Soetitah

Soetitah (born circa 1890, date of death unknown) was a Sarekat Islam and Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) propagandist, activist, and schoolteacher in Semarang, Dutch East Indies in the 1910s and 1920s. She was a close ally of Semaun, Tan Malaka, and other Semarang communists of the time and was chair of the women's section of the party in the early 1920s.

Biography Soetitah was born in Semarang, Central Java, Dutch East Indies in around 1890. The Semarang branch of the was far more leftist than most of that organization. She was president of the women's section of that branch by 1920, with one of her close allies Moenasiah, a Warung operator from Semarang, as vice-president. Sarekat Islam youth group in Semarang holding a hammer-and-sickle flag, 1922. Tan Malaka stands in the middle as a teacher. Tan Malaka, a prominent Indonesian communist at the time, supported the expansion of independent leftist schools and for the creation of women's factions in the communist movement. After Tan Malaka was exiled from the Indies in the spring of 1922, she spoke up in his defense and stated that the Indies needed a mass organization for native women. In 1923 the Semarang branch of the distanced itself increasingly from the central body of the organization in Batavia (led by H. O. S. Tjokroaminoto and reorganized itself more explicitly as the Indonesian Communist Party; her ally Moenasiah became vice-chair of the women's section of the new party. And later in 1923 when there were mass arrests of Semarang SI/PKI leaders, including Semaun, she spoke out passionately and advocated for a strike of the communist-affiliated tramway personnel. Because of that speech, she and other members of the women's committee (Moenasiah and Napsiah) were also arrested, although they were released after a short time.

However, many members remained in the SI and the Semarang branch continued to exist until around 1924 or 1925, when it renamed itself (people's union), this time with Moenasiah as chair and Soetitah as vice-chair of the women's section. They also held similar roles in the women's section of the Communist Party itself during this period where Aliarcham was the key party leader. The , like the SI, had its own system of independent schools and Soetitah was involved in recruitment and teaching in them.

In late 1926 she was detained in the mass arrests of Communist Party activists and leaders which took place across Java. Relatively few women activists were arrested and exiled there; among these were activists and educators including not only Soetitah and Moenasiah in Semarang but also Soekaesih and Saama, two activists in the women's division of the organization in Batavia.

She was released from her internment in Boven-Digoel in December 1930 along with a large group of 144 detainees. After her release it is unclear where she went or whether she remained politically active.