Reflections on June 4by Han Dongfang
China Labour Bulletin
When the Beijing Workers´Autonomous Federation (BWAF) set up its tent in the north-west corner of Tiananmen Square in 1989, I served as the organisation𠏋 spokesperson. I will always remember a question put to me by a foreign reporter at the time. She asked, "How many members do you have, and which factories are they from?" I clearly recall that I could not evade this question, even though it gave me considerable embarrassment - an embarrassment that remains with me to this day. (64memo祖國萬歲 / 89)
In fact, at that time, hundreds of thousands of citizens marched in the streets in support of the students, including workers carrying their factory banners from nearly every factory. But when we tried to establish contact with them in the streets the reaction was: "We don´t know who you are or even what you´re doing. And we certainly don´t want to join any organisation. We´ve simply come out to voice our support for the students." (64memo.com-89)
The fact that factory workers refused to join our organisation, or even to have anything to do with us, was even harder to bear than the journalist´s question. But in 1989, that is exactly how it was. At the time we had to remind ourselves that maybe we were too far ahead, that we were too far removed from the daily reality of Chinese workers. Yet, since we had raised the banner of independent trade unionism, we should therefore scatter the seeds of this idea as widely as possible among Chinese workers. Although we had no idea when the seeds would germinate, we believed that with the right combination of sun, rain and soil, the seeds we scattered would someday take root. (64memo.com-89)
If we can say that the daily, serious exploitation of workers and violation of their rights is the soil in which independent trade unionism can grow, then those who remain firm in the face of a fearful enemy, who dare to stand up to the danger and lead everyone in the struggle, are the sunlight and the rain. The exploitation of workers and violation of their rights is more serious in today´s China than at any other time in history - and it´s continually getting worse. Although the government has always taken strong measures, including arrests, prison terms, harassment and other methods to persecute workers´ leaders, no sooner has one fallen, when another one steps up to fill his or her place. (Memoir Tiananmen´89)
The workers from Liaoyang´s Ferroalloy Factory are an example. When their representative, Yao Fuxin, was detained on March 17, 2002, other people immediately led workers to demand that the government release him. On March 20, when the government arrested three more representatives, Xiao Yunliang, Pang Qingxiang and Wang Zhaoming, people still didn´t bow their heads and continued to demand that the government release the detainees. On April 16, when the government again arrested another workers´ representative, there were still other representatives who continued to demand their release. (Memoir Tiananmen´89)
This is what we aimed to achieve in 1989, but didn´t. What is more important is that today Chinese workers are not taking to the streets simply to support students or anyone else. They are doing it for the sake of their own existence. It is here that the hope lies for the independent workers´ movement in China. (64檔案´89)
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