Volume 3, No. 5, May 2002

Once this prophecy was proclaimed by the great leader of the international proletariat concerning the peasants of China. He had gone to Hunan to take stock of the classes and investigate the peasant movement in the countryside in 1927. His prophecy came true and a mighty revolution swept China putting the working class in command of state power. Once in control of state power, the working class transformed the whole of China from a poor, backward and wretched country to a heaven for the working people and a formidable bastion for the world revolution.

With the capitalists reactionaries again capturing state power in a coup after the death of Mao Tse-tung in 1976, the exploitation and oppression of the working class and the peasantry reemerged. China was once again pushed into a vast land of poverty, unemployment and disease. Corruption of the state officials and bureaucrats returned back. The lust for profit replaced the concern for the masses and all evils connected with capitalism and imperialism started flourishing.

It is 25 years now since the capitalists usurped state power. The policies that put the drive for profit in the lead have resulted in mass scale dislocation and unemployment among a vast majority of peasants and workers. The reactionary state power in China has resorted to widespread repression of the working people and general masses to keep them under control.

As Mao has said, "oppression leads to resistance", the class scene in China depicts an open struggle between antagonistic class interests. Mao had also predicted that China would turn into a fascist dictatorship if capitalist roaders return to power. After the revisionists captured power, the Chinese State has become one. Very little of information from it comes out to the world as it has the worst kind of censorship imposed. Yet some reports filter through official and unofficial sources which indicate that unrest in China is developing into open confrontations between the people and the state forces. The reports we have here are almost non-dated and span a long period. This again indicates that the control of the revisionists on the state and the party has led to the establishment of a tightly controlled and highly oppressive system. So the news can be called "from China without dateline".

In future, whenever we come across inspiring news of resistance being put up by the brave people of China, we will let you know of it. We don’t know yet when the prophecy of Mao Tse-tung concerning the "hurricane" will come true for the second time, yet we know the underlying truth in this prophecy is again beginning to shape up. This is heartening and welcome. "If the revisionists ever usurped state power in China they would know no peace" he had told the world.

And, how are the resistance and struggles of the working class and the peasantry in China disturbing the peace of the revisionists? Let us have a look.

Revolts in revisionist China have made a mark in history. That was put in 1989 in the Tiananmen Square when tens of thousands of students from across the country occupied it for weeks together and challenged the rulers. That rebellion was supported by millions of Chinese people who had come on to the streets to block the path of the Chinese army that were brought in to clear off the rebellious students. Here we will not go much into that revolt as much has been written and covered on it. Two things came out starkly in that rebellion. Firstly, the students challenged the new rulers on accounts of corruption and demanded that the democratic rights to assemble and protest be recognised. Secondly, it exposed the fascist character of the revisionist state which resorted to wide spread repression and killings in spite of the fact that many segments of the army had refused to open fire on the protesting students. New armies were brought at the direct intervention of Deng Xiaoping to carry out the crackdown.

Tiananmen marked the doggedness of the revisionist rulers when they replaced Hu Yao-bang, the then secretary of the Dengist CPC, with Jiang Zemin. Hu Yao-bang was accused of being "soft" towards the protesters as he had conducted negotiations with the students and wanted to give more open play to the bourgeois political forces outside of the party. Deng and Zemin were for crushing all opposition to the controlled process of bourgeoisification of the party and society. But, nevertheless, there were no differences between them and Hu about the restoration of capitalism. Capitalism had caused the Tiananmen

upsurge and capitalism is what was behind the struggles of the people now against the authorities.

In April 2001, the Chinese peasants of a village named Yuntang clashed with a 600 strong contingent of armed police which had come to force the collection of tax. The peasants had been refusing to pay tax for the last three years because the authorities were charging a rate which far exceeded the stipulated 5 % of the income. They erected an iron gate to defend the village and to stop the entry of the officials and the police. The poor peasants who were barely making both ends meet, not only refused to pay the increased tax but also rallied around the issue that they will pay no tax at all. They accused the authorities of inflating the records in the books and of not considering the crop failures even due to floods. In 1998 floods had destroyed their paddy crop but the authorities refused to see to their plight.

This was in a sharp contrast to the times when the proletariat was in power. In those times peasants used to cultivate collectively without fearing hunger or the taxes in case of crop failures. But now the authorities were bent upon collecting taxes. They even levied tax on killing a pig or on the nuts whether the peasants had sown them or not.

About fourteen hundred peasants confronted the police when it entered the school where they had assembled. First the police fired on their legs then started directly hitting them on the upper parts. The peasants fought back with rocks and sticks. Two peasants were killed on the spot and 39 injured.

The peasants of Yuntang had been resisting the tax collection for three years. The police had tried to enter into the village in 1999 too but were pushed back by the angry crowds. In October 1999 when three workers of this village were arrested in a nearby city the people had blocked a highway till the workers were released. In July 2000 again the police had tried to enter the village but were prevented by the resistance put up by the people. This time the police came in full gear as president Jiang Zemin had announced a "strike hard" policy against the anti-government activity. The police assault came in early morning at 4 AM.

The police blockaded the village and did not allow anybody to go outside of the village except the relatives of the injured. The people of Yuntang have demanded lifting of the siege of the village and non interference in the right of free movement, compensation for the dead, free medical care for the injured, and firing of the official responsible for high taxes.

Such clashes and killings have occurred at many places. There is a total news blackout from China and journalists are not allowed to report such things. Yet from Zemin’s policy and the demands put up by the Yuntang villagers indicate that that there are no democratic rights in Chinese society, no press freedoms, no free medical care, the police behave as an anti-people force, state officials are corrupt and the whole apparatus of the state—the police, the civil officials and the law system—acts in unison to contain and suppress the people.

Yuntang reflects the state of affairs throughout the Chinese countryside where countless people are rebelling in different ways.

In August 2000, about 20,000 peasants surrounded a town hall near Yuntang to protest against heavy taxes. The peasants were armed with sticks and clubs and the county officials sent a 2000 strong militia to control the protesting farmers. For five days the people continued their agitation that was ultimately quelled but not before it had spread to other neighbouring counties. These counties stood in revolt for ten days. In many towns the farmers shattered windows and attacked the homes of officials. The authorities had to send para military forces to quell the peasant riots.

In August 1997, about 5,00,000 peasants in more than 270 townships and villages staged parades, demonstrations and petitioned the officials. At some places riots were reported. These demonstrations and allied activities were carried out in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangxi.

In Hunan about 2,00,000 peasants were involved in riots against the authorities in May to August of the same year. In Jiangxi 1,00,000 peasants have been reported in militant struggles in about 70 towns and villages. In many places the peasants seized party and government buildings. In one county 800 peasants confronted the army and the police for 70 hours and assaulted the public security bureau.

In January 1999, a small town by the name of Daolin saw a surging crowd of 10,000 peasants who had come to the government office of the town to protest against the rising taxes. The police attacked the protesters with tear gas. One man, Zhang Huangli who was badly hit by a canister, later died in the hospital. Protests continued for two days. Many people were beaten up and more than a hundred were arrested. The peasants of the villages around the town of Daolin had formed a secret peasant organisation two years ago. Similar organisations were formed around four other towns to protest against high taxes and other fees collected by the officials.

The reports only trickle through telephones or by word of mouth from province to province. The local or national press does not report these incidents. Only the officials talk of disturbances now and then. Whenever someone from the west tries to go to the affected areas he is sent back to Beijing or other big cities, or is told to leave the country. The officials don’t want these things to be reported to the world media. There are also reports that at some places the people occupied government offices, stopped trains and fought with the police.

The capitalist reforms have played havoc with the people. The peasants have been especially hit hard. In the initial years of the reforms there were exaggerated reports of the growing prosperity of the peasants to convince them to dismantle their communes and opt for private farming. Now when the reforms have changed the vast socialist landscape of China, the profit driven free market economy is driving millions to penury and desperate living.

Driven to poverty, many of the peasants have started selling blood to get bread. Only recently the Chinese authorities have admitted that AIDS is fast spreading in China. The authorities have only admitted that there are 6,00,000 AIDS cases in China which is far behind the actual figures. The Chinese rulers had been denying that there was any AIDS in the country. The blood selling has contributed in a big way to the spread of AIDS as the equipment used for extracting and transfusing blood is usually used on many persons before disposing it off. Press reports say that there are many villages around the cities where peasants sell their blood to augment their incomes.

There are reports that in the last few years millions of peasants (about a hundred million) have left the countryside to seek jobs in the cities. Most of them end up working as illegal migrants at far lower wages than stipulated by the state. In China no body can leave their place of work without permission. Rendered poor and jobless in villages the people flock to the cities without permits. The cost of getting a permit is very high as a dozen of documents are required to be cleared and at every step the officials want bribes. It is reported that till the last document gets cleared the first one expires leaving the applicants exasperated and dejected. Today, China is on the brink of a major human catastrophe. It has 160 million migrant workers with no social security, and almost 70 million workers in loss-making state-owned enterprises. With China entering the WTO, and implementing its privatization agenda, this mass of humanity face a bleak future.

Numerous agencies have come up to export workers to other countries on a contract basis. They take away half the salaries of the workers on their return home. They also indulge in illegal trade in workers by not giving them proper documents which results in them not being recognised as lawful migrant workers in foreign lands. This forces them to work at far lower wages or at no wages at all and only to be sent back to China after many months of hard labour. Back home, they are put into jail for ‘flouting’ immigration laws while the real culprits are the labour export agencies and the officials collaborating in this lucrative business. In the Middle East, Israel has become a major destination for Chinese workers after Israel put a ban on the West Bank and Gaza Strip Palestinians working in the Israeli occupied territories. Chinese agencies supply the labour force to the Zionists and fleece them of their earnings in collaboration with the Israeli contractors.

Chinese cities depict a scene of roaming armies of unemployed and laid off workers. Till now they are not allowed to set up shantytowns around the cities. Brothels have come up in every city where poor women sell themselves to make a living. The women have become the worst victims of capitalist restoration. They were the first to lose jobs and the first to face discrimination. They have become the most wretched of the proletarian class. On the other hand the women are being reduced to mere sex objects. The Chinese ad industry put out slogans like "looking beautiful is natural for women" and that there is nothing wrong if one "dares to bare".

The capitalist rulers have pushed the whole society into a huge den of crime, corruption and profit making. Hundreds of millions who are being pushed to extremes are again beginning to put up resistance. From here we hear the new voice of protest and rebellion.

Quite recently, the revisionist party of China has decided to take capitalists as members of the communist party. A great part of officials at the lower levels have business interests and are already a part of the capitalist class. The higher ups take huge bribes and have amassed wealth. There was a proposal in the party to investigate corruption at the highest levels but it was dropped, as it would have exposed the whole apparatus. Now with the passing of Zemin’s document of three representations to take capitalists as party members the party bureaucrats will be legally entitled to enter and become part of the business interests and capitalist concerns.

The assaults and killings of the peasants and the exploitation of workers by the state forces are the wages of capitalism which want its surplus value extracted at any cost. The party and state officials no longer serve the people. They serve capitalism and make sure that the taxes are collected whether people can afford it or not, even if it means killing the people. The bourgeois politics of "profit in command" leaves no respect for human beings, and this has arisen from the premise that "making a little profit and becoming rich is not bad." The whole of the Chinese economy is running on this principle. The gap between the rich and poor has increased enormously. In a system based on exploitation and oppression the life of the working people has become a hell as in all other countries of the world.

The restoration of capitalism with profit in command has led to the closure of thousands of industries that were established to produce goods for the well being of the people. In socialist times these industries used to run even if they were unable to sustain on their own. That was in socialist times and subsidies were given to these socially useful industries. But after the 1976 coup this was stopped and factories were told to make profit to sustain themselves. Even profit making industries have been closed down or sold off to foreign or private companies. Recent studies tell that the Chinese government will retain only 1000 big industrial units and the rest will be sold off to the private capitalists and foreign companies. This is bound to further aggravate unemployment, poverty and desperation. Already, the Chinese workers have started debating about the benefits and dangers of China joining the WTO. For them it is still a difficult choice as most of them resent government controls over industries and feel they have no trade union rights and freedoms. Many think that the WTO will deliver them from strict state controls while quite a few feel the onslaught of capital will become more ruthless. Both ways the only way left will be that of fighting against both the evils. With China joining the WTO all the state owned enterprises will be asked to become ‘self-sufficient’. That will mean huge layoffs, shut downs and privatization.

There have also been reports of sporadic protests by the working class in the cities. The most pressing issue is that of forced lay offs. The laid off workers are no longer being given their dues by the companies under the pretext that they have no money. The Chinese State has opened up employment exchanges to ‘help’ the displaced workers to find new jobs. Only a fraction of the unemployed go to these offices for registration as very few people believe that the state can be of any help.

In August 2001, about 70 workers of a joint US/China packaging company detained six executives—one American, two Malaysians and three from Hong Kong—for 40 hours. They were protesting against job cuts as the new administration of the company, which was switching over to a wholly foreign venture, wanted to slash the jobs of workers. The Meite Packaging Company had 1000 workers. Everyday the workers held gate meetings, tried to stop the supplies and made attempts to convince other workers to stop their work.

In 1999 three workers of Red Lion Paint Factory attempted suicide as the government had sold off the factory and the private owner wanted to close the factory and sell the land.

In December 2000, 1000 workers of a silk plant blocked a highway for two days and fought with the police with stones and bottles somewhere in southwestern China.

In the year 1999, about 500 workers of Changde Cotton Mill, in Changde city of Hunan, blocked traffic on a bridge grinding a thousand vehicles to a halt. The Changde Cotton Mill had laid off 3000 workers from a total strength of 10,000. The workers were demanding the wages of a three month period they had not been paid.

Around 1996, in Shenyang, 3,50,000 workers were laid off. The Flying Pigeon Bicycle company in Tianjin laid off 7000 workers from a total strength of 20,000. In 1999 alone the state owned enterprises in China laid of 11 million workers. The official figures of unemployed workers in China is around 12 million. In 1997, China’s Ministry of Labour reported that women accounted for only 35% of the total workforce but they constituted 61% of the laid off workers. A survey has shown that 75% of the laid-off women workers are still unemployed while the corresponding number for men is 50%.

The peasant and working class struggles are as yet in a nascent stage of development. Nevertheless, the fight back is welcome!

(The writer is indebted to the Revolutionary Worker as much of the information for this article is taken from its issues.)

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