New Humanity through Cooperative Movements: Mohammad Hatta as a Postcolonial Political Economist

Decolonization happened rapidly in the Global South in the decades following the Second World War. Nation after nation gained their independence. Their nation-building projects require efficacious visions of a new humanity. Colonialism and world wars have shown the bankruptcy of the Western conception of humans (Sylvia Winter, 2003, 2pp. 63ff.). Hence, many thinkers from these newly formed nations seek to find ways to forge new humanity. 

Among them, Franz Fanon is an influential example. While dedicating the later part of his life to supporting the Algerian Independence movement, he formulated his vision of new humanity in his Wretched of the Earth. In that work, Fanon emphasizes the importance of the violence of the independence war to heal the colonized subject's contorted humanity (Franz Fanon, 2004, pp. 17-51). Violence becomes the indispensable baptism that cleanses the sociogenic psychological inferiority complex (Franz Fanon, 2008, pp. 4ff.). While economy (in)justice plays an important role in his thought, violence takes center stage.

In contrast to Fanon, Mohammad Hatta thinks that socio-economic activity through cooperative movements is the key to a new humanity. Like Fanon, Hatta was a postcolonial thinker in the post-World War 2. He was one of the key thinkers in the Indonesian independence movement. His central role was cemented in his role as the first vice president of Indonesia. Like Fanon, Hatta sees the sociogenic contorted humanity in colonized subjects (Mohammad Hatta, 1957, p. 31). The psychological scars of colonialism will not heal by themselves. Nation-building must take into account the haunting inferiority complex. Here, Hatta sees cooperative movement as a perfect solution to forge a new humanity (Mohammad Hatta, 1957, pp. 32-50). He contends that colonized subjects regain their dignity and agency through being active cooperative members. In such cooperatives, humans learn not only mutuality to sustain their community but also individuality to assert their personal worth against oppression. Cooperative also enables natural generations of capital in newly independent nations. This way, they can be genuinely economically independent without relying too much on reparation from colonizers (Mohammad Hatta, 1957, pp. 43ff.; cf. Franz Fanon, 2004, 55-61). Cooperatives also teach members to imagine different economic relationships where cycles of exploitation can be dismantled without violent revolution. Furthermore, cooperatives are effective places to learn and strengthen democratic culture. A devout Muslim, Hatta sees Islamic virtues grow lushly through common life that is fostered by cooperatives (Mohammad Hatta, 1957, pp. 76ff.). Hence, through peacefully building a common socio-economic life, citizens of postcolonial nations can become more fully human.

In dialogue with Jin Y. Park's 2024 AAR Presidential Theme, this paper explores Mohammad Hatta’s non-violent vision of new humanity through cooperative movements. This political economy of Hatta, I argue, provides an efficacious humanizing solution to the violent and dehumanizing contemporary world. Without conceding to the market-centric or state-centric economy, Hatta’s vision opens a third space where economic empowerment also galvanizes the growth of democratic culture, civic virtues, and psychological wholeness. Cooperatives thus become a fountain where a common world of meaning and action can emerge and be sustained (Luke Bretherton, 2019, pp. 34ff.). His underappreciated vision deserves more attention as humans face contemporary crises brought by neoliberalism policies that still run rampant globally.

In this conference paper, I approach interreligiously Hatta’s political economy vision from a Christian perspective with postcolonial agendas. First, I will expound on Hatta’s conception of humanizing cooperative movement in postcolonial Indonesia. Second, I will put Hatta’s political economy in dialogue with Karl Polanyi’s substantivism and W. E. B Du Bois’s economic cooperation to highlight the saliency of Hatta’s vision in the contemporary global economy. Third, I will show the resonances of Hatta’s cooperative vision in addressing contemporary political economy issues.