The Socialist Party of Indonesia ( id, Partai Sosialis Indonesia, ''Parsi'') was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It was founded at a meeting in

Jogjakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

on 13 November 1945.Mrázek, Rudolf.
Sjahrir: Politics and Exile in Indonesia
'. Studies on Southeast Asia, no. 14. Ithaca, N.Y.: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1994. pp. 284-285 The Defence Minister

Amir Sjarifuddin Amir Sjarifuddin Harahap ( EVO: Amir Sjarifoeddin Harahap; 27 April 1907 – 19 December 1948) was an Indonesian politician and journalist who served as the second prime minister of Indonesia from 1947 until 1948. A major leader of the lef ...

was the chairman of the party. Parsi was largely made up by Amir Sjarifuddin's former colleagues from the wartime resistance struggle in

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

. Some of them originated in

Gerindo Gerindo (Indonesian People's Movement) ( id, Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia) was a pre-independence leftist nationalist political party in Indonesia. It adopted an anti-fascist stance, supporting the Dutch against the common threat from Empire of Japan, ...

('Indonesian People's Movement'), a

leftwing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

, nationalist and pro-

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 ...

group active before the war. There were also some persons, like Abdulmadjid, Moewaladi and Tamzil, who had lived in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

during the war, and taken part in the anti-fascist resistance struggle there. The primary objective of Parsi was the independence of Indonesia from colonial rule, which was to be followed by the construction of a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

society. In December 1945, at a meeting in

Cheribon Cirebon (, formerly rendered Cheribon or Chirebon in English) is a port city on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is the only coastal city of West Java, located about 40 km west of the provincial border with Central Jav ...

, the party merged with the Socialist People's Party (Paras), forming the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

with Amir Sjarifuddin as vice-chairman.Rose, Saul. ''Socialism in Southern Asia''. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp. 147, 1952 However, even after the merger, the erstwhile Parsi and Paras groups continued to exist as factions inside in the new party. Generally speaking, the former Parsi members represented a more radical and populist line. In August 1948, when Sjahrir and his followers had left the Socialist Party, the Party issued a statement of

self-criticism Self-criticism involves how an individual evaluates oneself. Self-criticism in psychology is typically studied and discussed as a negative personality trait in which a person has a disrupted self-identity. The opposite of self-criticism would be ...

. The statement said that whilst Parsi had been founded by underground communists, it had not taken the shape of a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. Moreover, the statement lamented the merger with the 'rightwing' and '

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

' Paras. Largely, the former Parsi members stayed were the ones who stayed in the Socialist Party whilst former Paras members left alongside Sjahrir. There were however some notable exceptions, like Wijono (who had been a Parsi militant, but ended up as one of the main leaders of Sjahrir's party).Legge, J. D.
Intellectuals and Nationalism in Indonesia: A Study of the Following Recruited by Sutan Sjahrir in Occupation Jakarta
'. thaca, N.Y. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project Publications, 1988. p. 115

References

{{Former Indonesian political parties 1945 disestablishments in Indonesia 1945 establishments in Indonesia Defunct political parties in Indonesia Defunct socialist parties in Asia Political parties disestablished in 1945 Political parties established in 1945 Socialist parties in Indonesia