"The Four" & events in China 1976 (7): Tsingtao, Oct

[rolf.martens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rolf Martens)]

"The Four" & events in China 1976 (7): Tsingtao, Oct   [Sent:13.05.96]

This is part of a discussion on the Jefferson Village Virginia
Marxism list and is also sent to newsgroups.


In this posting on the role of the Gang of Four in the struggle
which eventually led to the overtrow of socialism in China,
I bring an

*Eyewitness account from Tsingtao in October 1976,
and analysis*

The Swedish writer Jan Myrdal was in China, in Tsingtao, in
Octtober 1976, when the big blow against the Gang of Four was
delivered. Jan Myrdal was a long-time friend of China and the
Chinese people. In 1962, for instance, he wrote the also
internationally rather well-known "Report from a Chinese Village."
He later got on unfriendly terms with the ruling Deng Xiaoping
clique, in the early 1980:s. I reproduce in translation an article of
his which was originally published in the Swedish liberal evening
paper Expressen on 29.12.1976:



THE DAY WHEN TSINGTAO RAN OUT OF LIQUOR

The day when it became clear that "The Four" had really suffered
defeat, Tsingtao ran out of liquor. China has the most sober of
traditions, but on that day, people in the whole country drank to
their downfall.

When confirmation came of the news, one of my friends got so
exhilarated that she got a heart attack and had to be brought to
hospital.

For four days, people demonstrated in Tsingtao. They beat drums
and fired off firecrackers and held large meetings. At that time,
in the autumn of 1976, "The Four" had managed to become the
most feared but also the most detested politicians in China. The
relief at their downfall was very great.

The defeat of "The Four" is one of the most important events in
China's history since 1949. it's also of importance not only for
the countries in Asia but for us in Europe as well.

China is no monolithical entity. Political struggle is going on in
China and this struggle - of course - in the final instance is one
about questions that affect both people's work and their daily
lives. "The Four" in mass media outside of China are usually
called "the Left" or "the radicals". But this would mean that one
can have a "political left" that opposes the interests of the
overwhelming majority.

Calling this a "left" is just as unreasonable as saying that the
regime that is being maintained in its position in East Berlin by
Russian bayonets "in reality" is an expression of the will of the
East German working-class. Minority groups who try to rule
against and over the people are reactionary. This is how the
great majority in China consider also "The Four".

When Hua Kuo-feng and the Central Committee intervened
against "The Four", they secured the policy that had been
decided on at the congresses and which was represented by
Chou En-lai. It had been formulated together with Mao Tsetung.
Politics should serve the people.

This means that a fast economical development, based on self-
reliance; an improved standard of living; shrinking social gaps,
a widened sector of education; care for the old and sick, and law
and order.

The last-mentioned is not unimportant. "The four" did away with
freedom of speech and democracy by putting a stamp on everyone
who contradicted them as a "capitalist-roader" or even "counter-
revolutionary". They encouraged their groups to use fascist
methods and beat people.

But the Chinese people haven't made revolution in order to
be beaten or silenced when they speak. They demand that
those provisions which the constitution contains on protection of
privacy, on intergity and legal security must be respected by all,
as Chou En-lai has said. There's a law in China against beating
people as well as against installing bugging equipment in their
homes.

If "The Four" had managed to seize power they would have had to
establish a harshly terroristic minority dictatorship in order to keep
it. Their foreign policy would have been shaped accordingly. They
would have made a deal with the Soviet leaders in order to get free
hands in Southeast Asia. Soviet pressure against Europe would
have increased and China would have become an aggressive
big power in Asia. It's not without reason that relief at the defeat
of "The Four" is so great all over Asia.

This was what my friends in China said when "The Four" fell. But
"The Four" were abhorred and despised also as persons.

"The Four" were hypocrites. They had climbed towards power
moralising loudly. They had combated everything that ordinary
people found pleasure in. They had condemned card-playing and
banned such music as people liked. They had called those who
had goldfish or potted plants reactionaries or bourgeois. All
this they had done in the name of the revolution. Then they
themselves had gone to restaurants and eaten and drunk at
great expense, making the state pay their bills, and afterwards
they had watched privately-imported films. People spoke a lot
about this.

They told me about Wang Hung-wen's interest in cars.

- He has adopted parvenu manners and has turned into quite a
little Brezhnev. He just wants to go faster and faster in posher
and posher cars. But drive he cannot. He isn't even capable of
that.

"The Four" were feared and detested as well as despised. If
in the autumn of 1976 had  succeeded in realizing their plans
of seizing power in China they would have triggered a sanguinary
civil war.

[So far the article by Jan Myrdal on events in October 1976.]









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