The revolutionary movement is growing and spreading around the world. The latest uprising is happening in Hong Kong, and a great many people, or at least those who have recently become politically conscious, are wondering what is happening.
It may help to think of this revolutionary motion as a continuation of the class struggle that has happened around the world, and of course is still going on. It was Lenin and the Communist Party of Russia who led the Russian Revolution of November, 1917, to victory, against all the odds. But then Lenin and the Communists were following the theories of Marx, and that assured them victory.
Following the death of Lenin, it was Stalin who continued to build socialism and transformed the very backward, quite agrarian country of Russia into an industrial power house in a rather short time, in the form of the socialist Soviet Union. As a result of this, the Soviet Union was able to withstand the attack by the Nazis in 1941, and they won the Great Patriotic War. At that time, the Soviet Union was supremely well respected, with good reason.
After that war, the common people of China, the workers and peasants, were able to throw off the completely reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, and establish a socialist republic, under the leadership of Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese Communist Party, in 1948. The Chinese capitalists, the bourgeoisie, were then crushed under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat and poor peasants, following the example of the Soviet Union.
The exception to this was the ”city-state” of Hong Kong, which at that time was under British rule. In fact it stayed under British rule until 1997, when it was officially returned to China. At that point, it became a ”Special Administrative Region” of China, or SAR, and China promised a ”one country, two systems” status, which granted a certain measure of autonomy to Hong Kong, at least until 2047. So now the ”city-state” of Hong Kong is referred to as being separate from ”mainland China”.
To return to the time of the Chinese Revolution of 1948, the Soviet Union was held in very high regard. It came as a great shock to all Marxists, including the Chinese Communists, when Khruschev was able to restore capitalism in Russia, after the death of Stalin, in 1953. But then they faced the fact that as it happened in the Soviet Union, they knew it could happen in China. Their response to this was to launch the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution.
In 1960, the people of China were rising up, as they are now in Hong Kong. The response of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was shocking, at least to the capitalists, the bourgeoisie. They ruled that the police and army were not to interfere, except in cases of arson, rape or murder. It was up to the common people, the masses, as they refer to the workers and poor peasants, to determine their friends and their enemies. It was up to them to be educated in the class struggle. They were expected to root out the capitalists wherever they were hiding, and they were definitely hiding in the various fields of culture.
The capitalists were also hiding in the Communist Party, which came as a surprise to a great many people. But as various Marxists pointed out, there is a reason thieves rob banks: ”That is where the money is”. So of course after the revolution, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, ”went to where the power is”, which is inside the Communist Party of China.
As an aside, we can say that after the American Revolution, we can expect the capitalists to weasel their way into the American Communist Party.
However, the Cultural Revolution lasted ten years, and the common people, the workers and poor peasants of China, were well schooled in the class struggle. It was a decade of pure terror for the capitalists, but even in China the capitalists were not crushed with sufficient enthusiasm.
Mao foresaw this possibility, and stated that such a restoration of power by the Chinese capitalists could not last long, ”at worst a few decades”, because the Chinese people had been schooled so well in the class struggle.
It has now been several decades since the capitalists were able to restore capitalism in China. The demonstrations in Hong Kong have been going on for several weeks now, and are growing stronger. They started as a protest against the policy of the government of Hong Kong, that of turning over people to mainland China, but has now transformed into demands that all prisoners who were arrested for protesting be released, charges dropped, and the police be investigated for use of excessive force. In short, they are demanding their democratic rights and an end to violent repression.
In a remarkable show of strength, they were able to shut down the airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, for two consecutive days. As I write this, they are regrouping, planning more action for the weekend.
Mainland China is keeping a close eye on events as they unfold. They have sent a great many troops and armoured vehicles to the border, and are preparing to invade Hong Kong and crush the rebellion. Of course their greatest fear is that this rebellion could spread to the mainland, and it very likely will do just that. We can expect the workers and poor peasants of Mainland China to rise up in support of their comrades in Hong Kong. It is entirely possible that this is going on now, and it is possible the authorities have managed to muzzle the press, at least for the moment. That remains to be seen.
The best the ruling class of capitalists in Mainland China can do is resort to mud slinging, referring to the protesters as ”terrorists”. The fact is that it is a very densely populated city of seven million, and possibly two million people have been involved in the protests. That number is growing. For the capitalists to accuse them of being terrorists is an indication of the level of fear and desperation the Chinese capitalists are feeling now.
By definition, a terrorist uses violence against civilians in an attempt to achieve political goals. These protesters are being attacked by riot police, so if anything it is the Hong Kong government that is using terror against their own civilians.
It is entirely possible that the protests in Hong Kong are the beginning of the next Chinese Revolution. Those protests are well organized and the leaders are careful to use different tactics. As yet, the movement is not revolutionary, or at least the posters which are being displayed on the walls are not calling for revolution. Then again, if they are revolutionary, the press is not reporting this. But then, during the Cultural Revolution, it was common place to display posters and banners on walls. This uprising may not be revolutionary as yet, but it is moving in that direction.
Now it is up to working people of the world to stand up in support of the people of Hong Kong. At the time American women marched on Washington, a great many people, mainly women, marched in support. In fact, they marched around the world. Now it is up to working people around the world to march in support of Hong Kong, and not just women. The men and women of Hong Kong are setting the example. It is up to workers of the world to do that which Marx advised:
Workers of the World, Unite!
Scientific Socialism!
Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 