PERKEMBANGAN INDUSTRI PABRIK GULA LESTARI DI NGANJUK PADA TAHUN 1910-1929

Abstract

The period of growth of the sugar industry in Indonesia cannot be separated from the influence of Dutch colonialism. The benefits brought by the sugar commodity have led to the proliferation of sugar factories established by private capital, one of which is the Lestari Sugar Factory which was established in 1910. The focus of the objectives in this study are: 1) To analyze the background of the establishment of the Lestari Sugar Factory; (2) To analyze the development of the Lestari Sugar Factory from 1910 to 1929. This study uses four stages of the historical research method, namely heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The data in this study were obtained from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were obtained from archives such as Jaarboek voor Suikerfabriekanten in Nederlandsch-Indië, De Indische courant, De Indische mercuur, and others. While secondary sources are obtained from books, journal articles, or theses that have relevance to this research. The results showed that at the beginning of the establishment of the Lestari Sugar Factory there were several conflicts with several sugar factories owned by Chinese entrepreneurs. Lestari Sugar Factory took several actions to overcome these problems, both from the legal and illegal channels. The development of the Lestari Sugar Factory since the establishment of the factory in 1910 has experienced a fairly stable increase in sugar production. The stability of production results cannot be separated from the use of quite advanced machines and the cooperative relationship with the POJ (Proefstation Oost-Java) research center. The malaise crisis that hit the world in 1929 had a big impact on PG Lestari. The factory, which at that time was experiencing the peak of increasing production, had to close and stop planting.
Keywords: Sugar Factory, Colonialism, The Great Depression.