Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 22:57:42 +0100 (MET)
Subject: M-G: UNITE! Info #61en: {6/9} Reply on Cultural Revolution


UNITE! Info #61en: {6/9} Reply on Cultural Revolution
[Posted to newsgroup 'alt.society.revolution' etc: 01.02.98;
this part of M-G siege version, <10 kB, to list on 06.02.98]

[Continued from part {5/9}]

13. ON THE EVENTS ON TIENANMEN SQUARE, BEIJING, 
    ON 05.04.1976, HOW THEY WERE LIED ABOUT 
    BY THE STILL SOCIALIST CHINA AT THE TIME 
    AND WHAT THEY REALLY SHOWED


[MS HOLLINGWORTH'S ACCOUNT OF APRIL EVENTS] 

"Strangely enough it was the broad masses who brought matters
to a head during the Quing Ming Festival in early April on Tian-
anmen Square. Obviously preparations to mourn the death of Pre-
mier Zhou during the traditional ceremonies of 'sweeping out the
graves' had been made weeks in advance. On March 30th a huge 
wreath dedicated to Zhou was placed on the Martyr's Memorial on 
the square. I lived nearby and noted that from that moment 
groups of people began to bring large wreaths of artificial 
flowers from factories and outlying agricultural communes. Al-
though the radio stressed that people should not waste their 
time in making wreaths or taking them to Tiananmen Square during
a ceremony that 'was meant for ghosts', adding that commemora-
ting the dead is an outmoded custom, by Friday April 2nd the 
small stream of visitors had developed into a flood. Almost all 
the people in the square wore black armbands and many wore but-
tonholes of white homemade artificial flowers."

"In Peking news soon gets around and by Sunday the entire popu-
lation believed it was the thing to do to go to the square. In-
deed, as I left the city early in the morning for a brief visit 
to the Western Hills, I met tens of thousands of people on foot,
in buses and on bicycles converging on the city in an orderly 
manner. Some were reciting the songs they had composed in praise
of the late Premier whilst others were reciting poerty."

"Later in the day, when the square appeared to hold hundreds of
thousands of people - it does hold a million - wreaths were 
stacked over fifty feet high on all sides of the monument. Hund-
reds were hung on lamp-posts and others displayed on special 
tables and trucks with ribbons or scrolls containing verses 
mourning Zhou. Two volumes of poems have been produced from the 
poems and tributes displayed during those days of mourning. 
There were, too, notices criticising Jiang Qing in slightly dis-
guised terms such as 'Down with the Dowager Empress: down with
Indira Gandhi!" while others were indirectly critical of the
Chairman for failing to implement 'Premier Zhou's pragmatic
and progressive policies'. Throughout the day the gates of the
university had been closed in order to prevent students joining
the crowds in the square but many climbed the high walls in
order to take their tributes to the square."

[Thus there were two different elements present in the mass of 
those statements: One rather openly attacking Jiang Qing, one in 
fact defending Deng Xiaoping. From which standpoint were the 
attacks on Jiang Qing, from the contending bourgeois standpoint 
of Deng Xiaoping or from the proletarian standpoint? Possibly, 
indeed probably, there were attacks of both these kinds. But 
it's an indubitable fact that *the masses* of Beijing and its 
surroundings were in action here. One can be certain of the fact
that they would *not* have been supporting the standpoint of 
Deng Xiaoping. This mass movement certainly must have been, in 
the main, a revolutionary one, attacking the Gang of Four and 
defending the line of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Only a seconda-
ry aspect of the events was that of pro-Deng elements trying to 
take advantage of the situation.]

"In the early morning hours of Monday morning" [05.04.1976] 
"lorries belonging to the army but driven by members of the 
People's Militia drove into the square and a few hundred uni-
formed men and women tore down the wreaths and slogans and threw
them into the lorries. Then shortly after dawn I watched hund-
reds of efficient-looking troops getting out of buses in bar-
racks near to the square, but these regular soldiers, as far as 
I know, remained in reserve and were never used in the subse-
quent disturbances."

"When the word got around that the wreaths had been removed,
despite continuous warning over the radio not to go to the 
square again, angry crowds collected demanding of the police and
the urban militiamen what had happened to the wreaths. The word 
got around - this time quite wrongly - that they had been taken 
into the Great Hall of the People. The crowd then surged towards
the hall loudly demanding admission but a few hundred policemen 
suddenly emerged from the hall and prevented the crowd's ap-
proach. This made them even more angry."

"Then a young man, obviously a strong supporter of Jiang Qing, 
shouted from the top step of the memorial that the crowd's de-
mands were wrong and claimed there was no need to present 
wreaths to the late Premier Zhou, who was 'The biggest capita-
list roader in the Party!' I watched as the crowd rounded on him
in fury and threw him down the steps of the monument causing him 
serious injuries. Groups got together as the day progressed
singing the 'Internationale'...

"and to demand access to the Mayor or the 'boss' of the security
bureau in the square. In the early afternoon, as the crowds were
ordered to disperse, one crowd in a moment of mass hysteria" [no
"Daily T. party" here, so it must be "mass hysteria", mustn't 
it?] "set fire to an empty car and then to two jeeps and a small
bus that were following. Meanwhile, the crowds in other parts of
the square were laying even more wreaths apparently unaware of 
the burning cars until they saw the smoke and smelled the bur-
ning rubber. Scores of people were injured as the crowds moved 
first in one direction and then in another. Little if any anti-
foreign sentiment was expressed."

"The hurly-burly grew worse as the afternoon wore on and after 
the jeeps were burned the crowd burst into the headquarters of 
one of the security forces, initially in an effort to discuss 
the problem of the missing wreaths with a senior officer. Con-
fidential files were hurled from the windows by angry young men
and women before the building was set on fire."

"Soon after six in the evening the loudspeakers broadcast an 
appeal from the Mayor of Peking, Wu De, to disperse and not 'to 
fall into the trap that had been set for them'."


[INTERLUDE: WHAT DID A "BIBLE" OF MINE AT THE 
TIME SAY?]

[Wu De's speech was reproduced in Peking Review No. 15 / 1976, 
of 09.04.76, which had an article headed "Counter-Revolutionary
Political Incident at Tien An Men Square". In this article, two 
likewise remarkable things should warn the readers: First of all
there was no mention whatsoever of any wreaths or their being 
removed. Thus only from foreign correspondents could you get any
- more or less - clear picture of the events. Concerning this 
whole context, the PR simply and mendaciously stated that "a 
handful of class enemies, under the guise of commemorating the 
late Premier Chou during the Ching Ming Festival," had "engi-
neered an organized, premeditated and planned counter-revolu-
tionary political incident ....".Secondly, it portrayed the mas-
ses as "neutral bystanders" and "onlookers", with the words: 

	"At its maximum the crowd at Tien An Men Square numbered
	about 100,000 people. Except for a handful of bad ele-
        ments who were bent on creating disturbances, the majo-
        rity of people were passers-by who came over to see what
        was happening"(!)

{For the entire PR article, see parts {8-9/9]. - RM, Feb '98}

[The eyewitness reports by not only the foreign correspondent 
quoted here but also several others show that this by no means 
was the reason why all those people, probably more than 100,000,
too, had gathered. And if you're to believe this article, they 
in no way intervened against these "counterrevolutionary distur-
bances" by that "handful of people"!]

[When I read that at the time, having only some three years of 
political experience and certainly a much too blind confidence 
in the Peking Review (which had indeed stated the truth on many 
important matters where I otherwise had encountered practically 
only lies), it did give me a vague feeling of unease (though I 
couldn't spot what, if anything, was seriously wrong) as did 
also the reported final words of that reported speech by Wu De:]

	"Today, there are bad elements carrying out disruption 
        and disturbances and engaging in counter-revolutionary 
        sabotage at Tien An Men Square. Revolutionary masses 
        must leave"[!] "the square at once and not be duped by 
        them."  

[Revolutionary masses of course would *not* be liable to be 
"duped" but would support revolution. When they're told to 
"leave", this *stinks*. The report by correspondent Clare Hol-
lingworth continues:]

[Continued in part {7/9}]



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