In 1965, 7 Indonesian generals were killed in an attempted coup, allegedly launched by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). In response, the military launched a bloody counter-coup which saw the killing of thousands of communist sympathisers, and the overthrow of Indonesia's president Sukarno. The involvement of the PKI in the original coup attempt has long been a matter of dispute. This book establishes beyond any doubt that the PKI, acting with President Sukarno's full knowledge and approval, planned and then - dramatically - failed to execute a bold plan to kill the top leadership of the Army and proclaim a new socialist state under President Sukarno's leadership with PKI Chairman Aidit as his proclaimed successor. At the time of the coup, government analysts as well as non-government scholars were of two minds. Some were convinced that the PKI had not been involved, that the coup was the action of mid-level army officers against the top leadership. That was the official line at the time. Others were convinced that the PKI alone had planned and executed the coup in its long-held desire to remove the pro-U.S. army leadership. No one at the time saw the hand of Indonesia's world-famous President Sukarno in the affair. This book is a detailed account of the planning for the coup over a period of several weeks before the actual coup on 30 September 1965. It establishes the central role of the PKI in the planning beyond any doubt.