Some observations on the Samin movement of North-Central Java. Suggestions for the theoretical analysis of the dynamics of rural unrest.

Abstract

In recent years the Samin peasant movement of north-central Java has received a good deal of attention from students of Indonesian colonial history. In particular there is Benda and Castles' article published in this journal in 1969 1 and the series of articles by The Siauw Giap.2 Their work is based mainly on Dutch official reports written before 1930, and together it offers a fairly comprehensive view of the Samin movement. However, since it was not the intention of these authors to attempt a comparative study of peasant movements, but simply to analyse the Samin movement in detail, I felt it would be profitable to present material from other studies of rural unrest in an attempt to place the Samin movement in some sort of theoretical framework. This approach necessitates a multi-causal analysis, bringing into focus a number of factors ? social, economic, political and religious.3 I also offer some additional comments on the Samin movement which may