Worker describes China's first independent union

Scan page 10

Socialist Action calendar 10 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1989 China, we reprinted portions of the guiding principles of the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation, an independent union formed on May 25.

We reprint below an article by a Hong Kong trade unionist, Trini Leung, who describes the Federation's goals and the repression it suffered at the hands of the regime on June 4. The article, dated June 10, appeared in "Echoes From Tiananmen," a compilation of documents published by the Hong Kong Trade Union Education Centre.

The Workers Autonomous Federation emerged in May 1989 as a prototype for a future independent trade-union movement in China. It arose alongside the student demonstrations which began in April 1989 calling for greater democracy, an end to corruption, a more open and accountable government, and autonomous student unions.

Under the red banner of the Workers' Autonomous Federation and fluttering slogans calling for democracy and freedom of association, between 50 and 100 workers erected a tented headquarters on the outskirts of the students' tents at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing in mid-May.

Members of the union were mostly production workers, service-sector workers, and worker intellectuals. Among the core members there were steelworkers, railway workers, aviation workers, and restaurant cooks.... Their action was the first open attempt by workers to set up an autonomous organization outside the official All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACTFU).

Singing the Internationale

The organizers launched their action by issuing pamphlets and leaflets to publicize criticisms of the present labor policies and union structure as well as to spread their call for a genuine and democratic workers' movement. They also set up a public-address system at Tiananmen Square to explain their demands....

On the one side, their own broadcasts continued to repeat their calls, punctuated by the Internationale and other songs. On the other side of the Square, the Central government address system blared official propaganda, repeating Martial Law regulations and issuing warnings to the demonstrators.

At any time during the day, hundreds and sometimes thousands of workers and residents crowded round the Federation's loudspeakers, listening to the speeches....

The founders of the Federation reckoned that the fight [of the students] for democracy and liberty bore relevance to their immediate interests, allowing the workers to have independent and genuine representation in policy-making as well as improvements in their own economic position....

The problems the Federation was addressing focused on the corrupt bureaucracy and the existence of a privileged elite in China. The wide-range discrepancy between the workers and plant managers, the lack of workplace democracy, the lack of genuine workers' representation in the policy-making process, poor labor protection and working conditions, and the deterioration of workers' living standards in recent years were among their main grievances.

On June 3, the Federation's leaders were still talking of finding ways of legalizing their organization.... They were insistent that they wanted to organize their Autonomous Federation through constitutional and legal means and stated that they did not oppose the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

Confrontation at square

The Autonomous Federation camp was toward the northeast of the square. On the evening before the massacre, troops were massing at that end of the square, and it was clear that a confrontation of some sort was about to occur.

The members of the union were among the most courageous of the demonstrators, and holding their union banner high, they marched to the front of the crowds, facing the waiting troops. It was from this corner of Tiananmen Square that the massacre began.

Students who survived the massacre told us that in the following hours most of the representatives of the Autonomous Workers Federation were killed as the troops attacked. : On June 8, four days after the massacre, the regime announced that the Workers' Autonomous Federation, alongside the Student Autonomous Federation, were "counterrevo lutionary" organizations, and they would specifically round up and arrest the organizers and activists in these groups.

On Friday, June 9, demonstrations numbering more than 100,000 people were staged in Shanghai. Among the protesting banners were those from the Shanghai Workers' Autonomous Federation. It was reported that there were at least 1000 workers rallying behind this banner.

There have also been reports that similar independent trade-union banners were raised in Guangzhou since the Beijing massacre. Demonstrations continue in most cities of China as the truth about events in Beijing spreads through the nation.

SAN FRANCISCO

The Port Chicago Massacre Hear: Robert Allen, Black Scholar.

Friday, July 14, 8:00 p.m., 3435 Army St.

#308, (415) 821-0458.

Drugs, Corruption, and Brutality Hear: Tito Flores, attorney; Roberto Lovato, Dolores Huerta Coalition, ar Kwame Somburu, Socialist Action Friday, July 28, 8:00 p.m., 3435 Army St.

#308, (415) 821-0458.

CLEVELAND

Film: Abortion Stories North and South.

Friday, July 28, 7:30 p.m., Cleveland Heights Public Library, 2345 Lee Ra. Tel. (216) 429-2167. "There was the "Campaign Against Bourgeois Liberalization,' in which everybody was forced to criticize themselves. I think most students were very angry, and felt like they'd been kidnapped politically" because free expression was muzzled. "That explains the enthusiasm shown in April and May."

"I know why [the government] crushed the student movement so brutally," he continued. "They think that if they make a concession now to 1 million people-what about 10 million people when they demonstrate?"

C. W. pointed out that the demonstrators do not represent "an anti-communist movement." He stated, "We realize that our movement might potentially be used by certain groups, whatever their line would be, just to benefit their cause. So, we have definitely engaged in such activities that would directly benefit the pro-democracy demonstrators in China."

Chinese students in the Boston area, through the May 4th Foundation for Democracy, have been raising money to support the students in Beijing. At the meeting, a collection for the Foundation netted $160.

LOS ANGELES

"Uprising in China:"

An Eyewitness Report tear: Nat Weinstein, national secretary iocialist Action; Ralph Schoenman, pa: ir., Bertrand Russell Peace Foundatio and Mya Shone, photographer.

Friday, July 7, 7:30 p.m., Patriotic Hall, 1816 S. Figueroa, 6th Fl. (213) 396-6945.

CHICAGO

"The Revolutionary Crisis In China" Hear: Nat Weinstein, national secretary, Socialist Action.

Saturday, July 29, 7:00 p.m. 656 W. Barry. (312) 327-5752.