Nationalism, islam and marxism

Right up to his death in 1396, al-Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, the brave lion of Pan- Islam, worked unceasingly to sow the seeds of Islam everywhere, to sow the seeds of resistance to Western greed, and to implace the conviction that for successful resistance, Moslems would have to “acquire the technique of Western progress and learn the secrets of European power.”9

Those seeds have been sown! Like a wave growing larger and stronger, like a wave surging higher and higher, the armies of Pan-Islam have together risen up throughout the Islamic world, and are on the move from Turkey and Egypt to Morocco, the Congo, Persia and Afghanistan… flooding into India and on to Indonesia. . . the wave of Pan-Islam is surging forward everywhere!

So it is that some of our Indonesian people, conscious of their tragic lot, have taken shelter under the green flag, turning their faces towards Mecca and reciting: La haula wala kauwatci i/la Billah?°

At first this movement proceeded slowly, and the path it was to take was not clear; but with time the direction became clearer and more definite, and connections with Islamic movements  in other countries increased. More and more the movement took on an international character; increasingly it based itself on religious law. Hence we should not be surprised that an American professor, Ralston Hayden, wrote that the Sarekat Islam movement “will greatly influence future political events not only in Indonesia, but throughout the Eastern world!”2’ By this statement, Ralston Hayden indicated his conviction as to the international character of Sarekat Islam; he also showed clear insight into events which had not yet occurred when he wrote. Has not the prospect that he pointed to already come to pass? The Islamic movement in Indonesia has already become a branch of the Mu’tamar-i ‘Alam-i Islanii (World Islamic Congress) in Mecca;~ the Indonesian Islamic movement has already plunged into the sea of the Asian Islamic struggle. It has been the increasing emphasis on religion within the Islamic movement that has caused Marxists to be reluctant to align themselves with it. At the same time, the growing prominence of the international aspect of the Islamic movement is regarded by old-fashioned Nationalists as a deviation. Almost all Nationalists, whether “old-fashioned” or “modern,”

evolutionary or revolutionary, share the conviction that religion should not be involved in politics. On the other hand, “fanatical” Moslems scorn the nationalist politique of the Nationalists and despise the economic politique of the Marxists. They regard a nationalist

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~ The translation of this quotation is drawn directly from the original phrase in Stoddard, The New World of Islam (New York; Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921), p. 6& Though Sukamo does not mention Stoddard’s name, large parts of this section on Islam are-based on his book. The incorrect date given by Sukarno for alAfghani’s death, for example, simply reproduces Stoddard’s original error (p. 64).

20These phrases mean; “There is no one greater than Allah”; arid “For no other, only for the sake of Allah.”

‘~ The reference is to Joseph Ralston Hayden, Vice CovemorGeneral of the Philippines from 1933-1935, and author of the classic The Philippines (New York: Macmillan, 1942). “ This decision was taken at the Extraordinary Islamic Conference sponsored by the Sarekat Islam, which Look place in Surabaja in December 1924.

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politique as narrow and an economic poiitique as crudely materialist in short, one finds an almost “perfect” conflict of viewpoints. Nationalists and Marxists both blame Islam for the downfall of the Moslem nations, their present backwardness and the fact that most of them are under Western domination. But they are confused! It is not Islam, but rather its adherents who have been at fault. Seen from a nationalist and socialist perspective, it would be hard to find a civilization comparable in greatness to that of the early Islamic world. The downfall of national greatness, the downfall of Islamic socialism was not brought about by Islam itself, but by the moral downfall of its leaders. Once Amir Mu’awiya insisted on a worldly, dynastic basis for the Caliphate, once the “Caliphs became Kings,” the true nature of Islam was suppressed.23 As Umar Said Tjokroaminoto once said, “It is Amir Muawiya who must bear the responsibility for the corruption of the true nature of Islam, which was clearly socialist in character.”~’ Furthermore, from the national point of view, is it not true that Islam offers examples of greatness which continue to astound the student of world history and culture?

The downfall of Islam was the result of the moral downfall of its leaders. The West seized the Moslem nations because of the Moslems’ own weakened faith in Cod, and also because the laws of evolution and the social system made Western depredation a historiscire otwendigkeit, a historical necessity. On the other hand, it was their deep faith in God that gave the Riffs the fortitude to resist the cannons of Spanish and French imperialism!’5

True Islam contains no anti-nationalist principles; true Islam is not anti-socialist in character. So long as Moslems remain hostile to the ideas of broad-minded Nationalism and genuine Marxism, they will never stand on the Sirothol Mustaqim’~ and they will never be able to lift Islam from its present state of humiliation and decay. I am certainly not saying that Islam accepts Materialism; nor do I forget that Islam transcends national boundaries and is supra- national in character. I am only stating that true Islam is socialist in nature and imposes obligations which are nationalist obligations as well.

Is it not the case, as I have already explained, that true Islam requires all its adherents to love and to work for the country in which they reside, to love and to work for the people among whom they live, so long as that country and its people are part of the Dar al-Islam? Everywhere he went al-Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani preached nationalism and patriotism —which were denounced as “fanaticism” by his enemies. Everywhere he went this champion of Pan-Islam preached self-respect, preached a sense of pride, preached national honor—which were all instantly labeled “chauvinism.” Everywhere, especially in Egypt, al- ‘~ Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (602?-ooO) was Governor of Syria under the Caliph Othman. After Othman’s murder, he refused to recognize the full authority of the Caliph Ali and, with the backing of well-trained Syrian troops, became Caliph himself in 660. Realizing that after years of internecine quarrels among the Prophet’s surviving comrades, the political unity of the Moslem community could only be assured by military means and hereditary rule, he exacted a general oath of allegiance to his son Yazid during his own lifetime to ensure a smooth succession after his death. Although the hereditary principle was an offense to many Moslems of the time, Mu’awiya was able to establish securely the foundations of what became the Omayad dynasty. 
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‘~ Raden Mn Hadji Umar Said Tjokroaminoto (1882-1934) was the dominant figure in the Sarekat islam from 1912 onwards, and was perhaps the first nationalist leader to develop a mass popular backing.

Sukarno boarded at Tjokroaminoto’s house from 1915 to 1921 while at secondary school in Surabaja, and the older man became both his political mentor, and, for a short while, his father-in-law. ~ Sukarno here refers to the great uprising of the Berbers in the Ru Mountains tinder the leadership of Mohammed Abd-al-Karim al-Khattabi (1881-1963), otherwise known as Abd-el-Krim. This uprising in Northeastern Morocco lasted from 1919 to 1926 and required the cooperation of large French and Spanish armies for its final suppression.

~ This is the bridge to Heaven in Islamic belief. This passage is drawn from Stoddard,New World of Islam p. 64.

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Sayyid Jamal al-Din sowed the seeds of nationalism. It was he who became “the father of every shade of Egyptian nationalism. A1-Sayyid Jamal al-Din was not the only one to sow the seeds of nationalism and love of country. Arabi Pasha~ ,Mustafa Kamil, Muhammad Farid Bey,’~ All Pasha, Al-imed Bey Agayeff/° Mohanied Ali and Shaukat Ali were all great Moslem leaders who taught love of country: all were propagandists of nationalism in their respective countries! May these leaders serve as examples for those Moslems amongst us who are “fanatical,” and narrow-minded, and who refuse to recognize their obligation to align themselves with the nationalist movement. Let these Moslems remember that their anti-infidel movement will certainly give rise to a feeling of nationalism, since the groups they call infidel are mostly people from foreign countries, not people from Indonesia! An Islam which opposes a genuine national movement is no true Islam; this type of Islam is an “old-fashioned” Islam which does not understand the trend of the times. Thus I am convinced that we can bring Moslems and Marxists together, although basically the two groups differ widely in their principles.

My heart is sad when I remember the dark and gloomy atmosphere in Indonesia some years ago, when I was witness to a fratricidal struggle, when I was witness to the outbreak of bitter hostilities between Marxists and Moslems, when I was witness to the division of our movement’s forces into two warring factions. It is this struggle which fills the darkest pages of our history. It was this fratricidal struggle that dissipated all the force of our movement, which should otherwise have grown stronger and stronger. It was this struggle which set back our movement several decades.

Alas! How strong our movement would now be if this struggle had not occurred! Our ranks would surely not be in their present disarray. Our movement would surely have made progress in spite of all obstructions. I am convinced that there is no fundamental barrier to friendship between Moslems and Marxists. I have already explained that true Islam has a socialist quality. Even though this socialist quality is not necessarily Marxist in orientation, even though we know that Islamic socialism does not have the same foundation as Marxism, since Islamic socialism is based on spirituality whereas Marxist socialism is based on Materialism—nonetheless, for our purposes it is enough to show that true Islam is essentially socialistic. 
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27 translation is taken from the original in Stoddard, New World of Islam, p. 176. 
25 Arabi Pasha—more exactly Ahmad Drabi Pasha (1839-1911)—–was the first notable leader of modern Egyptian nationalism. Strongly anti-Turkish and anti-European in orientation, he led a quasi-coup against the Tewfik in 1881, and as a result was appointed Minisler of War in 1882. Later that year he was overthrown by the British at the battle of Tall-al-Kabir, and exiled to Ceylon. 
29 Mustafa Kamil l’asha (1874-1908) was a European-trained lawyer who founded the first Egyptian nationalist party (the National Party) in 1907. Starting out as a Panislamicist, he later veered towards Egyptian nationalism, to which lie gave a generally anti-British and pro-French cast. Muhammad Farid (1868-1919) was Mustafa Kamil’s successor as leader of the National Party, and generally look a more radical stance than his predecessor both on relations with the British and on social questions. The title ‘Bey,’ conferred on him by Sukamo, appears first in Stoddard, New World of Islam, p. 180.

3° All Pasha (1815-1871) was a prominent Turkish reformist statesman of the middle nineteenth century . He was largely responsible for the liberal rescript of 1856, guaranteeing equal rights for all persons within the Ottoman Empire. (Cf. Stoddard, New World of Islam, p. 65.) The otherwise obscure Abmed Bey Agayeff is descnbed by Stoddard as a Volga Tatar, whose organ Turk Yurdu (Turkish Home) was an important source of Panluranian propaganda in the last years before the First World War. The Pan-Turanian movement envisioned a Turanian (Turko-Tatar) world stretching from Finland to Manchuria, but its main targets were the Ottomans of Turkey, the Tatars of Russia and the Turkmans of Persia and Central Asia. 
(Cf. Stoddard, New World f Islam, pp. 196-197.)

31 Sukamo refers to the deep hostility between the Communists and Moslems in the Sarekat Islam, which eventually broke tip that organization from within.

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Moslems must not forget that the Marxist materialist view of history has often served to guide them in confronting the difficult and complicated economic and political problems of the world. They must also not forget that the Historical-Materialist method for explaining events which have already occurred here on this earth is also a method for predicting events that are to come—and thus may be very useful to their group.

Moslems must never forget that capitalism, the enemy of Marxism, is also the enemy of Islam, since what is called surplus value in Marxist doctrine is essentially the same as usury from the Islamic viewpoint. Theoretically, surplus value is the appropriation of the product of another’s labor and denying the workers theft proper share of the value they produce. This theory of surplus value was formulated by Karl Marx and Priedrich Engels to explain the origins of capitalism. Surplus value is the inner essence of every capitalist system; by combating surplus value, Marxists combat the very roots of capitalism. The true Moslem accordingly comprehends immediately that it is wrong for him to be hostile towards Marxism, which combats the system of surplus value, since he does not forget that true Islam combats this system too, that true Islam strictly prohibits usury and the collection of interest. He understands that usury is basically no different from what the Marxists  view as surplus value.

“Devour not usury, doubled and redoubled, and fear you Cod; haply so you will prosper.” So it is written in the Koran, sunrh Al ‘Imran verse 129.32 A broad-minded Moslem, a Moslem who understands the requirements of our struggle, will certainly agree to an alliance with the Marxists, since he is aware that usury and the collection of interest are forbidden by his religion. He is aware that this is the Moslem way of attacking the very foundations of capitalism, for, as we have previously explained, usury is the same as surplus value, the inner essence of capitalism. He is aware that, like Marxism, Jslam, with its “belief in God,” with its “recognition of the Kingdom of Cod,” is a protest against the evils of capitalism.

The “fanatical”  Moslem, who is hostile to the Marxist movement, is a Moslem who does riot

know what his own religion forbids. Such a Moslem does not understand that true Islam, like Marxism, forbids the capitalistic hoarding of money, forbids the accumulation of wealth for selfish ends. He forgets the verse in the Koran: “Those who treasure up gold and silver, and do not expend them in the way of Cod,—give them the good tidings of a painful chastisement!”~ 3 He Idoes not] understand that, like the Marxism he opposes, Islam hereby attacks the existence of capitalism in the clearest possible terms!

There are many other obligations and tenets of Islam which are identical with the aims and purposes of Marxism. Doesn’t the Islamic obligation to pay tithes, an obligation on the rich to share their wealth with the poor, essentially correspond to the sharing of wealth required by Marxism —of course, to be carried out in the Marxist fashion? Doesn’t Islam share the principle of “liberty, equality and fraternity” with the Marxism that many Moslems oppose? Hasn’t true Islam already led “all mankind to the fields of liberty, equality and fraternity”? Didn’t the Prophet of Islam himself teach equality with the words: “1 am only a mortal, the like of you; it is revealed to me that your God is One God “~ Isn’t it fraternity which is commanded by verse 13 of the surah Al-Hudjarat, which reads: “0 mankind, We have created you male and female, and appointed you races and tribes, that you may know one another.”~ Isn’t it true that fraternity________________ 

 

 

  

32 Arberry’s version, this is verse 125. His translations have been used throughout. See A. J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (New York: Macmillan, 1955), pp. 89-90.

“Koran, surah on ‘Repentance,’ verse 34 (Arberry, The Koraii, p. 211).

34Koran surah on ~The Cave,’ verse 110 (Arberrv, The Koran, p. 328).

35Koran, surah on ‘Apartments,’ verse 13 (Arberry, The Koran, p. 232).

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should not remain merely “fraternity in theory ? “ and that this is acknowledged by non- Moslems too? Isn’t it a pity that some Moslems are hostile to a movement whose principles are also “liberty, equality and fraternity”? I hope that those moslems who refuse to ally themself with the marxist will remember  that their movement, like the Marxist movement, is an echo or a reverberation of the agony of the Indonesian people, whose lives are becoming harder and harder, whose existence is growing ever more bitter. They should remember that there is wide congruence in the ideals and great similarity in the demands of their movement and that of the Marxists. They should follow the example of the envoy of the Islamic Kingdom of Afghanistan, who, when asked his views by a Marxist newspaper1 replied that though he himself was not a Marxist, he admitted to being a “true friend” of the Marxists, since he was a bitter enemy of European capitalism.

What a pity it will be if the Islamic movement in Indonesia remains hostile towards the Marxist movement. We have never had movements in Indonesia which have been such genu-inely people’s movements as the Islamic and Marxist movements! We have never had movements which have shaken the people to their marrow as these two movements have done.

How tremendous it would be if these two movements, which have become an essential part of the people’s everyday existence, could flow together to form one mighty torrent! Happy are those Moslems who have seen the light and who are willing to unite! Happy are they, for they are truly carrying out the commandments of their religion!

As for those Moslems who refuse to unite and who believe that their attitude is right, alas, I only hope they can justify it before God!

MARXISM

At the sound of this word, I see in my mind’s eye throngs of suffering people from every nation and country, with wan faces and thin bodies, clothed in rags; I see before me the defender and champion of these suffering masses, a philosopher whose steadfast heart and consciousness of his inner strength “remind me of the invincible, superhuman heroes of ancient p. German legend,” a “colossal” figure who is rightly called the “Grand Master” of the labor movement: Heinrich Karl Marx. From his earliest youth until the day of his death, this extraordinary man never ceased to defend the poor, to show them the reasons for their misery, and to prove to them that victory would certainly be theirs in the end. Never downhearted, never tired, he labored in their defense: he was sitting in a chair in front of his desk, when he drew his last breath in 1883. It is as if I can hear his voice resounding like thunder around the world, as he made his appeal in 1847: “Workingmen of all countries, unite!” And indeed, history offers no example of a man whose ideas have so rapidly commanded the acceptance of a social group as have the views of this champion of the laboring masses. From tens to hundreds, from hundreds to thousands, from thousands to ten thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to millions: so his followers have increased! For although his theories are “difficult” for clever intellectuals, “he can easily be understood by the wretched and oppressed, by the poor whose thoughts are full of their misery.”

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Cf. Stoddard, New World of Islam, p. 340: “For example, the head of the Afghan mission to Moscow thus frankly expressed his reasons for friendship with Soviet Russia, in an interview printed by the official Soviet organ, Izvestia: ‘I am neither Communist nor Socialist, but my political programme so far is the expulsion of the English from Asia. I am an irreconcilable enemy of European capitalism in Asia, the chief representatives of which are the English. On this point I coincide with the Communists and in thi5 respect we are your natural allies

 
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Unlike the other socialists, who believed that their ideals could be realized through friendship between workers and employers, unlike, for example, Ferdinand Lassalle whose cry was a cry of peace,37 Karl Marx in his writings never once touched on the subject of love or friendship; rather he set forth a concept of struggle between groups, a concept of class struggle. He taught that the liberation of the workers would only come about through relentless struggle against the bourgeoisie, a struggle made inevitable by the very existence of the capitalist order.

Although my readers surely all know a little of Marx’s teachings, it may be useful to remind them here of some of his achievements as a philosopher: he undertook a study of the process of thought based on materialism (Dialectical Materialism); he put forward the theory that the value of commodities is determined by the quantity of work required to produce them, in other words that work is the werthildende Substanz, the value-creating substance of commodities (the labor theory of value); he developed the idea that the value created by the workers in the production of commodities is greater than what they receive in the form of wages (surplus value); he carried out a study of history based on materialism, teaching that “it is not consciousness which determines objective conditions; on the contrary, objective conditions with regard to social relations determine consciousness” (the materialist conception of history); he expounded the theory that because surplus value is transformed into capital, over time the concentration of capital becomes greater and greater (accumulation of capital) as small capital holdings are consolidated into larger units (centralization of capital). Because of competition, small enterprises are squeezed out by larger enterprises until ultimately only a few giant enterprises are left (concentration of capital); and he argued that under the capitalist order the lot of the workers becomes increasingly miserable, while their hatred for this order becomes increasingly violent (the theory of increasing misery). These are his main theoretical achievements; lack of space prevents me from giving any fuller explanation to readers not yet familiar with them.

Although his enemies, among them the anarchists, deny these achievements of Marx; although as early as 1825, Adolphe Blanqu38 used the historical materialist method in stating that history “determines events,” while economics “explains the causes of events”; although the theory of surplus value had originated earlier with such thinkers as Sismondi, Thompson and others;39 although his theory of capital concentration and the labor theory of value contain elements which cannot be defended against the criticisms of his opponents, who indefatigably search for weaknesses; despite all this, it is unquestionable that the system of Karl Marx has no little significance in its general outline, and is of vast importance in some of its specific features. It is also unquestionable that although these theories originated in part with earlier thinkers, it was Marx who, despite the fact that his language is difficult and obscure to the upper class, elucidated these theories with great clarity, so that they can easily be grasped by the ‘wretched and oppressed” and their champions. Such people immediately comprehend his theory of surplus value without any difficulty—indeed they see it as a self-evident truth. They know very well that their employers get rich quickly because they do not turn over to them the whole

product of their labor. They immediately understand that economic conditions and structures are the factors that determine a man’s character, his intelligence, his religious beliefs, etc. They

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37 Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1864) was the main architect of the Cerman labor movement after 1848 and one of the founders of the German Social Democratic Party. His tactical support of Bismarck against the German liberals aroused the hostility of many on the left. He was a major antagonist of Marx.

38 Jerome Adolphe Blanqui (1798-1854) was a French economist whose History of Political Economy in Europe was the first major study of the history of economic thought.