Meeting with underground Shanghai student activist

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12 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1989 SHANGHAI-We made our way by foot and bus to our rendez-vous with "Lenny" and friends, watching to see that no one trailed us upon our exiting Tong Ji University. At 2 p.m. sharp, Lenny emerged to meet us at the appointed place. We walked a short distance and were joined by another person, emerging from a gateway.

It was "James, " one of the leaders of the Shanghai demonstration. As we walked, James explained that the Beijing leader he had hoped to take us to see had been obliged to move on early that morning. James's relatives were taking over and hiding the Beijing organizer and survivor of the Tiananmen massacre.

James was very apologetic. The Beijing leader had wanted very much to meet us as arranged, but security had required him to move on. He had given James a message for "Let people know that most of the leaders from Beijing are free. Of the survivors, 15 are underground. They expect to remain uncaught. They are confident the government will become more and more isolated. James will report to you on our meeting. Sooner or later we will see you. Until the next time." We walked through narrow streets until we came to farms and a stream; now we entered a park. While we sat down with James, Lenny took our camera to enter another university some distance from where we were now. He would return later, he said, with photos that would interest us.

James was clearly from another part of China. Living in Shanghai, he told us, you could not imagine the lives of most people in the countryside. In the villages near his home, if there were three women in a household, only one could leave the house— because there was only one pair of trousers. Perhaps 100 million peasants were underemployed (it was a figure we had heard before in Hong Kong). Fifty million peasants were without work, floating about trying to find odd jobs in the cities.

Mass protests after June 4 James described events in Shanghai immediately following the June 4 massacre. "Five hundred thousand people demonstrated for four days-from the center of Shanghai (the Bund) to People's Square (Ren Min Park): "People were singing the Internationale in unison with tears in their eyes. Students led people in chants, but workers and the population chimed in with spontaneous slogans of their own: 'Smash Li Peng ' — 'Chou En-lai, You raised a dog to bite the people' [Li Peng was a protege of Chou Enlai] — "Point your gun at me, Premier Li." "One large contingent was of newspaper reporters and correspondents. They chanted, 'On strike, on strike, serve the people not the party bosses.' "They carried a huge banner which read, We confess to the Chinese people: We tell many lies.' [This reference to confession was at once bitter and ironic as many journalists in Shanghai had been forced into confessions during the Cultural Revolution.] Other banners carried by reporters read, 'News must be reliable and true. We demand freedom.' "There were large contingents of workers, many carrying home-made banners. Prominent among them was, 'Punish corrupt officials. Others read, We support the students of Beijing and Shanghai' — 'We will stand with you until the end' - 'You will be understood by the workers.' "Workers brought money, food, and drink for the demonstrators. Foreign students brought money. Small shopowners gave 500 yuan. [In China 10 yuan is a large note.] Every passerby gave money to the students— 5, 10, 20 yuan.

"Drivers and bus conductors stopped their buses and used them as barricades. The drivers and conductors throughout the city helped the students enormously. They stopped and addressed their passengers to join in. They gave impromptu speeches about high prices and low wages.

"Drivers joined with students to go around Shanghai, stopping other buses, giving each conductor letters and leaflets describing what had happened in Beijing and advancing their demands for higher wages and an end to inflation.

"Other drivers and conductors became enraged by the accounts of the massacre and joined students in approaching additional workers. All Shanghai came to a halt. Workers did not declare a general strike; they simply stayed home or joined the demonstrations."

Polaroid snapshots

Lenny reappeared. He had with him a series of Polaroid shots of slogans on the walls of dormitories at one of the large universities. They were written on doors, pillars, diningroom walls, and in classrooms.

He translated them for us: "Never forget June 4, China's great tragedy" — "People's will cannot be raped by this vicious government", — "Students! Professors! Boycott all classes!" "These murderers must be punished with death" — "The students of Beijing are lying in their own blood, the life force leaving them. Have you no pity for them People's Liberation Army?" [This was written on to pillars framing the steps leading to the main lecture rooms and classrooms.] — "This regime is nothing but a government of tyrants" — "Students, people, we must never relent in our determined struggle against this government." Several cartoon-like caricatures covered classroom walls. One depicted a machine gun on a stand aimed point-blank at the head of an infant. Large characters declared, "Is this baby the counterrevolutionary?"

Another showed a soldier with the red star of the People's Liberation Army aiming his automatic weapon at an old woman. The legend read, "Are China's old people the counterrevolutionaries?" Both referred to the large numbers of children and elderly who joined the demonstrations in Shanghai and Beijing, many blocking troop carriers with their bodies.

James and Lenny advised that we not linger any longer in the park. We walked along the riverbank for nearly an hour and came to a suburb of Shanghai with small shops and alleyways.

"There's too much to do"

James suddenly ducked into a tiny shop. After a few minutes he motioned us to follow. We left a teeming alley where people sat with pots of squirming eels over which hot water would be poured.

Inside two women were preparing meals. We sat at a table. Lenny engaged the women with small talk as Mya took their pictures. We were helping James with his English, Lenny explained.

I took out pen and paper. James leaned over as if taking instructions. "I am in real danger of arrest now," he said. "But I don't want to leave. There's too much to do. They've arrested 3000 in the outskirts. The government is not reporting this. Some will never be heard of again. All rights disappear. There are labor camps in remote desert areas. It is impossible to escape because no one is around and you would starve or die of thirst." He continued: "In Shanghai the police have told everyone calculate that they will be reported anyway. They know there are consequences for their parents, brothers, sisters, friends. "We encourage people to use their judgment: Register if the police know about you anyway. Tell the authorities that you have seen the error of your ways. Praise the party and government; smile at them. Then deepen your resolve to end this terrorist state.

Network to hide the hunted "This is why 94 percent of students at Tong Ji and Fu Dan have left, as have 50 percent of the residents and interns at Shanghai Medical College. "They are boycotting school, spreading the word, contacting people, and creating a network to hide the hunted. How many return remains to be seen. It is an individual decision. "Most teachers strongly support the students. They give them grades whether they are present or not. "Conditions vary. At Shanghai Teachers' University, for example, only 15 percent are left because they live at home in Shanghai. The authorities wrote to all their parents warning that students who did not return would not be allowed to take exams in the future and would be subject to arrest for counterrevolutionary subversion—a very serious charge. Many parents pleaded with their children to return. "A few days ago, the Beijing student leader reached me after his parents had been arrested and interrogated. They were asked where their son was hiding and threatened. They said they didn't know—which is true. "Most of the important leaders have gone underground far from Shanghai. We are trying to master the problems. It is not easy to stay there because the peasants are poor and can't afford to hide them and feed them. Many fear reprisals. Few would turn them in despite the barrage of propaganda. Even when the peasants don't know what happened in Beijing they don't trust the government. Only a few would betray, notwithstanding government lies about this. "But it is not easy in the countryside, we need funds to sustain people. No jobs. No food. Where they can risk it, some may return and report to the police if their full role is not well known. But our spirits remain high. We recall people's courage.

Wan Ro-hua leads protest "Many of our intellectuals-including those who suffered harshly before, have been very courageous. "Wan Ro-hua is a famous scholar. He is nearly 80. He already played a role in the 1986 demonstrations in Beijing and Shanghai after Hu Yao-bang was forced to resign. Wan is from Hefei, the capital of Anwhei province where Fang Lizhe was president of China's Science and Technology University. "Wan led 150 famous artists, writers, and intellectuals in demonstrations followed by columns of young scholars. People were very moved. Ambulance drivers followed in their vehicles, both to show solidarity and out of concern for Wan, who is frail. "It was raining. He walked without coat or umbrella. He was very ardent, passionate, high-spirited—-his head held straight. He led the chants: 'Down with Deng Xiaopeng. Smash Li Peng. Freedom, freedom for all people. Freedom for all China. Democracy now. "We were in tears. Huge crowds came to applaud him. He walked long distances and would take no food. "The contingent of scholars stopped in front of the security bureau and continued their chants, Wan Ro-hua in the forefront. They stopped at City Hall, People's Square. They went along the main streets of Shanghai: Fu Zhou Road, Xi Zang, Nanking Road. They stopped at universities to urge others to join them: Shanghai Normal, Chemical University, Fu Dan, Tong Ji. "They urged the large crowds to help block the Institute of Textiles. The marchers continued along Zhong Shan Road, circling Shanghai.

"No one will work as before" "Workers have it very hard now. Their wages are very low, and without bonuses it is difficult to survive. They must work or they have no money with which to support their families. "So it is not easy to strike. Workers told us that they will begin by first staying away from work and then, when they can't hold out, return to the factories but work slow. "So they operate one machine out of 10, or they sabotage equipment-sometimes by not making repairs. This is an organized protest. It is very widespread, almost everyone participates. "Right now, workers tell us that all the workers are carrying out slowdowns. Those who continue to work, do so at lower efficiency. No one will work as before. "All the workers feel hurt by the government. They see prices climb and officials bribed and relatives of party members get housing while their homes are demolished for hotels or office blocks. "Our workers don't trust the government. They consider it very brutal, very fierce. Poor farmers are in the same condition, and most farmers are hurting from inflation. "We could see it in their response to us. Farmers brought food, meat, and money from the areas around Beijing and Shanghai. All the big cities reported this. The peasants came to help whenever they found out what was happening. "In truth, this is the primary cause of the student movement. If you saw rural China, my China, you would realize what misery engulfs our people and how callous these party officials are. "Our student movement feels the resentment of the government and the population. It fuels our resolve. It comes down to this: High inflation-really around 40 percent. Heavy government debt, which must deepen. Ever-rising prices. "So everyone is worried, full of anxiety, fearful of the future under this regime. That is why the government killed so many. They sense it too in the population.

"Who knows how many died" Who knows how many really died or are still dying. My Beijing friend who is supposed to be with us today went to Tiananmen with 37 close friends just from his school. Twenty seven were killed. That's one school. "Thousands died. Bodies were carried off by the army, burnt, buried, scattered. Why? Because the regime is desperate. The people have a deep hatred for them whether it is shown overtly now or not. And the officials know it and are themselves scared-for all the posturing and brutality. "They really know how people feel-the anxiety about life, the fear that government debt will keep wages low, slow the economy further, meaning greater austerity-unemployment, insecurity. "I think that we students are expressing their own desire to speak out and fight back That is why so many times we heard the slogan, 'Only the students speak the citizens' minds.' "We don't underestimate the situation. It has been a bitter setback. A lot of conditions for people are very tight, terribly hard. Most workers and peasants cannot risk speaking their minds openly-except to each other. "Workers have to consider family relationships and responsibilities-parents, children, brothers and sisters, and their families— because reprisals reach far. People work long hours six days a week, they have little free time. Many never get any holiday time at all. It is a hard-enough struggle just to earn money.

Sad that Zhao Ziyang removed "Many people are feeling very depressed. That is understandable. We have all received a terrible shock. Last night when we saw TV and learned that Zhao Ziyang was removed, many students were very disappointed. Some still hoped against hope that he could hang on and soften the repression or reverse it. "The new party secretary, Jiang Zeming was former party secretary in Shanghai. We know this hack well. "Qiao Zhe-the security head—was clearly transitional. His role was to prepare the removal of Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili and to cut off all rights for Rui Xinwen and Yan Mingfu, the reformers. "So we can see that the mechanism for repression is their only comfortable answer to mask disaffection in China. They replaced them with the like of Li Ruihuan and Sun Pin-party hardliners now placed at the center of Communist Party rule. "Some students are convinced that as mass pressure builds again, Zhao Ziyang will reappear as happened to Gomulka or others in communist parties, first disgraced and then brought back when the danger of explosion was too great. "Many students felt Zhao had done some good and carried out good policies because he was kind to intellectuals and seemed wise, even fair. At the Chinese Party conference yesterday it was said that Zhao opposed the four principles of Deng Xiaopeng and hence was against the party. So people think he could bring political democracy to China and change the system. "Time will tell. He may be used to calm things yet again. What is important is that, however depressing our recent events, students do not feel defeated. We have already aroused the people and have created the hope that it is possible to resist. That is very significant.

"Tyrants cannot last" "Even if we fail at present we all feel confident we can eventually build a movement and win control over China in the end, because a government of tyrants cannot last very long-not when people are conscious and aroused. "We have to prepare so that we can re-emerge when things take a more favorable turn. We are discussing. Everyone is contemplating how to regain the initiative. A small spark, as Mao once said, can start a prairie fire—not that Mao is any guide, but you see the point. "Let me tell you, dear friends, what is under discussion. These are the occasions when something may erupt: 1) Oct. 1, National Day, the anniversary of the 1949 assumption of power by the CCP; 2) Dec. 12, the anniversary of the 1935 uprising by Beijing University students against the Japanese occupation; 3) April 15, the anniversary of the death of Hu Yao-bang-the date when the current upsurge began; 4) June 3-4, the anniversary of the slaughter at Tiananmen Square and of the outright murder of our youth, our most dedicated people."

Saying our goodbyes

At this point we stopped. We had been talking for nearly two hours in the little shop. Now a sumptuous meal was placed before all of us. The owner of this shop, her assistant, and a young medical student who had come in—a daughter of the owner—had noted our intensity.

We joked about small things, talked of our families, who is raised where, what our parents, offspring, and relatives did. Now James, Lenny, Mya, and I began to discuss difficulties for those on the run. Mya and I told James and Lenny to walk with us a few miles and then wait. We would rejoin them at a specified location. We said our goodbyes to the shop owner and her two assistants. We then walked to the proposed place we had spotted the day before, which was near our hotel.

It was agreed that we would meet Lenny again the next morning but that James would travel and that we would say goodbye now. We made arrangements to stay in touch. We discussed briefly the international appeal in support of the Chinese workers and students. [See pp 10-11.J We emphasized the importance of the campaign which enlisted those who believe in social justice and had fought for it. We discussed socialism, workers' democracy, and the nature of the party bureaucracy.

It was dark by now. We had talked another hour. No one really wanted it to end, and emotion was running high. "You have warm hearts," James told us, "and we shall be friends forever."

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... U.S. socialists in China Government poster urges population to "combat bourgeois liberalism" and hails (continued from page 24)

because the student demonstrators' call for an end to corruption seemed to have been a point of common ground with the workers.

One feature of official corruption was the use of position for personal gain. Some workers told us: "The salary of a plant director is not that high. But they make their money in bribery. There is always an official if you want to get anything done.

Red tape is terrible, and you have to grease palms to get through it. Or you have to know someone. One lower government official remarked on the special advantages of the children of top officials.

By all accounts, the advantages of privileged position were getting more blatant. For example, as plants compete on the market for raw materials, government officials who control raw material supply can sell favors. We were told that it is common for bureaucrats to buy a scarce item like a TV and sell it at black-market rates.

Some of what people call corruption is actually legal. One young official complained that the government allows officials to eat everywhere free at a cost of $48 billion yuan per year to the people. This is actually more, he said, than is invested in education. Meanwhile, the regime vilifies student leader Wu'er Kaixi for once having lunch in the Beijing Hotel with a visting student delegation from Hong Kong.

Corruption is an integral part of the bureaucracy. Shanghai worker Sam was asked to characterize the system. Is it bureaucracy, we asked? "Bureaucracy is only one side of it," he responded. "Corruption is the other."

He continued: "Corruption is like a dead body starting to stink. Officials have to be corrupt just to be in the bureaucracy. To be a director of a factory you have to be trusted by those above. The whole system and government create corruption."

In Sam's mind, and in the view of many workers we talked with, when the students demanded an end to corruption and arbitrary practices, they spoke for the workers. As times get harder, workers resent the growing privileges of the bureaucracy all the more. And they resent the political system which amounts to little more than a mutual-aid society for the bureaucracy.

"We support the students"

When we asked Sam what the cause of the uprising was, he said, "Inflation is part of it, but many are getting used to inflation. The dictatorship is what people hate."

Another worker told us: "We need more democracy. This is reasonable. Democracy is more than freedom of speech. We need input INES crushing of "counterrevolutionary rats."

into decisions. We don't need a dictator, whether he's called 'emperor' or 'general secretary."' The young workers we lunched with in Shanghai told us: "You have to be careful what you say even among friends. We cannot say it openly, but in our hearts we support the students."

Sam was an active participant in the Shanghai protest demonstrations that followed the June 4 massacre. About half-a-million people were involved in Shanghai in street actions. A government train ran over and killed some protesters, and violence erupted.

"Some of us," Sam told us, "were able to see the broadcasts in the hotels serving foreigners. [He was referring to Cable Network News coverage of the massacre in Tiananmen Square]. We saw that the people attacked after the government atrocities occurred. Then, the government attacked again. Official TV showed pictures of people attacking trains, but put an earlier date of the film. So it seemed like the people initiated the violence. But in 10 years all of China will know the truth."

"Ninety percent of the people in Shanghai support the students," Sam continued. "Students stopped transportation for four days by blocking over 150 main intersections in Shanghai."

Workers couldn't get to work and used the breakdown of the public-transportation system as an excuse for staying home. Some students later told us that the workers were instrumental in shutting down the city. In Beijing we also found support for the students. We met a worker who had led a contingent from his factory to Tiananmen. He had also begun organizing an independent For the moment, the army preserves order. According to Sam, "The soldiers come from the country and are little aware of the political situation, so they don't care. Control and censorship in the army is very strict. Soldiers believe in the ruling stratum very strongly. Most officers, meanwhile, are involved in the black market."

A life-and-death struggle Fully three weeks after the massacre, troops maintain a strong presence. The regime sees this fight as a life-and-death struggle. Moreover, we are told, about 400 rifles were taken from the soldiers, and only about 100 have been recovered. Sniper fire has been reported, and there is a rumor that two soldiers have been garroted at night.

Giant red banners hang from the main buildings. "Combat bourgeois liberalism!" "Insist on support for the leadership of the Communist Party!"

Our hotel, the Jinglun, where the army opened fire on a group of tourists, now sports a banner that reads, "Hail the Communist Party!" In the workers' districts, notices read, "Don't listen to rumors! Don't go to underground meetings!"

Everywhere people were concerned that the truth not be drowned out by government lies. Even in martial-law Beijing, we were approached by people who told us that we must go and tell the truth of what happened in Tiananmen.

While we heard outrage at the regime for its violence, and exasperation at its power, we did not find a mood of dejection. The general feeling was that this was the first round of a long fight which would be won.

Debate on alternatives

We heard workers' perspectives of how change could take place. A number of workers looked to the reform wing of the bureaucracy around Zhao Ziyang as an alternative. Several spoke of Mikhail Gorbachev as the model, a sentiment we also found among some students.

But support for the reform wing was not a vote for the market-reform strategy-a strategy which hard-liner Deng Xiaoping also advocates. It expressed a belief that the reformers can be a vehicle for political reform. Some who saw the changing attitudes in the young students and workers looked to the next generation of CCP leaders, waiting for the old to die, especially Deng.

The most extensive and most interesting conversation we had about reform was with the Shanghai worker Sam. He said that there should be a separation of the ruling party from the government and that the rule of law should replace arbitrary rule. He clearly saw the need for new leadership.

Sam agreed with us that Zhao was part of the bureaucracy and would not be bold enough to provide the needed change. His support for Zhao was conditional, and he even stated, "There should be more than one party." The workers, he recognized, needed an independent political voice. We thought that Sam's thinking was unusually farsighted.

In Shanghai, a setback has been suffered. Even at the height of the movement, only the beginnings of workers' organizations developed. Some independent unions and worker groups formed, but there were no mass committees.

While workers and students maintained order in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the brutal crackdown pre-empted mass self-organization. Workers are now cut off from each other and from many of the ideas and experiences that can enrich their movement.

Most workers we talked to had not thought things through like Sam. We told him we thought his insight into the government and the crackdown were especially clear and that he had a rare understanding of the situation.

"There are many people like me," he said. "Most just don't talk about it [the government massacre] in public. When people go home, everybody talks about it. Before the massacre, people had little understanding of their situation, but now people are awakening. This awakening will be broad-and it will be deep."