China: Long Live "The White Paper Revolution"
By La Marx International 11/30/22
A mass mobilization crosses China, in protest against the dictatorship of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the government of Xi Jinping. In the last days of November, thousands of people mobilize in the main cities of the country such as the capital Beijing, as well as in Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xinjiang, Tiantongyuan, Nanjing, Urumqi, Kasgar, Xi'an, Jinan, Chongqing. , Haizhu, Dali, Changsha, and Zhengzhou, among others. Given the continental magnitude of China, and the fact that the current mobilization covers such distant regions, it is clear that we are in the presence of an extraordinary mass uprising, a true revolution of the people against the capitalist dictatorship of the CCP.
The global revolutionary wave reaches China
The uprising began on November 22 when the workers of Foxconn, a technology corporation that manufactures most of the iPhone, iPad, and PlayStation in the world, came out to fight against the deceptive contracts that big business wanted to impose against the workers. The imposition of unfair restrictions against COVID, added to the deceptions of the employers, caused the outbreak of thousands of workers who came out to confront the forces of order, and security, including SWAT team agents, inside the plant.
The labor insurrection at Foxconn
Two days later, thousands of people took to the streets of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as a result of a fire that killed 10 people who could not be rescued due to Covid restrictions. The beginning of the protests in Foxconn, and in Urumqi spread like wildfire through the rest of the cities of China to remember the victims of the fire and demonstrate against the restrictions. The protests spread from the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, to the streets of Wuzhen, a city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, passing through many of China's largest cities.
The protests raise slogans such as Down with Xi Jinping! Down with the Communist Party!, slogans that are an extraordinary fact that highlights the decision of the Chinese people to defend their freedoms against the dictatorship. The mobilizations have taken the regime by surprise, which is not used to seeing mobilizations with thousands of people publicly fighting against the government, given the total lack of freedoms that the country's capitalist dictatorship has imposed for decades.
Quickly, thousands of young people took the lead in the mobilizations, as happens in all the revolutions of the 21st century . And in this case, during the protests, the demonstrators sang the Chinese national anthem, or they sang "The Internationale", making particular emphasis on the verses of those songs that speak of "rising up against slavery", thus giving a direct message to the government of the capitalist oligarchy. The mass mobilization that moves China is part of the global revolutionary wave against capitalism that we are experiencing after the victory of the Ukrainian masses in the battle of kyiv in April 2022. This is the 3rd revolutionary wave, and just like the two previous ones, does not respect borders, languages, or flags.
The 3rd global revolutionary wave in pictures, from left to right: Masses seize the government palace in Sri Lanka, Demonstrations in Iran, Partisans armed in the Ukrainian revolution, wave of strikes in England
As part of the wave that is now arriving in China, the revolution that shakes Iran against the dictatorship of the Ayatollahs is developing, with more than 70 days of struggle, the wave of workers' strikes that shakes Europe and the United States, and also the revolutions that are taking place in countries like Haiti, or the Ukraine with the armed people and thousands of Partisans, workers, women, and youth defeating the invader. In all these revolutions, an important activism of workers, women, native peoples, the LGTBQ community, anti-racist, peasants, and youth stands out, which is taking the lead in the fight.
Hong Kong and China are a single revolutionary process
As the mobilizations developed, the youth began to use a banner and symbol, a humble blank piece of paper. Thousands of protesters mobilize carrying blank pieces of paper showing them in front of the government and the repressive forces. This object has become the representation of the struggle being carried out by those who lead the mobilizations against the dictatorship. The pieces of paper in hand carried by the activists has made us call for this revolution "The White Paper Revolution". Why have activists chosen this symbol of protest? This kind of protest has its roots in the revolutionary process that Hong Kong went through between 2014 and 2020, in which activists held up blank papers to protest against the new undemocratic national security laws imposed by the government of Carrie Lam, which in turn responds to the CCP dictatorship.
China: The "White Papers" Revolution
The dictatorship imposed laws in Hong Kong to silence the protests that began after the "Umbrella Revolution of 2014" against which the government of Carrie Lam, in complicity with the CCP, imposed legislation to extradite China to China. activists who opposed it with the so-called Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (FOMLACML). The modality of holding the paper up then arose after the authorities banned slogans and phrases associated with the protest movement, arguing that the gesture is not only a statement about silencing dissent, but also a challenge to the authorities. , as if to say, "Are you going to arrest me for holding up a sign that doesn't say anything?"
Also with the white sheet the activists in Hong Kong wanted to "represent everything we want to say but can't." The Revolution in Hong Kong had several milestones: First, the mobilizations of 2014 during the 1st world revolutionary wave that coincided with events such as the Revolution in Syria, the Rojava Revolution, or the beginning of the Revolution in Ukraine with the "EuroMaidan" . As part of that revolutionary wave, the uprising of the Iugur minority of approximately 24 million people in Xinjiang province, which was brutally crushed by the CCP regime, had been developing and reached its peak in 2014, declaring them "terrorists".
The people of Hong Kong resumed their revolution against the FOMLACML, between 2019 and 2010, which coincided with the wave of worker strikes in Canton, mainland China, demanding improvements to working conditions. All this process of mobilization and struggle, both by the Iugur people and the people of Hong Kong, as well as by the workers and the people who are mobilizing in mainland China, show that the struggle of the peoples of Hong Kong and China is a same revolutionary process. The CCP oligarchy has brutally attacked the struggles of the iugur minority, and has established concentration camps with almost 2 million people of that ethnic group, which are denounced internationally. In Hong Kong, thousands of activists were arrested and extradited to extinguish the flame of the revolution.
In order to quell the struggle, the oligarchy headed by Xi Jinping relied on the invaluable collaboration of US imperialism. Many honest Hong Kong activists believed that the US would support them, and carried US flags at the rallies. Deceived by hoaxes such as the "Decoupling Theory" many Hong Kong activists believed the US and China are at odds, and so their struggle was going to be supported by US imperialism.
It is the same fraud that many Cuban activists are sold in their fight against the capitalist dictatorship of Cuba. But when the repression of the CCP and its regime intensified against them, US imperialism, which has thousands of political and economic tools to act, did not lift a finger in defense of the activists, and limited itself to some "motions of protests", in international organizations such as the UN, and others.
Demonstrations in Hong Kong
A demonstration that the "Decoupling Theory" is false, and that when it comes to revolution, capitalist governments beyond their occasional friction and disputes unite to defeat the struggles of the workers and the people. In this case, the "action" of the Xi Jinping dictatorship, together with the "omission" of US imperialism, made it possible for these revolutions to be partially suppressed. Thus, the CCP oligarchy and Xi Jinping were able to quell the revolutionary outbreaks that had erupted from 2014 to today among minorities and oppressed nationalities.
And when they thought they had "everything figured out", Xi-Jinping considered that he should consolidate his dictatorship by calling the XX Congress of the CCP to establish his re-election for the 3rd time, and become a "true monarch" the first leader of the CCP to be in office. for more than 10 years in Chinese history. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Putin considered that the time had come to consolidate his dictatorship as well, and crush the revolution in Ukraine, for which he invaded the Ukrainian nation in February 2022.
But the plans of the dictators ran into the world revolution: Between March and April the Ukrainian people defeated Putin's troops in the battle of Kiev, which triggered a global revolutionary wave that began with massive mobilizations around the world of support for the workers and the people of Ukraine, general strikes, and unions of the "heavyweights" of the proletariat in England, France, Germany, and other European countries, mobilization of the North American workers, the outbreak of revolutions in Iran, and Haiti.
It was a matter of time before the 3rd wave entered China. And to the surprise of Xi Jinping, the revolution in China, and in Hong Kong, which he believed to be buried forever, exploded again in his face, this time with millions mobilized in all the cities of mainland China, with thousands of young people waving the "Papers Whites".
The "White Papers Revolution" against Xi 's "monarchy"
In August 2022, the XX Congress of the PCCh met, which approved the so-called "Integrated Plan of Five Spheres", together with the "Comprehensive Four-Point Strategy" . All the "points" and "spheres" chatter boiled down to one issue: Xi Jinping's enthronement as a near-absolute monarchy, surpassing Mao Tse Tung, and all of China's previous longest-serving presidents. This was the true objective of the XX Congress of the PCCh, to show a "monolithic" dictatorship, without fissures or questioning.
Such was the need for the oligarchs to flaunt their semi-monarch status at the 20th CPC Congress that they publicly expelled the country's former president Hu Jintao during the 2003-2013 term in full session, in full view of all the world media. The images of the old man, removed by the security employees against his will, was a true staging of the oligarchs willing to show themselves in front of the media, to send a message to the world that they are absolute monarchs, a "solid dictatorship".
Hu Jintao is "invited to withdraw" from the 20th CPC Congress, in front of all the world's cameras
After the XX Congress, the capitalist dictatorship of the PCCh tightened the restrictions against Covid, but not as a way to deal with the pandemic, but rather as a way to more brutally repress the population, with all kinds of restrictions. We have denounced the brutal "capitalist quarantines" that do not seek to protect the people, but to repress them. The Stalinists, the campers, the revisionist left, the charlatans in the pay of imperialism like Noam Chomsky, spoke again of "imperialist China", which is preparing to destroy the United States in the "Third World War". They insist on the "Decoupling Theory" that China is "decoupling" of the US to question its hegemony. But it is quite the opposite.
At the XX Congress of the PCCh, the dictatorship did not show itself as a "monarchy " to confront the United States, but rather to show Wall Street and the United States that they have not lost the ability to guarantee investments, the interests of large corporations. imperialists, and that they are going to continue super-exploiting the Chinese people under the lash of repression. China is not an imperialist country. It is a sub-metropolis of imperialist capital, a great factory of North American imperialism, and a world one where the great capitals of the world come together to take advantage of the high rate of exploitation of the working class.
Without going any further, Foxconn, the large technology company where the mobilizations exploded, is 66% owned by Japanese imperialism, and the rest is Taiwanese capital. Just a few months ago Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US Parliament, was on a trip where it was revealed that her son is the owner of China Mobile, one of the largest telephone companies. All Chinese companies, including "state" ones, have private participation with Chinese "owners" and Imperialist Corporations that participate in the Wall Street and Hong Kong stock markets. And now China's companies operating on Wall Street are directly audited by Wall Street, thus China has lost any trace of "independence"regarding world imperialism.
But China is also a "time bomb" about to explode to the extent that China's real estate "bubble" has already reached more than 30 trillion dollars, and threatens the bankruptcy of all its banks expressed in the crisis of the giant Chinese real estate Evergrande. The crisis in China does not end there, it is a "bomb" of hunger, poverty and misery, with billions of people who have nothing to eat or a place to live. China is a "bombshell" of super-exploitation, attacks on the working class, and alarming rates of suicide rates in factories. In the sub-metropolis, the oligarchs attack human rights with slavery and oppression of native peoples, and concentration camps for millions of people from the Iugur minority, in which United States textile companies invest. The oligarchs cannot control COVID-19, while new strains emerge, and new closures and quarantines in their cities. The Chinese submetropolis is an environmental "bomb", in Shanghai you cannot breathe, one of the most polluted countries in the world from the sky to the sea, with thousands of square kilometers of coastlines, estuaries, bays, swamps, reefs and seaweed beds destroyed by damming and attempts to reclaim land from the sea, the use of oil, pesticides, and lead levels 50% higher than normal.
Xi Jinping and the CCP oligarchs are, like Putin, bosses and thugs of imperialism who get their hands dirty every day to ensure Wall Street's profits. They are not confronted, nor "uncoupled" to imperialism, but rather "coupled"as its junior partners. But in order to guarantee the high rate of exploitation of the Global Corporations, Xi and his CCP thug group must abolish all the rights of the masses, must abolish the right to protest, to assemble, to demonstrate, to organize independent of the state, to independent unionization, to the rights of minorities, so that the workers do not have the right to claim or fight against the unjust living and working conditions that capitalism imposes on them. In this way, Xi Jinping guarantees the concurrence of imperialist capital to China.
The parties of US imperialism present themselves as "champions of human rights" make some formal complaints, so as not to disappoint their voters, and make the respective "pantomime" of the confrontation between China and the US, which they do the delights of the Stalinists, and campers.
But then both the imperialist officials and their CCP thugs hold summits, where both the criminals of Wall Street and the criminals of the regimes in China or Russia come together. Whether at the G20, at the "Climate Change Summit", or in Davos, amid beautiful landscapes, bosses and thugs drink large liters of alcohol, and enjoy the pleasures, while sharing business, and profits, without "decoupling" in sight.
But the joy of the CCP thugs was short-lived. Barely two months after the 20th CCP Congress ended, kicked Hu Jintao out on camera, and proclaimed Xi Jinping's eternal monarchy, the "White Papers Revolution" explodes in their faces . . The 3rd world revolutionary wave does not respect borders, nor "monarchical Congresses" putting the "points" and "spheres" on the edge of the garbage can .
Long live the "White Papers Revolution" , all the support to the people of China
Now is the time to stand with all our might for the workers and people of China. Their revolution is essential to end the Chinese dictatorship, which is a fundamental pillar of global capitalism. The dictatorship has felt the impact of the "White Papers Revolution" announcing the lifting of restrictions due to Covid. But the fight must go on until it ends once and for all with the oligarchs of the CCP, and the sinister government of Xi Jinping. The white papers have shown that the struggle of the people of China and Hong Kong is one! It is time to end the dictatorship of these thugs at the service of imperialism and world capitalism.
Our cry is one: Long live the struggle of the workers and the people of China! Freedom to political prisoners! Down with the laws of Carrie Lam in Hong Kong! Freedom to the iugur prisoners, immediate dismantling of the concentration camps! Down with the CCP, Down with Xi Jinping! For a workers' and people's government of the workers, youth and peasants of China and Hong Kong! Long live the "White Papers Revolution" !