Keresahan yang mendasar dari perjalanan sejarah Surakarta kontemporer adalah nasib yang kontras di antara dua kota tradisional Jawa. Selama masa revolusi, Surakarta mengalami nasib yang kurang beruntung dibandingkan kota “saingan”nya Yogyakarta. Nasib Surakarta ditentukan oleh gelombang revolusi sosial yang mengalir bagaikan air bah yang mampu menghancurkan pilar-pilar kraton. Revolusi sosial di Surakarta berkembang dalam bentuk-bentuk yang kejam dan dijalankan dengan cara-cara kekerasan dan kriminal. Kekerasan dan kriminalitas merupakan fenomena yang menarik dalam perjalanan revolusi sosial di Surakarta. Apabila sampai di sini, muncul pertanyaan: mengapa masyarakat Surakarta menghayati revolusi dengan cara-cara kekerasan dan tindak-tindak kriminal? Bagaimanakah kondisi sosial, ekonomi dan politik sebelum dan menjelang revolusi di Surakarta? Bagaimanakah bentuk-bentuk kekerasan yang muncul di Surakarta selama periode revolusi ? Bagaimana pula bentuk-bentuk kriminalitas yang muncul di Surakarta selama revolusi? Sipakakah yang melaku kan kekerasan dan siapa pula yang melakukan kejahatan? Sejauh manakah pengaru h kelompok-kelompok bersenjata dan polarisasi di antara idiologi politik di Surakarta dalam aksi-aksi yang mengarah pada tindak kriminalitas dan kekerasan ? Penelitian ini merupakan hasil kajian sejarah, sehingga menggunakan metode dan metodologi sejarah. Metode sejarah merupakan pedoman seorang sejarawan dalam mem buru dokumen-dokumen sejarah. Dalam pemburuan tersebut banyak ditemui kendala dan kesulitan-kesulitan, seperti sulitnya mencari informan untuk wawancara maupun lamanya waktu yang harus dijalani dalam penelitian di Mangkunegaran. Tempat tinggal para informan yang terletak di lereng gunung merupakan tantangan tersendiri yang penulis hadapi. Penghayatan masyarakat Surakarta selama masa revolusi yang penu h kekerasan dan kriminalitas didasarkan pada tiga patokan, yaitu: eksploitasi pada masa Hindia Belanda, penindasan pada masa Jepang dan kekacauan pada masa awal revolusi. Ketiga patokan tersebut menghasilkan kekecewaan yang terus tertanam dalam ingatan kolektif masyarakat Surakarta. Oleh karena itu, pada saat genderang kebebasan mulai ditabuh dan kontrol pemerintah Jepang mulai mengendur maka nilai-nilai yang selama ini membelenggu masyarakat Surakarta mulai dijungkirbalikkan. Masyarakat Surakarta bertindak apa saja dengan membangkang segala aturan-aturan yang pernah ada dengan cara-cara kekerasan dan bahkan kriminalitas. Kraton Surakarta beserta "antek-antek"nya menjadi sasaran kekerasan yang dilakukan oleh para pejuang maupun masyarakat. Mereka menginginkan hilangnya swapraja Surakarta sebagai simbol feodalisme dan kekuatan lama. Gerakan antiswapraja yang merupakan bentuk revolusi sosial tersebut semakin radikal ketika kekuatan politik memanfaatkan gerakan tersebut untuk kepentingannya. Oleh karena itu, di beberapa daerah di Surakarta terjadi aksi-aksi kekerasan, seperti penculikan, pembunuhan maupun pembakaran terhadap golongan-golongan yang dekat dengan kraton dan Belanda. Kekerasan terjadi pula di antara kekuatan politik maupun badan-badan perjuangan yang d i n g berkompetisi dan berkonflik demi mewujudkan tujuannya. Revolusi sosial yang penuh dengan kekerasan tersebut dimanfaatkan oleh kaum kriminal untuk kepentingan pribadinya. Para bajingan membonceng kekuatan revolusioner dengan melakukan tindak-tindak kejahatan, seperti penggedorun, pengkoyokan, dan penggrayakan. Tindak-tindak kejahatan tersebut dilakukan sebagai bagian dari revolusi sosial. Dengan demikian, maka kekerasan dan kriminalitas di Surakarta pada masa revolusi tidak bisa dilepaskan dari revolusi sosial.

The essensial restlessness appeared in contemporary history of Surakarta was the contrast in fate bet ween the two traditional javanese cities. During the period of revolution, Surakarta had faced the less lucky fate than its "competitor" city Yogyakarta had. The destiny of Surakarta was determined by the wave of social revolution which flowed like a humable flood and was able to destroy the pillars of the palace. The social revolution in Surakarta grew in brutal forms and was carried out by means of violence and crime. Violence and criminality were the two onteresting phenomena during social revollution in Surakarta. At this points, several questions rose up: Why did the society of Surakana comprehend the revolution fully by means of violence and criminal actions? How were the social, economical, and political conditions in Surakarta before and at the time when the revolution was about to begin? What were the forms of violence that appeared in Surakarta during the period of revolution? What were the forms of criminality that appeared in Surakarta during the period of revolution? Who did the violence and who did the crime? How deep was the influence of the armed groups and the polarization between different political ideologies in Surakarta to such actions that tended to be a crime? This paper is a result of a historical study, that is whJ- it used the methos and methodology of history. The methods of history are the guidance for a historian in his atempts to search for historical documents. In that searching, he may face a lot of constraints and difficulties; the difficulty in looking for the right informants and the long period of research at Mangkunegaran were two examples of those that the writer experienced. The informants' place of living at the slope of the mountain was such a big challenge for the writer. The society of Surakarta's ways of lilving during the period of revolution were based on three points of matters: exploitation during the era of East Indies, suppression during the short period of Japanese occupation, and the riot at the beginning of revolutior,. Those three points resulted in disappointment which had continually grown in the society of Surakarta's collective memory. That was why, when the gong of freedom was struck and the control from Japanese occupational government was weakened, the values which had tied the society of Surakarta all the time before began to be flipped over. The society of Surakarta did whatever they wanted to do and disobeyed all the rules ever being ultimate before. The palace family and its "inner circle" became the target of violence conducted by the strugglers as WWU as the society. They wanted to wipe away the Surakarta autonomous region as the symbol of feodalism and old forces. The "anti autonomous region" movement which was a form of social revolution became more radical as the political forces took advantage on that movemefit for the sake of their own interests. Those led to violent actions that appeared in some regions in Surakarta such as kidnapping, murder, and incineration with the groups of people who were close to the palace family and the Dutch as the main targets. Violence also took place among the political forces as well as the groups of strugglers who competed and had conflict among others in their efforts to reach their aims. The full of violence social revolution was then used by the criminals for their personal interests. The bandits got a free ride with the revolutionary forces by doing criminal actions, such as soundtrashing, loothing, and attacking. Therefore, violence and criminality in Surakarta during tha period of revolution could not be separated with the social revolution.

Kata Kunci : Sejarah Indonesia,Karesidenan Surakarta,Kriminalitas 1945,1950, Violence, Criminality, Revolution, and Surakarta