China Today and Tomorrow

REMEMBERING TIANANMEN MASSACRE, JUNE 4, 1989

[(On the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre this week, we are reproducing excerpts from the ‘Political Notebook’ by the Mainstream editor (who was then its associate editor) that appeared in this journal’s June 10, 1989 issue.)]

Figures have lost all meaning in the conditions prevailing in the People’s Republic of China today. The fact is that what began in the early hours of June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen Square in the heart of China’s capital, Beijing, culminated in a veritable bloodbath turning the ‘Square of Heavenly Peace’ into one of earthly hell. Whether the number of those killed was 1400, 3000, 7000 or 10,000 is immaterial. It is pointless to ask if those wounded in indiscriminate firing add upto 10,000 or less. The stark reality is that the guardians of law and order deemed it necessary, prudent and politic to callously brand the massive and spontaneous non-violent demons-tration for democracy—which has had few parallels in recent times—as a show organised by “counter-revolutionaries” before mowing down countless people—young and old; men, women and children—in one of the most tragic incidents in China’s history, besmirching in the process the noble ideals of socialism for which the Chinese masses endured innumerable hardships and underwent untold sacrifices in their glorious struggle for national emancipation and social regeneration.

It is futile to apportion blame at this stage. The truth is that China is experiencing a traumatic convulsion as the ruling clique clings on to power in the face of mounting waves of protest, to suppress which it has employed the most bestial methods that have earned it the epithet of “fascism” from the common citizens who were eyewitnesses to the barbaric inhumanity perpetrated at Tiananmen Square on what is now popularly described in Beijing as “Black Sunday”. …
In this setting it is deplorable to find several governments, including our own, hesitant to call a spade a spade and openly denounce the slaughter in Beijing while some of our parties proudly proclaiming themselves as “Marxists” (for whose activities Marx must surely be turning in his grave) have, in effect, defended the despicable crime before which Jallianwalabagh pales into insignificance. Nevertheless, there is no gainsaying that the people of China enjoy, more than ever before, the solidarity of peace-loving democrats across the globe—both Marxists and non-Marxists, striving to build a world without war, hunger, want, destitution, exploitation and oppression, a world of genuine freedom where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

No matter how the present Chinese leadership “celebrates” its “victory” today, tomorrow belongs to the people of China!

As Indians nurturing the best of feelings for their Chinese brethren in their hour of trial, we are convinced: come what may they will overcome