*Since this article was written 9 years ago, the restoration of Capitalism has been completed in China under the banner of the Chinese Communist Party, the line 24 years ago was that the Tienanmen Square protesters had to be suppressed to stop the restoration of capitalism like in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and many Stalinist groupings still hold fast to that today. But then they think China is still socialist, wrong on both counts.* * * *Cort * * * China's long march to capitalism <http://www.marxist.com/china-long-march-capitalism021006.htm>Parts 1-4 Written by the International Marxist TendencyMonday, 02 October 2006 http://www.marxist.com/china-long-march-capitalism021006.htm
* * *Pictures:* Beijing 4 June 1989 by sixfoureightynine<http://www.flickr.com/photos/6489/sets/72157619199281458/> http://www.flickr.com/photos/6489/sets/72157619199281458/ <http://www.flickr.com/photos/6489/sets/72157619199281458/>China May/June 1989 by cromacom<http://www.flickr.com/photos/croma/sets/72157600003063124/> http://www.flickr.com/photos/croma/sets/72157600003063124/ ----------- 15th anniversary of Tienanmen<http://www.marxist.com/15th-anniversary-tienanmen040604.htm> Written by Rob LyonFriday, 04 June 2004 [image: Print]<http://www.marxist.com/15th-anniversary-tienanmen040604/print.htm>[image: E-mail]<http://www.marxist.com/component/option,com_mailto/link,911b74547d1ee15a03cc15f22cafa22a38c448e5/tmpl,component/> - - - Today marks 15 years since the tragic defeat of the movement of workers and students in Tienanmen Square. To mark this important day we are publishing this latest analysis by Rob Lyon. * * The Tiananmen Square demonstrations began in April 1989 in support of former Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yoabang, who had been ousted from power in 1987 for opposing the harsh punishment of participants in demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in 1986. Hu Yoabang was seen as a party leader who supported greater democracy and freedom for Chinese workers and students. The students were deeply opposed to a campaign initiated by the Communist Party to discredit the former party leader. * The Political Revolution * This was however simply the spark that lit the powder keg of discontent that had been developing in China for some time. The students demonstrations quickly moved from a memorial to demands against corruption, greed, nepotism and arbitrary bureaucratic rule. They were quickly joined by students from around the country. Demonstrations and strikes started up all over the country. The occupation of the square became a focal point and a point of reference for urban workers who were alarmed at rising inflation and corruption. As many as one million workers and students were involved in the occupation of the square. Contrary to Western propaganda, the demonstrations were not simply calls for "democracy", capitalism, or market reforms. Although many student leaders were pro-capitalist, there was a split in the student movement. Students and workers had gathered and sang "the Internationale", in order to show the world that they were in favour of socialism. Just before the Army arrived, using tanks and rifle fire in order to clear the square many ordinary students wanted the leadership removed. They also condemned the student "leaders" for driving the workers away from the square, for rejecting calls by the workers for a General Strike and refusing the offer of arms which came from workers' delegations from the munitions factories. The Tiananmen Square demonstrations were in fact the first groping of the Chinese working class towards the political revolution in China. Workers in Beijing formed the Beijing Autonomous Workers' Federation (BAWF), which had a revolutionary proletarian instinct as to the direction the struggle should take. It is barely reported in the Chinese or Western press even today, that it was this force that was the primary reason why the military intervened so heavy-handedly on June 4th 1989. This organization, which represented the awakening of the Chinese proletariat as well as its independence and revolutionary spirit caused panic and fear amongst the top layers of the bureaucracy, who eventually decided to crush the growing revolt. The BAWF called for workers' control of industry, and urged the soldiers in the Chinese People's Liberation Army to turn their guns on their oppressors. A declaration issued by the organization said that the workers would use all peaceful means including strikes to achieve their goals, and added, "With our blood we will reconstruct the walls of the Paris Commune". The BAWF attained widespread support amongst the population of Beijing, and was the main reason that the Party tops decided to crush the demonstrations. Student participation had dwindled, but the Party feared an insurrection on the part of the workers. BAWF had transformed the character of the student movement in a few weeks and after martial law was declared they were effectively challenging for state power. Attempts were made at a peaceful resolution, but the demands of the students and workers effectively would have meant the end to the absolute control of the bureaucracy. Backward soldiers had to be brought in to Beijing from the provinces to quell the revolt, and yet some 110 officers and 1,400 soldiers refused to fight. The citizens of Beijing were deeply opposed to the entrance of troops into the city and there were clashes between and workers and troops. Roadblocks were erected as the troops made their way to the square. The crushing of the occupation of the square was brutal. It was the workers and members of the BAWF that suffered the most vicious repression, as Deng and the party wanted to teach the workers a lesson and show them who was boss. It is unknown how many people were killed in the assault on the square, estimates range anywhere from 500 to 10,000. * The Party fears Tiananmen * To this day, the Chinese Communist Party fears the memory of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. The protests are still officially labeled as a "counter-revolutionary rebellion". Information on the protests is hard to come by and has been suppressed. The Communist Party has tried in vain to suppress all memory of the events. As the date of the 15th anniversary approached, authorities in China stepped up patrols and added plainclothes officers to monitor the square. No public demonstrations would be allowed, except in Hong Kong, where there is anger the government will not allow elections in 2007. Most of the remaining activists involved in the demonstrations 15 years ago have been removed from their homes or put under house arrest, for fear that they may stir up trouble. Many involved are still serving long jail sentences, and the exact whereabouts of many are unknown. Zhoa Ziyang, former Communist Party chief in 1989 who was purged for his opposition to the crackdown, and who had warned student's of the decision on the part of the government to attack the square, still lives under house arrest. His former aid, Bao Tong, who is still struggling for the rehabilitation of the victims of the repression and those in jail, is still under tight surveillance. The Communist Party fears the memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre as it could once again be the spark that sets off a mass movement. The situation in China today is explosive. Since 1989, the Chinese Communist Party has made large strides towards the restoration of capitalism in China. This has caused widespread social inequality in China, resulting in a massive wave of strikes and demonstrations over the past few years. It was reported that there were 1,500 protests and demonstrations in Sichuan province last year. In 2002, there were some 1,300 demonstrations organized by student groups and the Young Communist League, as well as 2000 student meetings not authorized by campus authorities. Over the past few years there has been a massive rise in worker strikes and demonstrations. This is a result of the shut down and bankruptcy of mainly state run enterprises, which leave the workers with no job transfers or prospects of finding a job, and no severance packages. In February 2004, an estimated 2,000 workers and retired workers from the Tieshu Textile Factory in Suizhou began public demonstrations in their ongoing struggle to recover unpaid benefits and against corruption at the factory. The workers have blocked railroads and there have been several bloody clashes with police. Oil workers have been protesting against the China Petroleum and Chemical companies treatment of them. Taxi drivers in Dazhou (Sichuan) have been staging sit-ins and taken strike action several times upon hearing that their certificates were to be revoked and sold at an auction. In March 1,000 winery workers demonstrated, and blocked railways, against company restructuring and layoffs (more information on workers strikes and labour disputes can be found at China Labour Bulletin<http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/>). Police in Liaoning Province, have claimed that there have been 9,559 strikes and demonstrations involving some 860,000 people between January 2000, and September 2002. Chinese workers have accepted the movement towards capitalism through gritted teeth, but their frustration and anger is beginning to boil over. * The Movement Towards Capitalism * These demonstrations have been the results of the pro-capitalist policies of the government. Peasants and workers in state run farms and industries have been hit hard as state owned industries are sold off, and restructured. There have been millions of lay-offs and sackings as China moves from its state-planned economy and initiates market reforms. It is estimated that there are 150 million unemployed in China. Wages have been slashed and there are next to no rights for workers. The situation is not much better in the private companies, which attract foreign investment due to the low wages they offer foreign imperialism. This past March, the National People's Congress approved constitutional changes designed to "encourage, support and guide the development of non-public economic sectors". The Congress was also asked to approve the Three Represents of former CPC leader Jiang Zemin, which are clearly meant to provide the theoretical justification for the CPC's current moves towards capitalism. The government now talks about the private sector supplementing the state-owned sectors, and talk openly of "market socialism". What this means in reality is that the state-owned industries, still mainly in steel, textiles, and resources, provide cheap goods to the private sector and to foreign companies, who in turn make massive profits on selling these products to the West. The state-owned companies are under-funded, and there is little investment, meaning that many are either shut down, or swallowed up by the growing capitalist enterprises in the country. The Congress was also asked to approve a clause which claims that "citizen's lawful private property will not be violated". This added to a clause which already assures the right to private property and the right to inheritance. The People's Daily has claimed that the non-public economy now contributes to half of China's national economic growth, which has been at about 7% over the past few years. There has been a big shift to allow capitalists and bourgeois elements in the CPC since July 2001. It is now declared that "proprietors of private enterprises are builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics". However, this was simply bringing the party up to date with the real situation. In 1993, 13.1% of "private business people" were CPC members. This had risen to 29.9% in 2003. These wealthy elite are now beginning to take important positions in the party. Two presidents of the Federation of Industry and Commerce, the capitalists' exclusive club, Xu Guanju, and Yin Mingchan, two of the wealthiest people in the country, and owners of some of the wealthiest companies, have become vice-chairpersons of the CPC in their respective provinces. In a one party state, they clearly recognize that in order to further their aims and protect their interests it is best to work in the Party. China launched its stock market in 1991, and since then there has been a move to allow private companies into sectors previously closed to them, such as infrastructure and public utilities. Since the early 1990s, there has been a campaign to transform these state-owned companies into shareholding companies. According to a report in November of last year, China's registered "private entrepreneurs" rose from 238,000 in 1993 to 2.435 million in 2002. The number of workers employed by these rose from 3.7 million to 34.1 million. In January, it was reported that China's private firms had risen to 2.96 million, with assets totalling over 3.35 trillion yuan (US$405 billion). They now contributed 23% of GDP in 2002. It is clear that China's ruling bureaucracy watched the events in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc attentively. A section of the party would like to go down the road of capitalist restoration, but they would like to maintain control, and not go down the road of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc. It is also clear that the developing layer of bureaucrats and capitalists who have enriched themselves off the market reforms and introduction of capitalism into the economy recognize that this is best guaranteed through the Communist Party. There are dangers however. The privatisation and restructuring of China's state-owned companies have destroyed the livelihood of millions of workers. As Fing Nang, deputy director of the Institute of Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one of China's main policy think-tanks said in March: "Marxism is about the elimination of private property. Today, we are going to turn around and recognise private ownership and protect (private property). People feel very emotional about this, 'So what was our revolution about? All that loss of life and sacrifice was about what?' That's why people find it hard to accept that we are protecting private property." In 2002, China was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment, with inflows to the tune of $53 billion. The economy is growing at 7% a year. But this cannot last. Credit accounts for 38% of China's GDP. The US saw China as a massive market where it could dump its products. China's imports have been growing faster than exports, about 40% compared with 30%. They didn't foresee that China itself could become a major exporter. The Chinese currency is directly pegged to the US dollar, and China has found the US and Latin America a market where it can dump its cheap goods. The US now accuses China of exactly this, and has blamed China for the loss of 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs in the US. China has been accused of economic attack. Recently, the US has devalued its dollar in the hopes to boost production and exports, and export unemployment. This is a direct attack of China, in the hopes that Chinese exports to the US will drop in favour of US products. Over the past period there have been a whole series of disputes with the US - over exchange rates, trade deficits, the WTO. The regime in Beijing treats these very seriously, because an economic downturn would cause more job losses and economic ruin for millions, which in turn would cause further unrest. This is why the bureaucracy fears the memory of Tiananmen and any discussion on rehabilitation of the victims and the imprisoned. As workers demonstrations and strikes increase, elements in the CPC would like to wipe out any memory of the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese workers and BAWF. They fear a new revolutionary movement of workers, who could draw upon the experiences and the lessons of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations to further their struggle for genuine socialism. An open discussion on Tiananmen could split the party, because some top leaders who were involved in, or who benefited from the crackdown are still alive or in power, and there are some in the party who would like to see rehabilitation. There are already tensions in the party, as there are those who are profiting from the capitalist reforms who obviously support the move towards capitalism, and those who are opposed and would like to reverse the incursion of capitalism. The direction that the CPC takes in China will de determined by the world economy. As long as capitalism looks good on a world scale, the pro-capitalist elements in the Party will be encouraged and continue with the move towards capitalism. If there is a downturn in the world economy, or a crisis in China itself, the elements in the party in favour of the state-owned industries may carry the day and reverse some of the initiatives towards capitalism. However, and economic crisis in China would unleash powerful social forces. The workers and peasants have allowed the move towards capitalism in the hopes that their lives will improve. If these hopes are lost, they could move quickly in a revolutionary direction, similar to the events at Tienanmen Square in 1989. The Party fears this, and would like to wipe out all memory of the events. For the Chinese working class, they must return to the traditions, and draw the necessary lessons, that will enable them to organize themselves into a revolutionary organization, like the BAWF, which, with a revolutionary leadership can carry through the political revolution in China and make the move towards a genuinely socialist China. A revolution in China would be an inspiration to workers all across Asia and be the spark that leads to revolutionary movements all across the region, which would lead to the establishment of a socialist China as part of a Socialist Federation of Asia. http://www.marxist.com/15th-anniversary-tienanmen040604.htm ------------------------------- >From 10th annniversary analysis by marxist.com *On the character of the occupation of Tiananmen Square 1989* The protests in Tiananmen were primarily focused on demands against corruption, greed, nepotism and arbitrary bureaucratic rule. When students occupied the square, they created a focal point for the urban workers to vent discontent on these issues, which were also their primary concerns. Inflation was rising fast and undermining rises in living standards. Increasing inequality since 1979 was in obvious contradiction to the official adherence to the Communist worldview, and in sharp contrast to the super egalitarianism of the late years under Mao Zedong. All these issues sparked the anger of the street protests and the occupation of the Square. At no stage did the protests generalise anti-Communist slogans or demands. This is not to say that pro-capitalist forces were not present. Official historiography in 1990, presented an image of capitalist corporations like Stone, working in co-operation with right wing members of the Party like Zhao Ziyang, to guide student leaders into foolish acts which risked destabilising China and bringing "Great Chaos', such as we later saw in the USSR. This however is only one side of the story. Leon Trotsky said that revolution is the forcible entry of the masses into governing their own destiny, in this sense Tiananmen was undoubtedly a revolutionary rising, but a half completed, incoherent, disorganised and compromising leadership can shipwreck the greatest of revolutionary opportunities. *The Students* The students in China are a tiny elite section of the urban population, huddled 4-8 to a room in campuses, they have traditionally reflected societal crises before any other section of the population. Many of the student leaders on Tiananmen were pro-capitalist, wrongly believing that Capitalism and democracy are inextricably connected. Most of the famous leaders became openly pro-American after they fled China. During the protests they sought compromise and co-operation with the CCP leadership and had illusions in the ability of the "reform" section of the leadership headed by disgraced leader Zhao Ziyang to bring "democratisation". Zhao Ziyang was removed from office after warning the students of the impending armed suppression of the occupation. However by no means were all the students in favour of "capitalist democracy". On Tiananmen Square in the days before the Army cleared it using tanks and rifle fire, many students wanted the leadership removed. They condemned the student leaders for driving the workers away from the square, for rejecting calls by the workers for a General Strike and offers of arms which came from workers' delegations from the munitions factories. *The First Attempt to Crush the Revolt* On May 20th 1989, when the Army was sent into Beijing to clear the square, the student leaders exposed their utter bankruptcy. It fell to the newly formed Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation to organise barricades of buses, trucks, and cars to block the Army's paths of entry into the city centre. The working masses of Beijing surrounded the Army trucks, and discussed for hours with the soldiers and officers. Through this fraternisation the Soldiers joined the revolt, and the entire apparatus of the CCP leadership was suspended in mid air without a force able to crush the protests. The lower layers of the bureaucracy, office workers, Communist Party members sickened by corruption, police officers, and now the soldiers had joined the revolt. But a revolutionary situation requires clear direction and focus if the initiative is not to be lost and swing back to the rulers. *The Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation* To their great credit the workers' leadership that did emerge, in the form of the Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation (BAWF) had a revolutionary proletarian instinct as to the direction that had to be taken. It is barely reported in the Chinese or Western press even today, that it was this force that was the primary reason why the military to intervened so heavy-handedly on June 4th 1989. The BWAF saw the working class as "the most advanced class" having a "special role" to "correctly" lead the democratic patriotic movement. The Federation's structure had "no leadership posts only a hierarchy of committees and methods of electing and recalling members." "The leadership were not interested in wielding power and were very clear [that] nobody had to be any more powerful than anyone else." The anti-elitism of the workers extended their conception of political enemies to include opposition to Zhao Ziyang and the reform factions of the party who they considered all to be part of one faction the "harm the people faction". They viewed the Deng years as years of the victimisation of the working class. BAWF issued scathing attacks on the economic competence of the Government: "You leaders have made a complete mess of it. You excuse yourselves by claiming that "having no experience in building socialism, we are taking a billion people across the river with us by feeling for rocks step by step.' Well you have made quite a lot of people 'feel for rocks' for quite a few decades already. How much headway have you made? What about those who followed you but did not find the rocks, did they not all drown? You officials are playing with people's lives The decade of reform has no direction and no goals. Where do you plan to lead the billion people? Is there one official who can answer that? You said that "let it be white or black a cat that catches mice is a good cat.' Well, let us ask you something. What if both white and black cats try to catch the same mouse wouldn't there be a fight? This would definitely lead to confusion and conflict, causing deepening rifts. The outcome would be that the official cat gets fatter and fatter and the people's cat gets thinner and thinner. Is this the kind of cure you prescribe for the nation?" (*Chinese Sociology and Anthropology* Fall 1990) The BWAF claimed to have costed the privileges for upper officials "Based on Marx's Capital, the rate of exploitation of workers. We discovered that the "servants of the people' swallow all the surplus value produced by the people's blood." In the view of the BWAF, inflation was caused neither by a, "two tier price system or insufficient scope for free market activity. It is directly due to the fact that China is ruled by incompetent, corrupt and self serving dictators." (*Walder Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs* 1992 no.29 p. 20) BWAF blamed inflation on the corrupt trading practices of officials who through monopolising power over supplies, demanded extortionate prices to fill their own pockets. BWAF demanded price stabilisation, an end to forced sales of treasury bonds to workers, investigations of official incomes and privileges, an end to discrimination against women in hiring practices, and the right to freely change jobs. Their view of democracy proposed that the federation would supervise the Communist Party, and the legal representatives of state and collective enterprises, as well as protect the workers in other firms. One Union activist explained their conception of democracy in terms of worker control of factory regulations and administration. "Rules should be decided upon by everybody." Independent organisation of the workers was to bring an end to one-man rule in the factory and arbitrary decisions in work units. BWAF felt alienated "not only from the political system but to a considerable extent also from the student leaders and intellectuals." The students were criticised for the hierarchy of titles bestowed on their leaders, privileges in allocating tent sizes, and for being like "capitalists" and "stumbling into chaos over money." The union in contrast immediately counted any donations openly declared the sum and its intended use. (Activists quoted Walder p. 26) Whilst allied with the student movement, as a result of being spurned by student activists they became openly critical of the students' methods of struggle, finding student attitudes a hindrance to the workers' cause. Thus when the union advocated a general strike for May 28th the students rebuffed it demanding the union play a supportive rather than leading role in 'their' protest. As a result, "after May 28th we didn't advocate sympathy for the students any more." (Activist quoted in *Walder* ibid. p. 24) Han Dongfang and Li Jinjin two prominent activists in the Beijing workers movement co-authored, "The Joint Declaration [which] was one of the most radical and uncompromising documents of the entire 1989 pro-democracy movement. It called for a special court to be set up to try Li Peng and other 'enemies of the people' within the leadership, and it urged all officials in the Chinese People's Liberation Army to turn their guns on their oppressors. It threatened that the workers would use all peaceful means including strikes to achieve their goals, and added, "With our blood we will reconstruct the walls of the Paris Commune.'" (Black and Monroe *Black Hands of Beijing* p. 369) The political radicalism of the BWAF had widespread support amongst the Beijing population. It "was unprecedented and no doubt greatly alarmed officials who favoured a violent crackdown. The military operation of 4 June, launched despite the rapidly dwindling numbers of students and citizens on the square, was probably motivated in large part by these officials' mortal fears of a workers' insurgency." (*Walder* pp. 27-8) The workers' federation was the subject of the most cruel repression, they were the first on square to be quelled, all those executed were either workers, peasants or unemployed, and incarceration conditions were far worse for workers than for students. Even after the repression in Beijing the revolt continued for some days in Shanghai, China's most important industrial city. The workers barricaded the city for a week after June 4th, returning to work after being warned by the City Government that there would be no food if this continued. Having lost Beijing, the central focus of the revolt, and without a clear strategy as to how to overthrow the ruling bureaucracy, Shanghai returned to normality. The rise of a workers' movement in the Tiananmen protests may be seen as a precedent for future social conflict either in alliance with students and intellectuals or as an independent movement. BWAF had transformed the character of the student movement in a few weeks and after martial law was declared they were effectively challenging for state power. "Throughout vast areas of the city the masses had taken over the governance of Beijing into their own hands. It was the kind of spontaneous urban revolution that Karl Marx had said would inaugurate a communist society. And it was precisely the kind of spontaneous mass movement that had always terrified the rulers of communist states." (Lee Feigon *China Rising* p. 213) *The Course Of World History Could Have Been Different* It is by no means inevitable that such a revolution, if led by the workers, would have had to end in the disaster which befell the USSR. In fact it was precisely because China was at a lower level of development that the Capitalist course had fewer proponents than in the USSR. The benefits of State Ownership of land and the commanding heights of the economy were and are still clear to see. Had the workers' movement taken a lead earlier, armed with the programme of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, the entire course of Chinese and world history since 1989 could have been different. The establishment of genuine Socialism, a democratically controlled economy managed by real Workers' Congresses linked together across China, would have provided a pole of attraction to the workers of the USSR and Eastern Europe. A mass Marxist tendency linked to democratic students and workers' organisations like BWAF could easily have penetrated the ranks of the Communist Party of China. Such a tendency could rapidly have won a majority of the urban masses and even within the CCP, and have led the most glorious of victories for the world working class. 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