Munawar Musso (1897 – 31 October 1948) was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair.
Biography
Early life
Musso was born Munawar Musso in 1897, Pagu, Kediri. His father was a bank clerk in Wates, Mas Martoredjo.
In Batavia, Musso trained as a teacher. He met Alimin, a disciple of G.A.J. Hazeu and D. van Hinloopen Labberton. According to Soemarsono, one of the PKI leaders in the Madiun affair, Musso continued to Hogere Burger School in 1913. He lived at Tjokroaminoto's boarding house with Alimin and Sukarno. According to Arnold C. Brackman, at the time Musso worked as a cashier at a Surabaya post office. In Surabaya, Musso also met Henk Sneevliet.
Beginning of PKI career
Musso and Alimin had more important tasks in infiltrating Sarekat Islam than Surjopranoto. They were members of both the Indonesian Communist Party (PK) and SI before they were arrested due to the Afdeling B affair. Musso was involved in a farmers revolt in Cimareme, Garut supported by Sarekat Islam Afdeling B. In the trial, while Alimin confessed to making a false statement to help Tjokroaminoto, Musso refused to make a confession. In prison, the Dutch government handled him roughly. Agus Salim complained to the Voolksraad (People's Assembly) about this treatment. According to McVey, Musso held a grudge against the Dutch government after this treatment. After Musso and Alimin were released in 1923, the former received an offer to teach Indonesian using English as the language of instruction in the Japan from van Hinloopen Labberton. However the Japanese government rejected Musso's explanation that he did not have a sufficient academic diploma, though McVey believes that the main reasons were his experience in prison and his political views. Musso then reorganized the Batavia PKI branch and led this new organization.
In January 1925, a committee of the Indies National Congress conducted a meeting resulting in the formation of the politically neutral, Surabaya-based Indonesian Study Club association. Musso was present at the club's first convention in February supporting the club agenda and wishing it to be more closely linked to the grassroots. In early 1925, Musso and Alimin gave a speech at a rally organized by the VTSP in Banten increasing communist influence in that region. After the failure of the machinists' strike on 5 October, Musso concluded that the action had been premature.
In December 1925, PKI leaders planned to rebel against the Dutch Indies government. The government knew this and arrested most of the leaders in January 1926. Musso was one of the few who managed to escape. He along with Budisutjitro and Sugono fled to Singapore meeting PKI agents Subakat and Alimin who had previously had stayed with Tan Malaka in Manila. The five, together with Sardjono, Mohammad Sanusi, and Winanta held discussions for three days before deciding to organize a revolt by the middle of 1926. The meeting also resulted in the sending of Alimin to Manila to request Tan Malaka to gather support for the revolt, but this plan was rejected by Tan Malaka. In February, another meeting was held but Alimin made no mention of the rejection by Tan Malaka.
Comintern membership
In March 1926, Musso and Alimin went to Moscow via Canton to ask for support from Comintern for a revolt. Knowing the plan from the meeting in Singapore remained to be implemented, Tan Malaka arrived in Singapore in June to prevent Musso and Alimin, but he was too late because both of them had already gone to Russia. The plan was if they could get support from the Comintern, they would instruct the PKI in the Dutch Indies to refrain from beginning a revolt until material aid arrived. It would be after the arrival of aid, that then PKI would launch a full revolt, else if Comintern did not support this plan the PKI would launch guerrilla and terror attacks. The Comintern rejected the request reasoning that Dutch Indies government's control was still too strong. To prevent the revolt the plan as proposed by Musso and Alimin, the Comintern instructed them to stay in Moscow longer studying the Trotskyist deviation. However, in October Musso still managed to instruct his people in Dutch Indies to start a revolt.
In 1927, Musso and Alimin went to the Soviet Union and studied at the Lenin school for several years.