Pretext

Abstract

This chapter considers whether the army and those who supported its campaign to vilify, imprison, torture, and kill PKI members and other leftists did so on the back of a lie. After weighing the evidence, the chapter reveals that they did so quite deliberately. The chapter lays the foundation for that case in two parts. It opens with an account of the events of October 1 and their aftermath, based on the few historical facts that are not in dispute. It then outlines the various competing accounts of the movement, highlighting the implausibility and inconsistency of the official version, but also looking critically at the alternatives.