Contemporary Labor Resistance in China l989-2009

 Au Loong yu, Bai Ruixue

The Chinese workers developed their first independent organization in the 1989 democratic movement, the BWAF (Beijing Workers’ Autonomous Federation). It had repeatedly tried to persuade, without success, the students to win over the support of the workers and farmers in their fight for democracy. The BWAF was falsely accused for advocating restoration of capitalism in June 1989, when in fact it had called for the defending of public ownership of all state enterprises from the plundering and grafts of the corrupted bureaucrats. Only with the bloody crackdown on the 1989 democratic movement and the BWAF allow the Chinese Communist Party to successfully promoted privatization towards the end of 1990’s. There were anti-privatization struggles throughout China, but too weak to be able to turn around the tide. Partial victories had been achieved among some of the struggles, though. On the other hand, it was also the time when an entire new working class from the rural migrants emerged from the scene, followed by ever rising tide of spontaneous struggles among them.

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