Remember DAY! Hong Kong socialists assess new stage of China upheaval

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The June/July issue of October Review is a 100-page special issue (12 pages in color) devoted to reprinting the main documents of the Chinese Democracy Movement. It is published entirely in Chinese. Included are 30 pages of documents from the Copies of this special issue can be ordered from Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., Room 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Send $5.00. (Contributions are ¡OCIALIST ACTION JULY 1989 6 The following is an interview with Dan Yang, a writer for October Review, a revolutionary socialist newsmonthly published in Hong Kong. The interview was conducted in Hong Kong on June 20 by the Socialist Action delegation to China. October Review has actively supported the Chinese pro-democracy movement and has regularly reprinted documents from the struggle of the Chinese students and workers.

Socialist Action: What were the main triggers of the massive mobilizations of the Chinese students and workers in April and May?

Dan Yang: The social contradictions of the bureaucratic regime had reached a point of explosion. The economic crisis, resulting in large part from the introduction of capitalist market reforms, had deepened tremendously.

Initially, the student movement did not ask for the government to step down. It simply demanded basic democratic rights—particularly freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association. Also demanded were the right to form independent political parties and student organizations.

Why did this mobilization break out as it did? It is clear that a factional fight broke out between different wings of the Communist Party (CCP) leadership-parts of the intelligentsia and the "reform wing" of the bureaucracy versus the "hardliners."

From the beginning the student movement was drawn into this factional struggle. At the time of his death, the students began by praising Hu Yaobang [former CCP head] as a reformer. One of the demands of the Organizing Committee of the Beijing University Students called for "reevaluating the actions of comrades Hu Yaobang and approving his point of view on the great harmony existing between democracy and freedom."

But the students had their own aims, which were different from those of the intellectuals who had initially promoted the movement and who aspired to "reform" the ruling CCP. While many, if not most, of the students agreed that the CCP should reform itself, they also strongly believed that the people would have to take power into their own hands and change the institutions and structures of the system. In this sense, their demands and motion were revolutionary.

During the whole period of struggle at Tiananmen Square, the student movement matured very quickly. It rapidly organized itself and reached a stage where it was able to control not just the square itself, but also the surrounding area-and all the material resources needed to maintain the center of Beijing: There was a high degree of organization and discipline.

The mobilizations were unprecedented. They were perhaps even more massive than those 40 years ago at the time of the Third Chinese Revolution.

S.A.: Do you think that after the June 4 massacre, the students and workers still think it is possible to reform the bureaucracy?

D.Y.: Even before the massacre, as the movement was developing, illusions and expectations in leaders or factions within the ruling party were being shed. The masses were awakening to a generalized struggle for democracy.

The massacre proved that the CCP cannot accommodate any of the demands of the people for democracy. It shows that all wings in the leadership are wholly united against the people. And this fact is now widely recognized by the people.

The Democracy Movement has suffered a serious setback at the moment. But this setback has also prepared the conditions for the next phase of struggle-the struggle for political revolution. It is difficult to forecast when this next phase will be. But already we can judge that the people have seen and recognized the true face of the ruling bureaucracy.

S.A.: What do you mean by political revolution?

D.Y.: Capitalism was overthrown in the Third Chinese Revolution. The property system was nationalized. Central economic planning was instituted. These were historic gains for the Chinese workers. But from the outset a bureaucratic caste took over the apparatus of the state and central planning.

Political revolution means the overthrow of this parasitic bureaucracy, the abolition of its privileges, and its replacement with true people's power-meaning the working class, small peasants, independent traders, and the honest rank-and-file elements of the party.

Through a political revolution the working people of China will take control of their lives and their production within the context of nationalized property with democratically organized planning.

S.A.: How long Htt: *#X#321-323! Tàt : 3-862780 able to maintain current phase repression?

D.Y.: The masses didn't wake up because of the students but because of the social, economic, and political crisis of bureaucratic rule. This repression did nothing but aggravate the entire crisis of the bureaucracy. The regime is more isolated than ever. Despite its outward appearance of unity, it is fraught with factional fighting. It is a fragile regime.

How long can this situation last? This is a matter of speculation. A key factor will be the unfolding economic crisis. This will determine how fast the resistance—particularly among the workers—will expand.

S.A.: The whole country has undergone tremendous economic changes over the last decade. What is your view of the economic reforms? And how have these reforms fueled the current crisis?

D.Y.: The reforms started in 1978. They have undergone a number of changes since that time.

On one level, the reforms reversed the forced collectivization policy in the countryside. In this sense the government corrected a very wrong policy of past years. The people were able to work on their own plot. There was also a corresponding change in the social control. People were allowed to set up their own businesses, in trade, in small manufacturing, in transport, etc.

But, more important, while the reforms reversed incorrect policies of the past, they also actively promoted social polarization by lending a free hand to capitalist market forces. This was symbolized by the CCP leadership's call to the peasants to "enrich themselves."

The economic and social polarization occurred at a very rapid speed. In just a few years, millionaires appeared. And this in the autonomous workers' movement. growth of garlic was promoted. The whole county went into the production of garlic.

When it came to harvest time, the government office was flooded with people coming in with garlic, and so the government had to stop buying garlic. This immediately triggered a riot.

Speculation and corruption by the bureaucracy accompanied the introduction of market mechanisms, particularly over the past five years.

S.A.: Can you describe what has been happening here in Hong Kong? What has been the response to the pro-democracy movement on the mainland?

D.Y.: The first phase of the student struggle in China in mid-April was echoed also in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong struggle continued until mid-May, when the hunger strike started in Beijing. There were corresponding sit-ins and hunger strikes by the students in Hong Kong. And ever since then, because of the reports from Beijing, the people in Hong Kong have been following events in China very closely. So the movement in Hong Kong is also building up.

From the point of view of the colonial government here, this type of mobilization is a definite threat.

S.A.: The mainstream media in the United States has been saying that the massacre in China-and the large votes against the ruling Communist parties in Poland and the Soviet Union-mean that socialism is finished as an historical force and that capitalism has shown its superiority. What is your response to this?

D.Y.: Well, of course, time will tell. I think those who go around saying this kind of thing will be proven wrong. There is a combined worldwide crisis of capitalism and of Stalinism—not socialism. The capitalist system is rotting all around us.

If you look carefully at all the statements of the Democracy Movement, at all the wall posters by the students and workers, you will see that there is no indication of any desire to restore capitalism, or individual enterprise, or getting rich. What they all emphasize is that the people have stood up to take control of what is owed to them. And it is precisely in this sense that this is the beginning of the political revolution.

Of course, when the ruling party promotes individualism, praises the market economy, and urges people to get rich-this has the effect of sowing confusion among certain sectors of the population. But the actual material effects of the pro-capitalist reforms— the exacerbation of social inequalities, the promotion of greater unemployment, etc.— are already being deeply felt by the workers and poor peasants. They are not being fooled; they know that these reforms are not good for them.

The Democracy Movement did not advocate, not even remotely, the reintro duction of capitalism. Certains wings of the bureaucracy and certain intellectuals advocated more market reforms, this is true. But among the students, despite their confusion, there were no appeals for capitalism.

And as for the workers, they do not see capitalism as their way out. What they are struggling for is socialist democracy. welcome.) Proceeds will go to October Review.

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