Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the brutal repression
of students and workers in Beijing, China. On June 3-4,
1989, the People's Liberation Army used machine guns and
tanks to smash workers' barricades and storm Tiananmen
Square. Few died in Tiananmen itself, but it is estimated
that thousands of workers died as the PLA fought its way
toward central Beijing.
In commemoration of this, I am forwarding to the major lists
a series of posts I wrote in defense of an imprisoned labor
activist in China, Zhang Shanguang. These emails were
posted to the Leninism-International list between December
1998 and February 1999. I will be forwarding one post a day
for the next week. All the posts (together with all
responses--pro and con) can be seen on the web at:
www.Leninism.org/stream/99/zhang/intro.asp
Also, on the same page, is an "instant poll" which, to date,
has received 240 votes. Respondents are in favor of Zhang
by a margin of more than two to one.
Should anyone, on any of these lists, have questions for
me--and want a public response--please place the phrase
"(response requested)" in parentheses in the first line of
your reply. I will make a strong effort to respond to
everyone within thirty days.
Ben Seattle
----------------------------//-// 4.June.99 -----
The principle that "information wants to be free"
fits Leninism like a bullet fits a rifle
------------- www.Leninism.org ------------------
More of my posts to various lists can be
seen at: www.Leninism.org/critical.asp
================================
Zhang Shanguang and the struggle
for information freedom in China
================================
------------------------------------
Originally posted 27.Dec.98 to the
Leninism-International email list
------------------------------------
Today, Sunday December 27, labor activist Zhang Shanguang
goes on trial in Huaihua city in Hunan province in China.
According to the BBC, CNN and Reuters, Zhang was arrested in
August after he tried to create an organization to help
laid-off workers. Details are unclear but news reports
suggest that Zhang may have given information to "Radio Free
Asia" (the propaganda mouthpiece of US imperialism) about
peasant protests directed against the increasing burden of
taxation. Zhang, who spent seven years in prison in the
wake of the repression following the Tiananmen Square
massacre, could be given the death penalty.
The arrest and trial of Zhang Shanguang represents the
interaction of several trends of development. China is in a
period of transition between a highly centralized "command
economy" and a more ordinary "free-market" capitalism. This
transition is deeply affecting not only China's ruling class
but also China's workers and peasants.
China's ruling class has traditionally been concentrated in
the "Communist" Party of China. As the transition to
free-market capitalism takes place, a section of the Chinese
bourgeoisie is beginning to assert its right to operate
independently of the ruling party and set up other parties
which may offer it greater advantages.
China's workers and peasants are affected both positively
and negatively by the transition to free-market capitalism.
On the one hand, there appears to be an immense amount of
economic development taking place in China. The standard of
living of many (or most?) of the Chinese people has, for
example, risen sharply in the last decade or so. And the
industrial infrastructure (ie: power plants, modern
factories, telecommunications and computers) is being
created that will allow for future rapid advances in the
conditions of life. On the other hand, the polarization of
wealth in China is becoming more severe. The number of
unemployed in China is probably around a hundred million and
vast numbers of former peasants form something of a
permanent underclass of migrating workers who go from city
to city desperate for any kind of work. Official corruption
is endemic and the culture in China is beginning to
degenerate along the lines to be found in western bourgeois
societies (ie: "to get rich is glorious", commodity
fetishism, the cult of the individual, etc).
The opposition movements in China are likely both numerous
and varied, although I have little information about them.
The oppositional currents include those which are oriented
along the lines of serving the needs of that section of the
Chinese bourgeoisie which has grown impatient with the
tutelage of the ruling party. These currents are cheered on
and supported by western imperialism (and its mouthpiece
media) which sees them as a vehicle for its future influence
in China. Other oppositional currents in China are oriented
toward serving the needs of sections of workers, peasants or
students who are being disadvantaged or crushed by the
economic "reforms" which serve some while flinging others
into misery and destitution.
================================
The Revolution in Communications
================================
Nearly all of the oppositional movements will benefit from
the revolution in communications which will impact China
over the next several decades. It is currently estimated
that 5 million people in China will have internet access by
the year 2002. (This estimate represents a ten-fold
increase over current estimates--but would still represent
less than half of one percent of China's population.)
Further rapid expansion of internet access in China will
result from the advent of communications devices that are
far smaller, cheaper and easier to use than the present-day
personal computers.
The future development of the communications revolution in
China will help to make it inevitable that the oppositional
movements which are oriented along bourgeois lines will
succeed. The current monopoly of power enjoyed by the
"communist" party will be broken and likely will be replaced
by the rule of bourgeois parties more similar to those in
the west.
But, in the long run, it is the workers and peasants in
China who will benefit most from the revolution in
communications. The political development (and
differentiation along class lines) of the oppositional
movements will be greatly accelerated by the revolution in
communications and this will lead to the development of an
independent movement of the working masses in China--and of
genuinely revolutionary organizations that will learn to
cooperate, sort out issues of decisive importance and, as
the situation matures, act with a single will.
In the meantime, the corrupt "communist" party in China has
no moral authority to arrest, imprison and mistreat anyone
for oppositional political activity. The western
imperialist media has its own reasons for supporting some
activists in China (and ignoring others). All of these
activists should be allowed to carry out their activity
without fear of imprisonment or execution. As genuine
democratic rights in China develop--they will ultimately be
of greater benefit to those activists who are not tied to
western imperialist interests. As the oppositional activity
grows and develops over time--it will become more clear who
does, and who does not, "serve the people".
=========================
The Challenge to Marxists
=========================
Finally, for those who consider themselves to be marxists:
the activity of the Chinese government, in seeking to
suppress all opposition, should strike a nerve. Nothing
more blatantly exposes the bankruptcy and hypocrisy of
"communist" theory--than theories of the "dictatorship of
the proletariat" that seek to justify the persecution of
activists in China today--or the brutal murder of hundreds
of students in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The "dictatorship of the proletariat" is the theory of
workers' rule and, as such, is the center of communist
theory and the pivot of all genuine communist activity
within bourgeois society. Nothing undermines this decisive
concept as much as the bankrupt idea that, under workers'
rule in a modern society, a "Ministry of Truth" will
restrict the ability of workers to view or voice political
opinions of their own chosing.
A real workers' state would not be so afraid of Zhang
Shanguang that it would put him on trial and threaten his
life in order to try to shut him up. If someone like Zhang
Shanguang carried out political activity that _was_ mistaken
or reflected the interests of foreign imperialist powers--a
real workers' state would respond by mobilizing mass opinion
to debate and criticize the mistakes involved. The current
regime in China, on the contrary, is afraid of open debate
and discussion. There is too much dirt and corruption and
naked self-interest in action within the Chinese "communist"
party.
All genuinely progressive people (whether or not they
consider themselves to be marxist) must condemn the trial of
Zhang Shanguang and demand that political activists in China
have the right to put their views before the Chinese people.
The result could not be worse than the present situation in
China--where only a section of the bourgeoisie centered in
the ruling party has the right to circulate its views.
The principle that "information wants to be free to serve
the working class" will eventually triumph in China and
serve the revolutionary movement there--as it will
everyplace else on earth. Until the "communist" movement
recognizes this fundamental truth--it will [be] the
mouthpieces of western imperialism (where more than 99
percent of political news and culture is dominated by
corporate interests) that will pose as the champions as free
information.
===================
Cargo Cult Leninism
===================
Until the communist movement in the countries of bourgeois
democracy breaks with denial on this question--it will be
_harmless_ to bourgeois interests--and _not deserving_ of
the respect and allegiance of millions of workers. The
argument is often made by "Cargo Cult Leninists" that, under
Lenin, the Bolsheviks suppressed their political opponents.
This is, of course, completely true. But this course of
action was taken because the Bolsheviks, at the time, were
extremely weak and had good reasons to be afraid of the
influence of opposing trends on a restive peasant population
that was deeply unhappy and vulnerable to fraud, illusions
and deceit.
But in pretending that the emergency measures necessary in
the time of Lenin would be applicable to workers' rule in a
modern society--our modern cargo cultists show themselves to
be of the same mold as those inhabitants of the South Seas
who, even today, believe they can call forth miraculous
cargo when they invoke the magic phrase "Roger, over and
out" on radios made of bamboo with antennas made of vines.
The simple truth is that the communist movement in the west
has not made up its mind to fulfill its historic
responsibilities. And until the communist movement takes up
the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat in a
_modern_ society in a _realistic_ way--in the light of the
coming revolution in communications--it will never find a
basis for genuine unity--it will never overcome the twin
diseases of reformism and sectarianism--and it will not
deserve to be taken seriously by either the bourgeoisie or
the proletariat.
Ben Seattle
----//-// 27.Dec.98
www.Leninism.org
------------------------------------------------------
Further reading (theoretical isssues discussed above):
------------------------------------------------------
** The "D of P" and the principle
that information wants to be free
in Chapter 8 of "How to Build the
Party of the Future" at:
www.Leninism.org/pof/
** Richard Feynman's famous essay
on "Cargo Cult Science" at:
www.Leninism.org/stream/96/cargo_cult_science.htm
** Real Cargo Cults:
www.altnews.com.au/cargocult/jonfrum/
Jon Frum - an active cargo cult located on the
island of Tanna, Vanuatu, in the South Pacific.
or: www.youmag.com/u2/cc/start.html
--- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
