Communication Against Capital
Red Enlightenment at the Dawn of Indonesia

Rianne Subijanto (Author)

9781501778667

Paperback / softback, published 15 February 2025

318 pages, 19 b&w halftones, 12 maps - 12 Maps - 19 Halftones, black and white
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.907 kg

Subijanto's book sheds new light on the extent of left-wing organizing, not only against Dutch colonialism but also against restrictive customs and traditional forms of exploitation.

Communication against Capital explores the revolutionary communication strategies of the pergerakan merah, the anticolonial "red movement" in 1920s Indonesia. Rianne Subijanto tells the story of ordinary lower-class women and children and people of diverse races and ethnicities who waged their battles against Dutch colonialism within multiple arenas of communication, including political associations, assemblies, printed matter, schools, and shipping lines. Existing communication technologies were repurposed into mechanisms of struggle and used as weapons in anticolonial and anticapitalist resistance. In this process, communist ideas merged with ideals drawn from the Enlightenment to shape the emancipatory spirit of Indonesians. This red enlightenment motivated the production of revolutionary communication strategies of mobilization.

The Pergerakan Merah as an Event of Communication
Means of Colonialism as Means of Struggle
Red Enlightenment in the Roarin' Twenties
Geography of Resistance
Openbare Vergaderingen and Cultures of Resistance
"The War of Pens and Words"
In the Name of Public Peace and Order
The Other Labor of Clandestine Sailors
The Enlightenment Project is Necessary and Unending