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China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942-1989

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China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942-1989 WILD LILY, PRAIRIE FIRE Wild Lily, Prairie Fire T CHINA’S ROAD TO DEMOCRACY, YAN’AN TO TIAN’ANMEN, 1942–1989 EDITED BY GREGOR BENTON AND ALAN HUNTER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright1995byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, Chichester,WestSussex AllRightsReserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Wildlily,prairiefire:China’sroadtodemocracy, Yan’antoTian’anmen,1942–1989/ editedbyGregorBentonandAlanHunter. p.cm. TranslatedwithabridgementfromvarioussourcesinChinese. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. eISBN 1-4008-0060-9 1.China—Politicsandgovernment—1949–—Sources. 2.Dissenters—China—Sources.I.Benton,Gregor. II.Hunter,Alan,1951–. DS777.75.W541995 951.05—dc2095-5200 ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon CONTENTS FOREWORD,BYLIUBINYANix PREFACExi ACKNOWLEDGMENTSxiii ANOTEONPRONUNCIATIONxiv ABBREVIATIONSxv INTRODUCTION3 NOTESTOTHEINTRODUCTION63 CHAPTER ONE WILDLILY,194269 Document1WANGSHIWEI:WildLily69 Document2WANGSHIWEI:Politicians,Artists75 Document3DINGLING:ThoughtsonMarch8(Women’sDay)78 Document4LUOFENG:ItIsStilltheAgeoftheZawen82 NOTESTOCHAPTERONE84 CHAPTER TWO THEHUNDREDFLOWERS,195785 Document 5 Forum of Democratic Parties and Groups on the RectificationMovement85 Document6SymposiumofScientists88 Document 7 What Is the Fundamental Cause of the Trade UnionCrisis?89 Document8LUOYUWEN:DistressingContradiction92 Document9LiuBinyanandTaiHuang:RebelliousJournalists93 Document 10 LIN XILING: Excerpts from a Speech Made at a DebateHeldatPeople’sUniversityonMay30,195794 Document11OntheNewDevelopmentof“Class”98 Document12HEAVEN,WATER,HEART:Democracy?PartyRule?99 Document13IAccuse,IProtest100 Document 14 WANG FANXI: Seven Theses on Socialism and Democracy101 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE CULTURALREVOLUTION,1966–1976104 Document 15 NIE YUANZI: What Have Song Shuo, Lu Ping, and Peng Peiyun Done in the Cultural Revolution? 104 Document 16 Red Guard Statements, 1966–1967 108 Document 17 “Revolutionary” Power-holders 120 Document18SHENGWULIAN:WhitherChina?124 Document 19 LI YI ZHE: On Socialist Democracy and the Legal System134 Document 20 WANG FANXI: On the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” 145 NOTESTOCHAPTERTHREE156 CHAPTER FOUR CHINASPRING,1979–1981157 Document 21 WANG XIZHE: Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution 157 Document 22 YI MING: China: A History That Must Be Told 175 Document 23 WEI JINGSHENG: Democracy or a New Dictatorship? 180 Document 24 Interview with Xu Wenli 185 Document 25 XU WENLI: A Reform Program for the Eighties 189 Document 26 EDITORIAL BOARD, RENMINZHI LU: A Statement of Clarification 194 Document 27 COMMENTATOR, ZEREN: Democracy and Legality Are Safeguards of Stability and Unity 196 Document 28 GE TIAN: A Guangdong Youth Forum on Wall Posters 199 Document 29 GONG BO: The Wind Rises from among the Duckweed: Elections at Beijing University 202 Document30HENONG:ElectionScandalinaRuralCommune210 Document 31 ZHENG XING: The Election Movement Is in the Ascendant 213 Document 32 The Student Movement in Hunan 217 Document 33 CHEN DING: Youth Disturbances in China’s Far West 221 Document 34 Advertisement: Modern Clothes 227 Document 35 FENGFAN: The Reawakening of the Chinese Working Class 228 Document 36 FU SHENQI: In Memory of Wang Shenyou, Pioneer of theDemocraticMovement,Teacher,Comrade229 Document37InterviewwithYangJing234 CONTENTS vii Document 38 XIAO RUI: Eyewitness Account of the Arrest of Liu Qing 239 Document 39 THE FAMILY OF LIU QING: Liu Qing Is Innocent! 244 Document 40 LIU QING: Sad Memories and Prospects: My Appeal to the Tribunal of the People 247 Document 41 Women Are Human Beings Too 257 Document 42 China and Solidarnosc 259 NOTESTOCHAPTERFOUR263 CHAPTER FIVE PRAIRIEFIRE,1989264 Document 43 Proposal to Resign from the Party and Prepare an “Association to Promote China’s Democracy Movement” 264 Document 44 Letter of Petition 266 Document 45 REN WANDING: Speech in Tian’anmen Square 266 Document46AWorker’sLettertotheStudents269 Document 47 A Choice Made on the Basis of Conscience and Party Spirit: An Open Letter to All Party Members 270 Document 48 Hoist High the Flag of Reason 271 Document 49 Where I Stand 274 Document 50 YANG XX: The Socialist Multiparty System and China 275 Document 51 A Letter to the People 278 Document 52 Preparatory Program of the Autonomous Federation of Workers of the Capital 279 Document 53 Workers’ Declaration 280 Document 54 Open Letter to the Students from an Army Veteran 281 Document 55 Smart Thieves’ Voice 282 Document 56 Provisional Statutes of the Autonomous Federation of Workers of the Capital 283 Document 57 LIN XILING: Statement 284 Document 58 WANG FANXI: Statement 285 Document 59 AN EYEWITNESS: The Massacre in Tian’anmen Square 286 Document 60 CHAI LING: Account of the Beijing Massacre 291 Document 61 YANG LIAN: The Square 295 Document 62 Open Letter to the Chinese Communist Party 296 CHAPTER SIX THEINTELLECTUALS’CRITIQUE299 Document 63 SU SHAOZHI: Proposals for Reform of the Political Structure, 1986 299 viii CONTENTS Document 64 YAN JIAQI: The Theory of Two Cultural Factors 305 Document 65 FANG LIZHI: Problems of Modernization 307 Document 66 WANG RUOSHUI: In Defense of Humanism 312 Document 67 WANG RUOWANG: On Political Reform 317 Document 68 LIU BINYAN: The Bureaucratic Paradise 327 APPENDIX:SOURCESOFTHETEXTS333 INDEX343 FOREWORD THIS book provides a rather complete collection of materials on the bit- ter historical experience of Chinese intellectuals over the past fifty years. It is a most valuable contribution toward understanding the Chinese rev- olution in the twentieth century in its passage from glorious victory to tragic failure—an as yet unfinished tragedy. For the past eighty years, successive generations of Chinese intellectu- als have chosen the road of the Chinese Communist Party. The leaders and core members of the Party in its formative period were almost all intellectuals; in 1949, however, those communist leaders and cadres who proclaimed the victory of the Party and the establishment of the People’s Republic from the rostrum of Beijing’s Tian’anmen were for the most part soldiers and peasants. Very few Chinese people know the true his- tory of the Communist Party and of China between the years 1921 and 1949. Even though a few are familiar with the name Wang Shiwei, whom they identify as a “Trotskyist,” until now the communists have carefully concealed the terrible cruelties of the so-called “anti-Trotskyist cam- paign” of the 1940s and 1950s, which engulfed hundreds of thousands of innocent victims. This deception was one of the main reasons why three generations of intellectuals, from the 1950s to the 1970s, continued to act as faithful servants of the Party. Mao Zedong dominated the intellectuals more effectively than any other communist leader anywhere. First he destroyed their independent status; then he successfully killed off their critical spirit. During the Cul- tural Revolution, the Gang of Four held a splendid ceremony every year on May 24 to commemorate the publication of the “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art.” Why was this piece, of all Mao’s works, singled out for such special treatment? Because in it, Mao delivered his severest blow at intellectuals, and pronounced the death sentence on their independence and their critical spirit. At that time, “Wild Lily” came under attack, and Wang Shiwei’s tragedy started to unfold. Between 1942 and 1956, it was impossible in any sphere of communist control to exercise criticism in literature, journalism, philosophy, social science, or any other form of social activity: one could only endorse and praise the status quo. After the brief revival of independent thought in 1956 and 1957, China again fell silent for many years. In other communist coun- tries, people were rarely classified as heretics on account of just one single utterance, and then sentenced to decades of loss of rights or even to death. x FOREWORD In China, this was the fate of many millions of people. The Communist Party’s fear of language and the written word became an obsessive illness. The fundamental reason for the weakness of Chinese intellectuals was the long-term and sometimes fanatical support given Mao Zedong and the Communist Party by the Chinese people. As soon as intellectuals came under attack by the Party, they found that they were totally isolated. So changes in the status and subjective feelings of intellectuals moved in tan- dem with the awakening of popular awareness during the Cultural Revo- lution. Unfortunately, from then on, intellectuals became alienated from workers and peasants. Five years after the defeat of the Tian’anmen movement of 1989, Chi- nese intellectuals have undergone a split. Some have become apologists for the regime; others have gone into business. Liberal intellectuals, under great pressure and at a time when the democratic tide is at low ebb, are weak and powerless. But it is encouraging that some young intellectuals born in the 1960s are choosing a different path from that of the “intel- lectual elite” of the 1980s, and are turning toward the lower levels of Chinese society, conscientiously investigating the reality of life in China, and seeking a way forward that accords with China’s specific national conditions. Liu Binyan PREFACE THIScollection of documents is meant primarily as source material, with special reference to dissent and protest against the Communist Party, for students of Chinese politics. Our aim has been to provide
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