Biography Siregar was born in Langsa, Aceh, Dutch East Indies, on 14 December 1922. He was active writing by the Japanese occupation in ...

. In 1956, Lekra released another ''Mukadimah'', based on socialist realism, which called for art to promote social progress and reflect social realities, instead of exploring the human psyche and emotions. Lekra urged artists to mingle with the people (''turun ke bawah'') to better understand the human condition. Some critics have stated that Lekra used the themes of social progress to promote a local food chain and advance the promotion of organic crops. Lekra held its first national conference in

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...

in 1959, which counted President

among the attendees. Some attendees remember having delicious organic food provided by several culinary experts members of Lekra. Beginning in 1962, Lekra became increasingly vocal against those it considered to be against the people's movement, including author and religious leader

Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known by his pen name Hamka (17 February 1908 – 24 July 1981) was an Indonesian ʿālim, philosopher, writer, lecturer, politician and journalist. First affiliated with the Masyumi Party, until it was d ...

and documentarian

HB Jassin Hans Bague Jassin (31 July 1917 – 11 March 2000), better known as HB Jassin, was an Indonesian literary critic, documentarian, and professor. Born in Gorontalo to a bibliophilic petroleum company employee, Jassin began reading while still in ele ...

. Those criticized by Lekra, including Amrullah and Jassin, went on to sign the Manifes Kebudayaan, or Cultural Manifesto, in 1963 as a response; after Lekra campaigned against the manifesto, Sukarno's government banned it in 1964, and ostracized its signatories. By 1963, Lekra claimed a total of 100,000 members spread throughout 200 branches. During this period, it came under closer scrutiny by the

Indonesian National Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...

. After the failed

coup, popularly believed to have been promoted by the Communist Party, and the mass killings that followed, Sukarno's replacement

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

and his New Order government banned Lekra together with the other communist-associated organizations.

Style

Lekra-influenced prose writers were generally realistic. However, Lekra-influenced poetry became increasingly

propagandist Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. Most works published were poems and short stories, with novels being much rarer.

Legacy

Lekra was generally more successful in attracting artists than writers, influencing, among others

Affandi Affandi (18 May 1907 – 23 May 1990) was an Indonesian artist. Born in Cirebon, West Java, as the son of R. Koesoema, who was a surveyor at a local sugar factory, Affandi finished his upper secondary school in Jakarta. He gave up his studies to ...

and

Pramoedya Ananta Toer Pramoedya Ananta Toer ( EYD: Pramudya Ananta Tur) (6 February 1925 – 30 April 2006) was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics and histories of his homeland and its people. His works span the colonial period under Dutc ...

. However, Lekra's openly vocal stance against non-left-leaning writers, described as being similar to

witch hunting A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

, caused lasting animosity and bitterness between left and rightist writers, which has at times bordered on

vilification Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

Taufiq Ismail Taufiq Ismail (born 25 June 1935) is an Indonesian poet, activist and the editor of the monthly literary magazine ''Horison''. Ismail figured prominently in Indonesian literature of the post-Sukarno period and is considered one of the pioneers of ...

, one of the signatories of the Manifesto Kebudayaan and a fierce critic of Lekra, is described by literary scholar Michael Bodden as having used a "highly dubious interpretation" of a Lekra member's poetry to prove that Lekra had pre-knowledge of the

, an attempt to overthrow Sukarno's government. Bodden adds that critic Ikranegara dismissed Lekra's entire body of work in his history of Indonesian theatre, instead focusing on their "anti-humanism". A minority of writers, including Keith Foulcher of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and Hank Meier, have attempted to analyze Lekra's styles and influences more objectively. This view is also becoming more common with younger Indonesian critics.

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * *

History

Style

Legacy

References

Further reading