Solidarity for the Indonesian Revolution

Abstract

During the Indonesian Revolution of 1945–49, Australian unions and activist groups organised black bans on Dutch shipping from Australian ports to hamper Dutch attempts at recolonisation. Indonesian and Dutch-language sources demonstrate the importance of unions and communist organisations in these actions. These sources show that links between left-wing groups in Australia and Indonesia were significant in building relationships between the countries, even though such links were severed by anti-communist massacres in Indonesia in 1948 and 1965.